2010-2015 (Big Bang-Heroes of Maple)

December 2011: Phantom(Justice)

Phantom was a master thief, infamous for stealing the treasures of the aristocracy. Born a street urchin in Ariant, he was taken under the wing of Raven, a famous thief who taught the boy everything he knew. After Raven was killed while defusing a bomb, Phantom carried on his legacy by stealing from the nobility he resented as a child.

As stories of his exploits grew, Empress Aria, the ruler of Maple World, became intrigued by Phantom and wished to meet him, though she knew that he would never come to Ereve, as the kingdom had nothing worth stealing. In order to lure him out, she spread rumors of a gem called Skaia, which was said to glow in the hands of someone of the Empress’ bloodline. Just as she had planned, Phantom arrived to steal the gem, though he was accidentally caught in a magic trap. Hoping that he would listen to the problems she faced as the Empress, Aria freed him from the trap and helped him escape from the guards.

Phantom soon visited her again, but instead of stealing Skaia, he tried to convince her to give it to him, though Aria refused. This quickly became a game for them every night, where he would come to visit her under the pretense of stealing her treasure. Over time, they slowly fell in love and spent long nights speaking and enjoying each other’s company. Phantom was intrigued by Aria’s idealism and her pursuit of equality, which was so different from that of the other nobles he had encountered.

One night, Aria told Phantom that the Black Mage had requested to send an envoy to Ereve in order to negotiate an end to the war. However, the conference was a trap, and Aria was killed by Lotus. Phantom rushed to Ereve upon hearing the news, but he found that he was too late to prevent her death. A wounded Shinsoo entrusted Skaia to Phantom and asked him to safeguard it, unaware that it was merely a common gem with no magical properties. Hellbent on revenge, Phantom approached Freud and requested to join the other Heroes. 

Not long after the First Continental Conference, Hilla made her move to destabilize the newly-formed Alliance. Posing as a noblewoman, she publicly made a claim that she was the true heir to Ereve. With Shinsoo away for unknown reasons, an emergency Alliance conference was held in Ereve, where Hilla would testify for her right to the throne.

(A/N: Given that Shinsoo never leaves the Empress’ side, it’s strange that they never bothered to explain her absence. Since Hilla insisted on holding the conference during this time, I wonder if she or the other Commanders had done something to grab Shinsoo’s immediate attention, although I have no idea what situation would warrant Shinsoo going in place of the Cygnus Knights.)

Phantom, who had been largely underground since waking up from the ice, decided to publicly reveal himself for the first time in order to defend Aria’s heir. Together with his butler, Gaston, they devised a plan to reveal Hilla’s treachery and save Empress Cygnus. On the day of the conference, the Lumiere anchored itself directly above the Knight’s Chamber while Phantom infiltrated Ereve, which was on high security because of the number of high-profile world leaders gathered in one place.

He then disguised himself in a robe and talked his way through the inner security. Hilla then appeared before the royal court and Neinheart began questioning her about her claims. In the crowd, Phantom hid himself and listened to the Senators discussing Hilla’s apparent ownership of Skaia, the treasure of Ereve.

(A/N: It’s a common misconception that Skaia is the Seal Stone of Ereve. The Seal Stone of Ereve, also known as Shinsoo’s Teardrop, has been around in the game since Aran’s release and has been called the treasure of Ereve ever since its introduction. In contrast, Skaia was created for Phantom’s storyline and has no lore significance outside his story.

While Skaia is also referred to as the treasure of Ereve, it was actually just a common jewel that Empress Aria favored. Aria had heard stories about Phantom robbing the corrupt nobles and had wanted to meet him, but as Ereve had no treasures worth stealing, she had spread rumors about Skaia’s supposed magical properties in order to lure him to Ereve.)

Hilla began explaining the legend of Skaia, which was said to hold many powers, with one being that it glowed only in the hands of one descended from the Empress’ bloodline. Irena countered that there were no historical records of Skaia’s powers, but Hilla replied that the people of Ereve were the only ones in Maple World who had seen pictures of the gem, and so she claimed that their own knowledge of Skaia’s appearance would allow them to see that her gem was real. Hawkeye responded by saying that jewels could easily be forged, but Hilla countered by telling him that as he hadn’t been alive centuries ago, his opinion on the validity of the gem was of no importance.

(A/N: Literally none of Hilla’s arguments would hold up in a real court of law, and yet Neinheart and the Chief Knights keep letting her dominate the argument. I definitely wouldn’t have expected Neinheart of all people to be this bad at discourse.)

Hilla then argued that the reason why Cygnus was so frail was because she was being overpowered by Shinsoo’s strength, as only a true Empress could handle Shinsoo’s power, insinuating that Cygnus had been stealing Shinsoo’s power for herself. Cygnus agreed that she was too weak to handle Shinsoo’s power and admitted that she had been frail ever since childhood.

Shaken by Hilla’s argument, she began to doubt herself and told Neinheart that that she couldn’t ask the people of Maple World to fight on her behalf if she truly didn’t have any real authority or qualifications. Hilla then proposed a test to determine the true Empress and demonstrated that Skaia glowed in her hands. She then challenged Cygnus to see if it would glow in hers as well.

When Skaia failed to glow in Cygnus’ hands, the Chief Knights reassured her that the legitimacy of the jewel itself was dubious, and that Shinsoo would reveal the truth when she returned. Neinheart added that the Alliance was the foundation for a new era in Maple World, and that Hilla could be scheming to place doubt on her position.

Hilla lauded Cygnus for her wisdom, despite her young age, but urged her to make the right decision and cede the throne. Just then, Phantom appeared from the balcony and halted the proceedings. He then began to systematically counter Hilla’s arguments one by one. First, he reminded the audience that Empress Aria had no children, with only a niece left to carry on her bloodline.

(A/N: I have no idea why he brings this up when Hilla never claimed that she was directly descended from Aria’s children. I almost wonder whether the writers added that line just to disprove any theories that people might’ve had about Aria and Phantom having a secret lovechild.)

Secondly, he countered Hilla’s claim about Cygnus’ frailty and explained that it was because only an adult Empress could fully accept Shinsoo’s power, which was why Cygnus remained so weak. Finally, he dismissed Hilla’s gem as a fake, revealing that the true Skaia was in his possession before jumping from the balcony before the astonished crowd. Hilla was utterly shocked at Phantom’s unexpected appearance, whereas Mercedes and Athena Pierce were overjoyed to see their old comrade return.

(A/N: I wonder if Luminous was in attendance at this conference. We didn’t get to see him in the animated cutscene because obviously his character hadn’t been created yet, although I doubt that he would be as pleased as Mercedes and Athena to see his old rival.)

Phantom threw a card to shatter the fake Skaia before unleashing a series of powerful skills to deter Hilla. Realizing that she had been beaten, Hilla shed her disguise and decided to back off, but not before warning them that Maple World was already in the Black Mage’s hands. As the crowd celebrated Phantom’s heroics, he approached Cygnus and immediately saw the resemblance between her and Aria. He then told her that he preferred her with a smile, something that he would tell Aria frequently, and vanished in a flash. After he disappeared, Cygnus found that Phantom had placed the real Skaia in her hands, thus returning it back to its rightful owner after centuries of safeguarding it.

(A/N: I always see people who say that Phantom and Cygnus should end up together, but those people also need to be reminded that Cygnus is literally a child and doesn’t become an adult until Tenebris. In my mind, Phantom looking out for Cygnus has always been because he views her as the child that he and Aria never had, and shipping him with Cygnus, even as an adult, makes him feel like a creepy child groomer who has a countdown for the day that she turns 18.

The translators who did the GMS localization don’t help with this because the GMS dialogue has him tell both Cygnus and Aria, “I prefer a woman with a smile on her face,” while the direct KMS translation of what he says is more along the lines of, “Your smiling face fits you the best,” which removes the inherent flirtiness from it. This weird trend of lewding kids like Lucid and Cygnus or shipping them with adults probably comes from people not reading the dialogue, and since the art style makes everyone look around the same age, people probably just assume that everyone is an adult.)

Back on the Lumiere, Phantom sighed in relief that it had only been Hilla whom he had faced and thought to himself that if any of the real Commanders had been there, he would have been in serious trouble. (A/N: Get wrecked, Hilla. It’s a bit ironic, considering that Hilla will go on to become the strongest Commander during the events of Tenebris.) He then congratulated Gaston on a job well done, as his butler had used laser lights to trick Hilla and the audience into believing that the powerful skills which he had been using were real.

Gaston cautioned Phantom against provoking a Commander in his weakened state and suggested that he continue his training. Phantom followed his advice and began training against the monsters in the training rooms of the airship, but he soon returned to Gaston in a huff and complained about how difficult it was to fight while being weak.

Gaston was amused and told Phantom that he had already taken the liberty of buying a potion that held accumulated strength. Though Phantom drank it all, he found that he had barely gotten any stronger. Gaston laughed and told him to take pride in his own strength by training more. After another round of training, Phantom returned once again to complain to Gaston, who told him that Christiane, one of his intelligence gatherers, wanted to give him a report on her assignment.

At the information deck, Christiane told him that she had finished investigating the Black Wings and had learned that a Black Wings member named Stephan was selling Black Wings hats. As her team hadn’t been able to learn much about the Black Wings’ actions, Christiane explained that she had obtained a hat and gave it to Phantom, hoping that he could learn more about the Black Wings by infiltrating their ranks.

In Edelstein, Phantom decided to get information from the watchmen in town. He first talked to Leonore, who mistook him for a grunt and ordered him to find her ring. After he recovered it, Leonore told him that she had joined the Black Wings in order to get away from the people who had loaned her money to buy the ring. She herself wasn’t sure of what the Black Wings did, but she added that she was glad to be away from the loan sharks. Next, he spoke to Wonny, who ordered him to tell Belle to take care of the Strange Signs. Belle told Phantom that the signs frightened her and begged him to take care of them in her place.

After defeating them, he returned to Wonny, who had noticed that Phantom had done Belle’s job for her. He told Phantom that helping the townspeople wasn’t something that a Black Wings member did. He explained that he had lived in Edelstein for most of his life, and that he had seen good people turned into something that they weren’t. He cautioned Phantom that being a Black Wings member meant being a scumbag and warned him to watch himself around the other Black Wings.

(A/N: The Edelstein town quests reveal that Wonny has joined the Black Wings in order to keep an eye on his girlfriend, Gabrielle, the former Council President’s daughter who’s being held hostage by the Black Wings in the Verne Mine. Though the people of Edelstein know that he’s not truly one of the Black Wings, Wonny still feels disgusted with himself for all the things that he has to do in order to keep up the ruse that he’s a loyal watchman, as he feels terrible about hurting the people of his hometown just so that he can keep Gabrielle from harm.)

Phantom then went to see Bavan, who asked him to bring back a Snake Leather Bag, after which he congratulated Phantom for trying to climb up the ranks, adding that he himself was hoping to reach the upper echelons of the organization in order to get the real benefits. Phantom quickly realized that none of the watchmen had any idea about the purpose of the Black Wings, though he felt that Bavan might know something about the upper ranks. However, Bavan merely dismissed Phantom as lazy and compared him to Stephan, the watchman who had a business selling Black Wings hats.

Phantom went to see Stephan, who offered to trade information in exchange for Batteries from the Patrol Robot S monsters. He then told Phantom that the high-ranking officers of the Black Wings were rarely in Edelstein, as most were away on missions in order to collect resources and artifacts. He mentioned that it was possible to encounter the founder of the Black Wings, who was working to extract a great deal of energy from Edelstein, but he added that the chances of meeting them were astronomical, and instead suggested that he speak to Le Tierre the secretary in order to learn more.

Inside the Verne Mine, Le Tierre asked him to prove himself by defeating Safety First monsters. She then told him to wait inside a nearby room, where she would introduce him to the Black Wings officers, whom she promised would promote him for his work. Inside, however, he found Black Wings henchmen waiting to ambush him. After defeating them all, he wondered what he had done to make Le Tierre suspicious, though he quickly dismissed the thought and returned to the Lumiere, where he asked Christiane to locate a Black Wings officer.

Some time later, a member of the intelligence team named Colette informed Phantom that she had found a lead and told him to speak with Tru in Lith Harbor. Phantom remembered Tru from the time that they had worked together to find the Seal Stone of Victoria Island and went to meet him at his shop.

Tru greeted him and began reminiscing about their old adventure together, laughing that he never would have guessed at the time that Phantom was one of the legendary Heroes. Getting to the point, he told Phantom that he had been gathering information on the Seal Stones ever since their adventure. Phantom told Tru that he had heard that someone had almost stolen the Seal Stone of Victoria Island from Aran, but Tru explained that it had been difficult for Aran to protect both the Seal Stone of Victoria Island and the Seal Stone of Ereve.

(A/N: This doesn’t make much sense, since Aran never tried to save the Seal Stone of Ereve besides just giving Neinheart a warning, and no one was trying to steal the Seal Stone of Victoria Island during her storyline either.)

He then told Phantom that he had been tracking Puppeteer Francis, and that he had discovered that Francis had made himself a hideout in the Golem Temple. Phantom infiltrated the hideout and attacked Francis, who was easily defeated. Francis began crying that he was taking a break from the Black Wings because he kept failing all his missions and getting beaten up all the time.

Phantom demanded that Francis answer his questions, but when Francis refused, Phantom beat him up once again. When Francis began crying harder, Phantom realized that he couldn’t get any information out of Francis in his current state, and so he attempted to placate the Puppeteer by offering to fix the puppet that he had broken by collecting Golem Cores.

After repairing Francis’ puppet, Phantom asked him what the goal of the Black Wings was. Francis was dumbfounded and asked why Phantom had beaten him up, only to ask something that anyone on the street could have answered, and told him that the Black Wings were trying to revive the Black Mage. Phantom asked him why reviving the Black Mage required extracting so much energy from Edelstein, to which Francis replied that he didn’t know much aside from what Le Tierre had told him about needing energy in order to revive the Black Mage.

Phantom then asked why the Black Wings were collecting the Seal Stones, as they should be useless without the Black Mage unsealed. (A/N: This line has retroactively become a plot hole with the Explorer revamp, since the Black Mage has obviously been unsealed at this point.) Francis told him that they needed to collect all the Seal Stones in order to bring the Black Mage back, but Phantom grew irritated at his answer and told Francis to stop lying, explaining that the Seal Stones didn’t have that kind of power. Francis whimpered that he was telling the truth, as the information had come straight from the founder of the Black Wings.

When Francis refused to tell him any more, Phantom attacked him yet again, but even after being defeated, Francis refused to reveal the founder’s identity, though he accidentally let it slip that she was a woman. (A/N: Phantom holds the record for having beaten up Francis the most out of any class.)

Phantom deduced that the founder couldn’t be Hilla, as the Black Wings weren’t skeletons, and that it couldn’t be Magnus or Guwaru, since they were men. He deduced that the Demon wouldn’t have rejoined the Black Mage, Von Leon never left El Nath, and Arkarium was too old. Through the process of elimination, he came to a single conclusion: Lotus.

(A/N: Honestly, he could’ve eliminated most of them just based on the knowledge that the founder is a woman. I’m guessing that it was because the writers wanted to take the chance to reveal the identities of the original seven Commanders. It also doesn’t make much sense that Phantom’s conclusion was Lotus, but I’m guessing that he likely realized that it was Orchid and then jumped to the next conclusion that her real goal likely had something to do with Lotus. This is also the first time that Magnus and Guwaru were mentioned in the game, which actually predates their initial appearance in Luminous’ storyline.

While Nexon revealed that they only formed an official story team after Tenebris, I have strong suspicions that there’s been an unofficial story group since Phantom’s storyline. A while back, Nexon explained that they used to draft stories by dragging regular employees into the writing room and having them make up lore.

My theory is that around the time of Phantom’s storyline, a handful of employees who liked the story became the de-facto group of people called in to develop the lore, which is why there was a notable shift in the amount of foreshadowing and effort placed into the story, especially when you consider that Kaiser and Angelic Buster’s storylines introduced the overarching lore about the Overseers and the Transcendents in the very next patch after Phantom’s. Additionally, Phantom’s storyline is where the writers started laying the groundwork to tie together the lore about the Seal Stones and the real purpose of the Black Wings, which all came together in Black Heaven.)

Feeling a small amount of pity for Francis, Phantom brought him more Golem Cores for his troubles and then asked what he would do once the Black Mage returned. Francis told him that he would ask the Black Mage to make him the King of Ludibrium, allowing him to rule a kingdom of puppets, and vowed that he would recover the Seal Stone of Victoria Island in order to do so, claiming that he already knew where it was.

Phantom then left the Golem Temple and shook his head at the foolishness of the Black Wings in thinking that the Black Mage would share his power, as Phantom knew him to be a being who only sought the destruction of Maple World. He wondered why the Black Wings would want the Seal Stones, as they were only a safety net in case they couldn’t defeat the Black Mage. He was sure that Orchid must have known about their purpose and wondered whether she was using the Black Wings for her own purposes.

Recalling how Francis had revealed that he knew where the Seal Stone of Victoria Island was, Phantom realized that Tru may be in danger and returned to Lith Harbor in order to warn him. He told Tru how he had beaten the information out of Francis and asked if the Seal Stone was still safe, to which Tru explained that he had given it to Aran to safeguard in Rien and promised to warn Lilin about a possible Black Wings attack, adding that he would reach out if anything came up.

Phantom then returned to the Lumiere and told Christiane about what he had learned. Christiane suggested that if Orchid really was using the Black Wings for her own purposes, then they might be able to make a truce with the Black Wings. Phantom doubted that they could ever become allies, but Christiane reminded him that if the Black Wings executives were withholding such critical information, then it would only be a matter of time before the infighting started, which could be an opportunity for him to negotiate an alliance. Until then, she recommended that Phantom continue his training, as his future enemies would undoubtedly be stronger than Francis.

After continuing his training, Phantom believed that he was strong enough to use some of his more powerful skills. Though he didn’t have a teacher anymore, he remembered that he had compiled notes from his original training and had left them in secret vaults around Maple World. To get the skills that he needed for his current strength, he entered his vault in Orbis.

There, he found that the lock on his vault had remained untouched, making him disappointed in the thieves who had appeared over the centuries. Upon realizing that he didn’t have the key to unlock it, he broke the lock and entered his vault, where he began rummaging through some of his old treasures. (A/N: Some of his treasures include the world’s first meso, the only existing Reverse Miracle Cube, the first edition of “A History of Ribbon Pigs”, and a copy of “The Great Mushroom Uprising”.)

He then found his notes and began reminiscing about his old teacher, Raven, who had emphasized the importance of learning a skill twice in order to remember it. He wished to himself that Raven would have taken his own advice and learned how to defuse a bomb twice, recalling that his death had been a sad day for everyone.

(A/N: I’m really interested to know about Raven and his troupe that Phantom joined. While they have the opportunity to tell a lot of major backstories in the Grand Athenaeum, I wish that they had a Not As Grand Athenaeum, where they can present interesting side stories that don’t have much to do with the main plot.)

Soon after, one of Phantom’s maids, Marguerite, learned that he had given a lavish bag to Bavan and threatened to go on strike unless he brought her one as well. After finding another Snake Leather Bag, Phantom gave it to Marguerite, who thanked him and gave him an elegant chair as a gift.

(A/N: There’s a bit of a continuity error in this exchange, as both Phantom and Marguerite talk as though Phantom had given the bag to another woman, even though he had given it to Bavan. I like to think that she assumed that he had given it to some other woman and he had gone along with it in order to avoid having to tell her that he had given the bag to someone like Bavan over her.)

Soon after, Tru contacted Phantom about a mysterious ship sailing towards Rien. Though he had already warned Aran about it, he wanted to let Phantom know as well, in case she needed backup. Phantom rushed to Rien and defeated the Black Wings henchmen in town before finding Lilin and Aran. Lilin told Phantom that Aran had taken care of most of the invasion herself, though she thanked him for his help. When Phantom asked whether the Seal Stone was safe, Lilin explained that she had locked it up in the Rien Library.

She then told Phantom that she wanted to ask him a question about the Heroes, which Aran couldn’t answer because of her amnesia. She asked him if the people of Maple World from centuries ago had known about the Heroes and their actions in fighting the Black Mage. Phantom told her that the Heroes had been very well-known and asked Lilin why she wondered such a thing. Lilin told him that she knew that the Heroes had to have been well-known, but given that it was the case, she asked him why the Heroes had been forgotten.

A surprised Phantom asked her to elaborate, and so Lilin explained that despite the Heroes having taken down one of the worst villains in Maple World, there wasn’t a single record of their victory, which she found strange, even after taking into account that it had happened centuries ago. She told him that the Rien Clan had a record of every feat and accomplishment of the Heroes, but the rest of the world had no knowledge of both the Heroes and the Black Mage, as though they had all been wiped from the history book.

Phantom decided to look into it, claiming that even if someone had been erasing the Heroes from history over centuries, there had to be a few clues that they couldn’t have covered up. Before he left, he asked if she would be alright in Rien, to which Lilin explained that between Aran and the penguin warriors, Rien was one of the safest places in Maple World. She assured him that if things got too bad, she would give the Seal Stone of Victoria Island to the Alliance for safekeeping.

Phantom then returned to the Lumiere and told Colette about what he had learned. Colette promised him that she would scour Maple World for any untampered record of the Heroes in order to find any leads. Soon after, Colette reached out to Phantom and told him that even after thoroughly investigating, she couldn’t find a single record of the Heroes. While she continued her search, she told him to seek out Alcaster in El Nath, who was ancient enough to have been able to remember the Heroes.

Phantom went to see Alcaster, who told him that he had been living in El Nath for over 300 years. Though he hadn’t been born during the time of the Black Mage, he explained that his old teacher had lived during that era, and that his teacher had told him about the legend of the Heroes. Alcaster added that ever since Cygnus had come into power, she had made the Heroes much more well-known, as they had been virtually forgotten before then. He also told Phantom that his master had left behind a diary in his laboratory, which he believed might have more details about the Heroes, and so he sent Phantom to the fifth floor of Orbis Tower in order to recover it.

While searching the laboratory, Phantom encountered Black Wings henchmen and managed to defeat them. Realizing that the diary was missing, he returned to Alcaster, who was surprised that the Black Wings had broken into the laboratory. He wondered why they would have taken the diary, as it held no information besides personal musings.

Phantom asked if there was anything else in the laboratory that could have been of interest to the Black Wings, such as formulas, schematics, treasure maps, or jewels. Alcaster told him that the only jewel in the laboratory was a worthless gem that his master had referred to as a Seal Stone, explaining that he himself had found no use for it in his incantations or alchemy, and so he had left it alone. Phantom realized that the Seal Stone of El Nath was exactly what the Black Wings had been after, and that he had let it slip out of his hands.

(A/N: This part of Phantom’s storyline conflicts with Evan’s storyline. It’s implied in Evan’s storyline that the Seal Stone of El Nath is hidden in the basement of the Chief’s Residence, though they only say that an important treasure had been hidden there, giving some wiggle room to interpret that it may have been some other artifact. Given that the Black Wings had some interest in the elven treasure Mistelteinn, it’s possible that they were after a similar relic, even though everything about Evan’s storyline suggests that it should’ve been a Seal Stone.)

Alcaster was surprised that the Black Wings would steal something so useless and believed that they might not have taken the diary after all. Phantom returned to the laboratory for another search and successfully recovered it. He brought it to Alcaster, who realized that the diary was an incomprehensible mess. (A/N: Sounds like me taking notes in class.)

He lamented that he wouldn’t be able to tell Phantom more about the war from 300 years ago, explaining that most people were unaware of the war, despite how all of Maple World had once struggled under its influence. He added that it was only thanks to the efforts of people like Athena Pierce that peace had returned back to the land.

Phantom thought it surprising that the shy girl who had followed Mercedes into battle had grown up to become a great leader, though he also remembered that she had been helpful during the battle against the Black Mage. Alcaster told him that much had been lost when the war had descended upon them, and that the records of that time seemed to have vanished in flames, as though they were kindling for that unwanted battle. He mused that the war had taken much from the people, including the past, and hoped that the young would never have to face such horrors again. 

Phantom then returned to training around Maple World until Colette reached out to him again and suggested that he visit the library in Helios Tower, where every piece of text in Maple World was said to exist. She explained that if no record of the Heroes existed there, it would confirm that someone had been tampering with history.

At the library, Wiz the Librarian told him that the records on the Black Mage and the Heroes were still in-house, but he warned that they wouldn’t be easy to find, since unpopular books were usually relegated to the library vault. Phantom went to the vault to search for any books on the Heroes, but instead found several books on the shelf precisely burned in a way that left the other books untouched. Just then, Black Wings henchmen appeared and began to attack Phantom.

After defeating them, he returned to the main library and told Wiz that someone had been burning his books. To his shock, however, Wiz began to attack him. After being beaten back to his senses, Wiz seemed to have no recollection of the past few minutes, as though his body had not been his own for a moment.

Phantom recalled seeing something strange shooting out of Wiz when the librarian had been knocked out and wondered what sort of magic could cause someone to become possessed. Moreover, he wondered how despite Helios Library having books on every topic in Maple World, a fire would start under the only books that pertained to the Heroes.

Phantom was certain that someone was tampering with the history of Maple World, and that they seemed to be able to possess others. Though a seduction spell would be simple enough to control someone, Phantom noted that the entity had taken Wiz over from the inside. He returned to the Lumiere and told Colette everything that he had learned. He then ordered her to switch focus from investigating historical records to instead looking into whatever force had possessed Wiz. 

After the incident at the library, Phantom continued his training and soon grew strong enough that he decided to relearn some of his stronger skills. He went to his secret vault in Ariant, where he noted that the city was still the same desolate wasteland of rich oppressors that he had left behind centuries ago in order to become something more.

At the entrance of the vault, he discovered dust and realized that someone must have broken inside, as his vaults were airtight. There, he discovered Dust Dwarves and defeated them all in order to enter the vault. After finding his notes, he reminisced about the old days when he had first devoted his life to taking down the rich, throwing away his old name and becoming Phantom for the sake of it all. 

Soon after, Colette contacted Phantom and told him that she had discovered that Wiz had been controlled through spirit possession, which allowed a soul to enter another person’s body, explaining that the strange entity that Phantom had seen fleeing the scene was likely a soul. She told him to go to Sleepywood and meet the Rememberer, who was an expert in spirit possession.

The Rememberer was shocked to see what he described as an unholy terror on Phantom’s back and asked him what he had gotten mixed up in, as there was a terrifying burden on his back, invisible to Phantom. He told Phantom that he would make a charm to weaken the creature, though he added that Phantom would need to talk to it and make it go away on his own. In order to help make the charm, Phantom entered the Cursed Temple and collected Tauromacis Blood. The Rememberer then crafted the charm and told Phantom to use it at a Shaman Rock.

After Phantom activated the charm, he was teleported to a cave, where he found an unconscious Mu Young and the soul of Lotus hovering over him. Lotus greeted Phantom and explained that though his body had remained comatose for centuries, his soul was able to roam free. Phantom told Lotus that he was surprised to see him alive after their battle at the Temple of Time.

Lotus replied that he couldn’t die while knowing that Phantom and the other Heroes were running around free. He confirmed that he had been the one who had possessed Wiz, explaining that he had discovered the power to possess others after his soul had left his body. To demonstrate it once again, he possessed Mu Young’s body and began to fight Phantom. After being defeated, Lotus released Mu Young and commended Phantom for having regaining more of his strength.

Before Lotus left, Phantom asked if he had been the one erasing the Heroes from history. Lotus was amused that Phantom had discovered his scheme and told him that he had been erasing records of the Black Mage, with the Heroes’ erasure being incidental. Phantom asked what Lotus was planning, to which Lotus merely told him to figure it out himself. With that, Lotus disappeared and Phantom was sent back to Sleepywood.

(A/N: I don’t really know why exactly he’s been doing this in the first place and they never really explain it either. I doubt that the Black Mage had given him the orders, and so I’m guessing that Lotus did it so that the Alliance wouldn’t have any information to help them face the Black Mage. The idea that Lotus was destroying key historical records was brought up in the revamped Dual Blade storyline during the same patch that released Phantom, which incorporated Lotus’ actions with the backstory on the Dual Blades. I’ve included those events in an earlier section, as well as an explanation about the plot holes that got opened up with the changes.)

Phantom wondered whether Orchid knew that Lotus could possess people, though he was more interested in knowing why Lotus had been destroying historical documents. Though he briefly wondered whether Lotus had caused the war 300 years ago, he told himself not to jump to conclusions. Based on what he had learned, Phantom knew that Lotus’ physical body was comatose somewhere in Maple World, and so Phantom decided to destroy Lotus’ body in order to get rid of his soul.

Knowing that he and Orchid were inseparable, Phantom surmised that they would still be close together and concluded that Lotus’ body was somewhere inside the Verne Mine. As there were too many enemies in the mine, Phantom told Christiane to analyze the Black Wings headquarters for weaknesses. As Christiane continued working, Phantom wondered whether the massive amounts of energy that Orchid was harvesting was related to Lotus. 

Soon after, Christiane contacted Phantom and told him that all the energy being harvested in Edelstein was coming from the Power Plant, which was being funneled into a single point inside the mine. She explained that there were rumors that Orchid’s room was deep inside the Power Plant and offered to look into it. Phantom told her that there was no need, as he would go himself in order to destroy Lotus.

Christiane warned Phantom that it would be dangerous and cautioned him against charging into a zone full of enemies for an unsubstantiated rumor. Phantom told her that he had a gut feeling that there was something more to it, and reassured her that if Lotus wasn’t there, then he would simply take down Orchid instead. Christiane told him that he was behaving strangely and rushing in without thinking, to which Phantom darkly told her that she didn’t know him as well as she thought, and that he would do what needed to be done.

(A/N: Phantom is one of the most emotionally complex characters in the game, and he’s one of my favorites. While he’s normally a happy-go-lucky showoff, he can just as easily flip to having stone-cold murderous intent. His dark side is scarier than that of many of the villains.)

Phantom rushed to the Verne Mine and infiltrated the Power Plant. Past Orchid’s room, he found a hidden laboratory, where he discovered Lotus’ comatose body floating in a tank. Phantom mocked Lotus about how far he had fallen compared to the time when he and Orchid had ransacked Ereve. Though he admitted that he wasn’t one to attack a defenseless foe, he added that he was also smart enough to recognize an opportunity when he saw it. Just as Phantom was about to kill him, Lotus’ soul possessed Phantom and seized control of his body.

An amused Lotus asked Phantom whether his senses had been so dulled that he would fall for such an easy plot, musing that it was possible that Phantom had merely been fooling everyone into thinking that he was as clever as he claimed. He explained that possession was difficult to perform, as only the weak-minded were susceptible to his powers from a distance. Knowing this, he had manipulated Phantom into coming close to his body, where he could easily possess him. He told Phantom that he knew that the thief would fall for his trap, as once he had his sights set on revenge, he had a one-track mind that couldn’t see the bigger picture.

With that, he forced Phantom to leave Edelstein and travel to Ereve. There, Lotus had Phantom approach the garden where Cygnus was resting. Phantom immediately realized that Lotus was planning on having him kill Cygnus, thus eliminating the leader of the Alliance and turning the world against him. Cygnus spotted Phantom and approached him, glad to have a chance to see him again after he had stopped Hilla.

Phantom struggled to remove Lotus’ hold on his body, but when he realized that he couldn’t stop himself, he desperately let out a silent plea for help. Just then, the spirit of Empress Aria appeared, much to Lotus’ shock. Aria explained that while she didn’t have the power to destroy him, she could drive him out of Phantom for good. With that, Phantom regained his senses and awoke to the sight of Aria’s spirit.

Aria gently scolded Phantom for being as bull-headed as ever, and for being so blinded by his quest for vengeance that he had never bothered to move on with his life, reminding him that he used to be smarter. She then told him that as the Empress of Maple World, she wanted to thank him for everything that he had done, explaining that she owed him a debt of gratitude that no one could begin to repay. As a mere woman, however, she apologized to him for leaving him with such a heavy burden to carry.

She likened him to an uncaged bird singing in the night when they had first met, though he was now trapped in a cage of unending conflict. However, she reminded him that neither of them asked for the fates that they had been given and asked that there be no more apologies or sadness between them, as she was proud to leave Maple World in his hands. She added that her words weren’t meant just for him, but for Cygnus as well, and asked him to share them with her, as there was no future without her leadership. With that, she disappeared for the last time and left Phantom alone.

(A/N: This entire scene, from the moment that Lotus possessed Phantom to Aria’s appearance, is what got me invested in the lore of the game. Even though there are still so many other well-written stories out there, Phantom’s storyline is still really special to me after all these years and without it, it’s likely that this website might never have been written in the first place.)

Reflecting on Aria’s words, Phantom was ashamed that in spite of his talk that he wanted to follow in her footsteps, he had just been using her ideals as an excuse for getting revenge on Lotus and Orchid. He realized that it was the reason why he hadn’t wanted to join the Alliance in the first place, as he had known that they wouldn’t approve of his goals. In the end, he realized that he wasn’t the kind of fighter that they needed, and that he didn’t deserve to be called a hero. Despite it all, however, he knew that Aria had still trusted him and he realized that he couldn’t betray that trust.

Cygnus then approached Phantom and told him that she was glad to meet him again, adding that she was sure that he had had his reasons for denying her the chance to thank him the last time that they had met, though she also added that she had something important to tell him. She explained that centuries ago, only five people had been brave enough to stand up against the Black Mage, but in the present day, there were hundreds willing to fight alongside him.

She asked him not to carry the burden of the fight on his own, reminding him that he had allies if he was willing to trust them. Phantom conceded that Cygnus had a compelling argument, as the Alliance could have helped him during his last few missions. He agreed to join the Alliance, adding that they could benefit from the greatest thief in the history of Maple World.

Soon after, Phantom decided that it was time to relearn his most powerful skills, and so he traveled to his vault in Leafre, which contained his most treasured possessions, many of which were simple keepsakes. He approached the voice-activated Guardioso, which was unexpectedly unable to recognize his voice and proceeded to attack him as an intruder.

After destroying it, Phantom realized that its warranty had expired just the day before, meaning that he would need to spend another fortune in order to replace it. Nevertheless, he entered the vault and found his notes behind a magnificent portrait of Aria. He reminisced about his first encounter with her, when he had written her a letter in order to tell her that he would be coming to steal Skaia, claiming that it would be his greatest achievement. He fondly remembered how he had never expected that Aria, rather than being a pushover, actually had a will of steel, which had caused him to fall in love with her.

Shortly after having recovered his notes, Phantom decided that he wanted a mount in order to ride in style. As the only mounts centuries ago had been horses and large monkeys, he wanted something spectacular in order to show off his wealth in the modern age. He went to speak with Gaston about it, who revealed that he had already ordered a top-of-the-line car. However, because there had been some delays in its shipping, he recommended that Phantom check on the manufacturer in Magatia.

There, he spoke with a Zenumist named Bedin, who explained that he had accidentally broken the Lidium engine while installing it and sheepishly asked if Phantom could provide the sum to buy more Lidium, as he had spent all his money on the broken engine, though he promised to pay him back as soon as he could. (A/N: Well that was a lie, there’s 10 million mesos that I’m never getting back.) After Phantom gave him the money, Bedin finished constructing the car and gave it to Phantom, who named it Rolls.