PART III: AFTER THE UNSEALING OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 19: Shadow Alchemist

(A/N: The events of this section are from the Shadow Alchemist chapter of the Grand Athenaeum, which serves as a direct prequel to Zero’s storyline. It’s actually very impressive how perfectly the events of this story transition into the start of Zero’s class story.

When you start this chapter in the Grand Athenaeum, Zero gets some exclusive dialogue. When Zero talks to Skylark Rita in order to be sent into the book, Skylark Rita tells them that it should be an interesting experience for them and adds that they’ll soon see when Alpha and Beta express their confusion.

The scene then cuts to a small sequence set towards the end of the chapter, in which Fang - the protagonist of this chapter - speaks to the Alpha in the story and calls him Eight, to which he’ll reply that his name is actually Nine. Alpha will then express his surprise that he’s seeing himself in Shadowvale and wonders why he doesn’t remember any of it.)

In Mirror World, the Child of the Goddess had been split into a boy and a girl. The boy served as part of the Shadow Knights under Will’s command, while the girl was imprisoned in the Umbra Temple, a corrupted version of the Child of the Goddess’ Temple. However, the boy soon encountered his counterpart in the Umbra Temple, where the Shadow Knights stopped him from freeing her and wiped his memories. This repeated seven times in total, with the boy being given a new name each cycle until he became known as Eight.

During a Shadow Knight meeting, Will and his second-in-command, Lyra, went over their strategy, which was to make Eight, whom they called the Impure One, believe that they were defending their town of Shadowvale, though their true goal was to stop him from getting close to the Umbra Temple.

(A/N: I’ve complained before about how unimaginative Nexon is with their names, like how they named the Sanctuary of the Ancient God similar to the actual Ancient Gods, or how they refer to both the Flora Civil War and the war between the Adversaries and the Ancient Gods as the Ancient War, but Zero’s storyline takes it to a ridiculous degree. We have three different Shadow Knights in the game: Will’s Shadow Knights, the Shadowknight guild from Masteria, and the Shadow Knight who serves the Black Wings. We also have Shadowvale from Mirror World and Shadow Vale Forest from Tynerum. Would it really kill them to try being original for once?)

After the meeting, a Shadow Knight alchemist named Fang asked the medic, Milo, about the outside world, as those memories had been lost to them after arriving in Mirror World. (A/N: Fang is the character you play as in the Shadow Alchemist storyline. Canonically, Fang is male, though the character who plays through his story in the Grand Athenaeum is the player’s gender.) Milo told Fang that Mirror World seemed more realistic than the real world, and though he felt that being a medic was boring, he still enjoyed Mirror World, except for having to deal with Keene, a fellow Shadow Knight.

Just then, Keene and another knight named Seamus arrived. Keene began to mock Milo for being useless in fighting, but Seamus told him to be quiet and asked Fang and Milo to return back to Shadowvale before the Darklings appeared. He also warned them to take their Shade Neutralizer in case they met the Darklings so that they wouldn’t get cursed and transform into Darklings themselves.

Milo was dejected that they wouldn’t be able to collect their quota, but Fang told Milo to return back while he collected the rest of Milo’s ingredients for him. Fang then collected Moonlight Mushroom Powder from the Darkling Stumps and put them in his backpack. Having finished his task, he decided to explore the area uninterrupted instead of heading back. Further into the forest, he encountered Eight fighting Darklings and marveled at how perfect his swordplay was, though he told himself that he shouldn’t idolize Eight, as he was the Impure One.

The next day, Fang finished crafting Shade Neutralizers and took them to the Shadow Knight meeting. There, Lyra gave Eight a mission and told him that he would be promoted to S-class if he succeeded. As everyone moved out, Eight asked Fang if he could hand over some neutralizers before he left. After giving them to Eight, Fang watched him walk away when suddenly, Will appeared and knowingly told Fang about the irony of the deceiver envying the deceived, adding that Eight’s work as a fighter must be glamorous compared to Fang’s role on the medical corps.

Though he understood Fang’s feelings, Will emphasized the importance of their mission and reminded Fang that there was no room to harbor doubt. He also warned Fang that the Shadow Forest’s curse was getting stronger and told him to stay away from local vegetation or wildlife. After Will left, Milo told Fang to meet him at Field 2-A.

Once Fang made his way there, Milo told him that they needed to clear out the Shadow Axe Stumps, as the monsters were making it difficult to harvest silk mushrooms. Fang defeated the monsters, but just as he was about to start harvesting, he found a rare floatstone butterfly and began to chase after it. He followed it to a pile of ruins with primroses growing all around them. Though he knew that Will had warned him to stay away from wildlife and vegetation, his curiosity got the better of him and he decided to examine some of the glowing golden fruit growing from the flowers.

He grew mesmerized by the aroma and, in a trance, he accidentally ate one of the fruits. Just then, Milo arrived and told Fang to return to the village. Fang, now lucid, realized that he had accidentally eaten one of the fruits and worried that he would transform into a Darkling. He went into the library, just as Keene called after him, asking for him to make him something to drink. Just then, Keene noticed Eight walking by and ordered him to make a cup of tea and to bring something to eat.

Inside the library, Fang began researching primroses and found that they bloomed at night and withered in the morning. He read that there had once been a girl who had thought that the moon was more beautiful than anything else. A kind fairy had noticed the girl’s devotion and had ensured that she would be reborn as a beautiful flower, which the fairy had named primrose, thus ensuring that the moon’s beauty would be reflected in every primrose blossom.

Just then, Eight entered the library and found Keene’s cup of tea, which he spat into in order to get back at Keene. He then noticed Fang watching him and jokingly threatened him not to say anything. He then made Fang find some peanuts for Keene, which he obtained from the Darkling Blobs in the basement. Eight then noticed that Fang was reading about primroses and began questioning him about it. When Fang began to behave suspiciously, Eight took the book and told him that he would think about whether he would tell anyone about it. 

After he left, Fang decided to report to Will and went to his office. Just as he was about to confess what he had done, he noticed a detailed board and asked Will about it. Will explained that it was a schematic for a mirror that could show one’s true self outside of Mirror World, as he knew that Fang had lately grown curious about the outside world. He told Fang that it was a reward for his hard work and explained that it would likely be ready by the next cycle, though he added that it was conditional on Fang not making any mistakes. Hearing this, Fang lied and told Will that he had nothing to report.

Soon after, all the knights arrived at the briefing, where Fang wondered about what would happen, since Eight knew about the primrose. Just then, Eight requested to Lyra that Fang be paired with him for his next meeting, as he wanted a medic nearby in case his injury from his last meeting worsened. Fang and Eight made their way to the field, where Fang asked why Eight had really asked for him. Eight explained that Fang was the only one whom he could trust, since they both had secrets. With that, Eight forced Fang to complete the mission for him by hunting Darkling Boars.

After Fang returned, Eight showed him the plant guide from the library and asked if Fang could make a Potion of Truth. Fang was surprised to see that the page that detailed how to brew a Potion of Truth was filled, as it had been blank when he had last read it, making him wonder whether someone had written it in as a prank.

Dejected, Eight told Fang to put the book back in the library. The next day, Fang returned to the library in order to review the page on the Potion of Truth. As he read through it, he was confused by one of the ingredients: a handful of moonlight. (A/N: I believe that this is the origin of the name for the moonlight mechanic in Will’s boss fight.)

Just then, he realized that the text for the Potion of Truth was written in his own handwriting. Before he could investigate any further, Keene arrived and ordered Fang to make medicine for his sprained wrist. As Keene complained about how awful the taste of the medicine was every time he drank it, Fang realized that Keene had been repeatedly injured on every supply mission that he could remember. Keene was confused and asked when else he had gone on a mission, to which Fang reminded Keene that he had said that the medicine tasted terrible “every time” he drank it.

Just then, Eight arrived and told Keene that he was taking Fang on a new mission before sending Keene off on a fake task. He then asked Fang to bring him spiney puff bush sap before they left. Fang obtained some from the Darkling Bloons in the storage room and gave it to Eight, who then pranked Keene by having a bucket of sap fall on his head when he opened the door.

As they fled the library, Fang noticed that new information had appeared in the plant book. Before he could examine it, Will appeared and asked for Fang to meet him in his office. Just as Fang was about to leave, Eight asked Fang if he had ever noticed that no one in the Shadow Knights ever seemed to notice any strange occurrences like Fang had observed the night before and told him that they should pay close attention to anyone who did notice things out of the ordinary.

As Fang headed out, he wondered whether Will was one of the suspicious people that Eight had mentioned, though he told himself that he didn’t want to believe it. In Will’s office, Fang told him everything that had happened, including the recipe for the Potion of Truth. Will told him that he himself had encountered the recipe in his research, and that it had taken him a long time to find an alternative for the ‘handful of moonlight’ ingredient, though he added that he had never tried using it.

Fang wondered if Will had also considered using a primrose and asked why he had never tried it. Will replied that it seemed pointless after a while to use alchemy to reveal the truth and asked Fang if he thought the practice to be strange. (A/N: It seems like there are a bunch of different potions out there that force someone to reveal the truth. Both Xenon’s storyline and the Magatia town quests reveal that the most simple and effective method is to just use Homunculus' Blood.)

Fang then recalled how Eight had asked him to remain vigilant about whether anyone else had noticed unusual things. Before Fang left, Will reminded him that questioning their purpose on the mission was considered treason. He warned Fang that Eight would try to get to the Umbra Temple, and that he would use the Potion of Truth to bait Fang into helping him. After Fang left, Kyson and Lyra arrived and asked Will if they should be worried by Fang’s determination to get to the truth. Will told them that he would have been worried if it weren’t for the fact that primrose was only a flower, and that its connection to moonlight was merely a fairytale.

After Fang left, he encountered Milo, who told him that Eight had left a message saying that he would be expecting Fang at Field 2-C-1. Before Milo left, he confirmed with Fang about whether he was taking the Shade Neutralizer. After Fang arrived at the field, Eight told him to hunt Darklings for their mission. Fang wondered why Eight thought that he could handle it, to which Eight replied that he believed that Fang was strong enough to the point that he wondered why the Shadow Knights were wasting Fang’s strength on grunt work for the medical corps.

As Fang took the Shade Neutralizer, he wondered why it tasted strange. Nevertheless, he finished hunting the Darklings and returned to Eight. He then showed Eight that the leftover Shade Neutralizer had turned into water. Eight then realized that the primrose fruit which Fang had eaten served as a Potion of Truth, which had revealed the hidden truth that the Shade Neutralizer was nothing more than water, meaning that there was no danger of turning into a Darkling without it. Eight then led Fang to the primrose plant, where he revealed the other ingredients for the Potion of Truth.

As Fang finished brewing the potion, a horde of Darklings appeared and began attacking them. As the two fought them off, Eight noticed that the Darklings were after the primrose plant. Eight pressed forward, but Fang warned him that they needed Shade Neutralizer. However, Eight told him that the neutralizer was a lie meant to brainwash them.

After defeating the rest of the Darklings, they heard a woman’s voice calling to them and Eight asked Fang to accompany him into the Umbra Temple. Fang recalled Will’s warning about not trusting Eight, but he told himself that if the Shade Neutralizer was a lie, then Will might be lying about Eight being a threat as well.

Just then, he realized that a Darkling had taken the primrose plant. Though Eight told him to forget about it, Fang reached for the stem of the primrose. The moment he touched it, however, the shadow curse began to take over. He then decided to turn back, telling Eight that his threats wouldn’t work on him anymore. Eight apologized for making it seem as though he was trying to use Fang and told him that he wouldn’t force him to come to the Umbra Temple.

The two then returned back to town, where Fang reflected on Eight’s words and his affirmation of friendship. He then realized that their friendship was all that mattered, and that everything else was a lie. Just then, he noticed that the plant book was writing itself again. After reading it, he concluded that what had happened to his hand wasn’t a curse, and that the truth behind everything was in the Umbra Temple.

Fang headed to the temple alone and fought his way past the Darkling Guards. Once he reached the deepest part of the temple, he found that the so-called monster of the temple was nothing more than a sleeping girl. Suddenly, Will arrived and confronted Fang, who asked Will for the truth. Will then showed him the mirror that he had completed, which could show one’s true self outside of Mirror World. Upon looking into the mirror, Fang realized that he was actually a Darkling created by Will in Mirror World. (A/N: It can be assumed that all the other Shadow Knights are Darklings as well.)

Fang confronted Will about lying to them about the outside world, but Will reassured Fang that he could still make it happen if Fang followed his orders. A few hours later, Eight himself arrived and fought his way into the Umbra Temple before facing Will. Will then revealed the truth about Mirror World - that the Shadow Knights had been created in order to keep him trapped, and that the endless time-loops and monster hunts were all a ruse to keep him distracted so that he could never awaken as the Transcendent of Time.

Just then, Fang arrived and Eight asked him if what Will had said was true. Following Will’s orders, Fang hesitantly told Eight that it was all true, and that Eight needed to drink the brainwashing Shade Neutralizer. Eight told Fang that he trusted him and readily drank the neutralizer, causing him to lose his memories again. As he was unable to recall his own name, Will told him that his name was Nine, and that he was a member of the Shadow Knights.

Once they returned back to town, Will thanked Fang for his help once again. Fang was surprised to know that it had happened before, and so Will explained that though Fang’s choices varied each time, he always ended up helping Will reset the cycle. Fang then returned to the library, where he found a note from Eight telling him that he was going to the Umbra Temple.

Eight had also revealed that the reason why he was always able to tell when Fang was nearby was because he had an unusual scent, which Eight had eventually learned was primrose. He also found that Eight had left behind an evening primrose as a gift. Unable to handle his guilt, Fang decided to put the primrose in a nearby drawer. However, when he opened the drawer, he found several other primroses that he realized had been from previous cycles. Fang began to feel ashamed that Eight had called him a friend each cycle, and that he had betrayed Eight each time in response.

Resolved to fix his mistake, he headed to Will’s office, where he asked if Will had been responsible for the book. Will replied that he had planted the book, but that Fang himself had added the notes in previous cycles, except for the last page, which Will had written himself. Fang recalled what had been written on the last page: “Once the seed has been planted, doubt grows like a weed. In the end, it chokes the mind entirely. No potion in the world can stop it. But if you distract the mind with a single anchor of truth, the roots of doubt will never truly take hold.”

Fang realized that he himself served as the anchor for Nine, and that as long as Nine trusted him, he would drink the neutralizer every time. Fang called Will out on all his lies, including the lie that Will would make him real. Will asked if Fang truly believed that he would allow him to leave Mirror World. Fang replied that his plan wouldn’t work, as Will couldn’t even control his own illusion.

Will suddenly grew angry and shot out a long spider leg to crack the ground in order to intimidate Fang, threatening him to do exactly as he said. (A/N: This was a big jumpscare moment in the story with the way that the music abruptly stopped and a giant pointy spider leg slammed into the ground.) Like a switch, Will returned back to normal and apologized for letting his emotions get the better of him. He then told Fang to return back to his quarters, where Milo would bring the neutralizer. He added that Milo had made an especially big contribution in the last cycle, and that he would be rewarded for it.

Rather than going back to his quarters, however, Fang realized that he needed the Potion of Truth in order to figure everything out, and so he resolved to go to Moonflower Hill. As he attempted to make his way outside town, he was stopped by Seamus and Keene, who told him that they were under orders to eliminate him if he tried to leave Shadowvale.

However, Fang quickly defeated them both and continued towards the hill. There, he began to brew the Potion of Truth. Though he learned that the primrose itself wasn’t a proper substitute for moonlight, it gave him the clue that he needed to find the truth. (A/N: They don’t explicitly confirm what this ingredient is, but it’s implied that it might be water holding the reflection of moonlight.)

Just then, Will arrived and noted how impressed he was that Fang had learned how to harness moonlight. However, he asked Fang if he knew what would happen if he went through with his plan. Fang told him that he already knew that he would take on his true Darkling form, but added that he was still resolved to bring the potion to Nine. Will then used his magic to attack Fang, who was quickly defeated. As Fang collapsed on the ground, Will stood before him holding the red Shade Neutralizer and the blue Potion of Truth.

(A/N: This is a Matrix reference where Neo is offered a red pill that would reveal the truth or a blue pill that would allow him to remain ignorant. The colors are switched in what they do in this storyline, as the red potion brainwashes him and the blue potion reveals the truth.)

Will then laughed and smashed the bottle of Truth Potion on the ground before giving Fang one more chance to drink the neutralizer and starting a new cycle, promising that he would ensure that Fang would get everything that he wanted if he were to return to being his old self again, as long as it was limited to within Mirror World. Unexpectedly, Fang refused and crawled to the puddle of Truth Potion that had spilled on the ground. Upon drinking it, he transformed back into his true Darkling form before retreating in search of Nine.

Disturbed by Fang’s unexpected choice and his inability to have anticipated it, Will consulted with the Black Mage, who told him that it would now be difficult to keep Nine subdued. Though Will told himself that he had exceeded expectations in keeping the Transcendent of Time imprisoned, he couldn’t shake his sense of unease.

Meanwhile, in the forest, a Darkling Fang appeared before Nine, whom he called Eight, and told him to go to the Umbra Temple, just as he disappeared forever. Nine was shaken that he hadn’t been transformed into a Darkling after having come into contact with one without having taken the Shade Neutralizer. He then realized that the neutralizer was a lie, and so he resolved to find the truth in the Umbra Temple.

(A/N: The storyline ends with a quote that says that there’s a folktale about how no one can tell a lie while standing in moonlight, and so if there’s a secret that you want revealed, then you should seek out moonlight, which provides answers, no matter how cruel.

Zero gets some exclusive dialogue at the end of seeing this story in the Grand Athenaeum. Alpha realizes that Fang had been trying to tell him that the neutralizer was fake all along, and that thanks to him, they were able to escape Will. Alpha will then feel sad that he forgot the only friend that he ever had, but Beta consoles him and reminds him that it wasn’t his fault, and that there was nothing that he could’ve done.)