PART IV: AFTER THE DEFEAT OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 15: Tallahart, Tomb of the Gods

(A/N: Tallahart is a major turning point in the continental Grandis story, as it sets the stage for the start of the proper war between the Alliance and the High Flora, with the Primacy being introduced as major allies for the Alliance in Grandis, as well as the Adversary continuing to unlock greater mastery over the World Heart and Darmoor’s true plan to create a paradise for ‘noble lives’ being made even clearer. It’s also the longest storyline at the time of its release, spanning almost two hours long without skipping through the story.

Personally for me, the storyline felt a little bit filler-y, as there wasn’t much that really ‘happened’ for the main story as much as it did tell a big self-contained story with hints of what’s to come next, but I still thought that it was one of the better entries in the Grandis storyline. Even though it could’ve explored it a bit deeper, it did a really good job of showing us more about the Ancient War and touched on the concept of the Adversary and how we’re different from our predecessors who were created in Odium. Unfortunately, they did sort of waste the villains, since the new Apostle, Baldrix, felt like a bit of a non-character, but overall there wasn’t anything I was super disappointed with in particular.

At the time of its release in the test server, there was a little bit of confusion in regard to how Tallahart fit together with the Extradimensional Visitors event, since a lot of the dialogue was worded as though we never met the Primacy in Tyrnog. This was fixed in the live server, and I used the chance to fill in the conditional exclusive dialogue in the case that the player didn’t complete the Extradimensional Visitors event, although that’s still subject to change depending on how the permanent version of Extradimensional Visitors is incorporated into the game. My bet is that it’ll be an optional side area like Yum Yum Island, Reverse City, and Sellas, and we’ll retain the conditional dialogue like we do in other storylines, such as Karote for Reverse City.)

Soon after the dimensional machine was stabilized inside Tyrnog, Neinheart summoned the Adversary to Ereve in order to brief them on the movements of the High Flora army. He explained that Hawkeye – originally tasked with locating Havoc after the battle of Cernium – had instead switched focus to monitoring the Flora army after Havoc had revealed himself at Carcion. The Adversary then traveled to Ereve, where they met with Neinheart and a hologram of Hawkeye.

(A/N: Mihile gets some exclusive dialogue with Hawkeye at the beginning of their interaction. Hawkeye greets Mihile and hesitantly notes that he must have been having a hard time. At Mihile’s silence, Hawkeye explains that he had heard about Empress Cygnus’ fate, though he adds that he’s certain that she’s having good dreams. Mihile replies that it’s his own fault for not protecting the Empress, and that he should have tried harder. However, Hawkeye reminds him that the burden wasn’t his alone, as it was the responsibility of them all as Cygnus Knights to have protected her.

He then expresses his regret for not having been there when Ereve had been attacked, though he stops himself and notes that they shouldn’t talk so negatively, as Cygnus wouldn’t like it, since she always wanted them to be strong. He then suggests that they change the subject and get back to the meeting, as they need something good to report to Cygnus once she awakens. Mihile agrees and adds that Hawkeye is right about how they need to focus on doing what must be done, after which Neinheart begins the meeting.

Thunder Breakers also get some exclusive dialogue with Hawkeye at the beginning of their interaction. Hawkeye greets the player and tells them that he hopes that they’ve been doing great things while he’s been away. The player hesitantly brings up the Empress, to which Hawkeye assures them that what happened to Cygnus wasn’t their fault, and that she’ll definitely wake up, for which he says that they should instead look to the fight ahead. The player agrees with Hawkeye and tells them that they’ll keep that in mind, after which Neinheart begins the meeting.)

Hawkeye reported that he had been hoping to deduce Darmoor’s location by tracking Havoc’s movements after his disappearance in Cernium, though the Apostles had soon launched their widespread attack first, resulting in the invasion of Ereve and the battle in Carcion. As Neinheart had feared that the Alliance would suffer a crippling defeat due to their lack of information, Hawkeye explained that Neinheart had tasked him with assessing the damage from their prior battles and determining where the Apostles had stolen the power of the Ancient Gods from.

Hawkeye then pointed out a region in the center of Grandis, where he had discovered traces of the High Flora army, despite them having left that region almost completely alone. Neinheart noted that it seemed suspicious that the High Flora had not moved to attack the region like the others, which made him suspect that they were exploring the area instead. Hawkeye explained that while there was little information available about the area, they needed to exercise great caution, as the center of the continent where that area was located brushed the heart of the High Flora nation. Neinheart agreed and decided to authorize an investigation into the region and the High Flora’s purpose there, for which he tasked Hawkeye with gathering information from the Seekers in Hotel Arcus.

Though the Adversary wished to check on Archelon’s safety after the Apostles’ raids on the Ancient Gods, Neinheart asked Hawkeye to handle the investigation alone, as he needed to discuss an update on Seren’s last message with the Adversary regarding ‘the place where the world starts again’. After Hawkeye left to visit Arcus, Neinheart instructed the Adversary to meet with Carlisle at a top-secret meeting place at the outskirts of Cernium. There, Carlisle apologized for having to meet them in such a place, explaining that after the Apostles’ raids, refugees from all across Grandis had flocked to Cernium after hearing stories that that holy city had repelled the High Flora, leaving him to deal with the chaos from their arrival.

He then explained that after delving through many ancient documents, he had discovered a passage in the holy texts of a small religion which spoke of how ‘the world starts again’ at the Tomb of the Gods. He told the Adversary that a famous Grandis legend about the Tomb of the Gods stated that it was the place where the sparks of the Ancient War had been lit, as it was a place where powerful gods had once reigned until the city had become their tomb, when the age of the gods had come to an end. As a result, the city – Tallahart – had become a place still remembered by many in legends.

The intrigued Adversary wondered whether something would happen if the gods were to reawaken there, to which Carlisle laughed and explained that it could very well just be nothing more than a story. However, he added that it was certain that Tallahart was real, as its ruins were littered on the path beyond the deserts of Grandis, causing the Adversary to wonder whether Carlisle was referring to the area where the High Flora army had last been seen. After hearing about the Flora army’s movements, Carlisle noted that it seemed to be too suspicious to be a mere coincidence. Nevertheless, he noted that the ruins of Tallahart could barely even be called ruins, with neither Seekers nor tomb robbers having ever found any relic of significance there over the years, as the city was said to have been destroyed overnight.

After speaking with Carlisle, the Adversary contacted Neinheart and informed him about what they had learned. As they spoke, however, a mysterious girl named Rue watched them from afar, recognizing them as the Adversary who possessed the World Heart. Though she noted to herself that it would be dangerous, she nevertheless realized that only they would be able to help her before vanishing. As she disappeared, the Adversary heard the ring of the bell on her staff, causing them to look around as Neinheart spoke. Unable to see anything, however, the Adversary looked back to Neinheart’s transmission as he tasked them with rendezvousing with Hawkeye in Hotel Arcus, which was close to the ruins of Tallahart.

At the hotel, the Adversary met with Hawkeye, who suggested that they speak with the Seekers to learn more about Tallahart. The Adversary was surprised to learn that stories about them were circulating amongst the Seekers, such as their victory over the Apostles during the raids across Maple World and Grandis. They also learned that Hotel Arcus had not been targeted during the raids, causing them to note in relief that Archelon was safe. After asking about Tallahart, they learned from the Seekers that the city ruins were different than those of Karote, as they were merely stationary ruins, and that they appeared to hold no traces of the Ancient Gods.

With no other clues, the Seekers advised the Adversary to speak with Rusty to learn more. However, Rusty told the Adversary that Archelon would likely know more about Tallahart and suggested that they speak with him instead. The Adversary met with Archelon and immediately noticed that his divine power had not yet fully returned, to which Archelon explained that he would remain the eternal captain as long as his consciousness resided within his robotic body, causing the Adversary to realize that Archelon’s current body allowed him to mask his power from the High Flora.

The Adversary then asked Archelon about Tallahart, to which he began recounting the legend of the Tomb of the Gods. He explained that in the beginning, no gods had been worshiped anywhere throughout the world until one powerful god had appeared and reigned over the others. Under that god, many other gods had begun to gather, with mortals eventually coming to worship them all, resulting in the creation of Tallahart.

The Adversary was surprised to know that such a powerful god had once existed, recalling the stories of how Tallahart had been destroyed overnight. However, Archelon admitted that he had no knowledge of how Tallahart had been destroyed, though he invited them to use the Arcus Gate to visit the ruins. However, just as he had once warned them during the expedition to Karote, Archelon warned the Adversary that great power would bring about great disaster.

After speaking with Archelon, the Adversary reported back to Hawkeye, who suggested that they consult with Neinheart about what to do next. Neinheart, believing that there was little more they could do by chasing rumors, approved an expedition to Tallahart, though he added that he couldn’t send any more troops besides them just yet, as the mission needed to be conducted discreetly to avoid drawing the attention of the High Flora. Hawkeye and the Adversary then used the Arcus Gate to head to Tallahart, with Rue – who had followed the Adversary from Cernium – using her staff to teleport after them.

The pair then arrived in the white wastelands of Tallahart, where they discovered the buried ruins of the city. Immediately upon coming closer, however, the Adversary was surprised to find that the World Heart was reacting strongly, causing them to see a vision of a storm and an altar somewhere within the city. Just then, the World Heart began shining brightly as the dormant power of the gods was awakened, causing a powerful storm to appear in the distance over the ruins.

Realizing that there was no way that the High Flora wouldn’t have noticed such a strong disturbance, Hawkeye suggested that they retreat and wait for reinforcements to arrive. However, he quickly discovered that the storm had blocked off communications, and so he instead suggested that they head straight for the city. Meanwhile, above the ruins of Tallahart, two Knights of the Einherjar floating over the city with their wings felt the storm’s sudden arrival and noticed Tallahart rising from the ground.

Suddenly, Veronica arrived and ordered them to report on what was happening, to which the knights saluted her as the Vice Captain before explaining that the city had come back to life. However, Veronica snapped at them that she could see something so plainly obvious before asking them who their enemies were. When the knights apologized and stammered that everything had happened too quickly for them to see, Veronica berated them for their incompetence, demanding to know how they could call themselves Knights of the Einherjar.

Suddenly, the flaming blue head of Captain Baldrix magically appeared before them and told Veronica to have patience before revealing that the Adversary and the World Heart had appeared, noting that the Adversary had grown much stronger since their battle with Limbo. He then explained that he was heading straight to the city before tasking Veronica with proceeding as planned. After Baldrix’s head disappeared, Veronica ordered the knights to call in their forces to capture the enemy. After the knights disappeared, Veronica stood alone for a moment, awestruck at the immense amount of divine power contained within the World Heart.

(A/N: Ever since Adele’s release, it was speculated that Veronica was an Apostle of Darmoor, as her position as a Knight of the Einherjar who had sided with Darmoor, as well as her position of authority in Adele’s storyline, made it seem like she had the background and skills for it. Baldrix’s introduction as the person whom a speculated Apostle reports to did a great job with showing just how strong he is as an Apostle without him even doing anything.)

Elsewhere, the Adversary and Hawkeye continued walking around the ruins of Tallahart for over an hour, unable to make any progress, with Hawkeye noting that they were simply going in circles. The Adversary realized that there was some kind of magic blocking the path ahead, to which Hawkeye added that they were going to lose again to the Apostles if they couldn’t make any more progress. Just then, Rue – having followed them from Hotel Arcus – appeared before them and revealed that Tallahart had a spell placed upon it to prevent intruders from entering the city. She then introduced herself as a Seeker and explained that she might be able to help them. As she approached the pair, the Adversary noted that the sound of the bell on her staff seemed familiar, recalling it from when they had briefly heard it in Cernium.

Though Hawkeye dismissed her as a child, Rue adamantly claimed that she wasn’t a child, and that she was much older. However, as the Adversary began to approach her, Rue jumped back and warned them to stay away from her, to which the Adversary stopped and apologized for startling her. They then asked her whether there was a way to break through the illusion spell, to which Rue asked them to make a contract with her, such that she would open the path to Tallahart if they took her into the city with them. At Hawkeye’s surprise at her ability to break the spell, Rue explained that she had been chasing after Tallahart for longer than anyone else as a Seeker, and that she had been researching magic which could dispel the city’s illusion spell.

Hawkeye noted that Rue didn’t seem to need their help in entering the city if she was so powerful. Rue replied that with the Ancient Gods waking up across Grandis, she had been hoping for the Ancient God of Tallahart to awaken as well. She revealed that Tallahart hadn’t been destroyed in a natural disaster like the legends stated, but rather, it had been wiped out in the Ancient War. She explained that the Ancient Gods of Tallahart wielded the power of illusion, and that the reawakened city was an illusion created by their influence. However, she added that the illusion was filled with the wrath of the gods who had fallen in the Ancient War, which was why Tallahart was called the Tomb of the Gods. She explained that it was said that the bodies of the gods who had been defeated in battle had disappeared somewhere, though their immortal power had remained dormant in Tallahart for ages, leaving behind their hatred for the Adversaries who had sealed them away.

(A/N: The line about the Ancient Gods’ bodies being moved somewhere is interesting because it gives us our first clue about what really happened to them. There’s been a lot of confusion about how the Ancient Gods are still alive if the Adversaries were created to kill them, since that would mean there should be little to no gods still left. We got our first hint about it during the High Mountain storyline, in which Mitra awakens in what appears to be some sort of strange tomb, and he wonders whether his followers had moved his body after his defeat at the hands of his Adversary. If it’s true that the Ancient Gods were sealed away instead of being killed, the question still remains as to who moved their bodies, and why they were merely sealed away instead of being killed outright.)

Rue explained that the wrathful power of the gods would attack them if they were to enter the city, causing Hawkeye to realize that Rue intended to use them as escorts into Tallahart. Rue replied that she could only use a small bit of illusion magic, leaving her exposed to being attacked by the monsters within, though she added that she needed to enter the city and retrieve her ‘godly treasure’. As the ground began to rumble, Rue noted that the power of the gods within was growing stronger by the minute, and that the awakened gods would pose a great challenge. Realizing that Rue was right, Hawkeye turned to the Adversary and explained that it was in their best interest to claim the gods’ power while the gods were still weak.

Recalling Keira’s words about how restoring the World Heart could only be done by defeating a higher being or being given their power freely, the Adversary realized that it was highly unlikely that they would continue encountering gods like Keira or Shinsoo who would willingly give up their power, for which they approached Rue and agreed to help her. Though Rue once again jumped back and warned them not to come close to her, she acknowledged their contract before leading them to a spot where the illusion spell had weakened. Just then, the wrathful traces of the gods’ power appeared and began to attack, causing the Adversary to stop and defeat them first, with Rue noting her awe at the Adversary’s power.

When Hawkeye explained that they were the great Adversary of Maple World, Rue paused and noted that she knew the power of the Adversary well, causing the Adversary to wonder what she meant. Rue then changed the subject and asked the Adversary why they wished to enter Tallahart in the first place, to which they explained that they wanted to claim the power of the Ancient Gods before the High Flora could take it first. Rue recognized the High Flora as the subordinates of Darmoor, whom she noted was the Transcendent of Life. They then proceeded ahead, with the Adversary defending Rue from the vengeful monsters while she broke through the illusion spell.

(A/N: One thing that I really hate about this storyline is just how much stupider the Adversary is, even more so than usual. Rue talking about how old she is, all her knowledge about the Ancient Gods, her knowing about the power of the Adversary ‘well’, and her not wanting to get close to the World Heart practically screams out what she really is, but for whatever reason, neither we nor Hawkeye seem to put the very obvious pieces together.)

Upon dispelling the illusion, Rue instructed them to continue ahead past the bridge, which she explained was the only way into Tallahart. Though Hawkeye praised their progress, claiming that the wrathful spirits weren’t as dangerous as he had though, Rue warned him that the power of the gods would grow stronger as they went closer into the city. As they neared the bridge, the Adversary felt the World Heart reacting to something as more vengeful spirits appeared. After defeating them, they proceeded across the bridge and arrived at the entrance to the city, where Hawkeye marveled at the size of Tallahart, noting that it was several times bigger than Cernium.

However, Rue scoffed at Hawkeye’s words, claiming that a small town like Cernium couldn’t be compared to a sanctuary like Tallahart where many powerful gods lived, including the highest god of Tallahart, who wielded pure power itself. The Adversary was confused by Rue’s words, while Hawkeye noted that while she seemed to know much about Tallahart, she was wrong about Cernium being a small city. Rue was surprised to know that Cernium was a large city, adding that she had never been there before. She then turned to the hole in the illusion spell and used her magic to dispel it, just as the World Heart began reacting once again.

The Adversary immediately looked up to find Veronica casting a spell to rain down a bombardment upon them. Just as she fired, the World Heart reacted on its own and created a powerful shield using its stored power to block the attack. Veronica and two Knights of the Einherjar then flew down to the group, with Veronica noting amusedly that the title of ‘Adversary’ wasn’t simply an empty boast after all.

(A/N: Adele gets some exclusive dialogue here. After Veronica reveals herself, Adele immediately recognizes her, with Veronica noting amusedly that Adele seems to have survived her attack just fine, adding that the title of ‘Adversary’ isn’t simply an empty boast after all.)

A surprised Rue asked aloud who their enemies were and why they had attacked her, to which Hawkeye identified Veronica from the Alliance reports as a subordinate of Darmoor. As Veronica launched another attack, the World Heart once again reacted on its own and created a divine shield to block her bombardment, with Hawkeye wondering in impressment where the Adversary had learned such a skill. The Adversary wondered to themselves whether the World Heart had reacted to their strong willpower, noting that its power was growing much stronger. Veronica then thanked them for laying open the path to Tallahart, claiming that things would be much easier thanks to them.

(A/N: For Adele, Veronica instead states that though she enjoys looking down on Adele from above, she doesn’t have the time for it, after which she delivers the line from above.)

Though the Adversary declared that they wouldn’t simply allow her to go freely, Veronica mockingly asked them whether they had thought that she had come unprepared before fleeing, leaving behind monstrous golems created with Baldrix’s power. The Adversary and Hawkeye began to fight the golems, which immediately began reforming themselves the instant that they were defeated. With no other choice, Hawkeye urged the Adversary and Rue to go on ahead while he held the golems off, reminding the Adversary that only they could claim the power of the gods. Promising that he would follow them as soon as he could, Hawkeye held his ground and covered the Adversary and Rue’s escape, silently planning to go out in a blaze of glory after realizing that reinforcements wouldn’t be coming.

The Adversary and Rue then arrived at the center of Tallahart, where Rue asked the Adversary whether they were really okay with leaving Hawkeye behind. The Adversary replied that they trusted Hawkeye to survive, to which Rue noted that they were far too trusting for an Adversary. She then asked them why they had put themselves at risk to save her earlier at the bridge, to which they replied that it was only natural to want to protect one’s allies. Rue was bemused at their words, noting the irony of being allies with an Adversary before telling them that they shouldn’t be so easily trusting of people weaker than them. She then asked them whether the power of the gods was important to them because they were an Adversary, adding that though she didn’t know what kind of mission they had, she personally liked to be a bit suspicious of others.

Rue then changed the subject and noted that it was only a matter of time before she recovered her godly treasure now that she had entered Tallahart. However, she quickly noticed that the rest of Tallahart hadn’t fully manifested before pointing out an unlit brazier at the center of the city, explaining that it was the symbol of Tallahart that showed the state of the gods’ power. Because the flames were out, Rue explained that the city’s form was still in an incomplete half-illusion, and that the only way that she could find her godly treasure was to revive all the powers of Tallahart by breaking the three seals upon the treasure. However, she noted that since she couldn’t hear the voices of the spirits in the direction of the first seal, it likely meant that the High Flora had managed to get there first.

The pair then headed towards the first seal, where they found the path blocked by the same rejuvenating golems that Hawkeye was facing at the bridge. Rue wondered what kind of power the enemy had that allowed them to casually produce so many powerful monsters. The Adversary noted that the golems didn’t seem to have been produced by Veronica’s power, which likely meant that she had a stronger ally working with her. Rue noted that it may be the work of an Apostle before turning back to the task at hand. She explained that each seal was placed upon the altar of a lesser god at the outskirts of the city, and that they would reach the first altar by following the path.

The Adversary defeated the golems and cleared a way forward, allowing them to reach the first altar. There, they sensed not only Veronica’s power, but a second, even stronger power, for which they realized that they needed to hurry. Suddenly, they encountered a spectral vision of an unknown warrior facing off against an Ancient God. At the Adversary’s surprise, Rue reminded them that the power of the gods had been revived by the Ancient Gods’ hatred towards the Adversaries who had felled them, and that their memories of the Ancient War were resurfacing with the city. The Adversary was shocked to realize that the unknown warrior was actually an ancient Adversary, with Rue noting that the Adversaries were puppets without egos created solely for the purpose of slaying the Ancient Gods.

As the vision of the battle ended with the ancient Adversary defeating the god, Rue noted that many Ancient Gods had been sealed away by their Adversaries. However, she explained that while it was said that the Ancient Gods had caused chaos in the world, there had nevertheless been gods who had recognized their great power and lived peacefully. She then asked the Adversary what they thought about the Ancient Gods’ existence, and whether they were serious about protecting the gods’ power from the High Flora.

She noted that they were quite different from the Adversaries of the past and wondered what made them so unique. Upon seeing the Adversary’s confusion at her strange questions, however, Rue changed the subject and suggested that they turn back, as their current path led to a dead end. She then led the Adversary on a different path to the first seal, explaining that by putting out the fire on the altar, they would release the power of the gods and break the seal. Suddenly, however, Veronica appeared in their path and asked whether they had thought that she would simply allow them to go freely.

(A/N: Flora classes get exclusive dialogue here.

Ark notes that Veronica isn’t part of the Central Army and demands to know her identity. Veronica immediately recognizes Ark as the ‘test subject’ and laughs that he’s even uglier than she had thought. She then asks Ark whether he’s never heard of the Knights of the Einherjar before, and whether he had been loitering around somewhere in the outskirts before betraying Darmoor.

Adele demands to know what Veronica is doing, to which Veronica mockingly tells Adele not to get so riled up when she hasn’t even done anything yet. Upon noticing Rue standing near Adele, Veronica adds that she didn’t know that Adele had a habit of carrying strange kids around, recalling that Jerome, whom she calls ‘that prince from last time’, was the same way.

Khali notes that Veronica isn’t a member of the Zealous or the Central Army, to which Veronica recognizes her as the mutant who had escaped from Ypsilon’s territory. She then adds that Khali has a cocky look in her eye, just as she had heard from the stories about her.

For Illium, Veronica notices his mechanical wings and notes that the Verdant Flora really had been alive after all, even though she had thought that they had all been wiped out, adding that they’re quite tenacious. Illium demands to know whether she had harmed any of the Verdant Flora, to which Veronica replies by asking why that matters now, noting that his people are just as odd as she had thought. She then tells Illium to look closely at her if he’s curious to know about the fate of his traitorous people, claiming that their blood may still be upon on her wings. Upon hearing her words, Illium realizes that Veronica isn’t an enemy he can reason with.)

The Adversary demanded to know whose magical power was at the altar, and whether they were an Apostle. Veronica laughed and mockingly asked them whether they were planning to stop them if they were indeed one. As the Adversary ordered Rue to head to safety, Veronica told them not to get cocky simply because they had defeated Kaling, who tinkered with strange monsters, or Limbo, who was obsessed with Specters, adding that they were vastly underestimating the pure magical power of the High Flora. She then declared that they wouldn’t touch a single hair on Lord Baldrix’s head before creating orange aether swords and attacking.

(A/N: High Flora classes get exclusive dialogue that replaces Veronica’s last line about the player underestimating the power of the High Flora. Veronica instead notes that it’s pitiful of them to have forgotten the greatness of the High Flora.)

Elsewhere, Hawkeye continued struggling as he faced off against Baldrix’s monsters. Just as he began faltering however, a distant sniper’s shots pierced through the monsters and prevented them from reforming. At Hawkeye’s surprise, several members of the Primacy appeared, with Eileen laughing that the monsters could only be taken down with a special substance that counteracted their magical power. As she praised her abilities, Kapdi scolded her, reminding her that it had all been thanks to the special bullets that Gob had made her.

Just then, a hologram of Kelly appeared, with her noting satisfactorily that transmission had been perfect, and that the portal device had worked. As Kelly continued chattering, Iker began complaining about how noisy everyone was being before ordering his team to wipe the remaining monsters out. As the team moved out, Iker addressed Hawkeye and noted that he belonged to the Alliance. A surprised Hawkeye asked Iker who he was, to which Iker replied that it wasn’t important, changing the subject and demanding Hawkeye to tell him where the Adversary was.

Back in Tallahart, the Adversary easily defeated Veronica, who was dumbfounded and angered to see the kind of power that they were wielding. She demanded to know how they were so strong, wondering whether it was because of the power of the Ancient Gods contained in the World Heart. As she began expressing her frustration at her magical power carefully cultivated over many years not being enough, she angrily noted to herself that she wouldn’t have been defeated if she had been in possession of a draining crystal.

Just as she vowed to win, however, an orange portal created by Baldrix appeared to drag her in, even as Veronica promised aloud to him that she would emerge victorious. Though Rue wondered whether Veronica had retreated, the Adversary immediately realized that it had clearly been the work of an Apostle, which made them wonder whether he intended to deal with them personally.

Though the Adversary advised Rue to stay back while they went to the seal themselves, Rue refused to stay behind, reminding them that the terms of their agreement had been that she would stay by their side as they escorted her to the godly treasure. Together, the pair arrived at a brazier that burned with golden flames. Rue explained that in order to break the seal, they needed to extinguish the flames with a power that matched the power of the Ancient Gods, adding that it shouldn’t be any trouble for an Adversary.

Just as the Adversary approached the brazier, however, the World Heart began to react as Baldrix himself appeared before them. Baldrix greeted the Adversary before turning to look at Rue in surprise, noting her strange aura. The Adversary immediately told Rue to stand back, with Rue warning them that Baldrix held immense magical power. Laughing that it had been worth coming in person, Baldrix introduced himself as the Captain of the Knights of the Einherjar and one of the glorious Apostles of Darmoor.

(A/N: Adele gets some exclusive dialogue here, in which she realizes that the magical power that she’s sensing from the Knight indeed belongs to the Baldrix that she remembers. She then notes how Baldrix, centuries ago, had refused the position of Captain of the Knights of the Einherjar, as he had been loyal only to Prince Darmoor, and that it seems only natural that Baldrix would now become one of Darmoor’s Apostles.)

Realizing that they were face-to-face with another Apostle, the Adversary asked Rue about the status of the seal, to which Rue replied that though it had not yet been broken, there was something wrong. Baldrix then laughed that the power of the gods was destined to belong to Darmoor, though the Adversary declared that they had no intention of losing it. Just then, Baldrix pulled out a draining crystal to attack the Adversary with the power of the gods contained within it, with the World Heart simultaneously reacting to the Adversary’s willpower and releasing a beam of divine energy that easily overpowered and shattered the draining crystal, causing the golden flames of the seal to react to the divine energy and extinguish.

As the seal broke, the power of the many gods within was absorbed into the World Heart, overwhelming the Adversary and surprising Baldrix. Claiming that he hadn’t expected such a situation, Baldrix noted in satisfaction that the World Heart appeared stronger than before, after which he unexpectedly declared that the Adversary was free to do as they wished before creating a portal and disappearing.

After Baldrix retreated, Rue rushed to the Adversary’s side and expressed her shock that they had absorbed the power of the gods inside them. However, she declared that they had made a grave mistake, revealing that the wrath of the gods had turned towards them, and that there was nothing more they could do except face death humbly.

Nevertheless, the Adversary refused to give up and concentrated their willpower on surviving, resulting in them collapsing to the ground. As they did, they experienced a memory of the supreme Ancient God of Tallahart, Noctis, defeating several Adversaries of Odium, claiming that as pathetic puppets of the Overseers with no emotions or memories, their spears would never reach her. As countless more Adversaries descended from the sky, Noctis invited them to face her, declaring that upon their graves, ‘the world would start again’.

The Adversary then awoke to the sight of Rue, who was shocked to find that they had survived the wrath of the gods. After they explained the memory that they had witnessed, Rue told them that they had witnessed the memory of a god as the divine power had brushed against their soul while absorbing it. She then expressed her amazement at the fact that the Adversary of the new era having the power to absorb the power of the gods, with the Adversary noting that it was clear that the World Heart had gotten much stronger as a result. However, they also noted that not all the power had been absorbed, causing them to wonder whether it was because not all the seals had been broken.

Believing that it was better not to tell Rue about it, they instead wondered aloud where Baldrix had gone. Rue explained that she couldn’t sense any magical power, which meant that Baldrix had likely gone to the second seal. The Adversary asked Rue to guide her to the second seal, to which Rue hesitantly asked whether they intended to continue absorbing the power of the gods. When the Adversary explained that they had no choice, as Baldrix would claim it otherwise, Rue paused for a moment before relenting and agreeing.

On the path to the second altar, Rue told the Adversary that while there were no signs of the Apostle, the wrath of the gods had gotten stronger, and that they would be targeting the Adversary for having absorbed their power. After defeating the vengeful spirits along the way, the pair made their way to the entrance to the second seal, which Rue noted in satisfaction held no trace of the enemy’s presence.

Just then, however, Iker’s team and many other Primacy soldiers appeared and stood between them, claiming that they wouldn’t allow the Adversary to take the power of the gods all for themselves. Recognizing the Primacy from their time inside Tyrnog, the Adversary wondered what they were doing in Tallahart and demanded that they state their purpose.

(A/N: If the player hasn’t completed the Extradimensional Visitors storyline, they’ll wonder who the people standing in their way are.)

Rue immediately asked who they were, to which Eileen irately claimed that since she had little patience, she would have cut to the chase even without being asked. Kapdi then apologized for Eileen’s behavior, claiming that they had a rather short-tempered member of the team, to which Eileen snapped and asked whether he was talking about her. Iker then removed his hood and stepped forward, addressing the Adversary and noting that they were meeting yet again.

(A/N: If the player hasn’t completed the Extradimensional Visitors storyline, Iker will instead note that he’s heard the rumors about the Maple Alliance and their Adversary who would face Gerand Darmoor. The Adversary asks Iker in confusion whether he knows about them, to which Iker explains that he knows that they had come to Grandis after defeating the corrupt Transcendent of another world, surprising the Adversary that such rumors were spreading about them. Iker then replies that they have a rather curious person on their side who had gathered information about them.)

He then formally introduced themselves as the Primacy, explaining that they were a militia formed to reclaim Grandis’ freedom from Gerand Darmoor. However, Rue noted that were merely ordinary people and asked how they intended to regain their freedom from the Transcendent of Life himself. However, Eileen retorted that the means and methods didn’t matter, as it was undoubtable that they would win in the end no matter what. Upon hearing her words, the Adversary noted to themselves that the Primacy weren’t easy-going people at all, causing them to wonder whether the Alliance could really join forces with them like Seren had hoped.

The Adversary asked Iker what the Primacy’s purpose was in Tallahart, to which Iker told them that he would get straight to the point and asked the Adversary to make a deal with them by surrendering the power of the Ancient Gods in exchange for the Primacy handling the High Flora forces in Tallahart for them. He explained that he already knew that the Adversary was seeking the power of the Ancient Gods, and that they had likely acquired some already.

The Adversary was surprised to find that the Primacy already had such information, to which Kapdi replied that they had very capable friends. He explained that the Primacy had been keeping its eye on Tallahart from the beginning, hoping to find some trace of the Ancient Gods’ power, and that they had learned earlier that same day that a great deal of power had been released from the ruins.

However, Eileen noted that when they had arrived, both the Alliance and the High Flora had already gotten there, with Iker adding that they also knew that Baldrix was there, and that his purpose was likely related to acquiring the power of the gods. He then revealed that they had a way to neutralize Baldrix’s monsters, and that it was a good deal for the Adversary to accept their help.

The Adversary asked whether they knew Baldrix, which Eileen confirmed, adding that he was an enemy that she never wished to fight again. Just then, however, Rue interrupted and demanded to know whether they thought that the power of the Ancient Gods was some kind of toy, adding that she could never hand it over. An irritated Eileen dismissed Rue as a child and told her to hide somewhere until they were finished talking, though Kapdi interrupted and told Eileen to calm down.

The Adversary then asked the Primacy why they needed the power of the Ancient Gods, to which Iker explained that they intended to use that power to make weapons against the High Flora. At the Adversary’s surprised expression, Eileen asked whether the Adversary didn’t trust their words before declaring that she’d known from the beginning that working together was a mistake, as they only ever needed each other to win. However, she then noted that the Adversary had reportedly defeated two Apostles and decided to test their strength. As she raised her sniper rifle, Kapdi stepped in between them and attempted to diffuse the situation.

Just then, Hawkeye arrived as Kelly’s hologram transmission flickered on, explaining that it had taken some time to outfit Hawkeye with the transporter. Hawkeye laughed at the Adversary’s surprise before explaining how the Primacy had saved him. Though Eileen was annoyed at Kelly for sending Hawkeye over, Kelly insisted that they needed all the help that they could get to defeat the Apostle.

After hearing the situation, Hawkeye told the Primacy that just as he had said earlier, the power of the Ancient Gods couldn’t be handed over so easily. Rue once again spoke up, furious to know that they intended to turn the power of the gods into a weapon, with the Adversary also admitting that they couldn’t hand that power over.

Just as Iker decided to acquire that power in their own way, Hawkeye made a suggestion and noted that the Primacy simply needed a weapon against the High Flora army, not necessarily the power of the Ancient Gods. He then explained that the Alliance already had a powerful weapon in the form of the Adversary, whose help he offered to held to the Primacy for whatever mission they needed. At the Adversary’s hesitant expression, Hawkeye promised them that it was a good plan, as he had seen first-hand that the Primacy had the technology to deal with the Apostle’s magic. He then promised that it was an emergency measure, and that Neinheart could sort things out later on.

Though the Primacy conceded that it was a good deal, Iker nevertheless pointed out that there was no trust on either side for such a deal. Suddenly, however, the ground began rumbling as the power of the gods manifested into vengeful spirits. After working together to defeat the monsters, the Primacy – having seen the Adversary’s power first-hand – agreed to the deal and formed a truce to help the Alliance acquire the power of the gods from Tallahart.

Iker then ordered Kapdi and Eileen to move out and ordered Kelly to transport the wounded back to the hideout before telling the Adversary that he would come with them personally to see the power of the gods for himself. As he walked on, Rue disdainfully noted that they wished to turn the power of the gods into a weapon and wondered aloud what they thought of gods at all before storming off.

Nevertheless, Rue led them to the second altar, with the brazier burning brightly with purple flames. There, Rue noted hesitantly that extinguishing the flames would result in them taking the divine power for themselves, to which Hawkeye asked her why that was a problem, claiming that it was better than it falling into the High Flora’s hands. The Adversary then noted that the seal seemed rather different from the last one, as the Apostle’s presence had made the gods’ power unstable.

Nevertheless, the Adversary began to use the World Heart to break the seal, causing them to fall into a dark void where they encountered the memory of Noctis. Within the illusory replica of Tallahart, they witnessed Noctis speaking with two Ancient Gods, asking whether they were truly so afraid of the Overseers. One of the Ancient Gods, Prague, admitted that he was indeed afraid, as the Overseers had made the immortal gods experience the fear of death for the first time. The other god, Edmire, agreed and told Noctis that she was certain that the Ancient War would result in their eventual defeat.

However, Noctis scoffed and declared that they should know better by now that she would never die, and that anyone who threatened her or her twin sister would not survive. As Noctis walked away, Prague noted disdainfully that Noctis was correct that she would never die as long as she held that kind of power. Edmire then added that they would simply need to take her power for themselves in order to ensure their own survival.

From afar, the Adversary realized that it wasn’t simply Noctis’ memory that they were witnessing, but rather, the memories of all the gods whose power had been sealed within the altar, all of which were manifesting with their power of illusion into the scene unfolding before them. The Adversary then proceeded ahead and witnessed another memory of Noctis, who was gently holding the silhouetted form of her twin sister.

In the memory, Noctis’ sister warned Noctis that the other gods were beginning to fear her, as Noctis’ power was calling forth stronger and stronger Adversaries to Tallahart in an attempt to slay them. Though Noctis acknowledged that she was aware, she admitted that none of it mattered to her, as she would never die, and that she would never let her sister die either. She then reassured her sister, explaining that the Overseers were afraid of them, and that the Adversaries were nothing more than their selfish playthings born out of that fear. Just as she declared that a blade without cause would never reach them, the memory of Noctis turned to face the Adversary directly, malevolently asking them whether she was right or not.

Back at the altar, the Adversary awoke from the illusion as the World Heart finished absorbing the power of the gods contained within the seal. Hawkeye was surprised at the sight, with Iker impressed by the Adversary’s power. Hawkeye asked the Adversary what they had seen, as they had been completely unresponsive after taking out the World Heart and breaking the seal.

As the Adversary began explaining their vision to the others, Veronica and Baldrix – floating above the skies of Tallahart – monitored the situation from afar, with Baldrix sensing that the Adversary had absorbed more divine power into the World Heart. A frustrated Veronica asked Baldrix why he was allowing the Adversary to grow even stronger, to which Baldrix nonchalantly asked Veronica what there was to be so afraid of, noting her that the Adversary’s fate was already in Darmoor’s hands. He then told Veronica not to be so impatient and reminded her that she was but a member of the Knights of the Einherjar, and that she was only to follow his orders.

After a pause, Veronica apologized before Baldrix ordered her to handle the rest while he prepared to face the Adversary personally. After he disappeared, two knights arrived to report to Veronica and asked for her orders, to which she snapped and asked them whether they were incapable of doing anything without being told. She then ordered them to prepare for battle by mobilizing Baldrix’s soldiers, switching from referring to him as ‘Lord Baldrix’ to simply ‘the Captain’ mid-sentence as her resentment towards her superior grew stronger.

Meanwhile, the Adversary finished recounting their story, with the others realizing that the seals contained the power of many gods, not simply one. The Adversary then revealed that amongst the powers which had been absorbed, there was one which had escaped the World Heart and fled somewhere else, to which Iker wondering whether someone else had absorbed that power after the seal had broken. Though Hawkeye feared that the Apostle had taken it, the Adversary explained that it was unlikely, as Baldrix had already been foiled once when he had tried to absorb the power with a draining crystal. They added that it had instead seemed more like the power had naturally returned to its original source rather than being absorbed.

The Adversary then asked Rue whether she knew more about the gods of Tallahart, noting tha it seemed as though they had not been on good terms with each other. However, Rue defensively asked the Adversary why they thought that she knew, as she had not been a part of those events. She added that she had already told them everything that she knew, and that the only thing that was certain was that the godly treasure would return once all the seals had been broken.

With no other options, the group decided to head to the final seal, whose path Iker explained had already been secured by the Primacy. However, Hawkeye was wary that the enemy had set a trap for them, as there was no way that they would allow them to reach the final seal without a fight. Nevertheless, Iker dismissed his concerns by reminding him that they could simply fight their way out of any trap.

As they headed out, Rue told the Adversary that once the final seal was broken, the godly treasure would be revealed. Hawkeye asked Rue what that treasure was, and whether it was the power of the Ancient Gods, to which Rue hesitated before admitting that it was something similar. Hawkeye then asked the Adversary whether they had seen any clues in their vision, just as Iker interrupted and explained that he had gotten reports that the High Flora army had been sighted mobilizing above Tallahart, with Baldrix nowhere to be seen.

With the enemy having likely determined their location, Iker decided to launch a preemptive strike, believing that there was not much point in determining the enemy’s strategy without knowing what Baldrix was doing. However, the Adversary expressed their unease with dispersing their forces and putting them at risk, with Rue silently noting the Adversary’s concern for their allies. Though Iker admitted that fighting to protect was a good motive, he added that the Primacy had already lost everyone that they wished to protect, and that they were now only fighting to get it back.

As neither of them would agree, Iker decided that each side would fight as they saw fit without getting in each other’s way. He then asked the Adversary what they intended to do, as they were likely walking into a trap with the final seal. However, Hawkeye noted that there was something off, as the High Flora would have already attempted to break the seal if they had wanted to.

Suddenly, the ground began rumbling as Eileen and Kapdi reported that the enemy’s aerial force had merely been one part, with the main force surging in to attack. As Veronica and her knights launched a bombardment on Tallahart, the World Heart instinctively reacted to create a shield around the Adversary and their allies. Veronica then flew down and amusedly asked the Adversary whether they truly believed that they could defeat her with so many fools around.

(A/N: Adele gets some exclusive dialogue here, in which she cries out to Veronica in anger.)

As the High Flora prepared to wipe them out, Hawkeye realized that they had been waiting for their forces to split up all along. After confirming in a panic on whether his allies were safe, Iker told the Adversary to head to the altar while he handled Veronica and her knights himself. However, Hawkeye refused to allow Iker to sacrifice himself after saving his life and decided to stay behind and assist him.

Meanwhile, the Adversary and Rue arrived at the final altar, which glowed with white-blue flames. Sighing in relief that she had made it at last, Rue told the Adversary that once the final seal was broken, the godly treasure would be hers and their contract would be complete. As the Adversary approached the altar, Rue asked them whether they had truly meant it when they had said that their fight would be meaningless without protecting their allies.

She noted that they were an Adversary, and that the fights of the ancient Adversaries had been meaningless, as their sole purpose had been to destroy the Ancient Gods. She then asked them why they were so different from all the other Adversaries who had come before them. The Adversary replied that though they didn’t know much about their predecessors, they believed that if there was a reason why they were so different from the others, it was because they weren’t alone.

(A/N: Zero gets some exclusive dialogue here, in which Alpha turns to Beta and asks her whether she agrees. Beta concurs with Alpha and notes that it’s not simply each other that they have, as they also have Rhinne, Pietta, and the others. I’m not really sure why Zero gets dialogue here and no one else, especially since literally every single class has other people that they’re close with.)

They then added that there were others fighting beside them, which was enough. After a pause, Rue noted that they were indeed very different, and that perhaps it was a good thing that they were her new Adversary. Before the Adversary could express their confusion, Rue told them to hurry and break the final seal. As they turned to do so, however, Rue silently apologized and noted that she was glad that it was them who had absorbed the power of the gods. She then declared that nevertheless, she would get her treasure back no matter what before teleporting away.

Within the illusory memory of Tallahart, the Adversary witnessed the two Ancient Gods, Edmire and Prague, noting that they had done well in fulfilling their plan, and that they would become more complete after carrying it out. Edmire asked whether Noctis had given in yet, to which Prague replied that they had forced her to accept an absolute, unbreakable contract that would result in her surrendering her power in exchange for her twin sister’s life. Edmire triumphantly noted that the day was not far when they would finally be able to sweep away their Adversaries.

The Adversary then proceeded further into the memory and witnessed the many gods of Tallahart standing before the chained forms of Noctis and her twin sister, revealed to be Rue, with Noctis demanding to know whether they were satisfied at last. She added that she had never expected the jealousy of a god to be so ugly, though Prague snapped at her to stay quiet, claiming that hers was the power that would soon destroy Tallahart.

Though Rue urged Noctis not to give in, Noctis assured her that she would not give in, as the gods wanted her power, and that as long as her power persisted, her will would not disappear either. Edmire then ordered Noctis to fulfill the contract by surrendering the last of her power, to which Noctis replied that she needed to make sure that they would hold up their end. Edmire promised Noctis that they would spare Rue’s life, though she then added that Rue would never again be allowed to set foot in Tallahart.

The gods then began draining Rue’s power, causing a furious Noctis to note that they had promised not to touch her. The gods replied that they would indeed spare her life, though they would strip her of her power and banish her from Tallahart, though they added that she would simply fall prey to the Godsphere instead. Enraged, Noctis swore that she would exact her revenge upon the gods for their despicable betrayal. Rue then apologized to her sister for only being a hindrance, though Noctis replied that she was the one who should be sorry. However, she reminded Rue that they were always connected, and that she would save her no matter what happened. Rue then promised tha she would also save her sister no matter what, calling Noctis her treasure.

The Adversary was shocked to learn that Rue was an Ancient God, just as the gods of Tallahart banished Rue from the city. As they began to strip Noctis of her power, Noctis vowed that she would curse them in darkness forever. As the memory ended, the Adversary felt the final thoughts of the gods, in which they recalled how they had stolen Noctis’ power for themselves and prepared to start the final war against the Overseers. However, as only Noctis had been able to handle such immense power, the other gods had been swallowed up by darkness and met their ends at the hands of the Adversaries, resulting in their power being sealed away alongside Noctis in Tallahart.

Elsewhere, Veronica mocked Hawkeye and Iker, who were surrounded by the enemy, claiming that for a lowly race, they were holding up surprisingly well. However, Iker retorted by telling her not to look down on humans, just as Eileen and Kapdi broke through to their location. With Veronica surrounded and alone, Iker demanded to know where Baldrix was.

Veronica then recalled Baldrix’s orders to leave them alone for the time being, though he had also ordered her to counterattack when the right time came. When Veronica had asked him why he had left her with such counterintuitive orders, Baldrix had explained that when the final seal was broken, only the Adversary and Rue could approach it. Realizing that the time was at hand, Veronica gathered together her magic, causing Kapdi to wonder in shock whether she was planning to blow herself up.

Just as she unleashed her power, Kelly used the teleporter which she had outfitted Hawkeye with to bring him and the Primacy to safety. They then rushed to the altar, where they discovered that the Adversary had successfully absorbed the power of the gods within the seal. However, they also noted that Rue was missing, and upon recalling how she had mentioned that the godly treasure would appear after the seals were broken, Iker – after receiving a new report from Kelly – explained that a new source of divine power had appeared in the center of the city.

After revealing what they had learned in the memory, the Adversary realized that Rue likely intended to free Noctis - her treasure - and keep her promise to save her sister. Worried that Noctis’ seal had been Baldrix’s target all along, the Adversary decided to head to the final seal, which they realized was the unlit brazier at the center of Tallahart which they had first seen with Rue upon entering the city. After considering it, Iker ordered the Primacy to retreat while he, Kapdi, and Eileen accompanied the Adversary and Hawkeye alone to the final seal.

Meanwhile, Rue arrived at the final seal, where she sensed her sister’s power returning with the Adversary having released it from the other seals. Just then, however, Baldrix arrived and noted that everything had gone as he had anticipated. He explained that he had sensed that something was off when he had arrived at the first seal, as though it was the power of many gods which had been suppressing a greater force, and that Rue’s energy had resembled that force.

Rue was shocked to know that a mortal such as Baldrix could have sensed such a thing, to which Baldrix triumphantly presented several draining crystals, revealing that despite being a mortal, he had defeated countless Ancient Gods and stolen their power. He then asked Rue why she struggled so much, unimpressed with Rue’s answer that she was trying to bring back a precious person, as he claimed that it was unfit of her as an immortal to wish so. Drawing upon his magical axe, Baldrix prepared to attack as Rue silently apologized to her sister for failing.

Soon after, the Adversary and the others arrived at the seal, where they were shocked to find a dying Rue. Rue weakly revealed that Baldrix had stolen what remained of her power, and that she would soon disappear forever. She then asked whether they had seen the memory and revealed that her sister was the highest god of Tallahart before being betrayed and sealed away by the other Ancient Gods. Having failed to save Noctis, Rue asked the Adversary to protect her sister from the Apostle, as well as to not absorb her sister’s power. She noted that they were different from past Adversaries, and that though she hadn’t wanted to admit it at first, she understood it now, which was she asked that they keep their contract with her until the very end.

After Rue’s body scattered away, Kapdi reported that Baldrix appeared to have gone underground. After following him, the Primacy told the Adversary to chase after Baldrix while they covered from the rear. Fighting past the powerful spirits in the area, the group prepared to surround and overwhelm Baldrix together. The Primacy declared that they would avenge their comrades whom Baldrix had killed during his attack on their hideout. However, Baldrix merely laughed before summoning more monsters and teleporting himself away, inviting the Adversary to follow. Furious that Baldrix considered them to be beneath his notice, the Primacy told the Adversary to pursue him while they handled the monsters.

The Adversary chased Baldrix to Noctis’ seal, which Baldrix noted was quite beautiful. He then told the Adversary that if the Ancient Gods had used their powers in the right places, they wouldn’t have fallen in battle. However, the Adversary ignored Baldrix’s words and demanded to know where Rue’s power was. Baldrix presented a draining crystal to the Adversary, claiming that her power had been far too insignificant for her to be called a god.

To the Adversary’s surprise, Baldrix freely gave the draining crystal to them, leaving them mystified and angered by his purpose. Baldrix noted with satisfaction that they were angry, explaining that anger brought out power in people. Drawing his blade, Baldrix told the Adversary to show them the power they possessed by risking their life and giving it their all. The Adversary then fought Baldrix upon his magical steed and managed to wound him. Baldrix was impressed to see how strong they had grown and noted that the World Heart was truly within them.

Congratulating them for their strength, Baldrix shattered his helmet, revealing nothing more than blue flames where his head should be. He explained that he wasn’t sure how long it had been since he had been so close to death, for which he decided to reward them for such a great duel. He then revealed that a large-scale selection would soon take place under Darmoor’s command, and that only worthy lives – such as the Adversary – would survive it, adding that in the end, it would be Darmoor who looked down upon them.

(A/N: This selection is almost certainly part of Darmoor’s belief that only ‘noble lives’ - those who would sacrifice their own life for a higher purpose - deserve to live, which lines up with what we’ve seen in the Sefirot’s Gardener storyline about how he thinks that worthless life needs to be pruned away so that the parts which deserve to flourish can live. We’ve seen that Asha the gardener is an example of the noble life that he wishes to preserve, although I personally think that it’s extremely inconsistent with the story for the Adversary to be a noble life like Baldrix claims.

Throughout the game, we’ve seen that the message of the story is that the precise opposite of what Darmoor’s ideology is. In Esfera, we refuse to take Tana’s life because we reject the idea that we need to sacrifice in order to win, and we commit ourselves to the belief that we can save everyone without having to kill innocent lives. In Limina, this comes to a culmination where - even with Orchid telling us that we can only awaken the Seal Stone by our willingness to sacrifice ourselves - we ultimately reject that and win by focusing on our refusal to self-sacrifice and instead live.

The game hammers in the fact that the Adversary is a person who - while noble and selfless - is someone who draws strength and power from their refusal to self-sacrifice and instead survive with the people who they fight to protect. We fundamentally exist in stark contrast to the Black Mage’s belief that humanity is on a predestined path for selfishness and destruction, and Darmoor’s belief that the only good people are those who will kill themselves for a noble cause. Us being a ‘noble life’ by Darmoor’s standards makes absolutely no sense, and I’m very much hoping that Baldrix is just mistaken or misinformed about Darmoor’s criteria or secret plot twist plan.)

The Adversary declared that they would hear the rest once they captured him, to which Baldrix replied that the rest was rather messy, and that they didn’t have the time to be worrying about him. As the ground began rumbling with Noctis’s seal breaking, Baldrix told the Adversary that they should have a true fight for their lives next time.

Just as Baldrix disappeared, Hawkeye and the Primacy arrived to meet the Adversary. Though impressed that the Adversary had proven equal to Baldrix, the Primacy noted that the seal was highly unstable, and that it contained the supreme Ancient God of Tallahart. Hawkeye suggested that they retreat, though the Adversary refused to leave, as they had made a promise to Rue to protect her sister. Hawkeye warned the Adversary that Noctis held great animosity towards the Adversaries, though the Adversary replied that they believed themselves to be different, and that they wound find a way to reason with her.

Using the World Heart, the Adversary broke the seal on Noctis, who thanked them and declared that thanks to them, she could now enact her revenge, promising to grant them eternal rest as a reward. Using her power of illusion, Noctis caused the Adversary’s allies to disappear, leaving them alone to face her. Noctis then noted that they possessed the power of the gods of Tallahart within the World Heart, and was angered to find that they also held her sister’s power within a draining crystal. Though the Adversary attempted to explain, Noctis refused to hear them and immediately began to attack.

After a fierce battle, the Adversary managed to defeat Noctis, who was shocked to find that she had lost. Silently, the Adversary noted to themselves that their victory had not only been because of Noctis’ weakness from the seal, but also because the World Heart had grown much stronger. The Adversary begged Noctis to listen to their story, though Noctis refused to hear them and told them to finish her off with the Godsphere now that she had been defeated, claiming that it was her destiny as an Ancient God and theirs as an Adversary.

However, the Adversary refused to take her life, claiming that someone else had once told them about their predetermined destiny, and that they would tell her what they had told the Black Mage – that destiny was not something decided for them, but rather, it was something they created for themselves in their present. Noctis was intrigued by the idea of an Adversary who created their own destiny before looking through the Adversary’s memories using their connection to the World Heart and her power contained inside it, allowing her to see the truth about what had happened to Rue.

The Adversary asked Noctis whether Rue could be saved with her remaining power inside the draining crystal, to which Noctis explained that with Rue’s physical body destroyed, such a thing would be impossible. However, she added that with her connection to Rue as twins, there may be a way to restore her back to life. For this reason, Noctis proposed a deal with the Adversary to surrender her remaining power in exchange for keeping her body and the draining crystal containing Rue’s power.

The surprised Adversary asked Noctis whether she was sure, as she would be unable to take her revenge on the other gods without her power. However, Noctis replied that she didn’t like revenge, and that she didn’t deserve to have her great power. She explained that she had been unafraid of her own power, and that she had lost her sister and led Tallahart down the path of destruction as a result. Because of this, Noctis willingly surrendered her power and the remaining power of the gods of Tallahart into the World Heart in exchange for Rue’s power. She explained that the illusion of Tallahart would soon disappear as a result, though the city itself would remain standing, as only the owner of the power which had revived it had changed.

Though the Adversary offered to help her with her mission, Noctis assured them that Rue’s power was enough for her, and that if the destiny that they were creating together led their paths to cross, they would meet again, adding that the world might start again with them. Declaring them as the Adversary of the new era, Noctis asked them not to die before disappearing and using her power to send the Adversary to the outskirts of the city.

At the bridge to Tallahart, Hawkeye and the Primacy found themselves unable to enter the city when the Adversary appeared. After explaining what had happened, Hawkeye noted that it was perhaps time to return back and report to the Alliance. He then asked Iker what the Primacy intended to do, to which Iker explained that their mission could be considered a success, and that their paths may perhaps cross again. He then told the Adversary that when the time came, he would call upon them to fulfill their deal before having Kelly teleport them back to the hideout. Just then, Alliance ships appeared over the sky, with Neinheart having arrived with reinforcements to bring them back to Ereve.

There, the Adversary and Hawkeye finished their report, with Neinheart noting with pleasure that the mission had been a great success for the Alliance, having acquired a significant amount of divine power and making contact with the Primacy. However, both he and Hawkeye agreed that Baldrix and Veronica’s actions had seemed highly suspicious throughout the mission, as it seemed that while they had initially come to Tallahart with the intention of taking the power of the Ancient Gods, their purpose appeared to have abruptly changed midway.

The Adversary then recalled how the High Flora had reached the first seal before leaving the other paths completely unguarded, making them wonder whether something had happened at the first seal to change their objectives. Nevertheless, Neinheart noted that they couldn’t form any proper conclusion with only circumstantial evidence. He also noted that the selection that Baldrix had spoken of worried him, as he could scarcely even begin to imagine the scale of such an initiative.

He then told the Adversary that he had heard that they had given Rue’s power to Noctis and allowed her to go free, to which the Adversary replied that they didn’t believe that it would harm the Alliance, promising to stop Noctis herself if she became a threat. Though Neinheart admitted that they had made the right decision, he cautioned them to remember that their choices affected the entire Alliance. With that, he decided to end the briefing, adding that he would soon be calling a conference with the Alliance.

Elsewhere, Baldrix and Veronica arrived at Aboris, where a frustrated Veronica noted bitterly that all the divine power in Tallahart had been taken away by the Adversary. However, Baldrix snapped at her to keep her voice down, reminding her of where they were. As Darmoor appeared before them, Veronica immediately bowed her head before the God-King before apologizing for her rudeness.

Baldrix then reported to Darmoor that he had successfully checked on the condition of the Adversary, whom he called the Vessel, and that he had ascertained that they were more stable than he had thought. He then explained that he believed that if the World Heart were to be completed, Darmoor’s plan would be possible. Darmoor thanked Baldrix for his work before declaring that he would begin the selection. After he disappeared, Baldrix reminded Veronica that he had already told her not to doubt his words, with Veronica agreeing that everything happened according to Darmoor’s will.

After Baldrix left, however, Veronica noted to herself that she never had doubts from the beginning. She spoke aloud that if the God-King wished her to play her current role, she would do so faithfully until she achieved her purpose, adding that would fly up even higher past the title of Captain until she reached the top. She then vowed that she would soon show the Adversary what position best suited the one who had broken down the Einherjar, the palace gate of the former God-King.

(A/N: It’s pretty clear that Veronica is shooting to replace Baldrix as an Apostle. The end of Tallahart sets the stage for the true battle against Darmoor to begin, and while some people are speculating that this is shaping up to be the end of the continental Grandis storyline at level 300, I can almost guarantee that it’s impossible.

Outside of how rushed the narrative would be, we currently have the following unresolved plot points at the time of Tallahart coming out: six of the twelve Apostles, the three elders of Shangri-La, the five other territories of the High Flora, Chronica being missing, the God of the Verdant Flora still not showing up, six of the thirteen moons of Grandis not being revealed, the missing Flora bowman, the missing Anima warrior, pirate, and bowman, the missing Nova mage, the plot points that need to get introduced and resolved for those classes’ storylines, plus a whole bunch of unresolved plot points scattered across the rest of the Grandis storyline. There is zero chance that they can finish the Darmoor arc without skipping over half the story.

If anything, the level 300 story will probably set the stage for the second half of the storyline, and we’ll get a proper conclusion maybe after they increase the level cap to 350 or something before we shift over to Tynerum.)

If you’re still reading this, thank you so much for being as crazy as I am and reading over two thousand pages worth of content.

This project first took life as a twenty-page summary for a friend who wanted to know the full lore of MapleStory. Over the next few weeks, I started adding more bits and pieces, and I quickly realized that the plot of this game is so convoluted and complicated that even twenty pages isn’t enough to cover the full scope of how interconnected the story has become over nearly two decades. That was when I had the idea of creating a chronological ordering to the story just for the hell of it.

Over the next seven months, I began digging into every possible piece of relevant story, both in-game and online. Because of the severe lack of story documentation online, I ended up power-leveling a lot of characters in order to transcribe their story myself. A happy side-effect of this was that my Legion is now over 8k at the time of writing this.

From many of the online resources I found, I discovered that this game has a huge history of dialogue changes, many of which are now regrettably unrecoverable. There’s a plethora of tiny character details referenced in the game that have come from now-removed pre-Big Bang quests, such as Grendel mentioning his dabbling in dark magic coming from a removed Ellinia town quest that talked about how he accidentally created Zombie Lupins. I’ve done my best to document every tiny scrap of these old quests for the sake of historical preservation, although I’m sad that a lot of little details are now lost forever.

Another big difficulty was that most story dialogue text is stored server-side, rather than client-side, meaning that it’s impossible to obtain story text from the source files. I was pretty disappointed when I found this out, as it would’ve made it a lot easier to grab exclusive dialogue from high-level content. I’m always grateful to people who post high-level content playthroughs online, and even low-level content, as Nexon always manages to surprise me with exclusive lines of dialogue in places that I wouldn’t have expected them, such as theme dungeons.

It took some pretty in-depth research to grab every piece of content that I could get my hands on, which included not only in-game dialogue and removed content, but also things like licensed webcomics and reference books, all of which came in varying degrees of accessibility. Some of them were only in Korean, some I could only get my hands on through obscure forum links to an archived page from 2004, and some were only second-hand summaries of things that are no longer accessible.

Half the struggle in making this site wasn’t just getting all the content together, but putting it all in chronological order. As much as I love this game, anyone who’s read this site knows how much I complain about the continuity errors and constant retcons. I have several dozen pages worth of notes and scribbles when I tried jotting down a timeline for a story filled with messy time travel and plot holes. I used a lot of throwaway lines for timeline ordering, like how the fairies of Ellinia knowing about elves in Mercedes’ storyline but not knowing about them in Luminous’ storyline meant that Luminous’ story should take place before Mercedes’, despite Mercedes being released before Luminous.

It definitely wasn’t easy trying to reconcile a chronology filled with mistakes, and I ended up having to settle for having one with the fewest glaring continuity issues. I complain a lot about the Destiny update and what the Explorer revamp did to the timeline, but if you had to scrap and redo two months’ of effort, you’d be annoyed too. Still, at least fixing the timeline wasn’t as hard as coming up with it from scratch.

I initially wrote this site up on Google Docs until I went over the maximum character limit for the document, which I didn’t even know was a thing until then. In hindsight, this was probably for the best because it took a full three minutes to load the whole document in the browser. I ended up trying out a bunch of different blogs and I found that Squarespace had a good UI and could load all 700+ pages instantly, back when this site was only 700 pages. Later on, I created individual pages for each section as an alternate way of viewing the site due to popular request.

I never could’ve imagined that what started out as a simple summary could evolve into a project this massive in scale. Even more than that, I never could’ve imagined how much this blew up in the MapleStory community. It’s no secret that most people aren’t too invested in the story, and some even demand for a smaller focus on the story, which I personally think is stupid because imagine complaining about there being too much story in a game that literally has the word 'story’ in it.

Regardless, I was really surprised that people were so receptive to the idea of a complete and chronological guide to the game’s story. Before making this site, there wasn’t really a centralized place for people interested in the lore to discuss and speculate. I feel like at least on some level, making this site created a revival in story interest, especially when I created a Discord server for people who like the story to talk about it. I’m really happy that there’s finally a place for lore nerds to talk and share things that they discover. Because of them, I’ve been able to find a lot of exclusive dialogue to add on this site, as well as Easter eggs and speculations.

It goes without saying that a project as big as this couldn’t have been possible without a great number of people, and so I’d like to recognize all of them here:

First and foremost, I want to thank PirateIzzy and Saught for being absolutely indispensable resources, both while developing this site and long after. For anyone who doesn’t know, Izzy kept the MapleWiki up to date for a good number of years until he retired, with everything from monster data, quests, bosses, game mechanics, and more. He’s also extremely knowledgeable about the lore and has posted a good number of high-level content playthroughs, as well as a bunch of class stories and miscellaneous storylines that include exclusive dialogue. Izzy was one of the most important pillars holding up accessibility to game information and the community was extremely lucky to have him. I’m fortunate enough to be able to rely on him for everything from grabbing obscure dialogue, extracting game assets, finding relevant resources online, and even just making memes about the game.

Saught has god-tier knowledge about the history of the game, from release day to the present. He’s made fantastic lore videos about extremely obscure topics, such as event stories and town quests. I would highly, highly recommend checking out his videos. Not only are they extremely informative, but he presents them in a way that’s clear and easily digestible. I’ve asked him a lot of questions while developing the GMS-verse section of the lore site and he was gracious enough to go the extra mile and give me in-depth answers to everything that I was curious about.

In terms of making information accessible, I want to thank the contributors of MapleWiki and Namu, a Korean wiki with a plethora of data. I’ve been giving back to the MapleWiki community by expanding lore articles, but I’m still grateful to everyone who’s added information before me. Namu was something I stumbled across because of Izzy, and I’m really glad that I did. Namu is kept up-to-date by KMS players and it’s a treasure trove of information and speculation. Unlike normal wiki pages, the writers of Namu articles include personal opinions, theories, and astute observations about story connections. A lot of the fan theories and fun facts that I’ve included in this site come from Namu.

The site is written in Korean, but I use Google Translate to get a rough understanding of what it says. Sometimes, it makes really funny mistranslations that keep me entertained while I suffer through keeping this site up-to-date. For example, one of the Black Mage’s quotes in Luminous’ storyline is, “Another foolish moth to my flame,” which Namu translates to be, “Another stupid moth flew in.” Another great example is Cannoneer’s Maple M article, which describes what happens after he escapes Coco Island: “When he opened his eyes, the cannon shooter was in an unfamiliar bedroom, and in front of him was a stoner with a remarkably neat appearance.” For context, Cannoneer’s job instructor is Cutter, whose name is Stoner in KMS.

On the topic of translations, I want to give a huge thanks to satsu, who’s done an incredible job with providing accurate English translations to the community. Typically when new stories come out in KMS, I usually translate them by holding up my phone and using the camera feature on the Google Translate app. For the most part, I get a decent idea of major plot points, although some of the finer details get lost in translation. I can usually always rely on satsu to provide a better translation soon after, and she’s always kind enough to do smaller translations and clarify any questions that I have about the differences between the direct KMS text and what GMS localizes it to.

I’m also forever indebted to all the people who’ve posted story playthroughs online. They’ve saved me literal months of time by not making me have to play through those stories myself. In addition to PirateIzzy, I want to thank Shiang for his MSEA playthroughs. MSEA localizations themselves aren’t always too great, as they typically have a lot of spelling and grammar mistakes, with the early MSEA translation team even being as lazy as to simply put the raw Korean text in Google Translate and copy it into their region’s source code.

Still, MSEA is generally more faithful to the direct KMS text and it’s always helpful to compare it to what we get in GMS. Shiang has more class story playthroughs than anyone else on the Internet, and just the fact that the MSEA videos are in English is enough for it to be accessible to people, and so I’m very grateful to everything that he does.

I also want to thank the following YouTube channels for their story playthroughs. Unfortunately, I don’t remember every single channel that I used, but here are the main ones:

• Mapler LeeTBeats for their class story playthroughs and a plethora of exclusive dialogue from the Glory event.

• MasteringGaming for their high-level playthroughs.

• blushiemagic for power-leveling to keep the lore server up-to-date with the latest areas as soon as they come to GMS.

• Rhydog for a lot of canon, overseas, and event storyline playthroughs.

Aside from sources and references, I also want to give special thanks to a few other people.

I want to give the biggest thanks to Sacrix and his chat for all the lore readings on his streams. Site traffic to this website tripled in number when Sacrix began doing his lore readings, which was actually insane when I first read the statistics page. I made this site with the hope of making the story more accessible to people, but I’m well aware that reading over two thousand pages of lore is a pretty daunting task, even with all the things I do to make it easier on people.

I’ve been asked many times in the past to make YouTube videos or to even make an audiobook for the lore site, but unfortunately, I’m just far too busy for that sort of commitment, not to mention that my boring, monotone voice is probably gonna do the opposite of getting people into the lore. Because of this, I’m especially grateful to Sacrix for his lore readings.

I also want to give my sincere thanks to our lore server. I got into MapleStory when I was thirteen, right around the Legends patch, and I think I had a grand total of two friends who played the game. Because of this, I became that one middle-schooler kid who started unsolicited conversations about MapleStory lore like I was a Jehovah’s Witness. Kid me would’ve killed for a community of lore nerds like I have now, and I’m appreciative of every single one of them, whether they’re a regular or a lurker. We’re always happy to have more people, so feel free to join if you’re reading this.

Finally, I’d like to give thanks to the following:

• My friends for putting up with me every single time that I didn’t pick up their calls because contrary to what they believe, I’m not a magician who can talk and write at the same time.

• My family for making sure that I don’t die when I get so absorbed in my work that I don’t realize that I’ve gone like five days without eating yes this actually happened once lol.

• Spotify for getting me through days and weeks and months of editing hell.

• All the people reading this. Whether you’ve read this site from cover to cover, whether you’ve skimmed through, or even if you didn’t make it this far, this site would be nothing without the people reading it.

Despite how much I complain about it, I really do love this stupid mushroom game story. I never could’ve imagined that the story of five heroes fighting an evil wizard could have expanded into a colossal epic spanning across time and space: a battle against the gods, the philosophical struggle between fate and free will, and the emotional highs and lows of countless heroes striving to protect what they love.

I’ll keep updating this site with more information as it comes out in KMS and changing small details once the GMS localizations come out. I’ll also try to fix any spelling and grammar errors that I see when I check in from time to time, but if anyone notices anything off about spelling, grammar, chronology, or lore mistakes, feel free to let me know!