| First time.
|
Subsequent times.
|
<gasp> Who should stand before me but the savior of the very star–the inimitable ender of the end! Your deeds are sung of far and wire, my friend!
As I understand it, your quest for the world's salvation brought you to Sharlayan. I, too, am here on a quest of sorts–the quest for musical inspiration.
Alas, magnificent though this repository of knowledge may be, I find there is only so much inspiration I can derive from tomes...
But where tomes alone fail to inspire, living words may yet spark the imagination!
So I beg you, will you not regale me with the tale of your quest to deliver the star? If such an adventure isn't fit to be an epic, I would not know what is!
Drawing upon both your firsthand account and the knowledge I attain here, I believe that shall be able to weave the most marvelous of verses!
Should you be willing, pray let me know. I shall continue my research here in the meantime. |
|
|
Greetings, my friend. If you have a tale to share, this minstrel is all ears!
|
|
| If tales to share.
|
If no tales to share.
|
What will you talk about?
 Cutscene start.
|
Oho, what manner of thrilling adventure might this be?
Good gods, a battle on the moon with Zodiark, eldest and mightiest of primals... I pride myself on my imagination, but your feats transcend aught my mind could possibly conceive.
Against all odds, you struck down the puissant being, yet triumph quickly turned to tragedy, for Zodiark's fall proved to be the trigger for the Final Days...
...Yes. Yes, the words well up within me, Pray lend them an ear.
Born of ancient men, a divinity was freed,♪
Their hopes unrequited, they knew no reprieve.♪
Born of mortal men, a champion did arise,♪
Ascending to the heavens, ruination to defy.♪
That the ancients should sacrifice half their number to save the star... The strength of their resolve makes me tremble in admiration.
Even as it saddens me to think that one of their own would seek to lay it all to waste, so deep was his despair...
Not having lived their lives, I feel decidedly unworthy to speak of their hearts. Better that the whole truth remain with you, and you alone.
Let it suffice for me to honor a fragment of their hopes and dreams in song, that their lives and sacrifice may ever be remembered. |
| Cutscene end.
|
| Cutscene start.
|
Hm-hm, this promises to be a most rousing adventure!
In order to prove your readiness to avert the Final Days, you undertook a trial imposed by no less a being than the will of the star, Hydaelyn Herself...
It staggers the mind to imagine such an encounter, to say naught of the thousands of years that Venat had resolved to wait.
...Yes, I daresay I have a song. You will listen to it now, of course?
Though eons apart, two kindred souls met,♪
Apart they would walk, all life to protect.♪
Eons thence, their paths would converge,♪
As goddess and mortal, to silence the direge.♪
For time beyond counting, Hydaelyn waited for you in patience and faith. And when at last you were reunited, even as She desperately wished for you to surpass Her, She knew She could not hold back–and did not.
Hers was an unenviable burden...and a noble sacrifice. Tears well in my eyes to imagine the hardships She has had to endure.
But it comforts me to know that Her long journey was not in vain. That Her hopes passed on to you.
This tale is an epic among epics, and full honored am I to have been given the chance to weave a song for it. From the bottom of my heart, I thank you. |
| Cutscene end.
|
| Cutscene start.
|
A battle at the edge of existence, you say? Against a fearsome being known as the Endsinger...
It goes without saying that I should like to hear about this! Pray, recount to me the tale of your mission from beginning to end!
Good gods... I had known about the chaos of the Final Days, but never could I have imagined the events which brought them about.
I do Wonder, though... Where might this Ultima Thule be located?
Lest you misunderstand, I speak not of its physical location. If we wished to know that, I daresay we could have the coordinates from the Loporrits.
Nay, my friend. What I speak of, rather, is its essence.
According to your description, it's a space where emotions dictate reality. It seems to me that, in such a place, it would be nigh impossible to draw a line between what is real and what is felt.
In nature, there is a phenomenon wherein the structure of a massive object may resemble that of something diminutive.
Might it not be possible, then, that the structure of the sea of stars resembles that of the heart and mind—of the complex mechanisms that govern our feelings?
On the assumption that it is so, I am led to wonder: what was the true nature of the Endsinger?
What was it exactly that you defied at the edge of existence?
Haha, these are just the wild ramblings of a minstrel. Pray do not lose sleep over it.
Still, I must say that the idea of an eternity that hoards despair has quite roused my imagination. For instance…
Had the end singer succeeded in gathering but a few more stars' worth of despair—nay, perhaps even that of a few more souls—might the outcome have been different?
Yes, I believe I shall explore such an eventuality in song!
The light of hope kindled by your comrades is brilliant. Alas, so dark is the despair you face, not even that light can pierce it...
An inexorable verse of oblivion, performed at the farthest reaches of existence... I shall name it: the Endsinger's Aria! |
| Cutscene end.
|
| Cutscene start.
|
Good gods, a battle in the void! You've certainly wasted no time seeking out newfound adventure... By all means, regale me with the thrilling details!
A world without death, where the strong devour the weak... And a woman touched by Darkness, who possesses the power to seal voidsent... Fascinating stuff indeed.
But this archfiend Barbariccia, as cruel as she is ravishing... Though she is fearsome enough by your account, I cannot help but wonder: what if she had devoured more of the great wyrm's aether? How terribly bright might her soul have shone then?
... Yes, they come to me, the beginnings of a new verse. Pray listen, if you will.
In armor black, from shadowed lair,♪
The knight, with steely voice, declared.♪
A dragon's freedom he did steal,♪
Vict'ry in his crusade to seal.♪
Wind made flesh, the archfiend fair,♪
Her pride, her long and lustrous hair.♪
On dragon soul she feasted well,♪
A tempest freed to toll the knell.♪
Fighting to devour. Devouring to fight. Should the day come when this wheel is broken, would a voidsent greet her end with a wail of anguish? Or would she heave a sigh of relief?
Whichever it may be, 'tis ironic to think that a soul who had sought freedom, and for so long, should end up being imprisoned in cold crystal.
Thus I would sing of that final battle. For in that lightless world, 'tis in such a moment, I believe, that their lives shine the brightest. |
| Cutscene end.
|
| Cutscene start.
|
The voidsent thought to cross the rift and launch an assault on our world? Goodness, and here I thought you might find a reprieve from your dealings with the void and its denizens. Pray, tell me more.
I see... Theirs was a world bereft of true death, and so they sought its release in ours. A most curious impetus to take action, would you not agree?
And this Rubicante... He too was prepared to embrace his end with open arms. Yet I cannot help but wonder: had he drank deeper of the dragon's aether, how brightly might his soul have burned ere it flickered and failed?
Hmmm... I do believe this quandary has inspired the makings of a new verse. If you might lend me your ear a moment?
In armor black, the knight did ride♪
To claim lands wherein death resides.♪
Thither would his people know♪
The silent gift of death's great flow.♪
Honour bound, a fiend of fire.♪
Forged in battle, honed by ire.♪
He stood defiant, soul ablaze,♪
Heart heavy with sins of bygone days.♪
In another life, one might say he had the heart of a hero true. A heart broken, perhaps, by the bitter truth that the void could not be saved without sacrifice.
Yet he was willing to offer up his soul to become a monster, dying to uphold his ideals. A heroic sacrifice in his eyes, no doubt.
The circumstances of his death aside, I believe such a noble soul is worthy of remembrance in song, that people may look back on the man that he was rather than the beast he became. |
| Cutscene end.
|
| Cutscene start.
|
Ah, the knight clad in armor black... Pray tell me of your encounter with him beyond the veil—and spare no detail.
So the true motive for his crusade was the salvation of his brethren. Thus did he pervert Azdaja's yearning to return home into a force capable of breaking down the barrier between worlds.
For one that speaks of deliverance, concocting a plot that would condemn the souls of another world to death rings decidedly unheroic...
Nonetheless, I feel inspired with a new verse. Pray lend me your ears.
For home, the shackled wyrm did yearn,♪
Stained by shadow, her nature turned.♪
In Darkness did her captor swear,♪
To claim his kind there stolen share.♪
Only salvation would suffice,♪
Another world to pay the price.♪
Hailed hero, or branded villain,♪
Deeds never to be forgiven.♪
What could have driven him to such ends? To sacrifice the very souls he hoped to save? To give rise to an entity born of such sorrow as Zeromus?
He is worthy of contempt for his deeds, of that, there is no doubt. Yet all was done for the salvation of his people... One cannot help but be drawn to such a tale. |
| Cutscene end.
|
| Cutscene start.
|
The dread beast Zeromus. 'Twas a battle that shook the very heavens, I'm sure. Naught less would befit an adversary named for a fallen champion of the Thirteenth. If you are willing to share, a captive audience stands before you.
Hoho, so you countered baleful Dark with resplendent Light. And what a fascinating twist to the tale for Zero, denizen of the void, to wield it. To be possessed of the strength of spirit to forge her own future in so brazen a fashion!
Though in truth, knowing she is part voidsent, I would have expected the Light to refuse her outright. I shudder to think what might have happened if it had. To her, to Azdaja, to this very star...
From musings of darkest despair springs forth a song of hope. If I may...
From dregs of Dark did Zeromus rise,♪
To claim the flesh of wyrm as its guise.♪
Bereft of death, its kin left to weep,♪
As fiend unleashed sought home and release.♪
From selfsame shade did rise a dark knight,♪
A void-kissed child now graced by the Light.♪
'Twas she who dared to defy her fate,♪
And by her hand damnation's wheel break.♪
For a mercy, it seems Zero has found a way to save not only her voidsent kin, but her home as well. And while Golbez may have committed terrible deeds, that he yet lives means that he may yet do good.
The nigh-fathomless Darkness of Zeromus contained within the memoria crystal shall pave a path of newfound hope.
An arduous path, to be sure, but one they shall walk together. And at journey's end, I pray, the Thirteenth will flourish with life once more. |
| Cutscene end.
|
|
Oh, leaving so soon? I would be lying were I to say I wasn't disappointed, but I appreciate that a hero such as you has great demands upon her time. I shall look forward to hearing your adventures when you have a spare moment.
|
|
|
|
...Nothing for now? Not to put undue pressure upon you, but the folk here are quite taken by the songs inspired by your tales. They await the next with bated breath, and I hope to be able to deliver ere long—with inspiration from your good self.
|
| 
|
Acquisition
Closest Aetheryte: Old Sharlayan (Zone) → Scholar's Harbor
Requirements
Rewards
Description
Objectives
