A §trαnge New World


«Unto the Heavens

071201.png89On Burdεned ωingsMainquest1 Icon.png On Burdεned ωings»

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We're fortunate this place can support life...albeit barely, I suspect, given the torpid, stale quality of the air...

But never mind that. We must find Thancred. Let's begin our search from the prow of the ship. It seems as good a direction as any.


Try not to stray too far, lest we lose sight of one another.
Quest Accepted


This...this cannot be real.


These remains have long since turned to ash...and yet, they retain their form.
There is a structure here in front of me, yes? A tower of some sort, partially melted? Hmm. In a strange twist of fate, it seems our perception of this place is not so different as it would be elsewhere.
The world as I used to see it... It feels as though I am dreaming while awake. This is more than the faded memory Meteion led us to believe.
I see no one else in this barren waste, do you? Then why do I feel like we're not alone...like there's another presence with us. Something dark...and mournful...
What was this, I wonder...?


Ruins. But of what, I wonder?

Perhaps we can find something to help us understand the nature of this place. A relic, an inscription, anything...


Be careful, Forename. I cannot shake the feeling we're being watched. Gods, you don't think there are ghosts here...do you?


System
The metallic pillar has been partially melted, likely sometime in the distant past.
The damage does not appear to have been inflicted deliberately. Rather, it calls to mind the indiscriminate destruction often wrought in the heat of battle...
Look here─this part is relatively intact.

The intricate design of the top suggests it is man-made, though its builders were surely not men as we conceive of them.


Having said that, I swear I have seen this pattern before...


I know this pattern. But from where...?


I thought this hill might afford a better view of our surroundings... A poor decision in hindsight.

Besides the light from the ship, all is shrouded in darkness. If Thancred is here, I'd never know it.


From what I can tell, we are near the edge of an island─if you can call it that─surrounded by floating debris.


Have care should you decide to climb higher. Were you to fall, you might well tumble through the great expanse for all eternity.


Player7 Icon.png Cutscene start.
Were you able to find anything?
As I feared. And still no trace of Thancred.
There's nothing but emptiness as far as the eye can see, which, unfortunately, isn't very far.

Though I can't help but suspect that someone...or something is here.


There are times when I sense it drawing close...and then a chill washes over me, leaving me exhausted.


Leaving me with feelings of death and anguish...


What will you say?
I think I might see something over there... I felt it too when I was near that thing...
What are you talking about? There's nothing there.
Before we jump to any conclusions, perhaps we should search elsewhere.
Agreed. We've found only more questions when we are in desperate need of answers.
There's a fair stretch of terrain from the ship's starboard we've yet to explore.
Let us try searching there, then.
Forename. A word, before we join the others.
Player7 Icon.png Cutscene end.


You see them too, don't you? The dragons.

As I thought. Their presence is tenuous at best, but there's no mistaking it.


No doubt your bond with Midgardsormr, and mine with Nidhogg, is what allows us to perceive them.


Could these apparitions be related to the dragons that now live on Etheirys?


...Bah. Better to leave such conjecture to the others. In any case, we must be careful. We may soon find dragons they can see as well.


Hmm... Death and anguish. What happened to them, I wonder?


In the time before, I soared across our skies. North, west, south, east...no wind swifter than I. Now, those skies are lost to me.
Hmm... Thou art unlike the others—this place ill befits thee. Do not tarry overlong...
To dwell on the past yieldeth naught. Our desires meant little to our destiny, and less now.
Yet regrets find me nevertheless...
Long ago, hatchings were marked by song and merriment. Alas, such joy will never be ours again...
Nay, we shall curse the machines that stole all we held dear unto the end of time.
Ere the metal came, my kin were many and splendid. Elegant wyrms like unto ripples on the water, wyrms possessed of limbs so powerful as to rend the land in twain...
Wyrms I have long since forgotten, faces lost to the tides of time...
Drink not of this spring. Tainted are its waters, and thy dainty form hath not the capacity to withstand it.
Long has it been since I forgot the pain of despair. Now I gaze upon our clan feeling naught, simply waiting for the end... Pray leave me be.


It seems these dragons have yet to succumb completely to the darkness of this place. Meaning the others should see them as well.
Surely, mine eyes deceive me. This cannot be possible.
My sight may have been restored after a fashion, but I fear what I see cannot be trusted...
It's as if Meteion herself has etched these images upon my heart. I doubt not that such a feat is within her power, given that she constructed this sanctuary herself.
Look there! Are those...are those ghosts, do you think?
Dragons... 'Tis true they are not of our world. But to find them in a prison of despair...


Player7 Icon.png The Unending Journey: # 1: Voiced cutscene start.
Dragons? Here?
What you see is a memory of a world that once was.
A world suffering a slow death, whose denizens cried out for the release of oblivion.
What? Their world...is dead?
It is. Not a single life remains upon that husk floating in the vast emptiness.
These creatures are shadow and shade. Perpetuated only to suffuse dynamis with their unending lamentations.
Our friend Thancred─where is he?
A strange question. He is at your side, is he not?

Oh yes─he is here, and there, and everywhere within this space. He would tell you himself if he had form to form words.


Huh. Such loathing and uncertainty... You don't know why you still exist.


In like manner to the oblivion I send, I tried to drown out your aether with dynamis.


Beginning with this Thancred, who came at me despite being unable to breathe.


Such a simple thing, unmaking men. In the blinking of an eye, he was gone. Didn't even have the chance to be transformed.


Yet somehow, he managed to leave a sliver of himself behind.


What you call...the heart...or perhaps the soul? In his final moment, he...cried out from it. A single word...


"Survive..."


That wish proved stronger than the despair that ruled here. It overpowered it, causing this space to be remade.


Into a place you can perceive, and where life can endure.


That you draw breath is proof that his soul lives on. For how long, however, remains to be seen.
Well then, we should hurry and tend to business!
It's futile. You will never reach the true me.

I told you. Emotions dictate reality in this space. Such changes as you might work will not alter its nature.


You may see, but you cannot touch. Walk, but not advance.
Bah...
Meteion holds too much sway here. How do we contend with a foe who can unmake us on a whim?
I do not know...but Thancred gave his life that we might come this far. We must press on.
Agreed. We cannot turn tail here. Not without something to show for our comrade's sacrifice.
Player7 Icon.png The Unending Journey: # 1: Voiced cutscene end.
Quest Complete


My aim was true. I had her.
How are we to defeat an enemy we can't attack?
His will was strong enough to reshape Ultima Thule that we might survive. That I might see again. His sacrifice must not be wasted.
He can't really be gone, can he? Meteion herself said his soul persists, that he is the reason we are still breathing. If so then maybe...maybe...
I understand now why the Loporrits were surprised to find that this environment could sustain life. There but for Thancred's sacrifice...
It's hard to believe Thancred was able to overcome Meteion's will. Yet here we are... Would that the price for his victory had not been so high.