1918
After being approached by Centus, Acantha and Corcan stowed away to fight in the war but after their vessel got caught in a naval engagement, Acantha, Corcan and two other Centennials washed up on shore of a strange island, cloaked in light and they continue to wait for rescue
Corcan: How many rations do we have left?
Acantha: Not enough
Corcan: So we’re stuck in this place
Gaeventus: The name is Dawn Island
Hunadon: We’re clearly left here to die
Acantha: We at least have some drinking water
Corcan: And a dead radio, we can’t contact help
Acantha: Why did we ever agree to go with that lunatic?
Gaeventus: Centus is no lunatic, they just couldn’t account for being blown up by The Graves Below unit
Acantha: They probably survived
Hunadon: Centus fell down from a ten thousand foot drop and survived, they’re probably enjoying the cool atlantic breeze
Corcan: So this is what wanting adventure leaves us?
Acantha: It’s not all bad
Corcan: We are going to die on this island
Acantha: Corcan, we’re f-
Rustling is heard in the woods
Gaeventus: What the hell was that?
Unknown Local: Hi
Everyone is shocked as a woman with cat ears and a cat tail emerges from the woods
Corcan: Can we help you?
Unknown Local: My name is Kyye and, our village is under attack by The White Witch, Optica
Gaeventus: The White Witch?
Kyye: She works for Ygmi, The Light King, we need all the help we can get
Acantha: Well, we wanted adventure
As Kyye continues to tell the castaways about what they can do to help, we pan back to the present situation our heroes find themselves in
The Red Realm
Atoll wakes up after the fall, right next to Corcan and Anmai
Atoll: Are we back at your place?
Corcan: Yup….
Anmai: So, this world is beyond time?
Corcan: It houses memories, souls, windows into other realities, stuff like that
Anmai: Why is it red?
Atoll: I doubt there’s a reason
Corcan: There isn’t one
Anmai: So what now
Atoll: Hey, I don’t want to be the bearer of strange news but-
A flickering purple light manifests itself in front of Corcan
Anmai: What the hell is that
Corcan: I had to untangle this from that the raging monster
Atoll: The Grave?
Corcan: Yeah
Purple Light: Thanks for nothing
Corcan: I’m still trying to find a vessel for you
Purple Light: You’re not trying hard enough
Anmai: Who is that?
Purple Light: Cut the shit, you know me
Atoll: You’re not who I think you are, are you?
The Purple Light manifests itself as a hologram of the person it used to belong too, Acantha
/
Acantha: Thanks for shooting me off a tower by the way
Atoll: Great, just great
Anmai: Wait what the hell
Acantha: Let me catch you up to speed, I was manipulated by that witch assbag to destroy the idol of light and have the city float away, this would cause you all to come after me and cause The Grave to be released, The Grave would weaken the barriers between worlds or something and The Witch also wanted me dead because I stole part of the White World to put in my office so I could monitor her activities after Corcan and I defeated her boss on Dawn Island years ago
Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.
Anmai: Wait, you stowed away too?
Acantha: Yes, keep up. In his old age, I told Corcan to enter The Red Realm to keep an eye on the King’s soul and to stand guard in case Optica tried showing her face again
Atoll: That is a lot
Corcan: So yeah, that wizard friend of yours rended Optica’s body to dust somehow, so that ended up spoiling like all of Optica’s evil plans at the time.
Acantha: It was so easy for her because Optica had been weakened because Zenial destroyed part of her world thus weakening her body’s protection.
Anmai: I understand
Atoll: So…what about when you pulled me in here because I felt bad about killing that woman over there and told me, sometimes you make hard choices and all that sanctimonious stuff
Acantha: You did what?
Corcan: What about that?
Atoll: Was that part of your master plan? Did you care about how I felt at all? How about you grabbing me, Atlantic and two people who just rolled into town for an important quest instead of just getting everyone else?
Corcan: Acantha and I fought against The King of Light after our boat got blown up and being stranded on an island, thousands of miles from the rest of society, you have no right to complain
Atoll: You and your double standards
Acantha: Ok guys, calm down
Anmai: Hey Acantha, so from what I hear, you put the whole city in danger and now we’re supposed to work with you. You betrayed the Century Corps too. How do we know this isn’t some sort of elaborate scheme to take over the world or something?
Acantha: Optica’s manipulation clings to you like an octopus suffocating you with its tentacles but I should have done more to prevent her grip from holding on me
Anmai: And where are Thosmrr and Atlantic?
Acantha: They are fine, probably
Corcan: Alright Acantha, you need to follow behind us now
Acantha: I will
Atoll: And please don’t do anything stupid
Acantha: I won’t!
Anmai: So what now?
Corcan: We have to find where Optica’s soul might be and also find Hedal and Phote before they can do anything’
Atoll: Sounds easy enough
Acantha: It’s never that easy
Anmai: Ok so, how do we do those things?
Corcan: We should just go to the Chamber of Souls located at the center, every soul should be there if they haven’t been moved
Anmai: And how far away is this chamber?
Corcan: Not that far away
Atoll: Well, we don’t have much time to waste
Begin Path To The Chamber
When you’re 10% down the path, flakes of light appear, followed by two figures also cloaked in light
Corcan: I assume more Optica underlings?
Zxxx: You’d be correct
Vado: The Court of Stars was incredibly hard to infiltrate, but our subterfuge let us in
Acantha: How would one infiltrate the court?
Vado: That is secret I will not reveal
Zxxx: I will, see we took the essence of a star and bent it to our will
Anmai: That sounds like it should be impossible?
Vado: It was
Corcan: So I assume that Phote and Hedal are up ahead in the chamber
Vado: You assume correctly
Atoll: You’re gonna get out of our way
Zxxx: Aren’t you missing two people?
Anmai: Oh yeah, what about that?
Vado moves his hand through the air, revealing Atlantic and Thosmrr tied up and bound down to an altar
Vado: Yeah, we did that
Acantha: Heh, you just made a mistake
Zxxx: How?
Acantha: By revealing you have put a member of the Century Corps in danger, it just makes them want to kick your ass even harder
Atoll: Let’s go
Anmai: Lead the way
Fight against Zxxx and Vado
When Zxxx and Vado are at 90%
Corcan: You want to just let us through?
Zxxx: No, I’d die for Optica
Vado: Same
Acantha: Yeah, you’re gonna die if you don’t stand aside
Continue against Vado and Zxxx
When they are at 75%
Atoll: So if we kill you will that free them?
Zxxx: Oh hell no, Phote and Hedal have them in their custody while they prepare Optica’s return, really we’re just decoys that will be a major problem if you don’t kill us now?
Corcan: They really planned out this strike to the fullest extent
Acantha: We did similar in the past
Corcan: I suppose that fight against Ygmi and Optica was only an afternoon
Vado: An afternoon??
Anmai: Wow you really rocked on
Zxxx: Pfft, whatever
Continue against Vado and Zxxx
When they are at 50%
Acantha: Think I can get an assist?
Atoll: How?
Vado: Yeah, how?
Acantha: Watch this
Corcan: Guess we’re doing this?
Corcan uses one of his red cages to fling Acantha directly into Vado
Vado: Ok, so what will this do?
Vado’s body begins to glow Purple
Vado: Uh oh
Zxxx: I’m worried
Vado begins to falter before exploding into purple light
Acantha: You are welcome
Zxxx: What the fuck
Atoll: That was awesome!!
Anmai: That almost makes up for your past crimes
Corcan: Well that’s a stretch
Acantha: Listen that was Optica’s fault too
Anmai: That doesn’t mean I forgive you
Zxxx: You still gotta fight me assholes
Resume against Zxxx
When Zxxx is at 25%
Zxxx: There are only three of you. Why am I losing this badly?
Anmai: Maybe you just suck?
Atoll: Sounds about right
Zxxx: I don’t appreciate getting mocked like this?
Atoll: I don’t appreciate you kidnapping my friend, guess we’re even
Zxxx: Oh bugger off you shitstain
Corcan: Hey Acantha, want to do the thing again
Acantha: I need to recharge it
Corcan: Fine
Resume against Zxxx
When he is defeated, he begins to stagger around before Anmai picks up her staff and aims it directly at his head
Anmai: Ready to die?
Zxxx: Fine
Anmai charges up her staff and fires a beam that completely incinerates Zxxx
Atoll: He didn’t plea for his life?
Acantha: Guess he wasn’t the prideful type
Corcan: I figure that
Anmai: Alright, let’s get moving we don’t have much time left
Atoll: Well said
Resume the Path to the Chamber
When you’re 30% through the path
Atoll: I have a question, this is a far cry from the place Corcan dragged me into so what about that?
Acantha: You did what to the kid?
Corcan: He had to understand that sometimes tough choices must be made
Atoll: But where is the room?
Corcan: It’s in an area called The Well of Reflection, we’d be better off not going there again
Anmai: This place is odd
Resume the Path to the Chamber
When you’re 60% through the path
Acantha: So do I get a vessel after this?
Corcan: I’ll see what I can do
Acantha: You know I’m just gonna go for it if it’s an option
Atoll: Acantha I don’t think you want to go back down
Acantha: There’s something else out there aside from Optica, something worse
Anmai: Something worse?
Acantha: It preys on the weak and leaves nothing but empty shells in its wake, it circles around its prey, like a buzzard.
Corcan: Listen, you can’t be there to stop every threat
Acantha: But I can try…
Resume the Path to the Chamber
When you’re 90% through the path
Atoll: So what happens when we get inside?
Corcan: Simple, we save your friends and then stop the ritual
Anmai: It’s never that easy
Acantha: We just went over that when those goons tried to stop us earlier
Atoll: Guess we stay ready for battle
Resume the Path of the Chamber
When you complete the path, the Chamber reveals itself in a sea of red fog, the doors wide open
Anmai: Looks like they left the door open?
Corcan: They had too, they don’t have the key
Atoll: How did they move so fast after we fell?
Corcan: Can’t get hung up on that anymore, we must move
The party rushes inside the chamber to defeat Phote and Hedal