Summary: Twin Detolillas ascend as gods of light and darkness, working together against the Cloud of Darkness. Altana Herself appears.
Unshakable Nightmares (Rhapsodies of Vana’diel)
-I need about eight Earth days to pass before I can progress with “Seekers of Adoulin,” so Rhapsodies for now.
-I head to the Walk of Echoes inside Atomos. Hi, Cait Sith! She’s familiar with the dark god’s world.
CAIT SITH: “That world was a bit less… successful than Vana’diel.”
-We teleport to that world, “Desuetia.” The dark god “Sempurne,” is Promathia, in his ascended form.
-Sempurne (creepily) remembers me. He holds sway over many sins – apathy, arrogance, cowardice – but the Cloud of Darkness is something different.
-He inhales my inner darkness. The Disjoined One arrives to watch.
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Mission: No Time Like the Future (Rhapsodies of Vana’diel)
-I defeat Sempurne. The Disjoined One moves like a vulture to drink back in the darkness.
LOL GET REKT NOOB! SEMPURNE TURNS ON THE DISJOINED ONE
“Thou art an appropriate vessel for the twilight, yet thou remainest chained to the Cloud of Darkness. Come and find thy true form… as a god of darkness!”
-Sempurne infuses himself into the Disjoined One. A new god is born.
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Mission: Sin/Penance (Rhapsodies of Vana’diel)
-The Disjoined One’s mask is off. She is the combination of Promathia and Detolilla. Strangely enough, this has a silver lining: The Disjoined One is freed from the Cloud of Darkness.
-She reaches out to me. “I am able to lead you to the proper future. To the proper Reckoning. Come! Witness what shall come to pass!”
-Scene change to future Reisenjima. The Void has choked off everything except this last island. Iroha, Tenzen and I stand alone.
-In a last ditch effort, Detolilla uses the Reisenjima orb to twin herself. Becoming pure light while creating a version of pure dark.
EVERYONE FROM ALL THE PRIOR EXPANSIONS COMES BACK TO KICK ASS AGAINST THE VOID!
ARCIELA, PRISHE, LION, GILGAMESH, SHANTOTTO, LILISETTE, NASHMEIRA, FUCKING EVERYONE!
-Light Goddess Detolilla fends off gross, bulging tentacles from beyond the clouds. We’re winning.
TENZEN: “Iroha, I’m so proud of you.”
IROHA: “F-father…”
FATHER??? OH GOD WHY DID I SHIP THOSE TWO?? *showers forever*
-Things go well until they don’t. Light Goddess Detolilla blows up, and Disjoined One Detolilla stumbles in. “I have made a grave error. This darkness is not what I had surmised.”
The Cloud of Darkness possesses her. The mask goes on for the first time.
The Cloud’s piercing tentacles knock Iroha back and move to kill Tenzen.
-Just before, he throws his Phoenix power to Iroha. So THAT’S how Iroha gets Phoenix power!
-Scene change. Back to the Disjoined One and me in the present.
DISJOINED ONE: “You became a god of light, but I was overtaken by the Cloud of Darkness. The Cloud cares not for light and darkness, for neither can stop its eternal hunger.
“The time has come for us to return to our world. Altana and I await you.”
If becoming a light goddess doesn’t work, what’s even left to do? Let’s go ask God herself. Altana.
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Mission: Vessel of Light (Rhapsodies of Vana’diel)
-Selh’teus is now the Reisenjima mothercrystal. Local monsters have clogged up the lifestream, but once I clear the way he can help me see Altana.
-I take them out. It works – Reisenjima’s lifestream is restored. Selh’teus sends me to meet Altana along with my other half – that combo of Promathia and Detolilla.
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Mission: Way to Divinity (Rhapsodies of Vana’diel)
-The Disjoined One joins me in some celestial waiting room. She recounts our life, our friends and allies and victories – and how powerless we were next to the Cloud of Darkness.
-In that future, we used our Light Goddess powers to to protect Iroha. That decision was the Reckoning.
“And you remained as a god of light, left to exist for countless aeons.”
-With all that free time being a goddess, I decided to try another path. Altana and I sent Iroha back to the past, to change the Reckoning.
-Promathia!Detolilla sucks out my remaining darkness. I ascend, and become a goddess of light.
-Light!Detolilla and Promathia!Detolilla rise. And then we see Altana.
“I welcome you both with open arms.”
God herself, as classic FF music plays. I don’t know the name, but it’s the music that starts around 28 seconds into this FFIV clip:
I’m awestruck. Not Detolilla, but Coldrun. I never thought we’d actually see God in this game.
“Here in Vana’diel thou has been born and raised… learned much and accomplished more. Countless are those who sing thy praises, and numberless are those who owe thee their very lives. I know all. I love all. So it has ever been, and so it shall ever be.”
-This world is a spec floating within the Cloud. As the Cloud jostles, universes are born and devoured.
“For Vana’diel, everything began with one crystal. Caught betwixt the opposing forces of light and darkness. The two remained ever in balance. Sometimes collaborating, others quarrelling.”
-Promathia and Altana. Opposites in collaboration, harmony. This dynamic of clashes blew “the winds of time” and kept the Cloud of Darkness at bay.
But then, Promathia chose to die. The scales started to tip too heavily towards light and peace. The winds of time died down. Conflict and challenge sprung up on Vana’diel, keeping the winds of time moving once more.
We get this AMAAAAAZING montage of Detolilla walking through time, passing by everyone from the expansions and add-ons I’ve played. Odin, Nashmeira, the Shadow Lord, Lilith, Prishe, Lion, Arciela, Promathia, all the main players.
-Stagnation is the true enemy of Vana’diel. Altana orders we two fledgling gods – Dark!Detolilla and Light!Detolilla – to struggle. To clash, and make the winds of time blow once more.
DISJOINED ONE: “That is why our Reckoning was insufficient!” We separated when we needed to clash to keep the Cloud of Darkness at bay.
THIS IS AMAZING. There is a cosmological need for each expansion story on Vana’diel. For the Shadow Lord, and the Zilart, and Lilith, and everything! With Promathia’s demise, the world needed conflict to stave off the Cloud.
[Later edit: this is a lot to take in, and I may well be misreading it.]
-She gives us each a portion of her power, and sends us on our way.
DISJOINED ONE: “If this is the only path left before us… then let our clash cause a storm that will ring throughout the ages. The time is nigh!”
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Mission: The Winds of Time (Rhapsodies of Vana’diel)
-DarkGod!Detolilla goes full Promathia, now called Metus.
-We clash. It’s very much like a reskinned Promathia fight, which makes sense – this IS Promathia.
-Altana resummons us: “And so thou has brought a raging storm back to Vana’diel.” Divine turmoil recommences. So… is that it? No way.
DISJOINED ONE: “Perhaps the winds of time have dissipated the coming cloud… The winds within us will blow forever and on. Whether we are as two or one, it matters not. And as we return to humanity, one contradictory truth remains unshaking: humanity is both complete and incomplete.”
Altana dissipates us. Merges our darkness and light back into one: Dragoon Detolilla.
-Altana gives a bit of a victory speech. But as she mentions that Iroha is now safe, she hesitates. The screen goes black. A tiny word comes across it. “No.”
I FUCKING KNEW IT WASN’T THAT EASY
-Scene change to Reisenjima. Tenzen, Aldo, and Gilgamesh celebrate. “Is the nightmare over?” “I knew that our faith in you was not misplaced!” I’d strongly recommend holding your horses, my dudes.
Iroha appears out of the mothercrystal. She doesn’t have much longer for this world. The Cloud of Darkness’ threat is no more (lol I’ll believe it when the credits roll), and she’ll fade soon.
EVERYONE’S ALL HAPPY AND I’M HERE WAITING FOR GIANT TENTACLES TO REACH OUT FROM THE SKY
STOP WITH THE TRIUMPHANT MUSIC! I KNOW A FALSE DAWN WHEN I SEE ONE
-Iroha thanks me as her teacher. I walk away, and she fades in a burst of phoenix light. In our timeline, I have yet to meet her.
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Mission: An Unending Song (Rhapsodies of Vana’diel)
-I sleep – and in my dream, I see Iroha, surrounded by darkness and storm clouds.
IROHA: “The future should have changed, and I should have been dissolved into nothingness. Yet the crystal’s clarion song has ceased. The Cloud of Darkness threatens the world once more.”
-I return to Reisenjima Sanctorium to investigate. Tenzen is here. After we left, shadows swirled within the crystal. Black tendrils burst out and pull us in.
-The inside of the crystal is now full of smoke, shadow. Iroha asks us to shatter the crystal to stop it, but fuck that.
-Tenzen’s blade ignites. Phoenix herself. She summons me to a stone circle in La Theine.
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Mission: Guardians (Rhapsodies of Vana’diel)
-Carbuncle is here. Tenzen and Kagero arrive too.
LOL OH SHIT, TENZEN AND KAGERO ARE IROHA’S FUTURE PARENTS – Tenzen is shocked, all “no, our relationship isn’t like that,” and Carbuncle ignores him.
-Alexander arrives. Odin too. And Ifrit, Shiva, Ramuh, Titan, Garuda, Leviathan, Atomos, Cait Sith, Diabolos, Fenrir. Even Bahamut. All answering the Goddess Altana’s call.
-All these avatars of Altana pour their power into the Reisenjima orb for me to use against the Cloud of Darkness.
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Next time: Taking on the Cloud.
