MEMORIES OF AN OVERLORD

   by Victar (vctr113062 [at] aol [dot] com)

   https://www.vicfanfic.com


	"You know what death really is, what it means? It means that people are done with each other. They can't be together anymore. All that's left are memories."

Chapter Thirty-one
Memories of an Overlord: Awakening a Miracle

	After freeing the souls of what had once been Yumarac's heroic militia, Savior Cedric, Laminah, Anemos, and Cynthia withdrew from the pocket dimension holding Kreisia's hidden miasma reservoir. Cedric remained beyond the border of the dimension's Chronomancy seal, so that he did not need the Holy Brand Aldea's protection from airborne miasma. Yusis emerged from the pocket dimension but remained inside the border of the seal, so that he could draw upon airborne miasma for power.
	As a group, they discussed potential strategies to permanently eradicate the threat of the miasma reservoir, and the slumbering Mind of Orzand within it. Yusis paced in a wide circle while they appraised their options. He occasionally stopped moving and scrutinized the others, or the reservoir itself, through his necromantic-magic glasses.
	Cedric plied Yusis with a host of meticulous questions, especially queries about the Greater Seal's abilities. After listening to Yusis' answers, Cedric proposed a plan.
	As Cedric explained his reasoning, golden lights flickered up and down the length of the hovering Holy Brand Aldea.
	Yusis halted in mid-pace and closed his eyes. He remained motionless until Cedric finished.
	Aldea's flickering lights momentarily froze in a checkered pattern.
	"After this, you're going back in lockup until the end," Yusis silently mouthed, with an ill-tempered scowl. "That will be your cost of doing business."
	Yusis opened his eyes and said to the group, "I have to think about all this. Give me some time to completely concentrate." His illusion of life faded away to the Overlord's undead form. A featureless, jet-black surface covered the former hole in his chest.
	Anemos quietly asked, "Shall I play some music?"
	%No. Not this time,% the Overlord denied. %You need to completely concentrate, too. All of you. Is there a better way than Cedric's plan? Or, is there a way to improve Cedric's plan? A way other than preparing battle strategies, that is. Don't tell me anything about how you intend to fight.%
	(*Any of you may direct your thoughts to me, and I will relay your communication without disturbing the Overlord,*) Aldea offered. (*I do have recommendations for our combat tactics.*)
	%We don't have a lot of time to think about this. I can't Bend Time around myself or anyone else to speed up thinking. The same is true for Anemos' Accelerate spell. Time magic can only make travel, spellcasting, or battle actions faster.%
	Overlord Yusis resumed pacing, while the Holy Brand hosted a soundless discussion with the others.
	At last, the Overlord stopped pacing and evaluated, %Cedric's plan has the most favorable odds by far. Success is almost guaranteed. I can't think of a better way. Can any of you?%
	"I cannot," Anemos admitted, with a single shake of his head. "I am astonished we have any plan to solve a conundrum that Yumarac could not."
	Cynthia touched her fingertips together and looked at the floor. "I don't like that we still have to fight, but I promise I will fight with all my strength."
	Laminah regarded Cedric with a cool, impossibly distant gaze. Then she turned to the Overlord and said, "As a way to improve the plan, I recommend that you return our revival beads."
	%That is... possible. The rules don't forbid returning borrowed items...%
	"Why do you hesitate?"
	%Hold that thought. Are you certain you can't think of a better way than Cedric's plan?%
	"I have no other suggestions to make. We must follow the path to total victory."
	(*I concur,*) Aldea announced to all present.
	"It is settled, then," Cedric stated, with a decisive nod.
	The Overlord resumed his illusionary visage of Kreisia's most unlikely Savior. "Looks like Cedric's plan is what we're doing. Aldea, if we end the armistice at noon tomorrow, does that give you and Cedric enough time to recover from all the holy power you used today?"
	(*Noon tomorrow provides more than sufficient time.*)
	"We'd better make it official under the rules." Harrowing darkness touched Yusis' voice as he requested, "Savior Cedric, can you agree to come here and %finish our battle to the death% at noon tomorrow?"
	"Yes, Overlord Yusis," Kreisia's native-born Savior resolutely answered. "I swear to you that at noon tomorrow, I will arrive to end our armistice. We will conclude both our battle to the death, and Kreisia's liberation from the curse of the miasma."
	"Okay. %I will wait here until then.% The Greater Seal needs miasma to move, and I wouldn't take a vortex to go if I could. Ten years of that was enough."
	Cynthia softly entreated, "You won't wait inside the miasma reservoir, will you? You'll stay right here, at the Chronomancy seal?"
	"Huh? Yeah, of course," Yusis replied, his eyes darting away from her.
	"Is that a promise?"
	"I guess? Not sure why you're asking," he uneasily mumbled, gazing at the pocket dimension. "There's literally nothing in there except rock, miasma, and a sleeping Orzand. Even the air is only a side effect of the seal."
	"Yusis," Laminah firmly addressed, "we should attend to certain matters among ourselves, if you would give us leave."
	"Uh, okay?" Yusis looked back to the group. "More than that, I figure. All of you need a good night's rest to maximize your odds of survival. They're already extremely high, but you can never be too careful."
	Laminah prompted, "Before we withdraw, has 'that thought' been 'held' for long enough?"
	"Uh, right." Yusis paused. His brow furrowed. He spoke slowly, precisely articulating each word. "%We are all committed to Cedric's plan,% so I may as well go along with your recommendation. Because I feel like it."
	Yusis relaxed his brow, withdrew two small sacks of revival beads from his pockets, and lightly tossed the sacks to Cedric and Anemos. "Looks like %I'm not returning these one at a time% after all."
	A sickly yellow glow appeared in Yusis' eyes. The glow grew stronger as oppressive darkness crept into his words, then receded to the appearance of brown irises.
	(*Are you aware that your illusions are becoming unstable, Overlord?*)
	"Yeah," Yusis admitted. "Our armistice is bending the rules as far as they can go. Their protection against miasma has been weakened, and the damage is starting to affect my mind."
	(*This is worrisome.*)
	"It's okay, Aldea. I might... lose the ability to use illusions, but %I _will_ carry out my part of our plan, exactly as we planned it. That is not a bargain or a promise. That is an absolute, unconditional guarantee.%" The Overlord's eyes flashed blazing yellow with vertical-slit pupils, and his illusion of life gave way to his undead form. Then he resumed the calm image of Kreisia's most unlikely Savior.
	(*Could the armistice destroy your mind before the appointed time?*)
	"There's no risk of that at all. %Vision% gives me information about myself, as well as everything I can see; it confirmed that the armistice won't erase me before %our plan is underway.%"
	(*I accept your assessment, but I will continue to monitor you regardless.*)
	"Whatever, Aldea. Use any divination magic you want. I won't block you." Yusis closed his eyes for a few seconds, then opened them. "Okay. Right now, all of you need to recover your full strength. %You can teleport to a town and rest.%"
	"I am not teleporting anywhere," Anemos declared.
	"Anemos, not again. You need food and sleep. I really am not forgetting, this time."
	"I will rest in your castle, Yusis. It has sufficient facilities."
	"Me too," Cynthia piped up. "I'm staying here."
	"As am I," Laminah stated. "We have rations with us."
	"Aldea would not permit me to depart even if I so desired," Cedric pointed out. "And I would not depart even if Aldea so permitted."
	(*Did you doubt that we would choose to remain near you, Overlord?*)
	"Maybe I didn't. Maybe I was just going through the motions." Yusis spared a single, rueful chuckle. His glasses vanished in a puff of smoke, and reformed on a cord around his neck.
	Anemos reached inside his vest, withdrew the colorless crystal that had once been Cedric's gift, and gracefully tossed it to Yusis.
	Yusis' eyebrows rose as he caught it. "Did you record something on this?"
	Anemos smoothly answered, "You requested a 'sneak preview' of the 'good ending', did you not?"
___________________________________________________________________________

	After the others withdrew, Overlord Yusis reclined on the floor of his castle's throne room, resting his back against the wall next to the edge of the gaping hole that divided Kreisia from the extradimensional miasma reservoir. He listened closely to the recently recorded messages on the crystal in his hand. The crystal automatically looped and replayed the sequence.
	Cedric's voice sounded from the crystal, speaking of plans for the future.
	(For ten years, I wanted to see my friends again,) the Overlord silently thought. (I held on to the hope that they could help me. That hope finally became real.
	But now, even though they're all here in my castle...)
	Cynthia's voice sounded from the crystal, speaking of plans for the future.
	(...I'm not their friend anymore. I can't be. I can only be the Overlord.)
	Anemos' voice sounded from the crystal, speaking of plans for the future.
	(I wish I could be their friend again.)
	Laminah's voice sounded from the crystal, speaking of plans for the future.
	(Is 'again' even the right word? Their friend died ten years ago. What's left of 'Yusis' is a dark magic _thing_ that trapped his soul, inherited his memories, and copied his personality.)
	The crystal's recording looped back to the sound of Cedric's voice.
	As the crystal repeated its recording, a vivid memory suddenly overtook all other thoughts. The memory was not intentionally recalled; it simply appeared, unbidden, replaying past thoughts and emotions as strongly as past sights and sounds.
	The memory began with an intense dialogue, bordering on an argument, between Savior Yusis and King Cedric Welkin. Savior Yusis could barely hold back his outrage over the crimes of the Ascendance Disciples, and the king's inaction.
	Cedric patiently explained that he had been trying for years to move against the Ascendance Disciples, but multiple obstacles hampered his efforts. Most of Kreisia's government, especially the Varg and Lunarl members of parliament, believed that the Ascendance Disciples were an insignificant threat compared to the Overlord.
	Even if parliament could be convinced to act, no one knew where the Ascendance Disciples' base of operations was located. The Royal Chanters believed that the base was shrouded by coordinated concealment chants, maintained by the cooperation of hundreds of Alteans. Unlike a concealment chant invoked by a single Altean, such strong protection would be virtually impossible to overcome without knowledge of the specific counter-chants.
	Perhaps the most dire problem was that the Royal Treasury was strained to the breaking point. Nearly all government resources had been expended to defend against the current Overlord's extended reign of terror. Almost every Royal Guard and Royal Mage had been deployed to protect cities and villages from the Overlord's monsters, or to support tasks such as constructing a functional airship.
	Yusis could not deny the pragmatic reality of what Cedric said. What troubled Yusis was the amiable, nonchalant way the king said it, even as he spoke about a horrific organization that kidnapped victims and turned them into undead monsters. The disparity between the king's attitude and his words was so chilling that Yusis had to repress a shudder.
	What was the king thinking? Was he truly as principled and dedicated to Kreisia as the people widely believed?
	Yusis silently made a request of the Holy Brand Aldea. It privately confirmed that Cedric was not affected by any form of mind control, but it refused to give any other information about the king's thoughts. With a sharp rebuke, Aldea reminded Yusis that it would not compromise "mortal privacy" unless lives were at stake.
	By the end of the audience, Savior Yusis harbored a kernel of cynical suspicion. He wondered whether Cedric really had been trying for years to make the government take the Ascendance Disciples seriously. Did the Ascendance Disciples' atrocities anger the king at all? Had the king coldly decided that the kidnapped victims were acceptable losses?
	It was hard to tell, but one thing was clear: Cedric's congenial attitude was a disguise. The king was hiding his true self.
	Most Kreisians were simply too innocent to mistrust anyone. Most Kreisians could scarcely comprehend that living people might choose to commit monstrous crimes, or that their beloved king might have a callous, manipulative agenda. As a "corrupt" off-worlder, Yusis was virtually the only person who could fully grasp such ruthless possibilities.
	A grim realization dawned upon Yusis. Whether or not his darkest projections of Cedric's motives were correct, the king's logic was... indisputable.
	The smallest, most evil part of Yusis' mind evaluated that immediately moving against the Ascendance Disciples was not feasible. If no reinforcements could be brought against hundreds of hostile Alteans and their chant-controlled monsters, if the hidden base could not be found, if resources were too limited to combat both the Ascendance Disciples and the Overlord Orzand, then vanquishing the Overlord necessarily had to take priority. Even if that meant giving the Ascendance Disciples time to kidnap and murder more victims.
	Yusis needed more power and more information before he could act. Collecting Aldea's pommel stones would garner more power; the nearly-finished airship was another potential advantage. In eight days, Yusis would have enough "holy resistance" to wield the restored Holy Brand, and the airship would presumably be complete.
	Aldea had identified a skywatcher spy within the Royal Castle, yet the confession she had given in exchange for leniency had yielded very little useful information. The spy was no more than a pawn of the Ascendance Disciples; however, there was another person who knew far more about the organization than she did.
	Aldea had confirmed that the bard Anemos, Yusis' friend and traveling companion, was an Ascendance Disciple. Aldea had warned Yusis that Anemos would almost certainly turn on him - most likely by attempting to kidnap him - upon reaching Aldea's third pommel stone.
	Perhaps Aldea could try to extract more information out of Anemos' mind, but even the legendary Holy Brand had limits. For some reason, Aldea was incapable of communicating certain things, such as the names of individual people or the precise workings of Altean chants. Although the Holy Brand had determined that Anemos served the Ascendance Disciples' leader, it could not repeat the leader's name, nor could it teach the counter-chants that Anemos knew to the Royal Chanters. Neither could Aldea invoke the counter-chants itself; the Holy Brand was incapable of using any Altean chants at all, perhaps because it was innately immune to them.
	To obtain the counter-chants that would reveal the Ascendance Disciples' hidden base, Yusis had to persuade Anemos to betray the organization's unknown leader. Yusis had to crush the bard's will and subvert his loyalties, in eight days or less.
	The darkest corner of Yusis' mind knew exactly how to accomplish that, with a plan as callous and manipulative as he suspected King Cedric Welkin might secretly be.
	"I hate having to think like this," Yusis grumbled to himself, as he walked out of the Royal Castle's throne room.
	(The soul trapped inside me is showing me memories again,) the Overlord contemplated. (He doesn't do that often.
	I think... I think he doesn't do it often because he can't. It drains too much of his strength.
	Why is he doing it now? What is he trying to communicate?)
	Another memory of Savior Yusis presented itself. The memory was of speaking with Laminah, on the day after the Savior had repented his attempt to abandon Kreisia.
	"Wait. You're not going to train me anymore? At all?" Yusis asked the warrior.
	Laminah shook her head. "You have resolved to sacrifice your life and more. You have learned the foundation of warrior's honor, and the Holy Brand has confirmed that further improvement of your physical skills is unnecessary for the destined battle. Practice what I have taught you to focus your mind, and remember that our time to seek a path to total victory over Orzand is short. Orzand will force us to act soon."
	Yusis' eyes darted down and to the side.
	Then he looked directly at her and said, "I didn't mean to get sidetracked about that anyway. I'll just say this straight. I know your uncle has volunteered to become a Lesser Seal."
	Laminah's face tightened an immeasurably small amount. "How did you learn about this?"
	"I was asking Cedric if he had any leads for our search," Yusis said with a shrug. "He suggested starting with Ascendance City, since none of the government's scholars have been there. Then he closed the audience with a stinger."
	"Perhaps I should have told you myself."
	"I'm not judging you. I've also kept secrets when I shouldn't have. That's not where I'm going with this, anyway."
	A slight waver affected Yusis' voice as he stressed, "Laminah, I needed you to protect me when we first met, but not anymore. I can wield the Holy Brand Aldea now. It really is _that_ powerful. We won't lose to the Overlord, if your uncle takes your place. You don't have to become a Lesser Seal."
	She showed no visible reaction. "Did my king ask you to make this appeal?"
	"No. You know that's not what he's like. He just gave me information, and let me decide what to do with it." Yusis' eyes darted back and forth. "I'll be completely honest with you. I know your uncle can't take Cynthia's place; no one can. But if he could, I'd give anything for him to do it."
	"No," the warrior denied. "You would not give 'anything'."
	"You think I'm lying?"
	"You would not forfeit your honor."
	"Don't be so sure."
	"You are wrongly doubting yourself again. You are also wrongly doubting Cynthia. Even if it were possible, she would not permit another person to surrender the sacrifice her own summon spell demands of her. She would not abandon you. Honor alone would be enough to constrain her, and your connection to one another runs deeper than honor, on both sides."
	Yusis closed his eyes and muttered, "Both sides, huh."
	"Yes."
	Yusis' eyes snapped open. "Okay, maybe you're right about Cynthia and me. Anemos is in a similar situation; not exactly the same, but close enough. Being a Lesser Seal is the sentence he chose for his crime of high treason, and he has his own concept of honor. He wouldn't let anyone else take his place. I'm absolutely sure he wouldn't, especially not if you still had to become a Lesser Seal. Just trust me on this."
	"I will not dispute your assertion," she evenly replied. "You understand him far better than I do."
	Yusis let out a heavy sigh. "I don't know what your uncle has lived through or how he thinks, but I can guess. He's lost people to the cycle, hasn't he?"
	"Yes, he has. As have countless others."
	"He knows how close you and Cedric are, doesn't he? Your uncle knows there's someone who would cherish sharing the next ten years of peace with you."
	"I would not cherish a single day of the ten years," Laminah stated, without expression or emotion. "Not while the war against Orzand remains unfinished."
	Yusis raised an eyebrow. "That's... kind of messed up, isn't it?"
	"Yes. It is."
	"Have you thought about all this from Cedric's point of view?"
	"No more than I must."
	"Well, think about it now. How would you feel, if Cedric were the one who insisted on sacrificing himself?"
	Laminah remained silent for a long moment.
	Then the slightest quiver affected her voice as she said, "Do not speak of that again. Do not ask me to think of it again. I request this not as the warrior pledged to your service, but as your friend."
	(That memory... makes the message painfully clear.
	Tomorrow, we'll carry out our plan to break the cycle. The soul trapped inside me will be set free, and no one will ever have to become a Seal again. Kreisia will be safe from Orzand and the miasma, forever. It's almost a miracle.
	Almost.
	The 'good ending' will come at a price.
	The soul inside is not happy about the price of our plan. I don't like it either, but protecting Kreisia is more important than anything else.)
	A memory flashed by. It was of Begiad Laatsch, the exalted leader and the tyrannical oppressor of the Ascendance Disciples, ranting about his plan to enslave the "future Overlord".
	(Is the soul inside comparing our plan to the madness of 'Lesser Overlord' Begiad Laatsch? Begiad's 'plan' was just an excuse to serve his craving for power and control. His vision of the future only had room for slaves and victims.
	Our plan isn't about power or control. Orzand and the miasma threaten all of Kreisia, and potentially the worlds beyond. We don't have a better way to end that threat, and we don't have time to do any more brainstorming. The others need to rest up for tomorrow, and I...
	...I don't exactly have a 'brain' to storm with, do I? All I have is a disintegrating copy of a mind. The armistice has to end tomorrow; extending it even one more day would erase me.
	Keeping my mind functional for ten years has been... hard.)
	Moments of memory flickered by. They were from a particularly intense session of Savior Yusis' warrior training.
	Yusis sparred against Laminah; both of them wielded temporary, blunt-edged weapons that Cynthia had conjured. Laminah carefully restrained her blows, although Yusis could feel some of her hits leaving bruises. He bit back an impulse to cry out, and resisted the temptation to reach for a healing bead. He didn't want to distract Cynthia from her own, self-directed training in holy magic, and he didn't want to squander the healing beads he carried. He knew that Cynthia would use healing magic on him after the session ended, like always.
	Yusis wondered if he would ever land a single strike on Laminah.
	He felt like he could match the warrior's speed - maybe even surpass it - if he could just get past the tightness in his chest, the aches in his arms and legs, and the quivering weakness running through his body. If he could just stave off his fatigue a little more. If he could just fight a little harder, last a little longer...
	Yusis was on the edge, winded and wheezing, vision blurring; Laminah said something, but he wasn't paying attention to her words.
	Fear of his own inadequacy gripped him. Despite his dizziness, despite his exhausted trembling, he had to push himself harder. He'd promised that he'd be Kreisia's Savior. A whole world full of people was at stake. He couldn't stop, he couldn't slow down, he had to-!
	Something gave way. Yusis didn't know whether it was his muscles, his balance, his breath, or his mind, but something just refused to function anymore, and the rest of him followed, all the way down to the ground.
	"Learn from this." Laminah's voice sounded from above, and this time her sharp directive got through to him. "Part of being a warrior is understanding your own limits. In a true battle, you must not strain yourself to the breaking point unless there is no better option. If you expend all of your strength and fall, you may never rise again."
	(The soul inside is tired. I can feel it.
	For ten years, he's been rationing his strength. Trying to strike a balance that won't completely exhaust him.
	He's been straining himself to help me all this time, hasn't he? His 'will' didn't just cause me to exist; it's been a bulwark against miasma's pressure.
	I probably would have been erased by now, if not for his support.)
	Chaotic fragments of memory swirled about. They were of desperately trying to fight against a throng of monsters menacing a village, near the border of the sacred grasslands surrounding the shrine of the Holy Brand Aldea.
	The village had mounted an impressive unified defense against the invading monsters. Armed Vargs formed a loose outer perimeter. Lunarls and Alteans wielded magic against flying monsters. Together, they shielded the evacuation of the weakest and most vulnerable villagers, including all children. The evacuees escaped through an underground tunnel that led to the safety of the holy grasslands.
	Adrift in the throes of a dream that appeared disturbingly real, Savior Yusis struggled to help the defending villagers drive monsters away from the tunnel's entrance. He frantically flailed his tarnished iron sword. Laminah fought beside him, while Cynthia wielded holy magic.
	The battle seemed to go on and on. Yusis' muscles burned, and his breath came in heaves. He wished that he had more support. Had he failed the dialogue choices to recruit another party member, in this imaginary video game? If he had made a more appealing invitation to Anemos, would the bard be fighting alongside him now?
	Yusis wasn't aware of the strain Cynthia was enduring until he heard her gasp and saw her collapse. Only then did he realize that she had been shielding both him and multiple villagers from the monsters' fangs and claws.
	Cynthia's holy magic shields dissipated as she fell, including the shield protecting Yusis. The goat-monster he had been fighting slammed into him with unmitigated force.
	It hurt.
	Already weakened from fatigue, Yusis crumpled beneath the onslaught of the undead beast's horns and hooves. His hand spasmed and dropped his sword. His heart thumped in terror. He heard screams from the villagers, but he could do nothing to help them - he could do nothing to save himself-!
	The goat-monster's hooves struck his head and trampled his body. He might have died then and there, if not for the mitigation from the defensive wards on his clothing.
	The last thing he heard was Laminah's resounding command. "_CLOSE RANKS_! _PROTECT THE SAVIOR_!"
	The next, groggy fragments of memory were of slowly returning to consciousness. Cynthia soothed his splitting headache with a healing bead. Yusis learned that Laminah had cut down the goat-monster and rallied the defenders for a successful counterattack, while Cynthia had used Anemos' gift of powerful anti-poison beads to save lives. The monsters had been vanquished, and the evacuated villagers were returning to their homes.
	The grateful villagers lauded Yusis as their Savior. On behalf of the entire settlement, a Varg child presented him with the gift of an enchanted steel sword.
	Why were they showing him so much appreciation? He had been nearly useless. Laminah and Cynthia had turned the tide of battle, not him. He tried to point that fact out.
	Laminah quietly told him, "The Savior traditionally accepts all accolades and rewards on behalf of his companions. There is no need to be concerned for our recognition or compensation; the government provides for the families of those pledged to the Savior's service."
	Cynthia showed a beautiful, sunny smile and added, "Whether you agree or disagree with the tradition, what really matters is that we're all working together to stop the Overlord."
	He couldn't make any sense of it. Laminah's and Cynthia's reassurances seemed like an internal rationalization to justify a delusional fantasy. This world called Kreisia had to be an extended fever dream, a video game playing out in his own mind. Yet even in his own dream, he had been helpless and scared.
	(I think the soul inside feels as helpless and scared now as he did then. Maybe I feel just as helpless.
	I don't feel scared, though. Not for myself.
	I used to be terrified of being erased, or reverting to a mindless mess of dark magic. Not anymore. Not when I know my friends will protect this beautiful, innocent world from what used to be me.
	As long as this world is safe, I can deal with vanishing forever.)
	A memory from everyday life on another world pressed forth.
	Yusis lounged at his desk in the back of a high school science classroom. He covertly played a video game on his smartphone, and barely paid any attention to the teacher's lecture. Even so, bits and pieces of the lesson somehow filtered through his awareness. The teacher was talking about...
	('The conservation of matter and energy'?
	Why is the soul inside showing me this?)
	Memories slipped by, one after another, all of them recent. They weren't memories of scenes, but rather sensations. The overwhelming effect could not be mistaken for anything else. Day after day, the effect returned. In the midst of the destined battle, the effect struck at full force.
	(I remember...
	I can feel it, when miasma is purified. At first, I just felt echoes of it. I knew Aldea had purified that book I shaped out of miasma. I felt it when Aldea purified each of the miasma-obelisks I'd made. Then I got hit up close and personal.
	It was never painful. I didn't expect it to be; monsters can't feel physical pain. But I didn't expect it to feel like...)
	More memories appeared and disappeared.
	Sunlight sparkled on the tear-trails running down Cynthia's face, as she smiled at the Savior she had just summoned. Anemos stood and declared his support for the Savior, in a stirring bid to rally Kreisia's government against the Ascendance Disciples. Moonlight gleamed on Laminah's flowing white hair, as she calmly told the Savior how she intended to keep her own mind as a Lesser Seal.
	Savior Cedric purposefully declared that he had come to save Yusis, and all of Kreisia.
	(...hope. Just like the moments of hope in these memories.
	Every time Aldea purified miasma, it felt like a sudden burst of hope and compassion. It startled me so much that sometimes I cried out.
	Hope. Compassion. The desire to protect. Miasma is inherently opposed to all of these emotions, but somehow a _thing_ made out of miasma can feel them.
	That really is a miracle, isn't it?)
	"A 'miracle' is merely the willful agency to capitalize upon a serendipitous opportunity."
	(I wasn't asking you. Get back in lockup.)
	"Must you irrationally deprive your cognition of my perspicacity? After all of my salutary contributions?"
	(If you have something important to tell me, then send me a mental text message. Don't talk to me. Hearing your arrogant voice in my head makes me feel sick.)
	"You are improperly ascribing miasma-catalyzed psychosomatic symptoms to-"
	%Return to your cell and be silent,% the Overlord commanded, contempt simmering in his undisguised voice.
	The sound recording on the crystal in the Overlord's hand looped to the beginning again.
___________________________________________________________________________

	"Aldea, cease your protests. I have faith that this message will reach Yusis, one way or another.
	"As Kreisia's first and only native-born Savior, allow me the honor of being the first to speak of the future I envision.
	"My retirement from politics is permanent. When Kreisia is liberated from the curse of the miasma, I will be liberated to pursue knowledge as a scholar.
	"I may study holy magic more, because I dream that Kreisia's innate holy power may one day aid other worlds, especially every world that has relinquished a Savior to rescue us. Especially your world, Yusis.
	"That is far from the only research I would conduct, and one undertaking in particular takes precedence. Our mutual friend has given me a former possession of yours, designed to aid the wearer's sight. Aldea has teleported the ingenious device to the Royal Artificers, along with my written suggestions for their investigation.
	"The concept of using glass or similar materials to compensate for flaws in one's eyes sounds fascinating. Perhaps our world would have invented 'glasses' long ago, if not for the savage disruptions of the cycle. A cycle that we are about to finally transcend.
	"On a more personal matter, Laminah has promised that she will address me by my name, after Kreisia's miasma is destroyed forever. Words alone cannot convey how greatly I look forward to that."
___________________________________________________________________________

	"Oh, hey, Cedric. I didn't expect you to come back so soon."
	"Please pardon the intrusion, Yusis."
	%The others are not with you. Is there a problem?%
	"No, there is not. Are you still listening to the crystal? Should I return later?"
	"You're fine. I've heard the whole 'good ending sneak preview'; I'm just used to letting the crystal play over and over, that's all. I'll turn it off."
	(*Avatar. Overlord. It is unwise for the two of you to remain proximate, with or without the others. An armistice is not a peace.*)
	"Is there cause for concern, Yusis?"
	"No, it's okay. %We have set a time to finish our battle to the death,% so we're not bending the rules any more than the armistice already is. The Mind of Orzand can't put any extra pressure on me while it's asleep. It really shouldn't wake up, but %I will _not_ leave it unmonitored.% That's another reason why I'm staying here."
	(*I am maintaining vigilance of Orzand's slumber as well. What of your other self, Overlord?*)
	"%I'm keeping him imprisoned.% He's not even protesting. Well, not much."
	(*Even incarcerated, he still sees, hears, and knows all that you do, does he not?*)
	"Yeah, more or less."
	(*If he were to escape cognitive confinement...*)
	"%He's not strong enough to sabotage our plan,% and he doesn't want to. He even helped us work out some details. %I'm disgusted to admit it,% but he really is me. He's content to help me accomplish what I want."
	"Was your 'other self' the one who battled us?"
	"Not really. I just needed him to cast the revival spell he invented."
	"Was that not you invoking dark magic to revive us?"
	"It was, but I had to cooperate with %the part of myself hateful enough to torture my friends and the next Savior.%"
	(*In addition to watching Orzand, I am also maintaining vigilance of your other self.*)
	"Whatever works. You can interrogate him some more if you want; I don't care."
	(*That was unintentional.*)
	"How can you monitor him, though? I thought you couldn't read undead minds, any more than I can read living minds."
	(*I cannot, but I can extrapolate interpretations of his intentions, just as you can with regard to the living.*)
	"That's not mind-related magic. That's just observing people and guessing."
	(*It is similar in my case. I am capable of observing an allegorical visualization of your other self. He is currently... submitting a metaphorical document? For your perusal?*)
	"Yeah. I don't let him speak to me directly when he's in lockup. I don't like hearing his arrogant voice in my head any more than I have to. I've given him limited permission to send me mental text messages."
	(*The document is titled 'Application for Work-Release Program Renewal'...*)
	"Don't worry about it, Aldea. %Application rejected.%"
	"Yusis, I have come seeking favors from you."
	"Anything I have the right to give, I will. After what you've done for me... I can't put the rest into words. Literally, I can't. The rule against obeisance is blocking me."
	"You do not owe me this. You owe me nothing. It is all of Kreisia that is indebted to you, and to every Savior before you."
	"That doesn't matter, anyway. The rule requires me to have some reason or desire of my own. Even if it's nothing more than 'because I feel like it'."
	"I thank you for your munificence."
	"Cedric, about tomorrow... I'm not doubting that you'll succeed. I'm not doubting you at all, not anymore. Our plan is better than anything I can think of, but..."
	"For far too long, the cycle has been better than anything all of Kreisia could think of. Now, we are at last about to transcend the curse of the miasma."
	"Yeah."
	"I believe that Anemos' philosophy of endeavoring to hold no regrets is most insightful. You share this opinion, do you not?"
	"Yeah, mostly. We don't have a better way, I know that. I just..."
	"I must contest your misgivings as wholly unwarranted."
	(*As must I.*)
	"%I _will_ carry out our plan.% I just hate it, is all."
	(*As long as you do not let your _meaningless emotions_ compromise our efforts.*)
	"You're not helping, Aldea."
	"Yusis, in addition to pragmatic considerations, honor is of paramount importance. My most deeply held principles require that I denounce your reservations."
	"Maybe I figured that's how you see it. Maybe %the most ruthless part of me% said, 'Ten years prior, he leveraged you and your associates to forestall insolvency. It is the cost of doing business.' Maybe that only makes me hate the plan more."
	"When I first set eyes on Cynthia and you, I bitterly reflected upon how one of Kreisia's children had to be sacrificed for ten years of peace, let alone a youth from another world."
	%I shouldn't have doubted your intentions as much as I once did.%
	"Yusis, allow me to present my first request. I have paid a visit to your castle's library. You have transcribed the memories of monsters, Lesser Seals, and past Overlords into a vast collection of illustrated history. Tomorrow morning, may I use the Holy Brand to transport your books to the Royal Library, so that scholars may study, duplicate, and distribute them?"
	 "Uh... well, it should be safe. None of those books are made of miasma. They were originally part of this holy magic castle - oh yeah, that reminds me. I could really use another three blank books. Less than a week ago, I filled up the last of the books in my library. Transcribing as many memories as I could was one of the final ways I could think of to prepare, before Anemos arrived to help me."
	"Do you specifically need books shaped from holy magic?"
	"Maybe not? They just have to be permanent. I can't make them myself; I can only shape dark magic or time magic. Shaping any of Orzand's miasma is a bad idea, and stuff made out of time magic always has an expiration date."
	(*I will create what you desire.*)
	"Okay."
	(*Are these sufficient?*)
	"Yeah, these are good. Uh, Aldea..."
	(*What is it now, Overlord.*)
	"...some of the books in my library are... comics and graphic novels from my world. That I copied out of my own memories, to reread for fun. I, uh, didn't spend _all_ of the last ten years looking for a way to break the cycle. %I slacked off% sometimes. So, um..."
	(*I will ensure that any off-world _corruption_ is dissolved, not transported.*)
	"Okay. Anything that passes Aldea's inspection is all yours, Cedric."
	"As both a scholar and a friend, I thank you."
	%I don't have any right to be called your friend.%
	"You most assuredly do have the right. Any friend of Laminah's is a friend of mine, and you are far more than that. You worked a miracle to preserve her life."
	"That... really was for my own reasons. The number one reason was, %'I will completely lose it if I don't even try to save my friends this time.'% She doesn't owe me anything for what I did. Neither do Cynthia, Anemos, or you."
	"Perhaps, but know this. My retirement from politics was not a sudden decision. For ten years, I trained Lamton Thor as my successor, as well as various reserve candidates. Despite my resolve not to give in, I feared that Laminah's return as a Lesser Seal would render me unable to face another sunrise, let alone lead Kreisia."
	"I guess I understand that feeling."
	"If you had not changed her fate, then I most likely would have pledged my service to the next off-world Savior. Assuming that I retained enough presence of mind to do so."
	"Maybe I do get where your 'no regrets' is coming from."
	"Then you must accept that you are unquestionably my friend. Of course, you do possess the final say concerning whether I have any right to call myself your friend."
	"Cedric, you're literally my Savior."
	"The two roles are not mutually exclusive."
	"%I... can't argue with your logic.% Looks like we really are friends."
	"Wonderful! My heart is gladdened."
	"Turns out %The Overlord cannot surrender% doesn't apply to debating."
	"There is more that I would ask of you, as both a scholar and a friend. Your obelisk writings have revealed a wealth of knowledge. I must seize this opportunity to learn more from your experiences as the Overlord; anything you can think of, no matter how trivial it may seem.
	"I would also ask you about Chronomancy. So little is known of the power Yumarac once wielded! In all my studies of magic, information about true Chronomancy was relegated to legends. Even Aldea's understanding of it is far from complete.
	"Tomorrow morning, Aldea and I will transcribe your answers from my memory into additional books shaped from holy power. When we transport those books along with the contents of your library, the miracle of all your discoveries will be preserved."
	(*You would subject the Overlord to one of your _insufferable barrages of endless questions_?*)
	"Sure, that's fine."
	"Marvelous! I am most appreciative and delighted."
	(*The two of you are _both mad_.*)
	"Cedric, there's something I want you to make top priority, in your information-sharing project. It's... based on a text message that %the worst part of me% just sent."
	"I am listening."
	"The message reads, 'In the event of foreign commerce, Kreisia's asymmetric leverage could prove deleterious. Hiring expatriates for their business acumen would be essential.'"
	"I presume that 'foreign' refers to the worlds beyond Kreisia."
	"Yeah. As far as I know, Yumarac is the only off-worlder who traveled to Kreisia without being summoned. I'm not sure if that's a coincidence, or if %Yumarac used his power over space and time to hide this innocent world from other worlds.% Either way, it's possible that %other worlds could one day discover Kreisia,% and if that ever happens..."
	"Kreisia should 'hire expatriates'?"
	"%Kreisia _will_ need to summon Saviors again.% Maybe a lot of Saviors."
	"That could be difficult. Vanishingly few priestesses have sufficient talent to cast the summon spell."
	"You know that triple-ward magic ring you're wearing right now? %Vision% recognized that no one enchanter can make anything like it, no matter how much talent they have. There's a lesson to be learned from that. I think Kreisians can work together to modify Yumarac's summon spell into something a group of people can cast. Instead of %summoning Saviors to die for Kreisia,% the spell can be changed to summon Saviors who will dedicate their lives to Kreisia in a better way."
	"Multiple summoners have never combined their power into a single summon spell before. The cycle's price was a strong disincentive to try. Transcending the cycle will abolish that merciless price; modifying the summon spell in the manner you describe is possible. Should Kreisia truly need Saviors in the future..."
	"It could happen. %Other worlds have 'corruption' that Kreisia doesn't have. People more evil than 'Lesser Overlord' Begiad Laatsch may exist on them. Evil definitely exists on my world.% Even the most well-meaning people of other worlds have a natural power that native Kreisians can barely comprehend."
	"There is also the concern that another menace similar to the 'Lesser Overlord' could arise among Kreisia's own."
	"Summoning Saviors could be a last resort against that, although I don't think another 'Lesser Overlord' is likely to arise at all. From what Aldea has told me, even Begiad wouldn't have become a murderer if he had lived in a peaceful world. %The nightmare caused by his own dereliction drove him insane.%"
	(*That is indeed my assessment of the 'Lesser Overlord'.*)
	"Cedric, most of the people on my world aren't evil. Most of them range from honorable to misguided, but %some of them are monsters on the inside.% The same is almost certainly true for the people of every world beyond Kreisia."
	"The very idea that a living person could be similar to the Overlord, wholly of their own free will... ten years ago, even my most staunch supporters would have been reluctant to accept such a horrifying comparison, if not for the testimony presented in court."
	"%Only an off-world Savior can truly understand 'corruption'.% If other worlds ever discover Kreisia, then Kreisia will need off-world Saviors to serve as ambassadors, mediators, and protectors. Saviors who can work with Kreisia's elected government, and make sure that any trade deals with other worlds are fair for both sides."
	"Your intuition is most likely correct. Even a leader as capable as King Thor could be at a disadvantage, when negotiating with other worlds."
	"In the worst case, %Kreisia will need Saviors to help its people fight back against an off-world invasion.% I don't want to believe that will ever be necessary, but... it's like what you said ten years ago. Hope for the best, and %prepare for the worst.%"
	"Yusis, I will inform our mutual friends of your warning and suggested solution. I will also ensure that your wisdom is transcribed and sent to scholars; they will distribute it to all of Kreisia. Your counsel will be remembered, even as Yumarac's teachings are remembered."
	(*I will contribute to this undertaking as well. If Saviors are ever summoned again, then they must be cautioned against contaminating Kreisia with their own _corruption_.*)
	"Okay. That was the most important thing I had to tell both of you."
	"Perhaps, yet the other knowledge you are about to share is also of incalculable value."
	"I might ask you some things too, Cedric. Ten years ago, I only had a few chances to speak with you, and %I was a sleepwalking fool% on the day we met."
	"It would be my pleasure to tell you anything that I have the prerogative to divulge."
	(*I cannot understand either of your obsessions with _useless information_.*)
	"Cedric really did get you to cough up a whole lot of stuff, didn't he?"
	*_Insufferable_. _Barrages_. _ENDLESS_. _QUESTIONS_.*
	"I have a question for you too, Aldea."
	(*If it is only one, then I may choose to endure answering it.*)
	"What's your 'good ending' going to be like?"
	(*Or I may not.*)
	"'Happily ever after' doesn't really work for you, does it? I don't think you have the ability to feel happiness."
	(*I was not created to experience _meaningless emotions_.*)
	"Then maybe I should ask - what will you do, after the curse of the miasma is lifted?"
	(*Also meaningless. My function is to protect Kreisia from the miasma. Tomorrow's battle will permanently fulfill that function.
	*Our plan must necessarily be initiated close to the time magic seal on the 'pocket dimension'. Once the destined battle resumes, my avatar and allies must focus entirely upon achieving victory; there is no safe or reliable way to move the destined battle outside of this sorcerous castle, or dissolve the castle's structure. Attempting to demolish the castle in advance would likely rouse Orzand.
	*The 'pocket dimension' and the castle's architecture lack the ontological inertia that small objects shaped from my holy power have. After the Greater Seal absorbs the reservoir's miasma, the 'pocket dimension' will revert to being an asteroid in outer space. This castle will implode after both the Greater Seal and the reservoir's miasma are eliminated. There will be a short delay before the implosion; it may not be enough time to use my standard teleportation ability, or a teleportation bead.
	*My final act in the fulfillment of my function will be to ensure that all survivors are transported to safety. If I must expend my own existence to cast a Chronomantic Teleport before time runs out, I will.*)
	"If you have to expend your own..."
	(*Existence. I could say 'life'; the term would not be incorrect, but neither would it convey my lack of commonality with mortals.*)
	"Aldea..."
	(*Say what you would say, Overlord. You know that I cannot read your mind.*)
	"...do you have a soul? Something that can't be destroyed, and goes on after you die?"
	(*What difference would that make, in the fulfillment of my function?*)
	"Uh, does that mean you don't know?"
	(*It makes no difference. It does not matter.*)
	"Aldea, I want you to know... I don't hate you anymore."
	(*Your _emotions are meaningless_ to me.*)
	"Whether you care or not, Aldea, it means everything to me that you'll make sure my friends escape. Everything."
	(*Permanently ending the miasma's threat has become possible only because you are, _inexplicably and inconceivably_, the first risen Overlord to retain an impression of a Savior's mind. How you attained this is a _complete enigma_ to me.
	*You have my eternal gratitude for your _incomprehensible miracle_.*)
	"I think I understand you better than I used to. You're not trying to insult me. You're just expressing your honest confusion. %You used to hate me because I wanted you to. Now you can't anymore, whether I want you to or not.%"
	(*I am 'hatred of that which threatens life'. You no longer qualify.*)
	"I figured as much."
___________________________________________________________________________

	"Me next, Cedric.
	"Yusis, you've kept your mind all this time like I knew you would, and I still haven't told you why my summon spell chose you, like I promised I would. I'm not going to say it now; I don't want anyone else to hear it before I tell you. Maybe I'll tell you during the destined battle.
	"My summon spell called you to be our Savior, and you chose to stay. You saved all of us. Now, it's our turn to save you. I'm not going to let it stop there. I'm going to keep on saving people and animals.
	"Well, what used to be people and animals.
	"I know you feel sorry for Kreisia's monsters. I do, too. I'm going to dedicate myself to freeing every last undead monster there is. I'm going to become the best monster hunter I can be, just like my second parents.
	"Soon, the only miasma left in Kreisia will be what's in its undead monsters. Aldea has told me that's not enough miasma to concentrate into a font or a reservoir, so Kreisia will be safe. Aldea also thinks dark magic will be so weak that the remaining monsters won't be able to poison anyone. I'm glad for that, but I want a 'good ending' for _all_ of Kreisia, undead included, and I'm going to _make it happen_!
	"Yusis, nothing will make me happier than knowing I'm doing the right thing. For the monsters, for myself, and for you."
___________________________________________________________________________

	"Cynthia?"
	"Hello, Yusis."
	"Cedric and Aldea left a few minutes ago. Are you coordinating?"
	"Maybe. This is my last chance to spend time with you, isn't it? My very last chance."
	"Yeah, pretty much."
	"I'm not going to let it escape me."
	"You had Aldea tell Cedric to wrap it up quick, didn't you? I think he would have kept asking questions all night long, if he could."
	"Do you want me to... 'wrap it up quick'?"
	"No, it's not like that. It wasn't like that with Cedric, either. He's a friend like the rest of you, %whether I have any right to say that or not.% I want to spend time with all of you, especially you, Cynthia. It's just... not easy."
	"Is it 'not easy' to look at me?"
	"It used to be 'not easy'. Now it's almost impossible."
	"Why?"
	"Because %I drowned Aldea's shrine while all of you were inside.% It's hard enough to deal with that around the others; when I think of %what I almost did to you...%"
	"We all escaped, Yusis. You have to forgive yourself."
	%No. You can't... you can't just say that to me. The Overlord makes obeisance to no one.%
	"It doesn't matter whether you're the Overlord or not. You have to forgive yourself for your own reasons, because you know it's right. Not because I said so."
	%No, it's _not right_. You can't just _say that_.%
	"On the day I summoned you, I said, 'Please, please save us!' You agreed to, and then you did. Now I'm saying something even harder, but I know you can do this, too."
	"Cynthia..."
	"You have to forgive yourself. Just like I have to forgive myself for summoning you, Anemos has to forgive himself for serving Begiad, Laminah has to forgive herself for her weakness, and Cedric has to forgive himself for failing his home village."
	"Should I be like Aldea, then? To fulfill its function, it executed Saviors and their companions throughout history. It kept secrets about Yumarac and the cycle, until things got so bad that it finally had to reconsider hoarding information. It doesn't feel remorse for any of that."
	"I'm not sure why Yumarac chose to make Aldea incapable of feeling remorse, or almost anything other than 'love of life' and 'hatred of that which threatens life'. Maybe Yumarac didn't want Aldea to feel guilt or grief over the people it had to turn into Seals. Maybe Yumarac worried that a full range of emotions would be too much for Aldea to bear."
	"It's possible. When Yumarac shaped Orzand, he didn't put any restrictions on what Orzand could feel. %Yumarac could have been fool enough to believe that contributed to the disaster that followed.% Maybe he decided he'd make Aldea 'better', I don't know."
	"I think Yumarac made a bad decision. If he had given Aldea a more complete mind, then Aldea would have understood us better. Maybe Aldea would have shared more of its knowledge. Maybe the cycle would have ended sooner. When we shape Kreisia's holy power into beings who can help other worlds, we must not repeat Yumarac's mistake. Or any of his other mistakes."
	"For ten years, I hated Aldea because it kept so many secrets. Being %a miasma-filled _thing_% made my hatred worse."
	"I thought you were angry with Aldea because it didn't respect you."
	"That was also part of it, but %I was a hypocrite who disrespected Aldea far more than it did me.%"
	"Do you really think so?"
	"Cynthia, nothing ever remotely justified %drowning Aldea's shrine.% Absolutely nothing. %The worst part of me% likes to think I motivated Aldea into changing its ways, but the rest of me knows %that's a twisted excuse.%"
	"Orzand was threatening to erase you if you didn't send a miasma flood."
	"%Orzand's pressure doesn't even qualify as a twisted excuse.% Neither does forgetting about Aldea's rule to prepare. I knew that my mind was decaying, and the hydra was already helping me prepare; I could have told him to send me regular reminders before %I committed a crime against life itself.%"
	"Any of us can look back and say 'I could have', but..."
	"%I almost condemned you and all of Kreisia% because I hated Aldea and wanted revenge. Now, I finally realize... how wrong my hatred was. Not just because of %the evil I did,% but also because Aldea can't help being what it is, any more than Orzand can help being what it is. It's a miracle that Aldea cooperated with Cedric as much as it did, given the limits of its own mind."
	"Miracles come from the decisions we make with our own will. Just like how Aldea chose to show us more respect out of its own will."
	"Cynthia, I don't want to be guilt-free like Aldea is. %That would make me even worse than what I am now. I have to hold myself accountable.%"
	"Forgiving yourself doesn't mean that you forget what you did. Forgiving yourself doesn't mean that you ignore the harm you caused, or could have caused, or failed to prevent. Forgiveness is understanding, accepting, and learning. It's the resolve to make redress, and work to prevent more harm. It's the will to do better, to be better. In life, or in whatever lies beyond."
	"Have you... said all that before?"
	"Maybe."
	"You just didn't sound like you came up with it on the spot."
	"I may have been talking a lot about forgiveness, lately."
	"With Anemos, Laminah, and Cedric?"
	"And myself."
	"Yourself...?"
	"Forgiveness is hard for me, too. It's hard for all of us."
	"Cynthia, are you okay?"
	"I will be. I'm... less than okay right now, but I don't have to be as strong as Cedric is. I just have to be strong enough, and I am."
	"Cynthia..."
	"Yusis, I want you to know that I have more plans for the future than what I recorded on that crystal. Aldea has estimated that the souls of Kreisia's remaining monsters can all be set free in less than ten years."
	"...what are your other plans?"
	"I'm not completely sure yet, but... I do have... stronger feelings from holy power than ever before. I'm not sure how much of what I understand about forgiveness is my own discovery, and how much is inspiration from holy power itself. What I am sure of is that I want to help people, in more ways than just holy magic. I want to share what I've learned with anyone willing to listen, and I want to listen to anyone who needs me to hear them. After the cycle ends, I think the survivors will need to forgive themselves. Just like you need to."
	"Okay, Cynthia. Tell you what. When we get the 'good ending', let's have forgiveness all around. For everyone."
	"Is that a promise?"
	"Yeah, okay. I just have to... I need to %see this through to the end.% After that... I won't forget, I promise. Forgiveness all around."
	"I'm holding you to that."
	"Uh, Cynthia, don't - I won't say the words, but %stay back-!%"
	"I - I'm sorry."
	"You know that time magic suit and gloves I wore, in the most dazzling battle to the death ever? Their real purpose was so I wouldn't touch any of you with %this disgusting undead body.%"
	"Yusis..."
	"It started with gloves, so my claws wouldn't poison Laminah when I dueled her. Then Anemos got so caught up pitching his bargain that he almost poisoned himself. He had no idea how much I was freaking out, while %the part of me that spoke to him 'disclaimed responsibility'.%"
	"...can I..."
	"The Greater Seal is just %a glorified miasma sewer,% you know. I don't even move it around like a living body. For anything that's not communication, it's like a puppet I manipulate with an imaginary video game controller."
	"...at least..."
	"I'd wear something over it twenty-four-seven if I could, but miasma consumes most materials, time magic has limits, and %covering a dark magic shell with more dark magic is pointless.%"
	"...sit next to you?"
	"Cynthia, this castle is a holy magic prison created to resist miasma, and I easily destroyed part of it when I was clearing space for the destined battle. I'd do a controlled demolition of the rest if I could, but the risk of waking Orzand up is way too high."
	"Being near you won't poison me. I promise I won't get too close, okay?"
	"...okay."
	"Thank you."
	"This really is weird and creepy, you know."
	"I don't think so."
	%Not even a little bit?%
	"Not even a little bit. You don't have to use illusions for my sake."
	"It's not like the illusions are for anyone other than myself. Not anymore.
	"Cynthia, when I had almost enough power to leave my castle, I got this crazy fear. What if %seeing or hearing me as an undead _thing_% shocked you? What if breaking you out of your crystal stressed you, and a shock on top of that was too much for you?
	"I knew it wouldn't be a problem for Laminah, but I didn't want to take any chances with you, or with Anemos. I thought I'd better let you get your bearings first, and then %show you the truth.%
	"So, I figured out how to use illusions that disguise how I look, and replace my voice. They turned out to be such minor magic that their only cost is a little concentration.
	"My crazy fear turned out to be nothing. Anemos wasn't scared, %when he heard my real voice or saw what I am.% You weren't scared.
	"What I didn't expect was how the illusions would affect me. The more I used illusions to pretend, the more I remembered our journey together, how the three of you are the best friends I've ever had. The memories came back stronger and stronger - not just the good times, but also the bad times and the ordinary times. All of those memories... helped so much... especially when Orzand kept ramping up the pressure. I continued to use illusions while I was alone in my castle.
	"Anemos struck a bargain that kept Orzand out of my thoughts for five days, but %I didn't want to stop lying to myself about what I am.% Even when I needed to focus on a big problem, %I kept clinging to these false illusions% until Anemos reminded me that I couldn't afford to waste any concentration at all. I went back to using illusions as soon as I could.
	"Orzand can't put pressure on me anymore, and %I _still_ don't want to stop lying to myself.% Not for one second longer than I have to. For someone who claims to value honesty, %it's pathetic.%"
	"Are you going to doubt yourself to the very end, Yusis?"
	"%Doubt is not always wrong.% Overconfidence is a real thing. When people have too much faith in themselves, they can make arrogant, destructive mistakes. %Like Yumarac did.%"
	"I don't think that's something you have to worry about."
	"I think it's something everyone has to worry about. Especially me. %The part of me that has the most confidence% sees destroying all life as a way to end all suffering, for all time. %His prison is reinforced with doubt.% He'll never admit that he could be wrong, but I did make him accept that he has no right to 'embezzle' the lives of others."
	"Um, Yusis, what? The part of you that... what?"
	"Uh, well, Anemos can tell you about it. Now that the dazzling phase of the battle to the death is over, his non-disclosure agreement has expired; I wrote that limit into the contract in case %I was erased while in combat.% Anything you want to know, anything he wants to share, it's fine. He can even create a ballad about teaching me how to dance, if he wants."
	"Are you sure that wouldn't bother you at all? You implied the opposite before."
	"I was lying before. I'm not above doing that, you know. %I'm doing it with these illusions.% And I'm not above... _hating_... all the bad stuff about life itself. When I was on the brink of being erased, my own 'hatred of life' took on a separate personality. I don't think it's the same as split personality disorder in a living person; I think it's a side effect of being %an undead _thing_ with a disintegrating impression of a mind.%"
	"Yusis, I know that... everyone in Kreisia knows that our Saviors are 'corrupt'. They have a power we don't have. I guess you're saying that power, that part of you, is...?"
	"%Imprisoned, with limited communication privileges.% Right now, he's being quiet. He's not even sending any text messages. He's not supposed to message me unless it's important, but %he has been pushing his boundaries, tonight.% He sent almost as many messages as Cedric had questions. Being alone with you is just... shutting him down, full stop."
	"Yusis..."
	"%I will not relax my vigil.% Whether he's quiet or not, %the worst part of myself must be strictly controlled at all times.% Same as how every person has to control their bad side, and hold back their overconfidence. %Even the innocent people of Kreisia must guard against their own worst tendencies.% Aldea once told me that off-world 'corruption' wasn't responsible for decades of prejudice against the Alteans; that came from Kreisians themselves."
	"...okay, maybe I should reconsider what I said. Maybe everyone does have to worry about having too much faith in themselves, even you. That doesn't change the other side of it."
	"The other side of it?"
	"Everyone also has to worry about doubting too much. That can be just as destructive as too much confidence."
	"Yeah, okay. %You are not wrong.%"
	"Yusis, about tomorrow..."
	"Just don't die, Cynthia. Your odds of survival are extremely good, so I'm only a tiny bit scared about that. Stay focused and _don't die_."
	"...do you really have to be 'erased'?"
	"%Erased and destroyed.% It's the best plan we have."
	"Are you absolutely sure we have to fight?"
	"There's no getting around that. The rules demand that %the battle to the death must be finished.% Breaking Aldea's rule is literally impossible, and the armistice is bending both the rule against surrendering and the rule against showing mercy to the living. I can let all of you recover your strength only because it's a trade-off for my own 'tactical gain'."
	"Your own...?"
	 "Being the %Wielder of miasma% and the %Master of monsters% has certain disadvantages. The Greater Seal is a lot more dependent on internal power than the bodies of other monsters, and right now its internal power is extremely low. I shut off the Greater Seal's ability to attract miasma into a vortex-battery earlier; at the time, I didn't know how much miasma was beyond the time magic seal, and I didn't want to risk %being erased.% Now, I can't undo what I've done to the Greater Seal. Aldea can undo it, so we've worked out a bargain."
	"You bargained with Aldea? I didn't see you say or do anything that seemed like..."
	"Uh, well, I don't have to summon a %Burning ring of fire% when I'm striking a bargain. That's required only if I'm answering a challenge to duel."
	"I guess Aldea communicated privately with you?"
	"Yeah. %The imprisoned part of myself% did most of the talking on my side, with some input from me; Aldea did most of the talking on the other side, with some input from Cedric. Our bargain gives all of you time to rest up, and suspends the rule to %Protect Kreisia from all life,% since none of you could sleep soundly if %I were to command monsters to attack a city% or something."
	"If you were to-!?"
	"Yeah, none of you could sleep well if I were to do anything like that. In exchange for my guarantee that %I won't directly or indirectly harm any life during your allotted time to rest and prepare,% Aldea will enable me to absorb the entire miasma reservoir tomorrow. I'm not resisting the rule to destroy all life, because this bargain takes priority; it's an important preparation for %the final battle with the Savior,% and I really am compelled to uphold all bargains to the letter."
	"Yusis, the way you see things is kind of scary."
	"%It should scare you far more than that,% but it works. Under the rules, I'm using the armistice for my own benefit. The justification is still sort of shaky; the fallout is wearing away at my mind. We couldn't have an armistice at all if the Mind of Orzand were awake."
	"You said you put it into a very deep sleep."
	"My magic has limits. If that miasma starts getting purified, Orzand _will_ wake up."
	"You seem really sure of that."
	"Remember how I knew you'd purified all the obelisks I made? The feeling is very strong, unmistakable. Like getting hit with a hammer made of hope and compassion."
	"Or a 'knockout punch'?"
	"You knocked Orzand out with chained hits to my miasma vortex, while I was too stunned to react. That won't work again, even if Aldea had weeks to charge a lot of weapons, even if Aldea used its time magic. Orzand is more resistant to being stunned than I am, and it would %Shapechange% out of any binding spells. The bargain holding Orzand back ended when its consciousness was forced out of the Greater Seal, and none of us can think of a replacement bargain. I literally can't sign on to any deal that would break the rules."
	"What if, instead of making another vortex, you drained the reservoir's miasma by using or shaping all of it?"
	"That would be practically impossible, and extremely risky. Right now, I'm drawing on a tiny bit of airborne miasma to power the Greater Seal; it's like quietly sitting in a room with a sleeping cat. Using or shaping any of Orzand's liquid miasma would be like yanking a blanket out from under the sleeping cat. The reservoir has so much miasma that trying to use, shape, or purify all of it would wake Orzand up for sure."
	"So you're not going to use or shape the miasma, and Aldea isn't going to purify it."
	"That's partly right. Aldea won't purify the miasma directly. Instead, Aldea will %destroy miasma in the same way as every previous cycle.%"
	"By destroying the Greater Seal."
	"Yeah. Seals are a little different from other undead monsters; destroying a Seal also purifies the miasma saturating it. That includes the Greater Seal; the problem is that the miasma in the Greater Seal's vortex doesn't get purified. %I should have figured that out% before Cedric and Aldea told me. I'd speculated that Aldea's battles with the Overlord destroyed miasma somehow, but I didn't put the rest together on my own. Now, all of us are finally going to break Kreisia's cycle."
	"I knew we would find a way."
	"The best part is, no one will ever have to become a Seal again. My Greater Seal can hold all of the reservoir's miasma, without creating another vortex. That's not a guess or wishful thinking; %Final Form: Vision% gives me a lot of information, and I triple-checked. The only time my %Vision% has been wrong was when Orzand warped it to %fool me into believing a lie about you.% Orzand can't mess with my %Vision% while it's asleep.
	"When you knocked Orzand unconscious, you made it possible for me to shut down the Greater Seal's ability to attract and concentrate miasma. Tomorrow, Aldea will help me turn the power to attract miasma on again, but we won't reactivate the power to concentrate miasma into a vortex.
	"In previous cycles, miasma from the Overlord's vortex always remained after the old Greater Seal's destruction, and the new Greater Seal needed its own vortex to hold on to that miasma. This time around, we're not using a weak, newly created Greater Seal. We're using a Greater Seal that has had ten years to grow powerful. Strong enough that it doesn't need a vortex to hold the reservoir's miasma. No vortex means that no miasma will linger after %the Greater Seal is destroyed.%
	"I'm going to %Shapechange% the Greater Seal into a form big enough to hold all of the reservoir's miasma. Probably a flightless greater dragon. I'm also going to %Lock Shapechange,% so that nothing can force the Greater Seal out of it for a long time, not even my own will.
	"I can't cast spells as a greater dragon, but I can dismiss the %Time Stop% seal I've cast. I'll do that and absorb the entire miasma reservoir. %Destroying the dragon% will destroy the miasma, and the Mind of Orzand with it."
	"Won't the battle wake up Orzand?"
	"It shouldn't, because undead monsters can't feel physical pain. Or much of anything physical. Even if Orzand does wake up, %Lock Shapechange% will still be in effect; Orzand won't be able to %Shapechange% into another form."
	"Could Orzand try to retreat? If it realizes that it's going to be destroyed forever?"
	"Maybe it could, but it won't. Its Voice has been in my head off and on for ten years; I know how it thinks, and I _know_ it won't run. One of its rules is %The Overlord cannot surrender;% the rule also blocks the Overlord from trying to escape any 'serious' battle. The Mind of Orzand is too obsessed with its rules to break any of them, ever. The Mind of Orzand is so resistant to being erased that it could break a rule without forfeiting its own consciousness, but it will never try."
	"Isn't that... isn't that what will happen to you tomorrow? You'll 'forfeit your own consciousness'?"
	"Yeah. %I'll be erased% at the start of the final battle. I won't be able to help you in any way. Even if the Greater Seal could cast spells in dragon form, I wouldn't be able to revive any of you."
	"I understand. I'll keep my revival beads ready. All of us will."
	"You probably won't need to use your revival beads anyway. Your odds of winning are _that_ good. Maybe you can sell some beads after the final battle, to raise money for everyday living expenses? I don't really think the cost of meals and lodging will be a problem for any of you, but a little extra cash never hurts."
	"There's no need to worry about things like that. When miasma's blight disappears from our world, famine and deprivation will disappear with it."
	"Are you sure? My world doesn't have miasma, and %famine exists upon it.% Not as much in the area I came from, but even there, %too many people lack adequate food and shelter.%"
	"Kreisia has never experienced such hardships during the cycle's peacetime. Your world sounds like a cruel place."
	"%It is.% Not all of it is cruel, and there are good people. There are even heroes. But %there is far too much cruelty.%"
	"Yusis, why will your mind be 'erased' tomorrow?"
	"There's too much miasma, and it won't be trapped in a 'harmless' vortex. The Mind of Orzand can exist in the reservoir because Yumarac designed Orzand to resist being erased; my mind doesn't have that advantage. %Orzand's rules will be completely overwhelmed.%"
	"You mentioned Orzand's rules earlier today, didn't you? The rules are..."
	"They're what prevents miasma from %erasing my mind.% That's why I can't directly refuse or break them. Yumarac originally created them to reinforce Orzand's resistance as a 'Supplementary Cognitive Aegis'. Other monsters don't have the rules; if other monsters contained as much miasma inside as the Greater Seal usually does, then no monster could keep its mind."
	"But, tomorrow..."
	"Tomorrow, the rules will be a tiny dam against a gigantic miasma tidal wave. %I'll be erased.% You'll all be on your own."
	"Yusis..."
	"The good news is that the Greater Seal won't fight any differently than a regular greater dragon would. It'll just be extra-super-strong, a lot more than the hydra was. Miasma's 'hatred of life' will make it lash out with random attacks. Aldea has fought greater dragons before, many times in history; it knows what they can do, and how to beat them."
	"...I know we can do it, but..."
	"Your odds of winning are extremely high because offensively powerful forms like %Shapechange into Greater Dragon% can't use magic or summon monsters. For something that's not a video game, Kreisia really does have a lot of stuff to preserve game balance."
	"...I just..."
	"My passive battle powers, the ones that always happen automatically, will carry over to the dragon. Cedric can't teleport in anyone else to help or %Poisonous miasma% will kill them - Aldea can't ward people when Cedric is channeling time magic - but your miasma resistance will protect you, and Cedric is immune as Aldea's avatar. Together, you're strong enough to out-damage %Regenerate.% The only real threat is that %Bend time% will make the dragon super-fast. Cedric and Aldea will have to use time magic so all of you can keep up."
	"...wish..."
	"I'd %Shapechange into Giant Sloth% if I could, but I have to use a super-strong form because %The Overlord cannot surrender.% If I were to use a weaker form, then the Greater Seal would randomly assume a super-strong form when the battle started, maybe a form that could use %Time Stop% or %Endless mode% against you. %Lock Shapechange% only works on a super-strong form."
	"...you didn't..."
	"I have to use an offensively powerful form, because defensively powerful forms like %Shapechange into Vapor% are compelled to summon lots of monsters. Using a defensive form would force the Greater Seal to channel %Endless mode.%"
	"...have to..."
	"I'll be okay, Cynthia. Remember Savior Clize? He was erased, too. All %being erased% means is that I can't use an imaginary video game controller to operate %this glorified miasma sewer% anymore."
	"Is that really all it means, to lose your own mind?"
	%The mind of 'Yusis' was lost ten years ago. What's left of 'Yusis' is a disintegrating copy of a mind, impressed into dark magic, eroded and redrawn countless times, and sundered into two pieces; more fractures in the larger piece are on the verge of giving way. Orzand's rules only partially shelter this crumbling imitation of a mind, which is shored up by the will of the soul confined within the Greater Seal.%
	"Um, Yusis? Are you saying you're not...?"
	"I'm not sure if I'm the real 'Yusis', or if I'm just %a self-aware piece of the dark magic _thing_ trapping his soul.% Either way, the soul of Yusis will be fine. Better than fine; he's going to be set free. That's good enough for whatever's talking to you now. %I must be erased to protect this innocent world, and the worlds beyond.%"
	"Yusis..."
	"Cynthia, dark magic without a personality is a mindless obsession with death, terror, and suffering. Orzand's personality amplified miasma into a threat that could drown the world. %I have the potential to be even worse. The soul trapped within the Greater Seal may be using his affinity for dark magic to restrain miasma's most dangerous weapon - a dark magic consciousness resembling the mind he used to have.%"
	"...I think you really are yourself."
	"I don't know, maybe. Maybe the interaction between %this deteriorating copy of a mind% and the soul of Yusis isn't that different from the interaction between a living person's mind and soul. I know I'm somehow connected to the soul of Yusis, because the rule Aldea wrote on his soul affects me like an unbreakable law. The rule immediately recognized Cedric as the next Savior when he challenged me, although I had some trouble believing it. %If I were more than a copy stamped into dark magic, then I would not have doubted Savior Cedric, let alone scorned him. 'Your miasma is the true source of your hatred,' indeed.%"
	"Come on. Now you're being so negative that you're denying your own negativity. If doubting Cedric means anything, it's evidence that you really are yourself."
	"%You have a point.% What I am doesn't matter, though. It's fine either way. If I'm the real 'Yusis', then I'm good to go. If I'm not, it's still okay because %the Greater Seal will be destroyed.% I used to be terrified of reverting to %a mess of dark magic;% I'm not scared of that anymore. Not when I know my friends will %clean up the mess.%"
	"We'll fight with all our strength tomorrow. We won't let you down. I just wish..."
	"Cynthia, it really is okay. There's no reason to feel bad for me, I promise. All right?"
	"I'm sorry. I've never been good at holding back tears. It's a weakness I've been working on. Laminah has been teaching me."
	"Hey. Let me tell you about something I know from another world.
	"The soul of Yusis has memories of learning about the conservation of matter and energy. 'Conservation' means that matter and energy can't be created or destroyed. They can take different forms, but neither can appear out of nothing, or cease to exist.
	"Magic isn't exactly matter or energy, but maybe magic is also conserved. Even dark magic. I don't think miasma is created from nothing, even though concentrating it heavily causes more of it to appear. %Miasma could be 'corruption' from other worlds, manifested in this world.%
	"Maybe purified miasma doesn't %disappear into complete oblivion.% Instead, maybe purified miasma becomes something that's not matter or energy, something that can manifest in any world.
	"Maybe purified miasma literally turns into hope and compassion? That would explain the strong feeling from purification. I shared this theory with Cedric earlier tonight, and he couldn't disprove it. He accepted my claim that being purified is the best possible 'ending' for %a glorified miasma sewer.%"
	"But when your mind is erased, will you forget everything about yourself? Will you lose the ability to be happy?"
	"Don't worry. %Being erased% won't do anything like that to the soul of Yusis. The soul of Clize didn't forget who he was, remember? He could still feel positive emotions. He was grateful for being set free."
	"I... I remember. Clize was happy to see us, just like I thought he would be."
	"Tell you what. I'll do better with looking directly at you if you'll raise your eyes from the floor more often, or maybe even smile. Okay? You have a sweet smile, you know. It looks way better on you than tears."
	"You're trying so hard to cheer me up. Yusis, you really are yourself, whether you realize it or not."
	"Cynthia, it just doesn't matter. What matters is that... that the soul of Yusis will keep our promise of forgiveness all around. I know he won't forget, or refuse. I can feel it. My memories are his memories, and his will is my will."
	"Yusis, you're saying exactly why you really are yourself."
	"Huh, am I? Well, I do have a direct line to what the soul of Yusis wants. %He would have been content to remain within the Greater Seal,% for as long as this world needed him to stay there, but tomorrow he's going to be set free. That really will be a 'good ending', for him. %Far better than he thinks he deserves.% This castle will collapse when %the Greater Seal is destroyed;% he desperately wants his friends to escape, and Aldea is going to grant his wish. When Cedric came up with our plan, Aldea told me that it would teleport all survivors to safety. Aldea doubled down on that promise earlier tonight."
	"You're coming with us."
	"Uh, Cynthia - you do remember Savior Clize, right?"
	"Don't argue with me. Your soul is coming with us."
	%Aldea's power has limits.%
	"_Don't argue with me, Yusis_. I already checked with Cedric and Aldea. Their limit is four living people; your soul will be a feather to them."
	"Uh, okay."
	"You had to suffer here for ten years because I summoned you. I'm _not_ leaving you here."
	"Being here for ten years wasn't that bad."
	"I don't believe you."
	"I won't say it was good, but being here wasn't as bad as you seem to think. A few friends made it less lonely. I mentally reached out to Sasha after I saw her doing not-very-monster-like things in the memories of other monsters, and she talked to me sometimes. The hydra reached out to me for his own reasons; he wanted to have a glorious battle against the next Savior. I couldn't command monsters for ten years, but when I sent a 'network' greeting to all monsters, the hawk-monster responded by volunteering to fly all over the world and show me stuff through his eyes. I figured out how to do remote scans by working with him."
	"I believe what you're saying..."
	"There was even a sheepdog-monster that took a liking to me. Not a former person, an actual former sheepdog. I never had a pet before."
	"...you're just not telling me the whole story."
	"The bad part about being here was knowing what Orzand would use me to do, when my time was up. All of you saved me from that."
	"Yusis, I need you to decide something. After everything is all over tomorrow, do you want me to reverse the summon spell, and send your soul home?"
	%You're weak to holy magic...%
	"Reversing the summon spell isn't that different from dismissing any other spell. I wouldn't be calling holy magic within myself, just like you won't be calling Chronomancy when you dismiss the seal tomorrow. The summon spell isn't an attack spell; its holy power isn't dangerous to me - Yusis, why are you putting your glasses on?"
	"I'm not going to stay in %Final Form: Vision.% I'm just confirming that %reversing the summon spell% wouldn't hurt you."
	"It wouldn't, but I don't have to reverse the spell. Kreisia will welcome your soul, if you want to rest here."
	%I was not intending that.%
	"What were you intending?"
	"No idea. Just %not that.%"
	"Did you think your soul wouldn't be welcome?"
	"Uh, well... %I have inflicted terrible harm on this world's ecosystem, beyond drowning a portion of Aldea's holy grasslands. To stave off miasma's pressure, I directed dark magic to exterminate countless plants and insects, and blight whole regions of wilderness into barren rock.%"
	"You have to forgive yourself for all of that. Kreisia's holy power has already forgiven you. Kreisia's lands will recover, just like they recovered from the blight of previous cycles, and this time the miasma won't return."
	%Forgiveness, by your own principles, does not absolve responsibility.%
	"Yusis, Kreisia's holy power knows that you love this world. Your soul is welcome here."
	"I... I'm not doubting you."
	"You've said that Kreisia is beautiful and innocent, but you've also said that you miss your home."
	"I remember that. It was while I was taking a complete inventory of Kreisia's monsters. %I was so deranged% that words just spilled out."
	"Do you need time to think about your decision?"
	"No, I don't. I don't have to think about it at all. My direct line to what the soul of Yusis wants is very clear, and it's his decision to make, not mine."
	"Yusis, I'll get a headache if you keep talking like that."
	"Uh, I guess it's easier if I pretend I'm the real 'Yusis'. The soul trapped inside the Greater Seal has never had a problem with that; he sees it as a way to represent his will. Who knows, maybe you're right and I'm not pretending."
	"At least you're not completely doubting yourself. What's your decision?"
	"%Send me home.% I made a promise."
	"Okay."
	"Ten years ago, I chose to break that promise. Now... I'd break it if I were alive. I'd ask Aldea to reconsider sending a message, and I'd stay on Kreisia to be with you."
	"I wish that could be our 'good ending'."
	"I think Anemos is on to something, when he talks about 'no regrets'."
	"Maybe he is."
	"I mean that for you, too. You shouldn't regret summoning me."
	"I'm... working on that."
	"Your summon spell saved more than Kreisia. It saved me, too. Back on my world, %I was such a wreck inside% that I couldn't make myself care about the future. All I could do was throw myself into comics, TV, and video games, and block out everything else."
	"Other Saviors in history probably saw being summoned in a similar way. The summon spell is designed to call survivors who are so devastated that they will accept death and worse to save us. Even though I fogged my mind to cast the spell, you weren't an exception. You were just unprepared."
	"Cynthia, I don't want you to feel like..."
	"You've made a miracle possible. We're going to end Kreisia's awful cycle, together. If I had to do it all over again, I'd still summon you - I'd still condemn you to death and worse - but I wouldn't have a cloudy mind. I'd tell you the truth from the beginning."
	"I get what you're saying, it's just... you shouldn't... I know what it's like to blame yourself, and what that can do to you. I don't want you to put yourself through that, not ever. It's... it's not right."
	"Yusis..."
	"What?"
	"You're crying."
	"No, I'm not. I can't."
	"You are. From both eyes."
	"No, I literally can't. Monsters can't do that."
	"I didn't think you were aware of it. I could shape a mirror from water magic and show you, but I know you wouldn't like that."
	"I... I'm not really doing this. %It's a false illusion.% I'm not..."
	"The illusion represents who you truly are, and what you feel inside."
	"%_This_ is the truth.% I won't argue the second part."
	"Yusis, don't worry about me. I'll keep our promise of forgiveness all around, just like you will. I won't ever forget."
	"That... that's good to know. That helps a lot."
	"You've helped all of us. Just like you said you would, when you woke up from your dream."
	"It works both ways. You have no idea how much you've helped me keep %the worst things inside% under control. %I don't just mean Orzand.%"
	"Are you still doubting yourself to the very end?"
	"%I have reason to doubt myself.% I wouldn't even let myself think about staying on a world this innocent, if I didn't have your help. %You are a far stronger warden than I am. The part of me that hates life itself is weakened to a shadow in your presence.%"
	"At least you're not doubting me to the very end."
	%Only my principles enable me to doubt you at all. When you counter those with your own principles, I am powerless to deny you.%
	"I have to admit... the way I fogged my mind gave you a big reason to doubt me. I want to be a better person than I was, on the day I summoned you. I'm trying to learn more, to think more carefully, and to act in better ways. I'll keep working on all of that, and I'll never, ever give up."
	"Cynthia, I swear I don't mean to doubt you when I say this..."
	"It's okay. You can tell me anything you want. Anything at all."
	"...I don't just want you to have no regrets. I want more than that, for you. It's not a 'good ending' without the 'happily ever after'."
	"Maybe I'll marry Anemos."
	"Uh, you know he's not the type to limit himself to one person, right?"
	"I can't believe you took that seriously."
	"He's more like a 'thief of a thousand hearts'. Don't tell him I said that."
	"Are you still taking that seriously?"
	"I guess you two could work as a couple, as long as you're fine with a relationship that isn't exclusive."
	"Are you _still_ taking that seriously!?"
	"I know he wouldn't try to limit you. Just like he wouldn't try to limit Laminah, if she ever accepted his-"
	"_Yusis_!"
	"Heh-heh. The look on your face is priceless."
	"You... you really fooled me."
	"At least I got you to smile."
	"Yusis, I want you to know that I'll treasure the memory of our dance, for as long as I live."
	"Yeah, that was the most fun I've had in... forever, really. I tried so hard to bring the most dazzling battle to the death ever, and you totally out-dazzled me."
	"I also want you to know that, when Kreisia's holy power becomes plentiful enough to shape into beings that can help other worlds, I'm going to make the first one. I'm sending it to your world."
	%What? No-!%
	"I'm sending the second one I make to Clize's world."
	%Cynthia, _you're weak to holy magic_!%
	 "I won't forget that, and I won't put my life at risk. I won't try to do it by myself; I'll work with other people."
	"Cynthia..."
	"I promise you I'll make absolutely sure it doesn't cost my life, or anyone's life. I'm promising with everything I have; heart, soul, honor, everything."
	"Okay, Cynthia. I won't argue with you. I'll have faith in you, but %I am holding you to your promise.%"
	"You really have been working on not doubting so much. You've been working as hard as you can, haven't you?"
	"For my own reasons, yeah. I want to protect this world, and everyone in it; without hope, I can't protect anything. %I... overreached, in the battle to the death. Then, I saw your determination to fight. I could never have summoned the same will to fight you, if our places were reversed.%"
	"I think you're wrong. You could have summoned the will, for both me and Kreisia, and you would have."
	"Either way, it's not something I want to think about. %Your resolve strengthened the part of me that holds on to hope, and reminded me why that part is indispensable. I will not forget again.%"
	"Yusis, I believe Cedric's dream of giving back to other worlds will bring hope to where it's most needed. If we can create holy beings who will protect life on the worlds beyond... if we can rescue others like we've been rescued.... if we can save even one person-!"
	"I guess sending an Aldea to my world would be a good thing. Maybe even a miracle. My world needs all the help it can get."
	"Um, Yusis?"
	"Yeah?"
	"I've been practicing music with Anemos, recently. Could I try singing some songs for you?"
	"I... I'd love that."
___________________________________________________________________________

	"Ah, Cynthia! I did not expect you to have such a bold and adventurous 'good ending' in mind! It sounds too exciting to pass up. May I accompany and support you, in your quest to become the greatest monster hunter?"
	"Of course, Anemos! I was hoping you'd want to. Although, um, I think 'the greatest monster hunter' isn't the right way to describe it. The monsters will all be pretty weak."
	"You dream of emancipating every last undead monster, do you not? Truly, that is greatness. I cannot imagine a better coda to the 'good ending'.
	"However, I do not intend to make monster hunting my sole passion. Yusis, after contemplating your question, I have decided to broaden my musical expertise.
	"I wish to learn how to sing, as well as play. Cynthia has graciously offered to teach me, and I would humbly accept. I have an unfinished recitative to complete.
	"I may seek to rediscover the lost secrets of bardic magic, including the bardic magic that once summoned holy power. Perhaps Cedric might be interested in collaborating? I cannot safely wield holy power, but he can. Whether or not such research is successful, I have an even greater yearning to pursue.
	"I desire to create and perform ballads. My first ballads will be about how the depredations of the cycle were brought to an end. I am certain that many bards will compose songs about this, yet I suspect mine will possess a certain authenticity others may lack."
___________________________________________________________________________

	"Greetings, Yusis."
	"Anemos? Cynthia left a little while ago. You're coordinating, aren't you?"
	"I will confess to exchanging words with the others. Cynthia mentioned an earnest promise of 'forgiveness all around', before she retired for the night."
	%Did she also mention the other promise she made?%
	"Indeed she did. To help her keep that promise, we Lesser Seals will need to enlist aid from experts who are not inherently disadvantaged in matters involving holy power. I have suggested asking Melinda for references; she has contacts among the Royal Mages. Cedric will certainly assist if he is able, although he may be precluded."
	"'Precluded'..."
	"Decades may have to elapse before Kreisia's holy power grows sufficiently abundant to shape into living beings. It is possible that not all of us are destined to see that day."
	"Anemos... %you know.%"
	"Truthfully, I do not. You do not truly know either, do you?"
	"Not for certain, but %Vision% calculated the odds. Cedric and Aldea asked me not to %risk demoralizing any of you.%"
	"I give you my word that I am not demoralized. Quite the opposite. We are about to permanently end the depredations of the cycle."
	"Yeah."
	"Whether or not Cynthia has made any inferences, her resolve is at least as great as mine."
	"%I expect she is aware.% She can see right through me, most of the time, and she wanted me to go over why and how %the destined battle must be finished.%"
	"Perhaps her awareness is part of what motivates her to personally transform Cedric's dream of giving back to other worlds into reality."
	"Huh. I didn't think about that."
	"As for Laminah... while I do not understand her as well as I would like, I do know that her commitment to the war against Orzand is absolute."
	%You are not wrong.%
	 "Yusis, do you feel demoralized?"
	"Let me put it this way. I've said before that if I murder even one person, then %what's left of 'Yusis' _will_ be erased in every real sense whether there's any shred of mind left or not.%"
	"I remember."
	"If %the imprisoned part of myself% were that last remaining shred of mind..."
	"He would still be our friend."
	%And a far greater menace than Orzand ever was.%
	"I wonder about that. Yet there is no need to fear this hypothetical situation, is there?"
	"No, there isn't. %Vision% confirmed the miasma reservoir is so massive that it will %erase all of my mind at once.%"
	"I presume the other 'Yusis' is aware of this."
	"Yeah, he is. He's sending a text message right now... it reads, 'Mergers and acquisitions inevitably require downsizing superfluous executive management.'"
	"That does not sound antagonistic to our plan. Is his imprisonment truly necessary?"
	"%I am not taking any risks that I do not have to take.% My soul will keep my promise to Cynthia %_after_ this innocent world is safe from the miasma, from Orzand, and from me.%"
	"Yusis, I have been asked to inform you that 'forgiveness all around' is a promise we have all made to one another, together. Just as we all once promised to end the depredations of the cycle, together. Cedric was not physically present for the first promise, but I daresay he participated in spirit then, even as he champions our dream now."
	"%That sounds like an overstatement...% wait. Cedric was searching for a way to break the cycle long before we were. Maybe he really did join the first promise in spirit."
	"I have also been asked to inform you that we are all holding you to your promise of 'forgiveness all around', even as Cynthia is."
	"As long as no one else tries to hug %the glorified miasma sewer.%"
	"Are you still troubled?"
	%Always.%
	"Perhaps I should refine such an obvious inquiry. Is there anything troubling you that I can help with?"
	"Well, uh..."
	"Yes?"
	"...I'm kind of glad you're here, right now."
	"I am glad to be here."
	"You know that %The Overlord makes obeisance to no one% - it's a rule I can't break - but I feel like %I disrespected you.% When I ranted about Yumarac. You didn't say anything at all."
	"I did not venture any commentary because there were far more pressing matters to focus upon, at the time."
	"Later on, I remembered that Yumarac is important to you, and - _ugh_, I really hate that stupid rule, it's literally blocking me right now. %I've also disrespected Aldea,% but I think it decided to let that slide out of gratitude, or something."
	"One more example of how the Holy Brand has recently altered its outlook for the better."
	"I knew you wouldn't hold a grudge over %what I said or the careless way I said it.% What bothers me is... you risked everything to help me, when I needed help the most, and %I took you for granted.%"
	"You spoke what you believe to be the truth. Some of what you said is objectively factual; tomorrow morning, Cedric intends to ensure that your previously unknown revelations are transcribed and preserved for scholars to study."
	"Um, yeah."
	"He has magnanimously accepted my request to contribute, so that my subjective opinions may be transcribed in addition to yours. Cynthia will be participating as well."
	"Cynthia, too? I guess she did say something about not repeating Yumarac's mistakes."
	"While I do not agree with all of your inferences about Yumarac, your sincere beliefs are not disrespect. I will gladly discuss this further if you desire; there is no need if you do not."
	"Uhh... I'll go with 'not'."
	"As you wish. I have no grievance against you, Yusis. Do not hold any regrets."
	"I think you're on to something with 'no regrets', but %the concept is not always right. A criminal with no regrets is the worst kind of monster. Like Begiad was.%"
	"I accept your caveat to my philosophy. Inflexibility of thought does have innate perils."
	%You're not going to get even a little bit annoyed with me, are you? No matter how much I deserve it.%
	"Please do not trouble yourself with such concerns. I wish to hear anything you desire to say."
	"Uh, well..."
	"Yes?"
	"...okay. This is going to sound really weird and dumb."
	"Duly noted."
	%Do you think I'm the Return of Yumarac?%
	"My people have long debated what the Return of Yumarac truly means.
	"Does it mean that Yumarac never died? Will he one day return to the world he loves so much?
	"Does it mean that Yumarac's soul will be reincarnated? Will he be reborn on Kreisia, or will his new incarnation travel the boundless gulfs of space and time, to arrive upon the world he loves once more?
	"Or perhaps, does it mean that Yumarac will not personally return? That another being entirely, one who loves this world as much as he does, will bring us all a miracle?
	"This last interpretation could apply to you, Yusis. It could also apply to Cedric, or to every Savior and Lesser Seal, including myself - though adding myself to the list does seem a trifle vainglorious."
	"I don't remember coming across that last idea, in the legends we studied."
	"Some philosophies are more controversial than others, and less likely to be preserved in ancient tomes."
	"I guess."
	"I do not believe that you are the reincarnation of Yumarac. I believe that you are Yusis."
	"Okay."
	"I also believe that Cynthia is herself, and not the reincarnation of Yumarac's beloved."
	"Uh, %I never speculated about her soul.% Not once."
	"Ten years ago, you were sensitive to dark magic, but seemingly not to bardic magic that affects the flow of time. It is possible that your acquired aptitude for Chronomancy is a gift from Yumarac, just as it is possible that Yumarac influenced Cynthia's summon spell."
	"Uhh..."
	"However, I can think of no way to prove or disprove these conjectures."
	"%I don't want to know.% I don't like the idea of Yumarac using me to clean up his mess, but even if he did, it's better than doing nothing about the mess."
	"Yusis, it would be an honor and a pleasure to play music for you, tonight."
	"It's getting late, Anemos. You need to be at full strength tomorrow. You have to survive. 'No regrets' is not good enough. _Don't die_."
	"I rested earlier, and I will rest again before dawn."
	"Uh-huh. You and the others have got to be coordinating. Am I right?"
	"Does the answer to that question truly matter to you?"
	"No, it doesn't."
	"Then, are there any songs you would prefer to hear?"
	"Well... you really did create some epic final boss music, and some dazzling dance music."
	"I must admit, I did not expect you to drastically transform my compositions into an off-world style."
	"You once told me that power and imagination are the greatest limits on what magic can do, and I had power to spare."
	"I suspect that you also have more imagination than you acknowledge. Ending the depredations of the cycle has been a dream beyond imagination for far too long."
	"I think I would like to hear the 'lute' versions of the songs you made for me. When you played them before, I was so focused on preparing that I couldn't listen as closely as I wanted, you know?"
___________________________________________________________________________

	"Cynthia, Anemos, I would hunt monsters with the two of you."
	"Oh, I was hoping you'd want to, Laminah!"
	"As was I."
	"On the day my father died, I committed myself to the war against Orzand. For most of my life since then, I believed that I would win only one major battle. Now, we are about to win the war. I will not leave the war's aftermath unfinished.
	"Yusis, know that I will safeguard our dear friends. Together, we will achieve total victory.
	"I will also continue to look after the well-being of my king.
	"The promise he spoke of is true, and I will honor it, but first he must keep his promise to me. _He must survive_, both in body and mind."
___________________________________________________________________________

	"Anemos left to get some rest before he works with Cedric and Cynthia in the morning. I was expecting you, Laminah."
	"I coordinated our visits to you, tonight."
	"Okay, I wasn't expecting you to admit that."
	"I desired to be the last to speak with you alone, before the final battle to the death. Just as I was the last to speak with you alone, before the battle against Overlord Clize."
	"You really helped me a lot, that night. You've helped me... so much, just like you promised on the day we met. Your pledge to me as the Savior expired ten years ago, and that didn't change anything. I'd say more if I could. The rule against obeisance is blocking me."
	"I am here now for more than your help. I cannot repay what you have sacrificed, yet I must ask for more. I must ask for a miracle. Yusis, I beseech you to save my king."
	"Laminah?"
	"I know that my king will die, unless you work a miracle to save him."
	"Laminah..."
	"When my king proposed his plan, he had the Holy Brand privately instruct you to say nothing of his 'odds of survival', did he not?"
	"Sort of. Aldea got the wrong address. Turns out the most honorable man I've ever known, a being made of pure holy power, and %the most evil corner of my own mind% all agree on what an acceptable 'cost of doing business' is."
	"I know my king considers his life an acceptable price to pay. That does not make it any easier to bear."
	"Aldea doesn't need a wielder to teleport all of you to safety, after the final battle. %Vision% calculated that you, Cynthia, and Anemos have extremely high odds of survival. Cedric has... extremely low odds."
	"It is not 'low odds'. He will die."
	"He'll have to channel Aldea's time magic for as long as it takes, so all of you can keep up with an extra-super-strong dragon that has my passive ability to %Bend time.% He can't drop the channel or the dragon will kill all of you before you can react. If the battle lasts too long, and it probably will since the dragon's going to automatically %Regenerate% damage..."
	"I know that wielding too much of the Holy Brand's power will destroy my king."
	"The holy magic will replace his body. Like how turning into a monster replaces the body with dark magic."
	"I am well aware of how dangerous holy power is."
	"When Aldea was created, it saw holy power destroy Yumarac's wife. The same thing will almost certainly happen during Cedric's final battle. Aldea won't be able to save him, just like it couldn't save her."
	"I suspected as much."
	"For once, Aldea was willing to give all the details. Even though %I was demanding that it describe the death of its mother.% At least Aldea doesn't feel pain or sadness in the same way that a person does."
	"Tell me these details."
	"Holy power isn't as cruel as miasma. It won't deny Cedric's wish to protect Kreisia, and it won't trap him between life and death. 'Love of life' will keep him going until he wins his final battle. Then he'll just... fade. His soul will be free to go wherever souls go. That's something?"
	"It is not enough."
	"I don't like it either. I absolutely hate it, but a whole lot more than one person's life is at stake. None of us have another plan that's anywhere near as likely to succeed.
	"Aldea might also sacrifice itself, to cast a time magic teleport and make sure all of you escape this castle's collapse. I don't feel as bad about that, because all Aldea cares about is fulfilling its function. I'm pretty sure it considers getting the only thing it's ever wanted to be its 'good ending'.
	"I'm not going to 'rest' on Kreisia afterward. %I told Cynthia to reverse the summon spell and send my soul home.% I have a promise to keep, but there's another reason why.
	"%My world is 'corrupt'.% It can handle my soul. I don't know if Kreisia could, and %I am not taking the risk. The holy power that would 'welcome' my soul does not have a personality that comprehends threats to itself, any more than miasma does. My soul does _not_ belong here.%"
	"That is your doubts and despair talking."
	"More than that. %It's my self-hatred talking.%"
	"One is a manifestation of the others."
	"It's been overriding my illusions all night, and it did more than just talk during the most dazzling battle to the death ever. It almost broke loose from the rest of my mind, and took complete control."
	"Yet you restrained it from doing so."
	"That's giving too much credit to me, and not enough to Cynthia. It's not as bad as it sounds, though. My self-hatred was actually helping, in its own way, until she dialed it back."
	"Was it truly 'helping'?"
	"Laminah, I knew you'd fight me with all your strength, and Aldea wouldn't hold back either. The others would absolutely try their best to do the same, but they don't have your lifetime of warrior training; at most, they have whatever crash course you put them through. Any other training they've had was to battle monsters, not former comrades. %I could not let them see me as a friend, or a person. I showed them a crazed monster that has to be destroyed. It was not an act. It was and is what I am.%"
	"You are stating part of the truth as if it were all."
	"%It's enough of the truth. The lie is these illusions. The false appearance and voice of a 'Savior' used to be tools to resist Orzand; now, they serve no purpose.% I'll probably lose the ability to use any illusions, by the end of the armistice. I hate myself too much."
	"That is not good. Doubts, despair, and worse have threatened to consume you before."
	"Yeah, I know. I've figured out which part of my mind once pushed me to run away from being the Savior. Turns out you and Cynthia were right all along. %I am not making any excuses for what I've done. I am holding myself accountable, and I will never betray this innocent world again.%"
	"Your will to protect Kreisia is beyond question."
	%Now, it is. Ten years ago, it was not.
	%Unrestrained doubt, despair, and self-hatred can and will spiral into madness. Ten years ago, the shock of learning that all of you hid the truth - that I had failed to doubt you _enough_ - shattered my tenuous restraints. I wanted to abandon Kreisia, but first, I wanted to make Cedric reveal his true nature.
	%I correctly judged Cedric to be an extremely intelligent leader, with immense power over all of your hearts. I wrongly judged him to be as callous and manipulative as the 'Lesser Overlord'. I wanted to destroy the principled image all of you had of him.
	%Cedric's true nature is... so principled that he conceals it with a friendly, informal attitude. When he suspended that attitude, I was powerless against what lay beneath. His principles called to the principles I claim to hold, as did the principles belonging to you, Cynthia, and Anemos. By dawn, I was tenuously restrained once more.
	%I learned more about Cedric when I questioned him tonight. He knows that he upholds an unforgivably high standard, and he uses his charisma to soften that standard's impact. He strives to inspire others to greatness, not overshadow them.
	%I never should have doubted his intentions as much as I did.%
	"Yusis. Principles are the foundation of honor, but a structure consists of far more than its foundation. You must not let your doubts, despair, and worse overtake the rest of you. Controlling inner wrongness is a battle that every warrior must fight, and never surrender."
	"Indisputable. Incertitude, melancholy, and deleterious self-loathing must all be strictly regulated in pursuit of prioritized objectives - _get back in lockup_, I already read your text message and %_I_ am regulating _you_.%"
	"Yusis, you are capable of more than you believe."
	"I'm barely capable of holding my mind together. It's split into two pieces, and on the brink of fracturing into three."
	"You have the warrior's strength to stay in control."
	"I'm not exactly controlling my self-hatred. I'm working with it. It's satisfied that %I'll be gone from this innocent world,% and it's still helping me. It's so strong that even if the rest of my mind crumbles, %I _will_ uphold my guarantee, and carry out our plan.%"
	"We will win the war against Orzand. That much is certain."
	"I hate myself, but I never hated you. Not even on the night %I yelled at you and tried to make you hate me.% You and Cedric deserve a better 'ending' than this. %You must suffer his loss for one reason only. Because our plan has to be done.%"
	"Yusis, the most doubtful part of your mind cannot grant what I seek, but you are far more than the aggregate of your parts. You have worked miracles. I need one final miracle. I beg you. Save my king."
	"How? %I'll be erased% when the battle starts."
	"I believe in you. 'Erased' or not, you will find a way."
	"Laminah, I won't give you false hope. It would only set you up for more pain."
	"It is not false hope to have faith in Savior Yusis."
	"I'd be Savior Yusis again if I could, but those days are only memories now. %This illusion is a lie.%"
	"Then I will strike a bargain with Overlord Yusis."
	"I'm not calling up a %Burning ring of fire.%"
	"Please. If my king dies, I will break."
	"I guess... I understand that feeling."
	"I knew you would."
	"Laminah, do you know that you're the one person I never really doubted? Not deep on the inside, even if I went through the motions sometimes. The one person out of everyone I've ever known, before and after I came to Kreisia."
	"Is that the true reason why you requested to speak with me alone, the night before our battle against Overlord Clize?"
	"Maybe it is."
	"Is 'Laminah the Undoubted' my legendary title, granted by the Overlord himself?"
	%I will not deny it.%
	"All jesting aside, the faith you have cultivated has empowered you to work miracles. You are capable of working one more."
	"There's something else I want you to understand. On the day we met, you said that you used to be 'weak', 'rebellious', and 'insufficiently committed'. I was confused to hear it then, and now I know it's a distortion you believe about your younger self. You were never weak; you just had limits, like every person does. You were never 'rebellious' or 'insufficiently committed'; you just didn't know what you wanted to do with your life yet, like how most teenagers don't know."
	"If my king dies, then I will never know what I want again."
	"Okay, Laminah. Tell you what. I'll make a deal with you now, but not as 'Savior Yusis' or 'Overlord Yusis'. I won't be either of those, after %I'm erased.% I'll be the soul of Yusis, and nothing more."
___________________________________________________________________________

	"Okay. I'm using this crystal to record my bargain with Laminah the Undoubted."
	"Save my king, Yusis. Work this miracle for me, and I will grant you anything I have the right to bestow, within the principles of honor."
	"Don't die. Don't let Cynthia or Anemos die. That's what I want."
	"I expected that would be your desire."
	"The odds of surviving the upcoming battle are extremely high for each of you. I want more than that. I want absolute certainty that all three of you will make it. _Don't die_."
	"Understood."
	"There's more. I want you three to survive without any permanent injuries, and I want you to live for a long time after that. Don't let the monsters you're going to hunt take any of you out early. Even the weakest monsters can still be dangerous.
	"Laminah, if you aren't left broken after the battle to the death, then I want you to guide Cynthia and Anemos as much as they need. I want you to protect them as much as they need. I want you to keep them alive, and yourself too."
	"You have made your will clear."
	"You promise me all of that, and I promise you... if I can save Cedric, then I will. I'll put all I have, all I can think of, and all of my soul into searching for a way. I can't give my word for anything more."
	"I accept your bargain."
	"This is not a fair deal, Laminah. I'm demanding a guarantee for all three of your lives, and you're not getting any guarantee for Cedric's life."
	"I know you, Yusis. I know how much a single mote of hope, extracted from your doubts, is truly worth. This deal is unfair in my favor."
	"I'm giving you the crystal. You can do anything you want with it, but I recommend selling it. If Cedric survives, then some extra funding could help his research. If he doesn't, then you may need the money to pay for your care, in a place that looks after broken people."
___________________________________________________________________________

	"There, I've stopped recording. Take the crystal, and take these too."
	"These are...?"
	"I've used magic to put my knowledge into three books that Aldea made. They're copies of my complete inventory of Kreisia's monsters. They have locations, abilities, strengths, weaknesses, threat level, everything. One is for you; the others are for Cynthia and Anemos."
	"Thank you, Yusis. I will present your gifts to them when they awaken."
	"I need to _think_, as hard as I can. I'm renewing the work-release program for %the worst part of myself,% and I'm going to pace here in %Final Form: Vision.% Tell Aldea why I'm doing these things, and tell it to keep the others from approaching me until it's time to end the armistice. They can't help me with this; they need to work on Cedric's information-sharing project, and prepare themselves for the final battle."
	"Understood."
	"And... music also helps me think. Ask Aldea make illusions of Anemos' lute and Cynthia's singing play in this room. Magic that minor won't drain its power."
	"As you wish. Is there anything else I can do?"
	 "Yeah. You can go back to bed. Or meditate, or whatever works. You need to be in top shape at noon."
	"I shall be ready."
	%It's time to stop lying to myself and start concentrating.%