Transcription
Previously, on Honkai Star Rail: Black Swan guided the Nameless to the location of their next Trailblazing Expedition - Amphoreus, a planet hidden away by some unknown force. With the fuel tanks of the Astral Express running very low, Amphoreus was the best place to fill her up. After all, what better way to generate Trailblaze Power than completing a Trailblazing Expedition on a planet that even Akivili had never visited?
But things started to go a bit sideways when March came down with an inexplicable illness. Something about Amphoreus was affecting her memories, so Sunday, Welt, and Black Swan stayed behind to watch over her, while Dan Heng and the Trailblazer set out in an auxiliary car that crash-landed and stranded them on the planet, severing all contact with the Express.
Welt and Sunday were very worried when they realized they couldn't get in touch with Dan Heng and the Trailblazer, so they decided to pay a visit to Herta to request her help with both March and this weird communication problem.
Meanwhile, Dan Heng and the Trailblazer quickly got swept up in a series of battles against the Titan of Strife, who had been corrupted by a mysterious force known only as "The Black Tide." They met a group known as the Chrysos Heirs, who believed that the only way to stop the Black Tide is to follow a prophecy known as the "Flame-Chase Journey," which involves hunting down 12 god-like Titans, seizing their Coreflames, and then using those Coreflames to ascend to godhood themselves.
Dan Heng and the Trailblazer don't really have any other choice but to assist in retrieving the Coreflame of Strife, but in doing so, they realized that it's not as easy as it first seemed. The Coreflame of Strife had been fractured at some time in the past, which means they couldn't retrieve it in the present.
Luckily, Oronyx, the Titan of Time, lent the Trailblazer their power and allowed a little Memosprite named Mem to manifest as their partner. Mem opened a gateway into the past, where the team mended and retrieved the Coreflame of Strife, delivering it safely to its place in the Vortex of Genesis.
Phainon then decided he would become the Bearer of Strife, so Aglaea allowed him to attempt Strife's trial. Should he succeed, he would become the Demigod of Strife.
And so, our story picks up again at the Vortex of Genesis with everyone gathered around, waiting to see if Phainon can pass this trial, and it is not going well. Trinnon says that she senses a sun-like existence in this trial that's burning Phainon up, which seems to suggest that he's failing, so maybe it's a good idea to get Phainon out of the trial before Nikador eats him; not literally eats him, but you know... Nikador's trial is an arena meant to test one's resolve in the face of strife, and the shape the trial takes reflects the participant's fear and anxiety, which is pushed to its limits thanks to Nikador's battle cry. That's what this red filter effect is supposed to represent, anyway. So, to pass such a trial, one must be able to conquer their fears and retain their sense of self in the face of strife, and Phainon appears to be incapable of that. He's consumed by his emotions, as the trial shows him all the things he fears, like the sights of his homeland being set ablaze by a figure cloaked in black.
So, Aglaea sent Mydei, Dan Heng, and the Trailblazer into the trial, and they are immediately greeted by the sights of Okhema's streets littered with bodies and conflict. And Dan Heng is nowhere to be found. So, the Trailblazer and Mydei witnessed the death of one of Mydei's very close friends from his past, and then Dan Heng finally shows up and confirms that he witnessed some scenes from his past as well. And as they venture further in, they find Gnaeus, a form of Nikador, who refuses to hand over Phainon's soul unless they can beat him in combat, that is.
But amidst the frenzied battlefield, Phainon appears out of nowhere and just about impales Mydei. Not that it really would've mattered if he did; Mydei is immortal, after all. Well, nearly immortal. But hey, at least we don't have to finish Nikador's trial to get Phainon's soul anymore, so it's time to bounce, which brings us back to the bathhouse where we get the chance to ask Aglaea about the Black Tide. And she describes it as a plague of unknown origin that drives everybody into madness. And those consumed by the Black Tide are essentially hollowed out and turned into monsters.
And once we're back in our room, Dan Heng gives us a very odd selection of potential options for the origin of the Black Tide: a Stellaron, an Aeon, or a Leviathan. The Stellaron option makes sense; it's very common, we've encountered it multiple times before, and it's also a very popular theory in the community. But Dan Heng does point out that we're not actually seeing the typical signs of a Stellaron here. Like, we're not seeing the Stellaron's voice, the presence of the Antimatter Legion or the Stellaron Hunters, or the fact that the Stellaron inside the Trailblazer isn't resonating with any nearby Stellarons. But conversely, if there is no Stellaron, then I don't know why the Fragmentum is here in the form, like, of Calyxes and the like.
But an Aeon is also a pretty reasonable assumption for the source of the Black Tide. They are incredibly powerful, after all, they work in mysterious ways, and we know three of them are somehow tied to Amphoreus. But the Leviathan? Now, that's a really interesting option, especially since we know next to nothing about the Dusk Leviathans and their abilities. Now, Dan Heng does dismiss this idea immediately. But is this a random misleading answer from the Trailblazer, or is it foreshadowing? Only time will tell, I guess.
But whatever caused the Black Tide, one thing is very clear: it's very probable that Amphoreus wasn't always isolated. He also quickly compares Amphoreus to Penacony, and that might seem like a bit of a passing remark on his part, but we do have a Penacony passenger in Sunday on the Astral Express, and we also have Aglaea's comments about how the Black Tide was like a sea trying to swallow the metaphorical island of Amphoreus. And that reminded me a lot about this thing that we heard about in Dreamflux Reef. Gallagher used a similar metaphor to describe Penacony, comparing memoria to the sea and the Dreamscape to an island. Kaimee added to this, claiming that this memoria sea was also slowly eroding the Dreamscape island over time. Now, I don't know if this comparison is intentional or not, on behalf of the writers, but it is something to think about.
But enough of that, let's get back to business. Now that Phainon's failed to pass Strife's trial, perhaps we should focus on the next candidate, and that candidate is Mydei. None of you should be surprised by this. So, after rescuing Phainon, Mydei confronts Tribbie and accuses Aglaea of deception, and Tribbie confirms that indeed Aglaea did know that Phainon would fail Strife's trial, but she let him attempt it anyway, hoping that Mydei would be forced to accept the Coreflame in order to save him. Mydei is understandably annoyed by the whole thing but appears to have resigned himself to his fate. But he also knows that in order to truly conquer the Trial of Strife and take the Coreflame, he's gonna need to have a clear head and a steady heart, and that means facing his own fears by confronting his past, because that's where his problems lie.
You see, Mydei had been a slave to his own prophesied destiny for his entire life, a prophecy that claimed he would kill his father and put an end to the Kremnoan dynasty. His father, King Eurypon, hated this idea and tried to put an end to this prophecy by drowning Mydei in a Sea of Souls when he was just a baby. And even though she knew that saving her son would doom her husband, Mydei's mother tried to stop the king, even going so far as to challenge him to a duel for the crown, but she lost her life in the process because it was not her fate to kill the king, it was Mydei's, and fate refused to allow baby Mydei to drown in the Sea of Souls. Instead, he became somewhat immortal and spent his childhood wandering around the land on his own.
Later on, he rallied together with a group of five friends who he treasured more than anything in the world and led them on a long, long journey to seize Castrum Kremnos so Mydei could enact revenge upon his father, just as the prophecy foretold. And yet, not a single friend made it to the end of the journey, and Mydei found himself on the battlefield all alone. So, once he killed his father, he hesitated to pick up the crown. Both he and the people of Castrum Kremnos have always been trapped in this cycle of bloodshed, and he feared that if he accepted the crown and became their king, the faded end of the dynasty would also bring about the death of his people. But if he didn't pick up the crown and he picked a different path instead, would the cycle of bloodshed continue without him? Or would the Kremnoans be able to choose a different path? A path where they wouldn't have to lose their loved ones and friends like he did.
He wasn't left with much time to decide, as the Black Tide had already begun its invasion of Castrum Kremnos, so he ordered his people to retreat to Okhema. This would keep them safe and also buy him some time to think about the future. But many Kremnoans (Krateros included) disagreed with Mydei's actions and thought them cowardly. So, in retaliation, Krateros kidnapped Trinnon and attempted the Trial of Strife himself. He failed, of course, but his logic was pretty straightforward. He believed that if someone could seize Strife's Coreflame, then that person could lead the Kremnoans home, and if Mydei refused to do this, then Krateros wanted to do it himself, or at least he wanted to try. And this did not go over well with Mydei or Aglaea, but Tribbie and Trinnon recognized that Krateros also only wanted what was best for the people, and the conflict between Castrum Kremnos and Okhema did need to be resolved somehow.
And in a way, the anxiety of Krateros and Mydei both stemmed from the same source: a lack of belief in the promise of a future that the prophecy of the Chrysos Heirs offered, 'cause, you know, Mydei sort of associates the whole king of Kremnos thing with the deity of Kremnos, since the king kind of enacts the will of Strife, if you will. And that's why he's been very hesitant to pick up Strife's Coreflame, even though he's very compatible with it. He kind of sees it in the same light as he sees the crown of Castrum Kremnos.
So, in order to ease everyone's anxiety, Tribbie asks the Trailblazer and Mem to open a gate to that moment in the past when the prophecy was first issued. That way, they can be a witness to the truth, and Phainon will accompany them, 'cause why not? We'll come back to this, but let's stick with Mydei for a minute, 'cause this guy still has his own inner work to do. Part of that is paying a quick visit to Chartonus, who happens to return a signet ring to Mydei that belonged to Mydei’s mother. And he also offers a little bit of advice, and that little bit of advice was exactly what Mydei needed to finally make a decision. And of course, that decision involved accepting Strife's Coreflame.
But before entering Strife's trial, he asks a favor of Phainon. He wants Phainon to promise to kill him if he ever becomes too consumed by Strife and turns against the Flame-Chase Journey, because, yes, it is technically possible to kill the immortal Mydei, but you gotta hit that special spot right between the 10th thoracic vertebrae. Now, if you're wondering why he might become consumed by Strife and turned against the Flame-Chase Journey, it's because the decision that Mydei made was to become the sole shield of Amphoreus. He's planning to travel the world alone and physically fight off the Black Tide, just like Nikador did. But if he's the one on the front lines, then he's the one most at risk of being corrupted by the Black Tide. And if that happens, it's better for Phainon to kill him than to let Mydei become a threat to Okhema the way that Nikador was. After all, that's the place that the Kremnoans are now going to call home.
Now, while all of this was going on, Dan Heng and the Trailblazer went to meet with Aglaea, who proposed a formal alliance of sorts between the Nameless and the Chrysos Heirs, and she gifted them a magic Titan blood wine, but confirmation of this alliance is TBD, although there's plenty that we can do informally. And so, Aglaea introduces us to a medic named Hyacine. Hyacine belongs to a group of healers at the Twilight Courtyard, and she's also the assistant to Anaxagoras, a professor at the Grove. Now, the Grove is sort of, like, a research haven of sorts, and they partner with Okhema to study the Black Tide and to also support the Flame-Chase Journey. It's also home to the Reason Titan, Cerces, and also to the Romance Titan, Mnestia.
Aglaea wants Hyacine to deliver a message to Anaxa, and since we have some downtime, she suggests that we just tag along. And by "we," I mean the Trailblazer, Castorice, and Trianne. Aglaea also gives us a weft of her golden thread, which renders all invisible things visible, and she likely anticipated our need for such a thing because the Titans Cerces and Mnestia had a very close bond, so the Grove is sort of a domain that belonged to both of them, as I mentioned.
Once we're ready to go, we have to go find Trianne, and she is at the edge of the city, but she's also not alone. There is a medic with her along with a very heavily wounded scholar from the Grove. His wounds are so severe that Hyacine decides to stay behind to treat them, so the Trailblazer, Castorice, and Trianne decide to head off to the Grove without her.
But once we arrive at the Grove, it's very easy to tell that something is very, very wrong. The Grove is unusually silent, without a soul in sight, and even Cerces appears to be in a deep sleep. With the help of Aglaea's weft, we're able to read the memories of some Dryads' souls nearby, but Mem isn't able to glean much from their memories beyond "black," "cloak," "sword," "towards the Great Tree." Ominous.
Meanwhile, Hyacine realizes that the wounds the scholar from the Grove had were caused by the Black Tide's corruption, and that could mean that the Black Tide had reached the Grove, and if that's the case, then everyone is in danger. Tribbie quickly connects to Trianne, who confirms her worst fears: there's no one in the Grove. The only thing they can find are the remnants of people who had been hollowed out by the Black Tide. And this is completely unexpected because the Grove was in a very remote, reclusive location, so for the Black Tide to reach it so quickly... that's extremely worrying. And on top of the tragedy of the loss of life, Aglaea fears that Okhema's council may view this incident as a sign that the Chrysos Heirs are not the heroes Amphoreus hoped for, and they might take actions against them. And if they do, all hope is lost. That's a future plot point foreshadowed right there.
So, Aglaea tells Tribbie to tell Trianne to tell everyone else to find Anaxa, because Aglaea is certain that if anyone could survive such a disaster, it would be Anaxa. So, Trianne takes flight to scout ahead, while the rest continue on foot, but the Grove is in a horrible state. Warped human forms corrupted by the Black Tide are everywhere. But the likelihood of one of them being Anaxa is slim, as we encounter a very deliberately placed memory in front of a locked door. And it's shaped like him. And based on this memory of him, Anaxa is a pretty weird guy and a bit of a contradiction: he is both a Chrysos Heir and an atheist who does not believe in the merits of the Flame-Chase Journey. And he puts no stock in prophecies, either, which kinda makes him sound like those Numerophiles I mentioned in the last episode.
Actually, if I may be permitted to go off on a short theory tangent for a second; the reason I wanna connect Anaxa to the Numerophiles is because the Numerophiles believe that the Titans aren't gods at all, but something more like subordinate functions of a greater god-like machine. Now, Anaxa's theory of Nousporism suggests that all living beings originate from the same source and specifically focuses on the study of the soul. And I'm sure you've picked up on all the reference to Nous here. While I would normally be happy to write this off as a historical reference, since the real Anaxagoras did invent the concept of the cosmic mind that he called Nous ─and that is what Star Rail's Aeon is named after─ I would like to point out that Nous is a giant supercomputer ─a great cosmic mind machine. You know, kind of like how the 13th Titan is considered a greater god-like mind machine and also the source of everything.
Now, here's the thing. Assuming both the Numerophiles and Anaxa are correct in that life originates from the same source and that there is a 13th Titan or some other cosmic-god-mind-machine that birthed all of the other Titans, then humans, at the very least, are also Titans. In fact, humanity may just be Kephale's Titan kin, 'cause, you know, Kephale created humans. And I think the game is hinting at this being the case because in the Golden Scapegoat quest, you meet this guy who believes that everyone in Amphoreus was once a Titan and that they merely forgot their origins. I'm not really going anywhere with this for right now, but I just wanna bring it up because the sheer amount of hinting that they're doing with this kinda stuff makes me feel like it's very likely it's gonna come up later, so I just feel like drawing attention to it. Anyhow...
Anaxa is also an alchemist, and he used alchemy to shatter his soul, transmute a fragment of it into gold, and then buried it by this door so that he could give us instructions. Please don't ask me how this works; I spent way too long trying to figure it out, and if I sit down and try to explain it, we're gonna double the length of this video. Now, the good news is that this process of Anaxa shattering his soul and splitting it into these little golden pieces meant that he could use those fragments of his soul to trap all of the monsters of the Black Tide within the Grove, and that allowed everyone ample time to escape. In other words: there aren't as many casualties as we thought there were. But if you're wondering how a guy who doesn't believe in prophecies knew that we'd show up and knew exactly what we were going to say to him, it's because he calculated it using math, which is also what Nous, the Aeon, does. They calculate unavoidable moments using math and previous information. Technically, it's psychohistory, which is a method of calculating the future based on events of the past that was developed by Isaac Asimov, who is a science fiction writer and not an actual scientist, but I digress.
Like I said, the best news about Anaxa is that the vast majority of the scholars managed to evacuate thanks to him, and they are en route to Okhema. Now, the original plan meant for Cerces' Coreflame to also have gone with those scholars, but something appears to have gone wrong, and we're gonna to have to retrieve it instead. And with the information relayed, the door unlocks, and we head deeper into the Grove to meet a mysterious woman named Calypso. She claims to be the leader of the Grove's Seven Sages and thus a peer of Anaxa, and she leads us towards the Luminary Throne where he is said to be.
We then get to reconvene with Trianne, who gives us a scrap of charred cloth that she'd found. She doesn't know who it belongs to, but she was using Aglaea's weft to track down its owner, and whoever the owner is, they seem to be at the Luminary Throne. So, that's still the target destination, and also a cause for concern because that means there's somebody else at the Luminary Throne with Anaxa.
Calypso helps open some pathways to the throne, and in doing so, she reveals her identity as the human form of Cerces. Similar to how Nikador's soul was split into five parts, Cerces had split her Coreflame into three parts in order to hide them, but now there's an entity threatening the Grove, and she's been luring us into retrieving her fragments by passing her trials so that she can do something about it. As the Reason Titan, she does have a plan to beat this threat, but she is gonna need her full Coreflame to do it. The problem is the final fragment is inside Anaxa. 'Cause you remember how I said that Anaxa shattered his soul to trap all the monsters in the Grove? Well, that just about darn near killed him. The only thing keeping him alive is the power of Cerces' Coreflame fragment that's set inside him. And wouldn't you know it, that threatening thing that Cerces warned us about and that Trianne's been looking for —that thing is standing right between us and Anaxa, who has the Coreflame fragment. Brilliant!
Now, this thing that we're just gonna call the Flame Reaver easily overpowers Castorice and the Trailblazer, but in doing so, he turned his back to Anaxa, who awakened and thrust his arm through the Reaver's chest like "POOF!" Now, I don't know if you guys noticed, but this wound forced out countless shards of memories that kind of get sucked back into the Reaver and heal him, and that kind of makes me wonder if he's made of memoria or, like, something similar to that. But yeah, the Reaver heals himself instantly, and the crew is back to square one. But even though Anaxa and Cerces are awake and working together, Anaxa's body is still in terrible shape. They have no chance at overpowering the Reaver, so Trianne does the only thing she can do —she opens a Century Gate, and with Castorice's help, warps the Reaver somewhere else, which does buy them some time, but there's no telling when this guy is gonna return, so it's time to head back to Okhema.
But Trianne is in really rough shape after opening that Century Gate, so she decides to take some time to just rest. Castorice and the Trailblazer decide to accompany Anaxa as he makes the rounds, informing the families of his fellow deceased scholars of their loved ones' passing, concluding this journey at the bathhouse, only to find Aglaea absent. And if she's not here, then I guess everyone's free to do whatever they want for right now. Anaxa goes to find some place to be alone, but it doesn't take long for Phainon to seek him out so he can ask him about the Reaver. After all, the Flame Reaver appears to be the same person who burned down Phainon's home.
Anaxa doesn't know much, but he does reason that whatever power the Reaver has does not come from a Titan, but may instead originate from beyond Amphoreus, or perhaps from the Black Tide itself. Anaxa also believes that the Reaver is hunting for Coreflames. In fact, the Reaver's blade appears to be able to absorb Coreflames, and for now, at least, it appears as though the Reaver is hunting for any unclaimed Coreflames —more specifically, any Coreflame that hasn't already been used by a Chrysos Heir to ascend to demigodhood, which leaves the Reaver with just three targets. There's Anaxa, who possesses a Coreflame but has not yet ascended, and then there's the Vortex of Genesis, which contains all of the retrieved but yet still unclaimed Coreflames, and Oronyx, the only Titan who has yet to fall, whose location is also known.
Obviously, there's still the Coreflames of Aquila and Thanatos, which are unclaimed and up for grabs, but Aquila is in the sky, and not even the Reaver can fly far enough to reach them yet, so they're not really an option. As for Thanatos... no one knows where they are. And there is, of course, Kephale, but Kephale is in Okhema, so chances are pretty good that the Reaver is just gonna target that Coreflame when they're en route to the Vortex, 'cause the Vortex is also accessible through Okhema, right? Okhema is also under several layers of protection courtesy of the Council of Elders and Phagousa's water curtain, apparently, so this is likely gonna be the Reaver's last target.
There's probably more to say, but Anaxa and Phainon's discussion is interrupted by Dan Heng, who warns them that Tribbie has gone missing. And now it's time to rewind a little. So, just before we set off for the Grove, we found Tribbie and Trianne at the bathhouse haggling over a piece of red glassware from Janusopolis. Trianne was adamant that it's exactly like a piece of glassware their mother gave them, but Tribbie is hesitant, and they end up leaving without it. Castorice ends up buying it for them, hoping to present it as a gift a little bit later. Tribbie later confesses that she knew Trianne was right about the glass, but she didn't want to say anything because the glass was associated with some very bad memories that Trianne no longer remembered.
As for the reason why Trianne doesn't remember it well, that has to do with the Coreflame of Passages. See, Tribbie, Trianne, and Trinnon aren't triplets —they're actually the fragments of a single person named Tribios. When Tribios accepted the Coreflame of Passage, her soul was fractured into a thousand pieces, and each one took the form of a child. Over time, each fragment would regress slowly towards infancy and eventually disappear entirely, kind of like she's living her life in reverse. So, where there were once thousands, now there's only three. And every time that Trianne opens a Century Gate, she regresses just a little bit more and loses just a little bit more of her memories. And now she's nearing her limit. Opening the Century Gate at the Grove was what pushed her to the edge, and now there's not much time left before she disappears.
Now, remember, the three of them are technically one person, so Trianne's loss of memory affects all of them to varying degrees. Now, this wouldn't normally be too much of a problem, but the trio had promised to share the truth of the prophecy with the others, but the prophecy can only be witnessed by using their memories to open a gate to the past. So, if their memories are hazy, they can't open the gate. But nobody wants that to happen, so the trio decide to request help from Oronyx without telling anyone else, hence why Dan Heng says that they're missing.
But when the trio arrive at the temple, Oronyx and their Coreflame are nowhere to be found. And before the trio can react, the Reaver attacks and surrounds them with his clones, but Trianne doesn't hesitate for a second: she might not be that strong, but she can still open a Century Gate. But the Reaver resists the pull of the gate, leaving Trianne with no other choice but to open a second gate and warp Tribbie and Trinnon to safety instead. The two of them are found by Phainon and the others and brought back to Okhema, where they discuss a plan to thwart the Reaver, and maybe they can still save Trianne.
The plan they come up goes something like this: Anaxa will be the bait to lure out the Reaver at the heart of Castrum Kremnos, then Mem is going to open a gate to the past, and then they're gonna close that gate and trap the Reaver inside. Tribbie can then warp everyone else to safety with her Century Gate. And this plan works for, like, a minute. It kind of seems like no one anticipated the Reaver having the ability to literally slice through the fabric of space-time. Fortunately, Mydei, who is now a demigod, shows up just in time to trap the Reaver in his crystal blood, turning the tides of battle in favor of the Chrysos Heirs. He lands a decisive strike against the Reaver and finally forced the swordsman into retreat. I don't know where he went, but he's not right here right now, so... that's something. He's certainly not dead, and I wish I could say the same for Trianne, but I can't.
They discover Trianne's body at the bottom of the abyss. Krateros had tried to protect her from the Reaver, only for both of them to fall from the cliffside. With Hyacine's help, Krateros barely managed to survive, but it was far too late to save Trianne. They did manage to retrieve Oronyx's Coreflame, though.
Mydei meets with Krateros soon after this. Ascending to divinity has given Mydei conviction and a clear vision as to what the future of his people should be. So, he tells his former teacher that he will be renouncing the title of king, and that the Kremnoan dynasty has come to an end, for he can no longer lead his people. He's a demigod now, and the future of humans should be led by humans. So, his last order as king is for the people of Castrum Kremnos to stay in Okhema, where they will have the opportunity to pursue a life of their own choosing, one that may or may not include the battlefield.
As for Mydei, he returns to Castrum Kremnos alone, where he assumes Nikador's responsibility of fighting off the Black Tide, as we previously mentioned. That should buy the rest of the Chrysos Heirs enough time to complete the Flame-Chase Journey. Now, apparently, upon ascending to demigod status, you receive a sort of personal prophecy, like, a glimpse at your inevitable fate. And it seems like Mydei is destined to die with a wound in his back, which is a bit unsettling because, as you might recall, he told Phainon in confidence that his only weak spot, the only place where he could be struck and killed, was his tenth thoracic vertebra, which is in the back. But if Phainon is the only one who knows this, then that suggests that Phainon will be the one to strike Mydei down, which makes sense because that was part of the promise that Mydei made Phainon make.
However, during the fight against the Reaver, this prophecy nearly came true, 'cause the Reaver deliberately aimed for Mydei's tenth thoracic vertebra. So, either the Reaver obtained this knowledge through some unknown means, or the Reaver is Phainon. I'm pretty sure most of you figured this out on your own, and if you didn't, you probably saw a theory about it because there are a lot of them out there. But I am obligated to mention it, so there it is.
And speaking of Phainon, he orchestrated a small gathering to see Mydei off and also suggests that we rename the Coreflame of Strife to something else, like "Preservation," perhaps. Considering the fact that Mydei is now gonna be like a bulwark or a shield that protects Amphoreus from the Black Tide, and also Qlipoth, the Preservation, is building a wall or a shield to allegedly keep out the Dusk Leviathans, I think this comparison, or this reference, whatever you wanna call it, it kinda fits. And it also makes me want to try to draw some parallels between the Titans and the Aeons, but, um, let's do that some other time.
Once the dust settles a little, a small vigil is held for Trianne. It's bittersweet since Tribios had always known that she would meet the same fate as Janus, splitting herself into a thousand pieces that would eventually become the pathways of the world and, you know, disappeared to obscurity. But Phainon wanted to know what made them, the very first demigods, decide to start the Flame-Chase Journey in the first place. And he also wonders if they ever regret their decision. And to answer this question, we're gonna need to step back in time to witness the prophecy for ourselves. And that means that we need to witness Tribios' memories.
Castorice would come with us, but she decides to stay behind in order to give Tribbie that piece of glass that Trianne wanted. Trinnon explains that the glass was actually part of a funerary custom in Janusopolis. When someone died for their destiny, the Holy Maiden was supposed to select a piece of volcanic glass, polish it, and then offer it to the deceased's family as a sort of memento. And since Tribios was once the Holy Maiden herself, this piece of polished red glass is the perfect final gift for Trianne.
And now it's time to take a trip down memory lane. Trinnon explains that she and her mother were Holy Maidens of Janus, once upon a time, and that it was their job to receive and relay the Titan's words to the people. But the priests wanted to control public opinion and often interfered with relaying the prophecies. Eventually, Tribios' mother became too difficult to manipulate, so they hatched a plan to kill her and replace her with the young, malleable Tribios. On the day Tribios' mother was meant to receive a revelation from Janus, she was murdered. The priests passed it off as a horrible accident, claiming she slipped and fell into the abyss. This allowed them to conceal her last prophecy as well —the prophecy of the Flame-Chase— which actually wasn't even issued by Janus; it was issued by Kephale. The timing of events was sheer coincidence.
And when she learned of this incident, Tribios made up her mind. She decided that she would be the one to seize the Coreflame of Janus and set out on a journey to share the prophecy that her mother died receiving, even though Oronyx believed the prophecy to be a false one, for the prophecy itself was incredibly cruel. And, as far as Oronyx was concerned, Kephale would never issue something so cruel to their own creations. And even though the priests kept Tribios locked up, others helped her create an escape route out of her room, and someone else (yet unknown) helped clear a path out of the temple for her and also helped her escape the city. I'm serious when I say we don't know who helped her escape. The game really doesn't tell us who helped her. But if you want my opinion, I kind of think they're suggesting it was the her of the future who helped herself. After all, Tribios' power is the one of opening, clearing, and closing paths, so who better to clear a path for herself than herself? But that's just my opinion. Don't take it as fact.
And, as our quest finally comes to a close, we're still left with a few lingering questions. Anaxa and Cerces, for example, want to know what exactly are we? I'm not sure if "we" is Titans, Chrysos Heirs, or all life-forms of Amphoreus, but it certainly sounds like a question with an earth-shattering answer. And it seems like Anaxa may have a strong hypothesis for it, one that involves death itself, which is kinda funny, 'cause, um, apparently Anaxa already died once. Cerces didn't actually save his life; she straight-up revived him by giving him the Coreflame. And given that Castorice and Anaxa are slated for release next patch, I think it's safe to say that we're gonna be following their stories next and traveling to the Sea of Souls to find Thanatos, and, you know, we'll probably see Anaxa accept Cerces' Coreflame at the same time.
Now, you, on the other hand, are probably wondering about this ending scene and also Tribbie's ominous lines that she spoke towards the end. Now, I know it looks like the Trailblazer is dying, but I really wonder if that's the case. Anaxa, again, seems to have some thoughts about death, which make me think that death in Amphoreus is different from our traditional concept of death, which, again, cycles back to that whole parallel that Dan Heng was making between Amphoreus and Penacony, because death wasn't really death in Penacony either. And what's interesting to me in the context of this is that the Reaver is almost certainly Phainon, but it's probably Phainon from another time, like, from the future. Maybe a future where Oronyx was right and the prophecy was actually a disaster? And he was the only one to witness the end of the world or something. And what makes me think this is the case is that when you're fighting the Reaver, you can get him to say a line that says "Return to the great dream," which, again, has me thinking about Penacony and how death in the dream wasn't really a death at all.
So, in light of that, although we see the Trailblazer dying, I don't think that's actually gonna be the case, but we'll see. Maybe death isn't really death in Amphoreus, and if you die in Amphoreus and you're not from Amphoreus, you'll just exit Amphoreus, and that's how the Trailblazer gets back on the Astral Express. I don't know. But they can't die for real, because we gotta keep in mind that they've also teased the possibility of the Trailblazer taking Oronyx's Coreflame for themselves. Yep, that's what I said. In spite of not being a Chrysos Heir, the Trailblazer is the first person in a millennium to exhibit compatibility with Oronyx's Coreflame. And, to their credit, they have been foreshadowing this. The Trailblazer was able to pick up Oronyx's blessing powers very quickly at the very start of 3.0, and Oronyx was apparently the one who projected Mem into the form she currently has, and since Mem and the Trailblazer are partners, the odds of them being compatible with the Coreflame are pretty good.
So, regardless of what all of this death or no death, is it a real death, is it a fake death thing kind of goes, we still have time travel shenanigans to deal with, so I don't think they're actually gonna die. I think this scene is just really misleading. And maybe, if we're lucky, in the next patch, we'll finally get some insight as to what's up with March, 'cause, um, her camera's memory card is full, and that feels pretty ominous. But that's it. That's all I've got. So, I hope you enjoyed patch 3.1 and this recap, obviously. Thank you so much for watching, and thank you to all of my channel members for enabling my nonsense. I will see all of you in Episode 3. Bye-bye.