[Filomena] I'm all right.
It…
It's strange, Bunny.
The Eldwyrm souls.
I can feel them, hear them.
Th-- They're singing.
[Invoker] The harmony of creation.
[Filomena] Papa.
The original process was somewhat more complicated and needlessly violent.
I just wanted to know how it worked.
I needed to know.
I'm not here to stop you.
I'm here to teach you.
[pensive music]
[Invoker] Reach out with your mind.
Find the Eldwyrms.
[mystic music]
They have mass…
form.
It's almost as though I could touch them.
[Invoker] Because you can.
Draw them to you.
It's quite safe.
Were the moment to come, it would be too late for them to stop you.
Now imagine the world as you would have it be.
But first, you must let go of this one.
I don't understand.
[Invoker] Let go of all hope for it.
Just…
wish it away.
[enchanted music]
[intense music]
[Filomena] It hurts.
It hurts.
I can't.
[Invoker] But this is what you want.
You have the power.
Wish everything you love into non-existence.
Know that you will do this again and again until you master the Forge.
I don't want this. No one could want this. [sobs]
No one, at all.
So ends the lesson.
[pensive music]
[theme music]
[Bram] Davion.
Hey, come back to me.
We were walking, you stopped.
I thought maybe you saw an air dragon, or-- or several air dragons,
and then I realized, nope. Clear blue sky.
[sighs]
This "I'm an Eldwyrm" thing is getting a little weirder every day.
I saw something. Someone.
A girl.
She didn't say a word.
I don't even know what she wanted.
Oh, well, that's better?
[Davion] It's definitely something.
[Bram] Well-- Wait, a-- another mystery girl?
How is this a thing?
[solemn music]
[indistinct crying]
[fire crackling]
[solemn music]
[music intensifies]
Oh, Marci, I-- I love you. I'm sorry, I love--
[gasps]
[sighs]
[exhales deeply]
Turn your eyes, Her Imperial Majesty Mirana,
God Empress of the Sun.
Gaze into her light.
[crowd cheering]
[man] All hail, Her Majesty!
You're concerned, I know. Don't be.
Listen, it's hard to explain.
When this happened in the other world, it didn't happen this way.
But I am glad.
[exhales heavily]
I am thankful you are here to share this day with me.
[suspenseful music]
[crackling]
[zapping]
[grunts]
-[groans] -[explosion]
Another encouraging result.
Containment may be achievable with a fraction of the Dragons' power.
[sobs]
A drop of water from the ocean.
You're worried, I know.
The Forge is making it worse.
But…
nothing makes it better.
So be it.
The world is crumbling around us.
Kingdoms fall, civilizations disappear,
entire regions have been rendered uninhabitable.
There will be more Haupstadts in our future,
but we will hold the line.
We will fight, lend aid, and rebuild.
[sighs] Most of that land
is far beyond our borders.
We can't be everywhere, not even where we might be wanted.
I think Luna is trying to say
that the Imperial Army is stretched thin as it is.
Armistice or no armistice.
No, you're right. An army isn't the answer.
But an alliance, cooperation with the Principality of Shadow.
[people murmuring]
Old hatreds will only bring ruin.
You might want to tell the elves that. They attacked us.
I know who attacked who.
It's a new world out there.
[intense music]
We are aware of the service Dragon Hold provides,
and we hold you all in the highest esteem.
But in the absence of a crisis,
I'm afraid I cannot offer an immediate audience.
That-- That's what I'm telling you. [gasps]
-[bones cracking] -Uh, shit.
I see you know one another. Shall I?
Wait, I have to talk to her.
Look, I get it.
We didn't exactly part as friends,
but there are a few things the Princess needs--
Empress.
The Empress needs to know.
Let me explain this in another way.
[Davion/Slyrak] A lot has changed.
[gulps] Uh, trust me, you don't get used to it.
[birds chirping]
-[Mirana] Dragon Knight. -Your Majesty.
Mirana.
It's good to see you.
[Davion] It's so strange, I feel like me.
The me I've always been.
But I have other thoughts, other memories. They're like…
I-- I don't know.
-A stranger's dream. -Yeah.
The things that matter to me, to him, I mean, the other Davion.
-The things he felt… -You feel them, too.
I look at you and…
Gods, none of that is real, is it?
That was his life, not mine.
"The Flesh Illusion", Slyrak says.
Does this feel like an illusion?
I want you to know, if it had been me, if I were the one, not you,
I wouldn't have done anything differently than you.
-Not a single godsdamn thing. -I made my peace.
I'm making a life.
Then you really don't know what's happening to the moon, the world.
Oh, this happened on the first world long ago.
We survived. This world will survive.
[Davion] No, it won't.
In a few months, all of this, this entire planet, it's all gone.
Like it or not, that's the truth.
And I don't think you'll like my solution much better.
[somber music]
[Filomena] The flowers no longer follow the moon.
They're dying.
[Invoker] It is their nature. We can't change it.
[Filomena] But we can want to.
Yes. I'm waiting for the truth.
One empathizes.
There are no secrets in this valley, not from me.
And the Forge is no proper subject for continued experimentation.
Not even by you.
[Filomena] I don't see the harm.
[Invoker] If you saw no harm,
you would not have tried to keep it secret.
You don't even care to ask me what I've learned.
Clearly nothing.
We don't have to remake the universe or defeat The Ancients.
-We just have to manage the problem. -Manage it?
We tap the dragons rather than kill them.
We use just enough of their power
to bolster the entity holding back the Ancients,
and repair the physical structure of the moon.
-We buy time for a permanent solution. -Impossible.
You could at least pretend to give it some thought.
Filomena, the Forge can kill you.
It is magic, but it is not free.
It will drain your energy, your life.
[gasps]
Hmph.
I will happily take the risk.
And it will awaken the Eldwyrms and their children.
They will rage, they will eat, and then they will come here.
Leaving us with only one unthinkable recourse.
You will trade horror for horror.
I refuse to accept that.
[Invoker] And that is your nature.
[tense music]
If you have any more harmless secrets, I suggest you share them.
[somber music]
[Filomena] I need to tell him, don't I?
I just wish I knew how.
[tranquil music]
[Invoker] The new moon.
I'd almost forgotten.
A time for mourning and remembrance of the dead.
A religious practice which…
forgive me, Goddess, I have never observed.
[Mene] Perhaps you should.
The Dragon Knight, your Dragon Knight. I'd almost forgotten him as well.
You forget nothing, ever.
It's just that he's no longer relevant to you.
He is quite relevant to me.
I never got to say goodbye.
Have you done as I asked?
Have you confessed to Filomena?
-There was no need. -She knew?
Clever, like her father.
A gifted mind, but her heart will get the best of her.
[Mene] Also like her father.
[Invoker] I know my daughter. Filomena is headstrong and relentless.
She will use every resource at her command,
but she will fail as I failed.
She has become a danger to herself.
So, this is why you've come.
-Filomena listens to you. -[Mene] Because I listen to Filomena.
If you want to save her, stop fighting her.
Help her. Be her father.
[tranquil music]
Sorry, Marci. I didn't mean to wake you.
Oh, Davion is right. I hate his solution.
Help from the Invoker.
Am I a hypocrite?
All of my high-minded talk about old hatreds,
and here I sit, nursing the oldest of them all.
The Devil of the Moon.
He must know what's happening.
The fact he has yet to resolve it suggests he lacks the means,
but he may have an idea what can be done.
On the other hand, all of this is his design, this reality…
it may be this is exactly what he wants.
It may be that this nightmare is also his design.
But none of that matters, does it? [chuckles softly]
His design or not,
we have to understand what we're up against.
[chuckles softly]
[pensive music]
[intense music]
You're right. You're always right.
There's that look.
-Which look? -The one you get.
You bow your head, knit your brow.
It means you're scared as hell, but doing something anyway.
The other me saw it a lot.
In times past, this would have been a moment for prayer,
but today, the universe has arranged things such that I have no one to pray to.
I remember his whole life.
I remember how he died.
The last thing he saw was you.
Your face.
It was enough.
You were enough. He didn't need to pray.
Prepare yourselves.
[intense music]
[Bram] Oh, shit. Are we gonna…
[Bram grunts]
[Bram] …do that?
[foreboding music]
[Filomena] You have entered my home without invitation.
We have business with the master of this place.
[intense music]
[Davion] You.
You're her, I know you.
She's the mystery girl.
The Ember Eldwyrm.
[dragons growling]
My father said the dragons may react,
but this isn't quite the reaction he imagined.
Your father?
[Filomena] If you've come to see him, you've come in vain.
He will not help you.
But perhaps we can help each other.
[suspenseful music]
[Zet grunting]
A failed notion recurs.
The self alone can maintain unity and hold this prison.
I have not come to fight you or pacify the Ancients.
I have come to draw the curtain.
The self will allow no further disruption of the unity.
You will cease!
[grunting]
The prison will be maintained.
The fragments bound.
You will be destroyed. Your power is irrelevant.
I carry power greater than my own.
I free you of your burden and unshackle your masters.
[Zet] No!
Discorporation cannot be possible.
The self must not be lost.
All that remains is the rage of the Primordial Mind.
Let the end begin.
[intense music]
[thrilling music]
My father used the Pillars of Creation to remake the universe.
I believe we can set them to a more subtle purpose.
Restoring the structural integrity of the broken moon.
That machine.
I know it. I saw it in Foulfell.
The Forge? You saw it?
I was there. I remember it all.
Curious.
The one you saw would have required us to possess the dragon souls.
This one accesses them directly.
And by access, you mean…
Kill, yes.
It doesn't have to. I think we can simply draw power.
Use them without destroying them. Just enough to get the job done.
[Invoker] It no longer matters.
The arc warden is gone, and the entities will not be contained.
The destruction of the moon is a foregone conclusion.
Soon, there will be nothing left to repair.
I cannot change your nature,
but I can manage the problem.
Father, what have you done?
Whatever it was, he will undo it.
Even Selemene knew better than to attack me in my own home.
[Filomena] No. We're not doing this.
This is my home.
I don't need anyone's protection.
And I am done bargaining with you.
So be it.
Mirana!
-[rumbling] -[creatures screeching]
[growling]
[Invoker] You are a young god.
Days old, your eyes barely open. You hardly learn to crawl.
You are nothing.
Here, far from any sun to grant you power, you are even less than that.
[grunts]
I can't dismiss them.
-What in all the hells are they? -He wants me to protect you.
[gasps]
They're a distraction. It means we have time.
Do whatever you need to do.
Get ready, we fight.
[growls]
[grunting]
[Bram] What…
-What can I do? -Watch the skies.
[yells]
[intense music]
[Bram grunts]
[rumbling]
[grunting]
[Invoker] Oh, Princess.
In all the many universes I have known, you are unique.
Cursed as I am, with the ache of things lost
that cannot be said to have existed at all.
If it's any comfort, I was never your enemy.
-I never meant you harm. -[growling]
I think you know what it's like to love someone so much…
there is no sacrifice you wouldn't make.
No sin you will not commit to keep them safe.
I think you know.
Because you pursued me across the boundaries of reality
to restore what you lost.
You will lose it all…
one final time.
[grunting]
[growls]
[groaning]
[screaming]
[rumbling]
Oh, no.
[gasping]
[rumbling]
-[explosion] -[grunting]
[exhales heavily]
We're too late.
[tragic music]
[rumbling]
What in the hells are you doing?
The one thing I know I'm good at.
[suspenseful music]
[indistinct murmuring]
[explosions]
[screaming]
[indistinct praying]
[screaming]
[grunts]
[Lina screams]
[explosions]
[tense music]
[explosions]
[intense music]
[grunting]
[screams]
[explosions]
[screaming]
[fire crackling]
[tragic music]
You think I'm a monster. I know.
But you would have done the same.
Anyone would have done the same.
[closing theme music]