The Present That Enables a Future

 It seems that we have a future. I wasn't certain that would be the case. 

After consuming a holy feast, we flew toward the center to face the great adversary. In his current form, he is literally part of the terrain. The only weapons of any use are cannons and spells. Even with those, we're plinking away at a mountain that can crush half the ship with any blow that hits. We manage to chip a hole in his chest giving us some small bit of access to the core of his being. Hector valiantly sacrifices his Gailatian heart, which Cole-Bay catapults into the adversary, and we ride the shock wave of its explosion until we hit hard enough to ground us (but not hard enough to kill us). 

Unfortunately, that was not the last of him. From the distance, he strode toward us at a much more reasonable size. Nor was his "body" the only thing we had to contend with. He summoned prism crystals (like the ones used to fell me weeks ago) and tentacles of stone and dirt (very disconcerting). After a hard-fought battle, we eventually triumphed, and eradicated every trace of his corruption from the world.

It is my understanding that Hector has only a few hours of functionality left, but that some time in the future, if a new heart can be crafted for him, he may yet be revived. Nevertheless (or perhaps consequently), She and he wish to have the wedding that was interrupted so long ago. Since I am a priest of Her church, I humbly agree to officiate. The order has no formalized wedding rites, but I'm sure I can come up with something. With the bones of an idea, I scoop up a couple stones from the ground as we make our way to the ship. We gather everyone to witness the happy (but short) event.

"Do you, Fiona Sterling, wish to be with this man -- to love him, to guide him -- until the end of time?"

"Yes, I do."

"Do you, Hector Cogsworth, wish to be with this woman -- to love her, to guide her -- until the end of time?"

 "Yes, I do."

"These two stones are, like you, individuals. Separate." I then use a simple mending spell to fuse the stones together. "Now, they are, like you, one. Together, a single unit, until the end of time. Congratulations."

With that, we sail the Falcon's Blade back toward the sky, as the land so long lain asunder begins to drift back toward its natural state of unity. We deliver Aerathor to his home, and bring the body of Hector back to Unitopolis, the one island to remain airborne -- a symbol of the power of the One who reunified the land. There will indubitably be some who work to create a new heart for his Gailatian chest. I, myself, want to see if something can be done to mend the rifts in the world left by its sundering. Who knows, perhaps the elders will allow me in their counsel to determine what focus the Church should have in the years to come. I feel it vital that we begin to unify the people, as we have done with the land that sustains them.

Perhaps it is silly to think they will listen to me, a mere priest -- not much beyond acolyte, really -- but I've actually walked and talked with Her. That has to count for something! Ah, we'll see. The future will be what the future will be. 

A New Old Friend

 She (They?) guides and protects us through the Maelstrom. It was a harrowing experience. At one point, we are spotted by a Ship-breaker Behemoth, and we DIVE. Just cut the float crystal and ride the drop. We arrive at the core, shaken but unscathed. It is a barren, dark, crimson, rocky orb. We land near a house-sized metal structure. We have found Hector's capsule. Some yards away, maybe 1/4 mile, there is a small, tattered tent. As we slowly approach, a figure emerges. Hector is an automaton?! He and She reunited! A beautiful moment, somewhat marred by the urgency of the situation. We have only days before the adversary awakens. Fiona does something, and I find myself refreshed, and stronger, and with some interesting new ideas rattling around my skull. Interesting, indeed.

My Final Entry?

 This may be the last entry in this journal. I guess it depends on how this goes, or does it? Do I make an entry after a success? I guess that depends on what follows success? Again, I get ahead of myself. Indubitably a consequence of such heady, overwhelming occurrences and stakes. 

Mimi's sextant leads us to a tiny cottage on a tiny island on the very edge of Vorathis. It's obviously been abandoned for centuries. Nature has almost completely reclaimed it, even the interior. Inside, there is a field of a flower that is strange, but somehow familiar? As if it was used as a symbol by people I've only read about. Of course, I'm pressing a couple examples into this journal. Even if I am unable to return to the temple, someone will have the opportunity to study it. Apart from the vegetation, there is a large brass ring set into the floor. It looks similar to the hatch we found under the lake on Titan Prime, but as a seat for something rather than access to somewhere. Aerathor, bless his eyes, finds a letter on a bookshelf. It is dated 9 years after the last we've found. In it, Hector describes creating a capsule to traverse the Maelstrom, realizing that Fiona IS the aether that tries to hold the world together, and discovering another "that roams these skies" -- Zephyr, who he says is also her. This letter makes clear that Hector took his capsule into the Maelstrom, expecting to never return, but nothing remains to enable us to follow.

In a bolt of lightning, Zephyr stands among us again. She says that she remembers him. Suddenly (and yet gradually somehow?), the One also graces us. They both talk of their fondness for the flowers. They say they are two aspects of the same being. I notice that they wear identical engagement rings. Have I never noticed? Or were they never there until I was ready to see? The captain asks how they can both manifest if they were one being?

  "We sealed the adversary away and thought that would be enough. But he fractured the world on our wedding day. So I tried my best, used all of my power to contain the fracture and hold the pieces. I had to be everywhere on the planet. That fractured me into the aether (and these two beings). The spires have been absorbing the aether and weakening me."

Zephyr suggests that they can work together to get us to the center, maybe find Hector (?!?!), and try to defeat the adversary once and for all. (How we might expect to find him after more than a millennium is anyone's guess.) They grasp each others' hands and, in a flash of light, fuse into one Fiona Sterling. She looks like a mortal woman now. I struggle to grasp what that even means. Is she still divine? Was she ever? I don't know. I'm not sure those words have the meanings I once attributed them. I pledged my life to Her when she was merely an idea -- a concept I couldn't quite encompass in my head. How can I give less when she stands before me in literal flesh and blood?

In any case, I must send this journal to the temple. If we, or I, do not return from this trip, the Order should know all I have learned thus far.