Part 31

Too often, we say things in regret.

"If only I knew then--"

"If only someone had told me--"

"If only I could try it over again--"

Eike Kush has been run through the time lines so many times by Homunculus, he's beginning to hear echoes. He rememgers--strange things. Things he shouldn't remember at all. Things that haven't happened yet, things that have, and things that make no sense. But maybe, knowing from the beginning what's going on, he can change his cold and bitter destiny. Can fate be defied if you know enough, or does Homunculous just have too much control over the time-line?

Ending EX

We just started a new game, and Eike was stabbed when walking away from the cafe.



Already Eike's off to a promising start!





Homunculus doesn't find this suspicious, which is disheartening. Maybe he's got contingencies even for this.







The good news is this time Eike spends much less time whining about the devil, and dives head-first into the plot. The bad news is you still have to listen to Homunculus explain how the digipad works.



Insert three minutes of exposition.







Already he's bucking fate!



Still no explanation for where the hell the Philosopher's Stone came from.




Guess he slept a half hour longer? So instead of this being the prologue, where he gets stabbed, 2:00 is the start of chapter 1, where Eike is lured into a burning building... but if he passes on the burning building, he can go pick up a message from the future version of himself juggling in the square.







When the fortune teller knows less than the client, there's a problem.











Allow me to simplify.

Hey! Fortune teller! What should I do with the Philosopher's Stone, and Homunculus?
How the hell should I know?
Alright, I'll come up with something on my own then.




The irony here is the EX ending doesn't last until chapter four, so there's no way for Eike to be standing there juggling. The time lines are clearly pretty fucked by now.



One last shot of the terrifying eyes, for old times sake.



It's still 2:00, so the dog mafia blocks off most of the city.




Smooth save there.

Anyway, Eike tells Hugo to suck it and heads back to the juggler.





Yeah, we've moved past the need for an iron plate at this point. Getting involved in the never-ending struggle to save Eike's life only plays into Homunculus's hands.





Right! We probably need the Philosopher's stone, then.





Wink, wink, nudge, nudge, say no more, say no more!





Aaah, there's Eike's daughter.






Now, we stand at a choice. The Philosopher's stone is undeniably powerful, and can be harnessed to accomplish great things. It's the source of an ancient and cunning evil, can give life, take it away, bend time and space, and grow into an oak tree, for some reason. This version of Eike knows how to use it, who's inside of it, and who yerns for it. He remembers all six of the previous playthroughs, and knows who he is and what his role in life is.

He also knows that he shouldn't exist, that by all rights he should have died four hundred years ago.

Goons! Now you must choose, and your choice is significant, because I have decided only to do one of the two remaining endings. This is Eike's one and only chance to defy fate. Eike can harness the power of the Philosopher's stone to bring life and joy, to heal shattered lives, to save souls and bodies, to redeem people before they go astray and rebuild the last four hundred years of history to be as it should be. Or he can harness the stone's destructive power, and attack Homunculus directly. If he fights Homunculus with the stone, there won't be any shitty cop-out with a tree and another stone. Eike will end the demon Homunculus, once and for all, for all time.

Is the love of goons for the virtual people of Shadow of Destiny strong, or is the hate of the virtual demon stronger? Because we only get one.