Part 36: Feinne Interlude 5: Purification

Ha ha! And now perhaps my ultimate tale of Lady Milla’s greatness!
No.
U-Um, excuse me?
Just no, you don’t even have any idea what you’re talking about on a good day and you’ve never even been where she went. So why don’t you just sit down and I’ll tell you what happened. It all started after Milla died.

Video- The Spirit World

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???: …resist not my purification of the soul. Step forth into life anew.

Normally, she should have just been reincarnated. But, well, things didn’t go normally.



Hold fast to your consciousness! Remain yourself, and you shall not disappear.
Hurry! We gotta do this on the double!
Almost there! Don’t you quit on us!
It is time! Please, this way!

Milla found herself somewhere strange, though you would probably recognize it as the seafalls near Nia Khera.



The company was just as strange to her.
For you see-
No seriously just shut up.



So happy to play again! Ready to do our thing?
What? You don’t remember little ol’ me?
This mean we blew it?



Huh? You okay?
Wait a sec. Don’t tell me you don’t remember.



What? Your own name escapes you?
Did we fail?
My apologies. You could not answer even if you wished.



I cannot believe I am even asking you this, but do you remember the time we spent together in Nia Khera?
You do not remember. What can we do now?
No, forgive me. It is not your fault.

Milla was about to wander off when the Four stopped her.



Something ain’t right with her, gang. It’s like she forgot who she is.
Come on! Don’t you remember all the times we played together in Nia Khera?
Answer me. When you and I battled each other, who emerged the victor?
Do you remember saving us when we were trapped inside the Lance?
I fear that you have lost much of your memory.
Yet it should be intact if we retrieved her soul at the proper moment.
Maybe we screwed it up somehow.
Or maybe we hit some glitch we didn’t know about. If we do a little digging, we might figure out the problem.
Bad Sylph! No!
What?
We can’t disobey our lord.
Gnome has the right of it. And either way, we cannot return to Nia Khera.
Hmph, fine! Who needs a half-baked spirit like her anyway? Let’s lose the amnesiac and move on!
Sylph, please. We should be happy she is still with us at all.
We just need to accept that our plan has failed.
We brought this fate upon you. Forgive us. If only we could make it up to you.
Is there anywhere you would like to go? The least we can do is accompany you.
Perhaps you might remember something along the way.
Right! Someplace familiar might do the trick!
Uh, Nia Khera’s out, remember?
Oh… Hmm…

So, we have only Milla for the moment. The upshot is, we get back the Four in the form of the artes we had at the start of the game. They’re pretty brutal, and make the random fights here quite easy in spite of the fact that they’re generally two on one. We start in the Seafalls as noted, and we can’t go to Nia Khera. So we need to head to Hamil. Once we arrive, we get a scene.

Milla wandered to Hamil, and the Four followed.

Video- Trouble In the Spirit World

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Perhaps she visited here while we were trapped inside the Lance.
Whatever.

Things weren’t so great in the spirit world.



They’re in trouble!
I will handle this.
Thank you.

Even without her memories, Milla was not the sort to listen to someone else saying that they’d handle something.



Stay back. I said I would handle this!
She does not seem particularly concerned about who does the fighting.
What?!
What matters most is that we save these people.
That’s right.

They defeated the monsters.



Villager: Please, stop by our house in the village whenever you need a rest!
Wh-Wha, guys. Something’s not right.

A pair of familiar shadows appeared…



…and the spirits they had saved fell, undone. Soon only a pair of fossils remained.



Is everyone all right?
They’re gone.
You cannot touch it from this world.
I know it’s rotten, but you couldn’t have saved ‘em if you tried.
Don’t blame yourself!
Let’s move onward.

They rested for a moment at the building that was the elder of Hamil’s house in the real world.

Video- The Four Consider

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Perhaps you should just live in peace from now on.
You don’t have to fight anymore.
Yes. You should focus on your own happiness.

Her dreams were unsettled, though.



Peace. Were those two at peace?
Why do I still care? I don’t need to fight anymore.
I couldn’t protect them.

They left Hamil, and headed on to the nearby seahaven where they encountered a suspicious pair watching a young woman.

Video- The Hunt

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Man: It—It can’t be. The Four Great Spirits?!
What mischief are you two up to?
Man: Huh?!
Other Man: Uh, we were, um…

This caught the woman’s attention, and she ran off.



Man: Pardon us. We have, uh, business to attend to.
Other Man: Right. Business. Let’s go!

Milla and the Four followed her into the inn.



Woman: A few times. I think they’re tailing after me.
Do you know why?
Woman: Yes. I overheard something I probably shouldn’t have.
Please, continue.
Woman: Okay. You are the Four Great Spirits, after all.
I overheard that some woman committed the sin of false reincarnation. Now people are on the hunt for her.
Sin, huh?
Do you have any clue of this person’s whereabouts?
Woman: I don’t know. I didn’t hear much else.
But they clearly said they have to find her… and kill her.
Eventually, I found out that they had started to suspect us, so I’ve been in hiding.
I see.
Thank you for sharing your tale. You have been most helpful. Now, see to your safety.

The group reconvened outside.



Sylph’s makin’ sense.
Hmm… Very well.
We shall confess what we did to you.
Once you were a woman named Milla. You lived with us in a place called Nia Khera.
You died in the end. Do you remember that much?
We must tell you what happened afterward.
We tried to retrieve your soul before it could be purified and reincarnated.
We thought you’d come back with all your same ol’ memories.
But we messed up.
Your memories went bye-bye. Oops!
That is the way of things.

They rested at the seahaven, and once again Milla dreamed.

Video- Memories 1

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Yes?
Can I come, too? With you?
Who are you?
I know you. Why can’t I remember?



I’m --.
I’m Maxwell. Yes, that’s right. I’m Milla Maxwell.
And I chose to die.
But why? I can’t remember.
That boy. Who was he to me?

Technically I think we could have bypassed most of this. We might have had to head to the seahaven before the Four wouldn’t yell at us for trying to go to Nia Khera? Anyway we start the final section of this by heading exactly where we were told not to.

Inevitably, though, everyone has to return home.

Video- Alone Again

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Is it her?
Gnome, hide Milla.
Okey-dokey!
Sit tight!



So it was you.

Where they met a charming and attractive young spirit just doing her job.
Okay now I really need to say something, why is it okay when you just make crap up?
Excuse me? Did you just say ‘tragically injure me please’?
Uh, no, not at all. Didn’t say a thing.



They were all suspects, so naturally they paid the ultimate price.
In other words, your goal was to root out Milla.
Of course. How very perceptive of you.
I must eliminate all who have learned of the schism’s existence and secrets.
Well, uh. That’s your mission after all.
Hehe, but I never imagined you would hide Milla and then march right up to me on your own.
Did something go awry?
Milla has lost her memory.
We don’t know how to find her no more.
So that’s what happened.
In that case, your usefulness has come to an end.
Yes, as you say.
You are well aware of our master’s wishes.
You all know too much. You must be reincarnated.
Die and pass along our powers to the next Great Four. We know.
Exactly. Lord Maxwell’s specter is in the shrine.
We shall await you.

Anyway, they were left to consider their failures.



Yes.
Time to say bye-bye.
You heard our conversation. Muzet is right.
We know too much about the schism, and that makes us dangerous.
We were prepared for this outcome.
Yep.
All that really matters is the Four Great Spirits exist, not who they are.
Got it? Then scram and never come back.
We’ll be goin’ now.
Milla. No, you are not Milla. You are your own person.
Forget you ever heard that name.
If you ever meet the next Four, please give them our kind regards.
Enough already. Let’s go get this over with.

Nia Khera was heaped with bodies, and amongst them Milla had another vision.

Video- Memories 2

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I just want to live as Maxwell.
And that’s an excuse to off yourself?
I know it conflicts with my mission.
Then don’t! Don’t do it!
I just don’t want to disappoint ----.
I want to be strong.
I want to be the Maxwell that he adores.
What does Maxwell have to fear?
So that’s what it was. I’ve become afraid. Afraid of loss.

Once again, even without memories Milla was still at the end of the day Milla. And that means walking forward even if it’s really stupid.

Video- Determination

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Numbskull! Don’t tell me you’re trying to stop us from sacrificing ourselves.
Wait, Sylph.
Her body is different, and her memories gone, but a certain part of Milla may yet remain.
Yes. If that’s the case, there is nothing we can do to stop her.
You know… Even if you never get your memories back…
You’re still the best.
Hmph. This creature isn’t Milla.
The real Milla would think more logically. She’d never be dumb enough to follow us like this.
Sylph…
If you are determined to accompany us, then we cannot stop you.
Come with us or turn back. We will respect your decision regardless.
Yep.
Indeed.
Hmph, whatever.

Their arrival at the shrine, needless to say, caused a bit of a stir.

Video- Muzet

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Oh?
What do we have here?
So, you lied to me? Or perhaps you changed your minds?
Never mind. I am not so cruel as to interrogate you over this matter now.
But I do have one question for you.
Can you really trust these spirits?
If you don’t know the answer, then allow me to provide it for you.
Just as I have a mission, so too did you. At least when you were still Milla.
Muzet, must you really tell her this?
My, my. You willingly participated, and yet now you wish you pretend it never happened?
N-No one said that.
My primary mission was the eradication of Exodus.
And as for Milla…
She was Lord Maxwell’s bait to lure Exodus into the open.
He realized that Exodus had designs to take his life.
So he made you believe that you were Maxwell in the flesh.
And right on cue, Exodus threw all of its resources into killing you.
Do you see where I am going with this?
That’s enough already.



A fabrication, to be more accurate. You were never Maxwell.
And furthermore, the Four Great Spirits here were under Lord Maxwell’s orders.
They raised you, a human girl forged in the crucible of the elements, as Maxwell. They brainwashed you into accepting your mission.
Milla…
You were abandoned by Maxwell from the very start, and your trusted Four have been using you from the beginning.
She speaks the truth. All of us have been lying to you.
That is why we plucked your soul free just as it was undergoing reincarnation.
We betrayed our very master, Lord Maxwell himself, for you.
Though I suppose that gesture rings hollow now.
Indeed it does.
But Muzet!
Milla wished for us to live on!
She kinda grew on us, you know? Betraying her again just leaves a bad taste in my mouth.
We refuse your offer of reincarnation. We are staying right here.
What?
I have a mission. Without it, my life has no meaning! I must complete it!
I cannot allow you to live!

It came down to a fight.



Okay so Milla has only one boss on her side, a fight one on one with Muzet. She’s almost identical to the version that Jude fights with a whole fucking party, just with somewhat less health. Hope you have healing items, because she can ruin you incredibly quickly. You do have something that Jude didn’t have, though, the four best artes in the game. Mystic artes are for suckers, the Four are where it’s really at. Efreet is a frontal arc that hits a wide area and knocks enemies around, Undine shoots a line of water for massive damage, Sylph knocks an area in front of you up into the air and juggles it, and Gnome spins around you. Your ONLY real advantage against Muzet is that she’s very easy to knock around, so Efreet and Sylph can really mess her up as long as you land them before she hits you. Undine is great if you can safely land her, though if Muzet gets around the attack you will likely lost most of your health to some asshole shit she’ll pull. And yes she has her Mystic Arte, free run and pray to whatever gods you worship when she Overlimits. This is legit the hardest fight in the game when you’re not in an NG+ with a bunch of crazy overpowered equipment and more levels than you’re supposed to have, I almost manage to die even in that situation.

Which I should note Lady Milla won. Handily. Really kicked her opponent to the curb.
Okay you can stop with that.



Cause I want Milla back with us.
She cared about me, so I care about her! Simple!
We do not know if Milla will regain her memory.
Most likely, she never will.
But even so, to us she is still Milla!
It is not the past we spent together that truly matters. We have realized that much.
In other words, the most important thing to you is not the past, but rather—
Stop right there! Sheesh, you were about to say the oldest cliché in the book.
We don’t wanna die just ‘cause we know too much!
Then why didn’t you run?
Funny thing. We were fine with dyin’ if it was for her.
We shall decide what we do from now on.
We shall follow our own hearts when choosing whether to obey or disobey our master’s orders.
You think so too, right?
But memories are gone forever when they’re erased! She will never be Milla again!
Tell me I speak the truth.

The shade of Maxwell appeared.



Behold, the specter of Lord Maxwell, Hegemon of the Spirit World.
Do not be afraid. The specter is nothing more than concentrated consciousness. Its sole purpose is to purify the souls of the dead.
The answer to your question is: negative.
This ball of light contains a soul’s former information. It is a miraculous arte, able to restore memory and personality.
What?
Lord Maxwell! Why was I never informed of this?
This isn’t good! Lord Maxwell’s gonna sense that we’re here.
Huh? He’s not answering.
Why… Why have you stopped responding?
How long must I wait until you answer me?!
I do not know why, but it appears her communication with Maxwell has been cut off.
No! Why is this happening?!
Hey, wait!
Calm yourself, Sylph.
We have more pressing concerns.
In the end, we did what we came to do. We have found a way to restore Milla’s memory.
Carry this light to the summit of the Nia Khera Hallowmount.

They headed to the peak of the Hallowmount, at which point the Four were called to aid Maxwell in battle.

Video- Return

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The signal is off the charts. It’s Lord Maxwell!
But who could he be fighting?!
Milla should be fine now! We can leave!
All right, here we go!

Milla found herself alone, overlooking a strange place and a desperate battle.





Jude was standing alone against the Lord of Spirits, though his part of the story of course you already know.



Do you really think you have the strength to resist me?!
Remember why I chose to die!
Yes, I do. I know that I do.
What did you say?
This is impossible! You must… You must die!



Just who are you?!



Milla?!



And I believe that takes us up to where we were.
I barely even got to say anything!
Too bad. We’re done here.