Gate of Memoirs/Another Place

Your escape from the destruction of the "other" Athensphere was only the beginning.
Portrait 	Dialogue
Music: "Roaring Soul"	Music: "Roaring Soul"
 	
*The Praetor falls to one knee, planting his brutish weapon heavily upon the ground.
*The great warrior would not be downed so easily, but this momentary lapse in his onslaught was all the time Azius needed.
 	
*Azius: Let's hope we don't crash into our second pillar of the day.
*With a grand gesture not unlike the counterpart you're far more familiar with, Azius brandishes a small device from his billowing cape.
 	
*It starts up a piercing whine that grows steadily louder as a shining rift begins to open right before your eyes.
*Azius: Tell your supreme leader I said hello.
*Not bothering to wait for the rage on the Praetor's face, Azius shoves you through the rift and jumps in after you.
Portrait 	Dialogue
Music: "Lone Strength"	Music: "Lone Strength"
 	
*The world tilts once more, but instead of darkness and space, it was rippling light and the sensation of...a gentle breeze.
*You catch yourself and look around. You're in a different part of the ruins.
 	
*Behind you, Azius struts through, cape billowing as a grin grows on his face.
*A momentary flash crosses your mind as you consider that grin.
*Arrogant, yes, but...not malicious.
*Azius: Ha! It worked! That was a pleasant surprise.
*Azius: Ingenious, no? Almost like magic!
*Azius: But no, it is science. It *works.*
 	
*Azius: Well, technically, this "blinker" was nothing more than a simple anchored particle transmitter communicating with a local beacon.
*Azius: Anything more than that and we would be disintegrating into base atoms and flung into the great expanse out there.
*Azius: I am possessed of a brilliant mind, but I am not so foolish as to meddle with forces I don't completely grasp. Yet.
 	
*You shake your head and consider the irony that you came FROM that expanse.
*Had Athensphere always been this way? Or are you in a reflection of another time that *could* have been?
*You barely had time to digest everything Azius had said, and now you're about to be embroiled in yet another conflict in Athensphere.
*You recall for a moment the myriad worlds you've been to. The countless wars and intrigues you've seen, and even participated in.
*Only now were you afforded an opportunity to experience the unravelling of a different fate in a familiar world first hand.
*And all this came to be at the whims of a single sliver of Void.
*A being you have only the faintest idea of, and a mere shell of a name to go by.
 	
*You find yourself ranting into space, and when you turn back around, Azius is sporting an odd look of mild concern.
*Azius: I'm...not quite certain how to begin addressing all that, but the least I can tell you is that I was the one who sent that signal.
*Azius: You said you came from some other world, no?
*Azius: And that you had already been to a...version of Athensphere that was different from this one?
*Azius: Two years ago, I left my city on self-imposed exile. I refused to turn our people into living machines for some sick sense of satisfaction.
*Azius: Not long after, I dabbled in portal technology.
*Azius: Besides being well-timed local escape routes, I knew there was something...out there. 
*Azius: Something to aid in my predicament, I hoped.
 	
*It strikes you that you might be to Azius, what Kranus—whatever that sliver of Void is—is to Gazia.
*You're not sure if you want to draw that sort of a similarity between the two of you.
 	
*Azius: Well. You were terribly late, but at least my hypothesis has been proven.
*Azius: That the Veil *can* be lifted and overcome. That I have unlocked its secrets.
 	
*Azius: ...I suppose you weren't able to help with what happened to Draegar, but that is no fault of your own.
 	
*You blink. Draegar?
 	
*Azius: Well, he's dead. It's a long story.
*Azius: Either way, once I get my lab back, I can get to untangling all these damned knots.
 	
*Azius: Oh, I had every intention of returning. What I said before? That was just to provoke that red giant.
*Azius: I really must be getting back to my work. 
*Azius: That Veil—that invisible blanket separating time itself—it's not going to remain impassable for much longer.
 	
*Azius: Your appearance has more than assured me that I should follow up with this.
 	
*A wave of nausea hits you. You've pieced together this exact sequence of events before.
*Gazia discovering the Void's powers. Distilling it. Creating Kranus. Destroying all of Athensphere.
*Regardless of how the cast changes, the same events will keep happening, as if predetermined.
*But can you trust in this version of Gazia? Is this another chance to make things right?
*Or is this a mockery set up by Kranus, who led you here in the first place?
Portrait	Dialogue
 	
*The world tilts around you again, and the last thing you see before you black out
 	
*is the look of shock on a distressingly familiar erstwhile enemy.
*< S̷l̷e̶e̵p̵ ̴w̶e̷l̴l̵.̵ >