Pathways Through The Dark

"Pathways Through The Dark" is the twenty-fourth episode of Regolus: Dark Age. It is the ninth episode of Book 2: Courting the Divine. 
== Official Description ==
"With the battle against the Isskaren behind them, the Golden Sentinels face a new challenge: a parley with a member of the Court of the Star. As they continue their sojourn toward Stormgate, what truths lie hidden amongst the heavens or beneath the sands of the desert? While some drift aimlessly, others have found purpose. Can they unite, offering strength to navigate through the shadows of their own souls and forge a path forward for themselves and the world they seek to heal?”Pathways Through the Dark (YouTube).
== Plot ==
Note: You will find a Content Warning in one of the bullet points of Part 1. Please check it out and skip if need be. Take care of yourself.
=== Part 1 ===
* Surprised by the sudden arrival of Bathriel, Aelys immediately embraces him like she hasn’t seen him in a very long time - or at least that is what it feels like. He flinches before he puts an arm around her and whispers in her ear in elvhen what translates to ‘he comes in peace’. He wished he could see Aelys in better times, as she does not look well. Aelys asks if he has come to take her back. Bathriel wishes he could, but home is not a place she’d want to go. He will explain more but needs to know why the group is being pursued by a Dreadnought. Hearing that, Aelys turns to the rest of the Sentinels.
* Meanwhile, Synnove, with Valor behind her, turned to the unconscious but still breathing Hassrashok that Katari is currently tying up. Katari asks for help, as they can’t just let him go back.
* JB picks up a Karnak horn before he joins his friends on their vessel and asks Katari if there is a way they could contact the bigger ship to not come closer. Katari is unsure because that was not the field she was trained in, but Bathriel chimes in to say that they won’t stop until they have found their target and finish their goal. But he can take care of it for them after he tells them what they need to know. When the Hassrashok begins to wake up, Synnove knocks them out again, but at least they are stabilized now. 
* Bathriel cannot stay away from the Heart Tree for too long but he came here because he thinks some people in the group are Sigil Bearers. He then proceeds to open his tunic and reveals a carving that looks partially like the Sigil of Aeons, but with just the circle and the line in the middle, that  sparks erratic bits of green magic, and causes all of their sigils to gently flare. He tells them that he is not exactly one of them but that this is enough to open doors, like the ones of lighthouses. Bathriel was the one to open the two Lighthouses for the Court of the Star (Regret and Solace). He is a member of them and when the whereabouts and descriptions of the group were relayed to the Court, he made his way to the group. When they ask about Hareem, Bathriel responds that Hareem was sent to specifically require the Beacon of Longing that was outside of the purview of the Court. Bathriel is here to warn them that what they are doing, acquiring the rest of the Beacons to stop the Court of the Star, is the right thing to do. Karator, once the Ellgariis and now the Era’Harel, is attempting to save them and elevate the elvhenan, but in doing so he will doom them all: 
* “Thirteen years ago the Dreamscar began to destabilize. [...] The then Elgariis summoned us, his Court, and we delved into the Faded Real searching for answers. We pushed further than any of us, any Prime-born has ever been able to step, and we managed to steal a glance of the Tome of Origin itself.” He looks at Valor, curious about what he sees, before he continues. “The Tome of Origin, we stole a glance of the great vitrification, the sundering. We watched the creator unmake itself to create wonders, the progeny scattered like fragments of glass and celestial winds, this power, thoughtlessly cast away by the Divine, and then we were hurled through it all in reverse, pieces of creation reeling backwards in time, joining together with a force hitherto unknown by Mortals or gods alike. And it was that, watching the first Divine be remade, that the Tome gifted Karator his plan. He will attempt to reverse the ritual of the sundering, channeling the gathered progeny through us, through the Court, to stabilize the Dreamscar. And this vitrification must never come to pass. You must ensure it never comes to pass.” 
* Bathriel believes Karator will wager many elvhen lives as forfeit. Aelys asks if there is any other way to close the scar - there are, but it would kill all the elvhenan. Bathriel wants them to buy the elvhenan and the people on the Prime time. Era’Harel thinks that without the gods they have stagnated as people and he intends to stabilize the Scar and elevate the Court to a new Divine, a new Pantheon, by consuming the progeny. Bathriel could not stay behind him, not at the cost of using their people as a power source. And so he asks the group in front of him to get to the Beacons before he gets to them. He is the only one of the Court with the key but he can’t just leave them and run away because he is beholden to his people and his station as the Starseer. All he can do is warn the group, even if it happens behind the back of the Court. When they find out Bathriel talked to the group, they will try to deal with him, but he as leader of the Dirth’Enasalin (“Knowledge of Victory”), the Order of the Militant Arcane, is skilled enough and knows what he does. 
* Aelys wants to know what she has done, so Batriel tells her that all of the roots can never be used again. It is their understanding that they have been given new life, rotten though it may be. 
* When Valor asks a question about how to get to the Faded Realm, Batriel’s attention shifts to her again. He thinks she was the one with connections to the Divine that the Court was told about. The group tries to deny it - but Bathriel knows. Valor asks what he sees in her. “I see a hollowed  place, storms and air. And… all those raisins. How long have you been here?” And he did not ask Valor this question. “It is not safe for you to walk here. I thought you would still know this.” Valor responds that she goes where she pleases.
* Bathriel can’t just tell the Court that the group died in an attack because the court has ways to watch them and know where they go. It is like they get a relay from one of them in the group. The Stareater, or Xyhrixis/Cerebro, the Illithid member of the Court, was the one to come to them with knowledge about them and they are maintaining an informational relay with someone of their kin.  
* Aelys asks about her family, about her mother, who still stands by her Spirit Leader, and her siblings. Bathriel informs her that Maravix is not home and he assumed she was with her. She left after what had happened but he does not know if she returned to her monastery or where she went. 
* Aelys asks again for more information about what she did, so Bathriel tells her that she devoured a generation and disappeared into the Dreamscar. “It widened in your wake.” But she cannot let this burden her. “You have been burdened by your bloodline, by your family, and by the treasure they carry. It is yours to carry, but the weights of it will carry you. The Aelys we all know, the Aelys I am staring at, would never have acted in such a way without this burden. Do not let it use you.” Even though Era’Harel would be most pleased to see her return, she has to resist that temptation. Aelys doesn’t understand it; he was the one who taught her that what he’s trying to do is wrong. What Era'Harel intends now is just utilitarianism. He sees Aelys and her potential as the greatest tool he could ever use.  
* JB asks if Bathriel can help Aelys with the Xilyreon. Aelys doesn’t want that and says that its retributions are justified, as they made a vow and she can do this. Bathriel will not act in the will of another, and all his methods would perhaps leave her worse anyways. He can help and visit where he can but he has to try and maintain a balance and not upset the already dramatically unstable environment of Üthevhenan. The six beacons cannot be brought together in Era’Harel’s hands, and he will do everything he can to ensure they will not. The rest can see that Bathriel looks distressed, that he is willing to do anything he can to save the people he loves. 
* Before Bathriel ensures that the dreadnought will not follow them, Aelys gets what looks like a sending stone, a way to contact him in the future - all she has to do is meditate on it while she sleeps and it will bring her to a pocket dimension where they can communicate safely. 
* The conversation returns to the Faded Realm and how to get there. They could either carve their way there or use one of the doors that are all over the Prime but they are much better hidden. Valor should know about it. 
* When Valor looks at Bathriel his features are difficult to make out, it’s more like a silhouette of himself with edges that are vacuumed inward. 
* Before they continue their journey, Aelys and Bathriel say goodbye to each other. She thanks him and turns around, clearly emotional about this whole interaction, but Bathriel stops her and pulls her into a hug. In elvhen, he says: “Do not lose yourself, not to your treasure, and not to your comrades.”
* Valor breaks off a piece of obsidian from her hair and gives it to Bathriel. He thanks her and says that “it’s been years” before he drifts off the ground as flies towards the sandstorm. 
* The group gets away as quickly as they can before they hear Bathriel’s voice in the distance. “Fear the eternal arrow.” - with that, he blows up the entire dreadnought. 
* Back on the road, Aelys asks Katari to explain who the Hassrashok is to her. But as both tried to kill each other, it seems the contract between the two Isskari has been breached. She just took him with them on instinct. Synnove posits that they use this person to keep another entity from killing them and let Aelys consume him. Aelys makes sure that Katari is okay with letting him die like that. Katari, oathbound to the group now, agrees to it. 
* Part of the deal with the Xilyreon was that the being that will be consumed is awake and knows what will happen to them, and so they wake up the Hassrashok. While the others take a few steps back, Aelys steps forward. When the Hassrashok tries to hit Katari with his isskaren words and Aelys sees the muscles in Katari’s jaw tense up, she tells her to not listen to him before the “snackrifice” begins. The Hassrashok’s body buckles inwards and turns into an orb, the Xilyreon’s voice in her head telling her to go on. But Aelys decides to stop when she holds the orb in her hand, the tendrils of her tattoo already lashing at it. “I want to talk”, she says before she swallows the orb - and drops unconscious. 
* Synnove turns to Katari to let her know that there are worse things than dust, but Katari needs time and decides to drive through the night so the others can rest. JB carries Aelys to one of the benches so she can rest there and doesn’t have to lie on the ground in the middle of the raft.
* Before they go to sleep, they all check in on each other. JB asks Damien if he knows anything about a thing called Godsleep or Xilyreon. He only knows the translation of the latter. All he knows about Godsleep is that this is where gods go when they die, and some people think that is where they are now. Considering what Damien just saw, JB reveals what they know about Godsleep and the Xilyreon to him and that part of it is trapped in Aelys. That is what Damien bonded to her and that is what crawled up his arm during the tethering. Undoing it would be impossible. So they have to keep Aelys alive because if not, the Godsleep will be let out, and they can’t let that happen. When Damien asks why, they tell him that it has gotten pretty bad everytime it has gotten out, including when the train incident happened. The only idea Damien has to make the tethering undone would be to get Aelys up to the orcs and with the help of the Forge Master Sartor they could try to separate Aelys’ whole skeleton from her and put her in some kind of suit instead. If they end up in the North after Disterra, Damien can get them through the Arm of Aldwyn. It could kill her to try that, but at least they have that option. And when they have a beacon, Gold will be able to get them there faster. 
* JB sits down next to the still unconscious Aelys, near enough so he notices when she wakes up. As he begins to rest there, he catches a glimpse of a pale figure in the sand, mimicking his position, robed from the waist down and strange elongated features, that reminds him for only a split second of Purpose, before it is gone. 
* Synnove finds rest, drifting between sleep and consciousness, when she suddenly finds herself on comfortably cool, soft sand, the raft no longer in sight but instead a full moon above her head. She calls for Stella, when her eyes meet with a big creature standing on top of one of the dunes in the distance, a stag. It stands on four legs, bright silver fur, glitters a little bit and has these two brilliant almost bismuth geometric antlers shimmering in the moonlight. They both greet each other nonverbally, as a flash of light goes through the antlers, almost like a beckoning. Synnove starts walking towards them but it walks in the opposite direction. As Syn reaches the dune, she can look down to the creature that is now waiting in this open space in the middle of the sands, a circular clearing with seven standing stones around it and a little crescent symbol in the middle of the clearing. It tells Synnove to not be afraid and to step forward, calling her by her full name. Synnove, not afraid, steps into the clearing, when all the sand around is pushed away to reveal a simple silvery column of light that rises up from the clearing and perfectly links up to the full moon overhead. “You have shown benevolence and kindness, openness of spirit clashing with closeness of mind. You are welcomed by Twilight. What are you missing?” Synnove admits that she thinks she has lost a little bit of herself and her way, but she will find it again. The stag tells her that they are the Prince of Twilight, and they guide those who have lost their way. They step closer and shrink to a normal size before they bow their head in front of Synnove. Syn puts her hand on its snout, as she feels ripples through her arm before a coolness washes through it, leaving little twinkles of starlight around and through her fingers. The Stag officially introduces themself as Kraana, Prince of Twilight. Synnove asks if they can do magic and if so, if theirs is tainted. “All that I am is a gift from my Shepherd. Gifts are meant to be passed on. All that exists in this light”, they look towards the moonlight, “is growth, and change, and good.” Synnove says that is all she wants, and Kraana responds that this light wants her. They were once given a gift and they, as a Prince, would like to pass one on to Synnove. Syn touches the antler that Kraana reaches out to her. When Kraana asks if she is certain, Synnove just answers “I plan to be extraordinary.” With that, the piece of the antler that she was holding on to wends off, but the second Kraana lifts its head back up, a new antler is formed. The piece in Synnove’s hand hums, which resonates throughout her whole body like a vibrancy that has always been there. “Be extraordinary, Synnove. Let nothing eclipse you.” With these last words, Kraana rises into the air, circling the pillar of light up towards the Moon. Synnove wakes up. 
* (Content Warning: Gore and Cannibalism) As soon as Aelys eats the orb, she finds herself falling through the air and landing in the Xilyreon’s demi-plane, the throne of ice forming in front of her but the Xilyreon nowhere to be seen. Only its voice appears, telling her to speak. “I wanted to ask you a question. I’ve been thinking of little else beyond our conversation. You offered me a choice, you offered the path we walk on now or one where you claim my body as your own, consuming as you see fit. I do not doubt you have the power to do this.” She feels her consciousness being whipped around into a new pocket of the demi-plane, a sphere of jetblack darkness, the Xilyreon standing there with its arm outstretched. In front of it up in the air is the Hassrashok, completely flayed open, still screaming. The Xilyreon tells Aelys to be quick, as it is eating. Aelys asks why it hasn’t taken her body yet, but the Xilyreon says it is not time. Aelys thinks there is a better reason, one that it itself proposed. They are each others, forever. She asks if it wouldn’t be better and easier to not be a servant and master. Before she can say more, the Xilyreon stops her. “Do you know what I enjoy more than this? Watching you fear. Watching you question every move you make. Watching you wonder who you will harm.” Aelys offers it to see the fear of all of her 122 years of life. But the Xilyreon doesn’t care for that, it cares more for the harm they have yet to do. Feeding it with the Hassrashok is the kind of fear it wants, a being who wasn’t done yet, with still so much potential to eat. Aelys will try to find another one, but that is not the reason she came here. “I do intend to feed you. Right now I am making up for an agreement I failed to maintain. I hope to make new agreements in the future. Ones where I can choose the people who I deliver upon this fate, those who deserve it.” The Xilyreon asks why she should be able to choose. It had its agency taken by her blood. Aelys tries to apologize but the Xilyreon interferes - she will do their penance; and it will choose. The only deal it would offer is that Aelys only feeds it one more, one she cannot bear to lose. Aelys denies. What she seeks from their relationship is an alliance. When Aelys mentions Stella, or the phoenix, X is confused and doesn’t seem to know her under that name. The name it knows is “That which has happened and is yet to come, the unseen. It is a circle we must complete, for without it there is no food.” The Xilyreon wants Aelys to find a vessel. “Justice sleeps after striking. It is empty, it must be filled.” It repeats that the circle must be complete, and Aelys knows what it wants. It cannot devour the heavens if they do not come to pass. Aelys mentions possible new heavens, but that is not what it wants. “The old must happen as they have happened. The past has to be.” “So that you can lay them to rest?”, Aelys asks, but the Xilyreon ignores that; it wants to eat in peace. 
* Aelys leaves it with the reminder that she would like to know its pain whenever it wishes to share it with her, she is learning... “Then eat with me”, the Xilyreon interrupts her. And so Aelys steps forward. With a flick of its hand, a table appears, with pieces of the still alive Hassrashok on it - still screaming. In a display of good faith and a first compromise for what they have to be - friends - Aelys tries to use the evocation magic she used to have but is stopped by the Xilyreon, who holds an light orb of her magic in its hand, officially revealing it took her magic as restitution for lost efforts. Her blood values magic so much, and they pass the Xilyreon on, looking for this light, and now it is its. Aelys starts to eat, with hope and as a sign of good faith, so that the Xilyreon knows she means well for the them. While Aelys eats, X shares knowledge. “I was a regret, an afterthought. Fear, the gods know it. They made their Moon and I was made.” It was not their intend to cast it aside in that fear. “After all, what’s a while? That is all they had to wait - a while. And yet they resent, they choose to deny my nature. And then I am denied all of it. A god falls and I am not allowed to eat, kept at bay.” Aelys thinks that was not right, not fair. And so now they have each other, and can eat them all, the Xilyreon thinks. “They cast us aside like they cast the first aside, forgotten as the fundament, it must be back to them or nothing.” There is still much Aelys has to learn. X tells her to drink of the dark, “like it once did, until all is whole again.” Nothing else matters. “You matter”, Aelys says, “to me.” And not because it holds her like clay or because it is a burden to her, but because it is like her. “You were made for a purpose, accidental or not, and denied it.” She doesn’t fully understand it yet, not the deepness of its wounds or the lash of malice that made them. Before Aelys continues to eat, she has one more thing to say. “You spoke of your nature, and you spoke of mine some days ago. I now agree. It has always been my nature to destroy, long before you and I… were bound. I denied that, and I was wrong to. However, I am trying to find purpose. Purpose that you have found for yourself. I think we can help each other, but it should not be as opponents, but as allies. And if this is part of my compromise, I’d hope you’d see me differently than the rest of the inheritors.” She eats. 
* The Xilyreon tells her that purpose is not something you find, it is what you are. Aelys is not just her own selfs anymore but their self, as is the Xilyreon. It is both of them that guide them forward. The Xilyreon is willing to listen to what she has to propose. Aelys recognizes that any meal like this is a placeholder until X can eat the gods. But there are also those who oppose her. Her goal is to help her people, and it seems like some of the gods X needs to consume are against that. Until the Xilyreon feels vindicated for the vow she broke, and she will not put a limit on that because her payment is her payment, she intends to feed it and she will sit with it here - when it is people on the table she knows deserve it. This is a fate worse than death, and for those who have cast a similar fate to others, she will gladly sit here with X. She does not approve of the Hassrashok because she doesn't think he was one of them, but she understands that this was still recompense for her mistake. She has hold her regrets to tightly but she does not intend to do this anymore - “and you are not one of them.” Hearing these words, the Xilyreon dismisses the meal in front of them, destroying all the pieces of the Hassrashok, as the throne of ice forms in front of them again.
* “I want to taste the Prime. Our deal is amended, but not to your terms. Be a cartographer. Abelas made notes, I want a map of flavors. Everywhere you go, every place you tread, every new discovery of land you make, I want a sample. You may choose the platter.” If she cannot find someone suitable, it will take from Aelys. She agrees. The deal will persist until she finds the world wound. And then they will make new terms, a new agreement - a compromise. The Xilyreon does not mind how long it takes her to find it. “After all, what’s a while?” With that, a wall of darkness washes over Aelys. 
=== Part 2 ===
* While the rest of the party slept, Katari drove through the night, and Valor emerged from her rest earlier than the others. She noticed a thread of silvery-white light materialize and form into a glowing antler on Synnove’s hip. When she touched it, she saw a brief vision of a circular stone room with seven stone seats surrounding a stone table. The room was dark grey, with a large window covering half of the back wall, looking out onto an expanse of starlight.
* Valor climbed to the top of the mast, taking a moment to familiarize herself with her stronger body. She spoke to Væxtaar, saying she felt more whole but believed others would think she was broken. She stated that she was strong enough to persist despite the dangers ahead and reflected on how her new name resonated through her body. Her hand moved of its own accord, transforming into a black obsidian mirror. She gazed at her reflection and said, “You fixed the parts that were broken, but you didn’t erase them. You must be getting soft. But I know why you apologized. I didn’t understand this morning, but I’ve understood it as the minutes have gone by.” She alluded to knowing the sacrifices she had made to come back to life and promised to make Væxtaar proud.
* Væxtaar spoke through her mouth, saying, “You had better,” and commanded her to persist and prove that she was unending, calling her a tool. When she asked if he was there, she received no response. She remarked that she was faster, stronger, and more intimidating but had lost brain cells and no longer understood or remembered people as she once did.
* Her own voice responded, “Your speed, your strength, your power is all your own.” Then Væxtaar spoke again through her mouth, saying, “Your purpose is mine.”
* After Valor climbed down from the mast, Katari, still driving, asked her to check on Synnove, who was moving around the ship in the middle of the night. Valor found Synnove walking with her eyes rolled back in her head. The sigil on the back of Synnove’s right hand glowed bright green, with veins of green light running up her arm. On her forehead, a glowing symbol of an open eye with three pupils in the iris was projected. Synnove held the book The Annals of the Wheel, writing in it, tearing out a page, folding it, and tucking it into her pocket before continuing to write on the remaining pages.
* Valor attempted to read what Synnove was writing but was unable to decipher it. Curious, she placed her hands on Synnove’s shoulders, allowing her to keep writing and tearing out pages but not walk off the boat. Once Synnove finished, she tucked all the letters away, and the glowing eye and sigil faded. Synnove then slumped back to sleep. Valor used her cold hands to wake her. When Synnove stirred, Valor told her she had been sleepwalking again. Synnove mentioned she might need to tie herself down to prevent it from happening.
* Valor brought up the letters Synnove had written during her sleep. There were five in total: one addressed to JB, one to Synnove herself, one to Bubbles, one to Aelys, and one addressed to “My Friends.” Synnove had no memory of writing them. Though the handwriting appeared to be hers, described as feeling like someone else had guided her wrist as she wrote. Synnove speculated that the letters might be from Stella and that they should read them.
* Synnove shifted the conversation, voicing her concern that she might be going crazy. She told Valor that she keeps seeing people, is having strange dreams, and believed she had met a prince. Now, she was writing letters in her sleep. She wondered if Stella is so mad at her that she’s punishing her by making Synnove go crazy.
* Katari, overhearing, remarked that she just thought Synnove was nuts.
* Valor, however, offered comfort. She assured Synnove that many people would try to influence her and push her toward their own paths, but she didn’t believe this was punishment from Stella.
* Synnove shifted the conversation again, asking about what Bathriel had said regarding the Court of the Star’s plan to create a new pantheon at the expense of all the Elvhen. Valor confirmed that it seemed to be the case but admitted they weren’t entirely sure, joking that they were a little slower now.
* Synnove expressed concern that Valor might have hit her head. Valor explained that coming back had required sacrifices, that returning had cost her something. Synnove asked if she was okay and how she was feeling. Valor replied that it would take some getting used to, but it already felt a little easier than it had earlier in the day.
* Synnove then asked if Valor liked being this way or if she wished to return to how she was before. Valor said that going back wasn’t an option. Synnove pressed further, asking what Valor would do if it became an option or if Synnove could make it an option. Valor responded that this was how she was meant to be.
* Synnove assured Valor that she would always respect her choice but wanted to make sure it was truly hers and not anyone else’s choice. Valor reassured Synnove that she knew there would be consequences of coming back and had made the choice anyway. She acknowledged the benefits of her new form and added that it would be much harder for her to leave this plane now.
* As the sun rose, Aelys, JB, and Gold woke. Synnove informed them that she had letters for everyone. Meanwhile, Katari stopped the worms and the sand skiff, clearly exhausted and ready to rest. She asked for the worms to be fed and then confirmed with Aelys if feeding the Godsleep was complete and if respect had been shown. Aelys replied that it was finished but without respect. Katari sighed, saying, “Then to dust I go,” before crawling under the table to sleep. JB took on the task of feeding the worms.
* Synnove gathered the group and shared her growing concern that she might be going crazy as punishment from Stella. She presented the letters she had written in her sleep and asked if anyone recognized the symbols on them. Aelys identified the symbology as the sigil of Tanel’Inan, the House of the Third Eye, where Salvador was from.
* Synnove distributed the letters and then the group read the one addressed to “My Friends”.
* It reads:
 To my friends, I’m safe. I ended up befriending my captors… I guess I’m just that good. I just escaped from Port Baltan. Be cautious with the Coalition, particularly with the Pyrrin Family. I’m caught up with something right now with the Nevricīl, but I will work for the day where our paths can merge once again.
 Until then, trust in your own hearts above all. Your friend, SM.
P.S. Tell Hareem that I still expect to be inducted into the Copper Legion
* After hearing the letter, Aelys remarked, “Of course Sal would befriend the Nevricīl.” Synnove asked if that was a bad thing, but Aelys admitted she didn’t know anymore. Synnove speculated that the sigils allowed Salvador to speak through her.
* Aelys reiterated that she didn’t think Synnove was going crazy, but that they were no longer in a realm of sanity. Synnove then asked if anyone else had ever seen a cloaked person out of the corner of their eye. Damien asked if she meant “Madame Cloak.” Synnove explained when she had seen the cloaked figure and mentioned she had also seen Stella recently.
* Damien explained that it was a ghost story, saying, “I thought I was going nuts.” He described the cloaked figure as a wanderer, an old spirit that had been around for centuries. Damien used to think it was a spirit of curiosity, sometimes helpful, sometimes cheeky. He recalled stories of the spirit leading Nevricīl through the woods with some Sylvans, appearing during the formation of a city on some islands off the western coast.
* Synnove said maybe her brain was playing tricks on her. Damien challenged her to think broader. Valor then asked how Synnove got the antler at her hip. Synnove pulled out the antler and realized it was the same one from her dream. She explained that she had dreamed of a strange horse who gave her one of its horns and said it was a prince.
* Aelys asked if the horse had one horn or two. Synnove described the horse as having two jeweled horns. JB asked if it was a cantaloupe. Damien responded, “That’s a melon, mate.” Aelys clarified that a cantaloupe is a fruit. JB asked if it still had antlers, and Aelys said it was an elk. Valor clarified that JB meant an antelope.
* Damien asked where JB was from, and JB said he was from the north, where he had seen deer and knew Synnove wasn’t talking about a horse. Aelys drew a picture that looked like an attempt at an elk. The group then heard wheels squeaking and a familiar voice of Halifax whisper, “It was a fucking elk,” before it faded away.
* Synnove asked Aelys if she knew the prince, stating their name out loud for the first time. This stopped Damien and Aelys in their tracks. Synnove explained everything that happened in her dream and asked if they were part of Üthevhenan, wondering if there were other animals that could be royalty. Aelys explained that Kraana, the stag, was a god. Damien added that Kraana was a very old god, “like a 20,000-year-old myth”.
* Synnove got scared and dropped the antler, which hovered in front of her in the air. JB and Aelys tried to reassure her that she wasn’t insane, though Synnove didn’t believe them. Valor told Synnove that it was real and she wasn’t going crazy. Aelys said that Kraana seemed to trust Synnove, adding, “If what they say holds weight, Kraana feels you’ve been led down a path unbecoming of your kindness.”
* Damien said the stories about the Twilight Prince showed them as one of the gentler figures in all of mythology, someone who took your hand and led you across the veil so that death wasn’t something to fear. He told Synnove that the fact the Prince had come to her meant, “Not only are things changing and opening, but they see something in you worth being kind to.”
* Synnove said she wished she could feel that way but that it felt like she was exactly what Stella had told her—that she wasn’t strong enough for Stella.
* Damien asked who Stella was. Synnove responded that she was God, the only one that mattered, the only one still present. Damien asked what she knew about them.
* Synnove explained that, once upon a time, the gods were benevolent, magic kept people alive forever, and wild things were created for wild spaces. Then the gods started fighting and became covetous of things that weren’t theirs. Eventually, they left, leaving magic tainted, which caused things like blood plagues.
* Damien challenged the logic of this story, and Synnove ran out of answers to reinforce that magic was tainted. Aelys asked where Synnove had learned this, and Synnove replied that it was from their home, gesturing to Valor.
* JB asked Valor if she believed this. Valor said no, adding that it’s the reason she was kicked out.
* Damien asked Synnove why she left. Synnove explained that her people wanted to reeducate her. They believed she was tainted because she could do magic, but she knew she wasn’t because it was “God’s magic.”
* Damien said that what Synnove did on the field yesterday didn’t feel tainted and helped a lot of people. Valor asked Synnove what it felt like when she touched the antler.
* Synnove answered, “When I had God’s magic running through me, I felt like I could finally open my eyes and see every color and then some in the rainbow. It felt like I was always riding this beautiful high and then that left. And then on the field, I wasn’t thinking, I just— it was like instinct— and I just acted and was trying to force Stella to just work with me again. And that magic didn’t feel like that. It felt sleepier, if that makes sense. Like when you step inside somewhere warm after being cold. And this... this is different too, but also not. This feels like— I don’t know— moonlight?”
* Synnove said she was struggling, that she had thought for so long that she was chosen by god and given magic that wasn’t tainted. Becoming emotional, she asked, “If magic wasn’t tainted, what else is wrong? What else was wrong?”
* JB said there was a lot wrong with the world and that it made sense a god would want to help, but they also had their own agendas and wants. He advised that the gods can get lost just like people do.
* Damien told Synnove that he used to think he was broken because of what magic had done to him, gesturing to his arm. He said he had blamed many things for it but shared his perspective: “Magic is only as good as the person wielding it. And the gods never made it to begin with. So if you’ve done good with any magic you’ve ever had, that wasn’t because of whoever. No book. No Stella. No nothing. That was because you made it that way. I choose to try and make good with the hand that I was dealt. You don’t just get to do that. Looks to me like you get to choose what hand you get to play to begin with.”
* Valor told Synnove she was special on her own. Synnove agreed but said she had always thought it was in part because God chose her to be the next prophet. She added that perhaps that was “small thinking.”
* Valor asked Synnove if she still wanted to be the Prophet. Synnove replied that she would be a better prophet than the one they currently had.
* Damien said he believed Synnove “chose to be chose,” explaining that whoever Stella was couldn’t ignore her, just as he couldn’t ignore her. He urged Synnove to stop ignoring herself as well.
* The conversation ended with Synnove acknowledging that perhaps she wasn’t crazy and maybe magic wasn’t tainted, though she added, “The jury is still out on that one.” She then reflected that her problem wasn’t a lack of belief in herself or in those around her, but perhaps that she hadn’t been truly looking. She admitted that her faith had been blind and that she was still very confused by the entire conversation.
* Katari woke abruptly and went to check Synnove’s progress on the mast. She found that Synnove had only managed to make 23 of the 100 gashes she was supposed to complete before sunrise. Synnove countered that she might have been hitting the same spot repeatedly. Katari demonstrated how to do it properly, and the two exchanged barbs. Katari remarked that perhaps she had misjudged Synnove and that 100 gashes might have been too much for her. Synnove retorted, suggesting the number be raised. Katari amended the requirement to 150 by noon.
* Synnove thanked the group. Aelys reminded her that her magic was her own and expressed happiness that Synnove was starting to see that. She also offered to help with the gashes if needed. Synnove commented that she used to think Damien was cool and mysterious, someone who flirted with Aelys and seemed very knowledgeable, but now saw him as charmingly goofy and liked that about him. Damien released Valor’s hand and returned to his “forge.”
* Synnove headed to the mast to continue her work. Valor told her she was proud of her for being open to choice before leaving her to it. While working, Synnove accidentally called Valor “Lenore,” causing Valor to lose 10 from her hit point maximum. Synnove apologized, saying she needed to rewire her brain and stop being so distracted. She told Valor it wasn’t her responsibility to make her feel better for messing up. Saying she just needed a moment to rewire her brain.”
* Aelys informed the group that progress had been made with the Xilyreon, though perhaps not in a good way. She took a sip of her coffee, which tasted horrible to her but normal to everyone else. Aelys then relayed the events with the Xilyreon, sparing the worst details since Katari was nearby. She concluded that there might be common ground to find with the Xilyreon, saying, “There has to be some compromise.” She shared her plan: she wouldn’t have to feed every day, but whenever they arrived at a new place, she would feed. She hoped to find people deserving of such a fate. Aelys added that she didn’t expect help with this task but, despite feeling uneasy, felt somewhat confident.
* Synnove made a crude joke about how she always knew Isskari tasted good, winking at Katari. Valor asked if that was what would have happened to her if JB hadn’t stopped Aelys. The answer was yes.
* JB approached Damien to ask for help with his shield. Aelys asked if her skeleton could be upgraded, and Valor inquired if she could have something as well. Damien said that everyone was overdue for a tune-up but warned Aelys that the more upgrades she made to her skeleton, the harder it would be to separate herself from the Xilyreon. Aelys reaffirmed that she had no intention of separating herself from it.
* As the Golden Sentinels prepared for their upgrades on the road, the camera panned up and away.
== Characters ==
=== Player Characters ===
* Aelys Sa’Viraan
* Theagus (portrayed by Will)
* Jean-Baptiste
* Katari
* Lenore
* Salvador (indirect)
* Synnove Oleander
=== NPCs ===
* Bathriel, Starseer
* Hassrashok
* Damien
* Xilyreon
* Gold
* Kraana
* Væxtaar
* Halifax
===Mentioned===
*Hareem Lord Hareem
* Karator / Era’Harel
* Xyhrixis/Cerebro, Stareater
* Iridia
* Alara
* Maravix
* Garavellir
* Sartor
* Ystävä (the Shepherd) 
* Stella
* Abelas
* Pyrrin Family
== Locations and Organizations ==
=== Locations ===
* Lifeless Sea
* Üthevhenan (Heart of God) (mentioned)
** Dreamscar
* Port Baltan (mentioned)
* The Faded Realm (mentioned)
=== Organizations ===
* Court of the Star
* Dirth’Enasalin (“Knowledge of Victory”)
* Coalition of Greater Order
** Vanguard
* Nevricīl
* The Copper Legion
== Tarot Card and RP Warmup ==
The tarot card for the episode was The Popess, drawn by Rachel.
The roleplay warmup question was: "What is the most expensive and most unnecessary thing your character has purchased so far in their life?"
== References ==