Gate of Memoirs/Borrowed Time

On borrowed time we soldier on...
Portrait	Dialogue
 	
*How long have you been here?
*How long have you contemplated the path you took, convinced it was the only choice afforded to you?
*How long indeed the months, the years...and yet none of it dulled the pain, nor those final moments.
Portrait	Dialogue
 	
*Faces etched into your mind, sharp as day, yet blurred like droplets in thickest mist—
 	
*Could you have saved her...?
 	
*As you wander aimlessly, fragments of failing memories unfurl like smoke.
Portrait	Dialogue
 	
*The unchanging landscape conjures monoliths of mirages from the depths of your mind.
*Places you have never been to—in this life, at least.
*Places that remind you of battles lost and won, of fates averted...
*As you crest another hill of dust and peer into the gloom, a strange voice questions the air.
*You laugh sullenly. Hearing things, now. You have truly gone mad.
*But it continues. And after a while, jaded as you are, you begin to pay attention.
*The strands of sound seem strangely...familiar.
*Buried in the ashes of your memories, stirring into a small, hesitant flame.
*Before you realize it, you stagger towards it blindly, reaching out for something you only half remember...
*A chance to return and make things right...
Portrait 	Dialogue
Music: "Dark Pursuit"	Music: "Dark Pursuit"
 	
*—Elysia, Light of the Grand.
*The dimensional tear swelled rapidly in size, consuming Elaina's study with a calvacade of ghostly knights.
 	
*At their head rode a defiant knight, her Light-given purpose her most powerful bulwark against a nightmare made flesh.
 	
*The nightmare of a ceaseless, unending war—purpose lost in its abyssal depths.
*But something felt off. Was this truly the disturbance in the stars?
 	
*Elaina: (No... There's something else resonating.)
*Elaina: (Like a thread unspooling... Reaching forth, and...)
 	
*Elaina: Oh!
Portrait	Dialogue
 	
*Everything aligns in an instant, and the scene disperses like a scattering of thick mist.
Portrait	Dialogue
 	
*You find yourself in an oddly familiar room.
*Try as you might, you can't seem to conjure up the name of this particular space.
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Portrait 	Dialogue
Music: "Daydream"	Music: "Daydream"
 	
*???: It's...you...
*???: The hero from the Void.
 	
*???: I've been looking for so, so long...
*???: And at long last, you grant me an answer with your presence.
 	
*Something clicks. Yes, you recognize this woman...
 	
*This is...Elaina.The Time-Weaver of Elysia.
 	
*Though time no longer holds any meaning for you, you are nevertheless aware that this moment—like your sudden clarity—is a mercy.
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Portrait 	Dialogue
 	
*Elaina: The stars themselves have ordained your coming...but the specifics elude me.
*Elaina: I heard you call out, in that vast Void where no light could illuminate.
 	
*Elaina: And I knew... this meeting was meant to be. That you would find your way here.
*Elaina: In that accursed tower where I sought to change Princess Estia's terrible fate, the path of my eventual success was clear to me.
*Elaina: But you, my friend...I see only darkness in yours.
*Elaina: What happened?
 	
*You look away, grasping for the words.
*How do you explain a future undone by your own two hands?
*The Time-Weaver listens patiently to your breathless words. Even you're not sure if what you're saying makes any sense.
*Once you finish, a silence too still for your liking settles in the room.
 	
*Elaina: I...see.
*Elaina: You wish to...undo this, in a manner of speaking.
*Elaina: Because you feel there is no other recourse. That you have chosen poorly...
 	
*Elaina closes her eyes, and leans back in her seat.
 	
*Elaina: Listen, and listen well, .
*Elaina: I am no stranger to the tides of time.
*Elaina: Once I learned what I could manipulate, I set about testing the upper limits.
 	
*Elaina: There are some lines that shouldn't—and cannot—be crossed.
*Elaina: What you are asking for is no small feat.
 	
*Seeing the distraught look on your face, she raises a hand.
 	
*Elaina: ...But I did not say I wouldn't help.
*Elaina: I owe you my life, . As does all Elysia.
*Elaina: Without your intervention, I could have ended up a mindless servant of Gazia, or worse.
 	
*Elaina: It is only right that I return this favor...
*Elaina: ...More so, if I can play but one small part in safeguarding a better future for all.
 	
*Time is running out.
*Though you are but a shade, you can still lend your power to Elaina's channelling.
 	
*Elaina: This will be...more than a little dangerous, I expect.
*Elaina: But with the hero of the Void at my side, I've naught to fear.
*Elaina: Now, are you ready?
*You take a deep breath, and brace yourself.
*Sigils materialize before you, and soon, the study peels away piece by piece.
 	
*Elaina furrows her brow as time bends and warps around you both, concentrating on her ritual.
 	
*Whispers of memories shared and singular; recursive time folding back on itself.
*Just then, you notice the sands of Elaina's timepiece ceasing.
Music: "Dead God's Law"	Music: "Dead God's Law"
 	
*An interference of immense proportions sweeps over you, and the maddening beating of phantom, unseen wings fills your mind.
 	
*The shock on Elaina's face melts into pure horror...
Portrait	Dialogue
 	
*As you turn and gaze into an impossibly huge eye, framed by dissonant noise.