Gate of Memoirs/The End of Silence

Your path is paved with conflict. Your fight continues, and with it, a fearful hope.
Portrait 	Dialogue
Music: "Hope, Despair"	Music: "Hope, Despair"
 	
*You break through the Queen's magics, and your weapon finds its mark again and again.
 	
*Yet for all her wounds, it almost feels as if the Queen was wholly inhuman—inexplicable.
 	
*No living creature could bleed black ichor that dissolves into dust.
*And there was that unnameable *something* bubbling within your gut—a primordial fear beyond that of life and death...
*Each alien eye on her emerald cloak swivels in consternation as they track your every movement.
*Their gazes hollow, empty, *unknowable*—as if staring too long at them might cause your soul to wither in the abyss...
 	
*Kranus: Focus, !
*Kranus: Do not falter!
 	
*As you press your weapon against the Queen's throat, she gives a disconcerting smirk.
*S'eljah: What did you hope to achieve, ?
*S'eljah: Know that I cannot die.
*S'eljah: It is meaningless to even consider.
*S'eljah: You are truly a fool... Perhaps that is why you never learn.
*S'eljah: Ah, but it is preferable than if you had known what you could really do...
 	
*You draw back, and narrow your eyes.
*As much as you hate to admit it, the Queen has a point.
*Can an eternal being of silence truly "die"?
*A terrible pulse shakes the space, and you whip around to see Kranus before a rift.
 	
*Kranus: Enough, witch. You talk too much!
*Kranus: This ends here.
 	
*A loud crash, followed by a shatter, sends you reeling.
 	
*There, rushing out of broken time, was the frenzied visage of Ascha—
 	
*Whose wicked claws and teeth tear right into the Queen.
 	
*Ascha: ...?!
*Ascha: !!!
Portrait 	Dialogue
 	
*In the midst of this chaos, you catch the Devourer's look of abject shock.
*Your own voice is lost in the dissolving light.
*Instead of a violent explosion, the entire plane melts around you, like sand in an hourglass.
*You feel your body drift out to space, and your mind with it...
*...
*... ...
 	
*Kranus: .
Music: "A God"	Music: "A God"
 	
*You sit up, and your vision returns.
*All that registers in your ears is the silent smoldering of still-hot embers.
*Gashed into the fabric of space, was a shining rift right where Ascha had been.
 	
*Kranus: ...It was a risky gambit releasing her bonds.
*Kranus: I could not be certain if she would turn on me in that instant...
*Kranus: ...But she turned her ravenous glare toward the rift and took her kill.
*It is then when you realize, with mounting horror, that the Queen has been obliterated.
*The Queen is...dead.
*Even that which cannot die has been slain.
*Collapsed into nothingness, devoured by the Devourer—the act of which appeared to have shattered Ascha's existence as well.
*Perhaps a fitting end, for why else would the Queen have wrought that wretched being into existence other than to destroy her nemesis?
*The weight of the revelation hangs heavy in your heart.
*Your memories, your experiences—they are yours again. And from now, you will no longer forget.
*Though you are freed from the Queen's machinations, and unchained at last from past lives you don't even remember...
*...What had Kranus sought to achieve?
*Have you found your answers, after all?
*There is so much you do not know. 
*There is so much you fear, for now that there was no yawning void at the end of existence, what comes next?
 	
*Kranus: I understand you have many questions, , but for now... You need rest.
*Kranus: Let us not mourn the passing of Giselle, and instead forge a path forward so that her sacrifice was not in vain.
 	
*Kranus: A new dawn awaits us, and we must ensure the Queen left no traces behind.
*Kranus: Come. We celebrate the rise of a new era...
 	
*You look away. Its words rang oddly hollow in your ears.
 	
*Giselle—she's gone, now. Her existence was undoubtedly tied to the Queen.
*The loss of one of your most faithful allies drives a stake into your heart—
 	
*And by your hand, no less.
*Would Noel uncover the Queen's true nature with Kranus's aid? Would the great space beyond yield its secrets so easily?
*Would Grand Gaia someday succumb to hubris, like Gazia once did?
*Only now, should any world fall to itself...would they be locked in an endless cycle of rebirth and suffering?
Portrait	Dialogue
 	
*You barely notice Kranus's gaze on you as you shuffle away, ruminating on your actions.
*Can you make peace with your decision?
*And if regret threatens to consume you...is there anyone out there who can change the hand of fate?
*For now, you look out into the vast Void...
*...and all that greets you is a silent, roiling roar.