Gate of Memoirs/Another Frontier

Giselle is on the precipice of a huge discovery, one that will change the balance of power in Grand Gaia.
Portrait 	Dialogue
Music: "Dead God's Law"	Music: "Dead God's Law"
 	
*The ground rumbles with every strike the immense creature rains upon you.
*Twin energies of light and darkness radiate out from this Revenant, a trait unseen in the others you've encountered.
*Revenant: GRROOAARRR...
*Ducking under its phantom claws, you watch closely for an opportunity to strike.
*It's almost as if the overwhelming elemental power was more than the sum of its constituents.
*Just like...
Portrait	Dialogue
 	
*Zeis: "What are you-"
*Zeis: "... ...!"
*Czorag: "Ye paid me t' help. This is it."
*Czorag: "With our combined attack we'll hit 'em like a fallin' meteor. Got it?"
Portrait	Dialogue
 	
*Just like how the demon Czorag was able to amplify Zeis's fire magic.
*This phenomenon must have come about as a result of the Inquiry's recent upheaval of the lowlands.
*The lab will have another interesting case on their hands.
*...But first, you have to make it out in one piece.
*Revenant: GROOOAARR!!!
Portrait 	Dialogue
 	
*It's a miracle you're alive, battered and bruised as you are.
*Any backups that braved its rampages to rescue you were floored by its mastery over the elements. 
*Partway through the long and drawn out battle, ichor began to leak from its damaged body.
*The other Revenants were masses of rock and stone, melding the synthetic base of a Guild's Guardian with the energies of Orebus.
*But once this one had been liberated from its solid prison,
*its lingering energies rose into vaguely humanoid forms that towered over you and the rest of the Inquiry's scouts.
*You were assailed by a cacophony of whispers and moans emanating from that incorporeal form.
*A great amount of magic was at work here—the same traces Giselle tasked you to find.
 	
*Giselle listens intently as you recount your harrowing experience.
*By the end of it, she is staring quietly at you in silence.
*Giselle: Were you able to recover anything from that?
 	
*You shake your head, emptying out your bag as you do—
*And a small, dichromatic shard falls right onto the desk.
Music: "Demon Slayers"	Music: "Demon Slayers"
 	
*Giselle: Ooh. Looks like someone decided to come home with you!
*Giselle: Clearly, we can't run this through with Noel because he'll just say it's a rock.
*Giselle: Which it is, obviously, but he will also tell you spirits and ghosts aren't real.
 	
*Giselle: Here's where I come in!
*Giselle: I've been practicing, so you don't need to worry about your soul getting dragged to an arbitrary fiery containment cell under the earth.
 	
*Giselle: ...Don't worry yourself about those specifics. Really.
*Giselle: All right then. Let's begin.
*Giselle: Put your hands on the crystal, and don't let go for the duration.
*Giselle: You can close your eyes if you want. Actually, I recommend it.
Portrait 	Dialogue
Music: "Thunder Wall"	Music: "Thunder Wall"
 	
*A vision comes into your mind.
*At first, you startle and snap your eyes open, fully expecting to see Giselle's probably nonplussed face.
*But you don't. The vision remains.
*It's as if you've entered some sort of lucid dream.
*?: So this is where the scoundrel went.
*You whip around, but find no source of the sound.
*It feels close—close enough to be reverberating in your own head.
*And then, you see your own hands brought up before you—only that they aren't *yours*.
*Your arms are lined with intricate tattoos, while your gloved hands pulse with a green, spiritlike fire.
*?: Heh. Czorag, you big, loveable giant. You've turned this place to dust.
*This lightly masculine voice is coming from...you.
*You feel yourself bend down and sift those hands through the ashes.
*Your fingers leave traces that react to the eerie flames, glowing faintly even as they slip through.
*?: I was surprised when both Czorag and Katerin's contracts came from this place...
*?: ...All the more reason to visit, I suppose.
*Your head turns, surveying the grey landscape before you.
*In the distance, remnants of the Orebus civil war jut out toward the heavens like daggers.
*?: By the way...
*?: Given the energies of this place, it's possible that I, too, have left traces of my own.
*?: So, whoever you are out there, listening to me at this moment—
*Hakuzo: This humble one's name is Hakuzo, of the Seventh Circle Fiends. A pleasure.
*Your own heart skips a beat. Was he always expecting someone to listen in?
*Hakuzo: No doubt you've taken an interest in this plane as well...
*Hakuzo: Especially the nature of the...contracts my colleagues have inked here.
*Hakuzo: I must say I was surprised how Katerin pulled off that resonance with her client.
*Hakuzo: I could feel that man's seething dislike of her.
*Hakuzo: But what's even more intriguing is...this.
*Hakuzo's hands run over the ash again, which still pulse with alien light.
*Hakuzo: I wonder, listener, what became of these? Sentience rarely lies dormant forever.
*Hakuzo: Perhaps you already know the answer...Heheheh.
*Hakuzo: ...Well, I should get going.
*Hakuzo: No prey lies in wait for their demise...
Portrait 	Dialogue
 	
*You jerk out of the "dream", and thankfully see Giselle and the rest of the Inquiry hall back in your vision.
 	
*Giselle: ?
 	
*Giselle: You look pretty bewildered. I was beginning to think you'd lost it.
 	
*You glance down at your hands and check yourself all over.
*Seeing it's your own body again, you heave a sigh of relief.
*Listening to those Battle Logs is a lot less taxing on your sanity.
Music: "Demon Slayers"	Music: "Demon Slayers"
 	
*Giselle: I was able to glean some information from the ritual, but it seems like you've gotten a lot more out of it than I have.
 	
*You relay the visions to her. This time, Giselle has a more concerned look.
 	
*Giselle: Well...Truthfully, I did think it would happen.
*Giselle: This shard is flooded with psychic energy. You know the voices you said you heard pouring out of the Revenant?
*Giselle: These memories tend to get "trapped" in physical objects. In this case, the Revenant's carapace.
 	
*Giselle: Think of the last Revenant you fought as one that has distilled enough of the dead to start channeling them.
*Giselle: About the ghostly thing that lived *inside* of the carapace, though...
 	
*Giselle: That Fiend you experienced the vision through was Hakuzo, right?
*Giselle: I'm concerned about his apparent confidence of the future—that is, our present.
*Giselle: He made a really good hypothesis about the nature of the Revenants.
 	
*Giselle: Did the 'bonds' between the demons and their clients cause a shift in the energies, or did they wake from long-forgotten dormancy?
*Giselle: Then again, with demons, it's hard to tell if they're just messing about.
 	
*Giselle: Oh well. At least I get to lord it over Noel that the "sentient rocks" are real!
 	
*Over the next few hours, you compare evidence of the Seventh Circle Fiends' activities against the brief vision you had.
*The "resonance" between the Fiends and their clients became a focus for the rest of your research.
*Before long, Giselle gathers up all the notes and draws up a diagram on paper.
 	
*Giselle: So...It seems that latent "bond" energies exist within individuals.
*Giselle: We know this to be true of Orebus, but it wouldn't be a stretch to assume that other eras and worlds may have had such a thing.
*Giselle: The only reason we've been able to pick up on this is due to the massive firepower that went into blowing up the superweapon.
*Giselle: It left behind those "traces" we were looking for—the ash Hakuzo was sifting through.
*Giselle scribbles furiously in her notebook, nodding at her own revelations.
*Giselle: Hmm...Okay, I think I understand.
*Giselle: Perhaps this little discovery of ours has gone by different names in other worlds...
*Giselle: Or perhaps it's laid dormant this whole time, simply waiting to be reclaimed. To be remembered.
 	
*You don't quite understand what she's getting at.
 	
*Giselle: How do I put it...? There's a sort of "collective unconsciousness" in the minds of humans.
*Giselle: These are "memories" and "concepts" that even people from extremely different cultures and races share.
*Giselle: Now that it has reclaimed a prominent place in the spotlight, it'd be a great idea to scour the archives once more, don't you think?
*Giselle: We might find individuals through time and space capable of such bonds...
*Giselle: Bonds that, if they willed it, would likely result in these incredible bursts of power.
 	
*Giselle: ...Can't say for sure if they invoked it only to blow things up, though. Hehe.
 	
*Giselle winks at you, and you place a thoughtful finger under your chin.
*...Haven't you made acquaintance with some of these people?
*Though the Inquiry has successfully unravelled the mystery of Orebus's civil war, you feel that there's so much more it has unlocked.
*Further revelations are certainly in your future...