Gate of Memoirs/Crossing a Line

Having lost sight of the Queen's whereabouts, your band of misfits seeks a way out of this predicament in their own way.
Portrait	Dialogue
 	
*There has to be a way in.—Studious note
Portrait 	Dialogue
Music: "A God"	Music: "A God"
 	
*An unknowable being trapped in a metal husk;
 	
*A human ascended through the call of pure, blind faith;
 	
*And your cheerfully enigmatic friend and ally from the lab.
 	
*Had the situation not been half as grave, you might have found yourself chuckling at the absurdity of it all.
*It all seemed so long ago now—when you were sharing your latest findings with Noel over his neverending pot of bitter brew,
*or turning in mission reports to Elise or any number of administration staff present at the Summoners' Hall.
 	
*Giselle: Well, I wasn't expecting flowers and sunshine, but this isn't really my idea of a good reunion, either.
*Giselle: Are you all right, ?
 	
*You give a wry laugh. Always with the rhetorical questions. Was it rhetorical?
 	
*Giselle: ...Well enough to joke around, I suppose.
*Giselle: So, tell me everything.
 	
*Given all the things that have happened in so short a timeframe, Giselle's comically shocked look seems apt.
 	
*Giselle: ...Hakuzo's vanished, and that friend of his—Suizen—was disintegrated by Hypaea along with whatever remained of their old world.
*Giselle: (That's oddly familiar...)
 	
*Giselle: Oh! It's nothing. Just muttering to myself.
 	
*On the far edge Kranus loomed, a stifling presence that seemed too encompassing for even so vast an empty space.
*Its featureless hood focused on Kyria, whose slumped shoulders and downcast eyes bespoke a woman broken.
*Kranus: You...seem familiar, and yet not at all. 
*Kranus: Not like the other Slivers; neither the Eternal Light, nor the Mantle of Order.
 	
*Kyria: What more do you want of me...?
 	
*Kyria: What...do I do now?
 	
*Only human, yet with such greatness foisted upon her mortal shoulders.
*Your empathy doesn't go unnoticed, but Kyria still regards you with a sorrowful look.
 	
*Kranus: A Sliver is of no further use without a purpose to go on.
*Kranus: Unsevered ties to a home no longer recognizable. Truly tragic.
 	
*Kranus turns to leave, but finds Giselle standing before it.
 	
*Giselle: Wait. Where are you going?
 	
*Kranus: To stop the Queen. What else?
 	
*Giselle: You don't mean to scour this endless space for her! Where will you even start?
 	
*Kranus: Recall the Queen's final words, Hound.
 	
*Giselle: DON'T call me that!
*Giselle crosses her arms angrily, glaring up at the Sliver.
 	
*Giselle: "A destruction wrought by our own hands"...
*Giselle: And we will not know it. Does it mean we do not see the consequences?
 	
*Or you don't live to see it, which is quite possible.
*Time is most definitely not on your side.
 	
*Giselle: There has to be a way to prevent that. 
*Giselle: We already know that there is a Veil, which prevents passage between the two known timelines...
*Giselle: ...And that save for this enigma in a metal suit who tears rifts in space as it pleases, the best we can achieve is mere observation.
 	
*Indeed. All that you've experienced so far thanks to the tireless efforts of Noel and the lab were mere observational forays.
*But there was still one—a jaunt to another Echo in the flesh, facilitated by none other than...
*Both you and Giselle look up at Kranus at the same time.
 	
*Kranus: Athensphere was my first...home, if you can call it that. 
*Kranus: The first place I came to know.
*Kranus: The shattering of the Prime was an unintended consequence of whatever befell my creator.
*Kranus: ...But it still left the matter of my...purpose.
*Kranus: With my newfound freedom came an unknowable yearning for...something.
 	
*The Sliver suddenly goes silent, as if unaccustomed to speaking at such length.
*You ask if it saved the Echo of Athensphere for that reason.
 	
*Kranus: ...Saved? You misunderstand.
*Kranus: I only desired to prevent another such destruction. It would have spelled another victory for the Queen, surely.
 	
*Kranus: That is all I have to say on the matter.
*Kranus: If you understand this at all, ...you too would do what is needed.
 	
*Giselle: Aaand we are left with more questions than before.
*Giselle: At any rate, I think heading into the Veil is our best bet, now.
 	
*Giselle: To cut a long story short, the Veil isn't just a curtain. Noel figured out something has to go *somewhere*, like a pocket dimension.
*Giselle: ...Or something like that. The jargon eludes me. But!
*Giselle: Now that the Queen isn't here, I doubt she can really interfere, leaving us free to traverse the space as we see fit.
*Giselle: All it takes is a bit of probing and know-how...
 	
*Giselle: And maybe we'll find a way forward. I hope.
*Giselle: Just hang tight, I'm doing my best.
 	
*You decide not to disturb Giselle for the moment despite having an avalanche of questions, and head over to Kyria.
 	
*Kyria: So this ends as a nightmare.
*Kyria: I don't know where I am. ...I don't know who I am.
*Kyria: ...Was the Hunt just a dream? Were the phantoms of my brothers just a long, terrible fantasy?
 	
*You squeeze her shoulder gently, and thankfully she does not shrink from the contact.
*The best you can hope for is a small sense of respite until Giselle finds a way through.
*Something flashes, accompanied by a loud yelp.
 	
*Kyria draws her weapon just as you do; at the very least, the cavalier still possessed a sense of self-preservation.
 	
*Giselle: Uh, ?
*Giselle: We've got a little, um, situation here.