First Tower (Normal)

Previous | Next

*The current state of affairs in Lumisade will at least somewhat return to normal once the Arcane Tower's defenses are neutralized. Of course, it's easier said than done...*

## Summary

Lord of Avillon and Lucilicca La'elaya work on stopping the curse on Laphlaes Selkena by telling him to share his burdens with others. Once the curse is broken, the protector of the Tower's Core Titan activates, causing the Avillon Knights to defeat it. "Lord" and Lucilicca tell Laphlaes that he can rely on others to help with his duty.

## Character List

### Major

* Laphlaes Selkena (Fire)
* Lucilicca La'elaya (Dark)
* Lord of Avillon

### Minor

* Fram Berge (Water)
* Mei Ling Qiao (Fire)
* Randall

## Content

Laphlaes: You…

Lucilicca: Laphlaes!

Laphlaes: What have you done to me?!

"Lord": We’re helping you break a curse.

Laphlaes: Hmph… As though a human could… Ngh… Wait… I don’t think that… do I?

Lucilicca: Laphlaes! Try to remember! You are the First Archmage of Lumisade! Remember the noble leader you were before, the leader who taught us to live in harmony with the world!

Laphlaes: Lucilicca… Ngh… Get… out of here… Lumisade is… elven land! It is no place for humans!

"Lord": We pushed too hard… The spell’s defense mechanism kicked in.

Lucilicca: Damn!

"Lord": No need to swear… Get ready for battle!

…

"Lord": First Archmage… Or should I say, Laphlaes Selkana.

Laphlaes: I don’t recall allowing you to call me by my name, human.

"Lord": What did you talk about with the human mage who visited your tower?

Laphlaes: Ach… How… do you know… …No matter. I have a responsibility to remove anything that threatens this land. I will protect our people! For the future of the elves!

Lucilicca: …

"Lord": …Now I see it. It was your anxiety that she exploited.

Laphlaes: What…?

"Lord": The pressure and responsibility you feel from day to day, and the anxiety you feel for your people’s future… She magnified it. And then she twisted the dignity you felt as an Elder Elf, and turned it into arrogance.

Laphlaes: What are you talking about…?

"Lord": It’s quite an insidious curse, a spell of the highest order. It may even be ancient… I suppose that’s not surprising. She would’ve needed something of that caliber to break into the mind of an Elder Elf…

Laphlaes: What in the world are you talking about? My mind is not broken! I’m not the kind who can have a weak mind!

Lucilicca: Laphlaes…!

…

Laphlaes: Ngh… No… My… responsibility… Must protect… this land… Can’t… be defeated…

Lucilicca: Laphlaes! Get ahold of yourself! There is not a single person in this land who would want you to put so much pressure on yourself, or to even lose yourself in pursuit of “responsibility”!

Laphlaes: What…?

Lucilicca: You’re our leader. You’ve made us all proud for hundreds of years. And we’re proud to be your people. No one wants you to sacrifice yourself. They never have. We’ve lived all this time seeking harmony, never placing blame on others.

Laphlaes: I… I…

Lucilicca: Don’t give in to the curse! Don’t give in to the thoughts someone else forced upon you, thoughts you don’t even believe!

Laphlaes: Lucilicca… My head… feels lighter…

Lucilicca: Laphlaes…

"Lord": Wait… I feel a wave of magic…

Lucilicca: Hm…?

Laphlaes: This is… Run! It’s the tower’s core…!

"Lord": What?!

Laphlaes: It’s Titan, a weapon of last resort designed around the tower’s core… It has awoken! You must escape!

Lucilicca: It’s too late…! Look out above!

Fram: What the…?! That thing’s huge!

Mei Ling: I feel an enormous concentration of arcane energy within it…!

Laphlaes: Titan was built in case a terrible catastrophe should threaten our nation, designed to use the core of the tower as its power source…! It seems that once the curse on my mind was broken, a spell on the core caused it to overload, sparking Titan’s wakening… Now that my mind is clear, I don’t even know what to say…

Lucilicca: Laphlaes…

Laphlaes: Instead of words, all I can offer is my life as a means of stopping Titan. I may not be able to deactivate it, but I can fend it off while you run!

Fram: Why do you keep tellin’ us to run?!

Laphlaes: Titan is made of the finest arcane technology, using the tower’s core as its energy source. Its power defies the imagination! All around us will be laid to waste…! This is my fault, and I will atone for it with my life! Hurry…

"Lord": We didn’t come here to run, we came here to help you. Knights, prepare for battle!

…

Fram: Hahaha! See that? We did it!

"Lord": Good work, knights. We won.

Laphlaes: Titan… You…

Lucilicca: You really did it…

"Lord": I noticed earlier that the curse had been engraved on the core. Now that the core’s been broken, the curse has been lifted. The people of Lumisade should return to normal.

Laphlaes: …

Lucilicca: Laphlaes, the nightmare is finally over.

Laphlaes: It seems it is. The fog has lifted from my eyes…

Lucilicca: …

Randall: Archmage! Are you unharmed?

Lucilicca: Commander Randall… Good, you’re safe.

Randall: I lost consciousness for a moment, but otherwise seem to be fine… Oh, these are the ones I…

"Lord": We’re old friends by this point, right? My name’s "Lord". I’m the ruler of Avillon.

Randall: I cannot begin to apologize for our previous encounter. I was overcome by an indescribable darkness, and… I am so sorry!

"Lord": I accept your apology.

Laphlaes: Monarch of Avillon, I do not know how to express my gratitude for all you’ve done.

"Lord": Do you understand how the darkness took place in your heart?

Laphlaes: Yes, and I feel ashamed. I led Lumisade down the wrong path…

Lucilicca: Laphlaes…

Laphlaes: A curse may have been placed on me, but you cannot plant a seed in barren soil. The darkness that grew within me had always been there in some form.

Lucilicca: Laphlaes.

Laphlaes: I should have never become an archmage. I broke beneath the wight of it, and cause so much damage…

Lucilicca: Laphlaes!

Laphlaes: Lucilicca…

Lucilicca: Do you not remember anything I said earlier? Why do you keep digging a hole for yourself?!

Laphlaes: I…

Lucilicca: You are not perfect, of course, but we all know you did your best!

Laphlaes: …

"Lord": Everyone has a weakness, or even many. That is normal. That said, there is one mistake you made that you should feel sorry for. You took upon yourself all the responsibility and pressure of your position as a leader. You didn’t let others share in your distress, your humanity.

Laphlaes: …

"Lord": As a leader myself, I understand. But the fact is, even a Monarch is just a single person. As people, we feel pain and often come up short.

Lucilicca: There’s a limit to how much each of us can take on my ourselves.

Laphlaes: I’ve been doing it wrong this whole time… Perhaps I should start trusting others to help with my burdens, no matter how late it may be. Lucilicca, will you help me?

Lucilicca: I’ve been waiting for so long to hear those words. Of course I will.

"Lord": I never thought I’d be giving advice to an Elder Elf hundreds of years older than me.

Laphlaes: And I would never have guesses I’d be saved by a human hundreds of years younger than me. Heh… Age is clearly not proof of wisdom.

"Lord": Now that the crisis is over, it’s time to start repairing and rebuilding. There’s much work to be done.

 Previous | Next