Ellin Forest/Story
Story (Post-Remaster)
Note: The Ellin Forest storyline was remastered under the KMS story team's new continuity in the KMS Spring 2022 Update (Fall 2022 for Non-KMS Servers).
The Crack in Time
A traveler was called to Helios Library by Wiz the Librarian, who explained that he had discovered a new book that chronicled the history of Ellin Forest. He told the traveler that a new sentence was glowing on the pages when he had opened it, and that it was describing how someone with the traveler's exact description had arrived in Ellin Forest centuries ago, which had prompted him to call them. He also explained that at the exact time when he had discovered the book, the Time Control Room in Ludibrium had broken down, with Karen the manager of the Time Control Room being unable to say why. He then told the traveler that a crack in time had opened, which led to Ellin Forest. When the traveler asked what sort of place Ellin Forest was, Wiz explained that it had existed centuries ago in a time period shortly after the Black Mage had been sealed, when towns like Henesys hadn't yet existed.[1]
Wiz then sent the traveler to meet with Karen, who refused to let them enter without good reason, claiming that it was too dangerous to venture inside the crack in time, which was an aberration that defied the fundamental laws of time. Hoping to convince her, the traveler obtained the copy of the Chronicles of Ellin Forest from Wiz and returned back to Karen.[2] The traveler presented the book and showed her that their presence in Ellin Forest had been recorded. Surprised, Karen allowed the traveler to enter, but warned them that they could not change established history, reminding them that the book described them as merely a visitor.
Helping Altaire Camp
The traveler entered the crack in time and arrived in Ellin Forest of the past, where they encountered Yuris.[3] Yuris greeted the traveler and asked them to find a fragment broken off from one of the large floating gemstones on the crashed airship. After the traveler gave her the fragment, Yuris asked them to let Perzen know that the airship was almost repaired.
The traveler entered Altaire Camp, where Perzen was shocked to see an outsider. He demanded to know how they had made it past his magic barrier, to which the traveler explained that they had come from the future.[4] Unconvinced by their story, Perzen led the traveler to Athena Pierce, who immediately vouched for them. She told Perzen that she was sure that the traveler was telling the truth because she had met people who had come from the future before.[5] Athena then asked the traveler to keep the fact that they had come from the future secret from the other refugees, explaining that it would only confuse them. She then asked why the traveler had come in the first place, to which they explained that they wanted to know more about Ellin Forest. Athena told the traveler that things were not going well between Victoria Island splitting off from Ossyria and the refugees being swamped with difficulties. She explained that when the Heroes had gone to fight the Black Mage, she had intended to lead the refugees to the southern plains of Victoria Island, but for an unknown reason, dragons had attacked their ship and forced them to crash land in Ellin Forest instead.
The traveler then remembered Yuris' instructions and told Athena and Perzen that repairs to the airship were nearly complete. Perzen realized that he would need to begin preparations to magically activate the floating gemstone on the ship and set off. Athena thanked the traveler for the information and explained that the refugees were trying to create a village in Ellin Forest, but the unusual hostility of Ephenia the Fairy Queen had been making it difficult. As a result, Altaire Camp was being guarded by non-combat personnel, while combat personnel explored the forest. As the only fighters at the camp were herself, Perzen, and Tess, Athena asked the traveler to help the refugees.
Meeting Lohd
The traveler met with Tess in order to ask him whether he needed any help.[6] As he was stuck on guard duty, Tess asked the traveler to find flowers for his mother, Yuris, who was about to soon give birth to his sister, Kyrin, as a present for her hard work. He also told the traveler to bring the flowers to Sion, who could wrap the flowers as a gift. After the traveler obtained the flowers, they brought them to Sion, who told the traveler that Crawls with Balrog had a fever and urgently needed medicine. Following Sion's instructions, the traveler sought out Lohd deep in the forest and brought back his medical kit. Upon returning, however, they were surprised when Sion happily told them that Crawls with Balrog had beaten the fever on his own. She added that Perzen had also foreseen that the child was fated to carry the future. As she didn't need the kit anymore, Sion asked the traveler to return it back to Lohd. The traveler returned to Lohd, who noted that Crawls with Balrog was quite special in his tenacity. He then explained that he was exploring the barren lands beyond Ellin Forest, as he was planning to make it a hideout for an order of thieves that he was hoping to train. He then told the traveler to seek him out if they were interested instead of boarding the airship once it was ready to launch.
After returning the medical kit to Lohd, the traveler returned to Sion, who asked them to collect Tree Trunk Rods in order to wrap them together with Tess' flowers. After the traveler helped Sion prepare the flowers, they gave the present to Tess, who thanked them and explained that his father, Destonen, had gone on a mission. As Tess began gushing about his father, he suddenly realized that his mother, Yuris, would catch a cold because of the rain. In order to help shield Yuris from the rain, the traveler obtained a large mushroom to use as a parasol and brought it to her. However, Yuris told the traveler that she was having pregnancy cravings and asked them to obtain fruit from a fairy named Ellin. When the traveler asked whether Ellin was the ruler of the forest, Yuris scoffed and told them that the forest was ruled by Ephenia. The traveler referred to the Chronicles of Ellin Forest, perplexed when they read that the forest was named after Ellin. Nevertheless, the traveler went to see Ellin, who gave them the fruit in exchange for eliminating the noisy fairies around her. The traveler brought the fruit to Yuris, who told them that her cravings had disappeared. Noticing the mushroom parasol, Yuris was touched that Tess was worrying over her, but added that the rain wouldn't stop, as it was being artificially generated by Perzen's magic in order to settle the large amount of dust that had been scattered into the air as a result of Victoria Island's separation from Ossyria.[7]
Defeating Ephenia
The traveler returned to camp and visited Perzen, who asked them to investigate a dark aura near the magic barrier by speaking with Destonen at the western border. The traveler headed west and met with Destonen, who told them that he was being blocked from investigating the nearby cave because of Chao and the other wild boars. The traveler defeated Chao and cleared a path for Destonen, who thanked them and asked what part of Ellin Forest they had been tasked with exploring. When the traveler told him that they weren't a field operative, Destonen came to believe that they were non-combat personnel and noted that it was a shame, claiming that they were quite strong. The traveler then asked him about the dark aura in the area, to which he told them that everything seemed to be normal in the western forest, though he had seen fairies being corrupted into monsters in the east. The traveler pointed out that all fairies were monsters, but Destonen countered that they knew little about fairies, explaining that most fairies were sentient and had personalities, just as humans did. He suspected that something was wrong with Ephenia and asked them to speak with Ellin, who had proven to be an ally to the people of Altaire Camp. The traveler went to see Ellin, who was annoyed to see them, as she believed that they had come for more trivial reasons. However, she paused when the traveler asked about Ephenia and noted that even the humans seemed to have realized that something was wrong with Ephenia. She then revealed that Ephenia had sided with the Black Mage. As the destiny of all fairy rulers was tied to that of their subjects, Ephenia's corruption had spread to the other fairies in the forest, even causing the trees to wither.
Ellin explained that she had been debating on whether to stay quiet, or to reveal the truth and become a traitor to her race. She told the traveler that she had ultimately decided to betray Ephenia and instructed them to let Athena Pierce know. As she knew that Athena would likely be in disbelief of a fellow fairy's corruption, Ellin gave them a letter that Ephenia had written to Guwaru as proof of Ephenia's actions. Though Athena was still hesitant, even after reading the letter, Perzen was adamant that Ephenia was a threat and asked the traveler to eliminate her. The traveler traveled into the heart of the forest and successfully killed Ephenia before returning back to camp. Athena thanked the traveler and explained that though she knew that she ought to have faced Ephenia herself, her judgement had been clouded. She told the traveler that because of Elluel's proximity to Ellin Forest, the elves and Ephenia once had close relationships. She then confessed that she had believed that the Heroes' battle with the Black Mage had ended the war, and so she had focused on settling Victoria Island instead of searching for the Heroes. However, she realized that she was wrong in thinking that the Black Mage's threat was over, lamenting that the trail was too thin for further investigation.
The traveler began to reassure her that her efforts wouldn't be in vain, as the town of Ellinia would be founded as a place where fairies and humans could live in harmony. However, Athena stopped the traveler, believing that it would be too dangerous to know the future. Perzen argued that learning the future would be an opportunity to plan better, adding that the traveler's arrival itself was auspicious. Athena countered that the future was determined by their choices, and thus, it had to be their own free will that carved the path ahead, noting that they now knew that they were already fated to build a great city like Ellinia without the traveler's insight. Perzen came to agree and decided to stop casting his artificial rain spell, as he knew that he would need to focus all his magic on the barrier in order to ward off the fairies that would inevitably come for revenge.
Destonen's Fate
After Perzen left, the traveler noted Athena's expression and asked if they could do anything else to help defend the camp. Athena reassured them that they had already done enough, adding that she was merely worried about whether not asking them about the future was truly the right decision. She then asked the traveler why they had come back to the past, if not to change it, to which they explained that they had been told that the past must not be changed, to which Athena decided not to press the issue. The traveler then wondered whether they had altered the past by killing Ephenia, and so they opened the Chronicles of Ellin Forest and read that a new line had been written that described how Ephenia had been killed by an unfamiliar traveler. The traveler also read that a pioneer of Altaire Camp would die shortly after Ephenia, causing them to conclude that it had to refer to Destonen.[8] The traveler asked Athena about who would most embody the world ‘pioneer', to which she agreed that it would refer to Destonen, who had once sailed in search of new continents before the rise of the Black Mage, and would pave the way for pirates in the future. The traveler then decided to go after Destonen and traveled through Chao's cave, which they had cleared for Destonen some time ago.
The traveler found Destonen about to enter Kirston's tent and warned him not to go inside, explaining that he would learn a dangerous truth and die if he did. The traveler then revealed that they had come from the future, which Destonen immediately believed, explaining that the deep, dark look in their eyes made him realize that they were telling the truth. He began to ask about his family in the future, but stopped when he saw the traveler's pained expression. He then began to tell the traveler about how he had first met Yuris in her self-made airship while he had been sailing the ocean. He explained that many people had believed that he had been looking for freedom on his long voyages, but added that what he had really wanted was something to come back to after the adventure was over. He also noted that despite many speaking ill of him for abandoning his wife and son in camp while exploring Victoria Island, he was hoping to create a better world for Yuris and his children. He then asked one question of the traveler, which was to know Kyrin's fate, as he would never be able to see her grow older since he was the only member of their family without elven ancestry. He was pleased when the traveler told him that Kyrin would live as freely as him on the open seas.
As a final favor, Destonen asked them to deliver a letter to Yuris, but when the traveler went to the airship, they found that the area was empty and a black ribbon had been tied to the mushroom parasol. They rushed back to Sion's tent, where they found a newborn Kyrin sleeping next to Crawls with Balrog. The traveler was shocked to realize that Yuris had already died from Kirston's poison spreading across the forest. Believing that their warning had averted Destonen's death, the traveler returned back to the present in order to verify that the blood curse hadn't transferred to Kyrin and Tess. Aboard the Nautilus, however, they discovered that nothing had changed, as Kyrin asked them whether they knew about a strange boy named Tess. Confused, the traveler returned to the past and told Athena the real reason why they had come to Ellin Forest. Athena revealed that in spite of their warning, Destonen had entered Kirston's tent and gotten cursed, with Tess leaving shortly after Destonen's death in order to find a way to lift the curse from himself and Kyrin. She also revealed that though she wasn't sure about whether the history was still the same, Ellin had become the new ruler of the forest. She added that she would also collaborate with Ellin in order to establish the town of Ellinia that the traveler had described.
Overwhelmed, the traveler realized that Karen the manager's warning about changing the past hadn't been a warning, but a fact, that humans were fundamentally incapable of changing the future, as everything in the past had been preordained. The traveler returned back to Wiz and told him that even though they had thought that they had changed fate by killing Ephenia, their actions were always meant to be. Wiz noted that he still had no idea why the Time Control Room had broken, but consoled the traveler by asking if there was anything that they had gotten from the experience. The traveler then realized that they had been unable to deliver Destonen's letter to Yuris, and so they instead decided to give it to Kyrin. The traveler gave the letter to Kyrin, who read Destonen's bittersweet apology to Yuris for not being able to return back alive, as well as his hopes and dreams for his family to be happy.
Story (Pre-Remaster)
The Crack in Time
A traveler heard a rumor from Spiegelmann that a Crack in Time had appeared in Ludibrium, allowing one to travel into the past, and so they decided to check it out. Traveling to the past via the Time Control Room in Helios Tower, the traveler emerged into an unfamiliar forest. Deeper in the forest, they discovered a camp full of strange people. They encountered a fairy named Yuris and asked her where they were. Yuris greeted the traveler as Kao and told them that Loha was looking for them. They went to the center of the camp, where Loha called out to them and asked them where they had been. She also warned them that Crawls with Balrog was going to starve if they didn't take their job seriously. Thoroughly confused, the traveler told her that they didn't know who Kao was. She told them to stop joking around and ordered them to work with Tess in order to get the materials Sion had asked for. The traveler went to find Tess, who told them that their joke about not knowing their own name was hilarious. He also asked them how they got the bruise on their face. The traveler decided to play along and asked what Sion wanted from them. Tess told them that Sion had asked for Moss Snail Shells. As he was on guard duty, he asked them to collect the shells and bring them to Loha. They brought the shells to Loha, who admonished them because she needed them to bring her something to make porridge for Crawls with Balrog.
She then told them that Athena Pierce was looking for them, and so the traveler went to the Camp Conference Room. Athena recognized them as Kao, but the traveler explained that they were from the future. She immediately understood and explained that it was clear that they were different. They asked Athena which time period they were in, as the forest seemed familiar to Ellinia. Athena was intrigued to learn the future name for Ellin Forest and explained that it had been several months since the Heroes had fought the Black Mage. Athena had led a group of refugees to Victoria Island, but they had crash landed in the forest from a dragon attack instead of the southern plains. However, she had heard from Perzen that the Heroes had successfully sealed the Black Mage away. The traveler tried to tell her what happened in the future, but Athena stopped them, explaining that knowing the future may change things for the worse. She told them that, at the moment, they needed strong warriors to help explore and develop Ellin Forest and asked if they would help. After agreeing to lend their support, Athena directed them to Perzen, who was working on a Barrier Stone. The traveler went to see Perzen, who learned from Athena Pierce that they had come from the future. The traveler asked them who Kao was, to which Perzen explained that Kao was one of the people who had ended up in Ellin Forest with them, and that the traveler looked identical to them. They asked where Kao currently was, and Perzen explained that Kao had disappeared shortly before the traveler arrived.
Perzen then told them that the Barrier Stone he was working on protected the camp from dark energy. However, the sheer volume of dark energy was causing the barrier to grow weaker, and so he was using the life force of monsters in order to reinforce it. He asked them to collect Forest Stones from the monsters so that he could strengthen the barrier. As the traveler set out, they ran into Yuris again, who told them that she was having cravings for sweet and sour food. She asked them to go speak with Ellin, a fairy who was one of the original inhabitants of the forest, and ask for some fresh fruit. The traveler went to meet Ellin, who told them that she would help them in exchange for Moss Snail Shells. After bringing her the shells, she gave them a sweet and sour orange to give to Yuris. The traveler brought it to Yuris, who suddenly realized that she wasn't feeling the cravings anymore, though she pocketed it for the future. She showed them the airship she was rebuilding and asked them for suggestions on its name. She hated all the suggestions that the traveler gave and decided that she would go with her original idea of ‘Kyrin'. She told them that she was planning to name her daughter Kyrin once she was born, but told them not to tell anyone she was pregnant. She also mentioned that Athena Pierce was looking for them in the Camp Conference Room.
Helping Altaire Camp
Upon arriving, Athena told them that it rained too much in the forest and wondered whether they ought to relocate to a place with better weather. She added that Ephenia worried her as well. The traveler asked who Ephenia was, to which Athena explained that she was the Fairy Queen, and that she wasn't on friendly terms with the people of Altaire Camp. She then changed the topic and said that the able-bodied warriors of the camp were searching for a new land for them to move to. She asked them to check on Shadrion in the south in order to get his assessment of the situation. On their way, Tess asked them to bring him Tree Trunks since he couldn't leave his post to get them himself. The traveler went to the south forest, where they encountered Shadrion. He told them that the south forest was endless, and that it would take years to cut down enough trees. He joked that alternatively, they could all live in treehouses. Before they left, he asked them to defeat the Tree Rods in the forest since Lohd wasn't around.
The traveler defeated the Tree Rods and collected Tree Trunks for Tess. They returned to camp and gave the trunks to Tess and gave Shadrion's report to Athena Pierce. Athena was worried about the lack of ability for them to expand and asked them to check on Lohd near Mushroom Hill. On their way, Loha asked them to go check with Sion if Crawls with Balrog had liked her Snail Porridge. They went to Sion, who told them that Crawls with Balrog had a high fever and asked the traveler to get medicine from Loha. Loha realized that there was no medicine left and asked them to check with Perzen. After explaining the situation, Perzen told them that it would be fine, as he had foreseen that Crawls with Balrog wasn't destined to die. As Crawls with Balrog had likely gotten poisoned from traces of poison in the snail shells, he explained that the poison could be neutralized with another poison and asked them to get Black Mushroom Spore from Mossy Mushrooms.
The traveler went to Mushroom Hill, where they met Lohd. He told them that the region had low hills and few trees, making it easy to build a town there. He then noted that the traveler hardly looked any stronger since the last time he had seen them and gave them a challenge to hunt the Mossy Mushrooms. As the traveler defeated them, they also collected the Black Mushroom Spores from the monsters. Lohd was impressed and reminded them that they needed to depend on their own strength. For instance, he respected Athena Pierce for what she had done, but they disagreed on many things. He explained that he couldn't follow someone blindly and emphasized the importance of remaining true to one's own convictions. He told them that he would report back to Athena himself so that they could focus on their own mission. The traveler then returned to Perzen and gave him the antidote ingredients. However, Perzen said that he would keep them for another time, as Crawls with Balrog had beaten his fever on his own. The traveler then went to check on Sion and Crawls with Balrog and saw that he had indeed become well on his own.
Sion then asked them to check on her soulmate, Rius, who had gone exploring in the western forest, explaining that she was worried since he hadn't contacted her in several days. The traveler sought out Rius, who told them that he had been caught up in his work of collecting Forest Stones for Perzen's barrier, but as he had grown curious about how they worked, he had forgotten to contact Sion. He asked the traveler to help him with his research by collecting Rubble from the Stone Bugs. After collecting the rubble, they gave it to Rius, who told them that he would return back to Altaire Camp and suggested that the traveler do the same.
Defeating Chao
Upon arriving back, Loha thanked them for collecting the antidote ingredients earlier and gave them a new task. She reminded them about Duru, who had been wounded by a boar, making him unable to do anything except managing the supplies. Though she hadn't fully believed him when he had first told her about the boar, many others had seen it since then, and so she had sent Kanderune to investigate the Boulder Mountain. She asked them to find out what Kanderune had learned, and so the traveler went to Boulder Mountain, where Kanderune told them that he had tracked a large animal near the caves in the area, but he first needed to figure out which one was its den. While he had the traveler there, he asked them to help clear out the boars that had been attacking the refugees. After clearing out a good number of them, Kanderune was impressed and told them that he would finish up. He added that while the traveler had been thinning out their numbers, he had found the den of the giant boar and asked them to defeat the wild boar, Chao, as well as the Violent Primitive Boars inside.
The traveler defeated Chao and brought its tusk back to Kanderune, who was highly impressed. He told them to return to camp and tell everyone that Chao had been defeated. He also gave them the tusk to show Loha as proof. After showing her the tusk, Loha was extremely pleased and gave them a heartfelt congratulations. She then told them that Yuris had been looking for them. Yuris complained to them that the humid weather was interfering with her machines, though she had managed to construct a communication device for Ellin so that she could ask her for more fruit directly. She asked them to ask Ellin which color the device should be, but upon asking her, Ellin told them that she had more important matters to deal with. She explained that even the traveler and the members of Altaire Camp would be affected by it and asked them to warn Athena Pierce that they were in danger. Not too long ago, she had sighted a minion of the Black Mage in the Fairy Forest and realized that it was likely the reason why the fairies had been acting strangely. She then found out that Ephenia had joined forces with the Black Mage, and that she was planning to contaminate Victoria Island with poison in order to eradicate all life.
Defeating Ephenia
The traveler rushed back to Altaire Camp and told Athena what Ellin had told them. Athena was shocked that Ephenia could agree to such a plan, as she was the queen of fairies. Though she acknowledged that fairies had little love for humans, she refused to believe that they had reason to join the Black Mage. She told them that, as a fellow fairy, she would need proof before she turned on Ephenia. Just then, Perzen arrived and convinced Athena that Ephenia was indeed a threat. He explained that his prophecy also matched the situation and told her that he would take a stand if she didn't. Perzen then asked the traveler to defeat the Ancient Fairies and Shining Fairies in order to stop them from spreading poison. After defeating them, Perzen asked them for a final favor to defeat Ephenia. The traveler went to the deepest part of the Fairy Forest and defeated Ephenia. They returned to Perzen with news of their success and also gave him all the Forest Stones they had collected during their missions. Athena Pierce then thanked them for all their help and hoped that their time in Ellin Forest had helped them with their journey.
References
- ↑ Explorers receive exclusive dialogue that has them realize that Tess's father had died around that time. They also wonder whether it would be possible to prevent Destonen's death. The Heroes also get some exclusive dialogue. Aran wonders whether she'll meet someone who might remember her there, while Evan wonders whether he'll meet another Onyx Dragon. The rest of the Heroes recall that Athena Pierce had intended to head to the southern plains of Victoria Island and wonder why there would be a forest there.
- ↑ Explorers receive exclusive dialogue that has Karen remind them that she won't let them travel to the past without good reason. The Explorer tells her that they have a quarter-elf friend who's suffering from a centuries-long curse, and that they want to prevent it from happening. However, Karen tells them that she still can't let them through, prompting the Explorer to show her the book.
- ↑ Most of the Heroes receive exclusive dialogue here. Aran, Mercedes, and Luminous introduce themselves by name. Evan calls himself a Dragon Master and Shade introduces himself as a friend of Freud. Phantom is the only one of the Heroes who calls himself a regular traveler. The appearances of time-travelers have been changed by the laws of time in order to prevent time paradoxes. In Luminous' case, Yuris points out that he has black hair, whereas the real Luminous has silver hair. In the case of Evan, Yuris also sees Mir as a lizard. When Yuris doesn't recognize Shade, he wonders whether people from the past have forgotten him as well.
- ↑ All the Heroes except for Evan introduce themselves by name, but they're surprised when Perzen doesn't recognize them. They all wonder whether they might have been erased from history, but note that Perzen clearly still remembers the existence of the Heroes themselves. In Evan's case, Perzen views Mir as a snake, whereas Yuris thought him to be a lizard. Evan also notes that he perceives Mir different from his regular dragon form, although it is unknown what Evan sees him as.
- ↑ Aran and Mercedes have exclusive dialogue, in which they reveal their identities. Despite not being able to see their real forms, Athena believes them. In the case of Aran, Athena notes that Aran looks different from the last time she had visited Ellin Forest while trying to recover the Seal Stone.
- ↑ Explorers receive exclusive dialogue in which they note that he looks exactly as he does in the present, which they find to be a warm welcome.
- ↑ Explorers haveivee an exclusive dialogue in which they recall that Yuris had died from poisoning, causing them to wonder whether Perzen's rain is toxic.
- ↑ Explorers receive exclusive dialogue saying that if they were able to change the past by killing Ephenia, then they might be able to prevent Destonen's death as well.