Mysterious

I don't like a snow dungeon!

The Highlands have us descending a mountain. We can walk on certain frozen rivers, but the biggest gimmick is the snowball pushing puzzle. There are a handful Cray can push to create a bridge we can pass over. I had no idea how to reach the chest just before the exit. I didn't enjoy this place because of the mobs. The tanky birds attack in groups of three, and it's time consuming to kill them. And why does my team feel so fragile?!

The Village of Chek is to the south. It's inhabited by children. There is one adult, an old woman in charge, and she's the Abess. She recognizes Ryu as the Yorae Dragon immediately, even though she's blind. Sorta. She can't see physical objects, but she can sense auras. She also understands how everyone's aura is unique and how they interact with everyone around them. And the Endless have auras so powerful they suck the whole world into them.

The Abess reminds us that the Endless are summoned to this planet by humans. She goes on to answer my question from last night and admits it is this village that has summoned the dragons. Only a certain few people can summon, and most of them are in Chek. The Chekians brought forth the Endless to keep their powers away from those who would abuse them. But she'll tell us what the Wind Dragon wanted us to hear tomorrow.

Ryu wakes up alone and walks outside. It's a bit pink out here, and only the Abess is here. She cast a spell to put everyone to sleep. I don't remember why... Regardless, Ershin is still awake. Abess senses a light aura from the armor, but it's definitely that of an Endless. Ershin is a sealed Endless.

The actual next morning has us finding Cray and Nina outside. Cray is talking about giving the Empire Ryu in order to get Elina back. But Nina, hopefully, talks him out of it. Abess next to Ershin, and Scias watches on. She wants us to venture into Ershin's mind to free our fellow god from her imprisonment. A strange black hole appears, and we're sucked in. The path to Ershin is straightforward and only involves a few jumps. After you control the mountain, taking the second bottom path, we wrap around and see a woman sealed in a pyramid. She asks us to break the pillars, and a hard boss fight begins.

We're against four elemental pillars. Magic is questionable, so I went with physical attacks. I also worked backwards, and I think that was wise. The red pillar seemed to have more HP than the other three and was the only one Ryu, Scias, and Cray couldn't take out in one or so rounds. Cray seems very vulnerable to magic, though, and he's painfully slow. I assume there's a good strategy with Nina out there somewhere.

The real Ershin is freed, but there's another complication. She has no body. She'll ask us to find a medium in town, so we go back. The Abess calls forth the best in the village and begins to perform a spell. Ershin will now live inside this poor girl. Ershin's armor opens up, and a black shadow emanates from it. With a loud roar, it goes into poor Rhem. She's now a totally different person! Armored Ershin was eccentric, but child Ershin is kinda rude. Abess asks her some questions, but our fellow god demands food first. The village obliges, and we skip forward. A bloated Ershin is done eating and is grateful for the tribute. Finally answering questions, she reveals the Empire has developed a new type of summoning. But it kinda sucks. They tried to call forth both Ryu and Ershin, but it was an incomplete summoning. Ershin had to possess the armor, and Ryu was split into two. I wonder where his other half is? Akin to nothing, we cut to Fou-lu. He was saved by a woman a few days ago after the butterfly battle, and he's finally awake now. The girl's cooking woke him up, so we'll explore the village of Sonne...

...tomorrow!

Gee...I wonder...