Boss fights are hard.

His name is Arc (with a c), and he's searching for the Ark (with a k).

We return to Palancia and see a strange sight. A group of elite soldiers are bringing in a prisoner. Puco and the regular guards tell us the man was once an elite guard, but the Minister is turning the kingdom into a stratocracy or a junta. The prisoner went rogue and became a wanted criminal. We quickly end this seditious conversation and head to the throne room, but our uncle isn't here. The Minister is in his place because the King is ill. We're ignorant, so we prepare to brief him on our mission. Before we do, we're informed that the Minister has business with the prisoner that was just brought in. He tells us to leave, and we do our own investigation.

Poco reluctantly leads us to the prison, but we (the player) see a scene with the man being thrown in jail. He turned against the current regime because they did something terrible to him. But the guards have no sympathy. Guards are supposed to remain loyal to the King and obey without question. Shortly after the guards leave, the prisoner rages and breaks the bars.

As he does that, we enter the waiting room. The man, who we eventually learn is named Tosh, strikes a guard. But it does nothing. The guards turn into monsters and strike down the revolutionary just as Kukuru pulls out a mirror. She says it's another legend related to the hero. More importantly, it's glowing. As is Tosh's sword. He suddenly gets back up and prepares to attack again, even stronger than before. Rather than let him face the squad alone, we join him for this and make quick work of these nerds.

After a brief not-introduction, we go our separate ways. Tosh returns to his ruined village, and we see the King. He's not sickly now, and we tell him what we saw. He's our uncle, and the Hero Crest I neglected to bring up last night proves that. The badge "has been passed down since time immemorial." The world is dying because humans ruined it, but the Ark can save it. We believe it to be in Seiryu, but we have no leads. But the naked tree lady said a message from our dad is back at home, so we return there. The King is informed Tosh escaped, and we make our leave.

We return to Touvil, and it's smokier than I remember. And our characters smell fire. Arc goes home to see it in ruins. The rest of the group shows up to say the entire village has been destroyed. Before we left, we (the player) saw a scene where Minister spoke to the mirror again, promising to kill us. Was this his doing? Randomly, a mailman enters the area. He's shocked we're actually here, and he gives us a letter from dad. The note says he wants to see his son again, but we have to save the world first. We'll need to find the Guardians, and the first step to that is a book at the Ancient Monolith behind the village. We approach the large rock, and Kukuri notices the writing on it. Arc goes to read it, but a voice rings out. It went by too fast, and I couldn't read it, but it felt ominous. I did notice we were teleported to the Illusion World.

We're instantly struck by a group of tornadoes and thrown into the toughest battle yet. We're against four tanky flame mobs and the boss, Illusion Lord. Heal and go after the closest add. Group up on them one at a time. They don't make a b-line towards you, so you'll have some time. You'll want Poco to heal every round. While we deal with the flames, IL will cast more AoE spells. S/he can even put our people to sleep. When it's down to a three-on-one fight, I surrounded the target. Or the eye beneath it... At this point it only punched Poco, so I think that was a win. Its defenses are stupidly high, so this really drew out the time tonight. I used several items that caused status effects to the boss. Darkness let me buff up Arc and Kukuri, and I think poison was effective? Either way...

And a man of ancient visage is before us where the monolith once stood. His name is Gogan, and he knows who we are. Arc is destined to save the world, and Gogan knows it. After all, he's a book. In fact, he's the book dad told us about. To save the world, we'll need to find and appease the five guardian spirits of earth, wind, fire, water, and light. Gogan joins the team for this journey, and we talk to the King. Visit your home for a Romancing Stone. Gogan seemed interested in them.

The King gives us permission to save the world, which makes sense. He even gives us access to the airship, and we can freely travel to known locations now. As we leave, the King hands Poco a drum that acts like a Kamehameha Wave in battle. Pretty rad! Our first destination is the kingdom of Alatos. As we arrive, we (the player) see Tosh at the gravesite of his master. He confirms that he turned against the kingdom when they ordered him to attack his clan. He vows revenge, and then his sword starts talking. The Blade Spirit says Tosh needs to control his rage. He lacks the proper discipline. But joining Arc on his journey might help him. After some confusion, Tosh joins us at the airport. He asks to join, but some of the group are skeptical. Gogan can see fates and knows Tosh is interlocked with Arc.

We all head to Alatos, and we're met by a man who speaks with broken English. He knows something but wants to talk to us at his shop in the desert. Chongara knows where the Light Guardian is. But he wants something in return before he tells us. He requests we visit the Forbidden Ruins to find an urn on the fifth floor: the Summon Plot. And we'll do that...

...tomorrow!

This game feels pretty fast paced. Almost too much. It makes me wish for more cities and stuff to do. It really shows how important downtime can be in video games.