Part 35 - The Truth

Sorry about the second long delay between parts. This time the blame lies with Xenoblade Chronicles X, which is extremely addicting.

Anyway, you know the iris gems? It turns out they aren’t optional after all. And so, as we begin Part 35 of this screenshot Let’s Play, I decide to get this iris gem from Pendrago and then go confirm Mayvin won’t let me continue without all of them.

This particular quest has us searching for yet another serial killer at night. We find Sergei, who tells us the killer ran into the church.

We run into the church and find a priest surrounded by dead bodies.

Oh, this will end well. Mikleo is horrified at the murders.

He can hear Mikleo?!

Mikleo did?!

Okay, he can’t see the seraphim, so what he really means is that a seraph told him in his dreams to do this. A later skit implies it was Symonne, so I’m really starting to wonder if the similarities are intentional. (Implied Wild Arms 3 spoilers, so don’t follow that link if you haven’t played.)

This guy thinks he’s doing good, and for once, Zestiria actually follows through on its earlier promise.

That’s right. He honestly believes murdering these people was right, so he isn’t malevolent. This is what Cardinal Forton should have been! Why is this one-shot sidequest villain more interesting than Forton?

He thinks Sergei is a sinner as well and sort of taunts him about his brother’s death.

Sergei leaves us with one last plea.

And, for no apparent reason, the arrested priest leaves behind an iris gem. Sure, why not?

Let’s see what horrors befall Heldalf this time!

Uh…

Okay, so hellions swarmed Heldalf…

Then he became the giant lion hellion we know him as…

And… the hellions he killed returned to their human forms… I think…?

Okay, that part was a bit confusing, but we just saw his transformation.

Huh? So Heldalf decided to become a hellion because he couldn’t take it anymore?

Yeah, who put the curse on him and why?

Darn it, we’re all feeling bad for Heldalf now!

I’m right with you, Rose… but if a villain can make me feel guilt for chopping him to bits, he’s my sort of villain.

…WHERE did you get that conclusion, Sorey? I mean, I guess there IS a connection… all the iris gems that weren’t about Heldalf were about the Shepherd.

Don’t forget Maotelus is involved somehow, too. How? Well, Lailah still can’t give us any answers.

I try to pursue the Forton sisters sidequest, but Glaivend Basin is still blocked off. I also go to Elysia to see if Gramps will talk about the Katz Korner, but he has nothing new to say to me.

Guess we’re off to see Mayvin, then!

Even though Mayvin’s taboo prevents him from discussing these events, he decides to break it and tell us the truth anyway.

He leads us to the locked chamber in Lohgrin’s tower.

This is why I love Sorey and Mikleo. No matter how serious the situation is, they’ll be right there with the player pointing out the cool stuff.

Mayvin explains what this is.

Sorey finally questions this title, the Storyteller of Time.

So then… is Mayvin the reason why Shepherds’ eras are missing from historical records, or what?

He then gives us the final iris gem.

Why? What makes it so important no one know this story?

Well, we take the gem and approach the monument to finally learn the full truth about Heldalf.

(Who is the Lord of the Earth, anyway? I sure hope it’s not Maotelus.)

Mayvin’s incantation transports us to…

Aha! I knew the Origin Village would be important!

No one can see us as the events of the past play out, but we witness an argument between the villagers, the former Shepherd, and… Georg Heldalf.

Basically, Heldalf’s forces have occupied the village due to its strategic importance, and the villagers aren’t pleased. Neither is the Shepherd, Michael.

Muse is the woman beside him, with the baby. She isn’t his wife, though, but his sister. Mikleo reacts oddly to her appearance, but tries to dismiss it as nothing.

(Didn’t one of the iris gems look like Michael was getting married, though?)

(And wasn’t Muzet’s Japanese name “Musee”? Isn’t this a little too close?)

Heldalf’s presence is having a worse effect than just annoying people, too.

Okay, so people are angry at the occupying soldiers, the soldiers’ hostility is making things worse, and all of this is filling the shrine with malevolence.

Also (and I only picked up on this when I read the synopsis in the records later), Maotelus is in this shrine, because Michael secretly moved him.

This bad situation takes a turn for the worse, though, when Hyland’s forces begin to march on the village.

Heldalf, perhaps partially out of spite due to his arguments with Michael, orders a retreat.

The forces of Rolance pull out, and the forces of Hyland invade.

I’m starting to lose my sympathy for Heldalf.

Muse has gone to the shrine to plead with Heldalf for aid, not knowing he’s already gone. Michael races to the shrine.

Sorey and Mikleo are both extremely distressed.

Mikleo’s distress, though, is for a different reason.

When Michael reaches the shrine, it’s on fire. Muse is wounded, and her baby has been separated from her.

Michael runs through the destruction and saves the baby, who is still alive.

However, the Shepherd’s anger at Heldalf for abandoning them to this fate knows no bounds.

While Muse screams for him to stop, Michael carries the baby to Maotelus’s altar.

THE FORMER SHEPHERD SACRIFICED A BABY TO HELLION-MAOTELUS TO CURSE HELDALF?!

As soon as he speaks these words, the retreating General Heldalf is struck down.

The forces of Hyland catch up to them, but when Heldalf rises, he knocks them away with inhuman power.

Terrified, even his own soldiers flee.

Seriously, he’s already a hellion?

WHAT?!

Uh… all those iris gems led up to this terrible moment when Heldalf’s curse became too much for him and he gave in to malevolence.

Zaveid just said Heldalf chose the transformation! The curse forced hellion-dom upon him, and he resisted it for so long through sheer force of will, or what?

Meanwhile, Gramps and the other seraphim from Elysia realized something terrible was happening.

He finds a human baby, born prematurely, and resolves to raise the child himself since everyone else is dead.

Then Muse finds him.

She’s carrying her baby… who apparently has been reborn as a seraph after Michael sacrified him.

The sight of the human baby shocks her.

Is Selene Michael’s wife, or is she just a random villager?

Muse’s confusion, plus the fact that the baby is premature, suggests the birth occurred after the mother died, but… not only is it too soon after death, but why is the baby wrapped in a bundle?!

The only logical explanation is that somehow Muse didn’t know Selene had a baby despite this being a very small village…

Oh well, back to the plot!

Sacrifice? She’s going to die to seal Maotelus away?

Gramps decides to raise her child alongside Selene’s, and hope they will one day set things right.

Yeah, in case you didn’t pick up on it, these two babies are Sorey and Mikleo.

It’s kind of weird that Sorey is just the son of a random villager, though. Is that meant as a twist?

Oh well, back in the present, Sorey has come to a conclusion.

What is his answer? We’ll find out next time!

Okay… *deep breath* Let’s talk about what just happened.

On one hand, I really liked this. It was intense and dramatic, especially the moment when Michael cursed Heldalf. It reminds me a little of when Angelique curses Barnabas in the original Dark Shadows.

On the other hand, I found Heldalf interesting when I thought he was a good man afflicted with a terrible curse which caused him to sink into despair and become a hellion. However, he was a jerk turned into a hellion by outside forces. Much less interesting.

And Maotelus? I guess he wasn’t evil either. All the malevolence caused by the soldiers and angry villagers forced his hellion transformation.

This is… really disappointing, to be honest.

I have one hope left. Michael is now the most interesting person from this scene. Muse never said he died. Could he still be alive, sealed away with Maotelus? Will Sorey have to fight the Shepherd he idolized, Mikleo confront the uncle who killed him, and Lailah face her old friend?

If this happens, Zestiria’s story will redeem itself in my eyes. If not… *sigh*

How do you feel about these revelations? Let me know in the comments, and join me next time to see what happens next.