Infernal Dianoia: Family and the Value of Life

Family Complex

The Hero interrupts Arthelyn and Azalith's dispute, asking them to stop fighting while Aranx remains in danger.

Arthelyn accuses Azalith of trying to turn Aranx into an Infernal and says that is why the Bright One took him away. Azalith answers that she sensed his transformation nearing completion but stayed her hand, while describing Anethyx'o as distant.

The Hero asks how much younger Aranx is. Arthelyn says that when she and Azalith opened their eyes, their younger brother was already beginning to wake. The Hero says the Well of Knowledge revealed Aranx was created to replace Azalith, then frames the timing as a possibility: if he was only seconds younger and born before her fall. Arthelyn rejects the conclusion, and Azalith asks whether the Creator anticipated her rebellion.

Azalith calls Anethyx'o's creation an equation and wonders whether even her rebellion fit its plans. The Hero finds it strange that a replacement would be made while Azalith was still a Celestial; Arthelyn asks what the Bright One would gain by ensuring Infernals were created. The Hero says the Creator seemed upset when Azalith stopped Aranx's transformation, and Arthelyn notes that other Celestials were turning too. They agree to ask Anethyx'o, leaving the Creator's purpose unresolved.

Their aims still differ. Azalith vows to destroy Anethyx'o for making Arthelyn perfect while carving flaws into her, and threatens to resume her conquest afterward. Arthelyn wants to save Aranx. The Hero asks Azalith, who led the Infernal invasion, to lead them the rest of the way.

Through the Bright Tower

Azalith sends the Hero after the Infernal Pegasi guarding the way to the Bright One's throne. She says Anethyx'o took control of those former guardians and calls their forced transformation a reason to put them down as an act of mercy. Separately, she says she rarely forces Celestials to transform and that her own army chose to follow her, tore out their Celestial feathers, or were born Infernal.

Farther up, she encounters Bright Dominions that she says have reverted from Infernal to Celestial forms. Azalith suspects the Bright One may be mocking her or testing its control, and acknowledges that even those born Infernal can be changed back; she presents these as her interpretations of what she sees.

The tower seems to be watching the intruders: Azalith says its growing eyes carry the Bright One's gaze and orders them shut because she values her privacy. Afterwards she mocks the eye symbol and the rings lined with eyes, asking whether the display suggests paranoia or overcompensation.

The Hero fights through the Pegasi and Dominions' formation, clearing the way deeper into the tower. Azalith says even she and Arthelyn have not seen beyond the door and wonders whether she will find flaws in their creator there. At a golden effigy she identifies the Arthelyn of the present as a fallen husk controlled by the Bright One, then asks that she be taken down. Afterward, Azalith says this Arthelyn is coming back to her senses.

A Meeting Across Time

Azalith addresses one counterpart as the Arthelyn of this time. That Arthelyn describes having become a husk discarded by her creator, then thanks Azalith for returning her to her senses and says they are together again. The text leaves Arthelyn's opening thought about her present self's corpse unfinished.

Arthelyn apologizes for erasing Aranx's memories of Azalith. She says she thought the concealment would spare him pain and prepare him for his role; Aranx later says that Arthelyn sealed his memories of Azalith to protect him from suffering.

Arthelyn says the Bright One forced her to transform when she opposed what it wanted, calls the siblings weapons without free will, and says Celestials were meant to become Infernals unnoticed. An ensuing exchange describes a power above the Bright One as the power that created their creator. These are the sisters' accounts and descriptions, rather than an independent explanation of how that power works.

The Hero proposes that the Bright One needed a scapegoat to conceal a plan involving Infernals and the origin of creation. Azalith then says she has the horns to match. Arthelyn says Azalith was sealed for trying to harness creation's power when her intended purpose was different; Azalith names that purpose as destruction and speculates that the creator expected her rage to make her an unstoppable weapon. She says she could not go through with it and links that refusal to Anethyx'o taking Aranx.

Arthelyn says she arranged, before she fell, for Aranx to send his friend to the past so the siblings would eventually meet there. She calls this a closed time loop with no clear beginning, even to the Bright One. Azalith apologizes for hurting Arthelyn and Aranx; Arthelyn asks her to take something to Aranx and unite them. One Arthelyn line trails off as “I…lo…v…” and remains unfinished.

The present Arthelyn fades beside Azalith, who bids her sister goodbye. Her past counterpart then explains that her present self passed her titles and powers to Azalith, now ruler of Infernals and Celestials, and says she must return to the past to ensure these events occur. Azalith asks her to wait. Afterward, Azalith rejects the Bright One's claim over them and declares that her will is her own.

Eudae and the Approach to Nightstar

Azalith's next tasks bring her to Eudae appearing between Celestial and Infernal forms. She tells the Hero to free them from the Bright One's will, then reflects that the two forms may be sides of one coin. She had thought there was no way back, but now says this change would not be possible without the Bright One's intervention, calling it a bitter blessing.

Azalith says the Avatars of Life and Spirits were sent to take their heads and sends the Hero to cast them down. Afterward, she recalls their former pride and service to Arthelyn and Aranx, dismissing their titles as gifts the Bright One could take away. The Hero is then sent against the Avatar of Time, held more strongly by the Bright One. Azalith recalls the Hero saying Anethyx'o made this personal and asks whether that concerns what the Avatar represents. She calls its strange armor her creator's image of the future and wonders how it could know what was to come.

After the Avatar of Time, Azalith says the remaining Eudae stand between the siblings and the Bright One's throne. She admits she had hidden her desire to return to Celestial form and says what she wanted was to be with her siblings again, even if their reunion is brief.

At the approach to Nightstar, Azalith says Aranx's transformation is complete and that he must be defeated only to a standstill before she can face the Bright One and bring her brother back. The quest objective calls for Aranx, Nightstar to be defeated; its completion text is Azalith's declaration, “Little brother, I am choosing you.” The sources establish the approach and the stated intention, not the final confrontation's outcome.

The Creator's account

Aranx cries out to Azalith as both enemy and sister, then struggles through an unfinished declaration that he must destroy. Azalith taunts him for copying her and urges him to rebel against the Bright One's grip.

The Hero draws the many-eyed presence's attention with a taunt about its thousand eyes. Its captions address the Hero as 'You,' 'Dragon,' and 'Eternal One.'

The Hero argues that without their first death and the universe's beginning, Anethyx'o would never have been born, then claims to be its creator. After the Hero asks what it wants, the answering captions call their speaker the Creator of Celestials and Infernals, claim Origin, and express the desire to be Creator of All and the Center of the Universe. These assertions belong to their confrontation.

The Hero calls Azalith, rather than Arthelyn, the creator's perfect creation because she is exactly like it. The answering captions demand that the Hero show themself and shed their mortal disguise. The Hero challenges that demand; later captions answer with an ellipsis and 'Lies.'

The Hero insists that they have a life, and that Anethyx'o gave its creations more than it has itself: family, friends, and free will. The argument challenges the creator's ambition through the relationships its children have formed.

Azalith chooses Aranx

Aranx says the Bright One's hold is weakening and asks Azalith to take his power and release them from fate. She refuses to be commanded and chooses him instead, telling him to take Arthelyn's wisdom and her might. She calls him both Celestial and Infernal and promises that they will always be with him. Her figure turns red and translucent beside him in the authored gift sequence, then disappears from the selected later pose as Aranx calls to both sisters.

Aranx calls after his sisters. Rejoining the Hero, he agrees to finish what Azalith started and asks for help as always. The Hero addresses him as ruler of Celestials and Infernals and proposes driving Anethyx'o away. Aranx declares, 'Let the Nightstar fall.'

After their confrontation, the Hero thinks the Bright One is gone but explicitly says it is not dead. Aranx praises the Hero's power and says their words wounded his creator's pride most of all. He doubts it will dare return, then qualifies that hope: at least for a while. The ending artwork shows him with a human face, crown, and black wings beside the Hero.

Aranx says he is alone in the heavens. The Hero reminds him that his brethren still need him: the Infernals may continue the invasion and seek Anethyx'o's death, while some Celestials remain loyal to their creator. Aranx acknowledges the work ahead. The Hero promises to answer his call; he thanks his friend and dedicates his wings to them.

Afterward, Aranx says his sisters sacrificed themselves to save him. He begins remembering their short time together and explains that Arthelyn sealed his memories of Azalith to spare him suffering. He resolves to care for his younger brethren as his sisters cared for him, and to immortalize them through that care.

Aranx describes a realm still divided between Infernals seeking the Bright One's destruction and Celestials loyal to it. Unification remains a distant dream, but he will not give up; he even considers taking his Infernal form to understand that side of his people better. His victory begins a responsibility rather than ending the realm's strife.