The Reshaper: Twisted Caverns and a Friend Changed

The Reshaper: The Voice in the Cavern

The scouts' trail leads the Hero and Eremon to a strange cavern resembling the twisted growth in the woods. Eremon hopes to find Kolyaban there; the Hero hopes the same trail will lead to Aria. Extrikiti still poison the area, so the search begins by clearing them and exploring farther inside. Eremon sees the cavern's beauty as evidence of the greatness his people might inherit. The Hero remains less certain that such mastery over the land is harmless.

An unseen voice interrupts them. Kolyaban has been looking for the Hero, too. Eremon hears nothing, even as the Hero answers her. Flies gather nearby, and Kolyaban explains that she has changed them into her eyes, ears and voice. She takes an interest in the Hero and offers to change them as well. Eremon calls for her attention, hurt that the ancestor he sought will speak to the outsider instead.

Eremon asks the Hero to capture some insects unharmed so he can study the connection. Fighting the swarms appears to provoke the cavern's other creatures. Fungal lords and seed stalkers become hostile, and the Hero must defeat them to continue. Among what is recovered is a scrap of brown cloth that looks like part of Aria's apron. The search takes a more frightening turn.

Eremon still insists that Kolyaban would not hurt Aria, but cannot promise the same of the seed stalkers. The Hero searches more of their stomachs and finds no further trace. Through the flies, Kolyaban mocks the effort: Aria is too valuable to become plant food. She claims that Aria has become a willing ally because her friends have never seen more than a pet merchant. The Hero rejects the accusation and refuses to stop searching. Kolyaban's taunts offer no dependable account of what Aria has chosen.

The captured flies provide another route. Eremon marks them with magic so they can be followed to their origin, then has them released through the cavern. The Hero clears spiderwings that might eat them and follows the swarm along a previously hidden path. Their different reasons for pursuing Kolyaban still lead them in the same direction.

The trail ends at a pulsing wall, guarded by more urstrix and fungal lords. With those creatures defeated, the remaining barrier is a wall of vines. There is no obvious passage. The Hero cuts through the growth, still searching for a friend rather than preparing for what waits beyond it.

The Reshaper: A Friend Changed

Aria is alive, but transformed. The Hero recoils and promises to get her out. Aria does not want to leave. She says that she made this place with Kolyaban's help, after learning how much she had been limiting herself. Eremon sees the power before them as a revelation. The Hero sees a friend who has been changed into something alarming.

Aria boasts that the Hero is no longer Lore's most powerful being. Together with Kolyaban, she says, she can tear down the world and rebuild it in the Queen of Monsters' image. The Hero cannot accept that purpose, but does not want to fight her. Aria says she feels the same way. Instead, she summons a rock creature and lets it stand between them.

The Lore Golem blocks the pursuit. Even Eremon recognizes that they cannot pass while it remains, though destroying it pains him. The Hero defeats it. When the obstacle falls, Aria is already gone. Her new power has been seen, but the encounter has neither brought her back nor explained how Kolyaban's influence and her own wishes fit together.

The Hero vows to find and save her. Eremon asks whether she needs saving at all. The Hero acknowledges what Kolyaban means to him, yet insists that what is happening cannot be allowed to continue. Their common search has reached its limit: Eremon has no wish to fight Kolyaban or her creations, while the Hero cannot leave Aria's transformation and threatened destruction of Lore unchallenged.

They part without a fight, each wishing the other well. The Hero continues with the promise to find Aria still unfulfilled. Eremon has found evidence of the power he sought, but no agreement with the friend who helped him reach it. Neither their farewell nor the defeated golem settles Aria's fate, and Lucky's fate remains unanswered here as well.