Children of the Bright One

The Firstborn and Arthelyn's Prison

Aranx hears Arthelyn calling for help. The ruler his people believed dead is chained in darkness, unable to identify where she is held and afraid that corruption will overcome her. You follow her through nested pocket dimensions until you reach Ivoliss's domain. Defeating him wins the key to her cell, but the prison shifts as you try to reach her.

When you finally confront the corrupted Arthelyn, you hope to exhaust her enough for her mind to recover, but after the battle she shatters the pocket dimension and throws you and Aranx home without her. He believes she escaped, though he cannot say where she went or whether she is herself again.

Azalith and the Infernal Histories

Aranx defends the Celestial Realm against Azalith's vanguard without Arthelyn beside him. He remembers Azalith protecting their family garden and wonders whether her fall came from her character or from the purpose imposed on her. What if it had been him? He sets the question aside to help you oppose Maah-na, Akh-a and Azalith, fearing she will not stop before reaching their creator, the Bright One.

Evangeline prepares you by recording four Infernal histories in Celestial Tears. The first scroll describes the original Infernals as former guardians who still long for the home they lost. Even their descendants, born through a troubling imitation of the Bright One's creative power, hear the call of a realm they have never seen.

The Diabolical Warlord's scroll describes Infernal transformation as an irreversible decay. New horns and limbs accompany greater strength but a weakening sense of self, compared to a dying star's last flash.

The remaining scrolls describe Malxas offering fortresses built on sacrificed bones, only for those promises to end in ruins, and Na'al's competing origins. Even Na'al cannot remember whether he fell with a Celestial whose heart he crushed or burned a city from his infant cradle. Evangeline fears for the unnamed town now standing over those barrens.

Balax'el's Warning

Aranx summons you to the Celestial Realm, where the sight of a red portal and several fallen Infernals makes you ask whether another invasion has begun. He explains that the Celestials did not kill them: they spent their last strength crossing the portal and died on arrival. What could have driven them to flee?

When Lord Balax'el emerges from the portal, you suspect that he has joined Malgor now that the Queen of Monsters is gone. Aranx demands an explanation and threatens to banish him.

Balax'el collapses, calling himself a fool who forgot his place and warning that a woman is coming for whom you are not ready. Before falling out of sight, he addresses Aranx as the Third Born and says he should know whom he means.

The changing portal alarms Aranx, who says Arthelyn should have returned before this happened. Unable to leave his post, he sends you into the past to seek answers at the beginning of the Celestial Realm, where you can meet his younger self. With the Bright One's blessing, you enter the portal.

Aranx's Awakening

In the earlier Celestial Realm, you meet a young Aranx who knows neither his identity nor his purpose. A woman's voice keeps calling the name Aranx, and he asks you to help find her, hoping she can explain why he is here.

You gather ingredients for a Wayfarer Potion that reveals the route through the Realm, then clear the beasts blocking the path. Following the voice, you find the woman Aranx has been seeking.

The woman welcomes Aranx but is surprised to see you, since humans are not due to appear on Lore for some time. Introducing herself as Arthelyn, the First Celestial, she identifies Aranx as the Third but refuses to speak of the Second.

The Well of Knowledge

Arthelyn explains that every Celestial must undergo a trial at the Well of Knowledge to discover their purpose, so you help Aranx reach it and gather offerings representing the Realm and its creatures. His final test awaits in the Well Guardian, the Bright One's construct that holds the purposes of Celestial creation. By activating the Well and defeating its Guardian, you open the way for Aranx's revelation.

Aranx places the offerings in the Well and sees a vision of Galanoth slaying the Eternal Dragon of Time, whose released energy forms Anethyx'o, the Bright One. The Bright One creates the Celestial Realm and two sibling guardians, then brings a third into being when one turns to darkness.

Recognizing the births of the Realm, his sisters and himself, Aranx declares his identity as Archangel of Mysteries, Third Born and Celestial Guardian. At Arthelyn's bidding, he takes up his mantle and becomes the gold-armored, white-winged Aranx you know.

Arthelyn and Azalith

You recognize the familiar Aranx before you, though the mention of two sisters surprises you, especially when he admits that he has never seen the other. Arthelyn puts off the explanation and asks to speak with you alone before your return, while Aranx thanks you for helping him find his purpose. In private, she reveals that the Second Born is their sister Azalith, whose history Aranx is not meant to learn for centuries.

Arthelyn describes herself as the Archangel of Stoicism and ruler of the Realm, and Azalith as the Archangel of Fortitude and its general. She says Azalith sought to become the Bright One's equal, stole its creative power, and was corrupted by forces Celestials were not made to wield.

According to Arthelyn, Azalith created the Infernals to rival the Celestials, prompting the Bright One to use its remaining energy to seal her and her creations in the Infernal Realm. It then rested, leaving the Celestials to protect their home.

Your arrival tells Arthelyn that Azalith has escaped in your present, and you connect her to Balax'el's warning. Although Azalith cannot be permanently defeated, Arthelyn says she can be weakened and sealed again, and gives you a scroll with the magic Aranx will need.

When you ask Arthelyn to come with you, she initially refuses because Celestials cannot travel to a time in which they already exist. Only when she realizes that she is absent from your present does she conclude that she must be dead in that future and agree to accompany you.

Azalith's Rebellion

Before you leave this era, Arthelyn asks you to stop Azalith's advance through the Realm. You recover commands from her Infernal soldiers to locate her, then fight through the forces blocking the approach.

Arthelyn appeals to her sister to stop, insisting that she can still be saved, but Azalith counters that Arthelyn is the one held captive by the Bright One. She says she tried to become their creator's equal and was imprisoned for trying to improve herself and the Realm.

When you question how this destruction could improve the Realm, Azalith rejects your description of it as Darkness, comparing her power to sunlight that burns when concentrated. She claims the Bright One gave her that power because it considers its creations unworthy of existence.

Arthelyn calls this a lie, and you refuse to accept that Azalith acts on the Bright One's behalf. You prepare to fight, although Arthelyn warns that neither of you is ready. Azalith agrees with her.

Although Arthelyn urges you to give the battle everything you have, Azalith defeats you, leaving you to acknowledge that she is too strong.

Azalith invites Arthelyn to join her and learn what the Bright One truly wants, but her sister refuses to betray the Realm or her siblings. Azalith asks whether Arthelyn still considers her a sister, and whether she has already betrayed her.

Ordering you both to leave as a final act of mercy, Azalith declares that they are no longer sisters but enemies. She accuses the Realm of watching her suffer without intervening, threatens to burn it, and vows to take the Bright One's remaining Light. As her power grows, she tells you to run.

Arthelyn mourns the sister she knew but still hopes Azalith can be stopped. Past Aranx thanks you for helping him understand his identity and purpose, then urges you to return to your own time, expecting your paths to cross again.

The Bright One's Return

Present-day Aranx takes her arrival as confirmation that the sister he knew is dead and blames Azalith. Exhausted by the invasion, he tells Arthelyn that the other Celestials are hiding not from the Infernals, but from the light of the heavens.

Towers rise for the first time since the siblings' birth: the Bright One has returned. Arthelyn remembers Azalith holding the infant Aranx's hand to help him speak, a kindness he no longer recalls. She intends to save her family even at the cost she expects to face. Yet their creator's presence makes her question whether Azalith's ambition or the Bright One's wrath is the greater danger.

As you climb, both Infernals and Celestials cower from the Bright One. A recently transformed Malxas and fresh feathers unsettle Aranx's explanation that Azalith is responsible.

Maah-na and Akh-a appear as Eudae, caught between Celestial and Infernal forms. You encounter transformations in both directions, while frightened Mages report comrades disappearing or becoming Eudae under the Bright One's punishment.

After you defeat Azalith at the summit, Aranx appeals to their family, but she begins transforming him to prove that the brother made to replace her is no different from an Infernal. She denies forcing the other transformations and insists that her followers chose her, yet Aranx's cry of pain stops her. She cannot bring herself to hurt him further.

Aranx says he never wanted to replace Azalith and offers to plead her case, but the Bright One interrupts, pronounces her unworthy and takes him away in golden light. Anethyx'o completes the transformation she refused to finish, prompting Arthelyn and Azalith to set aside their quarrel and retrieve their brother.

Aranx and Anethyx'o

The Well said Aranx was made to replace Azalith, yet Arthelyn remembers him waking seconds after his sisters, before the rebellion. You suggest that the Bright One may have anticipated it. Azalith fears even her defiance belonged to its design, while Arthelyn asks what their creator would gain.

Azalith leads you through servants whom she says Anethyx'o has forced into altered forms. Bright Dominions suggest even Infernals can become Celestials again. The tower's watching eyes provoke her anger at the invasion of her privacy. Reaching the next door brings both sisters beyond a threshold they have never crossed.

There you find the present Arthelyn, reduced to a controlled husk. After you subdue her, she recovers enough to confess that she erased Aranx's memories of Azalith and resisted the Bright One's intended use of its children as weapons. Before her fall she arranged your journey into the past, creating a closed loop that reunited them. She passes her titles and powers to Azalith and fades. The younger Arthelyn returns to her own era to ensure these events occur, leaving Azalith determined that her will belongs to herself.

As you and Azalith free a path through Eudae and the controlled Avatars of Life, Spirits and Time, she admits that beneath her anger she wanted to stand beside her siblings again. Aranx now waits as Nightstar, his transformation complete.

You weaken Nightstar without killing him, then draw Anethyx'o's attention away from its struggling child. Addressing you as Dragon and Eternal One, it claims Origin and seeks to become Creator of All, while you argue that your first death enabled its existence. You tell it that its children have found family, friends and free will beyond its control.

As the Bright One's hold weakens, Aranx asks Azalith to take his power, but she refuses to be commanded and chooses to save him instead, passing him Arthelyn's wisdom and her own might. After promising that they will always be with him, she disappears. Aranx joins you as ruler of Celestials and Infernals, and together you drive Anethyx'o away.

Aranx hopes the Bright One will stay away for a while, but must now govern peoples divided between loyalty to their creator and demands for its destruction. As his memories of Azalith return with grief for both sisters, he resolves to preserve them through the care he gives his younger brethren. You promise to answer when he calls.

The Harbingers and Absolution

When the Four Harbingers return under the Bright One's control, Aranx confines them at the Hall of Four for fear that they will destroy the realm if they escape. He cannot detect Anethyx'o nearby and wonders what keeps it away.

You confront Halosis, Bello, Fames and Mors as their seals weaken. Aranx interprets Halosis's missing voice as fear of Conquest's power, hears something like mourning when Bello falls, and warns of Fames's dangerous scales. After Mors is defeated, he thinks the Harbinger may have smiled.

A fifth presence waits beyond the last barrier: Anethyx'o's Absolution. You defeat it and recover six scrolls about the family the Harbingers once were.

The unnamed writer remembers five Celestial siblings devoted to the Bright One. After questioning whether remaking followers was the only way to spread its light, the writer was forced to watch four members of the family transformed. They emerged changed and left without farewell.

Iter, who became Halosis, traveled widely and hoped to heal the Underworld. Pugna, remembered as Bello, taught kindness and the need to confront one's own flaws before judging others. Abundantia cared for the family and gave faithful followers and outcasts the same nourishing drink, unlike the deadly distinctions of Fames's scales. Quies loved streams, sunsets and fireflies. The youngest sibling became Mors while their creator blamed the surviving writer for her suffering.

In the final scroll, the writer recalls the Bright One's unease at an unnamed presence imprisoned in the Underworld. Hoping for redemption and reunion, they beg to be remade too, offering mind, body and soul and proposing the name Absolution.

As Aranx reads the scrolls, his hands shake and his eyes glow red, and he promises that you will gather all five bodies and bury the siblings together.