3rd Myth Reaction - Printable Version +- Heart⁺¹ Attack (https://chicchicboom.nfshost.com/forum) +-- Forum: GAMES & FIXATIONS (https://chicchicboom.nfshost.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=1) +--- Forum: Love And Deepspace: aka The Boyfriend App™ (https://chicchicboom.nfshost.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=2) +---- Forum: Zayne | Li Shen (https://chicchicboom.nfshost.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?fid=5) +---- Thread: 3rd Myth Reaction (/showthread.php?tid=173)

3rd Myth Reaction - Coldsaturn - 09-25-2025 I'm going iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnnnnn (I'm watching it HERE since it's uncensored) As usual, spoilers ahead until you've also played it. We start with the usual text message that announces a new DLC that mirrors the myth. The interesting thing is how it speaks of IF routes, where "players will form new relationships with characters from the main campaign" and how these routes "aren't merely bonus content, but rather alternative 'pathways to fate' centered around core characters." Sounds familiar, doesn't it.  Oh the companion test is scrumptious. I will try to take so many screenshots.  OK time to go in. Chapter 1  "between the skeletal, jagged mountain ridges, seven colossal gates rise in layers. they reach for the heavens." note to self to look it up in case it's a direct reference to something I...don't think I'll get over Zane wearing a blindfold any soon. I've always been so weak toward that imagery with Justice and the likes.  But also, who's speaking? Some kind of horned, hooded creature? Oh? Zayne is the one who entered a forbidden space. And he's here to take the Creatio Stone, which lies in the netherworld beyond the Seven Gates. Interesting. The horned dude warns him that going there is a bad idea and he's already powerful enough, but this part got to me: "once you set foot in this realm, your divine authority and radiant glory will turn into flowing sand" which would be an interestingly apt way to reference the sands of time and the fact that he wouldn't be immortal anymore. Time would flow for him. I'm trying to see if we're getting the origin of his descent from godhood or something else. He crosses the first gate, and there's an amber-like world in the void.  Change of setting, we're in Niava. Time skip? Or is this the amber-like world? The Vastraen are the Wanderers of this world. Curious that we got monsters in this myth, in Xav's myth, but not in Raf's. LMAO the voice actor for the Limping Poet. An arrow strikes from the Divine Tower against the monsters. Zayne?  "Then it [the arrow] falls into the silent Divine Tower and slowly transforms into an injured figure." Oh? MC?? SHE's the arrow?? She has to call for Zayne because only he can help (?). "A name once familiar" so they already know each other. "instinct for survival prevails over pride and resentment." and they have history. OK. Zayne is the god meant to destroy the planet, and MC is the goddess of the place understandably not happy about the plan. "Even if you want to destroy Niava... You still belong to me at this moment. Obey me...!"  OK MC lol MC??  My oh my here we go with the kindled scene. Before I get distracted: she's fighting against Zayne? But he's the one who can heal her wounds by letting MC absorb his power? Is it because they're the only two deities there? Could she do that with any other deity? Or is his power compatible with hers? "Feel this and remember what I'm giving you" is still an INSANE line I can't believe was written approved and voiced, and his marks glow as he enters her.  AN INTERACTIVE ACTION TO BITE HIS LIP. Infold, if every single spicy scene isn't like this in future cards I'm rioting! sdhflaskjdlaskjdaslkjd she tries to walk away and he literally stops her with the leash. Gorgeous, please continue. I can't believe we had an entire kindle that was just sex.  Again, infold. Chapter 2 OK, cycle of life, as one thing meets its end, another is born somewhere else. And in that somewhere else it's now snowing. "we once shared what seemed like the most intimate of touches and tender moments..." Oh, so they know they know each other. Is this another reference to how memories are fleeting when your life is immortal? Flashback to their first meeting! She keeps on referring him as "god" with quotation marks like it's not exactly what he is. And she says that he doesn't belong here, but he's like a sun that belongs to another world.  He's a being that transcends dimensions and universes, working above them to restore balance. And Niava is still the amber-like world in the void past the First Gate, at the start of his journey for the Creatio Stone, I guess. MC is really really really really set on making this man horny lol Awwww they were so sweet when they got together. And then they divorced as gods usually do. He didn't protect the kingdom and she wondered why she ever thought that a god of annihiliation could ever be merciful toward her world. Nice conflict setup, I'm invested in their strangers-to-lovers-to-exes-to-lovers story. As he proceeds to destroy the world, cracks start to appear on her? Chapter 3 Saemyra...Hello there beautiful why haven't I seen you before m'lady. Oh she's the mortal ruler of Niava and the only person MC associates with. I ship it. She follows the river upward, senses Zayne's power, and then a monster covered in crystal appears. He's not like the monsters she'd already seen, so something is happening that is making Wanderers appear here. I don't envy the writers at all, this is very abstract and hard to describe. So both MC and Zayne fall into the void "in the cracks between the universe and time itself" She has seemingly forgotten who Zayne is, but he tells her that she needs to sleep for a long time and they'll meet again.  Chapter 4 They ended up inside the monster's protocore??? And Zayne knows all about it, huh. And MC's body needs constant healing usually, but inside the protocore she's perfectly fine, whereas Zayne is the opposite. LOL Zayne really hates carrots in every universe. Now they're talking about the symbols found in the protocore. Most likely the same shapes we're used to seeing in protofields. Zayne says that they "might be from the past. or perhaps they exist in a more distant future." And the rain is time itself. They're really stretching things with the divine imagery. They chat a bit more, it starts snowing, they more or less get back together, everything is nice and happy (or will be for the next 1 chapter at most lol). Chapter 5 AAAAWWWWW Zayne goes around as high priest and does the job of an apothecary. Damn, Zayne acting like a doctor is making me more emotional than I expected. Also, I have to say, I'm impressed with the NPC voice actors. Good job guys. Chapter 6 He gives her the principles of medicine ;____;  "After that, Zayne gave me more 'gifts.' iron casting, metallurgy, water management..." why is this making me emotional Saemyra my queen, I love you. Aaaaaaand we're back with the angst. Chapter 7 "[he] traveled to Urtama's source to destroy the magical array he had once created there. Unexpectedly, the array originally meant to separate two realms had transformed into a massive monster after accumulating energy for countless years." Huh... hasldjasdjlasjd these two just go at it every other day, what even is this myth. Also, the fact that she uses sex to deceive him is very delicious and I'm already bracing for the drama in the fandom.  OH so Zayne DID take the Creatio Stone! And he's apparently used it in the past to resurrect MC! The chapter ended and I didn't even take notes, I'm just staring at my screen.  Chapter 8 Yes but WHAT is the true purpose behind Protocores, don't be mysterious Zayne, we're nearing the end of the myth. And we're nearing the end of YOU as well, apparently. He erases his own name from the stone because the world does not longer need him, and he'll fight and probably die somewhere else while protecting Niava from its destined destruction. He's bending fate to keep her alive. And she kidnapped a bird so she could track Zayne once he left. This MC I swear lol Chapter 9 Oh my god the flashes of all the other Zaynes OOOOOps Death&Rebirth reference. Nothing too big that should ruind your playthrough once you get to it. sdgfhdlaskjdjksfhlasjd???????? That's NOT the background I was imagining after Zayne opened the door from his Divine Tower. That might just be the tale of how Earth will die after EVER succeeds. Oh shit. Oh sthi OH SHIT So much. My brain is hurting. Great acting Zayne, great job voice actor, model, everything. It broke my heart as it was intended. The final scene in the fractal library left me reeling. Zayne saying that MC more than a variable is his selfish desire. The direct reference to the fact that their reunion is "incomplete" which ties back to a few meta interpretations in the fandom around Zayne and MC's divine ritual that is never properly fulfilled, leaving them both to be constantly separated. I need to digest this properly before I can write some other comment. I feel like this is the perfect example of a myth where you play the story and then there's SO MUCH lore packed into it that you need to read carefully to properly insert it in the main story timeline. As of now I can only say: very beautiful myth, yes, yes, very nice. Good job, infold. RE: 3rd Myth Reaction - ChicletPrime - 09-25-2025 i have not seen it, i won't have time until Friday night at the earliest or maybe Saturday so i have skipped allllll of this but i am excited to see so many words as i scrolled past. i need to be gainfully unemployed as fast as possible, i can't get to anything at speed it seems like but I AM HERE I WILL BE BACK PLEASE WAIT FOR ME. RE: 3rd Myth Reaction - ChicletPrime - 10-05-2025 okay, right off the gun... 7 gates? what, like 7 rivers? the embodiment of annihilation and divine punishment, with unparalled wisdom. and he dresses like it too! so why is he trying entire this place where even the dead may not go? implication that if you enter, you will become a "lamentation", restless for eternity. oh, he's here for the Creatio Stone (from the primordial age - the authority of creation). so this is before the Library (and Astra?). the Seven Gates are to the netherworld, with no sun or moon, no life nor death. "your hands are capable to bring about the destruction of countless eons, your divine gaze may see the end of time." wow. okay. and Zayne is, like, the least remarkable of the boyfriends in the current age, what is going on here. "if you step foot in this realm... your authority and glory will turn to flowing sand." ... shades of Golden Sand, huh. "That price is insignificant." ...'kay? First Gate, the surging waters devour him. oh, are the Gates in series, no parallel? (did you ever read a series of novels, starting with one called "Abhorsen"? the Gates of Death are seven, each to be passed through. only the bells of the Abhorsen can circumvent them, and only for a time.) wow, this is so Lemuria coded. so we have Niava the city? Niava the deity? monsters, some sort of heavenly fight, the city "falls into a deep sleep" while we look at the golden chamber with the pool. looks like my immortalness is in trouble. whatever we fought is contaminating our body. okay, Niava is the world, and I'm upset about or resentful at Zayne, who could.. save me? save the world? we call him a couple of times, he step forth and says the "Vastraen" is not for the living. is the Vastraen another word for the netherworld? something about crossing the thorny barriers again will be a no return trip. i want to know why Zayne wants to destroy this world, even with my deep connection to it. why did you call him here, if he's just going to lecture you and blast your world out from under your feet? "only he can heal my wounds and free me from this terrible suffering." well, i GUESS. and we grab the blindfold for some reason. my guess: he sees something other than boring reality when his eyes are covered. "Even if you want to destroy Niava, you still belong to me at this moment. Obey me!" WOW. okay. that's wild. And then we... we wrap our arms around his neck and bite his lips? i am SO DOWN for whatever this healing ritual entails, no question. blood? do we need his blood? "Give me.. I want your power." well, this is a fucking far cry from the girlfriend's personality in Snow's Embrace, that's for sure. "between us there is nothing but endless taking." he said the thing! from the trailer! OH MY GOD, Lavender blocked out half the screen right after that! /immediately goes on a quest to find whatever that 1.25 seconds contained. /returns. holy crap, she cut out most of that. that entire cutscene is SO HOT. really liked that our girl grabbed his power like a chain around his neck and then he just... uh. "gave" it to us. and then when we had second thoughts, he just roped us back again. these two are bound to each other in deeply delicious ways. and now we're in .. Doomrealm. is THAT the netherworld? heavenly light about to be devoured yadda yadda, death has long since vanished, etc... Zayne: "The natural order of fate is no more. Stop clinging to what remains." ?!? "Heaven and earth sense imminent destruction." ?!?!?! "Annihilation balances the cosmic order. What shouldn't exist ought to crumble in oblivion's hands." What the hell. He traps a "golden aenzu" bird, then destroys by clenching his fist, golden dust trickling out. "... a newly born Golden Aenzu spreads its wings in another unknowable place." so... phoenix. Then it snows where Zayne is, in this hellscape. now we're back to Niava, wounds healed, sword blade repaired, another, more unfathomable, power has coalesced within the Tower. Okay, me and Zayne were once a whole lot closer (*cough*) than we are now for time uncounted, but that time is now past and we're estranged with each other. In the Divine Tower is the Aengru Spire which contains all the universe's realms within, a divine artifact that Zayne treasures the most. Golden Aenzus circle around it, beaks and feathers like knives. Zayne is their master. (Zayne and his connection to birds is one of my favorite minor details). well, that was the first ten minutes of this myth. what the hell. RE: 3rd Myth Reaction - ChicletPrime - 10-05-2025 you know, i haven't said it yet, but Zayne's hair is ah-mazing. i am so impressed with how they've animated it and the choice to put in rainbow tinsel was inspired. it looks soooo good on him. so we're busy protecting Niava, we meet another "god" named Zayne who declines our offer to carve his named upon my "Destiny Stone". is that another name for the Aengru Spire, that holds all the universe realms inside it? the fact that everything has about four names at once is very confusing. aaaaand when he refused, we pull our blade and attack him, only the blade's light fails before it even reaches him. by which we infer that he's really very strong, and somehow doesn't belong here (?) and he's 'like a sun that belongs to another world'. "If you don't carve your name upon the Destiny Stone, you'll disappear like sand." So, okay, more sand mentions. this seems to imply that Zayne stands outside Destiny? which tracks. but we're worried that means his existence isn't protected in some way? ... next sentence: "Once my name is carved into it, the trajectory of our fates will be inseparable." so I'm trying to get this guy to bind himself to fate, so that he'll stay and help me protect this fragile mortal world. one of an infinite number, i suppose. why is this one so special? And Zayne's kinda angry about it, which also tracks. Zayne: "You've always been like this. You never change." a-HA. so even as Niava's goddess, this isn't my first time on this merry-go-round and Zayne is a lot older than his pretty hair makes him look. wow, shades of meimei here. just because Zayne is here, apparently i claim dibs. and fighting (the black mist stuff?) damages me and now i realize i won't live forever, even if i'm a goddess. so i guess this is why we're pressuring the guy to commit to this world and to me, because he can heal me and i'm greedy. infold, wow. okay. while not on camera, i've draped myself over his lap and i'm busy kissing his eyelids to... uh. sweeten the deal? Zayne's intimating that "us" being together could lead to eternal separation or obliteration. hypothetically speaking. so. if I have Creatio and he has whatever is the opposite of that (Annhilo?) then if we're together and lose our collective heads with universe-spanning sex, we could literally explode all existence? is that the core problem here? we, reckless fools that we are, promise god-marriage and that we'll be super nice to him always. d'aww. and we promise to forever remain by his side. aaaaand we resonate! so much gold, very spangly. so back in the present on Niava, I am reminiscing on old promises and that our names are carved intertwined on the Destiny Stone (still thinking that's the Aengru Spire). oh. the "black mist" is where the "Vastraen" appeared. so... corruption/Wanderers? that would make sense actually because they're corrupting my goddesslike body when i fight them, which is always something that's happening in the modern timeline. and its why Zayne and I god-broke-up? oh, Zayne didn't help fight these things, he just let them eat people. well, mortals you know. always 50,000,000 more where that came from. and one of Zayne's birds just pecked my palm so hard it drew blood and then dived into the Spire. where... it looks like i followed them into it? then it plummets into 'the void' and dies in ash and smoke and a pain strikes my heart. the bloody marks on my palm solidify into a crack and a golden thread entwined in my hair snaps. and now one of the rivers of Niava has ceased to flow. well, now. i am me and i am the world and what affects me affects the world. ... i wanted to 'break into the Vastraen' at one point which is why Zayne and I stopped talking. so the black mist is a barrier / portal thing? the previously mentioned 'thorny barrier' where crossing is a one way journey. and Zayne has stolen the Aengru Spire from the Tower, taking it when i wasn't there. the to the top of the river to see why it stopped flowing and all we can feel is Zayne's power. whatcha doing, boyfriend? A pile of golden birds show up (hi Zayne!) and fly towards the headwaters as a violent wind arises out of nowhere to create towering waves. nice! a monster covered entirely in crystal (now where have i see that before? oh, yeah. EVERYWHERE.) is entrenched, chaotic light swirling around its body, stopping the flow of the river waters. its 'unlike the ones in the Vastraen'. Zayne shows up to kill it with his golden arrows, his face cold and ruthless. i try to leave but the Aenzus grab my dress hem and refuse to let go. If the Aengru Spire and the Aenzu birds follow Zayne's will, then that must mean Zayne doesn't actually want me to leave. /stares off into the distance and thinks about red shackles chaining another wrist. AND THERE'S THE EYE OF THE UNIVERSE AGAIN. oh crap. as we're floating in the limbo between the universe and time, Zayne covers my eyes with his hand (again) and tell me to sleep for a long time (again). That is straight from Snow's Embrace! "There will be a day when we meet again." oh no, he's hurt! Zayne: "If you had woken up any later, you would've been swallowed by the sea of sand." so Sand = Time? he'd sitting against a black stone, half cradling me in his arms as white sand rises and falls around us like waves, a golden barrier keeping this odd sea at bay. We've been swallowed up the monster's protocore. "What's a protocore?" QUESTION OF THE DECADE. oh. i can think of it as its heart. that's.. vague and completely unhelpful. i point out that this place is weird - my body which always needs to be healed is unharmed, but he is covered in wounds when he's normally all-powerful and invincible. which means this 'heart' wants to devour him more than i wants to devour me. so i try and destroy this place without waiting for Zayne to recover strength, transforming (again) in a golden arrow, only i fall back to where he is and he just covers me with his outer robe, before concentrating on restoring his own power. we are now at 28:44 in the video. just over an hour still to go! i find it really funny that even when i tell myself to take only Important and Brief Notes, it all seems super important and i write down, like, everything. RE: 3rd Myth Reaction - ChicletPrime - 10-05-2025 Okay, so this is interesting. "This space doesn't truly exist. It's simply a shadow cast from somewhere else." so.. protocores are projections or reflections from somewhere else? some other reality? the symbols that are carved on the rocks in this place of white sand "might be from the past... or a more distant future." so protocores exist at all times simultaneously? which seems is true of the girlfriend/boyfriends as well. The Prettiest Rain Ever Happens™ per Zayne, the rain is "time itself". well, he would know i guess, at least in this incarnation. .. the dialogue in this section is.. not good. "... it would make me look like a hooligan". a.. hooligan. the localisation team aren't being paid very well and it shows. oh no. the rain stops, he's about to send me back to Niava and... it starts to snow. that cannot be good. like the falling petals on the Tree of Life in the other myth, I guess. every one unique and all fated to die. "this snow is unworthy of your affection." hey, that's a terrible thing to say. i shouldn't love mortal lives? and we fixed the river, yay. uh... we wake up in the Divine Tower and... Zayne is just getting dressed? did we... DID WE? please please please tell me we had thank god we saved ourselves sex. nicely said. if something never dies, nothing new can arise in its place. so protecting Niava and its peoples so vigorously will doom them to stagnation and enervation? gee, where have we seen THAT before? ...and as i am about to hop down out of the bed, he pulls me back by my belt. i am sorry. Zayne is great. he's the least well (voice) acted of all the boyfriends, but if you just take the written word at face value, he's so awesome. his story is fantastic. huh. Zayne is known to some people as the "High Priest". i guess if he's going to wander around in white veils with gold markings all over his pretty skin, he's going to need some sort of cover story or end up kidnapped into a high end brothel. So Zayne stopped me from entering the Vastraen, and he's also 'letting' it erode Niava. ohhhh. so if Zayne (or me?) take any real action against the Vastraen, it would accelerate the destruction. pyhrric victory ahoy! oh great, another child infected with "a lump" on his chest. which Zayne cures by actual medicine and some light surgery? well. okay. no divine intervention needed here, just a whole pile of esoteric knowledge about herbs and the sterile uses of honey. will that somehow be applicable in my specific case as well, with my pain full heart? okay, so my gift is knowledge of "Medicine"? that's actually super helpful. hopefully i won't end up like Prometheus, only heart, not liver. ooookay, so now Zayne is on a quest to teach me all sorts of advancements for civilization. its like i'm watching Civ 5 speed past my eyes. the re-use of backgrounds can sometimes be very jarring. this is the walkway/balcony that I met Xavier on in Philos. yet even as Niava prospers, my body starts to fail, starting at the mostly healed crack in my palm. oops. back in the Divine Tower, Zayne's got a fractured protocore that the monster blocking the river dropped. "At the time... he travelled to (the river)'s source to destroy the magical array he had once created there." what does THAT mean? "Unexpectedly, the array meant to separate two realms had transformed into a massive monster after accumulating energy for countless years." that... that seems very important. Zayne: "If I don't destroy the remaining magical arrays, she and Niava will face an even greater disaster." one of the Golden Aenzu squawks in apparent protest, and Zayne says "Why are you sad? Before everything was created, the ending had already been written." ah yes, lets go find some answers in Limbo. or not. Zayne locked the door this time. Zayne The Lover is sooooo smooth. /swoon OPTIONS: Seduce Him / Make Him Intoxicated i demand this exact scenario for both Sylus and Caleb, damn it. aaand Lavender opts to intoxicate. COWARD. we sit on his lap and apply the wine liberally. Zayne conks out after one glass but i'm not suspicious for more than two heartbeats. back to the Aengru Spire with his pendant! yeah, this is a bad idea, girlfriend. you're not supposed to see anything outside of your own senses, why do you think Zayne keeps it from you? The birds carrying golden threads, dust falling as if from rivers. i open the crack my hand and blood calls to one of the Aenzu so that's Niava's thread. i catch it (?) and we're in the hellscape. A figure in gray robes appears and the bird lands on his shoulder. Okay, its the horned creature from the very beginning. "Deity who has trespassed into Everlost..." oh crap. so whatever Zayne did here, its taken a lot of his power and he's going to meet his end. The figure says he came here for the Creatio stone beyond the Gates, the power to create life and resurrect the dead. It was resting in eternal slumber until 'that god took it.' "The cold that sweeps across eons drags my soul back to blurry yet vivid bloody memories." yeah, Zayne brought us back using the Stone, which means he knew me before we met on Niava, our fates already intertwined. "White bones dance wildly, rivers of blood boil, and thorns (?!) leave crisscrossed bloody marks on a body stripped of power." IT JUST OCCURRED TO ME. EVERLOST. EVER! oh my god. what are the chances? OH MAN. the scales of Anubis .. the stone - and Zayne's heart. "I will give her a new life... and a place to rest. Death shall no longer be her destiny this time." Did he.. did he bleed on the Stone? Lapis lazuli turned to red as it starts to beat like a heart. well, we're not going to let him do THAT again. so we makes our plans to meet our fate on our own terms that don't require a devastating sacrifice, until the day that Zayne invites me to 'go to the Vastraen'. so, bloody hell (heavy on the blood). is the whole problem with the Wanderers and EVER and Philos lost to the destruction of immortality, all to do with the fact that Zayne, keeper of fate, brought back the Creation stone from beyond the veil just to save me with it - and like, doomed EVERYTHING ELSE? if so, i am in awe. wow. video time count: 1:08:01 RE: 3rd Myth Reaction - ChicletPrime - 10-06-2025 okay, into the homestretch of the last half hour. no explanation yet about why Zayne suddenly wants to go to the Vastraen but maybe he saw something with his special eyes. okay, so while Limbo is white sands and golden power and time literally falls like rain, the Vastraen is golden sand, dust and black mist everywhere. apparently now is the time to remove this from the world, where the power needed to destroy it.. well, i guess i am thinking that of course Zayne has a plan, but me, i am thinking Zayne's plan is "now is the time that Niava must fall, sorry girlfriend". so we enter, we start fighting, and then he hands me strangely shaped crystal. Creatio!? no, hang on, i am Creatio. what's this? so the monsters are now dying when slain, instead of coming back. their energy ('hearts') are now exhausted. the protocore he's given me is.. different? "Even though it looks as brilliant as a gemstone, it brings disaster." and i know this just by looking at it somehow? Zayne: "It isn't merely a harbinger of catastrophe. Its true potential lies beyond that. But for now, Niava in its current state cannot utilize its true purpose." I ask if I must wait for another 'time' (literally in quotes). And Zayne.. doesn't answer. so we kill all the monsters, the black mist and thorns disappear into a vortex. And now there's a fissure - a wound left after removing a malignant growth. What, like the kid with a tumor that we saved with honey and herbs? And we leave and we're back where we first met apparently, a place that was long lost and swallowed by the golden sands of the Vastraen. Zayne: "I remember you saying you wanted to claim me as your own when you first saw me." perfection. I have been irresponsibly greedy in every lifetime it seems. What's mine stays mine, forever. now of course i realize that was i thought was our first meeting was only the first for me, and a reunion for him. as we walk under the trees, i don't want to reach the end of this world because then he might leave me. his pendant/chain thing has what looks like stylized wings on it (a representation of the Aenzu birds?) and a twined pair of curves which could be flames or just invoking the caduceus staff. the little medallions have stars on them. lovely, we've crafted (he's crafted?) a world out of time. day and night arrive at our whim, we stay together, never parting. Niava is a "plump seed full of nutrients" but now is not the time to plant it. Zayne: "In a place that infinitesimally far from this world, there are errors I must erase. The proper 'soil' shall only appear when those errors are gone." uh... Destiny Stone?! oh crap, if he erases his name from the Stone (entwined with mine) he'll disappear forever and never return. oh MAN. which, of course, he does. back at the tower, the Aengru Spire is gone. and... yup. snowing outside, for the first time ever in Niava. holy shit, i birdnapped the Aenzu that carried Niava's golden thread and carried me through Everlost. well, this seems kind of clever - the bird is tied to the Spire and will always return to it. and where the Spire is, so is Zayne. okay, we plunge back into Limbo and hear fragments of Zayne's voice which we, of course, know are from other timelines. and there are a few in there that i do not recognize? so... teasers for later? or just cards i haven't read yet? "I will always go to him." awwwwwwwwww HOLY WHAT THE FUCK "Aengru" is a... computer?!? The 'tablets flickering with images' are computer screens?! IT'S DOING CALCULATIONS?!? holy hell and a half, what the blazing... its calculating pathways without fatal flaws - which it hasn't found yet. so Zayne is trying to find a route to sever Niava from... something. I am intrigued and confused. so.. like Xavier is trying to erase the flaw in the past that leads to Philos, Zayne is doing the same thing? this world is so modern, its wild to see Zayne standing in it in his God/High Priest robes. so we have to go to the top floor to disrupt the 'magical array' that will complete the separation of the two worlds, which will let the Aengru Spire reconnect with Niava. So this world brought about its own destruction, chasing again after eternal life, the logical extension of the rise of civilization and its benefits and its now fated to die in a never ending blizzard as its strayed too far down the path of an erroneous natural order. Zayne: "However, within this incorrect order exists a single variable." the massive array now takes the opportunity to become visible, a massive Aenzu struggles out from it, black crystals covering its body. We attack. Zayne: "Imperfect order doesn't need to be corrected. True redemption lies in utter obliteration." And he's all wounded again. The destruction of the Aenzu/monster damaged him? and he's trying to send me away (again). "The severance is complete. This world will no longer corrupt Niava, and it won't drag it down into the abyss." I ask if I am the variable and he says "To be more precise... it is my selfish desire." trailer cutscene! this is the same lighting scheme as the end of Fallen Crown. maaaaan. well, crap. we died (so sad!) and Niava (without us?) falls to snow and ice as well. oh shit. back at the Fractal Library!? a fallen book on the floor, returned to its shelf by the Administrator. a snowflake melts on its binding. just. wow. THAT WAS A LOT. RE: 3rd Myth Reaction - ChicletPrime - 10-06-2025 okay, now that i've gotten through the myth on my own (we thank you for your patience in these trying times) i can go back and read what you come out with (so much more succinctly than i did!) Chapter 1 The number seven seems to crop up a bunch in places. Probably coincidence? Or just that seven and nine are just nice numbers for mystic purposes. So now that we'd gone through this whole myth, Zayne went through all Seven Gates to get to Creatio, and spent all of his divinity to do so, arriving with nearly nothing to face the scales. So he gave the last of his power, his blood and his heart and... succeeded. But he couldn't have died there? It doesn't say how he escaped with it, or if we're just supposed to assume that Everlost let him go because of the magnitude of his sacrifice. But again, if this was the past, how he is he still walking around in the future, with a definite heart in his body. I assuming its all symbolism?  Although. Huh. What if this is an overlap past/future deal? At the end of time he goes to get Creatio and then returns with it back to the past. He has it in the Tower of Thorns (hey, thorns!) and he shoves it in Her heart then. And she has it in Niava without realizing it so.. timey winey shenanigans, as usual? The Vastraen seems to be a place, but I guess we could call the monsters that too. Ye gods, the voice of the Limping Poet indeed - muahaha! On the symbolism of Her turning into/being an arrow -- His arrow, His marked path to destruction? The whole completely unhinged sexual vibe of this myth. Overt, even, this is so thinly veiled it might as well be covered in 1ply chiffon.  I am so, so hopeful for the future, you have no idea. Actually, you have all the idea! That was a glorious keysmash, you should cross-stitch that somewhere :D Chapter 2 When the Aenzu bird dies, taking out a timeline, and a new place is born out of destruction, Zayne's snow seems to be a very pointed inclusion. I am not quite sure what exact thing its trying to say because after watching this myth my brain is fried, but its white snow or white flowers or white sand.. even a white glow. He closed his fist and golden dust/sand trickled out between his fingers and then snow fell around him. Recalling all the lives he just took to start again? And yeah, when she originally thought him a god, a sun that belongs to another world, that was facts. Chapter 3 & 4 I still do not quite grasp the overlay of a protocore = monster's heart to any degree of certitude. I keep trying to think of the Wanderers/Vastraen as living creatures, when maybe they're just some other higher level kind of manifestation? But one of the hint tips that shows on loading screens in the game says that lower level Wanderers can get eaten by higher level ones, so what's the deal there? If you've got any insight into that, I'd love to hear it. Maybe you already told me and I completely failed to file it in the appropriate drawer. And how can we get trapped inside a protocore at all? Is a protocore a singular... event? Event horizon? The World Between Worlds? And yeah, before they get trapped in whatever resides inside a protocore, there's that whole sequence where he closes her eyes and tells her to sleep. Which is exactly what he did in Foreseer's myth, so was that something that actually happened, or was she just "seeing/hearing" it again? And how can Zayne draw a 'magical array' that is unspecified in its purpose that just turns into what I would recognize as a Wanderer/protocore manifestation? Saemyra. I also ship it. No notes. Chapter 5 & 6 & 7 "High Priest" Zayne is a fun little thing to think about. So while he was on the outs with the resident Goddess, he just wandered around taking her name in vain and randomly healing people? I guess you have to fill eternity with something, I suppose, while you're waiting for your ex to come back to Her senses and yank you in by Your power collar for a booty call to end the ages. Zayne always called to the healing arts is a lovely thing. God meant to end the world, all worlds, travelling around incognito just making life a little better for all the furiously busy little ants and their tiny baby children. These two are all over each other, I am both impressed and vaguely wistful. The fact that she keeps trying to distract him with kisses, wine and lap crawling is so cash money of her, I can only applaud. Chapter 8 & 9 I did not catch whatever reference was there to Death & Rebirth, since I have no idea what that was. Did I mention it at all? Or did it sail right by? MY BRAIN HURTS TOO. What the heck, Infold. Zayne's VA rose above and beyond and ascended into light. That whole ending sequence came out of the very far left - for ONCE, the trailer did not spoil the main plot point and I am So Pleased. I am going to have to watch that last sequence all over again, because I am pretty sure I only understood about 60% of it. I don't think that was the end of Earth and our modern EVER to be honest, but it could be, sure. It just seems a little too on the nose, you know? I may concede on a rewatch though. The final piece in the Fractal Library was *chef's kiss*, agreed.  That the variable itself isn't the MC in Her gucci boots at all, but the fact that she * exists * and because of her existence, Destiny is subverted because the manifestation of it loves her. Where does Astra fit into all of this? Is that still a thing, over and above Zayne as the Si-Ming? Holy fuck... that line in Snow's Embrace - "There is no sign of her becoming a variable."  Because in that timeline, he didn't love her (yet)! He was still holding himself actually aloof and I guess her personality was abrasive enough that nothing had warped out of true / he wasn't (yet) swayed from his course.  /mind asplode RE: 3rd Myth Reaction - Coldsaturn - 10-06-2025 I was SO sure I had added some more comments to my post here but now I can't see them. oh well. - There was a very specific reason I linked the video I used to watch the myth, and it's precisely because Lavender censored everything and consistently chose the less spicy options! I request that you do two things: 1) check the first kindled scene where they give you both outcome options to the lip biting. If you bite him he heals the little wound and you try to run away (clue the leash), but if you don't complete the action in time with the trigger then it's very delicious. 2) that scene on the balcony where she can either seduce him or intoxicate him, watch the seduce option! (the video I linked has it) - Yes to his hair! They really did such a good job. I'll confess I'm not really into his hairstyle in the present timeline, there's something about his bangs and how his hair curves that bothers me but I can't pinpoint exactly what's wrong. Maybe it's just a matter of proportions and balance with his face. Anyway, long hair fixed it entirely, I'm very very happy with the result. - "This space doesn't truly exist. It's simply a shadow cast from somewhere else." The wedding banner card and its temporarily created spaces. - "but if you just take the written word at face value, he's so awesome." 100% agree. I truly think he would shine in novel format. It's interesting how his other VAs give him a slightly different vibe, but yeah, there's always the fact that he's animated like a proper kuudere. - "If I don't destroy the remaining magical arrays, she and Niava will face an even greater disaster." The whole thing with the arrays was kinda difficult to follow for me, but I think that was him blocking the points of contact between Niava and that other very close world that was already on its way to destruction. That world collapsing would drag Niava with it (I think?) so Zayne was trying to save MC's world by isolating it from everything else, so that it could stay suspended in time and never die. But swimming against the current of fate was only going to accelerate its death (the arrays turning into monsters, calamities falling on the world etc.), so in the end Zayne opted for fixing whatever he could and let Niava follow its original path (while he tried to find a way to send MC somewhere else?). - "is the whole problem with the Wanderers and EVER and Philos lost to the destruction of immortality, all to do with the fact that Zayne, keeper of fate, brought back the Creation stone from beyond the veil just to save me with it - and like, doomed EVERYTHING ELSE?" We still don't have canon evidence that one LI's route is influencing the others that directly. This is fuel for a lot of fandom wars ("my LI is the origin!" "my LI is more important!" "my LI is endgame!") and I don't think infold would go that way. It's safe to assume that in Zayne's route he might be the cause of the mess with fate. More than that, and you'd have Zayne destined to kill the LIs who are going against predetermined fate (Raf and Xav on top of the list). - "IT'S DOING CALCULATIONS?!?" One of the comments that I was sure I had posted mentioned that the specific route that is mentioned in the myth starts with Z (Zayne?) and then follows with the date of his birth. Possibly hinting at the fact that the computer was talking about the present timeline. Interestingly, it says that it's not a successful path. - "this world is so modern" It's a direct reference to a World Underneath text! In the other thread where I listed the remaining texts you have to read there's a little summary for each and you'll see which one ties into this myth. - "timey winey shenanigans, as usual?" With Zayne more than with any other LI, you have to always think about alternative universes and alternative timelines. Xav's new myth was an alternative sequel to his other myth (only we erased that sequel because it had a bad ending), Raf's new myth was a sequel to his other myth (and as far as we know, it's all linear till the present timeline because Raf has quotes that mirror that myth like he remembers it), but Zayne's isn't tied to his other myths if not for recurring themes and fate. You know a bit about the Fractal Library, and the fact that at the end of the myth it's revealed we had just witnessed the events of one book tells you that we were just seeing one possible route/world of infinite other routes/worlds. So we don't have to ask ourselves how the Cratio stone ended up in Astra's hands (who then entrusted it to Zayne?) if it was Zayne's before, because those are different worlds. We didn't get any mention or reference to Astra in this myth, so I think we can assume Astra doesn't exist here. - For protocores you're still missing a World Underneath text and a whole video essay about it. That should help you put a few things in order, still considering how we don't have that many info in the canon story anyway. - "I did not catch whatever reference was there to Death & Rebirth" Your luck is that you haven't read all his cards, so D&R got lost in between the other quotes you also didn't recognize! - "I don't think that was the end of Earth and our modern EVER to be honest" I can confirm it's not, because of that World Underneath reference I mentioned! But whenever humans try to gain immortality, things always seem to go very, very wrong. - "Because in that timeline, he didn't love her (yet)!" Or, more directly, because they hadn't fucked lol But yes, I love the idea that MC being the variable doesn't have to do with /her/ specifically, but more with the fact that Zayne loves her, thus making her a variable in the rigid web of fate he knows he can't and shouldn't escape. Which ties into Astra erasing his memories of her, and forbidding him from looking into his own fate (because he would then see her). RE: 3rd Myth Reaction - ChicletPrime - 10-07-2025 the SEDUCE HIM option was... yeah. I am so glad nobody walked into the office during that because that was steamy as all get out. We own the Tower and we own him, so cough it up, Zayne. /shoves him off the couch and onto the blissfully cool floor for the next three hours Zayne's kisses are magical. I didn't think of champagne corks even once. I had to look up the word "kuudere" and yes, absolutely. the boy has smitten mittens and i can only be sad for him in timelines where i'm an idiot child. I didn't catch that the route Aengru was calculating was Z-BIRTHDAY coded. That's super interesting and yes, would pretty specifically point to our "present" timeline and its ultimate destruction past Doctor and Dawnbreaker's times. Is it possible that when we die in this timeline, that's when Zayne created the portals to link the present world to Niava and took us there to reincarnate in a safe place? And that why when our world finally collapses under its fate, he was trying to sever that link to keep us trapped in that paradise? I have a tendency to want to conflate all the boyfriends route/paths into a single narrative but I do know that really doesn't work, I promise. I just get excited about the parallels and the cross-contamination, when really its all a flaky croissant of layers stacked on top of buttery layers. But we know from the main story that they DO exist around each other, its not completely separate at all, so there has to be SOME way this all links together, right? Even if Xavier and Rafayel's paths do seem to contradict Zayne's at times. But then again, Zayne's path is literally above the others, he's in charge of all worlds and all paths - even if Rafayel is a god, he's a god of a single ... I want to say world, but maybe its more 'facet'. And he's more of an avatar of the Deep, is he not? /gets deep into the metaphysical weeds one day i will build that damned mind map to link off of this stuff together - it breaks my brain in the best way, honestly, i love thinking about this stuff on work time. RE: 3rd Myth Reaction - Coldsaturn - 10-09-2025 "I didn't think of champagne corks even once" I burst out laughing. Caleb's EN VA, please make those kisses a little moist! I like your recursive plot where the end of our present timeline triggers the beginning of an ancient myth like the Niava one! The fact that "the computer" told Zayne that our current timeline is not the right one broke me a little though. I'm seriously hoping we're playing the route that goes toward a happy ending, but I have this nagging thought that all the romantic cards we have that go past the main story calendar are a future we'll never get to see ourselves because we'll blow up before that. Yeah they do know of one another (or at least, some LIs know of some other LIs, but they don't know them as love rivals; Raf is the only one I think that explicitly says "there's still time to care for someone else" to give MC an out), and I do believe they are actively influencing each other by influencing EVER. In the myths the others don't seem to exist, that's for sure, except for those that take place in the present timeline. The game is certainly doing an odd mesh of universes by insistently not going the poly route while at the same time not separating the LIs' paths in a clear way. It was already bad before in the main story, but at least they tried to separate the branches as much as they could. You'll see in D&R how bad it will get (to the point that there was some fandom infighting). That being said, I LOVE putting them all together in a single timeline. And so long as playing with that option doesn't confuse you (since the plot is already confusing enough on its own), you have my full support and blessing. The pantheon hierarchy is a bit complicated because a lot of it is very Chinese and what's not traditional to their culture is a melting pot of everything else they could think of. For example, there was a lot of talk about Foreseer Zayne and the localization choice of calling him a demi-god, which implies he is below the full god Astra. And what about Master of Fate? Is he a God god? Or is he a Master, divinity in status compared to normal humans, but still not up there with full-fledged gods? God of Annihilation in charge of killing worlds sounds divine enough, but then when Zayne is in his "Divine Tower" he explains that in that world those who had mastered the laws of the universe were considered gods. Which would imply that knowledge could make one ascend to "godhood" no matter his birth. So is he a god above gods, or is he a master of the laws of the universe, thus able to appear as a god to those who don't know those laws? I do tend to approach the LaDS pantheon as similar to the Greek one (just to name one I am fairly familiar with). Each god might represent a different facet of reality, and this reality might be the entire reality for the single timeline we see them in, or just one possible out of many, allowing for the coexistence of more gods. "he's more of an avatar of the Deep, is he not?" We would have to say the same for Zayne, though. He is a god of annihilation in this myth, a demigod working under another god (unless we consider the theory Astra=Zayne) in another, in MoF he's not even the only one doing the job if we consider the old man. You're missing a few details about the Fractal Library from the WU, but we can already see that in Foreseer Zayne was in charge of it, and in this myth we see another man working as admin. If it's a single "power" related to fate we're talking about, it's passing through different people. There is talk in the fandom that all the guys might be some form of primordial divinity, and of course we can then speculate that they're all supposed to be one single entity which has been split in 5 because of space-time mumbo jumbo. /stops talking and realizes she's the only one in the room