An Ark That Used to Be a Soul
Last updated 2026-09-10
An Ark That Used to Be a Soul is the first and only quest of the World Quest Series Her Palace Collapses Into the Blizzard.
Steps
- Collect all Eye of Graeae fragments (0/3)
- Talk to the Eye of Graeae
- Open the door leading to the Court of Bliss
- Talk to Aksinya
- Catch up with Aksinya
- Leap into the Shadow Realm
- Catch up with Aksinya
- Talk to Aksinya
- Defeat Aksinya
- Defeat the Primordial Human
- Find a way out of the situation
- Follow the path to get behind the Primordial Human
- Defeat the Primordial Human
- Remove the "nerves" from the train
- Talk to Paimon
Gameplay Notes
- The player can attempt to open the door to the Court of Eternal Bliss prior to collecting all Eye of Graeae fragments, but the White Birch will immediately regrow.
- Upon collecting all 3 Eye of Graeae fragments, Co-Op Mode is disabled, including access to Serenitea Pot and Miliastra Wonderland.
- During the sequence between steps 5 to 8 when catching Aksinya, the Eye of Graeae (Gadget) will be removed from the player's inventory, thus disabling the gathering/use of any Kresnik Energy related gameplay and removing the Cold accumulation guard, causing the Traveler to immediately build up the bar. Once caught up, the gadget will be returned to the player normally.
- During the chase in the Shadow Realm the player will temporary have all ammunition set to 0. Once exiting, the ammo counts will be back their previous numbers.
- If the player dies while fighting the Primordial Human, they will be returned to the Court of Eternal Bliss and have to restart the fight with step 10.
- During step 13 after the Eye of Graeae activates its "Overloaded annihilation mode," only Balsag's Sunwheel will be available to use with infinite ammo.
- Near the end of the fight against the Primordial Human, many Prime Ice cubes will appear and form a ramp that leads behind the boss. The owners of these cubes are players that earned the achievement For Every Future You.
- Completing this quest awards the Snezhnaya: Sacred city of ice and pale star (I) achievement A Thousand Affections Caught in a Sigh.
- After completing this quest, placing a Prime Ice Cube at the indicated spot at the Court of Eternal Bliss awards the Wonders of the World achievement For Every Future You.
Dialogue
Quest DescriptionYou must obtain the power that was separated from the Eye of Graeae so that the Eye can return and regain its body...
- (After obtaining all three fragments)
- Paimon: Hmm... Paimon thinks we have recovered all of Goggles' body parts and power by now...
- Eye of Graeae: Yes... Like Miss Paimon says, I have recovered all my power.
- Paimon: That means we can go to the door to that "Court of Bliss" place now, right?
Step DescriptionNow that you have obtained all power fragments for the Eye of Graeae, it's time for you to head to the Courtyard of Carefree Light to reclaim its body...
- (Approach the door on the higher level of The Ruined Hvergelmir)
- Paimon: Hmm... The Court of Bliss. Now that we've gathered all of Goggles' power...
- Eye of Graeae: We should be able to open the door to this weird tree now, and Goggles should be able to get his body back too, right?
- Eye of Graeae: According to... the one who created me, yes.
- Paimon: Your creator...? Ah, could that be the strange woman we ran into earlier?
How rude! What do you mean, "strange woman"!?- Paimon: Paimon definitely doesn't mean the strange woman you're talking about right now!
- Paimon: ...You know, the one who appeared in that mumbly-jumbly town with the firebird, and in that castle full of Snegovik. Paimon remembers her name was Ak...
- Eye of Graeae: Miss Aksinya, yes. Judging from the memories I have recovered so far, she was once a member of the Belyi Tsar's research organization, Hvergelmir...
- Eye of Graeae: She created me so that I might... guide a certain mighty power, and create a "Tomorrow" — a world where no one would ever suffer again...
- Eye of Graeae: A land that has cast aside envy, hatred, and selfish desire. A "Court of Bliss" held aloft by the hands of all living beings. Thus...
- Eye of Graeae: "Thus shall a radiant world descend, where there will be no distinction between human and human, nor between human and god."
- Paimon: A world where there's no distinction between humans and gods? Hmm... Paimon can't even imagine how you'd make that happen...
- Eye of Graeae: "A pure world of mankind, where gods need not wield divine power, and humans need not rely on gods."
- Eye of Graeae: ...That is the outcome of the plan, as I remember it.
- Eye of Graeae: But as for how it was to be accomplished... I'm sorry, but I do not know the full scope of the final plan. To the plan as a whole, I was nothing more than a "tool" within it.
- Paimon: Oh, Paimon gets it! Goggles is like a crafting bench. It can craft all kinds of amazing things, but a crafting bench doesn't run around eating up its own materials.
- Eye of Graeae: That is a very apt analogy. However, if I may, Miss Paimon, in present-day Snezhnaya, alchemy is not an officially supported field of study...
- Paimon: R-Right... Well, there's no one else around that can hear us anyway!
- Eye of Graeae: ...But should I truly seek out the final power?
- Eye of Graeae: What if, after we open the door, what I get back are not the ones I wished to recover? What should I do then?
- Eye of Graeae: What if... What if that's the only reason I was created, the purpose I was destined for...?
- Then don't decide yet. Wait until you remember.
- Paimon: Yeah! It's definitely not good to decide when you don't know anything yet. No matter what, you've gotta remember everything first!
- What's wrong with a crafting bench wanting to craft!?
- Paimon: Exactly! And if anyone's to blame, it's whoever misused the crafting bench!
- Paimon: Wah, this is all your fault... Now Paimon can't stop imagining a crafting bench going "huff, huff" like some kind of dog!
- Paimon: Anyway... Goggles has helped us out a lot! Even if that wasn't what Goggles was originally created for, Goggles has still been really useful to us!
- When that time comes, just come back to us.
- Eye of Graeae: ...Is that so?
- Paimon: Besides, we already talked about all the things we're going to do together when you get your body back! Warming up by the fire, having snowball fights, running around on the ice fields... We promised!
- Eye of Graeae: Yes. I look forward to... adventuring together with you both after I recover my body.
- Eye of Graeae: Though I have thought this countless times throughout our journey... I am truly glad that you were the one to bring me out of that place, and that I was able to meet you both.
- Eye of Graeae: The final power... All the answers lie beyond this door...
- Eye of Graeae: Now, please open it.
- (Enter the door on the higher level of The Ruined Hvergelmir)
- Paimon: Does this mean that flesh and blood must be brought back in front of this door...?
- Paimon: Is that... how the door can be opened?
- (Interact with the Tsar's White Birch blocking the door)
- Enable
- Eye of Graeae: This is where the entrance to the Court of Bliss is. Should I try to return my powers to this place and open the gate...?
- Yes, it's time to return...
- Eye of Graeae: Let's perform the return ceremony then, and open the gate to the courtyard...
- (The Traveler holds out their hand)
- (Tooltip)
-
- Hold to consume Kresnik Energy and open the door to "The Court of Bliss."
- No, let's come back to this later...
- Eye of Graeae: Yes. It may be better to come back to this when you're more prepared.
- (If you fail the return ceremony)
- The gate failed to open. It appears you have either not yet gathered all of the Eye of Graeae's power, or your Kresnik Energy is insufficient.
- (After clearing the seal)
- Paimon: We're finally in. That felt really cold just now.
- Paimon: We should be able to reconstruct Goggles' body, now right? ...Hold on, where's Goggles?
- Goggles...?
- Eye of Graeae...?
- Paimon: What's going on!? Even those blue lenses have disappeared...
- Aksinya: There is no cause for concern... The once-fragmented body, along with the consciousness bound to inanimate matter, have all returned to where they rightfully belong.
- Aksinya: You may leave the Eye of Graeae in my keeping for a time. In my estimation, it is a form of homecoming for it anyhow.
- Paimon: A—Aksinya! It's you...!
- Aksinya: Yes. I'm glad to see that you remember my name, Paimon.
- Paimon: Goggles...
- Aksinya: Don't worry, he will come to. Just maybe not so soon, that's all.
- Paimon: Oh, so he's getting his body back, right? Good as new? He'll be back to his original human form?
- Aksinya: No, he will not. He will inhabit "another's form" and metamorphose into the true "Proto-Man." I suppose this might be slightly different from what you imagined.
- Paimon: Hold on... This is all a little confusing. Didn't he want his old body back?
- Aksinya: Not really.
- Aksinya: He knows nothing because he has completely forgotten the past. To think that "reclaiming his old body" is the only thought driving him... Perhaps that in itself is a cruelty.
- Aksinya: But reclaiming his old body was never his true purpose from the beginning. That was all merely preparation for assimilating into, and reforging, a form of an even higher order.
- Aksinya: This is something he should come to comprehend once his memory is made whole.
- Paimon: "Assimilating and being changed into a form of an even higher order..." Eh, are you saying that his body and powers will all go into someone else's body?
- Aksinya: Yes, that would be right.
- Paimon: But how is that gonna happen when his body's already gone...?
- I see now. You're thinking of using Paimon's body.
- Paimon: What? No way!!! But... hmm... if it's for Goggles, Paimon supposes she could make a little room for him...
- Aksinya: Hahaha! I fear that assimilating him into Paimon's body will only bring about other complications.
- You're not looking at me, are you?
- Aksinya: Hahaha! A most amusing notion. Your existence is such that none in this world can touch or diminish it.
- Aksinya: Naturally, it follows that none in this world is able to assimilate or reforge you. That renders you a most unbefitting choice.
- Aksinya: It isn't hard to piece together, (Traveler). There is indeed a vessel left here at the Pale Crown Palace, where the old king of the northern realm has been interred...
- Are you talking about... the Belyi Tsar's body?
- Paimon: Huh? The Belyi Tsar? But he's been dead for so many years! He can't be anything more than a pile of bones by now...
- Aksinya: His Majesty is different. His body... has remained alive even after the passing of his consciousness.
- Aksinya: Think of him as the "Tsar's White Birch." In truth, we're speaking of the ever-growing "nerves" of his husk, a shell that never truly perished, forever extending outward in longing. Hmm, the white birch... it scarcely resembles a tree, does it?
- Aksinya: And five centuries on, His Majesty's body has yet to cease its longing...
- Paimon: What...? So the Belyi Tsar's body is still alive? After all this time??? But how can it be...?
- Aksinya: You must admit, his existence is truly unique. Although he was not a Descender, he was of noble birth nevertheless. He was the culmination of Hyperborea's most advanced technologies, a being with a soul bestowed through nothing less than light itself...
- Aksinya: The Hyperboreans even attempted to forge his body from the flesh and blood of the Primordial Cryo Dragon, just to give him authority equal to The One.
- Paimon: "The One"? Who?
- Aksinya: A will born alongside Teyvat, the master of the Light Realm's power at the very beginning, and the King of all Dragon Lords: Nibelung.
- Aksinya: Ever since his destruction, the place of Primordial Human, or Narayana, has sat vacant.
- Aksinya: But in the heavens above, the cold blades of the ruler who must not be named... Ha, or should I say, the long nails of theirs... continued to hang high and pitiless over the world. And so...
- They... sought to create their own gods.
- Paimon: So that's why they created the Belyi Tsar... But they couldn't possibly have called him that at the time. Did they call him the Primordial Human or something then?
- Aksinya: Though they attempted to create the Primordial Human, the experiment went out of control. Otherwise, the Golden City would still be standing tall upon this land today... and we would not be standing atop this frozen expanse instead.
- Aksinya: According to the record fragments we found inside the Shadow Realm, the corpse of the Cryo Dragon Sovereign and their unchecked authority turned the whole of Snezhnaya into the Holy Soil of primordial ice.
- Aksinya: Even the ley lines in the area were affected, to the point that they became veins of pure crystal... That is, until that being witnessed this and sent their heavenly nail crashing down.
- Paimon: Ow... But um, since the experiment was a failure, how did the Belyi Tsar come about?
- Aksinya: It spun out of control, but it was not a failure... A thousand years after that experiment and its cataclysmic impact finally cleared, His Majesty awoke from the remains of the Cryo Dragon.
- Aksinya: However, his power was not fully complete, as the experiment was never brought to its conclusion... And by that time, Hyperborea had already sunk into the Shadow Realm, and the only ones seen in the land of ice and snow were the fae...
- Aksinya: While most people believe the Belyi Tsar to be some kind of extraordinarily powerful fae, his true identity is far more noble...
- Aksinya: Hyperborea, which had created him, had already perished. He could have left it behind with ease. But he chose to accept it... He accepted that he was the failed product of the Primordial Human project.
- Aksinya: And that... included accepting all the responsibilities and consequences that came with it.
- Aksinya: He was even willing to embrace humankind in this frozen land that swarmed with monsters, and he remained willing to... become the true Primordial Human.
- Aksinya: This was a love, a grand and all-encompassing benevolence that we must never betray.
- Aksinya: And Goggles... was the "Proto Man" that was created after countless experiments, and the Key that would allow His Majesty to become the Primordial Human.
- Aksinya: This... is something that should have been started a long time ago. And now, it has become His Majesty's final wish...
- Aksinya: But thanks to the two of you, (Traveler) and Paimon, we can now complete his grand design.
- Aksinya: Make no mistake, this is no light undertaking. It is an endeavor I had originally planned to spend twenty years completing.
- Paimon: Hehe! Paimon doesn't really get what you're talking about, but Paimon will happily accept your thanks anyway!
- So what happens after...?
- I mean, once the Primordial Human is complete...
- Paimon: Oh, that's right! You keep talking about that "Courtyard of Carefree Light." What even is that place supposed to be...?
- Aksinya: "Thus is the world of tomorrow... a realm that had cast aside envy, hatred, and selfish desire. All shall be able to love one another as in the very beginning, and this love shall be, in nature, everlasting."
- Aksinya: "Thus shall a radiant world descend, where there will be no distinction between human and human, nor between human and god."
- Aksinya: At least, that was the vision he described to us. But I understand it differently... The "love" he spoke of was simply a kind of spiritual overflow.
- Aksinya: It's just that this overflow runs dry beneath the weight of countless sorrows. And so, those who once poured love begin to drain it from others, the selfless turn into hoarders, and trust is supplanted by fear and suspicion.
- Paimon: Um... Paimon doesn't get what you're saying at all...
- Aksinya: Hmm. You are quite fond of eating, are you not, Paimon? Take the "Sweet Madame," for instance. You must have found it utterly delicious the very first time you tasted it.
- Paimon: That's right! Paimon even had two whole birds in one go!
- Aksinya: Yes... But it did not taste quite as delicious the second time, did it? And by the third, the pleasure had faded even further... Eventually, a day will come when you find yourself completely sick of it altogether.
- Paimon: No way! Paimon will never get sick of eating Sweet Madame! Paimon knows for a fact that... But... Wait... Hmm. You're actually right, though. It really was the most delicious the very first time Paimon had it...
- Aksinya: Then, you will find yourself craving something even more delicious. This cycle will repeat itself, time and again, simply because you seek to fill the void left by the memory of that very first bite.
- Aksinya: And that void is precisely where countless desires and wicked deeds are born. But what if it worked the other way around? What if you could get that exact same feeling out of everything you eat, whenever you eat it, no matter how many times you've had it before?
- Paimon: Wow, that sounds like some kinda dream world...
- Aksinya: This is the world of tomorrow. In this world, no matter what you do, your heart shall always brim with that feeling, that sense of being touched at your very core. And of those feelings, love would be the most apparent of all...
- Aksinya: It is a kind of love that can never be extinguished, a love that is unchanging and everlasting. And such a world, brimming with such eternal love, will become a realm free from worry and pain thereafter.
- But it would also be a world where change is no more.
- Aksinya: Yes. That is because... time and change are what ravage all things. Every second that passes is a second that erodes the everlastingness of love.
- Paimon: Wait, what do you mean by "change is no more"?
- It means whatever you eat, they will all end up tasting the same...
- Paimon: Huh? Hold on, how does that make any sense?!
- Paimon: Ah! So it's like... because everything you eat makes you feel super, super happy, it doesn't matter what you eat anymore?
- Aksinya: That is right... You really are quite the clever little thing, Paimon.
- Aksinya: The first step in shaping this world is to use the Shadow Realm... Light may soon cast its gaze toward the shadow, but that would still take some time...
- Aksinya: We shall blanket the whole of Snezhnaya in the shadow realm, and then the entire world, so that all love may stand unchanging in a space with no beginning and no end... Thus shall we bring forth the Courtyard of Carefree Light.
- Aksinya: Choice would lose meaning, while the difference between the chosen and unchosen will dissipate. In a world like this, I reckon even the Abyss would become lovable.
- Paimon: No way! Ugh...
- Paimon: Goggles said he wants to get his body back and go on all sorts of adventures with us! Goggles would never, ever want a world like this!
- Aksinya: No matter. There shall be a place for all of you in this carefree world — for (Traveler), for Paimon, and even for the Proto-Man — whether you are willing or not.
- That's not a world I'm interested in either way...
- Aksinya: A true pity. I thought this was something upon which we would share a common understanding. But that matters not, for the final understanding shall eventually come.
- Aksinya: I assume this means you will now try to stop me... But I have no desire to raise my hand against you nevertheless. This, then, is my choice.
- (Aksinya teleports away)
- Paimon: No, you're not going anywhere!
- (After the dialogue)
- Paimon: Quickly, she's over there... We've gotta catch up with her!
Step DescriptionTo stop Aksinya and keep the will within the Eye of Graeae from being used by her, you must catch up to her...
- (Pursue Aksinya and approach an icicle that begins to fall)
- Paimon: Watch out, (Traveler)!
- Aksinya: You truly are persistent. But can you really catch up with me?
- (Aksinya teleports further away, opens a portal to the Shadow Realm, and leaps inside)
- Paimon: She's jumped in! Quick, we've gotta...
- (After entering the Shadow Realm and approaching Aksinya)
- Paimon: So long as we keep chasing her, she won't be able to tamper with Goggles!
- Aksinya: That seems naive. Just as the mansion was Pavlina's ritual grounds, and Koshchei controlled Flamefeather Valley...
- Aksinya: I have been set up here for a very long time. Even as you pursue me, the rite continues.
- (Use a Freeze Mark to get closer to Aksinya)
- Paimon: Ah, look! There she is!
- (Approach Aksinya as she teleports away onto the train carriages)
- Paimon: Ugh, appearing ahead of us yet again, huh...
- (After passing over the trains)
- Paimon: Please be okay... Goggles...
- (Enter the portal)
- (The player returns to the Court of Eternal Bliss)
- (Approach Aksinya)
- Aksinya: It's done. Now, all we have to do is... wait a little while longer...
- Paimon: Wha... What is that? It's huge, and kinda weird, too...
- (The camera pans to show a huge mechanical being under the Tsar's White Birch)
- Paimon: Wait, no, that's not the point!
- Paimon: You're being so horrible, Aksinya! Just give us back Goggles!
- Aksinya: Looks like the two of you are really fond of the Eye of Graeae... If only my former colleague was able to see the value of this creation as well.
- Aksinya: ...Although the physical body has begun to transform, the consciousness has yet to take root... His Majesty...
- Paimon: Ah! This is...
- Aksinya: This was the original body of the Tsar. But it would change into the form of a fae whenever speaking with us or traveling alongside other fae.
- Aksinya: Unable to maintain his avatar after death, he reverted to his original state, a magnificent, almost transcendental form.
- Aksinya: Have I ever told you this before? That the faces of the Proto-Man were actually modeled after the visage of His Majesty the Belyi Tsar's human manifestation?
- Just give us back Goggles...
- Paimon: Mmhmm! Paimon has zero interest in whatever you were babbling on about just now...
- Aksinya: Very well. Here.
- Aksinya: The Eye of Graeae was always built to host the Proto-Man's consciousness... Such that he would not disappear after offering his flesh and blood to His Majesty...
- Aksinya: It was originally meant to preserve "him."
- Aksinya: Now, since it is no longer useful to me, I shall therefore make a gift of it to you. I trust that you will find a good use for it.
- Aksinya: I hereby transfer its ownership to... (Traveler).
- Paimon: ...And Goggles?
- Eye of Graeae: Restored to original state. The Eye of Graeae is now at your service...
- This isn't him.
- Paimon: This isn't Goggles at all! This is just... a tool. It's nothing more than an empty shell!
- Aksinya: I'm sorry. Its consciousness should already be part of the Primordial Human by now, to serve as the core of the Velikan of Light.
- Aksinya: This is something I am unable to return to you. But don't worry, you will no longer grieve this soon, since...
- ???: ...*sigh*
- Aksinya: Because the Primordial Human has awoken.
- Primordial Human: (Traveler), Paimon... and Aksinya, too.
- Paimon: Goggles...?
- Primordial Human: Yes, it is I... I now remember everything. Much time has passed... both for you, Aksinya, and for me.
- Primordial Human: Fate truly is absurd. This is exactly the scenario that I strove to avoid when I was still in my prototypical form.
- Aksinya: That's just how fate is. It pushes you to the cliff's edge, like the worst of nemeses.
- Paimon: A situation you had to avoid...?
- Primordial Human: Yes, and that is why I tried to persuade Koshchei, Pavlina, and Alvis to stop her before she decided to begin the final experiment.
- Primordial Human: After all, the authority that the Primordial Human wields may as well be a deadly venom to humans and fae, who carry mixed desires within them...
- Paimon: Wait... So that blue algae thing, that Snegurochka, and the Domovoy Grand Duke from Novokitezhgrad... They betrayed Aksinya because of you?
- Paimon: Awww!
- Primordial Human: I promised them they could both stop Aksinya in and gain what they wanted in this way.
- Primordial Human: Each of them was driven in their own way by their ideals, or perhaps ambitions, that would see them transcend all life. That proved simple to use.
- Primordial Human: By contrast, our dear Aksinya, our lovely Aksinya... The resolve she possessed seemed all the more unusual, did it not?
- Primordial Human: And so, I incited them to divide me up, to split me into pieces, and to betray Aksinya...
- Primordial Human: For if I were to become the Primordial Human, become a transcendent one... Just as I am now... That would mean that the world was about to undergo an inexorable revolution.
- Primordial Human: The "beast" mocked me, for it believed its mission fulfilled. And I, despite fleeing my duties with all my mind, wound up here all the same.
- You don't want to become the Primordial Human.
- You don't wish to create a new world...
- Primordial Human: Yes, because... *sigh* Aksinya...
- Primordial Human: You left no place for yourself in the world that would be born from these fresh schematics, did you?
- Paimon: Ehh!?
- Aksinya: ...Yes. I am willing to believe in a nation of love everlasting. I believed in His Majesty the Tsar, and in his wish.
- Aksinya: But those who have lost faith in love must be banished from the new world, the realm of eternal love. I do not have the right to enter that world.
- Primordial Human: Banishment? It is more akin to being slain, I rate. Eternal love, eternal overflow, eternal joy... Those who trust not to love and joy cannot enter this realm.
- Primordial Human: But it is precisely one who does not trust either who could fashion such a cruel plan. This, the "loving" Belyi Tsar had long realized.
- Aksinya: And that is why he is great. He chose me. This is my duty, my sole purpose for living. Even if I cannot step into the new world...
- Aksinya: I wish to see its descent with my own eyes, to see it rise from a cornerstone forged from my corpse.
- Aksinya: ...And as for you? Do you still believe that an eternity of love can be attained without His Majesty's plan?
- Aksinya: Alvis, Koshschei, and Pavlina... Their pursuits have melted away like snow... None can resist the erosion of time, the withering of the spirit, the shriveling of dreams.
- Aksinya: So many have given up so much in the fight to keep a joyous spirit... But none have succeeded.
- Aksinya: What choice can you make at this point?
- Primordial Human: None. You know this as well, Aksinya, that I could not refuse you once I had recalled all, what more, now that I have become the Primordial Human.
- Paimon: Wait, Goggles... Are you really gonna open the gate to the Court of Bliss?
- Might there be another choice?
- Primordial Human: You have my utmost thanks, you two, for giving me the chance to give up even at this stage.
- Primordial Human: But... Alas, I cannot let her plans come to naught. So, if you wish not to see this come to pass... Please, stop both of us.
- Primordial Human: But before that, (Traveler), I would like to show Aksinya something... I'd like you to answer a question of mine.
- Primordial Human: You seek your sibling, and you have traveled the world to understand (her/
him), to seek the things that you missed out experiencing alongside (her/ him), to stand before (her/ him). - Primordial Human: But if the gap between you is too great, and you, in the end, find that (she/
he) is not what you imagined, that your once-beloved kin is kin no longer... - Primordial Human: That (she/
he) has changed and become another person, someone you never imagined (she/ he) might... - Paimon: What!? Why would that ever happen? (Traveler)'s (sister/
brother) wouldn't change! - Primordial Human: This is but a hypothetical scenario. Do not be alarmed, Paimon.
- Primordial Human: What would you do, (Traveler)? I'd... like to know your answer.
- If (she/
he) changes... - Then I will learn to love (her/
him) once again... - No matter how many times I have to do it.
- Aksinya: ...
- Primordial Human: Thank you, (Traveler). That was wonderful. Better by far than any answer I imagined I would get.
- Primordial Human: The time has come, and the Courtyard shall soon activate. It is a shame...
- Primordial Human: "But what's to be done? Whomsoever loves should share the burden of destiny with the ones he loves."
Step DescriptionTo stop Aksinya and the Primordial Human, you have no choice but to fight them, before The Courtyard of Carefree Light opens...
- (While fighting Aksinya)
- Aksinya: The Primordial Human will eventually emerge. All the plans of fate will move toward this end... Why do you wish to stop it?
- Paimon: We don't want this result!
- Aksinya: "Want" itself is a luxury. It brings about unnecessary trouble...
- Aksinya: Once the Court of Bliss is opened, you will no longer "want" anything...
- (When Aksinya reaches 5% HP)
- (She summons three Prime Ice Cubes in front of her and performs a coordinated attack with the Primodial Human)
- (The Traveler is pulled into the Shadow Realm)
- (A train emerges and catches the Traveler)
- Eye of Graeae: Your train has been modified to adapt to its environment...
- Paimon: Huh, so you're still on our team, Goggles!
- Eye of Graeae: ...
- Paimon: Oh, wait, you're not the same Goggles anymore...
- Primordial Human: Did the Eye of Graeae... summon that train on your behalf?
- Primordial Human: That's good. Seems like it hasn't changed at all... It's just like when I summoned a train for you.
- (While fighting the Primordial Human)
- Primordial Human: Ah... Is that all? That won't do. That's not enough...
- Primordial Human: ...Not enough to stop me from bringing forth the new world-bubble from the land of the ark...
- Eye of Graeae: Continue attacking... Energy leakage detected in target, which can be used to supply...
- Primordial Human: Heh... able to use Kresnik Energy, are we? That "body" of mine is pretty useful, hmm?
- Primordial Human: A courtyard free of cares and love... Ah...
- Primordial Human: If no one can stop you... Perhaps struggling is pointless.
- Primordial Human: All that must happen... will surely happen.
- Primordial Human: Light, light! Lingering in the shadow-sea, a withered will shall return weeping—
- Primordial Human: Watch yourselves—
- (When the HP of the Primordial Human drops below 50% HP)
- (He charges up and shoots vines at the train carriage the Traveler is on pulling it towards him)
- Eye of Graeae: High heat energy convergence detected... Target's sole weak point is... in the rear...
- Paimon: We've been caught! We can't dodge, let alone get behind it!
- Eye of Graeae: Detected... Final Protocol initiated... "We walk infinite paths to find the light that leads unto the future."
- (Cubes of Prime Ice appear and form a path)
- Paimon: A path... appeared?
- Primordial Human: Ah, yes. I expected no less of you. The Eye of Graeae would never have been able to activate this function...
- Primordial Human: In the Shadow Realm, that which is displayed after the binding of fate's threads is dispelled — infinite possibilities, a myriad of brilliant beauty...
- Paimon: We're out of time. Quick, get behind him!
- (Get behind the Primordial Human)
- Eye of Graeae: Access granted. Activating firearm overload. "(...) The greater the love, the greater the need for punishment, to crush the beloved with a giant's fist."
- Aksinya: Wait. What is this? I don't recall...
- Primordial Human: Loving and being loved, burdens that burden each other... I think I have the right, even the least of rights, to leave something for Goggles.
- (When the HP of the Primordial Human drops below ~30% HP)
- Eye of Graeae: "Overloaded annihilation mode activated."
- Primordial Human: "Come at me... (Traveler)..."
- (After defeating the Primordial Human)
- (He falls down into the Shadow Realm and the Traveler jumps back on the train)
- (They turn towards Paimon and an exit portal opens up)
- (As the train flies towards the portal vines shoot out from below and pull the train down)
- Primordial Human: *sigh* ... Your Majesty, O Tsar, what do your "nerves" desire still...
- Paimon: Now, let us be rid of all this!
- (After clearing the vines)
- The door to the world is closed.
The one behind it all trembles, as though shaking loose the scaled wings of a dead moth clinging to his shoulders...
With several shudders, it sheds its giant form.
Then, "he" appears... - The will that once dwelt within the Eye of Graeae...
Now truly possesses a body no different from that of an ordinary person.
And now bears the very appearance of the Tsar in his youth. - And so, only two remain in this world of shadows: the one within the egg, and the one outside it.
Only the betrayer, and the betrayed.
Only...
The one who falls in love with the first person they see upon opening their eyes, and the beloved who knows neither love nor sorrow. - (Aksinya and the Primordial Human are seen falling down into the Shadow Realm's depths)
- Aksinya: ...At the end of the day, I haven't been able to do anything in time...
- Aksinya: Ah, what a shame... This was the sole great endeavor I was meant to undertake...
- Primordial Human: As I see it, you have done enough... You endured the passage of time for so long, even in such a place.
- Primordial Human: Your ambition burned so strongly that even the branches of fate had to bend low for you... To the point where you could escape from this place.
- Aksinya: In truth, my escape from the Shadow Realm was largely thanks to Izmaylov's aid. He said it was the last thing he could do for me.
- Aksinya: And yet, I still failed... and lost everything... and where are we falling to now?
- Primordial Human: Perhaps we shall fall into the endless depths of the Shadow Realm, tumbling for five hundred years, and another five thereafter.
- Primordial Human: But this is already the best possible ending I could face.
- Aksinya: Is that so?
- Primordial Human: Yes, Aksinya. Here, there is no "His Majesty, the Belyi Tsar." No "Primordial Human." Here, there is no court jester of Snezhnaya, no Snegurochka, no other fae.
- Primordial Human: Here, there is only you and me. Here... we do not even need names.
- Aksinya: Is this what you wanted?
- Primordial Human: ...Yes, it is indeed. This is good — to be within this shadowy realm, a world as small as a walnut shell. Just the two of us, at the very end.
- Aksinya: ...I once thought that I could never be worthy of setting foot in a world like this...
- Aksinya: ...You know, (Traveler) is right. Why should we fear love's fading, that we should insist that it stand eternally?
- Aksinya: One who dares to believe in love will not be obsessed with its disappearance... and if I believe in it, so what if I should lose it?
- Aksinya: I'd climb back up, shake the dust and dirt free, head off in pursuit once more, to take hold, to go forth, to love again!
- Aksinya: Why did I... Why did I want to...
- Primordial Human: Aksinya...
- Aksinya: *sigh* ...I once hated this world, imprisoned as it was within an eggshell. Yet in the end, all I did was build another shell.
- Primordial Human: Perhaps that is just how fate has been from the start, pushing you to the cliff's edge, like the worst of nemeses.
- Aksinya: Heh. Never thought you'd be the one to say that to me.
- Aksinya: ...I was once driven to such fury when I learned the truth of the world, and bearing that indignation, I asked the Tsar:
- Aksinya: "What is the point of an egg that does not allow the life within it to emerge from the shell? Why does it exist in this universe at all?"
- Aksinya: But I never received the answer I wished to have from him.
- Primordial Human: So that was a thought you once had. I see.
- Primordial Human: What about now, Aksinya? Do you still think this way? You've done so much... Did you ever find an answer to that question?
- Aksinya: More or less, I suppose. The answer is... *sigh* Y—You already know the answer, don't you?
- Primordial Human: ...You once considered me far too selfish.
- Primordial Human: But no matter what form love takes, whether it gives or takes possession, outward expressions of love always reflect what lies within in some way.
- Primordial Human: To love the world is to love yourself...
- Primordial Human: But this is also a great thing, because this is how the world is, and one's desire to be saved must be strong enough to save the world entire.
- Primordial Human: I'd always believed that I should love myself first, and then the world, or I would fall into error, just as I have today.
- Primordial Human: But you... you are truly magnificent, Aksinya.
- Aksinya: ...A cheap compliment.
- Primordial Human: Ah, I am hurt. That came from the bottom of my heart.
- Aksinya: Hmph...
- Aksinya: Yes. Everything... Pavlina, Koshchei, Alvis, you... and... and His Majesty the Tsar... all the things you wanted...
- Aksinya: Why am I only now realizing that I, too, once longed for those things...
- (Quest completes)
- (The Traveler and Paimon exit a Shadow Realm portal)
- Paimon: Oof, finally! We've finally made it out of that Shadow Realm!
- Paimon: Hang on, Paimon doesn't see Goggles or Aksinya... and the Belyi Tsar's body is missing, too. Where have they gone to?
- I don't think we'll ever see them again...
- Paimon: Huh. Do you think it's possible that Goggles might actually be hiding inside that mechanism Aksinya gave you?
- Paimon: You know how it's like in those shows? They make you think that someone's vanished forever, and then, POOF! They pop up right in front of you again.
- Paimon: How about you let Paimon take a look?
- And so, Paimon makes several attempts at "cracking" the mechanism.
But the only voice that answers is a cold, lifeless one.
This is how the two of you learn that while "Goggles" has retained some of its abilities, it really is nothing more than, well, a pair of goggles at this point. - Paimon: He's... really fallen into that deep, deep hole...
- Paimon: But that's his own fault for choosing to open the door to that Court of Bliss or whatever... But... Paimon thinks he was pretty cool when he chose to help Aksinya.
- Paimon: Heh, even if one day the whole world were to turn against you, Paimon would stand by you no matter what!
- And I'll do the same for you, Paimon.
- Paimon: Yeah!
- Paimon: Hmm.. You know, now that the Belyi Tsar's body has gone missing... We're gonna be in big trouble if someone sees us now!
- Paimon: We've got to get out of here, fast!
Other Languages
| Language | Official Name | Literal Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| English | An Ark That Used to Be a Soul | — |
| Chinese (Simplified) | 曾为灵魂的木舟 Céng Wéi Línghún de Mùzhōu | The Wooden Ark That Was Once a Soul |
| Chinese (Traditional) | 曾為靈魂的木舟 Céng Wéi Línghún de Mùzhōu | |
| Japanese | かつて魂だった方舟 Katsute Tamashii Datta Hakobune | The Ark That Was Once a Soul |
| Korean | 영혼의 배 Yeonghon-ui Bae | A Soul's Ship |
| Spanish | El arca que fue un alma | |
| French | Une arche qui était jadis une âme | An Ark That Once Was a Soul |
| Russian | Ковчег, что некогда был душой Kovcheg, chto nekogda byl dushoy | |
| Thai | เรือไม้ที่ครั้งหนึ่งเคยเป็นวิญญาณ | |
| Vietnamese | Con Thuyền Gỗ Từng Là Linh Hồn | |
| German | Eine Arche, die einst eine Seele war | An Ark That Used to Be a Soul |
| Indonesian | Perahu Kayu yang Dahulu Merupakan Jiwa | |
| Portuguese | Uma Arca que Era uma Alma | |
| Turkish | Bir Zamanlar Ruh Olan Kabuk | |
| Italian | Un'arca che un tempo era un'anima | An Ark That Was Once a Soul |
Change History
Released in Version 7.0