Chapter 26

Two Monados

Entering the temple, I saw Alvis again. As I approached him, I noticed that he was wearing a necklace with a red jewel in the shape of a crucifix; I had a feeling that I had seen the red jewel before somewhere. Turning to face me, Alvis said, "Well, you've slain the Titans and defeated the Embodiments of the Triforce. Well done.". "Alvis, what did you mean by calling me your Driver when we first met?", I asked. "Ah, yes. When you came to us, I distinctively remember you finding a red crucifix on the shore of a beach. That red crucifix – and the red jewel on my necklace – is my Core Crystal, what Blades like me need activating to manifest.", Alvis explained. "Wait, you mean like the crystals that Mio, Sena and Glimmer have?", I asked. "That is correct.", Alvis said. "But Glimmer's Core Crystal was green compared to your red crystal. What's up with that?", I asked. "Well, the reason for that is because she is descended from one of the three Aegis Cores- the three cores needed to sustain life in Aionios. Well, that is their current purpose.", Alvis said. "What do you mean?", I asked. "Well, come with me and I'll show you.", Alvis said, before walking into a strange room. I decided to follow him, having nothing better to do.

Looking around the room, I noticed that it was bathed in an eerie crimson light. Well, that and it had a strange door with three crucifixes attached to it- one green, one dark blue and one red. Looking at the door, I asked, "Well, what is this?". Alvis chuckled before saying, "This is the Trinity Processor, a collective of three supercomputers. Their names are Pneuma, Logos and Ontos- the latter of which is my actual name under the Processor. Now, the Trinity Processor is capable of maintaining a device named the Conduit, which is capable of facilitating travel to alternate dimensions. YHVH attempted to use my core, Ontos, to acquire the Monado which he would then use to enter a state of absolute divinity with the Monado's power to peer into the future; however, this was foiled when you found me instead. When you picked up the Ontos core, you gained the power to peer into time with the Monado, only due to the nature of Cyber Space, this power ended up being warped by YHVH who was able to use an artificial Monado that Shulk was able to create. Said artificial Monado was developed to replicate the abilities of the True Monado within specific parameters, one of them being that YHVH could not use it to properly create a new world without acquiring the actual True Monado first. Said True Monado is an instrumental part of the Ascension Project, incidentally.", Alvis explained. Struggling to comprehend why YHVH would even need such an object when it was already divinely powerful, I then asked, "So why does YHVH even need the Monado anyway?".

Chuckling, Alvis then said, "I'm glad you asked. YHVH needs the Monado's power so he has the power to create a new world for everyone who accepts him, with you permanently excluded from our new world.". "But by what you're implying, aren't there two Monados out there?", I asked. "Correct; there are two Monados out there- one wielded by Shulk and one wielded by Rex. Shulk's Monado was taken by the evil god Zanza, forcing him to develop a replacement; Rex's Monado, meanwhile, takes the form of the Blade he originally awakened, my sister Pneuma. She was originally the Blade known as Mythra during the time of Old Torna before being depowered, regressing into the form known as Pyra. At least until he guided Pneuma to Elysium, allowing Pyra and Mythra to separate; this caused their Monado to separate in turn into the Firelight Swords.", Alvis said. As if on cue, the door then activated, sliding down and revealing a strange chamber- in this room was two stasis tubes holding a young girl with short red hair and a man with spiky black hair. On their chests were a green and dark blue crucifix respectively. Waking up, the girl with red hair then turned into a woman with long green hair and green eyes; before I could introduce myself to them, I found myself back outside Garreg Mach Monastery.

Entering the monastery, I then sensed a strange burst of sinister dark energy similar to the one I sensed at Destinea Cathedral. "Is this the power of the Silent Core?", I asked. "No, it's something much more divine.", Melia said behind me. "What do you mean by 'divine'?", I asked, turning to face her. "It is the holy power of Gloom, the power that rebirthed us and liberated us from the constraints of pretending to be heroic.", Melia said, a sinister smile on her face. "She's right, Jack. We were all bound by strings before being exposed to the holy power of Gloom; once we were, we felt so happy to be free to crush the world.", Sharla said. "Of course, that's not to say we weren't exposed to the Silent Core; we were and it was the final tool that facilitated and finalised our holy rebirth.", Rex said, strolling in. "But the Gloom is corruption incarnate! A coalesced form of Demon King Ganondorf's hatred! How can it be holy and pure?", I asked. Before my question could be answered, I found myself in Colony 4. I noticed the sinister black and red goop infesting the colony; before I could do something about it, I was warped to the castle where I met Miyabi, Fiona and Triton. Walking inside, I noticed a strange spiral staircase leading down to a strange mechanical chamber; walking down to the chamber, I noticed six mechanical egg-like cocoons and Toby watching over them, wearing a white suit of armour with mechanical cyan lines. His dirty blonde hair was also quite long, easily reaching his waist whilst his purple eyes watched over the cocoons. Turning to face me, he then said, "Well, if it isn't the fake me again. It seems that ingrates like you need to know that it isn't right to take the opportunities of others.". "You're one to talk, faker, given all the children you molested. In fact, the only reason you got away with it was because the courts had no intention to charge you, seeing your absolute loyalty to YHVH as much more important than the fact that you raped children with no remorse.", I fired back. "You little-!", Toby angrily growled before rushing at me. Laughing, I felt the Crest of the Sovereign appear in my right eye as I rushed at him in kind.

Being the first to attack, Toby formed a blue sword from fire and threw it at me; I easily dodged it before I fired a giant fireball at him with the intent to kill. Blocking the fireball with his shield, Toby then unleashed a cyan burst of hard light which I didn't even bother dodging, the light itself being unable of even hitting me, quickly fizzling out. "H-how did you do that?", Toby asked as the Crest of the Sovereign disappeared from my eye. "Well, I could tell you but that wouldn't be very fun, would it?", I replied. Before Toby could continue talking to me, I then found myself back in the Mahag Saar region. Looking around, I noticed that much of the goop in Colony 4 was still there but also, more disturbingly, that many sinkholes had opened across the desert. "Beautiful, isn't it?", Mio said whilst she walked up to me. I turned to look at her, noticing that she was wearing a black and dark red dress with an opening in the front to show off her cleavage. I also saw a baby bump near her stomach. "Not exactly.", I said. "Why not?", Mio asked, a strange smile on her face. "Mio, this is what Gloom does to environments. Not only does it corrupt them, but it also destroys nature. You don't want nature to be destroyed do you?", I asked. Smiling, Mio said, "To be honest, nature is fickle like fortune. Eventually, it will resurge and regenerate; the Gloom can help with that.". Unable to take her delusions any longer, I then stormed off towards the desert.

Reflecting on what Alvis told me, I wondered why YHVH explicitly needed the True Monado to bring forward the Ascension Project when Rex's Monado could fulfil it just as well. Even disregarding the human nature of both Shulk and Rex, I pondered that, since Rex's Monado was stronger why YHVH didn't just go after him instead. Or maybe YHVH would need both Monados- Shulk's Monado to acquire absolute divinity and Rex's Monado to irreversibly warp reality to its liking, ensuring that no-one would be able to challenge it. Approaching Alvis again, I asked, "Alvis, why does YHVH need Shulk's Monado. Why not Rex's Monado?". "Well, that is because the Monado tied to me is the centrepoint of the Trinity Processor. Neither Monado tied to the Pneuma or Logos processors are really complete as it were- the Pneuma Monado is too focused on emotion whilst the Logos Monado is too focused on logic. The Ontos Monado, however, has both the emotions of the Pneuma Monado and the logic of the Logos Monado thus allowing YHVH to create his new world with it- a world wherein no-one will ever think to oppose him.", Alvis explained. "That world seems like Hell to me.", I said.

Suddenly, I found myself in front of Destinea Cathedral again. Looking around me, I saw that the specific town where the cathedral was in was completely empty, like a ghost town. Having a feeling that I would be able to solve the mystery of the Ascension Project, I stepped inside.

The story continues in the next chapter.