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While Cid had practically interrogated The Fisher about what she had learned from Charledor before he arrived, Cid wouldn’t return the favour. He didn’t deny being a Garlean defector, but he wouldn’t say anything about Meteor or Nael van Darnus.
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Several weeks have passed since then and Dalamud had noticeably changed. It was glowing stronger and seemed to be bigger, or maybe closer. The Amalj’aa have summoned their god, Ifrit, and the beast men’s god is suspected as the cause.
The Grand Companies are recruiting adventurers to slay Ifrit, however as a rookie adventurer the Fisher has been denied a chance to pit herself against the fire god.
Nonetheless, she wants to do her part and help even without the promise of a reward. She has heard that those challenging Ifrit have been sent to meet a mage from Sharlayan, Louisoix Leveilleur.
The Fisher meets with Louisoix and explains that she wants to join the fight against Ifrit. Louisoix decides that he would not stand in her way should she want join, however she has missed the previous group of adventurers, who had left some time ago.
Louisoix told The Fisher that the Ifrit that had been summoned wasn’t an actual god, but a Primal, a recreation of a deity summoned by crystals and worship. If left alone a Primal would continue to consume aether, sapping life from their surroundings.
Ifrit’s domain, The Bowl of Embers, was not easy to reach, but Louisoix could open another portal if The Fisher were to obtain some crystals from six powerful beasts spread throughout Eorzea. She would also need to obtain an artifact from an Amalj’aa shaman to get Ifrit’s attention, the inferno flambeau.
Louisoix, a major character for 1.0, central figure of the Big Fancy Cutscene and who casts a shadow over ARR, wasn’t introduced until the patches setting up the end of the game. He doesn’t even have an introductory cutscene as far as I can tell, this is the quest where you meet him but there is no cutscene introducing him. I can only guess you just walk up to him in the world and have a chat.
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A few hours later, The Fisher has felled her targets and returns to Louisoix with the items he requested, although the inferno flambeau was damaged.
As Louisoix opens the portal, the battered and unconscious bodies of the previous party returns from the Bowl of Embers.
Behold the fate of they who went before you. Not a single mortal who has bared steel before Ifrit has come out the victor. Let this be a grave reminder of the arduousness of your task.
Attend me, Fisher. Though all things happen for a reason, it falls to each individual to find meaning in that which comes to pass.
In this case, the message is painfully clear: hubris is as much your enemy as the foe who stands before you. Anything less than complete focus upon the task at hand, and you will be made to pay the selfsame price as these poor fools. If you understand this and still wish to proceed, hand me the inferno flambeau.
Louisoix takes the inferno flambeau and repairs it with his magic.
Now step through the gate, Fisher. Beckoned by the flame of the inferno flambeau, the primal Ifrit shall be summoned.
The surviving adventurers limp away to recover.
The mind is a powerful thing - by its influence alone, one man will stand while another will fall. Today it will determine who is consigned to history: Ifrit, or you and yours. Be calm and unclouded of mind, and you may yet prevail.
The Fisher steps through the aetheral stream and is transported away.
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The inferno flambeau does it’s job and Ifrit is drawn to The Fisher. The was surely a grueling one, but in the end The Fisher stands victorious.
Random video of the 1.x Ifrit fight I found on YouTube
She makes for the portal to leave, however her celebrations are short lived. She has company.
Bravo, bravo. Truly a performance worthy of song.
I would know the name of the hero who dares defy a god.
The Fisher refuses to answer and stands silently.
Suit yourself Fisher. I however shall be polite. I am Nael van Darnus, Legatus of the VIIth Imperial Legion. I come bearing the light of salvation to the people of Eorzea.
Meet Nael van Darnus, our antagonist for the 1.x patches. He’s a dramatic motherfucker.
It warms my heart to know that there are still those who would attempt to preserve life upon this forsaken continent. And by the blood of fallen eikons, no less.
A noble struggle, I grant you, but one that is sadly beyond hope. Alone, you stand no chance of survival. None. If you are to prevail, you must needs accept the outstretched hand of salvation - the hand of the Garlean Empire.
I know full well your people see the Empire as little more than a covetous beast, hungry for territory. But naught could be further from the truth. The world is stricken by an evil blight, her peoples given to despair. Seeing this, the Empire was moved with pity. It reached out to the other nations, bringing them under its wing so that they might know deliverance.
For Ours is the radiance that shall banish the darkness that threatens to engulf the land. Embrace the light, daughter of the South, and your progeny shall live to see a brighter tomorrow.
...Yet know that the light is unbending, its judgment absolute. By its illumination, all is laid bare - the world revealed in truest form.
The bold shall inherit the world, and the beautiful shall rule it! So has the light decreed, and so it must be!
Only then shall the land be free of chaos!
Ne’er till land consumes sun can sea bear moons,
Heavens spew crimson flame, hells seep black dooms.
Nael van Darnus glows with magical power, shocking both The Fisher and the Garlean’s own forces. Garleans are supposed to be incapable of using magic, thus their invention of Magitek.
I see these words are lost upon you. That the children of this land should have grown up ignorant of the sacred prophecies of yore…
Nael draws his gunhalberd and starts channeling the aether into it.
The slumbering emperors of old Allag are surely turning in their graves.
But I will not blame you for your forefathers’ negligence. Permit me to explain it as I might to a child of Garlemald.
The portal reacts to the surge in aether and glows brighter.
Naught is eternal. Nay, not even the dance of the stars upon the celestial sea. The hour of reckoning is at hand. Soon the crimson star shall descend, and the land shall be purged of its taint.
Oh, but what manner of foul shadow will the unredeemed souls of your countrymen cast by the light of judgement!? The mere imagining of it cuts me to the quick.
Van Darnus fires a huge burst of magic at The Fisher, however she is able to send herself through the portal before she is obliterated.
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Nael van Darnus was the name that Charledor shouted before tossing himself off a cliff. Certainly a charismatic and dramatic man, able to inspire such devotion in his followers. Van Darnus is the man behind the mysterious Meteor project that Cid refused to speak of, and now he’s in Eorzea.
The Fisher now doubted that Ifrit was behind Dalamud’s changes. Cid knew what was going on, and The Fisher was now determined to get answers from him.
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The Fisher tracked Cid to a cave in Mor Dhona, where he has been cornered by a squad of
Garleans led by Nael van Darnus himself!
Sorry about the mouse cursor on screen in this scene. This was one of the first cutscenes I recorded, didn’t know I could just hit enter to progress, I was clicking for every text box.
There might be one or two more scenes like this going forward.
So you’ve found me. And what now, Raven?
Ah, but you already know full well. You know Garlemald seeks to save this world - to cleanse if of the eikons’ taint.
And you also know that to do that we require the ancient secrets of Allag. Secrets said to have died with that Empire long ago - secrets of which you know quite a deal.
So come, Master Cid, and tell me what it is I wish to know.
The secrets of Allag…
Meteor… You truly mean to do it, then? To bring down Dalamud?
How shrewd. Good. You will save us much time. Long have we sought to rediscover knowledge of the Meteor sorcery. For years it was Midas nan Garlond who led our efforts. Your father was both a genius and a patriot.
I know who my father was - just as I know he was killed serving Garlemald’s blind ambitions.
Bozja Citadel… An entire city gone in the blink of an eye. All the literature left to us of Allag, the lunar transmitter, the testing facility - all gone without a trace. Not a page or a stone remained. Nor even a corpse.
You’ve seen what Meteor is capable of. You think yourself the world’s salvation, but here me Darnus - this is not a power meant to be wielded by man.
You disappoint me, Cic nan Garlond. Your father was proud to serve as Grand Minister of Industry under His Excellence. By virtue of his feats alone were you named a minister after him.
Why deny his successes? His work delivered the very thing we seek - the purity of nothingness.
Purity? ...You sick, deluded bastard. That is no purity. Should Dalamud fall, all will be reduced to ash and dust. You praise my father’s work, but what it delivered was death and oblivion - you are merely too fool to see it.
Spoke like a true crave. A failed son unable to crawl from beneath his father’s shadow.
You have been too long in this foul realm. It seems not even a Garlond is immune to its taint.
Nael raises his glove and it ignites with a Magitek glow.
A new world awaits, and only by the strength of Garlemald will it be realized. I will not suffer you to interfere.
Nael rushes forward, blasting Cid off the cliff with a force expelled from his glove.
The engineer is prepared however and throws a grapple, attaching to the overhang and breaking his fall.
The Legatus sends one of his minions to check on Cid, who plays dead at the bottom of the cliff.
Van Darnus, pleased with the traitor’s apparent death, turns and leaves.
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Once the Garleans leave, The Fisher rushes to the cliff edge, shocked, but pleased to see that Cid had survived. She lowers a line and helps Cid back to the top, where he finally explains Meteor, a deranged plan to pull Dalamud from the sky and wipe Eorzea of all life, allowing the Garleans to move in and take the ruined land for themselves.