Aris's Story: Chapter 6

VS ?: Dream of the Dunes

William F. Edwards

Jan 05, 2023

Open on Temple Hub

This is a temple made of stone, with statues and artwork on the walls to liven it up.

Nobody is on screen, then Aris walks in.

Aris: (I’ve only got so much time before the grand finals. I don’t have a choice, I need to be ready.)

Exploration Start

This is a straightforward walk to the next fight, just with a different background and music. There are other visitors to the temple as well.

Shaman: So this is how the people of this island worship. Feels too divided from the land, you can’t pay tribute to the sand and sky without being able to see them.

Druid: I’d like to bring part of these gods back to the empire in honor of this festival, but these days even acknowledging some deities came from another land can get you in trouble.

Tua’gare: I never realized how different basic terms were between places. Shaman, druid, tua’gare, priest, we all fill the same role essentially. Speaking with visitors has been pleasant.

You’ll see a group of familiar faces at the end, approach them to start the next fight.

Exploration End

Aris approaches Hyperion, Chrysanthos, Metrophanes, and Tetlacatl.

Aris: Chrysanthos, Hyperion? What are you doing here?

Chrysanthos: I wanted to be here.

Hyperion: So did I. We’re here to support you.

Aris: This is something I’d rather do alone.

Hyperion: Aris, I came to regret pushing everyone else away in my sorrow. I’m not letting you shut us out. You can’t talk to the dead and come out unchanged.

Tetlacatl: On that note, once we’re ready to begin we’ll need silence. Since we’re dealing with a soul from Mondragnes, I’ll follow Metrophanes lead.

Metrophanes: A shaman and a druid conducting a ritual in a temple in the Revolving Sea, this really is quite the festival.

Metrophanes: Aris, close your eyes.

Aris stands still. Metrophanes and Tetlacatl walk towards him and stand on both sides. They hold up their staffs.

Transition to Endless Dunes

There’s sand and nothing else, a sandstorm makes it impossible to see the sky.

Two small figures walk across the wastes. One is Aris as a child. The other is an orc child who looks similar to Chrysanthos.

Cyrus: I don’t know why people have to keep fighting. If we all worked together then not even a storm like this could be a problem.

Aris: (Huh? As kids we were never dumb enough to be caught outside in weather like this. The only time this ever happened when we had to flee the city when Cyrus’s father was usurped. This can’t be a memory.)

Aris: Maybe when you’re the dark lord you can fix that.

Cyrus: Father says that even a dark lord can’t do everything. Gaiapolis didn’t give us any help because their shah didn’t want to and there was nothing dad could do about it.

Aris: I don’t know why they’re so mean.

Cyrus: All I want to do is make everyone smile and live in peace. But father told me that will never happen no matter what I do, because the other city states only care about themselves. My dream isn’t going to come true.

Aris: I believe in you. There has to be some way for all of us to live in harmony. It’s my dream too.

Aris: Hey, what if you became the dark lord for everyone? Then everyone would work together because there’s no other ruler to tell people not to.

Cyrus: That’s a great idea. You’re really smart so I bet we could make it happen. The two of us are going to change all of Mondragnes.

The sandstorm intensifies, completely obscuring the screen. When visibility returns Aris has returned to a grown up. As has Cyrus. He wears dark armor, his horns poking out of a turban. In his hands is a sword like Aris’s.

Cyrus: Aris, do you still remember that day?

Aris: How could I forget? And I know you didn’t either, even at your worst.

Cyrus: That doesn’t change how many people I killed out of paranoia. I can’t thank you and Chrysanthos enough for returning me to my senses. You were my final thoughts as a living man.

Aris: And I’ve never stopped thinking of you, or our dream. We may have taken a wrong path towards it, but I don’t want to give up on a united Mondragnes. But, recently, I’ve had some doubts. Yet it feels as though if I abandon this dream, I’ll abandon you.

Cyrus: Then fight me.

The sandstorm becomes more fierce, but not to the point of disrupting visibility.

Aris: What?!

Cyrus: You’re loyal to a fault, even to a dead man rightfully despised by the living. I don’t want your eternal life to be held back by me. So show me that you can put me in the past.

Battle Start

Cyrus is a moveset clone of Aris without the siege engine mechanic. Instead he has equivalent attacks to them with less power and wind up, in other words a typical straight shooting projectile and a projectile that flies in an arc. His counterpart to the siege tower automatically rolls forward. All of the light powers have also been reskinned to look more ghostly.

The stage is flat and continues on endlessly, though walls appear if the fighters get too far from each other. This means you can’t win by horizontal ring outs or use wall combos, aside from what siege tower sets up.

More importantly for this fight the stage is in the middle of a sandstorm, where like in Photens it will constantly damage both fighters. But unlike Photens there is no shelter from the storm. This means both Aris and Cyrus will have their health constantly go down during the fight, making it go by much faster.

You have a few different approaches for this fight. The first is to get up close and refuse to play the projectile game, since Cyrus will be quicker on the draw. Or you could go all in on the projectile war, creating enough space to overcome Cyrus with your more powerful projectiles.

Thanks to the sandstorm effect it’s also possible to get a few good hits in and then focus on not getting hit rather than continuing your offense. But if you mess that up and take enough damage to lose the lead, you might regret not trying to be more aggressive.

Aside from the special moves, every other attack Cyrus has is the exact same as one of yours. This means that the fight is a test of how well you understand the entirety of Aris’s moveset, if you know how to counter some of your own attacks. Think back to what frustrated you in earlier fights about your own moveset and what that can teach you about how to mess up Cyrus.

Clearing this fight will also unlock Cyrus for use in other modes as a bonus character, as well as the Endless Dunes stage.

Battle End

Aris and Cyrus are back at round start positions. The sandstorm weakens.

Cyrus: Before our time is up, there’s one thing I need you to remember.

Cyrus: My dream was for all of Mondragnes to know peace and harmony. Uniting it was always a means to an end. But somewhere along the way, we mistook the means for the end.

Aris: I’m sorry. This is all my fault.

Cyrus: No it isn’t. You bear no responsibility for my actions. Even if my dream was to unify Mondragnes, I’d rather you and Chrysanthos be happy. That was my final wish.

Cyrus: Take care of Chrysanthos for me.

Cyrus begins to glow.

Aris: Cyrus wait!

Aris runs towards Cyrus. The sandstorm intensifies, obscuring everything.

Transition to Temple Hub

Aris is standing in a daze. Hyperion and Chrysanthos are by his side. Metrophanes and Tetlacatl are also near.

Aris: …I saw him. And I think I understand now. At the start we only wanted peace, a peace that would last. I’ve been deluded this entire time.

Hyperion: I was worried you’d be overwhelmed with sadness, but you look more at peace.

Aris: I am. I’m ready for the grand finals now.

Metrophanes: That’s a relief. Often these rituals don’t go the way people wanted them to. It’s proof of how close you were to Cyrus that you came out of it like this.

Tetlacatl: Now be sure to make Quiahuitl get second place. It might not be last place, but for people like her it practically is.

Tetlacatl: Oh and Metrophanes, let’s spend some more time together. This has experience has eager me to learn more about your practice.

Metrophanes: Very well.

Tetlacatl, Metrophanes, and Hyperion walk away. Chrysanthos stays.

Chrysanthos: What did father say about me?

Aris: That he wants to you to be happy, and that matters more to him than his dream.

Chrysanthos: You’re not lying? No, there’s no way you’d lie about this without any hesitation. For a moment I was too scared to ask, I’m glad I did.

Aris: I could have told you he felt that way without this whole ritual. Now come on, you don’t want to miss me win this tournament, do you?

Chapter END

Note from the Author: Cyrus was originally going to be exactly like Aris in terms of gameplay, but I’m a fan of clone characters with minor yet significant differences, especially simplified versions of more complicated characters. It helps highlight their relationship.

As always I appreciate comments. Now that we’ve heard something from Cyrus himself I’m curious to read opinions on his relationship with Aris.

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