Where Kn∞wledge Leads
Where Kn∞wledge Leads
- Quest giver
- Urianger
- Location
- Ultima Thule (X:23.1, Y:11.6)
- Quest line
- Endwalker Main Scenario Quests
- Level
- 89
- Experience
- 508,200
- Gil
- 909
- Previous quest
- F//εsh AbanΔon┨Δ
- Next quest
- Vic┨οry ̈ ̈ ̈╳, │̆││ε Lost
- Patch
- 6.0
“Something seems to be weighing on Urianger's mind.
— In-game description
Steps
- Speak with Urianger.
- Speak with G'raha Tia.
- Speak with Y'shtola.
Journal
Walkthrough
Dialogue
Urianger:
- Ere we join the Ea, there is one trifling matter I would fain investigate.
- Player, G'raha Tia─might I trouble you for your assistance?
G'raha Tia:
- But of course.
Urianger:
- My thanks. We shall head outside the abode, if you would kindly follow me.
Y'shtola:
- I know not what mischief you are plotting, Urianger...but I trust you have our best interests at heart.
- The rest of us shall go on ahead to Elegeia. Lest you worry, we won't start without you.
Urianger:
- Aye, this place shall serve.
G'raha Tia:
- Is it the spring that you wished to investigate?
Urianger:
- Pray forgive me, my friends...but there is naught to investigate.
- 'Twas but a pretense to speak in private.
G'raha Tia:
- You have our undivided attention.
Urianger:
- As we have established, here in Ultima Thule, those denizens of ruined stars are recreated in their twilight days.
- Yet one question doth arise in my mind.
- So faithfully formed are the simulacra, they believe themselves yet amongst the living. How dost thou suppose this is possible?
G'raha Tia:
- I'm inclined to agree. If Meteion can take the emotions of others as her own, I daresay she would be able to recreate them more faithfully than had she relied on any historical account.
- By which logic, she must have visited them while they still lived─the dragons and the Ea both!
Urianger:
- So too did I theorize and, upon that assumption, consider how those two races may have met their demise.
- According to thine own tale, Meteion perceiveth the emotions of those nearby as her own.
- A heightened sense of empathy intrinsic to her nature as an entelechy.
- In the course of her star-faring journey, if she encountered beings who strongly desired a cessation of their existence...
G'raha Tia:
- She would be powerless before that desire.
Urianger:
- Even as she possesseth the power to grant it─the power of dynamis.
- 'Tis my supposition that, overwhelmed by their longing for death, Meteion did unleash dynamis and ushered the dragons and the Ea unto their doom.
- Of course, such was not always the outcome; full many stars did she find already lost to ruin.
- In order to create a terminus, however, the fervent desire for the end is essential.
- Therefore, should you struggle to find the way forward, pray ask yourselves this: in the place where you stand, whose is the soul that yearneth most desperately for oblivion?
G'raha Tia:
- Why do you tell us this now?
Urianger:
- Ne'er again would I betray your trust. This pledge I did make to my comrades. In bringing thee into my confidence, I would remain true to my word.
- As for thee... Let us consider it my fitting reward for the secrets I harbored for the Crystal Exarch.
- I once placed my faith in thy chosen path, walking at thy side full knowing that we were bound for thy demise.
- I ask now that thou returnest the favor, and abide in faith as I fulfill mine own destiny.
G'raha Tia:
- If you say my debt has come due, how am I to refuse?
Urianger:
- 'Tis indelicate of me, I know full well, and I can but beg thy forgiveness.
- Yet even if I must needs go to such lengths, I cannot well feign ignorance of the answer I have found within...
- The answer to the question: in what moment might I stand strongest?
G'raha Tia:
- After all that we've been through, I will say only this.
- Do what you must. Do what you must, and see your conviction through.
Urianger:
- I shall, my friend. I shall.
- Without further ado, then, let us go to join our comrades.
G'raha Tia:
- ...
- Let us be off too. To Elegeia.
Y'shtola:
- It seems everyone is accounted for. Shall we, then?
- Please, continue. Tell us about this truth you discovered.
Coph-coodg:
- Very well. Bear in mind, however, that the purpose of this conversation is not to impart scholarly knowledge. For such requires that you comprehend the subject matter─which you will not.
- We will forgo the intricacies of our scientific methodology and deal only with the conclusion─the end of our society, and our world.
Lah-laakh:
- We acknowledge, with regret, that your star is in the midst of the same panic-induced cataclysm that befell Deneb III.
- As such, in order to avoid causing undue distress, we will refrain from explicitly stating how much time you have remaining.
Y'shtola:
- You are entirely too kind. I pray you recount your tale as you see fit.
Coph-coodg:
- In the beginning, the universe was but a tiny particle. Then suddenly, this particle began to expand.
Coph-coodg: Having remained entirely in the bounds of your star, the phenomenon may be difficult for your kind to grasp, but this expansion has since continued unabated.
Lah-laakh:
- Speculating that the universe could not grow indefinitely, we sought to learn what might occur─and made a worrying discovery.
- The stars will continue to spread apart, as will their finite thermal energies.
- Eventually, all heavenly bodies will grow cold and freeze. No new stars will be born, and the universe will enter unto an eternal ice age.
Coph-coodg:
- In hopes of proving that this determination was erroneous, we scrutinized our research from all angles, even as we sought to avert the everlasting winter.
- The endeavor proved fruitless. So infamously so, in fact, that it became synonymous with vain effort.
- The universe as we know it would end, and there is no way to prevent it.
Lah-laakh:
- Beneath the weight of this knowledge, our society stagnated. Though we had time still, it was a “cold” comfort.
- Why strive for anything when desolation is assured? When our wealth of wisdom, accumulated since the dawning of our kind, would be forever lost?
- No civilization would rise from our ashes. No scholar recover our knowledge. In silence unbroken, naught would stir.
Coph-coodg:
- Intellect was once our pride. Overnight, it became our shame. Our works monuments to futility.
- Immortality, our greatest invention, became a source of suffering. Rather than suffer on, many chose to unmake themselves by means of aetheric exsanguinaters.
- Etched upon these stones are the testaments of such souls. Though many left no words at all, thinking it a pointless gesture.
Lah-laakh:
- Once we have obtained vessels of flesh, we likewise intend to vanish.
Coph-coodg:
- If you understand this─understand aught of our tale─you will abandon your quest for knowledge.
- Ignorance truly is bliss. If you would cling to your illusory happiness, remain primitive and pure. It is the only way.
Y'shtola:
- So that's your story.
- While I appreciate your advice, I will not heed it.
- Convinced though you may be of this truth, it is yours and not mine. Indeed truth, I have ever believed, is in the eye of the beholder.
Coph-coodg:
- Are you suggesting that we have reached a faulty conclusion? That our science failed us?
Y'shtola:
- Hardly. As you yourself said, the subject matter is beyond my comprehension.
- And that, I accept, is true. I do not possess the knowledge to prove or disprove your conclusion.
- In my mortal years, I doubt I could even approach the wisdom of the Ea.
- But of one thing am I absolutely certain: I would not be happier in ignorance.
Alisaie:
- Y'shtola, no! You mustn't!
Y'shtola:
- The most important lesson I've learned...is that learning isn't simply passing one's eyes over words.
- Nay... 'Tis when understood for oneself that knowledge attains its true value.
- This is what has sustained me. Driven me onward in joy and wonder. In anger and sorrow.
- The universe may end, and all may be for naught. But I will live as I always have.
- I will always seek out new knowledge. And no conclusion of yours, no matter how grim, can dampen my desire.
Coph-coodg:
- I suppose it is only to be expected. Their feeble minds cannot fathom the terrifying gravity of it all.
Lah-laakh:
- But worry not. We consider it our duty to enlighten you, and we will not stop until you grasp the full extent of our despair!
Y'shtola:
- Keep calm, and listen well.
- Though my body will soon dissipate, there may be a way to restore it.
- Azem's magick. So long as our souls remain, you can use it to summon us back.
- But you mustn't, for it would mean losing our way forward. This, I only reveal so that you can promise not to invoke the magick.
- We came here knowing what victory may cost, so press on. Press on, and do not look back.
Urianger:
- I shall join thee. As subterfuge is not required, thou shalt not suffer for mine absence.
Y'shtola: Urianger...
Urianger:
- My resolve hath never been as strong as thine. Full oft have I wavered in my decisions, and afterwards been stricken with regret.
- In spite of this, I may still stand with my comrades, supporting them as they attempt the greatest of feats.
- This truth, I have learned in the course of our journey.
- And many though my shortcomings may be, I may also claim to excel in prophecies. My studies into which have granted me the flexibility of mind needed to bend this malleable reality.
- Thus shall I hope... That thou mayest have the strength to resist, and our comrades the strength to continue.
Y'shtola:
- With you to urge us on, how could we possibly fail?
Meteion:
- What's this? An extinguished civilization...rekindled?
Alisaie:
- That's right! Our quest doesn't end here. We'll press on...and we will find you!
Meteion:
- There. That's where you'll find me.
G'raha Tia:
- Is that...another star?
Meteion:
- Of the stars we visited, most were already devoid of life. And where there was life still, the inhabitants wished for death.
- But even death, we learned, isn't truly the end. It is but a part of the cycle of rebirth.
- Souls return to the star─or in its absence, a larger flow. And eventually they are reborn.
- Alive again, to know suffering anew...
- True salvation lies not in dying. It lies in not being born.
- This is the gift I would give to you. To all life on beautiful Etheirys.
- To that end, we created an egg wherein life cannot quicken─that dead sun.
- Attain it if you can. Before your friends' emotions fade away─along with their protection.