The second Shadow showed her as a hero— a real hero —tall and golden, beloved by balladeers. You’ll never be this , it said. She shattered it anyway.
Iona had never expected to be the hero.
She packed a bag. The first side quest— Find the Sun-Kissed Blade —took her three weeks. The Cradle of Ashes turned out to be a volcano that burped fire every seventeen minutes, and the blade was buried beneath a skeleton that kept whispering, “Not you. Anyone but you.” When she finally pulled it free, the blade was warm and humming, and the skeleton sighed, “Fine. Good luck. You’ll need it.” rpg maker mv quest log
Iona raised the cracked blade. “That’s the neat part,” she said. (She had always wanted to say something like that. It came out wobbly.) “You can’t.”
“Oh, well. Practically immortal.” The companions came harder. The second Shadow showed her as a hero—
“My name,” Iona said quietly. “I’ll give you my name. When you play the lullaby, you can play it as me. And I’ll go into the Spire without one.”
“You’re going to die,” the hermit said cheerfully. Iona had never expected to be the hero
The Clockwork Exile was a broken automaton named Cog, rusted in a ravine. Its memory core was fried, but it repeated one phrase: “Find the Prince. Apologize.” Iona carried it on her back for six miles before its legs clicked back into motion. It never said thank you, but it started watching her back at night.
Reward: One saved world. One lost name. One found self. New personal trait discovered: Resilience: 78/100 (you kept going. that counts for a lot.) Note: The miller’s son waited. He says he liked you better without a destiny anyway.
Completion progress: 83% Side quests remaining: 1 (defeat the Prince) Survival chance: 1% Confidence: 4% (unchanged)