On day 73 of my Final Fantasy marathon, I left off after exiting the Forest of Moore. Today, I’m on my way to Exdeath Castle.

Exdeath Castle

We fly to Exdeath Castle, which has 15 chests and no items. Rand masters the Knight job, so I switch him to Summoner and give him the Equip Armor ability.

We run into what seems to be a dead end, but Krile recognizes it is an illusion. She calls on Galuf to help.

Galuf’s ghost appears to Kelger and explains the situation. Kelger asks his people to send all their power to Exdeath Castle to destroy the illusion.

Kelger dies and the remaining werewolves use their power to destroy the illusion, revealing a rather more disturbing version of the castle. I find an Ice Shield in a chest and give it to Faris.

Lenna masters the Black Mage job, so I switch her to Dragoon and give her the Black Magic Lv. 6 ability. I find a Hayate Bow in a chest.

I find an Icebrand in another chest and a Kotetsu, which goes to Faris. I find the Twin Lance in a chest, which seems like it should be for Lenna, but apparently isn’t.

We encounter Carbuncle who challenges us to a fight. This fight is a pain because he is often resistant to physical attacks and has reflect up to fight off magic attacks.

However, I eventually win and gain the ability to summon him. Gilgamesh shows up again.

This time, he morphs after taking enough of a beating and thinks he has the Excalibur weapon. However, he discovers he was fooled.

Exdeath banishes him as punishment for his repeated failures, and we get the Excalipoor sword as a reward for beating him. We square off against Exdeath.

None of Rand’s summons seem to do any good and we are all vunerable to Exdeath’s Level 3 Flare spell, so our first attempt is not a victory.

I level everyone up and then change Rand’s job to Mystic Knight and this time I get the win by pounding him with Firaga spells and spellsword attacks. The crystals break apart and we somehow get transported back home to a field near Tycoon Castle.

Tycoon Castle

We walk to Tycoon Castle and the Chancellor greets Lenna and Sarisa. He says the king’s passing was a great loss, but we must do our best to continue without him.

He has arranged a banquet to celebrate Sarisa’s return from the dead. They put Faris in a dress and Rand is smitten.

The banquet begins, but Krile runs off. Rand follows her. He asks if she is OK and she says her grandpa’s death isn’t as painful anymore, but she feels anxious, like he is fussing at them to hurry somewhere.

Rand decides we should figure out why we are in his world. We leave the castle without Faris and Lenna, because Rand doesn’t think they can get away from the banquet.

As we attempt to leave the castle, a guard crashes into us. He tells us that the bridge over the western river is complete.

Boko

Rand says we should go look for Boko at the cave where we left him. We find Boko and he introduces us to his wife.

Krile can speak chocobo. She tells Rand that Boko is willing to go off adventuring with him again and he has asked his wife to stay behind and look after their chicks.

Antlion’s Den

We ride Boko around until he falls in a hole that contains an antlion. The Antlion attacks and neither of us can do enough damage to defeat it.

For my second attempt, I change Rand’s job to Mystic Knight. We battle the antlion until it runs away.

However, we are still stuck in its nest. Fortunately, someone lowers a rope. The rope lowerer jerks Rand around for a while before finally pulling him out.

It turns out to be Faris, getting her revenge for being left at the castle. She tells us she isn’t cut out for princess duty, so she left the banquet.

Ghido’s Cave

Faris joins the party and we hop back on Boko. A short distance away, we find Ghido’s Cave and Ghido lying on his back.

Rand flips him over and he thanks us. He says the shock of the two worlds merging sent everything topsy-turvy.

He tells us that, according to ancient legend, Rand and Krile’s worlds were once the same. The worlds split apart to seal the Void.

A thousand years ago, an evil presence called Enuo existed. Enuo created the Void and possessed the power to control it.

After a long battle, the people defeated Enuo, using the twelve legendary weapons. However, they could not erase the Void.

As a last resort, they split the crystals into two. This caused the world to also split into two. This sealed the Void in the space between the two worlds, called the Interdimensional Rift.

Rand realizes that Exdeath was telling the truth about wanting the world to be the way it used to be. However, without the crystals the elemental powers will never return.

Krile complains that the splinter she got in the antlion den is really hurting. Suddenly, Exdeath appears.

He tells us he turned himself into a tiny splinter to wait for this moment. He says his true goal is to take the sealed power of the Void.

Ghido realizes that now that the worlds are one, the Interdimensional Rift is emerging along with the Void that was sealed within it. Rand tries to confront Exdeath but is easily swatted aside.

We see the void open over Tycoon Castle and everyone worries for Lenna. Exdeath battles Ghido for a while and eventually ends up zapping everyone back to some random field.

Library of the Ancients

Ghido is excited to discover they are near the Library of the Ancients. He leads us inside, where we find the scholars from both worlds gathered.

They have brought together the two halves of the Sealed Tome, which were previously in separate worlds. Ghido tells us that many fearsome monsters were sealed in the Rift.

He says that as we are now, we don’t stand a chance of beating them. We must obtain the legendary weapons.

The scholars combine the two halves of the sealed tome. It tells us that following Enuo’s defeat, they sealed the weapons of legend in Castle Kuza.

To break the seals, we must assemble four tablets. One rests alongside the spirits of the past, blessed by the soil.

One rests within an island shrine, kissed by wind. One rests beneath the ocean’s floor, engulfed by flames.

One rests beyond the river’s torrents, protected by water. They are guarded by the ultimate spells of white and black.

The magic of time and space, Meteor. The ruler of the seas, Leviathan and Bahamut, king of dragons.

We must present the sealed tome before each gate to open the seals. We receive the sealed tome and Ghido tells us to unseal the twelve legendary weapons before Exdeath gains the power of the Void.

He tells us the first seal must be in the pyramid in the Desert of Shifting Sands. We leave the Library of the Ancients and I save and quit for the night.