Final Fantasy XIV: Endwalker

Krile, having journeyed ahead to Old Sharlayan, contacted her friends in the Rising Stones, informing them of having obtained passage for them as helpers to rebuild the Students of Baldesion. Gathering in Limsa Lominsa, the Scions (the Warrior of Light, Alphinaud, Alisaie, Thancred, Urianger, Y'shtola, G'raha Tia, and the newly joined Estinien) bid farewell to coinkeeper Tataru and fellow Scions Hoary Boulder and Coultenet before departing by ship. During the journey, the Warrior encountered the ephemeral figure of Hydaelyn, the primal who had originally blessed them at the very beginning of the Warrior's journey. She revealed her reasons for being mostly silent in the Warrior's journey following the confrontation with Ultima, directing the majority of her energy to maintaining the seal on Zodiark, and warned them of the coming trials, before disappearing.

Once on Sharlayan, the Scions divided their efforts in news of the island of Thavnair requesting their aid. Alphinaud’s group remained behind in the city to learn what they could from the Sharlayan archives. They discovered the Forum had increased the workload of their gleaners in obtaining items for Labyrinthos, an underground bunker serving as the scholars' main source of living specimens. While inside the facility, the Warrior received a rare flower that responded to emotion, as a gift from Hydaelyn. Their investigation came to an abrupt end when Fourchenault Leveilleur, father to the twins and a key member of the Forum, arrested them. The Scions were put on trial by the Forum, who forbade them from further inquiries at the risk of deportation. Through the trial and the cooperation of a sympathetic Forum member, they learned that the Forum had been tasked with a "sacred duty" after researching the Lifestream in their former Eorzean colony, and that the Forum themselves were unable to speak about it due to a memory spell.

Thancred's group aided the alchemists of Thavnair and its main city-state, Radz-at-Han, in perfecting "warding scales", talismans developed to shield their wearer from the spires' enthrallment. The Warrior and the head alchemist, Nidhana, confirmed the warding scales' effectiveness at the Thavnair spire, named the Tower of Zot, before the latter was captured by Fandaniel, who revealed himself to have been the Allagan scientist Amon before being inducted into the Ascians prior to the Fourth Umbral Calamity. The group, having been summoned by the satrap Ahewann, ruler of Radz-at-Han, learned that the dragon scales that made up the warding scales' core were provided by the great wyrm Vrtra, who was the city-state's true ruler. Vrtra requested the Scions' aid in capturing the Tower and freeing his people held within.

After regrouping with the others, the Warrior and the Scions fought their way up the spire, defeating the Magus Sisters primals who were summoned in defense, and reached the spire's core, revealed to have a person's limb inside. Y'shtola observed that the tower absorbed far more energy than necessary. After Estinien destroyed the core, the tower vanished, and G'raha used a float spell to catch everyone, including the captives. Back in the city, the Scions were thanked for their aid, being rewarded with boxes of the warding scales to be gifted to the Grand Company in their own battles against the spires. Nidhana, freed and cured of tempering, noticed the Warrior's flower change color and discussed the theory of an energy called 'akasa' that derives from emotion.

After gifting their allies the warding scales, the Scions were requested to join a group of Grand Company members under the command of Lucia Junius to infiltrate Garlemald proper and put an end to the Telophoroi's plans. This "Ilsabard Contingent" clashed with Telophoroi forces before making camp in an abandoned Garlean town. In their search for surviving Garleans, the Warrior and the Leveilleur twins encountered youths who had escaped tempering, and learned that magitek radios could shield them from the tempering of a loud roar from the Imperial Palace. The tempered Garleans began to mindlessly hunt those who had escaped, as well as slaving away at transforming the palace into a monstrous edifice. Due to their beliefs and teachings, the youths rebuffed the Scions' overtures for aid, which resulted in the death of two of them. This incident greatly affected the twins, who volunteered to serve as envoys to a Garlean camp when a scout from said camp was captured trying to steal supplies.

The Warrior joined them, and together with the scout, Jullus, presented themselves to commander of the refugee camp, Quintus van Cinna, the legatus of the Ist Imperial Legion. Though more mild-mannered than his subordinates, the legatus refused outright the Contingent's aid, citing their recent conflicts and the Garleans' own history of oppression by others as reasons to mistrust these newcomers. The envoy group was taken hostage, with the Warrior kept in-line with the twins' well-being. The group worked with the Garleans' efforts to supply the camp in preparation for a "plan" in which the Ist Legion would reunite with the remaining legions to take back the capital, and during this time bonded with Jullus and fellow soldiers, making the latter more uncomfortable with holding them prisoner after seeing their good intentions.

Thancred came in contact with the Warrior during a brief respite, requesting them to play along with the Garleans' demands until a rescue plan was hatched. Events came to a head when Quintus ordered the twins locked up and the Warrior returned to the Ilsabard Contingent with his demands: surrender all supplies and leave Garlemald. This plan fell apart when news of the twins by Thancred reached them, and the Ist Legion prepared to take the supplies by force. Lucia intervened by revealing the other legions were unable to lend them aid, some of them reaching out to the Grand Company for assistance. With his plans for saving his people ruined and his honor lost, Quintus ordered his soldiers to stand down before taking his own life. Jullus, the highest ranking officer after him, accepted aid from the contingent.

After helping Garlean refugees find aid and come together over shared loss, a roar rang out from the Palace, tempering many of the Garleans and causing a state of panic. Fandaniel spirited the Warrior away to the Palace, now called the Tower of Babil, and their soul was implanted into an unknown Garlean warrior. The Warrior learned that the Garleans had been tempered by Anima, a primal created from the corpse of Varis and the fervent hopes of the Garlean citizens for a savior, with pieces of Varis serving as Anima's extensions in the spires. Zenos took control of the Warrior's true body with the intention of killing the Scions to motivate the Warrior into a rematch, but the Warrior stopped him, returning their soul to their body.

In retaliation, the Scions coordinated an assault the Tower of Babil with the Ilsabard Contingent and defeated Anima. This distraction provided the tower with enough aether from the spires to nearly break Zodiark's seal on the moon. Hydaelyn intervened, using Krile as a host once more, to prevent the seal from shattering, and when Fandaniel and Zenos teleported to the moon to complete the effort, she interfered with the aetherial flow, sending them to the far side. Hydaelyn requested the Warrior to use the teleporter and head to the moon to protect the seal, before Krile passed out from exhaustion.

The other Scions remained behind, dealing with the now suicidal tempered who were trying to destroy the Tower. The Warrior made the journey to Mare Lamentorum, where they were contacted by the Watcher, an ancient familiar created by Hydaelyn to maintain the seal. The Watcher requested the Warrior to deal with the wandering shades of Ancients who were preventing them from restoring the seal, using the aid of another familiar named Argos. They encountered the real Hythlodaeus, revealed to have been one of the souls sacrificed for Zodiark's creation, however, their efforts were for naught, as Fandaniel and Zenos arrived to destroy the final part of the seal. The Warrior attempted to engage Zenos in combat to prevent him from merging with the primal, but Fandaniel took advantage of their distraction to do so instead, subjugating the souls that the incomplete god was composed of. The Warrior engaged Zodiark, calling upon the power of Azem to summon allies, to weaken the primal enough for the Watcher to reseal it. After his defeat, Fandaniel revealed his true goal was to destroy the weakened primal at the cost of his own life. Realizing the Warrior was no longer interested in him, Zenos postponed their rematch and left.

Joined by Thancred, Y'shtola, and Urianger, the Warrior learned from the Watcher that Zodiark was a necessary evil to prevent the return of the Final Days, maintaining the flow of aether around the star, and that with his death, the Final Days would return to Etheirys. They learned that Hydaelyn was preparing a contingency should the Final Days come, and met with Loporrits, a race of familiars created by Hydaelyn to transform the moon into a habitable zone and ship to prepare for an exodus from Etheirys. The Loporrits attempted to convince the group to remain on the moon as their allies, the Sharlayan Forum, were working on a method to transport people to them. However, the Scions, unwilling to simply let their home fall to ruin and dooming the remaining shards (including the First), refused, and convinced the Loporrits there was benefit in trying to save it. Urianger remained behind to teach the Loporrits more about the people they had hoped to save to improve living conditions on the moon, while the other Scions return to Etheirys and regrouped with their friends in Sharlayan. Before their departure, the Watcher told the Warrior the name of the flower Hydaelyn had given them: "Elpis".

The day after their return, the Scions received another call for aid from Thavnair, as the sky burned and the people were ravaged by horrible beasts. After they arrived, they saw that the monsters were villagers transformed into beasts of the Final Days. By the request of Ahewann, they journeyed through the jungles of Thavnair to save as many people as possible, encountering Vrtra trying to shield his people. After slaying the monster that appeared to be the head of the horde, Y'shtola revealed to her horror that the monsters had no aether, and when witnessing villagers transform, their aether simply "rotted away". As Vrtra dealt with the remaining beasts alongside Estinien, the Scions investigated the origin of the crisis within Radz-at-Han, and concluded the people who fell to despair were the ones who transformed. They theorized the energy responsible for emotional drive, 'akasa', was the cause of the calamity. The little amount of research done into it left them at a dead end.

Another outbreak of beasts occurred in Radz-at-Han, during which Ahewann was killed. Vrtra was forced to reveal himself to his people once the crisis was quelled, and took charge in protecting them. Fourchenault arrived as the head of a dignitary visit to extend an invitation the Hannish people to join them in their evacuation. As Vrtra met with him to discuss details, the Scions brainstormed their next plan of action.

With news of more beeasts appearing around the world, they agreed to split their forces once more to adequately deal with the threat. Discussing on how to learn more of the original Final Days, as well as the significance of the Elpis flower, which had wilted due to the despair of the Hannish people, G'raha suggested for the Warrior to meet with Elidibus, whose soul remained trapped within the Crystal Tower on the First as it was slowly stripped away.

As the only one with the ability to make the trip, the Warrior journeyed alone to the First and used the Tower's functions to find their adversary's essence within. Being brought up to speed of the situation, Elidibus agreed to take responsibility for Fandaniel's actions. He recognized the name Elpis as a facility in the ancient world, overseen by Fandaniel's original personhood, Hermes, but no ruins of it remained in any world. Experiencing a strange surge of memory and emotion, the Ascian decided to use the Tower's time-traveling capabilities to send the Warrior back in time to Elpis itself at the cost of what remained of his soul. The Warrior soon found themselves hurtling through the ages, with Elidibus warning that if they wanted to return to their own time, they could not affect meaningful change.

In Elpis, the Warrior existed as a semi-transparent shade, unable to interact with their surrounds until they met with past versions of Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus, who had come tom Elpis to recruit Hermes to the Convocation. The duo supplied aether to the Warrior, recognizing their soul as similar to their friend Azem. The Warrior encountered Hermes and his familiar Meteion, a child-like being known as 'entelechy'. From Hermes they learned of dynamis, a form of energy that relied on emotion, and that beings like Meteion with low levels of aether could interact with it much more easily than others.

They met with Hydaelyn in her original form as Venat, the previous "Azem", who deduced that the Warrior hailed from the future from sensing their blessing of Light. The Warrior was compelled to divulge to her, Emet-Selch, and Hythlodaeus of what they knew about the Final Days. Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus departed to research more on their own while the Warrior and Venat investigated Hermes and Meteion to discover how his future incarnation became so nihilistic. They learned Meteion was one of many sisters, the Meteia, created by Hermes to seek out life beyond Etheirys and learn what those other civilizations strove for and to share that information through a hivemind. Regrouping with the other Ancients, they decided to confront Hermes to see if he could shed light on the information.

Hermes confirmed that the Final Days as described were driven by dynamis, but that the dynamis itself would need a source to push those emotions and cause the transformations. Meteion received her report from her sisters, but the results were shocking and despaired her. When trying to escape, she was restrained, and her individuality was subsumed as the hivemind took control, revealing that numerous civilizations across the universe had perished for various reasons, with their last survivors decrying life and existence. Hermes, desperate to hear the answers, spirited a despairing Meteion away to a research facility so the Meteia could compile their findings to reach a conclusion. The Warrior's group gave chase.

After they defeated Hermes, Meteion voiced the Meteia's conclusion that all life was meaningless and they should surrender to non-existence. Hermes, also despairing from this conclusion, covered her escape into space to sing her "song of oblivion" to invoke the Final Days. The Warrior and Venat escaped the facility with the aid of Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus, Hermes inflicting the two with a spell that erased their memories of their encounter with the Warrior (alongside Hermes's own memories). Venat urged the Warrior to return to their time and use what they had learned to try and save their world, while she would attempt to do the same for hers. As they traveled through time once more, the Warrior witnessed the events leading to the Sundering, as well as Venat's, now Hydaelyn, determination to save Etheirys.

Back in the Source, Krile told the Warrior that the Scions were spread about Ilsabard as the major effects of the Final Days were centered there. They learned that Fourchenault had taken a group of Sharlayan and Hannish refuges to Garlemald to use the lunar teleporter there in lieu of the space ark they were developing. The Warrior arrived in the frozen region in time to aid Estinien, Alphinaud, Alisaie, and G'raha and save the refugees from the beasts, alongside a recovered Jullus and imperial troops. Zenos also appeared hunting the monsters, honing his skills in await of his rematch. Jullus grew angry at the now exiled prince's apathy to his people's plight as well his hand in causing the situation, while Zenos brushed him off with his philosophy of life having meaning only in what people sought meaning in. Alisaie countered that while he had grown strong with his way of life, he would not gain what he craved by ignoring the events around him. The prince simply walked away.

Fourchenault, having determined that attempting to proceed further into Garlemald would yield naught but more death, regrouped with his refugees in Camp Broken Glass to obtain the Ilsabard Contingent's assistance in returning to Sharlayan. For their aid, he agreed to the Scions request to speak with the Forum once more. Urianger and the Loporrits appeared, having used the teleporter to journey down to Etheirys to inquire why no one else had arrived, and to learn more about the star. After formal introductions between Fourchenault and the Loporrits, they journeyed together back to Sharlayan, where the Warrior recounted their journey in Elpis and the knowledge they had gained on both Meteion and dynamis.

The Scions held an audience with the Forum where they learned that the ark they had created was functional, but lacked the efficiency to be able secure enough people to the moon before the Final Days consumed all. Alphinaud bargained with the Forum to let the Scions try and fix the issue in return for granting access to the means they had used to communicate with Hydaelyn ever since leaving Eorzea, as well as permission to use the ark itself. The Forum agreed, and Fourchenault escorted the Scions to lower levels of Labyrinthos. They discovered that a specific type of alloy only found in Allagan wreckage could provide the aetheric properties necessary to increase engine efficiency. Alphinaud made a call to the Grand Company of Eorzea to marshal forces to raid Allagan ruins, such as the fragments of Dalamud, to obtain the ore. Krile returned to the surface to contact gleaner ally Erenville and seek his aid.

While the Scions waited for their allies to come through, they engaged with the other final preparations and tasks needed for departure. The Warrior of Light and Urianger set about directing the Loporrits and sending them to help with the researchers. Urianger reconciled with the parents of Moenbryda, finally coming to terms with her death at the end of A Realm Reborn. The Scions received word that their allies had made their delivery in the Sharlayan harbor, only to find not just the Grand Company, but many other allies and acquaintances they had forged over their journey, including Cid Garlond and his Ironworks employees, who offered to lend their help in making the final adjustments to the ark. Having recognized how his children's deeds had made it all possible, Fourchenault apologized to the twins for his behavior, including his disinheriting of them.

With their end of the bargain fulfilled, and the last of his reservations gone, Fourchenault escorted the Scions to the central facility of the Forum's efforts, Thaumazein, where their means to contact Hydaelyn, the Aitiascope, was located, alongside the nearly finished ark. The Scions used the device to descend into the aetherial sea, where they contended with the lingering spirits of past foes, including a crazed Fandaniel, now identifying as "Amon" once more. Due to the aid of fallen allies, they bested these shades, with Amon's memories as Hermes coming to the surface before his soul was dragged away by a vengeful Asahi.

The party arrived at the the planet's core and met with Hydaelyn. She confirmed they had the willpower to contend with the despair Meteion commanded, and that there was a way to reach her nest at the edge of creation. Before she would reveal this method, she needed to ensure the Scions had the physical strength necessary, challenging them to a trial by combat in which they were forced to bring their all to bear. The Scions succeeded, having drained all of Hydaelyn's remaining energy. Before she faded, she gifted her chosen with a crystal containing the tracking data from a spell she had placed on Meteion before she had escaped, as well as the giant Mothercrystal to serve as fuel for whatever means of travel they would use to reach her. The last Ancient imbued her remaining strength, the power over matter, into the crystal of Azem, urging the Scions to become hope itself, before she dissipated.

Returning to the facility, the Scions revealed Hydaelyn's fate to Fourchenault and Livingway, the leader of the Loporrits, before handing over the crystal. While the Scions rested from their journey, Fourchenault convinced the Forum to let the Scions use the ark, christened the Ragnarok, while the Loporrits determined the location of Meteion's nest: Ultima Thule. Utilizing the power of primals to serve as transportation of the Mothercrystal's aether, the Ragnarok opened a path and traveled to the nest.

Meteion ambushed the party as they arrived, attempting to use dynamis to smother their lives out. Thancred sacrificed his life to save them, causing the dynamis to reshape the region into a hospitable area. In this way, the Scions traversed Ultima Thule, interacting with recreations of the dying worlds the Meteia had visited, with each Scion sacrificing themselves so the others could reach the rest of the way, until only the adventurer remained. Upon reaching a dead end, the Warrior used Azem's crystal to revive Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus, who helped Meteion's true personality to surface by creating Elpis flowers. Touched by the memory of the Warrior's journey, the flowers became resplendent platinum, loosening Meteion's life-ending stranglehold on Ultima Thule and allowing the Warrior to restore the Scions with the last of Hydaelyn's power within Azem's crystal. In her moment of clarity, an anguished Meteion begged the Warrior of Light to stop her and her sisters before vanishing. With the path forward open, Emet-Selch and Hythlodaeus passed on to the afterlife once more, the former giving the adventurer reason to see the rest of the Source and its reflections.

The Scions pursued Meteion into the depths of her nest, fighting past the recreations of the worst ends she had witnessed, and face the Meteia as they converge into an entity simply called the Endsinger, who overpowered the Scions. The Warrior teleported their comrades back to the Ragnarok, intending to face the Endsinger alone but Zenos, who absorbed the remains of the Mothercrystal to reassume his Shinryu form, arrived to help as they defeat the Endsinger.

Defeated, Meteion was allowed to glimpse into the memories and emotions of the Warrior's journey, and realized that the answer that she was created to learn was back on Etheirys all along and, repentant for her actions, she resolved to guide the Warrior back to their ship. Zenos and the Warrior engaged in a final duel to the death, with the Warrior killing Zenos before returning to the Ragnarok. With the Final Days averted and no more world-ending threats on the horizon, the Scions decided to publicly disband to ease Eorzea's reliance on them and go their separate ways until the day that needed them to reunite would come, with the Warrior planning for more adventures. An unknown figure in Elpis with Elidibus's voice mused a future confrontation with "the dread beast Pandæmonium".