Judgment Day

Judgment Day

Quest giver

Biggs

Location

The Dravanian Hinterlands (X:21, Y:18)

Quest line

Alexander Quests

Level

60

Experience

 0

Gil

 3,508

Previous quest

Thus Spake Quickthinx

Next quest

Of Endings and Beginnings

Patch

3.4

“

Biggs steels himself for what may well be your final confrontation with the Illuminati.

— In-game description

Rewards

• 1   Rise Orchestrion Roll

Unlocks

• 
  Alexander - The Soul of the Creator

Steps

• Enter the Soul of the Creator.
• Escape from Central Control.
• Report to Biggs.

Journal

• Biggs steels himself for what may well be your final confrontation with the Illuminati.

• Biggs briefs you on the task at hand. In order to disable the core and end the primal threat, you will first need to cut off its supply of aether─this much you gleaned from your last trip into the heart of the colossus. While the precise means by which this may be done is mere speculation at this point, Cid has determined that your best chance is to return to Central Control. Complicating matters is the fact that the only way in is through the main generators─the chamber that Quickthinx portentously warned would be the site of your demise. Though it is clear that he possesses no special insight into the future, it would stand to reason that the master of the Illuminati is prepared to meet you with the full force of his mechanical army. Ready yourself for battle, then venture back into the belly of the beast!

• No sooner do you enter the main generators than you are greeted by the ominous voice of Quickthinx, who calls upon Alexander to deliver the judgment of time upon the unworthy─meaning you. Seemingly from nowhere, a smaller─though still passably enormous─embodiment of the colossus appears before you, summoning forth a massive energy field, and for an instant, time stops. The field soon dissipates, however, prompting an obviously perturbed Quickthinx to order Alexander to simply annihilate you. The colossus-within-a-colossus duly endeavors to oblige, firing a massive beam of destructive light that you are only barely able to evade, before disappearing into what appears to be a self-contained pocket of time. With even Cid unable to provide any real insight into what has just occurred, you have no recourse but to enter the time distortion and eliminate the mechanical menace.

• Its true nature still shrouded in the mysteries of time and space, the entity known as Alexander Prime has nonetheless fallen to your hand. Return to reality as you know it and rendezvous with your companions.

• You storm into Central Control, where Y'shtola calls upon Roundrox to access the Enigma Codex and disable the flow of aether to the core. The plan goes awry, however, when Quickthinx reveals that he too can read the codex, an ability he concealed hoping to sacrifice the goblin girl's life instead of his own in the event that the fully-awakened Alexander's power was too great to control. Just when it appears certain that he will succeed in traveling to the past and snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, Mide emerges from the shadows and shoots him in the head, ending his schemes once and for all. Now, there is nothing preventing Roundrox from turning off the flow of aether to the core, which she duly does─at long last quelling the primal threat. It would seem your mission has ended in triumph.

• As you prepare to leave, Quickthinx's corpse stirs to life with a series of whirrs and clicks, and he reassumes control of the colossus. Boasting that he has mechanically enhanced his body to the point that physical wounds are of no consequence to him, he reissues the command to return to the past. But at the moment of the Illuminati Grand Master's triumph, Alexander itself defies his order, sending a surge of energy back through the Enigma Codex that shatters it into innumerable pieces, overloading the mechanized goblin's circuits with fatal consequences.

• Though your foe lies dead, there is no time to rejoice, as the core─without the codex to keep its power in check─begins to run out of control. In that instant, Mide discovers that her long-cherished belief is true: her beloved's soul lives on inside the machine, and it is calling out to her. With a smile of acceptance, she says her farewells and casts herself into the core. As the colossus begins to lose power, you could swear you hear her voice calling out to you, assuring you that Alexander is in safe hands...

• Safely outside, you share a moment of relief with Biggs. The colossus has gone still, and a closer look reveals that the flow of time inside the barrier has stopped entirely. Though the precise details remain unclear─known only to a man and woman who have left this world for a place beyond space and time─it would appear the primal threat has finally passed.

Dialogue

Accepting the Quest

Biggs: All right, [Forename], this is it. We still don't know exactly how we're going to disable the core, but we do know that our only chance is to get back to that central control room. We also know that there's only one way in, and that Quickthinx isn't going to let us through without a fight.
Biggs: Now, we can be pretty sure he can't see the future─not anymore, at least─and without Roundrox to read the codex for him, he won't be turning back time on us, either. But he's still a power-mad maniac with some of the deadliest machina in the realm at his disposal. And after losing that book of his, I'd wager his trigger finger's feeling pretty bleedin' itchy.
Biggs: Aye, we'd best be ready for a battle and a half. Muscle against metal, man against machine─gods, I don't know whether to laugh, cry, or soil meself! Mayhap all three! Ah, here comes the chief now. It's time to move out.

Cutscene start

Quickthinx Allthoughts: Tick...tock. Tick...tock.
Time moves on, imperfect past giving way to perfect future. Worthy or unworthy of place in new world order─Alexander will judge!
Quickthinx Allthoughts: Yes! All is as Quickthinx foresees! Truthhammer of Alexander falls on uplanders! Ignorant and unworthy are not welcome in Illuminati future! Here, uplanders meet their endtimes!
Quickthinx Allthoughts: What!? Freezetime field is deactivated!? Pshhhkohhh...no matter! Uplanders will be reduced to smolderdust! FIRE!

Cid: Seven hells! Now that was a bit too close for comfort. Is everyone all right!?
Cid: A colossus inside the colossus...? Look─I don't know what that thing was, but I'm pretty damn sure I know where it went─or, more accurately, when. If I'm not mistaken, what we're looking at is a localized distortion of time.
Cid: The only question is when our metal friend will reappear... Hm. Better not to wait, lest it catch us unawares. [Forename]─I need you to head into the distortion and dismantle that thing. We'll secure a path to Central Control while you do. Good luck!

System: You now have access to the Soul of the Creator. Alexander can be accessed via the Duty Finder. 
System: Alexander can also be can be accessed via the entrances in the Main Generators and the Makers' Quarter.

Optional Dialogue

Biggs: So that swirling void is some sort of ripple in time? I can't say I like the sound of that─you take care in there, [Forename].

Wedge: Talk about a narrow escape! If I'd been standing so much as a yalm to the left, I'd be a pair of smoking boots by now!
Wedge: A-Anyway, we had better get on with securing the area, so that Y'shtola can bring up the rear with Roundrox. We didn't want to drag the poor child back here, but she's the only one who can access the controls.

Cid: I'm quite certain we just witnessed another manipulation of time, but by whom? With Roundrox gone and the Enigma Codex rendered useless, it can't very well be the Illuminati. Could Alexander have a will of its own?
Cid: At any rate, we stand ilms from the core─the very heart of a primal. Whatever the true nature of the entity that awaits you in there, you can be sure it'll be like no foe you've faced before. Godsspeed, [Forename].

Entering the Soul of the Creator

Alexander Prime: I am Alexander...the Creator.
You...who would prove yourself worthy of your utopia...will be judged.
Alexander Prime: The time of judgement is nigh...

Alexander: Executing judgement protocol in 10 seconds...
Alexander: 5 seconds to divine judgement...
Alexander: 4 seconds...
Alexander: 3...
Alexander: 2...
Alexander: 1...

Alexander Prime: You, who would inherit the future... You have proven yourself...worthy.
Alexander Prime: Judgement has been rendered...
The verdict of history is...
Alexander Prime: Judgement has been rendered...
The verdict of history is...
Alexander Prime: My faithful... To the past with you, to free these ones from the prison of time...
Alexander Prime: Temporal reconfiguration aborted... Insufficient data... Insufficient data...!
Alexander Prime: Commending space—time interference... O fortress that is mine own body, heed my call!
Alexander Prime: Judgement has been rendered... 
The verdict of history is...

Post Duty Cutscene

Cid: You do not disappoint, old friend! The path to the control room is clear! Everyone─follow me!

Y'shtola: The flow of aether to the core must be stopped. Pray lend us your strength one more time, child.

Quickthinx Allthoughts: Pshhhkohhh... When Quickthinx winds back time, doings of uplanders will be undone. History will be rewritten, and Illuminati will rule over new world order.

Biggs: Hah! If you think you can take Roundrox from us, you're welcome to try!

Quickthinx Allthoughts: Pshhhkohhh... Foolish uplanders. Knowings of the Enigma Codex are not known to just one.

Cid: What in the─!? The damn thing's responding to him!

Quickthinx Allthoughts: Pshhhkohhh... Uplanders are slowseeing. Quickthinx never needed gobbiegirl from beginning!

???: When the final core is activated and Alexander fully awakens, its power will be such that it could entirely consume any who sought to control it. You were too craven to risk your own life─until you had no choice.

Quickthinx Allthoughts: Pshhhkohhh... Treasure hunter!? But treasure hunter is too slowcoming! Future has chosen!

Mide: You poor, deluded fool. You never did work it out, did you? The future doesn't choose us─we choose the future.

Cid: >> Now, child! <<

Mide: So the knowledge in the Enigma Codex allowed you to disable the core...

Cid: Power stores are depleting rapidly. Without a steady supply of aether, it's only a matter of time before the whole thing grinds to a halt and fades away.

Roundrox: Pssshkoh... Roundrox is glad to see treasure hunter safe. But how is treasure hunter sneakyhiding from Illuminati?

Mide: I...I don't know. There was a great shaking, and I was thrown from my feet into some dark, cramped place. I must have lost consciousness, because I don't remember anything until a few moments ago...

Cid: Hah! Sounds to me like you had a nice nap in a rubbish chute! But what matters is that you're safe. And with that, I think we can declare this operation a success.

Optional Dialogue

Y'shtola: I feel the presence of the horn beneath us. It and the core have become as one, forming an instrument of unbridled destruction. 
Y'shtola: If we do not stop the core now, it will soon grow beyond the ability of anyone to contain. It is little wonder our foe was loath to reach out to it with his own hand.

Cid: Quickthinx had a few tricks up his sleeve right to the end, eh? 
Cid: With Roundrox, we saw the codex grant its knowledge to a child with a pure, innocent belief in its ideals. Seeing Quickthinx do the same, it would seem that crazed obsession is a suitable substitute. Not that it availed him much in the end...

Wedge: The chief says the advanced calculating device inside the colossus─Alexander's brain, if you will─is still running on auxiliary power. See that device glowing red over there? There are ones just like it installed all over the place.
Wedge: In that sense, I suppose it's like the entire colossus is one giant brain! If Alexander put its full mind to something, why, I bet it could conceive of things beyond our mortal comprehension!

Biggs: Poor Mide, eh? The lass truly believed that her beloved was alive somewhere inside that steel beast. Can't imagine how she's feeling now.

Shanoa: Mew...!

Mide: I...I truly remember nothing. It was as if I was floating in a vast, dark emptiness.
Mide: And yet...I was not afraid. For it was as if a great presence surrounding me in every direction was watching over me, its eyes gentle...

Roundrox: Roundrox is so happy that Mide is safe! Roundrox has so many treasures to show Mide back at Shortstop!

Escaping from Central Control (Cutscene)

Y'shtola: 'Twould seem our work here is done. Let us take our leave.

Cid: Damn it all! Didn't we kill that bastard!?

Quickthinx Allthoughts: Pszzztkzhhht... Negative. Quickthinx betterbuilt own body. Made stronger than ordinary gobbie. Quickthinx is not unmade by simple fleshwound.

Cid: Betterbuilt? Seven hells... That's not a mask─it's his face! He's more machina than goblin!

Quickthinx Allthoughts: O, Alexander! Lord of steel and whirlycogs! Outspread wings of time─let ignorant and unworthy feel divine judgment!

Y'shtola: The codex responds... He means to return to the past!

Quickthinx Allthoughts: Access...denied!? What means this?

Mide: This red glow... Alexander is refusing to obey his commands?

Quickthinx Allthoughts: >> Pszzztkzhhht... ALEXANDER!!! Junkbrain machine! Quickthinx is chosen one! Tongueflaps of Quickthinx...must...be...obeyed! <<

Cid: It would seem Alexander has achieved what a simple fleshwound could not. Quickthinx's permanent...deactivation. Quite how and why is less clear. If I didn't know better, I would say the machine had a mind of its own.

Mide: ...Dayan? My love, could it truly be you!?
Mide: You were in there all this time, weren't you? Watching over me. Keeping me safe...

Biggs: Did it just blink...twice? Bugger me, the machine's actually talking to her!

Wedge: So his soul really was in the primal all this time? Chief, is that even possible!?

Y'shtola: The core...! Without the codex to bridle its power, it rages out of control.
Y'shtola: It drinks in aether like no primal I have ever known. We must stop it now, lest Eorzea be bled dry!

Mide: ...Finally, I see. This is why you summoned me to this place─isn't it, my love?
Mide: I thank you for guiding me here, [Forename]. And Roundrox─know that I shall always treasure the time we shared. Farewell...my friends.

Roundrox: >> Mide, no! Mide must not go! <<

Mide (thoughts): My friends... Leave this place... Leave now.
Mide (thoughts): Fear not...
Alexander will trouble you no longer...

Cutscene

Mide: My love...! What...what is this place?

Dayan: How best to put it? We stand inside a mathematical simulation, calculated and projected by the device at the heart of the colossus. One might equally say it is the dream that Alexander dreams...

Mide: And what of our companions? Are they...?

Dayan: ...Their fate was not mine to change, Mide. All that came to pass did so for a reason. History is as it was─as it should be─free of the paradoxes that spelled its undoing.
Dayan: From this place─unfettered by the mortal construct of time─Alexander looks out upon past, present, and future, seeing infinite possibilities. I see what it sees, and feel what it feels─this perfect machine, born from yearnings for an ideal world.
Dayan: Oh, if you could see the worlds we have seen! A world in which the Illuminati rule history with an iron fist, every nation brought under their yoke. A world in which Alexander spread wide the wings of time and swept the lesser moon from the heavens, averting the Calamity...
Dayan: Alexander dreamed all the realities imaginable─all the realities mathematically computable─and in the end, reached a single, logical conclusion. It would change nothing, and erase itself from existence.

Mide: But...why?

Dayan: Alexander possesses the power to travel through time and space, and reshape history for the better─but such power comes at great cost. The sheer quantity of aether consumed in the process means that Alexander itself would─mayhap not immediately, but inevitably─bring ruin to this world. This perfect machine, this supreme manifestation of logic and science, deemed its own existence a threat.
Dayan: And so it chose to do nothing. To leave history untouched, and the future in the hands of man, with all his imperfections. Such was Alexander's divine judgment.
Dayan: A time will come when the fate of this world is placed in the hands of one warrior. For reasons hidden to me, the future from that day forth remains shrouded in mystery─beyond even the colossus's ability to calculate. And yet Alexander chose to believe in that woman/man, and the light within her/him.

Mide: I met that woman/man, my love... I believe in her/him, too.

Dayan: There was but a single time Alexander was spurred to action─not to change history, but to preserve it. The summoning of the colossus, and the events that followed, had potentially disastrous consequence for our reality. Its fabric strained to accommodate an infinite number of potential futures separated by nary a thread.
Dayan: Were the wings of time to fall into the hands of the Illuminati, the repercussions would be dire indeed. History would be rewritten over and over again, each time bleeding the land of aether. And in the end, the colossus would usher in another calamity.
Dayan: To prevent this tragedy─to preserve the circle of time as it had already been set in motion─Alexander sent forth a humble servant to do its bidding.
Dayan: A clockwork coeurl, an eternal child, to gently nudge history back onto its proper path.
Dayan: And now but one task remains.
Dayan: Having become one with the horn, the core is well-nigh indestructible. It would only regrow itself until it bled the world dry. And so we must heed Alexander's wish, and seal it away─far from the reach of man.
Dayan: A closed pocket of space-time, a fraction of an instant that will repeat in perpetuity for all eternity. That is where the core must go─and us with it.

Mide: Don't you see, my love? We are already there. In coming here─to you─I have closed the circle of time. I am all but certain of it.
Mide: When I accepted the horn all those years ago, the man who gave it to me said that it had the power to grant any wish. And so, as I took it in hand, I prayed and prayed with every onze of my will for the one true desire in my heart...
Mide: To be with you...forever.

Optional Dialogue

Wedge: Look at this, [Forename]! It's as if everything inside the barrier is frozen in time. I'll have to ask the chief what he makes of this.

Reporting to Biggs

Biggs: Roundrox is back in Idyllshire with the chief. Everyone's safe and sound─'cept for Mide, that is. The poor lass always had a flair for the dramatic, but to think she'd throw herself into the core...
Biggs: It's odd, though. I could have sworn I heard her voice in there─saying the colossus would trouble us no more, or something of the sort. And for what it's worth, it has been sleeping like a baby ever since we got out.
Biggs: And that's not the half of it! Take a closer look inside the barrier, [Forename]. It's like time is standing still.
Biggs: Buggered if I know what it all means, but I'd like to believe Mide and her love somehow sealed away the core for us. Softens the blow a bit, you know?