The Burden of Knowledge

Quest giver: Almet
Location: The Rak'tika Greatwood (X:30.5, Y:17.4)
Quest line: Shadowbringers Main Scenario Quests
Level: 75

Experience: 223,200
Gil: 4,384
Previous quest: In Good Faith
Next quest: Bearing With It
Patch: 5.0

Main Scenario Progress: 603 / 960 (62.8%)

Shadowbringers Progress: 62 / 157 (39.5%)

“

The entrance to the Qitana Ravel lies open, and Almet would see you on your way.

— In-game description

Rewards

Unlocks

Steps

Search the destination.
Enter the Qitana Ravel.
Speak with Y'shtola.

Journal

The entrance to the Qitana Ravel lies open, and Almet would see you on your way.

The Eulmorans have been routed, and while they scramble to regroup, Almet urges you to make for the Qitana Ravel. Together with your fellow Scions, you travel east, following the trail of flowers leading to its entrance.

You touch the door to the Qitana Ravel and feel aether emanating from within. The way is indeed open. Beyond awaits Rak'tika Falls and, you hope, the Lightwarden. Gritting your teeth, you cross the threshold, wary of the myriad dangers now stirring to life to bar your passage.
- ※To enlist your companion NPCs for this duty, speak with them near the entrance or access Duty Support via the main menu. Use the Duty Finder if you wish to complete the instance alongside fellow players.

After fighting your way past the sentinels of the Qitana Ravel, you arrive at Rak'Tika Falls where, as expected, you find the Lightwarden. A frantic battle ensues, but in the end you emerge victorious, and the primordial Light of the firmament at last gives way to a breathtaking night sky. Your task complete, you turn your steps back to Fanow.

While passing through the halls of the Qitana Ravel, a series of murals chance to catch Y'shtola's eyes eye. As she ponders their significance, her thoughts are interrupted by the fashionably late arrival of Emet-Selch. He bids you make haste in quitting the temple, but soon finds himself similarly captivated by the murals, not out of curiosity but nostalgia. Y'shtola duly invites him to explain what it is they depict, and he obliges with an utterly unforeseeable tale: that Zodiark and Hydaelyn are the eldest of primals, and that it was the Ascians who first conjured them into being. his lesson concluded, Emet-Selch then departs, leaving you and your companions to continue your journey outside in stunned silence.

You have been confronted with an uncomfortable truth–assuming it is the truth. Yet there is little time to give thought to Emet-Selch's claims, for you duty to save the First is not yet done.

Dialogue

Quest Acceptance

Y'shtola: Before we leave─Urianger, did you discover anything that may suggest the Lightwarden hides elsewhere?
Urianger: Nay. Though we had but little time before the Eulmorans' most unwelcome arrival, we scoured the nearby environs and spoke once more with the one called Korille. Having hearkened to her tale, it is my judgment that the sin eater which her late mother did espy was indeed the being we seek, and that it most likely resided in the vicinity of Rak'tika Falls. In the absence of any subsequent sighting, I have no reason to believe our quarry hath sought out a new sanctuary. And given the considerable difficulty we face in reaching the falls, we may be certain it hath not been disturbed by man.
Y'shtola: Then our course is clear. We must navigate the Qitana Ravel and make for Rak'tika Falls.
Almet: Though you see it as but another obstacle to be navigated, the Qitana Ravel is the oldest and most sacred of our temples. The accumulated knowledge of the empire is said to reside within. Knowledge which is rightly yours as allies of Ronka. You are welcome to explore.
Y'shtola: I fully intend to survey every ilm of it─once our mission is complete.
Uimet: Were the emperor still alive, he would be overjoyed to hear you say so. But I must warn you─though the way is open, it will still be heavily guarded.
Cymet: To discourage trespassers and test the worth of our allies, it had to be so. Be careful in there.
Almet: Head east and you will find the path of azure flowers leading to the Ravel. I wish you safe passage through its halls. (Cymet, Almet and Uimet bow)
Runar: Master Matoya. I know I cannot dissuade you from going, so please─promise me you will return safely. The Night's Blessed need you...
Y'shtola: You need not worry, Runar. I shall return, and bring with me a long-awaited gift. One the Night's Blessed will treasure now and forevermore. Now, let us away.

Minfilia: I can't imagine what could have survived in there after so many years...
Thancred: After you, my friend.
Urianger: At long last, the time hath come to find out what wonders yet remain at the heart of Ronka.
Y'shtola: This had better work. I have no wish to return to the Great Pyramid.

Search the destination

You can feel the aether flowing through the door. A gentle push may be all that's required...
Y'shtola: Our earlier efforts were not in vain, it seems. Stay on your guard, [Forename]. We know not what awaits us inside.

Enter the Qitana Ravel

Post-Battle

Warrior of Light absorbs the light from Eros, and night returns
Minfilia: The Lightwarden is dead. The Blessed's prayers have been answered...
Thancred: Aye, that they have.
Urianger: Her condition yet troubleth thee?
Y'shtola: It does. Though she shows no immediate signs of corruption, the danger remains. She must be told.
Y'shtola: ...Would you describe it to me, Urianger? Paint for me a picture with your words.

Urianger: A sea of shimmering stars. Diamonds strewn across a raven gown, boundless and beautiful. 'Tis an exquisite sight not unlike that of the Source. Calm and gentle...and forgiving...
Y'shtola: I can see it...
Urianger: For however deep the void, or wide the expanse, there is no shore so distant as to be beyond the reach of light. ...Ominous though that may sound, given our present travails.
Y'shtola: Well fought. Let us return home.

Y'shtola: (glancing at the murals) The murals. If I am not mistaken, they predate the empire.
Minfilia: How can you tell?
Y'shtola: A peculiarity of the paint. Most are made from mineral-based pigments, but whatever was used here is older than anything I have ever seen. According to Almet, this sanctuary was built to preserve the wisdom of the ancients. What events do these murals commemorate, I wonder?
Emet-Selch: Must you always linger after defeating your enemies? Navigating these halls on foot is exhausting.
Thancred: Come to lead us to safety, have you?
Emet-Selch: Hmph! I was bored. But how is the hero of the hour? (Emet glances at the Warrior of Light) Hmm. Fighting fit, I see. Keep up the good work.
Y'shtola: You're plotting something.
Emet-Selch: Every hour of every day. But never you mind about that. As I have told you a thousand times before: I like to watch. Nothing more. Well! I would quit this place, and I suggest you do the same. There is yet work to be done. (Emet glances at the Murals) Ah...there is a sight to bring a tear to the eye.
Minfilia: You recognize these scenes?
Emet-Selch: (Emet shrugs) That I do. Indeed, there was a time when anyone and everyone would. Until one calamitous day when the world was divided across ten and three reflections, sundering the land and all who dwelled upon it. A vision shared of a paradise lost, preserved only in song and scripture and paint... Once upon a time. Yet here we find ourselves again. To look, learn, and remember...
Y'shtola: Then share with us the stories you know so well. We are listening.

Emet-Selch: Before the great sundering, there was one world. A world that knew naught but peace and prosperity. Until it was faced with a crisis. Unprecedented, terrifying. Civilization found itself perched upon a precipice, staring into oblivion. But through prayer and sacrifice, the will of the star was made manifest. (Ement points to a Mural) Zodiark was His name, and by His grace was the calamity averted. (Everyone looks shocked)
Y'shtola: Zodiark!? (Emet points at another mural)
Emet-Selch: A savior mighty and magnificent, deserving of reverence and gratitude...one would have thought. Yet some thought otherwise. From the fears of these naysayers would rise Hydaelyn─She who was to serve as His shackles. To bind Him and hold Him in check. And so they fought, and they fought, and they fought. And in the end...Hydaelyn was victorious. With all Her strength She smote Him─dealing a blow so devastating that it split the very fabric of reality. And thus was Zodiark banished and His being divided. That concludes today's lesson on long-forgotten history. Though I imagine your Mother would offer a rather contradictory account. As is Her wont.
Thancred: I'm sorry─I can only assume I misheard, but it sounded an awful lot like you were implying both Zodiark and Hydaelyn are not gods, but─
Emet-Selch: What? Not gods of the First? Is that what you thought these paintings depicted? Or...? Oh! Ohhh...
Emet-Selch: They are gods after a fashion, yes, but no different from the kind with which you are so intimately acquainted. Formed of faith and prayer, of conviction and devotion...
Emet-Selch: The eldest and most powerful...of primals.

Y'shtola: You have spun quite a tale. Yet you have not explained the role of the Ascians in all of this. How is it you are privy to ancient secrets lost to time?
Emet-Selch: (Emet chuckles) Finally, finally, you ask the right question! And shrewd questions warrant honest answers...
Emet-Selch: We Ascians know because it is our history. Our story. It was we who summoned Zodiark─we natives of that sundered paradise. (Everyone looks shocked again)
Emet-Selch: Now do you see why we yearn for the Great Rejoining? For our world...for our people...for all creation to be made whole again. Wouldn't you wish for the same?

Minfilia: Thancred did tell me about primals...but I don't fully understand what all of this means.
Thancred: The eldest and most powerful of primals... Gods. If that were Hydaelyn's origin, then what would that make─
...No. No, I will not take the words of an Ascian on trust. It has to be a lie.
Urianger: 'Tis oft said truth is a matter of perspective. Yet upon this matter, there can be but one truth. I only pray it is not his.

Speak with Y'shtola

Y'shtola: That was an enlightening experience. Though not in the way I had hoped. Do you suppose there is any truth in Emet-Selch's claims?