"Before you ponder the grand question of the [world's fate], open your eyes... Look beyond the horizon Kephale watches over, and see the danger we face!"
Phainon cried out:
"My home, Aedes Elysiae, was a village forgotten by time."
"Its breezes were as fresh as mint, and its fields of wheat stretched toward the sea... I once believed I would live there in peace with my family and friends forever."
"How I wish I could invite you all to see that beautiful, secluded place! But I cannot—"
"Because the Black Tide swallowed it and everything it nurtured long ago. I have no home left!"
Phainon looked at the citizens, who had fallen silent, and spoke earnestly:
"I will never forget the day the Black Tide came. My father, Hieronimus, fought with a broken sword to the very end for his child."
"My mother, Odeta, had her chest torn open by a monster so that I could stand here and plead with you today!"
"Gabar the hunter drew his bow until the end. Then he held his beloved young son in his arms, and they died together."
"Pisius, the children's teacher, desperately saved every student, only to have a burning beam crush her spine..."
"But what of her daughter, Livia? Did she escape?"
"No." Phainon shook his head helplessly.
"She had so many other children—my closest playmates growing up... The Black Tide swallowed them all and turned them into twisted monsters!"
"Even when I finally steeled myself to strike them down and grant them dignified deaths, they still murmured to me—"
"'What's wrong, Phainon? Aren't we best friends?'"
At the back of the Audience Gallery, Aglaea stood quietly, listening to Phainon's account. "..."
"That is the Black Tide." Phainon spread his hands toward the citizens.
"That is the terrible threat bearing