Summary

Long ago, a powerful vampire (Nythrien) ravaged the land, draining entire villages of life in an ever-widening spiral.
The Archmage, a respected figure from the mainland, was sent to end the crisis.
But by the time he arrived, the region was already dead — empty ruins, lifeless fields, silence.
The Archmage, stricken by guilt and failure, built a tower in the heart of the dead land.
- His goal: find a way to undo the destruction.
- His tool: time magic and soulwork — seeking to resurrect the dead and prevent the massacre.

The Archmage constructs the Soul Lantern:
- Casket to bind souls.
- True Ice Glass to hold identity.
- Eternal Flame to restore will.
- A staff to wield and complete the ritual.
It works — temporarily.
- The Archmage resurrects villagers.
- But the Lantern also rewinds the vampire’s existence.
- They’re both trapped in a loop — the Archmage witnesses Valek’s rampage over and over again, unable to permanently stop it.
This becomes a form of psychological torment worse than death for the Archmage.

The Archmage discovers the true solution:
- The loop must not be closed — it must be left open, but sealed away.
He:
- Entombs the vampire in a deep tomb, guarded by a Gatekeeper.
- Destroys the Lantern, rendering it incomplete.
- Sacrifices his place in time — choosing to live outside of reality to ensure the loop remains broken and the world moves on.
- The shattered remains of the Lantern scatter across the world, never to be whole again.
The world begins to heal. Time flows again — for everyone else.

Tyon travels to the island of Aibor and manipulates rival elven clans into summoning a demon.
He binds the demon and extracts a ritual to fuel the Lantern’s completion:
- Death en masse.
- Binding undead to the soul stream.
- Pieces of the Lantern reforged.
Unknowingly, he reawakens the shattered loop — the vampire’s prison cracks, the fabric of time begins to thin.
Tyon, by attempting resurrection, recreates the conditions the Archmage once undid.

Tyon causes war in a coastal city.
The player, a mercenary, fights alongside the defenders.
Town mage Stanley casts a short-lived but powerful protection spell.
Tyon’s ritual kills nearly everyone — but the player survives, caught in the loop.
Tyon assumes the ritual failed, and the player is dead.
The loop restarts.

The player wakes up in town each loop — memories intact, time reset.
Tyon continues gathering Lantern pieces and performing the ritual again and again.
The player confronts and defeats Tyon in every loop, but cannot escape.
Tyon eventually realizes he too resets each time, tied to the same fate.
- The Archmage didn’t fight because he already knew this would happen.
- The Lantern can only be completed by breaking the loop — not by closing it.

Once the player:
- Collects all memory fragments.
- Defeats Tyon multiple times.
- Visits all broken timelines and speaks with Tyon at each stage.
…Tyon accepts the truth:
- He cannot bring his men back without dooming the world.
- Like the Archmage and Valek, he and the player must remain outside of time.
Together, they shatter the Lantern.

The player and Tyon arrive in the ancient tower of the Archmage.
The Archmage (or his echo) welcomes them:
- The world is now freed.
- His soldiers — and all the dead — now rest properly.
- But Tyon and the player will never return to the world as it is.
The camera lingers as the three "ghosts" — Archmage, Tyon, and player — look out over a quiet, living land.

🎭 Themes (Expanded)

The Futility of Control – Power over life and death has a cost greater than grief.
Witnessing is a Curse – Watching tragedy endlessly without being able to stop it.
Sacrifice Beyond Death – True heroes are not remembered, because they never existed in the timeline they saved.
Echoes of Failure – Every villain is a former hero trying to fix something that can’t be fixed.