1.126

After helping the heart to confront and release each of its trapped emotions, you feel a kinship with it that you would not have previously believed to be possible. For a two thousand year old, bio-engineered organism, it seems to you strangely ... human. In that moment of understanding, you are met with a vision.

In the vision, you are the Valley; the entire Valley. Your body stretches from the northerly mountain passes to the towering precipice of Tumbledown Falls, and everything in between. You watch as the Estians flourish, living within you, both above and below the surface. You nuture and protect them, and you are content.

Then you watch in horror as the great dam breaks, and a towering wall of water sweeps it all away. People run, panicked. People die, drowned, or swept are over the falls, or trapped within your subterrean chambers with no hope of escape. And all the while, you can do nothing.

The sorrow you feel is overwhelming. You want only to withdraw, to seal yourself off from the agony of witnessing those who gave you life, who lived within you, who you came to view as your children, perish. Surrounded by horrors and with nobody to turn to, you sink deep into despair.

Centuries pass. The wilderness reclaims the surface as you steadily crumble and corrode.

Then, one day, you see something unexpected. Humans! People have arrived from the East, and they settle at the very place where your life began. They call it Spire. You use all of your remaining strength to offer them a gift, and open the way to the Carbon Forge. Soon they spread throughout the Valley, forming villages, transitioning from a nomadic people to a settled one. There is life in the Valley once again, and it brings you a measure of joy to witness it.

But even as you watch these humans flourish, you see that your body, the arcology, is no longer within your control. It shakes and trembles in spite of your efforts, and every time it does, the new people of the Valley are put in greater danger. Perhaps, after so many centuries, you are finally ready to let go. With a deep sadness, you suspect that the only way to ensure their safety is to make the greatest sacrifice of all …

Then, with a gasp, you return from the vision. You look up at the heart, and sadly, you know precisely what it intends to do.

If you are on THE CAGE CRUMBLES, go to 1.126a

If you have completed CLEAR!, go to 1.128.

Otherwise, continue reading:

Rangers Choose

A) Let the heart pass away.

You look at your jury-rigged device, so small and frail next to the titanic heart. You know that by the time you get it powered on, it will be too late. Though the idea seems abhorrent, you realize the heart is right. The only way to save the Valley is to let it pass away.

Go to 1.126a

B) Use your device to save the heart.

As you look at your jury-rigged device, you can sense the heart preparing to pass away. No! The thought lances through the heart’s consciousness, empowered by every ounce of will you possess. You must wait, you tell it. Your plan will work, you just need a little more time.

Complete the CARDIAC THERAPY mission.

Complete CLEAR! to save the heart.

1.126A

You feel a few last thoughts from the heart. Relief, that its long and lonely vigil is finally over. Sadness, that it did not have a chance to get to know you and all the new people who call the Valley home. And … pride. Pride that, in the end, it could save the Valley’s new inhabitants, even if it couldn’t save the old.

Then, quietly and without a fuss, the heart stops. You feel tremendous grief at the passing of such a unique being well up within you, but it’s tempered by the knowledge that this was what it wanted.

For a long moment, you stand silently, staring at the heart. But then you hear a loud crack from the vaulted ceiling above. The stone sunders, and at the center of the chamber, a large chunk falls to the ground with a terrific boom. The lights go out, and all is plunged into darkness.

Complete all Story and Interlude missions. Record SILENCED THE HEART and record 1.129 above the next day on the campaign tracker.

End the day.