Distant Travelers, Listen to this World's Prayer

Patch: 3.0 · Chapter: Heroic Saga of Flame-Chase · Mission 02 of 10Previous: Silver Chariot, Away to that Blackened Land · Next: Night Stars, Accompany My Slumber

Official summary

The leader of the Chrysos Heirs, Aglaea, offers you her goodwill but also puts forth a strange request. She asks that you not mention the world beyond the sky to the people of Okhema. Okhema is a prosperous city-state, and while you're wandering its streets, a picture of March 7th's is accidentally leaked, causing the city to come abuzz with chatter about the so-called "Rosy Celestial Maiden," with the excitement almost causing fatalities. Without another choice, you are forced to reveal your identity as a visitor beyond this world.

Synopsis

Directly after repelling the manifestation of Nikador in the previous mission, Aglaea — leader of the Chrysos Heirs — has led the Trailblazer and Dan Heng to Marmoreal Palace, Okhema's public baths, to formally explain the state of this world. The mission is a long, largely combat-free tour of the "Eternal Holy City," introducing most of the major Chrysos Heirs and Okhema's peculiar customs, and ending on a sharp turn from hospitality to menace.

Marmoreal Palace: planting the beacon and hearing the creation myth

Before the conversation begins, Dan Heng asks Aglaea for permission to lay down a Trailblaze beacon. He assures her it will bring no repercussions to Okhema — "Think of it as a ceremony when traveling to someplace new." With the Space Anchor set, the party places its first Trailblaze beacon on Amphoreus, another step on the Path of Trailblaze; the Trailblazer jokes that their boarding passes are appreciating and that a few more anchors might let them reconnect with the Astral Express. Aglaea, intrigued by the ritual, invites them somewhere "more suitable" for a lengthy talk: the baths themselves.

Aglaea explains that the spirit water in the bath is a gift from the Ocean Titan (Phagousa), blessed water that can "guide you back into the distant past." She invites the Trailblazer to step in and let the bath sprites narrate Amphoreus's history through the ripples.

The bath sprite tells the creation myth in its formal version:

"Three gods conceived space, time, and laws, laying down the cornerstones of life for all beings." "Three more gods formed the skies, the earth, and the ocean, creating a nursery for the seedlings of life to mature." — Bath Sprite

The account names the makers of humanity: Kephale, the Worldbearing Titan (Throne of Worlds, "father of all people"), who shaped clay figures and let their golden blood course through them; Cerces, the Reason Titan, who granted reason by peeling fruit from a flowering tree; and Mnestia, the Romance Titan, who conferred an eye for beauty and a desire for love. With that, the first humans were born into a Golden Age in which nothing eroded and no one aged or died.

That peace ended when three calamities descended: Zagreus (Trickery), Nikador (Strife), and Thanatos (Death). A black tide swallowed the world whole, fear spread like plague, and mortals took up arms "in the name of the gods," beginning a tumultuous age of divine war marching the world toward destruction.

If the Trailblazer finds the telling too convoluted, Aglaea has the sprites re-narrate the story in a childish "history class" style. This second telling reorganizes the pantheon into a clean structure — three Fate Titans wrote the laws, three Foundation Titans created earth/ocean/sky, three Creation Titans designed and gave life to humans, and three "baddie" Titans brought disaster — and delivers the crucial prophecy:

"The tripartite prophecy says there is only one way to stop this war." "Assemble a band of heroes powerful enough to take on the twelve Titans and reignite their Coreflames. Only then will their divine wrath abate, and peace return to the world." "We know this band of heroes by a certain name... The Chrysos Heirs!" — Bath Sprite

The Sequence Recap crystallizes the cosmology: Amphoreus has twelve Titans — three who wove fate, three who held up sky and earth, three who created life, and three who brought disaster — and the prophecy calls for Chrysos Heirs to challenge them, rekindle their Coreflames, and restore peace.

The upper baths: Aglaea's golden-thread pact

Aglaea leads the Trailblazer up to the private upper bath granted by the Council of Elders exclusively to the Chrysos Heirs. She can only bring one guest at a time so as not to disrespect tradition; Dan Heng volunteers to wait below. (He wryly frames it as a "hero's privilege," noting prophesied heroes and civilians aren't treated equally here.)

In an intimate ritual, Aglaea has the Trailblazer close their eyes and follow her guidance, then formally introduces herself:

"I am Aglaea the Goldweaver, dressmaster of Okhema and one of the Chrysos Heirs of Amphoreus. The trust placed in me is how I came to lead the Chrysos Heirs in our mission today." — Aglaea

She reveals the ritual's true nature: she has bound them with the golden threads of Mnestia (Romance Titan), which sense the slightest quiver and thus function as a lie detector — "We are bound to speak the truth to each other this way." She then delivers the harsh, unsanitized history the bath sprites spared them:

• The pantheon of Titans that once ruled Amphoreus has become the affliction eating away at it. "An unfathomable power" changed something within most of the Titans, inducing rage and madness. [?] This power is left unnamed — a major open thread.
• Amphoreus has fallen into eternal night, the black tide engulfing the world. Okhema is now the only city that still receives light, owed to Kephale's protection.
• The Chrysos Heirs must vanquish the Titans, reclaim their Coreflames, topple them from their thrones, and take their authority. Only by reclaiming all Coreflames can the "miracle of genesis" reveal itself and grant the broken world a new life.

She names the mission:

"This is Amphoreus' Flame-Chase Journey — 'a band of heroes dedicated to slaying the gods and reclaiming the twelve Coreflames for the world to start over anew.'" — Aglaea

Aglaea suggests the Trailblazer and Dan Heng may be the "reinforcements" the Chrysos Heirs have waited for. In exchange for the truth, she asks a single promise:

"Promise me to never tell the people of Okhema about the worlds beyond the sky, no matter what may happen." — Aglaea

Her reason: Okhema is approaching its end, and she does not wish to give her people false hope — "Not when we've been badly scarred by it before." Whatever the player's phrasing, the Trailblazer agrees, completing the pact.

Meeting Dan Heng and Dan Heng's suspicions

Rejoining Dan Heng, the Trailblazer relays everything. Dan Heng is troubled that concealment of "the world beyond the sky" was Aglaea's only demand — consistent with how Phainon behaved at the Abyss (Janusopolis). He voices the mission's central mystery:

"Even on a planet as isolated as Jarilo-VI, the people still had an understanding of space, and even Paths and Aeons. The sky above Amphoreus, though, is more like... a prison." — Dan Heng

He recalls the mass of chaotic matter concealing Amphoreus from the rest of the universe and suspects someone is intentionally keeping Amphoreus hidden, and that its Titans could be tied to some Aeon. They decide to tour the city, both to gather intel while the locals still favor them and to take photos for their records.

Marmoreal Market: Tribbie and Oronyx's Prayer

In the market they find residents struggling to lift a collapsed column — one lamenting that "minions of Nikador" attacked and now this. Tribbie, the child High Priest (who speaks in the plural "we"/"us"), appears. She senses the Trailblazer chanting a fragment of Janus's litany and realizes they may be able to learn Oronyx's Prayer — a priestly technique that draws on the "Veil of Evernight" to fix things by pulling from the past. The Trailblazer restores the pillar on the first try (Dan Heng fails), which astonishes Tribbie, who has never seen a priest achieve resonance with Oronyx (Time Titan) so quickly. She is quietly certain there is "more to your sudden arrival to Okhema."

Tribbie also handles practicalities: she resonance-tunes the party's phones into local teleslates (usable only within Okhema, inside "Agy's web of golden threads"), and explains that Talanton's (Law Titan) scales determine the value of all items so any foreign currency will spend in the holy city. This establishes that Okhema, despite its mythic trappings, has advanced infrastructure — including an internet.

The rooftop: Damionis and the fateful photo

Seeking a vantage point to photograph the Worldbearing Titan statue, the party meets Damionis, who calls himself Okhema's famous explorer. He offers to take their photo; the Trailblazer hands over March 7th's camera (which Damionis calls a "photostone"). After snapping the shot, Damionis probes:

"You're... You're not really from another city, are you? ... Refugees that just came into the city are saying that the people Lord Phainon picked up are from beyond the sky." — Damionis

Dan Heng, honoring the pact, invents a cover on the spot: they are warriors from Thalassopolis, a sparsely populated frontier village, who met Phainon at the Abyss. Damionis pretends to accept the lie but leaves visibly unconvinced ("I'd thought that I had finally found proof that a world beyond the sky exists"). Dan Heng, uneasy, notes that Thalassopolis was fabricated on the fly and a true explorer would see through it — and, crucially, that some people on Amphoreus still yearn for the forbidden starry sky. This plants the seed of the coming crisis: while handling the camera, Damionis glimpsed March 7th's old photos in its album.

Chartonus's workshop: Phainon and his Coreflame

Exploring further, they find Phainon at the workshop of the Grand Craftsman Chartonus (who speaks in riddling inverted syntax). Chartonus warns Phainon he has "not stepped out of the shadow of the past" and must "bury the past, suspend the pain" if he is to bear a Coreflame's weight. Phainon returns Dan Heng's repaired spear — flawless, its damage invisible — and apologizes again for their rough first meeting.

Phainon expands on the prophecy's nature and origin:

• It is considered a prophecy because it manifested as a miracle, though its origin and whose will it represents remain unknown.
• One popular folktale holds it was the whispers of Kephale before their eternal slumber — the sky father who scattered their divine blood across the land, giving rise to the Chrysos Heirs. [?] Origin of the prophecy remains an open question.
• He cautions the outsiders not to dismiss the belief as superstition: the people transitioned from skepticism to firm belief at great cost, and "many have paid the price."

Asked his personal role, Phainon says he is still seeking that answer — but declares his target:

"I'm a soldier who was taught how to fight at a young age. From the day I was selected by the prophecy, I've regarded the Lance of Fury as my goal. One day, I'll break the lance and take the Coreflame of Strife." — Phainon

His Coreflame is Nikador's. He exchanges teleslate contacts and gives the party welcome gifts.

The dromas pen: Castorice

At the dwelling of the dromases (Okhema's large mount-beasts, fed on dry redsoil / crystallized red clay), they meet Castorice, who confirms she too is a Chrysos Heir but grows quiet on the subject. She is gentle but conspicuously avoids physical contact with people and animals alike, calling the pen's air "the fragrance of life." She invites the Trailblazer to feed a dromas; a comic beat lets the player taste the bitter feed themselves. When the Trailblazer pets the beast happily, Castorice admits she is envious but declines to touch it herself. She takes a photo of the party using March 7th's camera — which she operates with easy expertise — applying a black-and-white filter by personal preference. Dan Heng reflects that the Chrysos Heirs all have wildly different personalities, and that Phainon seems the most "normal." Tribbie's group chat pings the party afterward.

The Rosy Celestial Maiden crisis

Preparing to return to Marmoreal Palace, the party overhears citizens obsessing over a forum about a "Rosy Celestial Maiden." With a local's help they connect their teleslate to Okhema's internet — the World Wound Web — and join the discussion group, realizing the "maiden" is March 7th, from a photo Damionis leaked after seeing the camera's album. Over a hundred people are already discussing it; no one yet believes Damionis's claim that the image is proof of a world beyond the sky, but the situation is volatile.

Rushing to find Damionis, the party pushes through baths crowded with lovestruck citizens rhapsodizing about the maiden (one "Sensible Citizen" denounces it as a lie crafted by Zagreus, the Trickery Titan). They hear Damionis shouting from a second floor — "Rosy Celestial Maiden! A world beyond the sky!" — and give chase as guards pursue him toward the Garden of Life, a sanctum of the Reason Titan (Bough of Rift / Cerces).

Cornered against a cliff, Damionis straps on a giant Flying Amphora he calls "wings" and prepares to leap off to "touch the sky" and prove the world beyond exists, invoking Cerces's wisdom. Every attempt to talk him down or provoke him fails — he interprets all of it as proof the outsiders are secretly trying to persuade him to stay. To save his life, Dan Heng and the Trailblazer are forced to openly admit that a world beyond the sky exists, breaking the pact with Aglaea. Damionis, vindicated, is immediately dragged off by guards for interrogation before he can act. A Kind Guard notes he "learned something that he should never have learned" and will be handed to Aglaea for judgment — but offers the outsiders a lifeline: seek out Verax Leo to spread something even more interesting and bury the rumor. The guard promises not to report what he witnessed.

Verax Leo and Mydei

En route the party encounters a Goldenfly / Creation Nymph — a talking butterfly disguised as a shop mannequin, who mistakes the Trailblazer for one of Mnestia's priests and hints the nymphs might help them understand Amphoreus (a "Chirping Secret" tutorial unlocks). They also glimpse Trinnon, one of Tribbie's sisters, and deliberately avoid the Chrysos Heirs while the crisis is unresolved.

Verax Leo turns out to be a talking stone lion's head — "the far-seeing eye and all-hearing ear of Okhema," a gossip-monger who thrives on rumor. He refuses to help and instead pries at why the outsiders want the story suppressed — until Mydei arrives and intimidates him. Mydei (a proud, boldly dressed Chrysos Heir) recalls the lion turning a blind eye when his tribe's honor was slandered, and threatens to "turn you into iron dust with my bare hands." Verax Leo instantly complies and kills the rumor. Mydei brushes off any gratitude, revealing his real motive obliquely:

"Phainon seems to think highly of you guys. If you were to be disposed of for such a trivial reason, his weak and fragile heart might not be able to bear it." "Pray for the best, outsider. Pray that this farce has not reached the ears of Aglaea." — Mydei

The gift, and the trap

With the fiasco quietly contained, Tribbie escorts the party back for their reward from Aglaea. On the way (optional), Tribbie shows them the distant Gate of Infinity at the Abyss where they first met, and clarifies a key mechanic: Oronyx's Prayer does not actually reverse time — priests draw on the power of the "Veil of Evernight" to salvage necessary items from the past for present use. Dan Heng notes this still defies known physics, and that even gods must obey a world's underlying laws — laws of Amphoreus he is still trying to understand.

At the meeting, Aglaea and Tribbie discuss Trianne tracking the fleeing Titan-minions (deserters) toward Castrum Kremnos — described as Nikador's territory and current abode, a moving city-state enveloped in fog. Aglaea then presents her gifts: a private bath chamber for the outsiders to rest in (with a tempting lounge chair, a lukewarm bath Dan Heng grumbles about, and a breathtaking balcony view of Amphoreus's mist-shrouded mountains).

Her final gift is a ceremonial spirit basin. Aglaea explains its lore: in ancient times Phagousa, the Chalice of Plenty, hid the beginning of the world beneath the waves; ancient Ocean Priests built a spirit-water barrier around the site but left a passageway — this very basin. Washing one's face in its spirit water transports the bather to the Vortex of Genesis:

"The Vortex of Genesis: A great sanctuary that houses the original divinity of the twelve Titans. It's also the place where the prophesized Miracle of Genesis will occur." — Aglaea

Aglaea guides them through the meditative immersion — floating, sinking, diving into the depths. But when the Trailblazer and Dan Heng arrive at the Vortex of Genesis, they find their hands bound with golden thread. Castorice appears behind them, and the mission ends on Aglaea's cold turn:

"You now stand at the heart of this world. Now, I require your 'honesty.'" — Aglaea

The hospitable pact-maker has walked them into a confrontation — the cliffhanger leading directly into "Night Stars, Accompany My Slumber."

Key characters

• Aglaea the Goldweaver — Leader of the Chrysos Heirs and dressmaster of Okhema. Delivers the world's true history, binds the Trailblazer with Mnestia's golden threads, and extracts the promise to hide the world beyond the sky. Warm and courteous throughout, she springs a trap at the very end, binding the outsiders in the Vortex of Genesis and demanding their "honesty."
• Dan Heng — The Trailblazer's partner and voice of investigation. Plants the Trailblaze beacon, invents the Thalassopolis cover story, and articulates the mission's core mysteries (Amphoreus as a hidden "prison," Titans possibly tied to an Aeon).
• Tribbie — Child High Priest who speaks in the plural. Teaches Oronyx's Prayer, sets up the teleslates, and is quietly suspicious of the outsiders' origin. Her sister Trianne is off tracking Nikador toward Castrum Kremnos.
• Phainon — Chrysos Heir who returns Dan Heng's repaired spear. Reveals his personal goal: to break the Lance of Fury and claim Nikador's Coreflame of Strife. Frames the prophecy as an unexplained miracle, possibly Kephale's dying whisper.
• Castorice — A gentle Chrysos Heir who cannot bear physical contact with people or living things, describing the dromas pen as full of "the fragrance of life." Reappears behind the Trailblazer during the final trap.
• Mydei — A proud, combative Chrysos Heir who bullies Verax Leo into silencing the rumor. His stated motive is protecting Phainon's feelings; he warns the outsiders they could be "disposed of" if the scandal reaches Aglaea.
• Damionis — Self-styled Okhema explorer whose glimpse of March 7th's photos triggers the Rosy Celestial Maiden craze. His obsession with proving the world beyond the sky nearly gets him killed and forces the outsiders to break their pact; he is taken away for interrogation.
• Chartonus — Grand Craftsman of Okhema who repaired Dan Heng's spear; speaks in riddling inverted syntax and warns Phainon he must let go of the past.
• Verax Leo — A talking lion-head statue, Okhema's rumor-mongering "eye and ear." Coerced by Mydei into killing the Rosy Celestial Maiden rumor.

Lore notes

• The twelve Titans are formally structured here: three Fate Titans (Janus/space, Oronyx/time, Talanton/laws), three Foundation Titans (Aquila/sky, Georios/earth, Phagousa/ocean), three Creation Titans (Kephale, Cerces, Mnestia), and three calamity Titans (Zagreus/Trickery, Nikador/Strife, Thanatos/Death). Their epithets appear throughout: Kephale = Worldbearing Titan / Throne of Worlds / "sky father"; Cerces = Reason Titan (Bough of Rift); Mnestia = Romance Titan; Phagousa = Ocean Titan / Chalice of Plenty; Nikador = Strife Titan / Lance of Fury; Talanton = Law Titan; Oronyx = Time Titan ("Veil of Evernight").
• The prophecy (tripartite prophecy): assemble Chrysos Heirs strong enough to defeat the twelve Titans, reignite/reclaim their Coreflames, abate their divine wrath, and restore peace — reclaiming all twelve triggers the Miracle of Genesis to remake the broken world. Its origin is unknown; folktale attributes it to Kephale's dying whisper. [?]
• The black tide / eternal night: the Titans were driven to rage and madness by "an unfathomable power" (unnamed); the resulting black tide plunged Amphoreus into a Long Night. Okhema is the only city still receiving light, protected by Kephale. The nature of this "unfathomable power" is a central unanswered question. [?]
• Flame-Chase Journey (Era Nova): the collective mission of the Chrysos Heirs — "a band of heroes dedicated to slaying the gods and reclaiming the twelve Coreflames for the world to start over anew." (The infobox summary/highlight terminology ties this to the Era Nova the new world is meant to usher in.)
• Chrysos Heirs origin: Kephale scattered their golden divine blood across the land, giving rise to the Heirs. Okhema itself was built by humans bathed in that golden blood, at the foot of the Throne of Worlds (per the market murals and the bard's recitation).
• Okhema's customs and tech: the baths are places of "bare honesty"; the upper bath is reserved for Chrysos Heirs by Council decree. Despite mythic trappings, the city has an internet (World Wound Web), personal devices (teleslates, working only inside Aglaea's golden-thread web), currency valuation via Talanton's scales, and "photostones" (cameras).
• Oronyx's Prayer does not reverse time — it draws on the "Veil of Evernight" to salvage items/states from the past into the present. The Trailblazer's instant resonance with Oronyx is flagged as extraordinary. [?] why the Trailblazer has priestly aptitude.
• The taboo of "the world beyond the sky": discussing space is forbidden in Okhema; Aglaea attributes it to protecting a doomed people from false hope after prior trauma. Dan Heng suspects Amphoreus is deliberately hidden from the universe (the chaotic-matter shroud) and that the Titans may relate to an Aeon — foreshadowing the Path/Aeon dimension of the story. [?]
• Castrum Kremnos introduced as Nikador's territory: a moving, fog-shrouded city-state, and the destination Trianne is tracking — setup for later missions and Mydei's arc.
• Vortex of Genesis: a sanctuary hidden by Phagousa beneath the waves, housing the "original divinity of the twelve Titans" and the future site of the Miracle of Genesis; accessed via the Ocean Priests' spirit-water basin. It is where the mission's cliffhanger trap occurs.
• Creation Nymphs (Goldenfly): talking butterfly-beings tied to Mnestia's priesthood; flagged by Dan Heng as potential sources of information about Amphoreus.
• Continuity: the mission repeatedly references the previous mission's events (repelling Nikador's manifestation, meeting Phainon at the "Abyss of Fate" Janusopolis / Gate of Infinity, Dan Heng's broken spear) and sets up the next mission via the closing trap. Dan Heng contrasts Amphoreus with Jarilo-VI and references Penacony and the Astral Express, situating this arc in the wider HSR continuity.

Sources

• Distant Travelers, Listen to this World's Prayer — HSR Wiki

Hindsight (full arc)

• Reread with the reveal: Aglaea's demand to hide "the world beyond the sky," and the tale of the skyship-nation burned to ash by Aquila, read differently after 3.3 The Fall at Dawn's Rise: the Titans fled to the sky in terror of the black tide, not jealousy, and Aquila never sought worship or authored the sky-curse.
• Reread with the reveal: The "Vortex of Genesis / Miracle of Genesis" is not a remaking of the world but the endless, self-consuming Worldbearing trial (3.4); the Coreflame count and the twelve constellations are artifacts of the simulation, not a genuine countdown to salvation.
• [?] resolved: The "unfathomable power" that maddened the Titans is the black tide — the fury of the incubating Lord Ravager Irontomb / the dying Scepter's corruption (3.4).
• [?] resolved: The prophecy's origin (folktale: Kephale's dying whisper) is confirmed as Kephale's voice before it fell silent in 3.1, then recast in 3.4/3.7 as a program whose true author is Cyrene, via her card-book As I've Written.
• Foreshadowing: Damionis's leaked photo of March and the "Rosy Celestial Maiden" craze seed March's own arc — she later crosses into Amphoreus herself and, surrendering her memories, births Evernight (3.6).