Release Date: January 18, 2024 (Global)
Developers:  Papergames, Infoldgames
Publishers:  Papergames, Infoldgames
Platforms: Mobile (Android, iOS)

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✴READ OTHER RELATED POSTS for LOVE AND DEEPSPACE

• Love and Deepspace 3D Otome Game First Impression Review
• Love and Deepspace: Rafayel’s Story Branch, Myths and Lore Analysis

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Disclaimer:

• The contents below will focus only on: Xavier-MC’s timelines, myths, main story plot relationship, bond events, anecdotes, and a few cards that I believe hold significant connections to the main story.
• The contents here are based on my personal analysis & understanding of the story as presented so far. Theories are simply my own speculations and opinions. And I do not claim them as canon!
• This post btw is quite long, because there’s a LOT OF LORE HERE TO DISECT! Average reading time would be around 3-4 hours give or take! I apologize in advance!

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Introduction

Xavier’s lore in Love and Deepspace is actually the most fun and interesting to piece together, because it follows one single Xavier who hops between different timelines! (Yep, this is a huge spoiler for the game’s main story, that’s why the spoiler warnings above are repeated and in bold fonts, lol.) Unlike the other guys, (Rafayel, Zayne, Caleb & Sylus), who have different versions of themselves in their myth stories, the Xavier in his myth story is the same Xavier we meet in the main story! Pretty crazy, right?

Timeline Chronological Order

Based on everything we have so far in the game, my personal interpretation of Xavier’s chronological timeline is as follows:

1. Anecdote 3
2. Myth 1 “Shooting Stars”
3. Main Story Chapter 1-00
4. Anecdote 2
5. World Underneath: From the Stars
6. Anecdote 1
7. Chapter 1- 2 (Main Story)
8. Chapter 2-13 (Main Story)
9. Chapter 3 (Main Story)
10. Bond: Plushie Go Go
11. Bond: A Night of Warmth
12. World Underneath: Sealed in Dust
13. Chapter 6 (Main Story)
14. Chapter 8-2 (Main Story)
15. Myth 2 “Twilight’s Dawn”
16. World Underneath: “With Light”
17. Voyage of the Outcast (Xavier’s Story Branch/Route)

Xavier’s lore and timeline are probably the easiest to follow because they unfold in a very linear direction if we focus solely on Xavier’s character perspective.

Xavier’s storyline is also more intricate than I initially thought, with VERY IMPORTANT details scattered across all the stories in the game. That’s why I strongly believe that before diving into his story branch “Voyage of the Outcast”, it is absolutely necessary to read and play the other stories listed above, especially the two Myths and all his Anecdotes. You will absolutely not understand a thing if you jump into Xavier’s story branch without prior context. I’m telling you now, his story branch will not make sense if you only play through the Main Story as is.

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🌟(FIRST) TIMELINE: ANECDOTE 3

Summary: This timeline marks Xavier and the MC’s first meeting, narrated from the MC’s perspective during her school days. She mentions that Xavier arrived at the Academy three years ago, in Year 214 of Philos. This means 214 years have passed since Philos came into existence; which also means that 214 years have passed since the Earth’s demise. It is said that the people had substituted Earth’s extinguished core with a very powerful artificial one, and that this core holds fragmented landmasses together to prevent them from scattering into the starry sky. MC also states that Philos isn’t much different from Earth in the past, except that it is now broken up into tectonic plates, making travel between them cumbersome.

One day, MC collapses in class and is taken to the infirmary. There, Xavier is with her and asks her about her *condition*. His voice was calm but he was clearly a little upset and worried. MC comes clean and tells Xavier about her heart condition and that she was unfortunately born with this rare birth defect. Her medicine was labeled “Protocore Syndrome” and she explains that its probably a terminal illness that makes her heart weaker and weaker. Xavier asks if there’s a cure, and she explains that there is, but it requires a special type of Protocore. When he asks what kind, she vaguely says it’s rare and would take ages to find in Philos. Xavier doesn’t respond right away but he was in deep thought and then eventually tells MC that he wants to watch the meteor shower with her.

On the day of the meteor shower, Xavier meets MC at Skymirror Salt Flat and tells her he’s gotten rid of his guards, so they’ll be safe. They watch the meteor shower together, both making a wish. When MC asks what Xavier wished for, he says it’s a secret. That day, MC also gives Xavier her handmade star-shaped charm tassel, and he asks her to help him put it on his sword. As they’re about to leave, Xavier stops and asks if he could hug her. She hugs him back, and Xavier says, “My wish came true.” He also tells her that next time there’s a meteor shower, they should visit this spot again and watch it together. MC nods to this even though in her mind, it might not be possible anymore.

Exactly one month after the meteor shower, MC’s health begins to rapidly decline. Her heart weakens to the point where she has to make several trips to the hospital, until one day, she’s unable to leave. What surprises her the most is that she hasn’t seen Xavier again. She tries contacting him to no avail as if he’s disappeared without a trace, and no one knows where he went. MC can tell by the nurse’s demeanor that her days are numbered. While she’s accepted her fate, she still longs to see Xavier one last time. One day, gathering all her remaining strength, she sneaks out of the hospital and heads for Skymirror Salt Flat, as if her instincts are pulling her there. She sits on the trestle bridge for a long time (longer than the last time she was there with Xavier). Just as she’s about to leave, she spots Xavier running toward her from a distance. When he stops in front of her, MC notices that he’s holding a glowing Protocore in his hand. He looks at her desperately. She also notices that there’s a ring of red light around his neck, and lots of wounds and dried blood mark his face. She asks, “Did you exchange your freedom for this?” He doesn’t answer but instead tells her he’s found the Protocore that will save her life. ……..But it’s too late. MC is already nearing her end. She tells him to return the Protocore to where he found it. In a desperate tone, Xavier responds with: “You promised we’d watch the meteor shower again, together.” MC calms him, telling him not to be sad because she’s been happy this past month. She then leans on his shoulder, dreaming of a disease-free future, until she takes her last breath.

KEY POINTS:

• According to this myth, the planet Earth has died, and its core was extinguished. So, humans found a way to replace the extinguished core with a “powerful artificial one”. Hence, Philos was born. This confirms that Philos is essentially Earth but with an artificial core and is somewhat broken down into tectonic plates, (as MC stated above). The core they used to replace the old one, holds the fragmented landmasses together, preventing them from scattering into the galaxy. You can also conclude that Philos is typically manmade.

• The year MC and Xavier first meet is Year 214, after Philos was born.

• It was explained here that the lives of Philos‘ denizens will last forever, just like the planet. This means that people like Xavier will experience many centuries, as long as Philos’ core still has energy. This is similar to Rafayel’s Sea of Golden Sand’s myth, where MC’s heart is the source of immortality for Philos and its inhabitants. However, here, it is clarified that Philos’ denizens aren’t exactly immortal, but they live as long as their planet does.

• MC in this timeline already knows she doesn’t have enough years to live a full life and has accepted her fate.

• “If I can see it with someone I like, then I can die without regrets.” This innocent wish from teenage MC, at first glance, seems like an exaggerated way of saying she’d like to experience something rare and exciting with a crush, kind of like your typical “no regrets” statement. However, the true impact of this wish changes when she LITERALLY means it. She already knows, at a young age, that she isn’t blessed with a full life to live.☹️

• Xavier found the rare protocore that could save MC’s life but it was too late. Why? Logically speaking, MC was already in the final stages of her life by the time Xavier arrived. Even if the Protocore could potentially save her, finding a cure and then turning it into an effective form of treatment takes time. She can’t just swallow the protocore Xavier has in his hands right then and there and bam, she’s all cured.🤣
  
  ***Think of how vaccines work: it takes a lot of time to create a vaccine, and also requires a lot of time for the body to process and respond to it. A vaccine isn’t an instant fix; the immune system needs time to adapt and develop immunity. Similarly, even though the Protocore could cure MC; the time needed to prepare it and for her body to accept it simply wasn’t available. Her condition had already advanced too far, and the cure could not be administered in time to save her.

THEORY TIME!

• “People had substituted Earth’s extinguished core with a very powerful artificial one”. We already know that the MC has undergone multiple revivals, and with each resurrection, her heart grows stronger and more powerful (See: World Underneath: Sealed in Dust). Since this timeline is set far into the future, her heart has reached a level where it can sustain an entire planet’s energy. However, this also means she has endured countless cycles of death and revival throughout her existence on Earth.
  
  With each resurrection, the strain on her body increases, causing it to weaken over time. This explains why, in Xavier’s anecdote, MC is already frail from the start. Her body has deteriorated after repeated reincarnations. She basically died very young in here, because her body could no longer withstand the relentless cycle of death and rebirth across different eras. In contrast, the MC in the main story remains lively, strong, and a fully grown adult because, at that point, her aether core has not yet reached the immense power it holds in Philos’ timeline.
  
  So, the logic here, follows that the MC’s aether core grows stronger with each cycle of death and revival, but at the cost of her body’s health and resilience.

• A lot of details are intentionally left in the dark here, particularly regarding the MC’s upbringing. There’s no mention of her parents or whether she’s an orphan. Where does she live? Who is she living with? The anecdote provides no answers, which led me to assume she has no parents or family and is possibly staying in a dorm (or, worse, a facility designed to monitor her heart, guised as some sort of temporary home where she receives basic day-to-day necessities, etc.).

• Other details that remained unclear include the red light on Xavier’s neck. It is later confirmed that it serves as a way to control his Evol, but how did it get attached to him in the first place? Another mystery is the Protocore Xavier found, which was said to cure MC. What happened to it? My best guess is that it was lost in time after MC’s second reincarnation/revival (as Queen MC), or perhaps the information about this Protocore was a false positive. In Anecdote 2, a Backtracker named Noah also mentioned an Aethore Core that vanished, which could be connected to this. there are definitely events we’re missing between Anecdote 3 and Myth 1… (which I can only hope will be revealed in the third Myth card roster for Love and Deepspace.)

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🌟Myth 1 “Shooting Stars”

Summary: The story starts with MC (as the new queen of Philos) recalling her past at Astria Knyth Academy, where she trained alongside Xavier as knights for the Order of Lightseekers, an elite group of only the strongest knights in Philos, that answers only to the royal family. The academy is divided into three student houses, each specializing in a different branch of swordsmanship: Star Hunters, focused on strength, Moon Chasers, specializing in support, and Rainbow Hunters, for defense. Xavier is a star hunter, and is in fact, the best one in the academy, while MC is a moon chaser. Xavier, besides being the academy’s top candidate, is also the prince of Philos. MC notes that he frequently comes and goes, joining expeditions with the other Star hunters in secret. That he would quietly board their spaceship to take part in their missions. At one point, MC playfully confronted him about it, saying how she always had to make up excuses for him whenever he sneaked out and disappeared from the academy for days.

One day, Xavier was required to take part in the Gladius Ceremony, a tradition passed down through generations where only those who wielded the Lightblade could prove themselves worthy to ascend the throne. The ceremony takes place in Starfall Forest, where a powerful wanderer has made its nest. Xavier’s task is to kill the wanderer himself, and return alive. When the ceremony was about to begin, everyone sent Xavier off into the forest, praying for his safety. But as the days passed without his return, people grew weary, and started talking that the wanderer had likely devoured him. One by one, people began to leave, but MC stayed, waiting for him each day until she was the only one left. She held onto her faith that Xavier would return, noting how he would normally leave her abruptly in the past, but promises to return within the designated time frame he gave her. Before entering the forest, he whispered to her, “Seven days,” meaning it would take him seven days to return. On the seventh day since the ceremony, Xavier finally emerged from the forest, holding the wanderer’s protocore in his hand. As he approached the waiting MC, there was no joy or relief on his face. And without a word, just simply hugged her. What he encountered during those seven days remains a mystery, and Xavier has changed ever since as if a part of him was left behind Starfall Forest.

Days passed, and Xavier was once again summoned by his father, the king of Philos, to return home for the ceremony in which he would be bestowed the title of crown prince. MC expresses her desire to become the Grandis Knight of Philos so she can serve Xavier when he takes the throne. But Xavier tells her that he doesn’t want to become the man his father expects him to be and tells her that she doesn’t need to become the Grandis Knight either. When MC asks him what is there left for her, Xavier suggests they elope. He tells her that during his last expedition, he discovered a small planet called Uluru, where no wanderers or people are observed there, only flowers. MC also brings up the rumor about how Philos is slowly dying and wonders why there are even small planets nearby it.

When the time came for Xavier to leave and meet his father, MC brought up the star charm tassel that was always dangling on Xavier’s sword. Xavier explained that it was from the person he loved, so he couldn’t let go of it. He then left to meet the king of Philos, where he confronted his father about what he discovered during the Gladius Ceremony in Starfall Forest:

In the center of the forest, which had unstable protofield, is the “heart” of Philos, but it was hollow. Philos was manmade and shouldn’t have existed. The *core* energy that replaced the dying Earth had long been exhausted. The only way to keep the planet from dying was to replenish its heart (aka its core) with energy. Since Philos was a planet where nearly everyone lived eternally, humans became the most abundant resource for energy. Almost everyone who set foot on the planet became its food. In exchange for the planet’s longevity, the royal family occasionally sent humans for the planet to consume in order to sustain its energy. As a result, wanderers were born from this abnormal phenomenon.

The Order of Lightseekers has known this all along but kept the truth in the dark, for the sake of the royal family. The king tells Xavier that his duty as well as that of the royal family, was to protect Philos, and that he must do what is necessary. Xavier, disgusted by this revelation, decided to relinquish all his duties as crown prince. He then left, and no one has ever heard from him again. The ceremony to bestow the title of crown prince never took place, and Xavier never returned to the academy either. A month passed, and MC successfully passed the exam to join the Order of Lightseekers, alongside her classmate Jeremiah. More time went by, and the King of Philos passed away. There was to be a mourning period of 200 years before his successor would take the throne, but since the crown prince was missing, this became futile. Year after year, fewer and fewer people cared about who would eventually become king.

Two hundred years passed, and MC and Jeremiah became Lightseekers. MC notes that Jeremiah is one of the best knights under her leadership in the order. He is also the only person she can talk to about Xavier. One day, while trying to get her crew to rest, MC spots a faint figure of Xavier in Starfall Forest. She follows it deep into the woods and stumbles into the unstable protofield (at the center of the forest), where she is swallowed by darkness. Before she is completely devoured to nothingness, Xavier shows up and rescues her (Kindle: Lightseeking Obsession).

Upon waking up, MC is shocked to find herself reunited with Xavier, even more so when she learns that he, too, is now a Lightseeker. He takes her to his base along with Jeremiah, where she is surprised to see that his squad members all wear different badges as if they come from different Lightseeker teams who banded together and volunteered to join him (basically, how the “backtrackers” started). There, Xavier shares with MC and Jeremiah everything he has discovered in the last 200 years he’s been gone. About how Philos is feeding the planet humans and how the wanderers came to be. He also said that the wanderers they’re hunting are basically going to be reborn so they are pretty much wasting their time. The real issue lies at the root cause, and something must be done to stop it.

Xavier also reveals that when he returned to the palace 200 years ago, he learned that the royal family had stopped sending humans to Philos’ heart for energy. Instead, they had found the perfect sacrifice: someone who could die and be reborn endlessly. In their eyes, she was the planet’s life force, the only one to achieve true immortality. They believed that by sending her into the heart of the planet when the time was right, all their problems would be solved. Yet, no one ever asked how she felt or whether she was willing to sacrifice herself. MC realizes that this person was the girl that gave Xavier the star tassel, to which he doesnt deny.

Time passed, and Xavier kept himself busy, avoiding time with MC. Eventually, Jeremiah officially joined the Backtrackers as part of Xavier’s team, though the details of his decision were kept from MC. As more time passed, MC rose to become one of the greatest knights in Philos and eventually ascended as the queen. Xavier became her Grandis Knight, and now addresses her as “Majesty.” In a cutscene, Xavier tells MC that he is going on a Backtracking mission, which involves time travel. He believes that saving Philos is impossible in their current era. MC warns him that time travel is dangerous, but Xavier is confident that their success rate is high due to all the test trips they have done over time that yielded promising results. MC knew Xavier had made up his mind and there is nothing stopping him from doing this. Before Xavier’s departure, MC notices his star tassel charm is worn out and she asks if she can give him a new one. Xavier requests it be handmade.

On the day Traceback II spaceship was to take off, MC gives Xavier a new star charmed tassel and Xavier remarks that only one person had ever given him a star tassel. MC is confused but brushes this comment off. They spend a brief moment together, listening to the bard’s song about Philos before he departs.

The song ended with: “In the final days, when the universe nears its demise, the noble king shall be reborn as the true savior of Philos and will lead us into the light and true immortality.” Xavier then comments that the one destined to lead Philos into the age of immortality is not a king, but a queen. Fast forward, Xavier and his team of Backtrackers have long been gone since leaving the Lightseekers and are now regarded as traitors in Philos. MC remains the ruling queen of Philos and laments that while thousands cheer her name, her knight has abandoned her.

KEY POINTS:

• The Order of Lightseekers is an elite group composed of the knights in Philos, answering only to the royal family. They are sent on expeditions to fight wanderers and protect the planet. Their roles is pretty much similar to the Hunters Association in the main story, where a group of fighters, whether evolvers or not, hunt down and kill wanderers to keep Linkon City safe.

• Lightseeking Obsession Memory (Myth Card) – As mentioned above, if you watched the kindled for this 5★ card, this is actually the cutscene that happens where MC ventures into Starfall Forest, nearly getting swallowed by the gaping maw at its center, only for Xavier to arrive just in time to save her.

• Uluru is the small planet Xavier discovered during one of his expeditions, where he wanted to elope with MC.

• The Grandis Knight is the king’s strongest soldier, always by his side (think of ‘the Kingsguard’ in GoT).

• Backtrackers – they are former lightseekers and denizens from the planet Philos, just like Xavier. They came to Earth in the past through the Deepspace Tunnel.

• Traceback II – is Xavier’s spaceship. Aboard it with him are Jeremiah, and a few other lightseekers who joined him as backtrackers. Together, they traveled through the Deepspace Tunnel on a mission to travel back to the past.

• Wanderers are the result of Philos’ unnatural process of sustaining itself by feeding humans to the planet’s core. While the planet gains energy each time a human is sacrificed, the side effect is that the sacrificed individual can turn into a wanderer. The unstable protofield in Starfall Forest can corrupt its denizens, causing abnormalities in their bodies that may eventually transform them into wanderers. (This detail is confirmed in the second myth, where one of the Backtrackers turns into a wanderer during a confrontation with Xavier).

Other cards /memories that enhance this myth are:
Starry Sound -Xavier records his logs for the MC and reads her a poem from Jeremiah’s poetry collection book.
Enlightenment – is a side story that happened in Starfall Forest after Xavier came back; he got injured one day after fighting a wanderer, and MC dresses his wound.

• Bonus: MC also notes here that Xavier always skips culinary classes at the academy. No wonder the dude is such a terrible cook! 😂

THEORY TIME!

• (During their Academy days) Xavier constantly joins expeditions, traveling across tectonic plates and exploring tiny planets around Philos, including Uluru, in search of a protocore or cure to save MC’s life. However, everything changed after the Gladius Ceremony when he ventured alone into Starfall Forest and later learned the truth about Philos from his father. He realized that MC’s suffering was part of an endless cycle and that searching for a cure in this era was futile. With this, his goal shifted. Instead of merely finding a protocore to save her, he decided to go back to where it all began and break the cycle entirely, preventing MC from dying countless times. This is why, upon returning from the Gladius Ceremony, he looked so defeated, because everything he had been working toward had been meaningless.

• (Not really a theory but an observation) Even after many centuries, Xavier has never really changed. Just like in the main story, the Xavier in this myth remains secretive and keeps his struggles to himself. I also realized that MC has not changed either. She holds back from prying on Xavier’s secrets. She will ask questions, but the moment she notices him dodging or tiptoeing around the answer, she will not force him to explain. Their dynamic has remained consistent across all myth cards, the main story, and his story branch.

• Jeremiah mentions that after the death of the king, the current Grandis Knight (MC’s and Xavier’s teacher) went on an expedition, but no one knew where they went or what the purpose of the expedition was. Where could he have gone to? Did he also join the backtrackers? 🤔

• During some filler conversations, Xavier mentions that his father “might not make it this time”, which I assumed that the king is likely deteriorating – similar to what happens to some of the denizens of Philos who are exposed too much to the planet’s abnormal protofield. They either turn into a wanderer or eventually deteriorate, consumed by the planet’s core.

• The reason Xavier chose not to stay with Queen MC is because he understands that a constant loop is occurring with her. Even though MC is a strong queen now, she will eventually have to die to save the planet. This cycle will keep repeating until they get to the root cause. He aims to break the cycle. So after all his backtracking experiments in Philos over the centuries (e.g. their trip tests), he’s discovered that the key to breaking this neverending cycle is to go back to the era where it all started, which is getting to the present MC (main story MC).

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🌟MAIN STORY CHAPTER 1-00

This is the prologue for Love and Deepspace. In this cinematic clip, we see Traceback II about to pass the event horizon and enter the black hole. An automated voice echoes in the starry sea, saying: “DAY 1326. ATTENTION: TARGET ANCHOR LOST. NO RESPONSE FROM BASE.”

KEY POINTS:

• The spaceship we see in this clip is Traceback II, carrying Xavier’s team. It is Day 1326 from the start of their expedition from Philos to time travel back to Earth’s past. As they approach the black hole, they are on the verge of reaching the calculated coordinates for their destination. However, something has gone off-course, disrupting their original plan. (More of this will be unveiled as you continue reading the story.)

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🌟ANECDOTE 2

Summary: Half of this anecdote is narrated from the memories of Arthur, a police officer from Team 013, a once-ineffective unit at the bottom of Linkon City’s police hierarchy. The team was known for its not-so-good performance and was mostly left to handle menial tasks like sorting through old archives. However, everything changed when they welcomed a 23-year-old new recruit, Xavier, who possessed the light evol.

One day, during a mission, Xavier was tasked with infiltrating a bathhouse to capture a notorious criminal & his gang. Despite the dangerous nature of the mission, Xavier managed to take down all of the bad guys in the blink of an eye, as fast as light. After which turned Team 013’s reputation around. However, Xavier refused to be in the spotlight and instead credited the success to Arthur and his team. As a result, HQ finally recognized Team 013. Though the team insisted that their ability to catch criminals was purely out of luck, their careers were still boosted, which made them happy. As for who truly brought them luck and whether Xavier was as simple as he appeared, no one questioned it. There was an unspoken understanding among them to guard his secret.

On New Year’s Eve, while doing an inventory check, Arthur discovers a missing file in the archives. The case had occurred decades ago, and with the parties involved long gone, the office had given up on it. However, Arthur finds a match in an old portrait and hands Xavier a faded yellow photograph depicting a man with silver hair identical to Xavier’s. As he does, he remarks, “Everyone has secrets,” implying that he knows Xavier is more than he appears to be but chooses not to pry.

Two days after New Year, Xavier texts a fellow backtracker named Noah. Noah remarks whether Xavier is going to question him about what he plans to do with the files he requested, but Xavier nonchalantly tells him that it’s none of his business. Noah then asks, “Are you really going to wait for that person?” to which Xavier simply replies, “Yes.” Noah presses further, “How long are you going to wait? 10? 100? 1000 years?” He then adds, “Something messed with the slipspace during Backtrack. The spaceship couldn’t handle the Deepspace Tunnel fluctuations. Both she and the aether core vanished w/o a trace.”

Later in the day, another backtracker visits Xavier’s place and takes the missing files he left outside his mailbox. Xavier only exchanges words with him through the intercom, but before the man leaves, he warns Xavier to be careful and tells him “they’re going to find you.”

Fast forward, Xavier is assigned another dangerous mission. This time, he finds himself in a burning building and thinks it is finally time to die in this timeline. So, he carefully sets up his death. After staging his fake death, Xavier prepares to board a nearby bus to escape somewhere when he notices a little girl lost in the streets and decides to help her. Suddenly, a familiar man with silver hair (Isaiah), appears before him, confronting Xavier about how he managed to elude those pursuing him (the people who are after Xavier). Xavier engages in a sharp exchange of words with Isaiah but manages to escape with the girl through teleportation. Isaiah, who also wields a light blade, chases after Xavier by following his ripple (meaning, Isaiah can teleport too). After making sure of the girl’s safety, Xavier battles Isaiah, their light blades illuminating the dark streets of Linkon that night.

KEY POINTS:

• Xavier had been secretly helping his fellow backtrackers, those who abandoned their mission to live normal lives on the present Earth. In this story, he deliberately secured a position in the police department handling city archives, granting him access to records and identities his fellow backtrackers could reuse. This also allowed him to erase traces of their past identities. In here for example, we see him speaking to Noah, whom he has already helped, as well as another backtracker, (the young man at his door), whom he’d just assisted by taking the missing file from Arthur’s archive.

THEORY TIME!

• “Something messed with the slipspace during Backtrack. The spaceship couldn’t handle the Deepspace Tunnel fluctuations.” – This could only mean that during their backtracking mission aboard the Traceback II ship, wild fluctuations while traversing the Deepspace Tunnel disrupted the slipspace. Instead of arriving in the year when the MC was supposed to be born, the ship overshot its destination, causing them to land more than 200 years earlier.
  
  On another theory, I’d like to think that an insider tampered with their original coordinates. And the culprit points to Isaiah, who was also a backtracker (assumingly) aboard Traceback II with Xavier.

• “Both she and the aether core vanished w/o a trace.” – Are they referring to the Aether Core Xavier obtained in Anecdote 3, which was said to be able to cure MC?

• ISAIAH – How come no one is talking about Isaiah??? He is obviously a major antagonist in Xavier’s route, but I feel like we were robbed of his sprite or even just a mugshot sprite in dialogue boxes! The game describes him as having silver hair, much like Xavier’s, except he looks a lot younger. He also wields a lightblade, meaning he possesses the light Evol as well (which means he’s capable of doing what Xavier can, though possibly weaker). And on top of that, he battles Xavier here?! Lightblade vs Lightblade??? How I wish I could see this scene animated fr!😱
  
  Isaiah has also appeared several times in one of the World Underneath anecdotes and played a significant role in the main story. Keep reading if you’re curious. ….Anyway, PG, where’s my Isaiah sprite?! 😭😭😭

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🌟World Underneath: From the Stars

Summary: This story follows the life of Jeremiah, Xavier’s friend from Philos, who joined him as a backtracker and became part of Xavier’s team aboard the Traceback II ship. During this time on Earth, Jeremiah falls in love with a Linkon citizen named Bella, who works at a cake shop. He visits her daily and plans to propose to her, though he knows their relationship likely won’t work due to his inability to age in this world. Jeremiah was also tasked with fixing the Traceback II spaceship, which crashed 200 years ago, but with Earth lacking the advanced technology of Philos, he finds this task increasingly difficult to fulfill.

Xavier and Jeremiah are part of the Traceback II team. Jeremiah recalls how their spaceship was riddled with holes from asteroids during a cosmic turbulence, but despite the damage, it remained steadfast. He also notes that neither asteroids nor the collapse of wormholes could tear the Traceback II crew apart. With Xavier as captain of their team, they survived the most rigorous challenges, pushing through the most impregnable space-time barriers. Yet, despite all this, their once-invincible team eventually dissolved in this era for the simplest reason: they missed home. Jeremiah recalls how one by one, the backtrackers left for simple reasons, like falling in love or wanting a peaceful life in this timeline. After arriving in this era, he also recounts that unwritten rules were formed among them, like regularly changing residences and avoiding unnecessary contact. Basically, they needed to keep a low profile.

After obtaining the identity of a “normal person,” Jeremiah loses all contact with Xavier. Though he searches for him privately many times, he feels the fruitless search might be for the best. Whether it’s guilt over failing to fix the spaceship or not wanting another traitor like Isaiah to trouble Xavier, he isn’t sure. Eventually, Jeremiah quits his search and chooses to live a normal life as a flower shop owner.

Fast forward to the Chronorift Catastrophe, where a three-day polar night begins. On the last day, a wanderer emerges in the sky and starts attacking the citizens of Linkon. Jeremiah rushes to the cake shop where Bella works, but he arrives too late, finding only rubble and debris on the ground. 😔 He also mentions that during the early days of the catastrophe, he briefly worked with Xavier in the most devastated areas of Linkon. And standing in the middle of a severely damaged road, Xavier rescued a girl and then disappeared soon after. That’s when Jeremiah knew that Xavier must’ve found “her.” The disaster lasted much longer than anyone imagined, and on January 1, 2035, the Hunters Association was created.

In the year 2037, Xavier finds a flower shop called Philo in Linkon and meets Jeremiah again. Jeremiah asks Xavier if he can come back, to which Xavier responds, telling him to “do what he thinks is right.”

KEY POINTS:

• Yes, Bella died from the Chronorift Catastrophe.😔

• Xavier never forced anyone who left the backtrackers to come back because he understood their situation. They just wanted to live a simple, peaceful, ordinary life, and Linkon has provided them with that. This is why he never pried when Noah, in anecdote 2, asked for documents to assume a new identity, and when Jeremiah asked if he could come back, Xavier merely replied, “Do what you think is right.” He didn’t want to burden them or force them into a mission he had chosen to continue.

• It was Xavier who saved MC during the Chronorift Catastrophe 14 years ago in the main story timeline. He was the hunter MC admired and the reason she wanted to become a hunter herself.

• Jeremiah mentioned Isaiah here, saying he’s a traitor.

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🌟ANECDOTE 1

Summary: Xavier’s friend Ulysses has a son named Frank, who wants to write an essay about Deepspace Hunters. Ulysses promises Frank that he’d take him to meet his hunter friend, whom he boasts is the best of the best. Frank stays with Xavier for a few days, experiencing Xavier’s seemingly ordinary mundane life living as a normal, sleepy buddy to the coolest hunter Frank could ever imagine.

KEY POINTS:

• Ulysses is another of Xavier’s old acquaintances that he seemingly trusts. This character returns in Xavier’s story branch. (Read key points on Voyage of the Outcast below!)

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🌟MAIN STORY CHAPTER 1-2

MC meets Xavier for the first time in this timeline during her mission at an abandoned research facility. When she asks what he’s doing there, he casually replies that he’s sleeping (and he really was, lol). She discovers that Xavier’s evol is light and deduces that the wanderers in the area are luminivores that feed on light. She guesses that this might be a trap specifically for him, but Xavier tells her not to think too deeply about it.

He then uses his light to lure the luminivores, and as they take the bait, MC warns Xavier that if they don’t defeat them quickly, they’ll respawn. MC offers to resonate with Xavier’s evol, and together, they unleash an overwhelming surge of light, instantly killing all the luminivores in the area. MC comments that this is her first time resonating with an evol this strong. Xavier tells MC not to tell anyone she saw him there, then disappears just as MC hears Tara saying she’s coming to her location.

🌟MAIN STORY CHAPTER 2-13

Xavier is seen at a vending machine, grabbing an energy drink when Jenna suddenly contacts him through his hunter watch, asking him to assist his new teammate (MC). Jenna offers to send Xavier information about MC, but he declines, saying there’s no need.

🌟MAIN STORY CHAPTER 3

(Continuation to Ch.2-13) Team Unicorn must work in pairs. MC arrives at No Hunt Zone No. 7 but notices her partner isn’t there yet. She also can’t detect them through her Hunter watch. MC decides to head in first. Suddenly, a roar of Wanderers echoes through the area. She follows the sound and finds Xavier standing before a massive Wanderer. And in the blink of an eye, the Wanderer is destroyed. Xavier retrieves the protocore from its remains, but realizes it’s not what he’s looking for, so he crushes it. Sensing MC’s presence, he swiftly turns and lunges toward her, his lightblade pointed in her direction.

Panicking, MC tells Xavier that they have met before at the abandoned research base. In response, Xavier uses his Light Evol to suspend her in midair for interrogation. After some time, once he confirms her identity, he finally lets her down. He then tells MC to leave the No Hunt Zone and abruptly walks away. As MC gets up, wincing from a sprained ankle, she realizes that Xavier was her partner for this mission all along. Before she can fully process this, he returns and informs her that he has already dealt with the Wanderers in the area, making it safe for her to escape. Before she can respond, another roar echoes nearby, and in an instant, Xavier vanishes. A blinding flash of light follows. Moments later, he reappears in front of MC (again).

MC watches as he repeats his disappearing-reappearing act before her, each time accompanied by a burst of light. It dawns on her that he must have eliminated the Wanderers on the other side as well. After several more cycles, Xavier finally stops, having cleared out all the Wanderers in their vicinity.

As they walk to leave the area, Xavier and MC finds the Flux Nexus responsible for the abnormal energy in this zone. Near it, a giant Aeynwyrm wanderer is being revived. Xavier tells MC to use her Evol to unlock the Flux Nexus. As she does, it transforms into a rare protocore. Xavier speculates that someone is trying to revive the Wanderer and links it to Ever. Suddenly, the Aeynwyrm awakens, and both Xavier and MC battles it. After the fight cutscene, MC tells Xavier they can’t continue like this (as the wanderers keep respawning). In response, Xavier holds her close and teleports them to a different location. MC speculates that the wanderers are after them because of the rare protocore they acquired from the Flux Nexus. Xavier checks the protocore and sees a red protocurve in it and said its been modified, likely by Onichynus. He tells MC that the moon is brighter than before and suggests she return now that their mission is over. Without saying another word, he walks off the other direction. While all of this is happening, we see a mechanical crow (Mephisto) nearby perched by a branch watching everything.

The next day, MC runs into Xavier in the streets of Linkon while on her way to Team Unicorn’s base. A reporter is hounding him for an interview, so Xavier spots MC and uses her as an excuse to escape the awkward situation. Later, at Unicorn Base during the Alpha Team meeting, Jenna addresses the protocore they discovered the previous night. She calls it a “gift from Onychinus,” saying that Onychinus clearly wants to be “seen.” Jenna says they need to investigate the new protocurve in the protocore, as there’s nothing like it. She also mentions that no one knows why Onychinus is modifying protocores or what their ultimate goal is. After the meeting, only MC and Xavier remain in the office. Xavier tries to convince MC to back out, warning her that anything involving Onychinus is dangerous. He then tells her that if she chooses to get involved, she should pick him as her partner.

KEY POINTS:

• Flux Nexus – is a device resembling a rock sculpture. It’s a totem embedded with diamonds. According to Xavier it can capture metaflux and even resurrect Wanderers. MC’s evol can open/unlock it.

• Sylus is watching. Pretty much! Everything that happened in Chapter 3 (No Hunt Zone No. 7), he is watching all of it unfold through Mephisto. This means that Sylus is aware of Xavier’s existence and his relationship with MC at the outset. The same goes for Xavier, as he is also aware of Sylus’ existence, though, as of this chapter, he likely doesn’t know about Sylus’ actual connection with MC yet.

THEORY TIME!

• Xavier is such a bully for testing MC here lol 😂. He is obviously having fun interacting with her again for the first time after a loooong while in this timeline. Tying her up in mid-air so he could probably see her (different) reactions that he had missed for so long.🥺 I remember Jeremiah actually asking him (in the later chapters) if he was able to stay calm when he saw MC for the first time, and I can only assume that, deep down, his heart was fluttering like crazy, even though he kept his usual stoic and awkward demeanor on the surface.

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🌟BOND: PLUSHIE GO GO

Summary: MC goes to the arcade and unexpectedly runs into Xavier, who warns her that the place is about to become dangerous. Xavier walks up to a claw machine, suspects a certain plushie inside has been tampered with, and decides to retrieve it, buying hundreds of coins for the claw machine. Three hours later, he still couldn’t get the plushie after exhausting all of the coins, so MC gives it a shot and gets the plushie in one try. The Fairymare plushie, which Xavier thought was tampered with, blows out artificial cutesy fireworks when you touch its horn, so it was all a false alarm. Outside the arcade, Xavier and MC walk home and talk. Xavier mentions he has slain 70,000 Wanderers, and MC wonders how that’s possible since it would mean he started hunting at three years old. Xavier brushes off her remark and says he meant he practiced swordsmanship when he was three. He said it was boring at first, but his master took another apprentice, so it became livelier.

KEY POINTS:

• The apprentice he talks about here obviously refers to Philos MC (Queen MC), with his master being the teacher we see in Myth 1.

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🌟BOND: A NIGHT OF WARMTH

Summary: MC and her friends are playing truth or dare at her apartment when Tara, after discovering that Xavier lives nearby, dares MC to go to his place and take one of his personal belongings. MC heads over and knocks on Xavier’s door. If you choose the “pretend to be sick” option, Xavier plays along with the ruse, telling MC to take all the pills he hands her and that he’ll call an ambulance. Lol. After MC comes clean, she invites Xavier to her place to hang out with the others. As the night winds down and everyone starts to leave, Xavier realizes he left his keys behind. So he decides to take a walk around Linkon at night, but since it’s raining, MC just tells him to stay over. They end up counting stars together on the balcony of MC’s place, and MC tells Xavier that he’s different from what she imagined.

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🌟World Underneath: Sealed in Dust

Summary: A young man wearing a duckbill cap meets up with a man in a raincoat. The man in the cap hands over a black briefcase to the man in the raincoat. The man in the raincoat notices the lingering scent of the explosion site on the other person. Inside the briefcase are four slightly yellowed pages; documents from 14 years ago. These documents are from Josephine (a.k.a Granny), back when she worked at the Gaia Research Center, experimenting on “Unicorn” (MC).

After reading Josephine’s account, the man in the raincoat seems unsatisfied. However, the man in the duckbill cap says it’s enough to confirm MC’s identity and role. The man in the raincoat then tells him, “You silenced Josephine and retrieved research material from back then. Good work.” He tosses him a vial of some sort, warning him to be careful carrying it around, as hunters might hunt him down. The man in the duckbill cap asks when *they* (referring to Ever) plan to make a move. The raincoat man replies that there’s no rush, as MC’s powers aren’t complete yet. He also mentions, “Your prince Xavier has been glued to her side.” The other man responds, “Xavier can only guard her for so long. He’s too busy dealing with his own issues.” He adds a warning: “It’s not only Ever that wants her.” The man in the raincoat shrugs and tells him, “If you can get rid of Xavier, you’d be doing us a big favor. Isn’t internal struggle your specialty? Kill Xavier, and let Ever crown you as a prince.” This comment angers the man in the duckbill cap. With a flash of light, a beam cuts through the raincoat man’s neck, and blood spills as a wrinkled hand grabs his throat, lifting him off the ground. Irritated, the man wearing the cap says, “I can’t kill Xavier, but I can definitely kill you right now.” Choking, the man in the raincoat tells him that while he may kill him, he won’t last long in this era and points to the drug in his hand. The man in the raincoat is then thrown into a corner.

***Note: At this point, we can all assume the man wearing a duckbill cap is Isaiah.

Isaiah, still standing, then says, “Tell your masters they better get their hands on her fast. Based on my experience, her existence isn’t as simple as the observation records suggest. If you keep stalling, Ever will lose more than they bargained for once she develops.” He leaves abruptly. The man in the raincoat lies in the rubble, scoffing, “Backtracker, my ass. By seniority, I’m your ancestor.” He reflects that the substance mixed in the drug hasn’t been discovered yet. According to Ever, if they can control “that guy” (obviously referring to Isaiah), then controlling Xavier shouldn’t be far off. He believes that Isaiah will soon defeat the other “raincoats” and join the real plan. He also notes that Ever’s group has always valued a useful “lightblade” (pertaining to Isaiah’s lightblade here). In a way, Isaiah’s existence is seemingly valuable to them.

KEY POINTS:

• “…lingering scent of the explosion site” – they make this so obvious! Guess we now know who’s the suspect for blowing up Granny and Caleb.

• “You silenced Josephine and retrieved research material from back then. Good Job!” – It looks like Isaiah was the one who killed Josephine (and Caleb). Or rather, he’s the one responsible for the explosion that happened in grandma’s house in Chapter 4.

• Raincoat/Raincoat men– are basically Ever’s agents. They appear throughout the game in the main story as well as the other LIs’ stories.

• “Xavier can only guard her for so long. He’s too busy dealing with his own issues.” – This means Xavier is pretty much on the run, as many people from Philos are after him, as well as MC. Remember, Philos desperately needs MC’s immortality to sustain the planet’s core, keeping the planet alive and allowing its denizens to continue living.

• “It’s not only Ever that wants her.” – Philos is after her as well.

Theories on Isaiah:

I really feel like Isaiah might be a really important character in this game. Based on the way Infold/PG devs are writing this, he holds so much significance in the story, especially in Xavier’s branch, yet we haven’t seen his sprite. I have a hunch that in the next big story update or maybe the next Myth cards, he’ll finally make his debut appearance with his glorious silver-haired sprite. PG/Infold, don’t let me down!

What we know so far about Isaiah:

• He has white-silver hair.
• He is around Xavier’s age but appears younger.
• He possesses the Light Evol and wields a Lightblade, just like Xavier.
• He is from Philos and was a backtracker, (possibly part of Xavier’s team in Traceback II).
• There was a power struggle within the backtrackers where some Backtrackers ended up betraying Xavier and strayed off his lead.
• Something happened during their expedition that caused them to land on past-Earth 200 years earlier than their designated coordinates. Could Isaiah have something to do with this?
• According to this World Underneath anecdote – Isaiah, no longer looks as young as he once did, possibly deteriorating due to Philos’ metaflux abnormalities, which cause some denizens to turn into wanderers.
• According to this World Underneath anecdote – he now has wrinkled hands.
• According to this World Underneath anecdote – he takes a drug from Ever to prevent himself from turning into a wanderer.
• He is weaker than Xavier. According to this World Underneath anecdote, he isn’t capable of killing Xavier.
• He is envious of Xavier – According to this World Underneath anecdote, he became visibly upset when an Ever agent cruelly joked that if he killed Xavier, Ever would crown him as a “prince”.
• He works for a faction from Philos that wants to bring Xavier and MC back for their own purposes.
• He is also working for Ever, whether willingly or in exchange for the drug that keeps him from becoming a wanderer.

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• The vial that the Ever agent tosses to Isaiah likely contains a drug that helps him survive in this era and prevents him from turning into a wanderer. Given that Isaiah is probably deteriorating like other backtrackers from Philos, the drug helps manage the *metaflux abnormalities* affecting the denizens of his home planet, keeping him from meeting the same fate as the other backtrackers who have turned into wanderers.

• The vial that the Ever agent tosses to Isaiah also contains a hidden drug that can seemingly control him. The agent mentions that if they can control Isaiah, who wields the Light Evol, then controlling Xavier wouldn’t be impossible either. This implies that the drug may not only be a means of keeping Isaiah from turning into a wanderer, but could also be used as a tool to manipulate him and his powers.

• Perhaps Isaiah is a rogue agent, working for both Philos and Ever. We don’t know if his association with Ever is purely because he needed the drug, or if he has some other agendas.

• “Isnt internal struggle your specialty?” – Ever agent’s nasty remark hit a nerve with Isaiah. This obviously refers to how he betrayed Xavier when he was a backtracker, confirming our theory about a power struggle within the backtrackers, where many of them ended up betraying Xavier as their captain and going their separate ways. I’d actually love to see this side of Xavier’s story. Like, what exactly happened 200 years ago that led to this power struggle?

• Ever seems to want Isaiah on their side, and this is likely because of his Light Evol, so there is no way they want him dead.

• The LIGHT EVOL – is one of the strongest Evols in this universe. Even the ever-powerful Sylus’s (energy manipulating) evol has a weakness to light, so Xavier and those who wield this kind of power are rare to come across and highly advantageous to have on your side. Ever is trying to lure Isaiah to their side because his Light Evol is valuable to them.
  
  **Not exactly relevant, but the only other evols that come to mind as being similarly powerful are Victor’s evol in MLQC, which can manipulate time, and perhaps Lucien’s, since he has the ability to copy other evols.

• MC’s resonance Evol can absorb other evols every time she resonates with them. Thus, honing her own evol and making her even more powerful and stronger. The guy in the raincoat remarks here that having Xavier’s Lightblade serve her, becoming the strongest weapon in her hands, is something the resonance Evol can easily achieve.

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🌟MAIN STORY CHAPTER 6

During their idle time, the Alpha Team, particularly Tara, MC, and Nero, discuss a rare breed of Wanderer that has recently reappeared in Linkon. Tara mentions that these creatures used to appear 14 years ago but were wiped out by a certain hunter and never seen again. Nero chimes in, talking about a legendary hunter named Lumiere who was responsible for eliminating them. He adds that Lumiere was also spotted last month in the N109 Zone, wiping out all illegal protocols being sold on the black market. Lumiere was even seen on top of a skyscraper in the N109 Zone, destroying protocores as if setting off fireworks.🤣 MC grows curious about N109 Zone and stays up late after work. When night falls, she finally heads home and takes the subway. There, she happens to bump into Xavier, who she finds sleeping on public transport. She wakes him up, but before long, a wanderer that can travel through mirrors and reflections appears, trapping the train in a loop. Xavier and MC team up to battle the wanderer, defeating it soon after.

After the battle cutscene, Xavier says he’s hungry, so he and MC head to a nearby store to eat. While Xavier gorges on his food, MC looks up the Wanderer they just fought and learns that it was called a Tezcatlipoca. Records show that the same wanderer appeared 14 years ago but was wiped out by the legendary Lumiere, who wielded a Lightblade. MC grows suspicious of Xavier and points out that his familiarity with defeating the wanderer is similar to the rumored legend, Lumiere, who had eliminated all of that type before. Xavier brushes it off, saying that Lumiere is probably old by now, likely in his 40s, since those events happened more than a decade ago. He also adds that Lumiere is probably a “Tenebra” as well (see below for description). MC dismisses the thought, and they walk home together. Along the way, she expresses interest in the N109 Zone and says she wants to go there. Xavier warns her that it’s a dangerous place, but instead of trying to stop or convince her otherwise, he offers his help, saying the best way to infiltrate is to blend in.

As they continue walking, they realize they are neighbors, living in the same apartment building. Xavier on the 6th floor and MC on the 5th. MC asks if he can give her tips or help her infiltrate N109 Zone, and he tells her they can meet up tomorrow because he needs to sleep first. The next day, MC visits Xavier’s apartment just a floor above hers. There, she tells him she thinks he is related to Lumiere but doesn’t ask or probe him with any more questions. Their conversation then shifts to the protocore with the red color inside it, and Xavier confirms that it is an Aether Core. As a way to help MC, Xavier activates synchronization privileges on her watch, granting her access to all of his data as well as his access and privileges. MC jokes that he should’ve thought twice before giving her access, but Xavier tells her that the access will expire in 24 hours. With that in mind, she hurries to start investigating on her end.

KEY POINTS:

• The modified protocores found in the abandoned research base in Chapter 1 and No Hunt Zone 7 in Chapter 3 contain energy derived from an Aether Core. Xavier is investigating the Aether Core, which is why he appears in these locations.

• Nero is lumiere’s # 1 fanboy! Bless him!🤣

• Xavier can sleep standing up. He can pretty much sleep anywhere, really. The reason he was so sleepy and hungry here is that he was just at N109 zone, creating havoc and destroying illegal protocores. He’s only now just getting his break.

• Tenebra – A hunter who has broken the Hunter’s Code and engaged in illegal activities. They are involved in actions such as protocore smuggling or endangering the lives of others.

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🌟Main Story: Chapter 8-2

We see Xavier in a dark alley, having a conversation with a man who has turned into a wanderer. The man is a backtracker from Philos, just like Xavier. He tells Xavier that he’s a monster now and warns him that sooner or later, Xavier will face the same dilemma. He also says that only “her” can save them. Xavier responds, telling him that until that day comes, no one can go near her, Not even him. The man remarks, “They say you’re connected to Isaiah’s death, but I never believed them. You would never attack your own comrades.” Xavier retorts that he doesn’t need to explain himself to traitors. The man answers back, calling Xavier the real traitor, but before he can finish, a swift swipe of Xavier’s lightblade cuts him down, killing him.

Later we see Xavier (wearing a wolly hat) entering “the Nest” and tossing a protocore to the bartender, likely from the man he just killed. The bartender asks Xavier if he’s joining the “hunting” tomorrow, but Xavier says he’s not interested. The bartender also remarks that Xavier always takes bounties but never accepts any rewards. He then hands Xavier a dark-colored envelope and leans in, telling him he’s being watched. Xavier is aware of the familiar enemies in his peripheral vision, and his lightblade slowly materializes in his hand, ready to strike. But just then, MC shows up. Xavier quickly changes his mind, goes straight to her, and pulls her away from the scene. They head toward Azure Square.

Azure Square is holding a space-themed event, and Xavier and MC blend into the crowd. MC speculates that something has probably happened at the Nest and asks Xavier about it. He replies, “Not yet,” then tiptoes around the answer, changing the topic by asking if she’s really planning to go to the N109 Zone. He offers a few tips on how to survive there. Just then, a few patrol robots (who were tracking Xavier) spot them. MC quickly understands what’s going on, and Xavier asks if he can borrow her resonance Evol, to which MC obliges. With her resonance, Xavier’s lightblade multiplies, striking down the robots and their lurking enemies.

Xavier then takes MC to the flower shop, Philo, and introduces her to Jeremiah. We see a shook Jeremiah here, having to meet his best friend MC again after a long time. Aww 🥺 Jeremiah helps MC obtain a different identity that she can use while she’s in the N109 zone. Xavier also teaches her how to blend in while there, giving her tips on survival. He also gives her gadgets she can use: a tracker, an inhibitor (to make her immune to any toxins), a hairpin, which he says isn’t too strong but enough to take down an elephant, and lastly, he awkwardly hands her a flower. Haha so smooth! 🤣😭

After MC leaves, Jeremiah asks Xavier whatever happened to their “non intervention principle” and Xavier says, some already stopped caring about it. Otherwise, the explosion at her home wouldn’t have happened and the truth that’s been hidden for so many years wouldn’t have started to emerge. Jeremiah agrees that sticking to the nonintervention principle was pointless, especially to them whose presence (in this timelines) was a mistake, and mistakes are bound to be corrected sooner or later. He also comments that maybe they are slowly being erased. Xavier changes the subject and asks him about Traceback II, to which Jeremiah replies that it can send out simple signals but it still needs a lot of work. He also wonders if there’s really someone on the other side of the Deepspace Tunnel who can respond to them. Xavier reassures him that he will return in one piece. Jeremiah then tells Xavier that having evol doesn’t make him invincible because their kind isn’t exactly immortal.

KEY POINTS:

• Hunters in the Nest take bounties (likely from Ever) and get a small reward. In this scene, we see Xavier doing just that, but he doesn’t take any prize money from it.

• “Otherwise, the explosion at her home wouldn’t have happened…” – I think Xavier here is referring to Isaiah being responsible for the explosion in MC’s house, killing Granny in the process.

• “…and the truth that’s been hidden for so many years wouldn’t have started to emerge.” – In this line, he’s referring to MC’s immortality, as well as her possessing a heart powerful enough to revive an entire planet. Theory: There is obviously a whistleblower here who leaked all this information to Ever. If we go back to World Underneath: Sealed in Dust, it was Isaiah who divulged a lot of secrets to an agent of Ever. It’s possible that he was also the one who initially tipped off Ever regarding the backtrackers, as well as MC’s Aether Core.

THEORY TIME!

• The backtracker, Xavier’s former colleague, comments on Xavier’s involvement in Isaiah’s death. If you recall the events from Anecdote 2, Xavier and Isaiah fought each other. It’s possible that Isaiah was severely wounded and presumed dead, yet somehow survived. Years later, we see him working with Ever agents, though he no longer appears as young as he did during Xavier’s time with the police. I speculate that Xavier did, in fact, kill him during that fight, but for some reason, Isaiah managed to survive, possibly with Ever’s help/assistance.
  
  Ever is known to experiment on people and turn them into weapons (Spoiler: as seen with Caleb’s predicament, for example). It’s possible that Ever saw Isaiah’s Light Evol as invaluable to them and decided to intervene, offering him assistance to survive in exchange for his lightblade.

• “Maybe we are slowly being erased.” While this may seem like just a casual conversation between Jeremiah and Xavier, it actually carries a lot of major weight when you consider how time travel works. The general rule of time travel is that when someone from the future travels to the past, they must remain unseen and avoid intervening in major events that could alter the future. Otherwise, it would create an “alternate reality”. And in this case, that alternate reality might not even involve Philos, since Philos is from the future. If major changes keep happening, Philos could be erased altogether and never come to exist in the first place (including its inhabitants like Xavier and Jeremiah). There’s a lot to unpack here, so I shall comeback to this on my overall thoughts below!

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🌟MYTH 2: “TWILIGHT’S DAWN”

Summary: A film crew is creating a movie about the legendary Lumiere, and they need someone in the Hunter’s Association to act as a consultant for the fight scenes, particularly with regards to wanderers. The Association picked Xavier for the role because he is the most capable one. MC visits Xavier on set to help him with his Lumiere costume and supports him as his partner during the shoot. Later that day, they hangout at Jeremiah’s place, and hear on TV that there’s a “particle event doomsday panic” surging in Linkon due to the rampant wanderer attacks. Xavier pays it no mind and turns off the TV.

One rainy day, while MC and Xavier are on set, a surge of wanderer attacks occurs, and elite hunters are being dispatched to no-hunt zones one after another. MC feels concerned that it will only worsen, but Xavier reassures her not to worry. The next day, Xavier doesn’t show up on the movie set and there’s no sign of him at home either. MC also noticed her hunter watch has stopped receiving wanderer alerts. The news also reports that the wanderer attacks have mysteriously ceased overnight, leaving only protocores behind, which hunters, including MC’s colleagues, are collecting.

Two days later, Xavier returns to the set, acting normal as though he hadn’t been missing in the last two days. Later, MC finds him asleep on set and approaches him, but just then, an explosion rings out. Xavier reacts quickly, covering MC and creating a light barrier shield to block the incoming flames and debris. MC’s watch also beeps with a wanderer alert, and Xavier vanishes in an instant. She notices a beam of light shining through the burning factory where the explosion occurred. In the blink of an eye, Xavier reappears holding his sword, still covered in metaflux, (likely from killing a wanderer). MC’s watch rings again, and while she’s about to try and help, Xavier calmly tells her to stay put and that he’ll be right back.

In the next scene we see Xavier in a dark alley, slicing through wanderers with his light blade. The red ring on his neck flickers wildly, signaling that his evol is out of control. His hunter watch warns him about his unstable vital signs as well and tells him to disengage from combat, but Xavier ignores the warning and shuts off the watch, seemingly annoyed. Suddenly, three suspicious individuals appear before Xavier, one of them calls himself Jasper, likely from Ever. Other henchmen surround him, and Jasper asks if they could have a chat. Xavier refuses, so Jasper orders his henchmen to take Xavier down. As they lunge towards him, MC crashes onto the scene with her 270hm motorbike, grabs Xavier, to which he quickly hops on with her. They escape.

Xavier tells MC that these people are probably the ones responsible for the wanderer attacks. He then asks why MC knows where he is. She reveals that she put a tracker on him (previously, during the interactive scene of his 5* card, MC pinched Xavier and slipped the tracker on him). She also mentions that Jeremiah gave her the tip (and the tracker). MC then tells Xavier that she’s known his location for the past two days and that she also knows he’s the one responsible for wiping out all the wanderers.

MC and Xavier, still on the motorbike, notice their chasers are gaining on them. Xavier quickly instructs MC to take a different route. They end up at No Hunt Zone 42, the site where Xavier’s spaceship, Traceback II, had crashed. Xavier leads MC to the spaceship, activating the protofield gas to make sure that trailing enemies won’t be able to find them. MC is suspicious of Xavier, and asks if the spaceship is his. Xavier denies it and only replies with a vague answer, saying he just knew it was here. MC checks the surroundings outside to make sure they’re safe, and as she re-enters the ship, she sees Xavier asleep in a sleeping pod. Syringes also fall from where Xavier is sleeping, but before MC can investigate, her hunter watch alerts her to a massive wanderer attack at Azure Square. Seeing that Xavier is severely exhausted, MC quickly sends a text to Jeremiah and heads toward Azure Square alone.

In the next scene, MC and the Alpha team are fighting wanderers left and right. Although a lot of hunters are coming in to help, there are no signs of the wanderers decreasing their numbers. MC feels the exhaustion setting in, having overused her evol, and her body is reaching its limit. Captain Jenna calls her team to retreat, realizing the situation is not in their favor. While trying to retreat, MC sees children trapped under a debris and rushes to help them, with the last bit of energy she has left. Just as she’s about to save them, an S-rank wanderer spots her and charges toward her. MC calls for backup through her hunter watch to save the children first, but before she can escape herself, the wanderer approaches. Just as the wanderer is about to attack, Lumiere suddenly appears, slashing down every wanderer in the vicinity with his blade of light. He rescues MC and swoops her up into his arms. The surrounding crowd is shooketh to see the legendary Lumiere in person, and they were all stunned.

MC wakes up to find Xavier bandaging her wounds. He tells her that he’ll take her to the hospital once the crowd clears. Eventually, he carries her and teleports to the hospital, while news outlets are on blast reporting the sighting of Lumiere saving the day. After that night, Xavier disappears (again) for two days while MC recovers in the hospital. When she’s discharged, Xavier picks her up and takes her home, where he stays with her as her personal caregiver.

BONUS: The Secret Time “Veiled Guardian” is a continuation side story of this myth. It takes place after MC returns home from the hospital, with Xavier taking care of her. He also scolds her here for being too reckless during the widescale Wanderer attacks.

KEY POINTS:

• Xavier can create light barrier shields using his Evol.

• A storm or heavy rain is usually a sign that a massive wanderer attack is coming. In Jeremiah’s world-underneath anecdote (From the Stars), he notes that it was raining heavily when the three-day polar nights occurred, right before a wanderer attack on Linkon City.

• (Just putting this here in case anyone is still wondering or confused about the wanderer-protocore logic.) Every time a wanderer is destroyed, it leaves behind a protocore, which hunters collect.

• Rare protocores can be sold at a high price, so everyone wants to get their hands on them.

• The red ring on Xavier’s neck suppresses his Evol, meaning the power he’s displaying now isn’t even at full capacity. If this suppressor were removed… just imagine how powerful he would be.

THEORY TIME!

• Syringes that Xavier used – Because Xavier fights wanderers so often, he ends up overusing his Evol. He likely has a drug or supplement that helps stabilize his evol or vital signs after intense battles or when he’s completely exhausted, as we see in this myth. (or this could just be regular IV lol)

• Lumiere fought S-class wanderers relentlessly for two days without rest. Not only that, but he also wiped them all out on his own. Naturally, by the third day, he was so severely exhausted that the red ring on his neck went haywire, and his hunter watch was already warning him to disengage from combat.

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🌟World Underneath: “With Light”

Summary: This story follows one of MC’s colleagues in the Alpha team, Nero, who happens to be Lumiere’s # 1 biggest fanboy. In his not-so-secret life, he manages and mods an online fansite dedicated to Lumiere. One day, a troll appears on the site, posting slanderous rumors about Lumiere (a Lumiere hater lol). And a determined Nero meticulously debunks each rumor with impressive precision and finesse. As Lumiere’s # 1 fan, it’s his duty, after all!

KEY POINTS:

• Lumiere’s fans are called Lightchasers. Kind of like how kpop idol groups have official fandom names (e.g., SKZ = STAY, 2NE1 = Blackjacks, EXO = EXO-L, BigBang = VIP, etc.). Lumiere’s fans proudly refer to themselves as Lightchasers lol. I wonder if they have dedicated lightsticks (shaped like Lumiere’s sword) too? 😂 Ngl, that’d be cool as heck!

• Nero’s username is “QuantumSocialite”.

• The Lightchasers (Lumiere fans) here, also confirm that the red ring on Lumiere’s neck is a device that suppresses his Evol.

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🌟VOYAGE OF THE OUTCAST (XAVIER’S STORY BRANCH)

Summary: MC and Xavier are assigned a mission to track down a wanderer that attacked students who went missing for days at a university. To investigate, they go undercover as college students. With the help of Soren, the school’s student council vice president, they interview five students who were attacked. While speaking with one of the victims, the student recalls that he was supposed to meet Professor Ulysses on the day of the attack but missed the appointment. Hoping to gather more information, MC and Xavier attend one of Ulysses’ lectures. During class, Xavier mentions that he used to sit at the back of the classroom and once caught a classmate sneaking glances at him (he later says this when they’re at the basketball court). Their conversation is interrupted when Professor Ulysses calls them out for talking in class. He then asks MC to explain what a Morris-Thorne wormhole is. Before she can respond, Xavier steps in, confidently taking the podium and explaining the concept to the class in perfect detail. Ulysses praises Xavier for his flawless explanation.

Ulysses is actually Xavier’s old friend (the one with a son named Frank from Xavier’s Anecdote 1). After Xavier introduces MC to him, Ulysses agrees to help with their investigation by giving them access to the lab, where the RMFMA is housed. This device can track even the slightest fluctuations in the deepspace tunnel. So in theory, this device should have picked up and detected the wanderer that attacked the school a few days ago. Their investigation eventually leads them to Soren, the student council vice president, who turns out to be the culprit behind this entire ordeal. They confront him, and Soren reveals his true identity: he is one of the backtrackers, a former comrade of Xavier. And just like Xavier, he also possesses the Light Evol. Soren unleashes a wanderer with an aether core and manipulates a strong protofield (using the RMFMA), luring MC into it. She’s pulled in and then suddenly finds herself in a dense forest (Starfall Forest) on the planet Philos.

***After being plunged into darkness, she regains consciousness and sees meteor streaks in the sky and follows their path. At the center of the forest, she finds Xavier facing a holographic image of Soren, who taunts him, saying he hasn’t changed a bit; he’s still afraid of Starfall Forest. Xavier slashes the apparition, making it disappear. MC notices that Xavier’s evol is unstable due to the strong protofield in the forest. And as if hypnotized, he stiffly moves toward the center of the lake, his evol seemingly controlling his body. MC rushes to him and help him snap out of it. As he regains consciousness, he tells MC that she can’t stay here; otherwise, the planet will consume her as well. MC realizes that Xavier’s power is fading as if the entire space itself is trying to swallow him so she tries to resonate with him but Xavier refuses. He tells her that once Starfall Forest has gathered enough energy, it will stop consuming others. He adds that he failed to protect her before, so at the very least, he would rather let the planet take him instead. Out of desperation, MC uses her aether core offering it as a source of power to satisfy Starfall Forest. Xavier panics and tries to stop her, he then collapses right after.

When he wakes up, he confronts MC about using her aether core, saying the protofield could have devoured her. MC admits she was reckless but insists it was the only way to save him. Also, the energy fluctuations in the forest had only subsided temporarily, thanks to MC’s aether core, but they could spike again at any moment. MC and Xavier press on, searching for a way to escape the RMFMA, so Xavier leads her deep into the forest to his spaceship, Traceback II.

On the way, Xavier explains that Soren was an old comrade who changed his appearance and hid his evol. MC then remembers all the perilous moments she faced with Xavier like the luminivore in the abandoned research facility (Chapter 1) and the robots in Azure Square (Chapter 8). All of it was Soren’s doing. Xavier also notes that the forest was a trap set specifically for him. As they arrive at the location of Traceback II, Xavier explains that this ship can break through even the most chaotic gravitational energy flux, so breaking through the protofield should be a piece of cake. He pilots the ship, & plans to use his evol as energy to fuel it (Traceback II has this capability; more details below). Xavier also tells MC she can ask him anything, and he won’t hide any truth from her. As much as MC wants to ask all the questions in her head, she tells him that, for now, all she needs is assurance that he’s on her side. But also notes, she’ll save the questions later. Xavier asks MC to resonate with him so they can use his evol to fuel the ship. She hesitates, worried his evol is already drained, but he reassures her that her aether core is strong enough to enhance his evol and keep him safe.***

They successfully launch the ship and finally see the true form of this entire illusion: the wanderer with an aether core that caused all of this. After defeating the wanderer, they return to the research lab at the University. MC wakes up from a daze, and Xavier informs her that he’s already sent the data to HQ. The police should also be arriving in about 15 minutes. As MC is about to get up, Xavier stops her, saying he wants to make the most of these 15 uninterrupted minutes. He then takes his wireless earbuds and places one in MC’s ear, just like how he used to before in his Anecdote 3.🥺

After the incident, Xavier and MC gets busy filing reports to HQ, but eventually, things settle down, and they’re given some time to rest. Xavier retreats to his apartment to sleep and recover his energy. A few days later, MC visited him and brought him food. They discuss Soren, who is still on the run. Xavier speculates that Ever is backing him and MC reflects and tells him that Ever is their common enemy.

KEY POINTS:

• For those who are still confused about this story branch, let me clarify. Xavier and MC didn’t actually get transported to the planet Philos. Instead, they were trapped in a protofield created by Soren using the RMFMA, a separate plane of existence that resembled Philos. In my summary above, I’ve marked with (***) the part where they were transported into this protofield, which served as Soren’s trap for them.

• The RMFMA (Reflective Metaflux Field Monitor and Analyzer) is a device capable of detecting even the slightest fluctuations in the Deepspace Tunnel. One is housed in Prestatara University’s Deepspace Exploration Research Center. Dr. Ulysses states that it is one of the most advanced pieces of technology ever created. Many talented researchers and professors have even turned down prestigious job offers elsewhere just to work with the RMFMA at this university.

• Because Xavier is from the future (from the planet Philos), he is one of the very few who can operate and understand this machine. As Philos’ advanced technology is far beyond Earth’s, to Xavier, operating the RMFMA is as easy as tying his shoelaces. He even nonchalantly tells MC, “It may look complicated, but it’s really pretty easy”… when MC asked “how he do dat”.🤣

• From the image above, Xavier tells MC that the RMFMA isn’t just capable of detecting fluctuations in the Deepspace Tunnel – it can also generate a protofield that overlaps with reality. However, only a few people know about this. This implies that such an advanced machine can only be fully understood by those familiar with it; basically, the backtrackers. In here we see Xavier realizing that the one behind all of this must be a backtracker: Soren.

• What Soren did here was use the RMFMA capabilities and combine them with the power of an S-tier wanderer (with an aether core) that can trap you in your worst fears. This allowed him to create a protofield that trapped MC and Xavier in their deepest, darkest fears. In this case, it was Xavier’s fear: Starfall Forest. The RMFMA generated a time and space plane of existence that imprisoned its victims to a place of their worst fears. And with the added power of the wanderer’s aether core, the protofield became even more powerful and difficult to escape.

• Soren -Xavier’s former comrade and one of the backtrackers who traveled with him from Philos to the past. Like Xavier, he possesses the Light Evol, and he has incredible speed (also has the ability to teleport). Just like most of the backtrackers (e.i. Xavier, Jeremiah, Isaiah), he is also highly knowledgeable in advanced technology. Xavier mentions that Soren changed his appearance (which I speculate was with the help of Ever. Read more in the theory section below).

• Dr. Ulysses is Xavier’s friend from Anecdote 1; the one with the son who spent time with Xavier to write an essay about Deepspace hunters.

• Xavier actually suspected from the start that this entire ordeal at the university was a setup specifically for them.

The Morris-Thorne wormhole is a type of wormhole with a throat that connects two black holes. The presence of strong negative gravitational properties in outer space keeps this throat open, allowing matter or signals to pass through, making time travel possible.

The Deepspace Tunnel in Linkon is a wormhole (as seen up close in Sylus’ story in the N109 zone, where the black hole is supposedly located). Meanwhile, the center pit in Starfall Forest is also a black hole. Theoretically, this suggests that the Deepspace Tunnel is likely a Morris-Thorne wormhole, with a throat-like tube connecting Linkon (Past-Earth) to Starfall Forest (Future-Philos). Xavier and the backtrackers traveled through this throat to reach past Earth from Philos.

Also, in theory, because this throat is always open, fluctuations from the other side (Philos) pass through it every day. This explains why wanderers keep resurfacing on Earth. If you go back to Xavier’s Myth 1, we discovered that the royal family is feeding humans to Philos’ core to replenish its energy since the planet is dying. As a side effect of these abnormal fluctuations, Philos spits out the corrupted humans it has swallowed, essentially turning them into wanderers.

• Soren isn’t caught yet. And is still on the run.

• I didn’t add this to the summary above, but while preparing for takeoff inside Traceback II, MC accidentally hits a switch that activates Xavier’s log recordings to Queen MC (lol). This is the poem he recorded and read for her in his Secret Time card, “Starry Sound”.

• Traceback II doesn’t only operate through protocore energy but also can be fueled through evol energy. Xavier remarks that the backtrackers have used evol many times before during expeditions to make emergency landings.

• All the LIs (prior to Caleb’s release) have one common enemy, and that’s Ever.

THEORY TIME!

• Ever is capable of changing and modifying people’s appearance, and this story branch confirms it, as Xavier notes that Soren changed his appearance, so he wasnt able to recognize him from the jump. Ever is also highly skilled at modifying human beings, as seen with Caleb. We can also conclude that they probably did something similar with Isaiah. Perhaps they have also modified Isaiah’s appearance?

• It looks like Ever is collecting Light Evolvers to their side. In World Underneath: Sealed in Dust, we see an Ever agent mention that they value talent, such as a “useful lightblade,” which pertains to Isaiah’s. This could also mean that they are actively trying to recruit other Light Evolvers. particularly those among the backtrackers.

• The backtrackers are not to be fxxxd with. They are highly skilled swordsmen and were part of the Order of Lightseekers in Philos, a group that only the best of the best knights could join, (as seen in Myth 1). These guys trained alongside Xavier and possess incredible knowledge of advanced technology, far beyond the capabilities of geniuses on the current Earth. An example for this is Jeremiah who was in fact tasked to fix traceback II’s accelerator. He’s also highly skilled in creating new identities and manipulating data archives online. Also, Jeremiah is an excellent fighter, with Philos’ MC even stating that he is the best Lightseeker under her command (Myth 1).
  
  Another example is Soren, who, as seen in this story branch, was incredibly fast in trapping MC and Xavier in the RMFMA. He also modified the machine & tampered with it to remove any fluctuations that could expose his cover or plan. Heck, he nearly succeeded in eliminating Xavier here if it weren’t for MC’s aether core saving him from being consumed by Starfall Forest.
  
  Finally, there’s Isaiah, who clashed lightblades with Xavier and miraculously survived. So yeah, the backtrackers are no ordinary opponents, which is why Ever is actively trying to recruit them to their side, because they know their talents are invaluable.

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🌟OTHER THOUGHTS AND THEORIES🌟

Why Xavier is afraid of Starfall Forest

If we go back to his Myth 1, Shooting Stars, during the Gladius Ceremony, Xavier was tasked with killing a wanderer deep within Starfall Forest. There, he made a horrifying discovery: the core of Philos, located at the center of the forest, was where the royal family had been sacrificing humans to be absorbed by the planet, replenishing its energy and preventing it from dying. Philos consumed humans daily to sustain its longevity, and learning this dark secret, especially knowing it was orchestrated by the royal family, his own flesh and blood was deeply traumatizing for Xavier. To make matters worse, the royal family had also decided to offer MC to the planet, believing that her immortality would grant Philos the energy to survive for eternity. Having to relive this again is crippling for him. Starfall Forest is the exact place where Xavier’s trauma was rooted.

One amazing piece of writing I noticed here is during the scene (in Myth 1) where: after Xavier emerged from the forest with the protocore in his hand, he looked utterly defeated. As he approached MC, all he could do was hug her tight. The man was severely damaged, by that point. Realizing he is stuck in an endless loop of having to see his beloved die and be revived over and over again is something that completely shattered his entire being.😔

The Importance of Jeremiah

We make alpaca jokes about him all the time in the fandom (lol). But Jeremiah is actually one of the most important side characters in Love and Deepspace. He has witnessed nearly all of the timelines Xavier has experienced and is very close to Philos MC (Queen MC), to the point where she once placed her trust in him. This makes him one of the few people who fully understands the weight of MC’s existence, both on Earth and in Philos. He has also closely witnessed Xavier’s past and the struggles he endured during their backtracking mission, because he was there with him, seeing firsthand all the sacrifices Xavier has made.

Unlike the other side characters (with sprites) connected to other LIs, like Thomas, Greyson, Luke, & Keiran, Gideon, or even MC’s friend Tara, who are mostly there for added character nuance and story fillers, Jeremiah kind of sticks out like a sore thumb, because his character is more than just a filler; he actively helps move the plot forward. To add to this, Jeremiah is also a very loyal ally to both MC and Xavier. When all the backtrackers slowly left Xavier’s side and abandoned their mission, he was the only one to actually come back.🥹

(PG/Infold needs to revamp his sprite though! The man deserves so much better! omg!)😭😭😂

The Importance of Isaiah

I’m still kind of baffled by the fact that Isaiah has no sprite or side image in the game, despite playing such a major role. He repeatedly appears and reappears in different scenes and timelines, like when he clashed lightblades with Xavier in Anecdote 2 and later when we see him meeting with an Ever agent. Not to mention, it was him who blew up MC’s house, killing Josephine (Granny).

He is also constantly brought up throughout the game. For example, in Jeremiah’s World Underneath episode, where Jeremiah outright says that Isaiah betrayed Xavier. Then, in the main story (Ch.8), a backtracker remarks that Xavier was involved in Isaiah’s death. The fact that his name keeps popping up ever so often, seems rather suspicious, no? Who exactly is Isaiah? Was he Xavier’s nemesis back in Philos? Could he be part of the royal family? A half-brother, perhaps? (This better not turn into a Gavin-Shaw situation from MLQC, lol.)

My theory is that there’s probably an unreleased timeline/era (possibly Myth 3) where we’ll finally explore the full story of the backtrackers. What really happened during their expedition? What went wrong that led to the power struggle among the members of Traceback II?

MC’s Cultivation

We learn in great detail that every time MC dies and is reborn, her aether core heart becomes even more powerful. Each revival strengthens the energy of her aether core. This cycle had been going on long before she met Xavier in Philos for the first time in Anecdote 3.

Technically speaking, this is what has been happening during her days on Earth; People found out about MC’s “special” heart, and they killed and revived her multiple times to cultivate her as the true “immortal” being, thereby also developing a very powerful energy (her aether core) that can sustain a planet’s entire resources and inhabitants. It’s really downright evil, if you think about it! Eventually, when the Earth’s core was exhausted, its people found a way to replace it with MC’s heart, effectively rebirthing the planet into what is now known as Philos.

Another important thing in understanding MC’s cultivation is that her Resonance evol can basically absorb the powers of the individuals she’s resonated with. By doing this, she is honing her aether core to become more and more powerful in the process. The more she resonates with other powerful evolvers, the more it fuels her aether core’s energy. This is why Ever allows her to be with Xavier. Because Xavier is a highly powerful Light evolver, and with MC absorbing Xavier’s power every time they resonate, it becomes advantageous to those who seek to exploit her powers for their own purposes.

The Backtrackers did not cause the Chronorift Catastrophe

Debunking my theory in the Rafayel lore post: No, the backtrackers did NOT cause the Chronorift Catastrophe. Something else did. Xavier and the backtrackers were already on Earth when the Chronorift Catastrophe began. The true cause remains undisclosed by Papergames/Infold, but we might be able to connect it to Philos and Ever. Remember in Sylus’ chapters where he mentioned that, out of all the districts in Linkon, only the N109 zone became a dangerous wasteland after the Chronorift Catastrophe? That’s kind of a clue right there. I will have to dig into this more when I do, Sylus’s deep dive!

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TIME TRAVEL

They did time travel so well here! The process of time travel was so well-explained that the sci-fi girlie inside me is jumping for joy and doing cartwheels right now! I’ve said this time and again in many of my reviews, but sometimes when otome games try to write time travel, it always feels stupidly rushed or just used as a plot device, thrown out in the open to where it ends up not making any sense. This is the reason I’ll forever have a beef with Virche, because of how exceptionally terrible they handled time travel there, with no any kind of explanation whatsoever. It’s like the character just went, “Yeah, I time traveled; kthnxbye!” LMAO😂 (I’m sorry to compare and I apologize to the Virche fans, I swear I don’t hate the game, just that the time travel there is almost way too insulting to those who love or geek out on the topic itself).

Time travel is a rather intricate and complicated subject to write about in fiction, sometimes its even considered a cursed trope because 90% of the time the devs/writers don’t know what they’re writing, where it’s going, or didn’t do enough research to back up their theories, As a result, their story ends up not making any sense (e.g., the time travel in DC’s The Flash, lmao).🙃 You have to put in the effort to convince your audience how the character traveled from point A to point Z (future to past or vice versa). You also need to connect past events to future outcomes and clearly explain the process, including the challenges they faced and the consequences of their journey.

Like, I honestly do not care for absolute accuracy or strict logic when it comes to time travel in fiction; just make it make sense, y’ know! Make it so that your audience can grasp the concept and connect the dots, so they can go like, “Aaaahh, so that’s why…”😆 Steins;Gate did this so well with their concept of mini black holes created by the CERN particle accelerator, which allowed Okabe Rintaro to travel from one alternate reality to another. (Sorry for going on a tangent there, lol).😂

In Love and Deepspace (Xavier’s route), they made use of the concept of the Morris-Thorne wormhole. The Deepspace Tunnel in Linkon is, in theory, a Morris-Thorne wormhole that connects Linkon (Past-Earth) to Starfall Forest (Future-Philos). Xavier and the backtrackers traveled through this tunnel to reach past Earth from Philos. I have explained this in detail above (and with a video on how this works; please check it out if you haven’t yet).

Anyway, PG/Infold writers/devs if you’re reading this, You did so well here, THANK YOU!🥹🫶

… Our presence here was always a mistake and mistakes are bound to be corrected sooner or later. Maybe we’re slowly being erased as we speak.

-Jeremiah (Love and Deepspace Chapter 8-2)

This line by Jeremiah actually holds so much weight to unpack when you take into account how time travel works. The common rule of thumb for time travel is rooted in the idea that the past, present, and future are all interconnected in an equilibrium. The key point is that if someone from the future interferes with a major event from the past, it can disrupt the timeline and lead to what is known as an “alternate reality.” If you’ve heard of the term or concept of the “butterfly effect,” it’s practically the same where small actions in the past can possibly lead to drastically different futures.

In the context of Xavier and the backtrackers here, they traveled back to Past Earth with a set goal, and they were meant to remain unseen and uninvolved in anything until they achieved their goal and returned to Philos. But during their expedition, something happened that caused them to slip further back in time, throwing their original plans into disarray. On top of that, their spaceship crashed and many backtrackers abandoned their mission, leaving only Xavier behind (along with Jeremiah, who decided to return).

Eventually, Ever caught wind of the backtrackers and their mission (thanks to traitors like Isaiah), and this created a major rift in the present timeline. If these significant changes and rifts continue to deepen, it could potentially erase future timelines, such as the one where Philos is created. Thus erasing the planet altogether and its inhabitants (including Xavier and Jeremiah). Does my explanation make any sense? 😆

Then again, the nature of the butterfly effect doesn’t necessarily mean that every minor change causes an immediate, drastic result. Sometimes it might take longer for small disruptions to snowball into major alterations, or it might mean that only certain pivotal events would lead to the erasure of future timelines. So in Xavier, and the the backtrackers’ case, you could say that it’s only a matter of time!

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On the topic of Romance, one thing is for sure: Xavier sees every version of MC as the same person. No matter how many times she is revived or reincarnated, to him, she is one and the same.

This is why he told Queen MC that only one person had ever given him the star tassel (Myth 1). He also brings up in his story branch, recalling how MC would always glance back at him in their classroom during their academy days (Anecdote 3). To Xavier, there is really no distinction between her past and present selves. Across all timelines, she will always be his one and only beloved. 🥰

Xavier also treats MC as an equal. If you’ve played all his stories so far, you’ll notice how he never sees her as a damsel in distress. He only steps in when she truly needs help or when she asks for it. Otherwise, he fully supports her independence as a hunter, letting her handle things on her own. He even provides her with advice and useful tools, like the gadgets he gave her for infiltrating the N109 Zone. Throughout his stories, he repeatedly emphasizes that MC doesn’t need protecting. He tells this to Jenna, Jeremiah, and others. Heck, even in the Destination Cafe feature in the game, when you introduce him to your parents (new feature), he insists she doesn’t need protecting. I really adore that the trust he has for MC is beyond blinding!

Xavier’s Many Identities

Because he’s lived for many centuries, Xavier has taken on numerous identities and worked various odd jobs; from being a police officer and bookstore clerk to, as revealed in the new event, a professional mattress tester, food sampling specialist, and even a haunted house evaluator (lmao). Jokes aside, I believe that despite all these different identities, what Xavier truly wants is for MC to see him as the current, real Xavier. Just as he views MC as one and the same across all timelines, he wants MC to see him as only one Xavier too. This is why he gets upset when MC fangirls or gets giddy over Lumiere (who is technically still him). Lumiere is a fictitious character born from hearsay and rumors, pretty much, a superhero, someone perfect who can do no wrong in people’s eyes. But that’s not who he really is. The real Xavier is flawed, does shady things, is awkward, and is an awkward mess when it comes to MC. He wants her to see him, all of him, as one whole person. All of him, as just…Xavier.🥺

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CLOSING THOUGHTS ON XAVIER’S STORY BRANCH

XAVIER’S LORE, ESPECIALLY HIS STORY BRANCH IS INSANE….. INSAAAAANELY GOOD!
I have re-played the entire game in the chronological order above and wow, I am just beyond impressed and blown away by how good this is??? Honestly, it’s been a long while since I’ve tapped into a visual novel (or a route, for that matter) with such consistent writing. The last two VNs that made me go “holyyyy macaronyyy” from uncovering and dissecting its complicated lore were Steins;Gate and The House in Fata Morgana (these are games from a decade ago, mind you haha). And I rated those games a 10/10, which is kinda saying a lot. I admit that Love and Deepspace as a whole isn’t perfect by any means and there are still plot parts in this game that’s left to be desired, but Xavier’s lore and story branch alone, I’d have to say is a 9.5/10 for me!

The sci-fi aspect here was very well put together, the time travel parts were beautifully explained to which it isn’t confusing. And there were so many callbacks and references from past narratives (e.g. past anecdotes, myth stories) that fit together like puzzle pieces at the end. It was sooooooo satisfying to read! My goodness, like damn, thank you?

Not only was the plot so good, but the way MC and Xavier’s relationship dynamic developed felt so natural here. Their relationship was raw and beautiful. I love how MC has repeatedly mused about the mystery surrounding Xavier, but has never pushed him or pressured him for answers. Even though Xavier laid everything bare for her, giving her the chance to ask whatever she wanted, MC still understood that there’s a time and place for everything. I also especially loved how, time and time again, Xavier placed his full trust in MC, and in the final chapters of his story branch, how MC reciprocated that trust by placing hers in him as well. It was such a perfect full-circle moment for both the plot and the romance! Honestly… the story beats, the pacing…. everything just felt so right!

PG/Infold writing team did so well here, You guys did so good! Thank you so much!

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Anyway, I hope I’ve covered enough to help people understand Love and Deepspace’s story better, especially when it comes to Xavier’s character and his beautiful lore. I tell folks this all the time, but playing everything in the game (story branches, anecdotes, bonds, myths, etc.) is really important story-wise. Because ngl, just playing the main story as is, barely scratches the surface of this game. I know it’s an unusual way to structure a narrative (and its not everyone’s cup of tea), but it is what it is. Personally, I think the theorizing aspect and piecing everything together kind of adds to the enigma of the game’s lore. And it’s even more fun when your brain hurts from deep diving pixel boys, no? (cackles)😂

Before wrapping up this essay, I just want to remind everyone that each LI’s route & story branch is self-contained and doesn’t overlap with another LI’s story. Since this is an otome game, each LI has their own unique lore, history with the MC, and of course, their own happily-ever-after! Also, if you’re new to the game, consider this a kind (and not-so-kind) reminder (lol) to always pull for the Myth cards! If you’re a lore-girlie like me and want to dive deep into LAD’s nitty-gritty story, pull for the Myths! I cannot stress this enough! I’m not sure when PG/Infold will do reruns, but iirc, MLQC (LAD’s mother game) had reruns about two years after its release. Not sure if that timeframe will apply here, but we’ll see!

If you’ve made it this far, thank you so much for reading this entire post! Woah! I dedicate this post to all the Love and Deepspace lore-girlies and my fellow Xavier girlies…I hope I did our man justice!🥰😂 I might cover Sylus’ lore next when I get some free time! Once again, thank you for sticking around! Smell ya later, besties!