Forest of No Return

Forest of No Return is a dungeon in Tales of Legendia. It is located south of Maurits' Hermitage.

Geography
This dungeon is easy to get lost in, but if you go the wrong way enough times, you can choose an option to let Moses Sandor lead the way. The best way to get through is to look for butterflies near an exit, as they are the key to exiting the dungeon. If you can get through without having Moses guide you back, Senel earns the "Forest Guru" title.

Main Quest
After escaping Vaclav Bolud and his forces in the Ruins of Frozen Light, they land inside the Forest of No Return. After Will Raynard and Norma Beatty finish healing Senel Coolidge's wounds, he wakes up shouting Stella Telmes' name. Will says that their main priority is to flee their pursuers. According to Norma, the Forest of No Return is a place that can easily make people lose their sense of direction and can cause disaster for anyone unprepared. Moses then tells the others of a nearby camp where the rest of his gang are hiding out after fleeing from the Bandits' Lair, and he offers to lead the way.

Stingle and Cashel begin their pursuit as soon as they went through the same exit. They caught up with the group, but they managed to run off again. As the group keeps running, Moses notices that they are near the camp, but when they got there they find that the whole place has been attacked recently. Cashel and Stingle ambush them in a joint attack, and Cashel reveals that they already went through here and took care of them. In a rage, Moses goes in to attack him but is blocked by Will and Senel. Meanwhile, Chloe Valens and Norma are faced against Stingle. Chloe then confirms that he was the one who murdered her parents and starts attacking, but sustains wounds.

While Will tries to calm Moses, Cashel explains that Senel will be spared while the others will be killed. With a smack on the head from Will, Moses finally calms down and orders everyone to head for the rear exit. Before joining them, Will unleashes a Lightning Eres to blind Cashel and retreats. As soon as they get near the exit, they are forced to fight an Armored Angler. Just as everyone reached the exit, Melanie greets the group with more troops and Armored Anglers. Just at that moment, Vaclav then activates the Bridge of the Legacy. The others retreat while Melanie is distracted, but are met with more of Vaclav's men. The group is then surprised when some of the soldiers took out their own men. Maurits appears and explains that the soldiers were actually his own men in disguise, and that it was at Fenimore Xelhes' request.

At the exit, they could see the Bridge in the distance and Maurits explains that several other locations are already affected since it is now fully risen. Norma then realizes that it was the same island that was housing the Oresoren Village. Maurits explains that the bridge was sealed because it could let anyone control the Legacy, not just the Merines. Will is surprised that Maurits manage to sneak his troops into Vaclav's army, and it was then that Maurits received news that Shirley and Stella were taken from the Ruins of Frozen Light to the Bridge.

He goes on to say that Vaclav's intentions is not limited to the Legacy's control, but the Nerifes Cannon as well. When Norma asked who they were and how they knew all this information, they answered that they are Ferines, or what the Orerines call "The Radiant". He said that the group has already met several of them, and that Shirley is one as well. Norma figured it out after seeing her hair glow, as did Chloe when Senel was unconscious. Maurits then offers to take them to one of their bases to hide for the time being. After some discussion, they take his offer and head for the base.

Character Quests
During Chloe Valen's Character Quest, the group heads to the Forest of No Return with Elsa to stop Chloe from taking revenge on Arnold Alcott. Senel swears to stop her this time, since he took Chloe's burden too lightly back at Werites Beacon. At the deepest part of the forest, Chloe and Arnold meet up to fight. As he drew a sword, which belonged to Chloe's father, Chloe's doubts were finally settled. Dark mist suddenly surrounded her, and she struck with a furious hatred.

Arnold's arm fell numb to Chloe's attack and ask to take the Flower of No Return to Elsa. Just as she was about to deal the final blow, the others arrive to intervene. Grune explains that the mist surrounding Chloe is the embodiment of the darkness in her heart, and Senel already understands that she is suffering. Elsa steps in and defends her father, and she knows that all that he did was for her sake. Arnold then confesses to killing Chloe's parents for money and how he got close to Vaclav for new medical treatments, but he then says that was already prepared to face his crimes when Elsa was fully cured.

As Chloe was about to attack, Senel goes in to say if she kills him, she'll make Elsa suffer just as she had by her own hands. As her mind goes into conflict, a voice calls out to her to let her emotions run wild. The mist then forms into a younger Chloe, telling her to kill the one she hates. As Elsa walks toward the sword, Chloe threatens to show no mercy but Elsa picks it up saying that she will stop her if she truly intends to harm her father.

Senel then says that nobody wants this revenge, not even her. He then goes on to say that if she was truly happy about killing him, she should say it when she's smiling, not when she's about to cry. Shirley then comes up and tells her to face her own feelings, even the ones she dislikes. Senel then goes to say that she has a place with them now and where she intends to go if she ran off on her own. Senel and Shirley's words got through to her as she says that in heart, she never really wanted revenge. The younger Chloe transforms into a dark version of the present Chloe to face them in battle. Chloe offers a prayer to her parents to give her the strength to face the darkness in her heart and the courage to move forward.

After the battle, Chloe's dark half explains that as long as hatred still lingers she will rise again and again. Chloe then explains that to suppress her loneliness, she turned to hatred. Using her Sacred Eres, Chloe finally purifies her dark past, realizing that what she wanted was in front of her the whole time. After taking her father's sword from Elsa's hand she wanders off. Senel volunteers to go after Chloe while everyone else take Elsa back to Werites Beacon. It was raining when Senel caught up to Chloe. She said that when her parents were killed, she couldn't face her own weakness and escaped it by blaming others. Senel explains that everyone makes mistakes and runs away, but it is that pain and suffering that other people are able to connect with each other because no one can take care of everything alone. He goes on to say that there is no need to deny her past and that no one would criticize her for that.

Chloe wonders if she could really give up on revenge, and Senel replies that there is no need to do so. He goes on to say that she can no longer live in anyone's shadow or worry what others say about her, she can live her own life now. Chloe thanks him but asks that he stops being kind to him. She then walks up to him, clutching his back, and asks to stay like this for a little while. After that, Senel looks up and says that the rain feels good. Chloe then looks up and says that she is glad it's raining.