Ruby, Ruby, Who Has the Twins' Ruby?

In Ayn's quest, when Thea and Ayn meet, Thea is equipped with a buckle known as the Twins' Ruby. This item is vital to Ayn's quest, as it opens the path between Aridia and Landen. Ayn must go to Landen, because it is there that he can find the key to the Satellite of True Peace his people are desperate to find.

However, in Nial's quest, the Twins' Ruby belongs to a Layan man named Ryan who leads the guerrilla army fighting against Lune. Ryan plans to use the Twins' Ruby to get to Aridia where the key to stopping Lune -- a mysterious thing called "Laya's Treasure" -- is said to be hidden.

It seems most likely that there is only one Twins' Ruby. Even if there are multiple items that can unlock the Landen-Aridia cave, which is itself unlikely, it is extremely unlikely that both would have an odd name like "Twins' Ruby." Therefore, since Nial's quest takes place three years later than Ayn's quest, there arises a question: how did the Twins' Ruby go from Thea's possession to Ryan's?

At first it didn't seem to make any sense, but then I noticed something very important. Ryan has a long, distinctive scar running all the way down his face, from his forehead to his cheek. It passes right through one of his eyes, most likely meaning that said eye is missing. (We cannot be absolutely certain of that because Ryan's eyes are hidden by what appears to be a pair of sunglasses.) There is never any mention of how Ryan came to have this scar.

Since Ryan has a scarred face, is apparently missing an eye, and has Thea's precious Twins' Ruby, could it not be said that Ryan is possibly the one who saved Thea from Lensol Castle? Ryan appears to be at his prime in the second generation, unlike sickly Lyle, and he is a very strong fighter (who is very similar to Lyle in style and technique, actually). He would most likely have been capable of fighting his way through the soldiers and cyborgs defending Lensol Castle. Ryan is also Layan, meaning that he might be a descendant of one of the ancient dragon knights, as is Lyle. It seems probable to me that Ryan rescued Thea, and for one reason or another, Thea gave the Twins' Ruby to Ryan, perhaps so that he could go to Elysium, where Nial meets him. (More ideas on why Ryan was in Elysium, and how his actions are connected to Thea, are in the next section of this essay.)

Admittedly, all of this evidence is circumstantial. However, I believe the sheer volume of evidence (the scar, the missing eye, the Twins' Ruby, Ryan's Layan allegiance, and Ryan's similarities to Lyle) makes the claim that Ryan, not Lyle, rescued Thea very hard to argue against.

Now, allow me to explain away the quote made by the man in Endora, which I mentioned in the previous section. Once again, the quote is:

A long time ago, I saw a wounded, one-eyed dragon fly out from Cape Dragon Spine toward the sea.

As I said in the previous section, this sounds, at first glance, like a reference to Lyle. In Ayn's quest, Lyle, who is one-eyed, assumes dragon form and flies across the sea to Techna's island. However, even if Lyle was in Draconia (the dome Endora, Techna, and Lensol are located in) during or after the second generation, it is doubtful that he would survive the exertion of becoming a dragon and flying across the sea, since that is what killed him during Ayn's quest.

I believe that this dragon was in fact Ryan, not Lyle, wounded and one-eyed after rescuing Thea from Lensol Castle. Why did he fly out over the sea? My guess would be that he and Thea were searching for Satellite, just as Ayn, Thea, and their friends were in Ayn's quest. Perhaps they even found it, and were able to defeat Siren. That much we cannot know. The fate of the people of Cille and Shusoran is never revealed in Nial's world. All we are told is that the two kingdoms were destroyed, and that Thea was kidnapped and eventually rescued. It is also impossible to visit the Satellite (better known as Azura) and find out, because by the time Nial's son begins his quest, Satellite has already been destroyed, just as it is in the adventure of Sean, one of the possible sons of Ayn.

It seems unlikely to me that Ryan and Thea alone would have been able to defeat Siren and secure Azura. I think that they gave up the quest before fighting Siren and instead settled down in Endora, where I believe Ryan comes from. (In fact, he may very well be the man who, in Ayn's quest, tries to rescue Thea but fails. Ayn then rescues Thea before this man can make a second attempt.) What happened to the Layans that took shelter in Aridia? Without Rhys, Ayn, Mieu, Wren, and Sari to come to their defense, it is my opinion that they all perished.

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