Thirteen years later. The boy who survived the destruction of Phoenix Gate is now a slave soldier, a Branded marked by his use of magic and stripped of everything his name once meant. The ashes that guide him are literal — the ruins of his family, his brother's supposed death, his mother's betrayal. He carries them as a direction rather than a weight.

The Bearer system is FFXVI's clearest political argument. Magic use accelerates the body's petrification, and the powerful have decided this is reason enough to own those who can wield it. Clive moves through this world understanding exactly what it has made of him, and understanding equally that this is not the end of his story.