Countless fans waited in eager anticipation. They speculated endlessly about what kind of story could make Xia Wen say such words.
However… MiHoYo did not keep everyone waiting for long.
In the very next week, a PV titled Golden Epic Trailer — "Amphoreus' Saga of Heroes" was released on the official website!
In an instant, the entire internet exploded! Countless fans flooded onto the official site!
The first thing that came into view was the heavy, oppressive opening text of the PV.
[Amphoreus! I do not call your name suddenly or without cause.]
[I come here to recount history-]
[The black tide of the end fell upon the land, gods descended into madness, and mortals turned their weapons on each other.]
[Yet still, there were heroes who chased the flames, leading the way in the grand undertaking of creation.]
[In this world, they fused burning golden ichor into their bodies.]
[Will destiny remember their names in days to come?]
[Memories slumbering at dusk, please do not forget Amphoreus' name]
Black tides. Gods descending to madness.
Just hearing these terms was enough to instantly ignite everyone's imagination.
....
: It's finally here! Amphoreus!
: This intro feels like it's hiding a ton of information!
: The black tide, a new kind of disaster? Not a Stellaron, not the Antimatter Legion. Feels like something completely different.
: I wonder how it compares in terms of rank to the previous bosses?
: The intro actually says the gods went mad!? Are these gods… Aeons?
: Or could they be the planet's gods?
: Heroes who chased the flames, leading the way in the grand undertaking of creation? Honkai: Star Rail never uses words casually. The fact that "creation" is written right into the intro, combined with Amphoreus' unique nature, makes it feel like this main story is going to be insane!
: No matter what, one thing's for sure, everything mentioned in the intro is absolutely connected to Aeons and the three Paths!
: A great work of creation… could it be related to Qlipoth? I'm guessing the third Path might be Preservation!
....
Fans discussed fervently. Their excitement only continued to rise, and their desire to learn more about Amphoreus grew ever stronger.
Immediately, countless people clicked on the PV.
After the familiar MiHoYo logo faded away, the screen filled with countless interwoven golden lines.
A female voice began to speak slowly.
Those who followed MiHoYo news closely could already tell, the speaker was Aglaea.
"In the legend's beginning, the world was pure chaos."
"Then the gods cast down the Coreflames, and the Titans were born within."
"Three Titans carved the heavens and earth. Three wove the threads of fate."
"Three molded life with their hands, and three guided calamity's gate."
As the narration continued, the golden lines moving upward from the bottom of the screen outlined a giant carrying a massive sphere upon its back.
The entire visual style resembled ancient murals, rich with artistic atmosphere.
As scenes of Greek-style frescoes unfolded one after another, different figures and different moments appeared in succession.
The mural backgrounds shifted constantly, sometimes radiant, sometimes blood-red, sometimes shrouded in darkness.
Viewers felt as if they were witnessing a historical epic.
This first encounter with Amphoreus left everyone with an indescribable sense of weight and grandeur.
"But the golden age was fleeting, and from beyond the sky came the heretical black tide..."
"Its gloom was darker than death itself, driving the Titans to madness, and the mortals to mutual war."
"Strife broke out across the land, and the stain of blood consumed the light of dawn."
"A millennium of divine conflict...."
"...left only a shattered world and an age of darkness."
The narration grew heavier and deeper.
The murals were gradually swallowed by darkness and blood.
The once-solemn background music became increasingly urgent and tense.
"The Coreflames flickered and dimmed, and the age of the gods met its end."
"Golden blood fell to the ground, as a distant prophecy resounded..."
"Flow, golden blood. Flow. "
"Converge into a boiling river that flows to the heroic heirs of this world -"
By this point, viewers had already imagined a war stretching across millennia.
Faith collapsing. Gods descending into madness.
What kind of horrific scenes must that have been?! How many heroes were born in that crucible?
Just as the audience began to shudder, the screen suddenly shifted into dazzling gold.
The Chrysos Heirs made their first appearance before the audience in this epic PV.
"Aglaea the 'Goldweaver,'
Tribios the 'Divine Maiden of Janus,'
Anaxagoras the 'Foolish,'
Hyacinthia the 'Descendent of the Sky,'
Medeimos the 'Undying,'
Cifera the 'Fleet-Footed.'
Castorice, the 'daughter of River Styx,'
Each Chrysos Heir's appearance was accompanied by a dramatic spoken introduction.
After all the Chrysos Heirs had taken turns appearing, under the moonlight, faint and mysterious shadows were cast upon a marbled ground.
Amid vast desolation, a cloaked figure walked alone through yellow sands.
At this moment, the music surged even higher!
The visuals, the music, and the tone of the narration all reached their peak at once.
Many viewers didn't even know why, their bodies trembled instinctively, goosebumps spreading across their skin.
Beneath the soaring music, they saw a white-haired man swing his sword toward a shattered sky and earth.
'You will see outlanders from faraway realms visiting under the veil of gloom."
"Until the journey's end, when the Titans of old have all fallen... "
"And the nameless new king ascends the throne, alongside countless heroes... "
"...to embark on the grand mission of deliverance."
As the words fell, the music softened.
Portraits of the Chrysos Heirs introduced earlier appeared one by one.
Their expressions differed, elegant, disdainful, innocent, ferocious.
There were also several figures shrouded in shadow.
In the end, they all converged into a single ceiling fresco, submerged among the clouds.
An colorful band of light in the shape of infinity appeared, representing Amphoreus.
And next the logo of the Astral Express appeared.
At this point, the introduction of Amphoreus seemed to have ended.
However, at the very end, the image suddenly flickered, centered on Amphoreus.
White noise, the kind only seen on old televisions, flooded the entire screen.
The image distorted and flickered, accompanied by harsh electromagnetic static, before sinking into silence.
Such an ending was uncommon in previous Honkai: Star Rail PVs.
But because it passed by in an instant, no viewer felt that anything was wrong or meaningful.
Because just after the white noise finished, a figure wearing a witch's hat appeared on screen.
Before her stood a mirror, inside which Amphoreus' was reflected.
"Most "Hero's Journeys" in the universe are just dice tosses THEY threw on a whim..."
"Will your answer be any different, Amphoreus?"
It was the actual Herta herself and not one of her puppets. Only her mouth visible from below her witch's hat.
She was watching Amphoreus in the mirror while speaking as if posing a question to the planet.
The screen went black.
A vague, indistinct voice sounded from the black screen. Although the audience couldn't hear it clearly, they could clearly see the subtitles.
[Of course, this will be a romantic story like none that has ever come before.]
[You think so too, don't you?]
The entire PV ended there.
It wasn't very long. From the perspective of someone experienced, it was almost entirely straightforward.
It was practically as if the entire narrative direction of Amphoreus had been laid out in one go.
But for audiences encountering this PV for the first time, they were completely immersed in the excitement of new settings and new information.
Almost no one fully understood what was being said. Yet that didn't stop them from sensing the most basic and direct emotions within it.
....
: Holy crap, this mural art style! The epic vibe is insane. I've had goosebumps nonstop! And that music!
: I don't really understand most of it, but just those last few sentences alone hit straight into my brain!
: These are the so-called heroes, right?
: Are they enemies of each other, or all on the same side?
: Golden blood, black tide, and the stories behind these characters, ahhh! MiHoYo, I want to see the next episode right now!
: I'm even more curious about their powers! After all, Amphoreus has so many different heroes!
: Didn't expect the actual Herta to show up at the end.
: And at the very end, Herta was also watching Amphoreus. That line of hers was really interesting! I replaced the "THEY" in it with Aeons and read it again, felt incredibly subtle!
: Damn, after rereading it, I feel like I understand something… but also can't quite put it into words!
: Is it hinting at some hidden secrets of Amphoreus?!
....
The comments was filled with frantic analysis.
Everyone remained curious and expectant about the Chrysos Heirs and the story of Amphoreus.
But at the ending what Herta said allowed those paying close attention to immediately sense the brilliance of those final two lines.
Reading them carefully, one would notice that throughout the entire PV, only Herta clearly expressed a definite "stance".
And sometimes, a stance is everything.
Herta referred to heroic tales as the dice of the Aeons.
What others saw as epic legends were, in her eyes, merely fates casually tossed about by the Aeons.
From another angle, in Herta's view, aren't Pathstriders and Emanators also dice manipulated by the Aeons?
And even the Paths themselves, the Aeons themselves, or perhaps even all existence, might just be indistinguishable dice.
No one can escape this framework? And the fact that she could say something like this at least shows that Herta isn't particularly awed by the Aeons.
Geniuses are often like this. They revere nothing.
If there had only been the first line, Herta's attitude wouldn't have been much different from Ruan Mei's.
But the brilliance lies in the fact that Herta spoke a second line.
[Amphoreus, will your answer be different?]
Asking this question means that Herta cares. If she didn't care, she wouldn't bother asking such a redundant question.
Just look at Herta's usual interactions, when in her puppet, with others, she barely says a single unnecessary word.
Unless it's something that interests her. So what does Herta care about?
Is it simply a genius wanting to observe a different case?
Or perhaps... she wants to see whether there exists a power that can transcend the Paths, truly write its own story, and create a heroic epic not decided by the "Aeons."
Or even... resist the Aeons and the Paths themselves? This genius might believe that Amphoreus is entangled with three Paths, and that is why such expectations were born.
But no matter what the audience could still subtly sense Miss Herta's position.
Overall this is a genius brimming with humanity.
And her sense of being "alive" is growing stronger and stronger.
And through Herta's stance and attitude, one can infer certain information about Amphoreus.
....
: Herta expecting something from Amphoreus proves that Amphoreus is qualified! At the very least, it must possess the potential to meet Herta's expectations, whether it can resist the Aeons or fate itself.
: It might not just be humans against gods. It could even involve humans versus Aeons.
: Damn, that's insane. Can humans really fight Aeons?
: Then why else would Herta expect something from Amphoreus? There's no reason, this is a genius we're talking about.
: At the very least, it means Amphoreus is special enough that Herta thinks it has a chance to break free from being a "die."
: Three Paths at once... tsk tsk. Looking at it now, it really is extraordinary!
: No doubt about it, Amphoreus might be the chapter most likely to touch the core settings of Star Rail so far. I'm ready for the main story!
: I want to see Amphoreus right now!
....
MiHoYo.
Xia Wen looked at the comments on the official website.
To be honest, from the trailer, these sharp-minded fans had forcibly dug out useful information from a PV that, at first glance, was purely introductory, a massive setup that would only be paid off after the story concluded.
Herta only said two lines. Yet some logic maniacs still managed to deduce things from them.
Although they didn't guess anything directly related to Amphoreus' core direction and were somewhat off the mark, they still figured out some useful points.
For example, Amphoreus is indeed very special, and Herta truly is the shining beacon of humanity within the Genius Society.
However, Herta's expectation of Amphoreus isn't because she wants an experimental sample. Rather... it's because she is a genius with a conscience.
Perhaps only when audiences later witness Herta's shocking 'storyline' will they truly understand this genius's heart.
But still... Today's protagonist isn't Herta, it's Amphoreus.
After the first PV was released Xia Wen had MiHoYo immediately release a second PV titled Ancient Hymn.
Like the first, it introduced worldbuilding and revealed certain settings, mainly information about the various city-states and Titans.
Once released, it immediately sent the audience into another frenzy, analysis exploding everywhere.
However, for these starving viewers, it was still far from enough.
So, the next surprise prepared by Xia Wen was finally revealed under the buildup of the two PVs.
OP: Nameless Faces! Following with a third one!