After Chapter 3

In this chapterAt Crescent Lake the party meets the Circle of Sages.

At Crescent Lake the sages tell the party about the Fiends and a being named Chaos. The Citadel of Trials tests the party. With the sages' guidance and the Mystic Key, the party can reach the remaining Fiends. The sages provide the game's lore. Their story is a prophecy that the Warriors will fulfil.

The Citadel is a puzzle dungeon that rewards careful exploration. Three Fiends of the four have appeared by this point, and the final two crystals are still dark.

In this chapterThe party enters the Mirage Tower and finds an ancient flying fortress.

The Mirage Tower leads to a floating fortress where the party fights Tiamat. The Kraken is defeated at sea. With all four crystals restored the party learns where Chaos is. The Mirage Tower is a high-fantasy set piece, an ancient civilisation's relic.

The Fiends are all defeated, but the story's real villain remains. The restoration of the four crystals ends the party's first quest and starts the final.

In this chapterThe party travels back in time 2,000 years to the Chaos Shrine.

The Warriors travel through time to the Chaos Shrine. There they defeat Chaos, who turns out to be Garland, who sent himself back in time and became the villain. The Warriors break the loop, ending the cycle that Garland created. The time loop is a rare twist for an NES game. It makes the first boss and the last boss the same person, and the story circular.

Garland's motive, to become a god by looping, is a classic example of a villain's hubris. The victory restores the world and ends the series' first story.