*Spoilers* about the scions....

[Ameela]

If I had to guess, it's the tech floating chair guy uses in Ala Mhigo to rip out our souls, then the Ascians messing with it to throw us into the first reflection and see first-hand the damage that foiling their plans would do.

I'm like 99% sure Garleans are involved, especially considering every Scion was affected... every Scion but the one who's been presumed dead by the empire and we see is fine at the end of the MSQ.

[Enkidoh]

If I had to guess, it's the tech floating chair guy uses in Ala Mhigo to rip out our souls, then the Ascians messing with it to throw us into the first reflection and see first-hand the damage that foiling their plans would do.

I'm like 99% sure Garleans are involved, especially considering every Scion was affected... every Scion but the one who's been presumed dead by the empire and we see is fine at the end of the MSQ.

I think this is what is really going on - Alus tried stealling the player's soul during his boss fight in Ala Mhigo, although after a brief out-of-body experience where Alus deploys prototype deathclaws to collect their spirit (it literally affects the player's character with the status effect 'Out of Body', their body is actually lying on the ground with the nameplate 'Unconcious Adventurer' and their spirit standing beside them transluscent) it fails, with the player's spirit returning to their body, presumedly due to the Echo's influence (Alus exclaims "The soul rebels?!" when this happens). So if the Garleans already had this technology/ability, it's likely they've used it now against the Archons, who unlike us, lack the Echo to protect them. It's a disturbing development either way.