Tales From the Shadows Updated (SPOILERS ABOUND)

[Alleluia]

From the picture of G'raha, we can see that his right hand isn't crystallised yet so maybe he only bonds to the tower just before he leaves, or at least it hasn't started "paying him back" yet and most of his visible state as the Exarch was directly the price of his time-travel trip, since it's indicated that he looked like that when he arrived.

I noticed that, too. Maybe he only merged with the tower after he spoke with the survivors of the Flood and realized he'd need to extend his life span? (And need power to protect these people/himself in the meantime.) And *then* he was called Crystal Exarch, after a while. Or he was always called that cus of the tower in the first place, not his deformity.

So long as nothing happens to bring us there, at least. The WoL is usually not the sort to look the other way. Though saying that, I find myself imagining the bizarre scenario of the WoL traveling to the Eighth Umbral Astral Era timeline and discovering that our own future reincarnation was recruited by Emet-Selch and Elidibus to shore up their ranks.

Azem wasn't tempered and left the convocation in protest against Zodiark. The sundered ascians they raise from soul shards are from shards of Ascians who are tempered and predisposed to go along with the convocation. There is no reason that our soul shard would be able to recruited as a member of the ascian ranks. If they get their memory back, they wouldn't willingly agree to it. And since Zodiark isn't whole, I think he can't temper anything, so they couldn't brainwash us, either.