The Midlander journeys back approximately 10 years and appears in a location near Mor Dhona. After helping a party (Lalafell female, Roegadyn male, Elezen female) finish their levequest objectives (slaying the morbol), an imperial juggernaut appears before they can access the aetherial node and collect their reward. The Midlander accidentally gets tossed onto the back of one of these machines, and gets carried up into the sky, where he witnesses the Garleans fight with the dragon Midgardsormr in the Battle of Silvertear Skies. Though the great dragon is able to destroy the Garlean flagship, he perishes in the process, and the seal which he protected (guarding the concentration of aether beneath Silvertear Lake) is broken, allowing the beast tribes access to this energy, which they use to freely summon their primals (as taught to them by the mysterious paragons). The Garleans, having lost their flagship and sensing the presence of something more powerful than their remaining forces can handle, retreat back to Ala Mhigo. Meanwhile, with the fall of the Keeper of the Lake, the aetherial balance in the area gets thrown out of whack, transforming the once lush area into a crystalline wasteland—Silvertear Falls now dried up.