Quick answer: Secrets at the Heart of the Lake starts when you collect Firefly’s Memory Flower in the bed of blue flowers just above Zhuo Bi, the Gatekeeper‘s arena in the Village of Lu. Its objective is to find Firefly’s Memory Flowers.
SECRETS AT THE HEART OF THE LAKE is a story quest in the Village of Lu, the Chapter 1 area of Phantom Blade Zero. It starts when you collect the petal from Firefly’s Memory Flower. Walk onto the flowers and press E when prompted.
How Secrets at the Heart of the Lake starts
Collecting the petal triggers a brief vision: Firefly, a woman, tells Soul that the Rift within the Heart of the Lake must be destroyed. The card has six petals, and you need to collect every one for the HP +10% bonus. See the separate Memory Flowers and Firefly’s petals breakdown for more.
Tracking the quest and its markers
Highlight the quest in the Quests tab and the map beside the list shows the region VILLAGE OF LU, the objective “Find Firefly’s Memory Flowers,” and five quest markers spread across the lake. They sit well beyond the area around your player icon.
Press Space to track it. The button prompt switches from “Track” to “Untrack” once it is set.
Finding the markers with Mind’s Eye
Hold V for Mind’s Eye (the full controls list covers the rest of the keys). A purple diamond marker with a distance readout appears in the world. From the flower bed, it points back through Zhuo Bi’s arena and out the far side.
| Where you hold V | Distance to the marker |
|---|---|
| Firefly’s Memory Flower bed | About 234 m |
| Well of the Three Puppets bell | About 112 m |
| Temple of Blue Fireflies bell | About 95 m |
The marker’s route passes both bells. From the Temple of Blue Fireflies bell, it lies past the village houses. If its distance readout falls as you go by each bell, you’re moving in the correct direction.
Petal II: Phantom Art Illusionists’ Settlement
Petal “II. PHANTOM ART ILLUSIONISTS’ SETTLEMENT” is not out on the lake. Look for glowing blue flowers in the shallow stream below the stone bridge; the bridge spans the route from the Well of the Three Puppets bell to the Temple of Blue Fireflies bell. The flowers are a few metres from wooden crates. Drop from the bridge into the stream without taking damage, approach the flowers, and press E when the prompt appears.
The card that opens reads “FIREFLY’S MEMORY FLOWER” with the petal “II. PHANTOM ART ILLUSIONISTS’ SETTLEMENT” and the line “(2/6) Collect all Memory Remnants to increase HP +10%”, and the quest objective moves on to (2/6). In the memory, Firefly tells her senior brother that she misses the settlement where they grew up, a hidden haven where the elders took them in without questioning their past and where the two of them trained in the Phantom Arts and cared for each other. She asks herself how things ended up this way, then agrees with him that when this is over they will settle somewhere warmer and plant a yard full of flowers.
Secrets at the Heart of the Lake and Heartless Remnants
By the time you reach the Well of the Three Puppets, a second story quest with a gold icon, HEARTLESS REMNANTS, appears in the same Quests list below SECRETS AT THE HEART OF THE LAKE. Its objective is “Find the Smuggler’s Tunnel in the Village of Lu”, the same tunnel Lan Shaodi wants reopened. The two quests sit side by side, so check the icon color to make sure the purple one is the one you are tracking.
