I don't own Vesperia, Abyss, or any other series used in this fic.

There will be many crossovers.

That is all.

Tales of Harmonia, Book One: Commandant

Load 1.0: Prologue

"Each has his past shut in him like the leaves of a book known to him by heart and his friends can only read the title"-Virginia Woolf

The sun cast its rays over Zaphias, bathing the city in a golden light. It was twiligfht and the citizens of the Empire were finishing up their daily routine. Even without the blastia, humanity prospered; certain sects were fairing better than others: The Lower Quarter of the capital city, for example, was able to bounce back rather quickly after the events atop Tarqaquon. Some placed the blame for this phenomenon on the hero of the Lower Quarter, Yuri Lowell, but others thought the adaptation was due to the fact that the Lower Quarter used blastia less in the first place, bringing less change to their everyday lives. The latter may have been more true as, without a doubt, the Upper Quarter was having a great deal of trouble compromising. It was for this reason that by the time he got back to his room in the castle, a certain blonde commandant was too tired to move.

Flynn Scifo rested his head on the desk as he sat in his chair. He had just gotten back from the Upper Quarter, where yet another fight had broken out. Two nobles had quarreled over possession of a sword, a simple sword; although the weapon had rightly belonged to one (and it was evident it had), another noble thought because he had a higher rank and a closer relationship to the royal family it was his 'birthright.'

A simple sword, Flynn mused, society is about to crumble because of a stupid sword.

Of course, being raised among the nobility his entire life; the knight had grown quite used to pointless bickering. However, not even he could have seen the reason for fighting for something so trivial. It was because he was a knight and adequately trained in combat that he had the capability to defend himself (Of course, the journeying hadn't hurt either). The commandant could only fathom that the fighting was brought about by unrest for the noble's own safety; without barriers, the city was no longer protected from monsters. Outright, the civilians thought that this meant that monsters could attack at any moment. In truth, this seldom happened. Most attacks on cities by monsters happened when the monsters were either agitated by people living in the city or when the monsters' food supply was running low. This had been the cause of several attacks before, but this seldom happened unless outside forces intervened.

But, citizens would continue to fear the attacks and some, the Upper Quarter especially, were hesitant to learn to defend themselves. It was his duty as commandant to help prepare the knights to deal with this, for his presence to inspire those around him.

It had been so much easier when he was a servant.

Sighing, he moved his hand over a hidden button under his desk. The device was ingenious: Something he had made years ago while studying machinery. It was programmed to only respond to an energy signature. Because the device recognized the energy emitted by fonons and not aer particles, it was not affected by the happenings of two years ago, nor did it respond to anyone else inside the castle. After a small beep, the device clicked, opening a hidden compartment.

The hidden drawer slid open. The commandant lowered his hand, fingering the small slip of paper inside. Lifting the picture up to his face, he couldn't help but grin. In his hands was a memory he cherished more than anything, a memory of a distant star. In the left most corner, he cowered from an angry princess and small black-haired girl who were advancing on him. He had attempted to break up one of their many fights (This one over who would make dinner for the evening), and in the process directed their anger toward himself. To the right of them was a couple, standing awkwardly. They hadn't yet confessed their love, but everyone else in the group knew, down to the cheagle. They stared at each other, ignorant of the fight between the other members of the group. On the right side of the picture stood a man, no older than 35, with a regal posture. His face snickered as he watched the fight, neglecting to help sort it out. Unfortunately, the small blue animal hadn't been in this picture, as he had been the one who accidentally took it when looking for an apple in the item bag. How he had managed this, the blonde young man had never figured out.

This was the only group photo they had taken. There were several individual pictures, but the machine had been in the testing phase and he didn't want to place too much of a load on it. They were going to take a group picture once it was all over but…

Not all of them were there.

The noble redhead hadn't returned. He'd promised all of them, but he still hadn't come home. However, that hadn't meant they'd given up. It was quite the contrary: She still waited for him. Every day, she waited for him. The commandant had waited with her once too. Up until the day they all were separated, he'd waited. But, one day, their group fell apart. He hadn't heard from any of them since.

Somewhere in the recesses of his mind, he prayed that one day the fight he was called to stop in the Upper Quarter would have been caused by Luke antagonizing another noble. Somewhere in his mind he prayed that at one of the countless balls he was now forced to attend, he'd see Natalia in a radiant blue gown. Someday he hoped that the hymn he heard would no longer just be in his dreams.

But, there was no point in looking back. This had all been when he was Guy. Guy the servant, Guy the noble, Guy the friend. All of these personas had receded deep into his heart when he came to Terca Lumireis.

Because on the day he arrived, he became Flynn.

Not that there was anything wrong with being Flynn. It was quite the contrary, actually. Flynn was the noblest of all knights. Flynn had obtained the title of commandant, though popular belief was that he was raised in the Lower Quarter. Flynn didn't shy away when girls came near.

Except, on those rare instances, where he would stand a little bit farther away from Sodia than she would've liked.

Still, Flynn was Flynn and Guy was Guy. They weren't dissimilar, they both held strong convictions and comparable personal beliefs. It was because of this that the two personas could so easily reside in the same body. But, when all was said and done, they had their differences as well.

A knock on the door startled the knight out of his thoughts. A muffled voice could be heard through the door, asking him to come to the meeting room momentarily because important issues had arisen. Sighing, Guy placed the photo back in the compartment before joining Sodia in the hallway.

"Commandant," Sodia spoke, while flipping through an official looking document, "More aer anomalies are occurring. We've received word from the rebuilt Aspio that, by their calculations, aer is still fluctuating in many places where it should be stable. In addition, we're receiving several reports of odd occurrences that shouldn't be possible without the use of blastia."

Flynn turned his head to face his young subordinate as they walked through the hallway, "What kind of 'odd occurrences'?"

Sodia flipped through a few more pages in the report before answering, "Sir, it is not only the people from Aspio reporting. People around the world have claimed to see arte users. There have been cases of high level fire spells used against monsters in the Quoi woods. This was the supposed cause of a large-scale forest fire that threatened Deidon Hold several weeks back. Similarly, a woman in Capua Torim claims to have seen a merchant using an ice arte to freeze some of his food to keep it fresh. According to Witcher, these acts should be impossible without the use of blastia and…"

"The use of blastia should be impossible without cores," Flynn finished. "It's been said again and again. If it's not blastia causing the phenomena, then what is?"

Sodia flipped through her report once more, "That's the crux, sir. We don't know. Witcher's presently in Aspio doing research on any possible method of using blastia without cores, but there's been no success."

"Well, if the researchers at Aspio have had such little luck, then it means no one will be able to illegally use blastia. Still, we've had several reports of confiscated blastia being stolen recently. I hope Schwann's making more progress in Dahngrest with this case", the commandant said as he and his partner entered the meeting room.

Had he known what was about to unfold, he wouldn't have spoken those words so lightly.

AFTERTHOUGHTS:

Okay so, Chappie 1 is done. Squee.

This has been laying on my computer for a couple of months, yet I had no motivation to finish it. It was college application time. 'Nuff said. Fortunately, as a senior, I have one precious resource now that I had little of before: Free time. Expect more updates. And crossovers. And pocky.

At any rate, I am disappointed by the end of this chapter. But that's okay, because the series is now online.

Remember to review, for the first review gets…FREE CHEAGLE FOOD FOR A MONTH~