The Persimmon Tree
written by mistral soul
Cold stone drenched in spring rainwater remained strong and silent; their fortified souls overlooking the dreary estate of the Gardios Manor. Wet blades of green moved slightly with the dancing raindrops, and boots streaked with muddy filth clenched against the wet soil, feeling and responding to the tension in the air. A breath is drawn in – and then released in a puffy haze of milky white that evaporated almost instantly the moment it left the supple comfort of lips.
A dirtied hood was cast over a hidden figure veiling the stranger's face. The skies belched out another uncomfortable rumble of thunder, and our thief knew time was running short. Quick fingers worked deftly as they reached down to pick up a large stone from the gardens. Meanwhile at the front entrance of the manor estate, a pair of watch guards stood valiantly on guard despite the pouring rain.
No hesitation. A swift strike was all it took to destroy that pitifully poor excuse for a window. Sure, it was a beautiful design, but for a window it was pathetically easy to break into. Slinking inside the house, the cloaked thief glanced around for a quick moment before dashing off into the corridors, leaving behind a noticeabe set of wet footprints that trailed messily behind.
Upon hearing the sound of glass shattering, our two elite guards then broke into a short commotion before running 'round back to see what happened.
Meanwhile, our thief is creeping rather quickly down the hallway, glancing around warily. So many rooms, so little time to choose the right one. When the sounds of footsteps and voices approached ahead, the thief quickly rolled around a dark corner, out of sight, and peered carefully to spy at the surroundings. A pair of maids strode by, chatting animatedly amongst themselves.
"If only Count Gardios would let us wash his back!" One of them sighed heavily as she trudged along with a cart of laundry. She seemed rather lovesick, by the sound of her voice.
"You know about his condition," The other scolded her peer, wagging a finger. "But I have to admit, with the Count's looks; that is one task I can't deny…"
And thus their little gossipy woman wiles continued on, out of sight and eventually, out of earshot. Deciding to move quickly, the thief emerged back from hiding and swiftly raced down the carpeted hallway. Stopping short in front of a set of chamber doors, the window behind the hooded thief's back flashed white from a shriek of lightning and a pale hand reached out to touch the door handle.
"This is it…" A whisper trailed from the hood, and with a quick yet quiet twist, the chamber door was opened.
Stepping into the wide master bedroom, everything was set aside meticulously neat and organized. Heavy drapes with the Malkuth Empire emblem stitched in embroidery hung by the large windows at the far side of the room. The thief quietly closed the door behind him, and stood in the unnerving silence before drawing a blade from beneath his sleeve. The sharp glint of steel caught sight of the weak light; light, that was coming from the rainstorm that had worsened suddenly, as if the world was holding in a breath waiting for something catastrophic to happen right at that very moment.
Striding slowly over to the bedside, the blade slowly extended until one could make out a sharp outline of a stiletto in the thief's hand. But was he really a thief? Valuables and treasures tucked away did not catch his eye. "I feel sorry for you, but that's just life." Raising his arm, he was about to step forwards in a dash to stab his victim in one fell swoop when he jerked to a stop, feeling a cold, sharp edge pressing against his throat.
Cerulean eyes narrowed in the darkness. "Who are you? Who sent you here?" Hovering behind the shorter man with a sleek blade extended aggressively against the assassin whom he has now held captive, Gaillardia Galan Gardios was not an easy man to fall prey to simple and petty thieves, it seems. "Tch…" Gritting his teeth, the assassin lowered his weapon, falling silent.
"Who sent you here to kill me?" Guy pressed again, voice hardening.
Fingers twitched; knives were drawn. "…The one who sent me… was Yulia Jue!" Dropping to the floor before rolling away, the assassin flung out an arm and threw a spade-dagger at the blonde-haired Count. The practised swordsman deflected the dagger, swatting it away within the nick of time. He had reacted a little too late though, still shook up from his attacker's response, and a portion of the dagger nicked his wrist, drawing blood. But in that instant, when steel met steel, a spark ignited the darkness briefly, and a roar of lightning surged in the backdrop, and he whipped out another quick slash at his attacker's face.
"Void Tempest!"
With the hood falling away from being cut into pieces, the blonde Gardios was partially stunned to see a youthful, feminine face glaring back at him in the darkness; orange eyes lit like the glowing coals from the fireplace.
The doors were flung open, and a small squadron of soldiers rushed into the room, brandishing war axes and imperial knight swords. "Count Gardios!" They chorused together, clearly panicked to see their Lord alone with an unknown attacker. Blood ran down her white skin, and before they could utter another word, she raised her sword again.
"I'll kill you!" She shrieked, and lunged towards him. But he's seen it before, he knows all too well – he moves his blade upwards to deflect her –
The sound of a hundred thousand drums exploded into existence, before momentarily blinding every occupant of that room in a flash of light.
And she disappeared.
Rain. It continued to pour down from the skies as if God couldn't put a stopper on his tear ducts.
It was cold and wet. Lying face down in a puddle of mud and rainwater, she spluttered at the taste of the earth and weakly pushed herself up, face burning from a painful sting. The wound was still fresh, and she could taste the sticky blood mixed with soil from where she had face-planted herself so elegantly in. Choking out a breath of air, she looked around tiredly. This wasn't the Gardios Manor. This wasn't even Grand Chokhma.
So where on earth was she?
Huffing slightly, she got to her knees. There was nothing but silence and deep fog around here. The sky continued to cloud over, and the visibility was hard to decipher upon first glance. There was a slight sour and rotten smell in the air; something that she couldn't quite put a finger on exactly what. And the terrain seemed rather flat – how unusual for a landscape to form…
…Until she tripped over something heavy and nearly cracked her skull open against a nearby chunk of stone debris. Scrambling back, the female assassin blinked away the rain from her eyes when she realised in a twist of shock that she had stumbled over a corpse.
It was a corpse of a young male that had been partially eaten away; his remnants already decaying into the earth.
Trying to force herself not to vomit at the sudden wave of nausea that hit her, she hobbled away from the stench of death, and slowly found that she was surrounded by the ruins of a village that had somehow been wiped out. The destruction looked fresh; around a few days old and yet the bodies of the villagers that resided here were already returning back to whence they came from; the earth. Collapsing beside a nearby house that had its roof blown off and the walls stained red with blood, she briefly wondered what terrible tragedy had befallen upon this town.
The rain washed away the blood on her face, but the cut was still slightly deep. She angrily recalled that brief moment when she swung back just in time when his blade came at her and slashed her across the face and cut into the bridge of her nose. It was painful. But it was nothing as painful as her failure to uphold the task she had been given.
And that was the failure to assassinate the Count of Gardios.
A sharp howl of a black wolf resounded in the distance. She got up, shivering in the chill. The growls and snarls grew louder and closer. It began to click in her mind. Whatever killed the villagers weren't the monsters – at least, not initially. It was something else that must have wiped them out, and now this village was like an all-you-can-eat buffet for the surrounding wildlife.
Monsters.
Drawing out her stiletto, she twirled it in her hand and held it in a reverse-switch grip tightly, holding it close to her heart. Monsters can't belittle her; they won't faze her. But the sheer number of corpses would definitely attract a lot more foes than she could bargain for…
But even so, her primal instincts are telling her to fight.
Fight her way through, and survive.
She made the first move and lunged towards the oncoming horde of black wolves.
As the gloomy, cloudy afternoon fell into an early depression of dusk, Imperial Empire soldiers spilled into the area of carnage. Bodies were so badly mangled, mauled, and eaten to the point that they could only attempt human verification on certain corpses. Equipped with bodhi Blastia in the form of bangles, belts, and rings, the soldiers made quick work of the remaining monsters that lingered in the area.
A young man with blonde tresses that tapered off into short spikes dismounted his steed, observing the destruction with his own eyes. His jaw tightened at the atrocity of the sight, and his brow furrowed in frustration.
"How could this happen…? What on earth happened to the barrier Blastia?"
Death was seeping everywhere along with the thick fog that was starting to settle down. It was almost too much to bear.
"S-Sir, we found a survivor!" One of the men investigating the site called in the distance, and Flynn Scifo hurried forwards, one hand resting over the handle of his sword just in case there were monster ambushes in the area.
As he stopped to a halt, his armour clinked noisily and he panted slightly at the sight of a figure cloaked in a dirty, long rag that wrapped around her body thinly. A mop of dark chestnut hair obscured her face and made her look like a young woman that was thrown out onto the streets to starve.
"She's unconscious?" Flynn inquired, and the guard simply shrugged. "I checked for a pulse; she's still breathing. I only assume she is so." The knight answered vaguely before lifting her up roughly. "Oy! Can you hear me? Can you stand on your own?"
Upon his words, a set of orange eyes popped open, and within a momentary flash the knight crumpled to the ground, cradling his arm. A spot of blood appeared from beneath his armor pieces, and the girl backed away, brandishing her stiletto menacingly. Her face was streaked with blood, but rather not from the various scratches and cuts she had received from fighting away the monsters; but rather, a long, sweeping gash that was almost as wide as the width of her face from her previous encounter with a particular blonde swordsman.
A blonde swordsman. He was standing before her, his face identical – yet somewhat, somehow… there was a look of confusion in his eyes.
No matter. He was the one.
She gaped back at the Acting Commandant, before gritting her teeth into a snarl, eyes flashing with anger. "Gaillardia Garan Gardios! I've found you!" She screamed, rushing forwards into a wild frenzy, nails digging into her own skin –
And her face collided against the palm of the blonde's hand, drawing fresh blood from her wound. The fatigue eventually settled in when she dropped to the ground like a sack of potatoes, out cold from the injuries she had sustained from the day so far.
Her last, fading thoughts was that she wasn't in Grand Chokmah anymore.
Was she even in Auldrant?
Eyes closed; but not before the image of that man she swore to kill appeared before disappearing into a blurry haze of darkness.
Author's Note: So before you guys start to jump onto the train and point out a few inconsistencies that I might have let slip, I'll just let you in on some details. First off, I played Vesperia through the Japanese PS3 port; I don't have an Xbox, and I know the language sufficiently well enough to play a JRPG so I purchased the Japanese PS3 port. The story will be set in a slightly alternate universe with some themes of world-dimension-crossing; as it was in the case of our main protagonist dimension-skipping from the world of Auldrant (Tales of the Abyss © 2005) to the world of Terca Lumireis. That means additional content from the PS3 port will be present in the game, both minor and major. One major additional is that of the PS3-exclusive playable character Patty Fleur.
Second, if you haven't noticed it yet, this story will be FlynnxOC with a dash of something special.
I hope you guys will enjoy it in the future.