Chirp. Chirp. Chirp.

Such a sweet sound was filling the ears of the traveler on horseback on such a nice day. The traveler, a girl at the age of 21, looked up to the clear sky with a smile on her face. She'd travelled this path quite a few times now, coming home every few months before leaving again after a couple of other months to either go on adventures or visit an Uncle of hers in the Rolance Empire. But this time was different; she wasn't sure if she can ever go home this time. It was one thing to be a riotous youth in your teens, raising hell like a common hooligan in taverns around town; it was an entirely different thing to run away from home just because you didn't like what your parents said to you about your heritage. But, can one really blame her? After all, she was raised to believe that she was supposed to be some sort of paragon of virtue despite her attitude.

'It's nice to be free like this every once in a while.' She thought to herself as she continued to guide her horse around the Volgran Forest. It was pretty calm today; not much Hellions that attacked her in her way. Surprisingly. She was no Shepherd but she does know how to hightail it when she sees a Hellion. As her horse meandered around on their way to Lastonbell, something shiny caught her eye. The traveler was surprised to see one of those things HERE of all places but she wasn't surprised of its actual presence, seeing as how she's been picking them up once a week wherever she went. She hasn't even had the time to research what they were. What she did know was that they showed her snippets of events long past, always about the same person; a girl with long black hair, a tattered coat, a bandaged arm that sometimes mutates and the moments she shared with her companions, especially the blonde haired little seraph that she took a shine to and the pretty red head she captured after a fight. The girl often thought her as odd; she was a Hellion...but at the same time not. Well, at least her arm Hellionized but the rest of her was...plain and normal as any normal person. Sure, she was consumed by revenge but how do you not after being stuck in a pit for three years? Getting off her horse, she walked over to it and picked it up, seeing a vision of the dark haired girl yet again.

The girl's surroundings turned from the grassy woodlands she was standing on earlier to some marshy ruins with a plot of land that's filled with flowers. Looking around, she saw the group of people she's been seeing previously only this time, they were accompanied by two other blondes. If she didn't think critically, she would've thought they were twins but the blonde lady looked a bit older than the boy with the bandaged face. She noticed how they were arguing, even though she couldn't properly hear them for some reason. The older blonde lady knocked the bandaged boy out and merged with the Hellion behind her. They fought. She was taken down. After a few exchanged words, the bandaged boy armatized with his seraph. But clearly there was something wrong it, especially after he was defeated by the group. Undeterred, he rushed at them, clearly intent on attacking the little seraph with his opponent's group. The dark haired lady was faster, however, and she used her arm to defeat him. And they all saw as he fell, never to awaken yet again. Clearly an accident and was done in self-defense. His sister attacked and she retaliated as well, using her claw to prevent her from attacking any further. The traveler watched as the blonde lady weakly crawled to her brother, shedding tears and speaking words never to be heard by the body before her. And when all was said and done, she too died, feebly attempting to hold his hand one last time.

And the traveler couldn't feel anything but anger at the vengeful girl who killed these two siblings.

After the vision, the traveler pocketed the new item that she found before getting back on her horse. She really needed to look these things up; maybe the Celestial Record has something on them. Lastonbell is nearby, night is fast approaching, she's pretty drained; it's time to call it a day.

The girl entered the room she paid for at inn, weary from the day's travels after her bath from the inn's bathhouse. She threw her towel to one of the nearby chairs before sitting down and putting her socks on to keep her feet warm. Reclining back into her bed, she grabbed the book placed on her nightstand and flipped it open. She must've read this thing hundreds of times and still she finds something new. Probably because she could never really memorize the contents of the Celestial Record like her mother can. Granted, there were only specific passages that her mother memorized but still leagues better than hers. She flipped through the pages of the book, idly absorbing the words she's read so many times over the course of her young life, until she landed on one page that caught her attention. Her eyes widened as she softly read the passage out loud.

"Over the course of his journey, The Shepherd Sorey slowly learned of what brought about the Age of Chaos our time was facing through these small artifacts acquired along the way. These are the Iris Gems; physical manifestations of an Earthen Historia that was expelled from the Earthpulse, the energy that courses through our world. Everything that happens in the surface, every war, every transgression, every major or even minor event in human history is recorded in the Earthpulse and turned into the Earthen Historia. After all, the land sees all…and there is no escaping it."

On the page next to that entry is a well drawn sketch of an iris gem and the girl saw that she was picking them, up all along.

'So an Iris Gem is an Earthen Historia when expelled from the Earthpulse and allows people to see events of the past.' She thought to herself. But if that's the case, then why was it showing her memories of a certain group. It's honestly too much of a coincidence. Maybe the land wanted her to see these things. Maybe they were connected to the ancestor she loathes so much to the point that she ran away when she was told of her lineage. Most of her recent young adult angst has been revolving around that fact in the past few months anyway. Setting the book back on her nightstand, she stood up once more and looked out her window, barely seeing her reflection. Blonde hair tied let down in preparation for bed, facial features that were a perfect mix of her parents', blue eyes that she inherited from her mother; her mother who was descended from the First Shepherd from a thousand years ago. How they managed to pin that down she'll never know. Maybe the First Shepherd had seraph friends from a thousand years ago and they informed her parents of it. Once upon a time, she was proud of her lineage. Pressured, yes? But Proud? Very. It didn't matter to her that it wasn't a royal lineage. But to be descended from a paragon of virtue. To be a scion to such a legacy. True she had her many, many faults but it amazed her nonetheless.

That was until she learned of the other half of her lineage…

Of course, the First Shepherd had a son to continue her line…but who, oh who, was the child's other parent? She certainly didn't like it when she found out but she did hope it explained her volatile behavior. The girl shook her head as she rubbed her face in frustration just as a knock sounded at her door. She walked up to the door, seeing one of the inn's maids outside.

"Yes?" She gently asked so as to not scare or intimidate the girl, who was holding pieces of envelope in her hands. One was sealed with the crest of Hyland's Royal Family.

"Letters for you, my lady. From Ladylake." She said as she handed the letters.

"I…thank you." She said as she took the letter and handed the maid a few gald as a tip. "For your troubles."

The maid curtsied before walking away. The girl sat on her bed before opening one of the letters. And just her luck, the first one she opened just happened to be from her parents.

Claudia,

We hope these letters find you well and in good health. You're most likely wondering how these letters got to you in Lastonbell or how we even knew you were heading for Lastonbell; I'll only say that you're not exactly doing a good job of hiding yourself when most of the world know whose daughter you are. You run into a lot of fellow travelers and word does get back here to Ladylake.

I know we didn't exactly part on good terms but we're worried about you and we miss you and we wish you would come home. Rose wasn't exactly pleased when she learned you ran off while you still have the last of your studies to finish up and said that she was going to give you "the worst thrashing you've ever felt in your life". But you know how she is; she's just worried about you. And so are Lailah and the others. Even Edna is worried. I know that you didn't like what you learned after the expectations that we, and so many others, heaped on you but…if ever you feel weary of your journey, if you finally find the answers you seek, the peace of mind you crave or if you simply want to come home, you can do so at any time you wish.

Take care and know that we love you.

Your Mother, Alisha Diphda

"Formal as always." She muttered to herself as she put the letter back in its envelope and placed it next to the unopened pile. Deciding to leave the others for tomorrow, she leaned back on her bed and fell asleep.

AN: Hello and welcome to this little passion project of mine that was posted to AO3 weeks ago but I only decided to upload here now. You'll notice that I put this in the crossover section, my very first in fact, and I thought that it was best to place in there. Now, this was already posted to AO3 but I also decided to post it here for those who prefer it here and to see how well ffn readers would take this story compared to AO3 readers (you know, in case the one reading here doesn't read stuff on AO3). Anyways, this story, as stated in the summary takes place about 30+ years after Tales of Zestiria and the entire series (yes, you read that right, series...meaning there will be more of this) is centered on the daughter of Alisha Diphda. Now I'll be posting this and Chapter 2 on the same day...while the rest will come depending on how well this story is received. This will be the only story in the series that will be in crossover sections. The rest will be placed in Zestiria's archive because it doesn't focus on Berseria as much as this one does.

This was supposed to be the ONLY story of the series but I decided to make 5 of them because this series really helped me out a lot on my anhedonia (which, for some of you who don't know, is actually a symptom of depression) and so I turned it into my big passion project to end the year with. For those waiting on an update on my Tales of Xillia fic "ToX: The Lilium Twin" please, worry not...as I stated before I was struggling with depression so I wasn't really in the mood to write but after this series I will do my best to get back at it.

Also please take note that there are some elements in this story that will be borrowed from the anime so...it's kind of a mix of both game and anime but I mostly took from the game. Anyways, please leave a like, favorite, and a review for this story. It's great to be back and an Advanced Happy New Year to everyone. Here's hoping 2018 will be kinder to us all. Thank you!

Firework out!