Hello everybody! This here is a new story that I suddenly came up with while playing the 3DS re-release of the game Tales of the Abyss. It was just an idea that came to me so damned randomly that I just had to write it down because the concept was so darn good. Natrually, I only have the beginning of this story completely planned out, and that probably translates to the first three or so chapters already formulated in my head. Please don't mind if you feel that this first chapter is somewhat boring. Believe it or not, I've already introduced the plot to you all in this first chapter, but I did not mention the entirety of it. In other words, you'll have to read on to the next chapters to see what this story really is about.
Well, that's enough with my crazy ranting that I'm sure you all don't really have any interest in reading any time soon. For those of you who do read it, however, I thank you for taking the time to actually listen to my mostly pointless rants that have nothing to do with the story. I'll let you all go and read my new story. Just please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. They are always very helpful to me, especially when it's a new story that I posted and really want to know how well-received it is with you readers. Until the next update on this or any of my other stories everybody!
Chapter 1: Auldrant History 101
"God, I am so bored!" a long red-haired teen groaned out under his breath as he rested his head on his open palm propped up by an elbow on a desk. There were other people around the guy's age in the room, but most of them were either listening intently or busy writing who knows what in their notebooks. "Why doesn't he ever talk about something other than the history of Auldrant? It's so goddamned boring!"
With a silent sigh of boredom escaping his lips, the young teen tilted his head a bit to the side and chose to look out at the window he was situated next to. Some strands of his long hair had fallen from his shoulder and onto the table in the process, but he paid it no mind. If one had not known the teen and simply saw him from afar, they would have most likely mistaken his hair as a stream of blood staining his ivory white short-sleeved button-up shirt that was not buttoned and showed a black shirt hugging his stomach tightly and showing off his abs.
"You better stop staring out of that window before the doctor busts you again," another voice whispered to the daydreamer from what sounded to have come from behind. "You know he doesn't like it when you daydream like that."
"And I could care less," the redhead grumbled out without bothering to tear his gaze from the scenery outside that consisted of a cloudless blue sky overlooking a pristine ocean with few trees in the foreground. "All he does is talk about history from over a hundred years ago. Who wants to know about boring stuff like that?"
"You're talking to someone like that right now, Luke," the other guy silently responded with a sigh that seemed to indicate an eye roll. This caused the long haired one to turn his head slightly towards his back so he could look at the other, a short, blond haired teenager with green eyes doing exactly what he thought they were doing. He was also wearing the same white shirt, but it was buttoned up all the way to the collar and kept fairly neat of wrinkles. "You never know when something like this may come in handy."
"Only if you're thinking of being a historian or something along the lines of Dr. Boring's job," the red head now known as Luke countered with a small smile appearing on his lips. "And knowing you, I doubt that's the case. After all, I don't just go around teasing you as Guy the Fon Mecha Manic for nothing."
"It's just my hobby that doesn't really have the potential to be a job," the blond teen known as Guy responded with a sigh as he began writing something in his notebook. "People don't really use Fon Machines anymore simply because the Fonons needed to keep them going are hardly around anymore. Let's just face it; this world is slowly falling apart from the lack of Fonons, and I wouldn't put it at a stretch to say that we're probably going to be the last generation of people who'll live their life out to their fullest before the world's destroyed from the lack of existing Fonons."
"As if I believe any of that apocalyptic crap! Scientists are only saying that might happen because they can't explain why there are sudden food shortages and magic is becoming harder for Fonists to use. Not like it matters to me since I can't cast any magic."
"It'll matter when the Fon Belt finally crumbles away and destroy what's left of the Fonons on Auldrant," a deep voice suddenly cut into the two teens' conversation. "After all, they are the very thing that keeps the world's ecosystem in balance. It isn't simply just a tool for Fon Machinists to use or a way for Fonists to tap into their magic."
Upon hearing this, they both turned their attention towards the front of the class and saw their teacher dressed in a blue jacket standing behind his desk and staring firmly at them with red eyes hiding behind a pair of glasses. While his facial feature looked calm enough with his shoulder-length brown hair combed straight, they knew he was actually annoyed behind it.
"However, the discussion on Fonons isn't what we're currently covering," the teacher added with a raised eyebrow but his voice still holding the same tone. He then added in a sarcastic tone that sounded anything but that, "Seeing as how you and Mr. Cecil seemed to have been paying so much attention on a subject already covered, perhaps you can answer this question. Tell me, Mr. fon Fabre," he announced in an official-sounding tone as he adjusted his glasses, "what was the major event from over a century ago that has the world's current Fonon levels struggling just to adequately supply the world?"
Instead of supplying any kind of answer reasonable or otherwise, Luke merely gave out a series of incomprehensible stutters that had no semblance of a coherent sentence no matter how hard one tried to listen. He only succeeded in making himself look and sound like an idiot in front of the entire class with most of the others trying to stifle giggles at the scene. And while Guy was in the same embarrassing boat as him, all he could do was shake his head in slight amusement at his flustered best friend.
"I figured as much," the teacher sighed out with a shrug of his shoulders after waiting for a comprehendible answer and hearing nothing. "I catch you daydreaming or talking with a classmate before asking you a question about what we covered that I know you can't answer. It always turns out like that like clockwork. Oh, woe is me for being so old and believing you'll pay attention one of these days. Then again, you young ones seem to be quite spry and eager to be in your own little world."
"Forgive me for asking, but do you always have to sound so sarcastic when you punish or insult somebody, Dr. Balfour?" Guy asked as he tried to defend Luke and keep him from saying anything he might regret later due to his current anger attitude. The rest of the class was still chuckling amongst themselves from the previous scene. "I can't believe I'm saying that I'm used to it, but others who don't know you might take what you say the wrong way. Even I felt that way when I first attended your class."
"Oh, I wouldn't go so far as to say that my usual charms are on the verge of sarcasm," Dr. Balfour responded in the same tone he had been using that indicated sarcasm. "It's just a part of my perks of being a teacher. And besides, any hints of sarcasm I might exude is purely the fault of your fellow classmate in front of you annoying me to no end. I'm just exercising what you might consider to be a level of passive-aggressiveness."
"Well, it isn't as though what you're teaching is something that I'm going to be using anytime in the near future," Luke argued with a scowl before turning his attention back to the scenery outside the window much to the teacher's annoyance. "I don't see why we have to learn about the ancient past."
"If I may be so bold to say, studying on the ancient history of Auldrant is more complicated than my class which only examines the last hundred years," the instructor said before lightly pounding on his desk in an attempt to regain the attention of the other students who had since started to space out. "If you feel so compelled in that the ancient past is an unnecessary part of your education, then consider yourself lucky that you're in my class. Otherwise, I don't see what exactly you're complaining about.
"And allow me to say one more thing before I continue on with class," he added as he turned to face the blackboard with a piece of chalk now in hand. "I'll be more than happy to keep you entertained during lunch since you seem more preoccupied with the ocean than with my lesson right now."
"What?" the red head exclaimed upon hearing this and turning his attention back to the teacher. "Are you serious, Dr. Balfour?"
"Mr. Cecil, do you mind telling me just what it was that happened over a century ago that caused the Fon Belt to be in the condition it is now?" Dr. Balfour asked as he intentionally ignored Luke's outburst and moved on to his next victim. "If you can give me the correct answer, I won't consider having you spend lunch with me and Mr. von Fabre."
"Yikes, this could almost be considered like blackmail if not for the fact I was disrupting class," Guy murmured under his breath as the corners of his lips twitched in a small frown. The teacher had then turned around and gave him a hard stare in indication that he had heard the silent remark. "Uh, the Fon Belt is the way it is now because of…of people constantly using the Fonons…in their Fon machines and depleting them."
"…If you had been paying attention to my lecture, you would've known that Fonons at the time were being replenished faster than they were consumed no matter how often people used them," the teacher responded with a shake of his head in disappointment. "I suppose the only thing left to do is to have you accompany your friend in detention. And here I was hoping that you at least were paying attention. You would've at least known that I haven't even gotten to that point of the lecture yet. Had you simply said 'I don't know,' that would have been enough to keep you out of trouble.
"Now, let me go ahead and teach you all about the events that are said to lead to the current condition of the Fon Belt," he continued on as the blond teen felt his cheeks starting to heat up in slight embarrassment and saw Luke give him a sort of smug smirk. "The Fon Belt is in the current state it's in now because of a byproduct of the war between Kimlasca and Malkuth. There are no concrete accounts as to what it was since it was reportedly deployed in what all agree to be the most intense and thus distracting portion of the war. However, all known accounts say that there was a bright flash of light in the sky at the direction of the belt along with an explosion before rocks began raining down. Once research and experiments were conducted on the fallen stones, it had been concluded that the meteor that created the Seventh Fonons had been destroyed. Since then, those particular Fonons have been on a steady decrease, and the current levels today are speculated to only support the world's Seventh Fonists for only a few more years before they completely disappear due to lack of sufficient circulation.
"Now before I go ahead and continue with the lecture, allow me to explain to you what Seventh Fonists are. However, I expect that some of you might have some knowledge of it or are Seventh Fonists yourselves by birth. They are the people who know how to use Healing Artes with the help of the Seventh Fonons. One could consider them to be doctors, but their healing properties work a lot faster than conventional bandages and antidotes for poison. Of course, they are now almost unheard of now that there's an ordinance forbidding anybody to teach those with the aptitude to use the Seventh Fonons how to use them. Obviously, this is in an attempt by the Order of Lorelei, the religious organization who upholds the teachings of Lorelei throughout Auldrant, to preserve what little we have left. Only those affiliated with the order or have received special permission from them can use these dwindling Fonons now.
"Of course, some of you may be wondering just what does the steady loss of the Seventh Fonons have to do with the current condition of the Fon Belt," Dr. Balfour continued on with his lecture after taking a moment to pause and faced the blackboard with an arm raised and began writing down notes on it. Luke had since calmed down and given up on staring out the window in order to keep himself from further trouble, but that did not mean that he was now paying attention. "All Fonons are connected to each other in one way or another. That's especially so within the Fon Belt. Ever since the Seventh Fonon Meteor had been shattered, all other Fonons had been going on a much slower but clear decrease."
"Does this have anything to do with the current restrictions being put up against people using the Sixth and Fifth Fonons, Dr. Balfour?" Guy asked without bothering to wait for the teacher to acknowledge him. "I've been hearing rumors and such that those who use the Sixth and Fifth Fonons, the Light and Fire Fonons respectively, are being told to stop using them or face persecution from the order."
"Attempts to woo me with pleasing details aren't going to make me reconsider your detention status, Mr. Cecil," the teacher responded without bothering to turn around and continued on with his blackboard notes. "However, I must admit that you're quite right on that. Much like the Seventh Fonons, Fonic Artes revolving around the Fifth and Sixth Fonons are now deemed unusable except for members of the Order of Lorelei and those with permission from them. While it isn't yet a proven fact, it is strongly believed that all seven Fonons are what keep the world together in healthy harmony. Should any one of these Fonons cease to exist, the consequences are unknown but believed to be most likely catastrophic to the point that many consider the end of the world just around the corner. In fact, there's even talk that your generation could possibly be the last one to see the very end of your lives before the lack of necessary Fonons supposedly leave Auldrant to literally rot and it's people either dying from starvation of easily preventable diseases."
"Now I'm just randomly thinking out loud here, but didn't you say that there was this one general who was considered to be the greatest Fonic Artes user of his time?" Luke asked as he seemed to gain a sudden interest in the topic. "You said that he was able to do a lot of things from being a diplomat to leading a large army to war. With multitalented skills like that, wouldn't he have been able to stop whatever it was that caused the Seventh Fonon Meteor from the Fon Belt from being destroyed?"
"Well, I'm amazed that you actually remembered something that has yet to be well-covered in class like that!" Dr. Balfour exclaimed in genuine surprise as he turned around and raised an eyebrow in said surprise. "That is admittedly a good question, but it's also a hard one to answer. You see, the man you're talking about is known as Jade Curtiss, a general of the Malkuth Army with skills in Fonic Artes that even now can't be matched by other Fonists. Unfortunately, there are reports that he was called back to his base of operations to check up on something important. To this day, we have no idea what this important something was, but it's no doubt a contributing factor that he ended up missing the one thing that ended up destroying the Seventh Fonon Meteor. Neither Kimlasca nor Malkuth had claimed responsibility for this, although it would've been suicide to have done so since the destruction of something of such importance is so grave a matter that the very person who was the direct cause of it would be killed from the army of either side in a heartbeat. I've no doubt that General Curtiss would have caught sight of whatever it was before it had reached and destroyed such a key component of the Fon Belt," he seemed to add with a sort of odd reminiscent tone in his words that went unnoticed for the most part. "Of course, trying to stop such a thing is a completely different class from actually seeing it. It's hard to tell now whether or not he'd been able to stop something so powerful enough to reach so far into the sky."
"But what about the country of Daath?" a male student suddenly asked as the teacher decided to take a seat at his desk. "I understand that they didn't take a side in the war and only acted as a peace mediator for Kimlasca and Malkuth before the fighting started, but isn't it possible that they had some kind of secret agenda and caused a major screw-up that ended up in the destruction of the Seventh Fonon Meteor? Doesn't history mention any kind of accusation like that?"
"I suggest that you don't mention a possibility like that outside of this classroom," the man advised with a harsh warning gaze directed at the student. "Even though this event happened nearly a hundred years ago, to accuse a nation such as Daath for being responsible for the incident is quite unaccounted for. For one, there is no proof whatsoever that they had played any part in the war except for mediating peace talks from before it started. No Oracle Knights, Daath's version of an army and police faction, were seen at any time on the battlefield fighting on either side. Secondly, Daath is home to the Order of Lorelei, the religious faction that considers the Fon Belt to be a gift from Lorelei, the founder of the order. They would never consider purposefully destroying something they hold in high regard or entertain an idea that would hold such potential. It's with this that many would think of you to be against the order and everything it stands for, especially in troubling times such as this when they are doing everything they can to preserve Auldrant's Fonons."
At that exact moment, the school bell rang loudly in the classroom and indicated that class was officially over. Almost like clockwork, every student began to clean their desk and pack their belongings into their backpacks.
"My, I didn't know that you all hated to be around an old man like me," Dr. Balfour responded sarcastically as he saw everybody now getting up and making their way out. "You're all moving towards the door like you're trying to escape my currently unfinished lecture. Oh well, I suppose we can continue where we left off tomorrow. Just remember to finish that report I assigned on the ruined city of Hod by tomorrow, or you'll find that this old man can become quite a fearsome force to reckon with.
"And just where do you think you're going, Mr. fon Fabre?" he asked as he saw a familiar red head within the crowd of students trying to blend in with the herd of students. "I admit that it's right now lunch, but I believe I instructed you to stay for detention. It's not nice to be giving an old man like me the slip, you know?" he added in that familiarly sarcastic tone that was accompanied with an equally sarcastic smile. "I can hardly keep up with everything that goes on in this classroom."
"Are you seriously still going on with that old man routine?" Luke grumbled out more over at the fact of being caught than at the sarcastic tone used by the teacher. "You just celebrated your thirty-fifth birthday yesterday with the other teachers here. That's hardly an age to be considered old, and you've been using that story since the start of the school year. Don't you think it's time to give it a rest?"
"Only when you stop daydreaming in class and start taking my lessons seriously. Until then, you'll just have to deal with my old age antics. Now then, I don't particularly care what you and Guy do in here so long as its work related. That means I want to see you working on homework from another class or maybe even your report on Hod due tomorrow. If I see anything that's not work-related like chatting about old times or making out when you think my back's turned, you'll be having extended detention."
"Ugh, you're seriously like a completely different person when you're not teaching a class," Guy groaned out as he shook his head at the comments made. "You only use students' first names when class is over. Also, Luke and I are only best friends. Last time I checked, best friends aren't really prone to the whole make-out scene. That's only if we're boyfriends, and that's something we're definitely not."
"Oh, you could've fooled me with how close you two are. Anyway, that's enough chit-chat. I want you two to be productive during this detention. And don't worry about me; I'll be in here the whole time grading papers and enjoying my lunch."
"…You can't possibly be any more of an evil person, can you?" the red head grumbled out as he took a seat next to his blond best friend and thinking about how he did not pack any lunch. "You take the word detention to a completely different level. Can't I at least go to the cafeteria and get something to eat?"
"Less whining and more productiveness please," Dr. Balfour simply said in a sing-song voice before taking out a sandwich from his desk and unwrapped the paper covering. "Either that or suffer through another detention tomorrow."
"…You really know how to kick a guy when he's already down," the teen growled out as he all but ferociously pulled out his notebook and slammed it onto his desk. All Guy could do was look at his best friend with a shrug of his shoulders as he began flipping through his notebook for an empty page to write on.
Well, that's it for the first chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it as much as I had writing it. And sorry again to those who felt that this was a boring chapter and not worth the time reading. If that's what some of you think, then I can only say that you don't like it when other writers try to build up to a big or main action scene. But I digress; every reader has a different reading style that really appeals to them.
Also, I'm sorry if any feels that the characters are not how they remember or imagine them to be. I try my best to keep their original attitudes the same, but the beauty of fanfiction is that anything can easily be changed and be easily accepted if done well and correctly. But I will try to keep their original attitudes the same. The only exception will be Jade's behavior since his is probably the hardest to write being that he has a mostly childish and sarcastic behavior that I give great kudos to the writers of the Tales of the Abyss game.
Please don't forget to leave a review before you move onto the next story that you want to read. As I said earlier, they are very helpful for me, especially when it's for a new story and I need feedback on how it is being received by you readers. And with all this said, please be patient with my story updates sine I'm right now in the middle of my college quarter. That takes up a lot of my time, but I promise to try and bring my updates as quickly as I possibly can. Until the next update for this or any of my other stories everybody!