Chapter 1: {The Worlds' Destruction}
It had been five years since the battle at replica Hod and three years since Luke's return and Kimlasca-Lanvaldear was finally at peace.
"Thank you, your Majesties" an elderly man said, then hobbled out of the throne room. Luke sunk into his chair and sighed. "Finally… That was the last one." After a long day of hearing out the residents of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear, he and Natalia were both exhausted.
Natalia got up from her seat on the throne and turned to Luke. "Not quite. That was the last of the villagers but there are two others who wish to speak with you." Luke looked at her inquisitively. "Who ar-" Natalia cut him off with, "I will take my leave," and left the room with a smirk and a spring in her step.
Shortly after she left, another woman appeared and Luke's face lit with joy at seeing her. "Tear!" he exclaimed and ran over to embrace her. "When did you get back?"
Tear smiled gently and reciprocated the hug. "Not too long ago. The expedition ended sooner than was expected. If Jade wasn't there to help it probably would have taken us another few years to-" she was cut off from Luke's lips pressing to hers. She stared at him in shock, then closed her eyes and wrapped her arms tighter around him. It felt like an eternity before they parted. Tear's cheeks flushed a deep red in embarrassment, which Luke found adorable and laughed aloud. "You're still embarrassed? It's been three years already." Tear flushed harder remembering each kiss they shared over the years and shouted "That doesn't make it any less embarrassing!"
A knock at the door made them jump away from each other and paint serious expressions on their faces. They heard a familiar chuckle as the door opened.
"Good evening Tear. Luke, you haven't even taken her out for dinner yet and you're already getting intimate, hmm?" Jade smirked as he watched Luke started to fidget and his face got pink.
"W-w-we were not!" Tear screamed in embarrassment. Jade smiled one more time before his face became a look of trouble. A seemingly long silence filled the room before he spoke up. "I have something I need you both to see." With that cryptic message, Jade turned and walked out the door. Luke and Tear exchanged a worried look, then followed.
"Lukie!" A high pitched squeal filled the courtyard. Luke stumbled forwards as the girl jumped onto his back. "Anise!" exclaimed Tear. "Anise, please get off my back. You're not a little kid anymore," Luke said with slight annoyance. Anise smirked and said, "That's right. I'm 18 now. So when are you gonna leave Tear and marry me?" Tear rolled her eyes at this remark.
"Man, you really don't give up easily, do you? You're still trying to get his money, Miss First Ever Female Fon Master?" said Guy as he approached them from the garden. Anise pouted and Jade chuckled at the Déjà vu feeling he got upon seeing the other four.
The five of them walked to the pier and boarded Tartarus. Natalia was waiting in the command quarters. Upon seeing the others she said, "Ah there you all are." She turned to Jade. "So where are we off to?" Ignoring her question, Jade gave coordinates to the crew and Tartarus began to move. Natalia heard the coordinates and asked Jade, "Wait, those coordinates are relatively close to the city of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear. We could walk there so we are taking the Tartarus?" Jade gazed out the window and replied, "It would be too dangerous to approach it." The room fell silent at this remark and no further questions were asked.
Jade lead the others out to the balcony. "Over the past few months, there have been several reports of the ground splitting all over Auldrant. I have yet to figure out why it is happening but after extensive research I found that the next one should open up around these coordinates." As if on cue, the ground began to shake a large crack opened up a short distance away for the ship. Jade looked at it with a troubled expression. "Thus far they have been small, but this one… It's getting worse. They have been opening more frequently and they've been getting larger as well. The Qliphoth is also being affected. At this rate, Auldrant will be destroyed from the inside out."
Guy looked at Jade inquisitively and asked, "When did all of this start?" Jade looked at him and said, "I don't have the exact time but based on the information I've gathered I'd say it started last year." Guy stared at Jade with a frown on his face. "Last year the replica of Hod disappeared. It didn't crumble and sink into the ocean like the original did, it just vanished. Do these cracks have something to do with its disappearance?" Jade turned to stare the mountains in the direction of Hod. "Well, it's either that or this is a huge coincidence." Luke looked at Guy then at Jade. "If there's anything I've learned from the past seven years, it's that there is no such thing as coincidences."
Jade turned back to the group with a hard stare and bowed. "Our world is once again in peril. I ask you all for assistance in saving it." Tear, Anise, and Natalia smiled in reply. Guy and Luke jumped towards Jade and each put an arm around his shoulder. "Of course we'll help you, Jade," said Guy and Luke added with a big grin on his face, "What are friends for if not to help each other out?" Jade repositioned his glasses and smiled slightly. "Thank you, everyone."
The next morning the group left for Tataroo Valley to investigate. Tear looked out at the now empty space where Hod once stood. "It's hard to believe Hod just disappeared like that. Something had to have happened." "As hard to believe as replicas appearing in Auldrant? No offense Luke," replied Jade. Luke rolled his eyes and Tear looked away in heavy thought. "You have a point," said Natalia, "We have seen stranger things happen." The group looked over the ocean, lost in their own thoughts.
Anise squinted her eyes. "Do you guys see that?" Natalia tried to see what she was looking at, to no avail. "I don't see anything." "Right there!" Anise pointed to a warped black shadow hovering in the sky just a short distance away from land. Now everyone could see it. Guy started squinting also to try and see it better. "What do you suppose that is?" As he said this, the warp grew bigger and a light glowed from within it. The group instinctively hid as a figure cloaked in white exited the hole in the sky and floated down to the ground. The figure walked off towards in the opposite direction, the hole in the sky now closed.
"Umm… What was that?" Anise said, breaking the silence. Guy and Luke looked at Jade, hoping for an answer. "I'm… not entirely sure." Jade trailed off, trying to gather and order the information in his head. The group once again fell into silence.
After a few minutes they saw the same figure appear out of the woods with a middle aged man following close by. The voice of a woman said a strange incantation and the hole in the sky turned white again. The two of them sensed the groups presence and the cloaked one yelled, "Who's there?!" Seeing no way out, everyone left their hiding spots and readied their weapons. "You… why are you here?" said the cloaked figure in a young woman's voice.
"Wait a second…" said Luke, recognizing the voice, "Ez? Ez, is that you?" The figure gasped then removed her cloak, revealing a beautiful woman with long hair the color of deep red blood. Guy stared at her. "Luke," she said, staring at him with great intensity. "Who are you?" asked Tear. Jade couldn't help but say, "Do I detect a hint of jealousy, Tear?" "I apologize," said the woman, "Call me Ezmarelda. I'm a… friend of Luke's." The others looked at Luke, wanting an explanation. "When I first woke up here, she was the first person I saw. She made me swear to keep it a secret from everyone else but wouldn't tell me why…" Luke trailed off. Ezmarelda sighed. "Because I am not supposed to exist here."
Jade looked at her inquisitively and asked "You're a replica?" She glared intensely at him and replied, "I detest that word. Replicas. We are our own beings, not copies. I resent you for creating that word, Jade." The hole in the school grew brighter and expanded. Ezmarelda turned and watched it. A circle of wind began to form around her feet, and around the others. "I knew you would come here to investigate, Luke. After all I was the one who made Hod… 'disappear'. I didn't think you would bring everyone else though…" Ezmarelda then started mumbling a few things under her breath. Hearing these words, the group grabbed their weapons and formed defensive stances, all except Luke and Guy, who was still staring speechlessly at Ezmarelda. The glow from the hole intensified and the small circles surrounding each of their feet expanded to form one large circle. The wind intensified and then there was a bright flash, making everyone except Ezmarelda and the man cover their eyes.
The group looked at the ground around them, seeing no difference. "What just happened?" asked Anise. Guy looked up to the sky and asked, "Jade, what time is it?" Seeing his point, Jade replied, "It's noon." Tear and Natalia looked up to the sky. "It's dark. What happened to the sun?" The sky above them was now a pitch black color, as if the sun had died. Luke looked in surprise. "That's Hod!" The rest of the group turned to look and saw a towering city of Hod looming over them. "I have much to explain. Please walk with me." without waiting Ezmarelda and the man walked towards Hod. The others looked at each other skeptically. Luke followed her first, then Guy. Jade, Anise, and Natalia followed shortly after. Tear stood there for a few more seconds then reluctantly followed the others.
"I apologize for kidnapping you all but I needed to act quickly. Listen to me; hear these words. Drulaant is getting torn open." Ezmarelda was interrupted by Anise's question. "Droo-launt? What's that?" Ezmarelda replied, "It is the name the Ancestors gave this world." All of the others, except for Jade, looked at her inquisitively "I think I understand now. This world, Drulaant, is a parallel world to our world of Auldrant," said Jade. Ezmarelda glared at him again and mumbled under her breath, "So you can immediately understand that but not- Oh nevermind." She sighed then continued her explanation.
"On Auldrant you have holes opening up in the ground. You get too close you could lose your balance and fall to your death. That's only the beginning. Here, there are holes randomly opening everywhere, and I mean EVERYWHERE. The earth, the sky, the water. We've been calling them voids. They suck up any human close to it and a few seconds later they get spat back out, but dead." The rest of the group listened to Ezmarelda's somber tone as she continued. "We can use our magic to close it, but it's getting to the point where the number of voids opening is larger the people we have able to close them."
Natalia looked at her and said, "Wait a moment. You lost me at 'magic'. What is magic?" Ezmarelda closed her eyes tightly in frustration "It's… not easy to explain. It's similar to using fonons but there is no need to for incantations… Um, I'll explain in more detail at another time.
"You said the ground opening up is only the beginning. Do you know what is causing them?" Jade inquired. Ezmarelda clenched her fists and growled, "I do. Look, I'll talk more inside."
The group arrived at the gates of Hod. There were watchmen atop the towers and one shouted, "Who the hell are you people? What are you do-" and upon seeing Ezmarelda he bowed down and said, "My Queen. Please forgive for not recognizing you." He shouted orders to the gatesmen and the doors opened with a loud and slow creek.
"Ezzy! You're back!" they heard a familiar voice come from inside the gates and a man ran out to hug Ezmarelda. "Oh, Ezzy, you finally came back! We all missed you here." Natalia looked at the man then said to Guy, "Um… he looks a lot like you." Ezmarelda returned the embrace and said, "It's good to be back." Both Ezmarelda and the man's faces turned serious and somber. "My sister… is she…" Ezmarelda put both of his hands in hers and said, "I wanted to save her, Gailardia." Hearing the name the others looked at them in shock. "I tried but… She died protecting the other realm. I'm sorry I-…" Gailardia smiled softly and kissed her forehead softly and said, "Don't apologize. I know she was as much a sister to you as she was to me."
Gailardia scanned the group following Ezmarelda, and upon seeing Tear and Anise he drew his sword and got into a defensive stance, then growled, "Why did you bring these traitors here?" Ezmarelda placed her hand on gently on his weapon and stepped in front of him, blocking his view of the others. "Peace, Gailardia. These two are not our enemies. Let me explain more inside." She looked at the others and said, "Come. Follow me. There is much you still don't know.
Everyone followed Ezmarelda through the halls of Hod's Mansion. They noticed that the guards, servers, and people were glaring at Anise and Tear. Feeling uneasy, the group walked into a grand hall. The doors behind them were shut and it was now just the eight of them standing below a grand staircase. As they began to climb the steps, they heard a high pitched shriek. Gailardia and Ezmarelda bound up the stairs.
"Meryl!" Gailardia ran to a woman's side as they all heard a baby's cry. The rest of the group arrived up the stairs and saw the woman, who looked an awful lot like Natalia. "Gailardia." Meryl said, exhausted, then was handed a tiny baby girl. "Isn't she beautiful?" Gailardia looked at the child in wonder and smiled softly. "She is." Meryl noticed Ezmarelda at the doorway and said, "Ez. You're back. And on the same day our daughter was born. This truly is destiny." Meryl looked at her newborn child. "Yes… Destinee. We shall call you Destinee." The baby cooed happily and Gailardia said, "She likes it. It's perfect." He gave her a quick kiss then stood up. Meryl looked at the group and noticed Guy. "Who are you? Why do you look like my husband?" Guy rubbed the back of his neck and said, "That is exactly what I want to know. You as well. You look too much like Natalia."
Ezmarelda stood in the center of the room and said, "Perhaps I should explain why there are 'copycats' here." She looked over at Anise and Jade. "But I need you two to do something first. There are two people who have been eagerly awaiting your arrival." She walked out the door to a separate corridor. Anise and Jade exchanged glances then followed her. Ezmarelda led them down a hall with two doors on the left and right. "Jade, you go into the door on the left. Anise, to the right. Take your time." With that, she left them. Anise and Jade looked at each other with confused expressions, then entered the rooms.
Jade walked into the left room. He looked inside and saw a woman standing in the shadows of the back wall. "I hear you were expecting me?" he said to her. "I have been waiting a long time to speak to you, Jade. In fact, I never thought I would be able to again…" the woman said, then stepped out of the shadows and into the light. Jade's eyes opened wide and he mumbled, "It can't be…" The woman smiled then said, "It is me, Jade. Ezmarelda's mother saved me that day. She took me from the fire and brought me here." Jade's voice began to waiver. "But I saw Professor Nebilim… I saw her… You… die…" For the first time in his life, Jade was at a loss for what to say. After he composed himself, he decided to say the one thing he had been itching to say – the words he thought he would never be able to convey to her.
"I'm sorry…"
Anise walked into the right room. A beautiful boy, 19 years of age, stood at the center of the room, smiling. Anise immediately recognized his face. "Ion?! Is… is that you?" He calmly replied, "Yes, Anise. It's me. Ezmarelda saved me just before I disappeared. The magic healed my body and-" Ion got cut off as Anise ran over to him and jumped in his arms with tears rolling down her cheeks. She whispered, "I missed you so much…" Ion smiled and gave her a gentle hug. "I missed you too, Anise."
After a long time passed, Anise and Jade came back to Meryl's room, along with Professor Nebilim and Ion. Everyone turned and looked at them in surprise. Upon seeing Professor Nebilim Natalia asked, "Who may you be?" Professor Nebilim laughed and said, "Forgive me. I am Professor Gelda Nebilim. Please, call me Gelda. "Ion! Is that yo-" Anise interrupted Luke. "Yes, that is Ion. He'll explain later. We need to hear Ezmarelda - I'm just gonna call you Ez - we need to hear Ez explain all of this."
Ezmarelda nodded her head and began, "Jade. You are known as the Father of Fomicry because you… created replicas?" Jade adjusted his glasses. "That is correct," he said, not quite sure where she was going. Guy was staring at Ezmarelda, and noticing this, she glanced at him, then continued. "You were completely wrong about what a replica is. Your so-called fomicry is actually a transporter. This is the world you and everyone else on Auldrant who used fomicry…. Stole us from." She took a moment to gain her composure. "Our two worlds are now out of balance. Too many people crossed over from Drulaant to Auldrant. And to answer your next question, the people who were transported to your world were not mindless copies. The process of the fomicry made them lose all of their memories. Well… all except me." Ezmarelda trailed off. Jade thought for a moment then said, "I thought that might be the case, seeing how Meryl and Gailardia look like our Natalia and Guy, and how the people reacted to Tear and Anise." Natalia looked at Ezmarelda and asked, "Then how were we all able to transport here without losing our memories?" "I brought you all here through magic, not fomicry. Besides, I'm sure you have all noticed this already but this world functions differently from your own," Ezmarelda replied.
"Wait, so Meryl is me?" Natalia said, still a bit puzzled. "Well, in a sense, yes. You are equivalents from the two worlds. The same, but very different - just as Luke was different from Asch." Natalia looked at the ground. "Well that would explain why I'm married to Guy here." "Hey!" both Guy and Gailardia exclaimed. They looked at each other and Meryl laughed. "You may be different but there are definitely similarities."
"Anise, Tear. You should be careful here. Always keep your guard up around Hod. Mystearica and Ann are your… 'otherselves'… and they sided with Vandesdelca. The people here are not aware of your situation so you will be seen as the enemy," said Professor Nebilim. Luke's face turned sad. "Master Van is our enemy… again?" Professor Nebilim smiled sadly "I'm afraid so. Oh, you should know that here Jade is known as General Balfour. He is in charge with General Fringes." "Why are there two Generals?" asked Guy. Gailardia replied, "We needed two. One is used for the battle fronts and the other stays here to deal with internal issues and as a last defense. Vandesdelca is constantly attacking us so we have the Generals and their troops switch out positions every few weeks. Tired men and women fighting on a battlefield will only get our troops wiped out. Then there will only be us left to protect the civilians. General Balfour is currently here in Hod and General Fringes is out leading the rebellion against Vandesdelca in Kimlasca-Lanvaldear."
"No…" Natalia cried, "Kimlasca-Lanvaldear was taken over?" Meryl looked at her and said, "Gailardia, Ezmarelda, and myself did everything we could to stop him. Vandesdelca killed our king… my father… and the Duke and Duchess. Gailardia was able to us and the citizens a safe Haven here in Hod."
Guy thought for a moment. "Wait. Ezmarelda, they called you 'Queen' at the gate. If Nata- Meryl's father died, she should be next for the throne. And Hod belongs to Malkuth, thus Emperor Peony…" Gailardia, Meryl, and Ezmarelda sighed simultaneously. Meryl looked down at the floor, trying to hide her pained expression. "Much has happened…" Gailardia placed his hand on her shoulder to comfort her, then began to explain. "When Meryl's father died, he had predicted the attack and sent her off to a safe place. He told her not to leave no matter what, so she didn't. The King, the Duke, and the Duchess were all killed in the attack. After the attack, the people looked to a new ruler, but Meryl was presumed dead and since Luke disappeared so many years ago, he too was presumed dead. Ezmarelda was next in line for the throne. As for Emperor Peony… he was at the castle with important business and… he too was killed. I didn't find out until later that he had chosen me for his successor…" he trailed off.
"Wait." said Tear. "What about Luke and Ezmarelda's 'otherself'?" Ezmarelda looked at the others and sighed. "That… is bit complicated to explain. Luke and I were both stolen from Drulaant and brought to Auldrant by fomicry. For years we stayed there. When Ezmarelda, the me from Auldrant, when she died… I sort of… merged with her body. Luke did the same with Asch during the three years he was gone, but he probably doesn't remember it. In a sense, we are from and a part of both worlds now…" The room fell silent in shock. Jade looked at her with an expressionless face. Guy stared at her in wonder. Luke did the same.
Ezmarelda glanced over at Luke. The moment their eyes met, both of them felt like they were the only two people in the room, in the universe. Luke wondered ("Why do I feel like I know her? When we first met too… I felt like I had known her from before… but… why?")
Ezmarelda turned away from their gaze and looked down, hiding her sadness.
("I can't let him find out who I really am.")
(Thanks so much for reading Chapter one of "Dual Destinies"!
I'm a huge fan of the Tales Of games and Abyss is my above all favorite so I'm totally psyched to create this fanfiction about it! Sorry that it was so long, I just had so much I needed explained in the first chapter that it ended up being this long. If I made mistakes in spelling a name please tell me so I can fix it. If there are any questions (or spoilers) you want answered just send me a PM.
~MoonGoddessLunaDLC)