AN: For the sake of this story, Asch and Luke are brothers, not original and replica. Also, this story will not follow with the original plot 100% of the time. Lastly, story may contain trace elements from Tales of Symphonia, as well as spoilers for the game. (You have been warned.)

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Tales of the Abyss, or any of the other Tales' Games, if I did, I would be rich!

Tales of Lorelei

Chapter 1

~Loss of the Light of the Sacred Flame~

It was an average day in the Kingdom of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear, as the sun rose over the horizon; the sea glistened with a golden glow. Birds chirped in their trees that over looked the dew covered fields. Sitting next to the coast was a large city built into a giant pillar. The city looked so tall and mighty that it might scrap even the edges of the fon-belt. The city of Baticul, capital of the kingdom, although built like a fortress, was known to most citizens as the capital of light. High up, on the top of the large city rested a large and beautiful castle, and right next to it, a mansion with just as much elegance and beauty.

The manor of Duke and Duchess Fabre was inhabited by the family that lived there along with the servants and guards that worked there. Among the family, there were two children, brothers, both of which had red hair. The older brother, Asch was older by four years and was determined to become an expert swordsman so that he could protect his little brother and his fiancé. Asch had a habit of being protective over his little brother Luke, especially since when he was born, he was so frail the doctors believed he wouldn't make it.

The only real physical difference between Luke and Asch, other than age and the fact that Luke's voice still squeaked here and there, and that the tips of Luke's hair had tinges of gold, while Asch's was solid red. When Asch turned the age of ten, his parents told him that he was arranged to marry Natalia, his Uncle's daughter. This posed no problem for him, for when they were little he had already promised to propose. But now, Luke's tenth birthday was just days away, and His majesty, the King didn't have a second daughter. But that didn't matter to Asch, and Luke was too young to even care.

At the moment, Asch had just finished his early morning spar with Van, his sword master. Van was the head general of the Oracle Knights within the Order of Lorelei, the Church of the land. The man seemed to be very busy, but somehow managed to find time to teach the young duke how to wield a sword. But even if Van wasn't around, Asch could spar against his and Luke's servant, Guy. Even at the age of fourteen, Asch had developed his skills with a blade quite well.

"That was a good match Asch," Van said as he praised his student.

"Thank you Master Van," Asch replied with a bow.

Looking at the sunlight beginning to loom over the horizon, Asch decided to go and wash the sweat and dirt off of his clothes, his mother disliked seeing him covered in filth, she was afraid that may get sick. Leaving the courtyard to go back to his room Asch sheathed his sword, and left with a victorious grin on his face.

When Luke awoke from his sleep, he felt unusually light headed. He rose so that he sat up, and shook his head to try and ease himself of the uneasy feeling that beseeched him. The dizzy sensation quickly left his mind, and the young boy yawned as he stretched. He got up, and walked to the bathroom in his room.

After washing and getting dressed, Luke made his way to the drawing room, to have breakfast with his family. He arrived to find the others already waiting for him. Luke and Asch's father had a serious built face and deep red hair, and their mother had a more kindly built face, and just as deep red hair. The Duchess was often sickly, but that never stopped her from caring for and worrying about her sons. The Duchess would go out of her way for her sons, especially for Luke, not just because he was the younger child, but because when he was born, he was born with unstable fonon levels, all the doctors believed he would die. But ten years later, Luke was alive, albeit a little fragile, but she couldn't be any gladder.

As the family ate dinner, one of the servants entered the room and bowed. "Masters," he started. "Princess Natalia has arrived at the manor, shall I escort her in?" he asked.

"Yes, of course! It's always a pleasure to see my niece!" The Duke replied with a smile. A couple of minutes later the servant returned with the fourteen year old princess next to him. The moment she entered the room, the joyful look on her face was reflected in Asch's. Natalia had golden locks of blonde hair, not seen in the royal family for nearly three generations. She wore a simple blue and white dress to help bring out her blue eyes.

"Natalia!" Asch welcomed his fiancé with a wave, and an expression similar to that of a kid who got a toy they wanted dearly.

"Hi Asch! Hi Luke, Uncle, Aunt Susanne," Natalia replied with a wave to Asch, and a respectful bow to the others. She went to go sit next to Asch when he beckoned her to sit.

"So Natalia," Duke Fon Fabre started. "What brings you here so early in the morning?"

"Well," Natalia started. "I guess I just wanted to see Asch, and Luke," she said with a slight blush on her face.

"Mostly Asch," Luke mumbled. Both Asch and Natalia gained tinted cheeks, and Asch glared at his younger brother. Luke replied with a grin until he was hit in the face by a muffin that Asch had playfully thrown at him.

"Luke! Asch! I will not tolerate such childish behavior so early in the morning!" the duke scolded.

"Sorry father," the two boys replied in unison. Asch and Natalia quickly exchanged looks and nodded to each other as if reading each other's thoughts.

"Uncle, can we please be excused from the table?" Asch asked politely.

"Hmm, well I don't know, what do you think dear?" the duke asked his wife with a smile on his face. Susanne couldn't help but giggle at the two teens.

"Alright, just be careful," Susanne answered. The two teenagers beamed at the adults and took off almost immediately. Once they were gone, the duchess turned towards her younger son who was still eating his breakfast. "Luke, are you alright?" she asked. When Luke turned to face her she continued. "You look so pale today, was it another one of those strange headaches?"

Luke's downcast face was all that his parents needed to know. "Perhaps we should call for the doctor?" Luke's father offered. Luke's face dropped even more. It was because of these headaches that he wasn't allowed outside of the manor like his brother.

"It's ok, I'm fine now," Luke offered. His parents looked at him, and he could still see the worry in their eyes. He added a reassuring smile to try and convince them.

"Are you sure Luke?" His father asked him. Luke quickly responded with a nod.

"I don't know sweetie, perhaps we had better call the doctor just to be safe," Susanne suggested.

Luke sighed. "Please excuse me," Luke said, suddenly finding his food unappetizing. He rose from his chair and left the drawing room.

As Luke turned and walked through the courtyard, admiring all of the flowers that the grounds keeper kept, Luke couldn't help but feel anger towards the headaches that caused him to be stuck within the mansion walls, while his brother could come and go freely every day. He was so preoccupied by his thoughts that he didn't see the grounds keeper, Pere, wave to him, or notice his servant Guy, a boy just a few years older than himself, talking to Van off near the edge of the courtyard.

However, the strange light-headedness that Luke felt when he first woke up in the morning came rushing to him, only a lot worse. He dropped to his knees as his body began to glow a golden light. Luke's agonizing screams brought all nearby to the scene, including some of the other servants that were going about their business.

"Master Luke!" one of the maids called him in worry.

"Luke!" Guy called to him. The Duke and Duchess, hearing the commotion rushed outside to see what was happening. The parents immediately went to rush to their child's aid, but were stopped by the white knights, the guards of the manor.

"Masters, I'm sorry, but it may not be safe," one of the guards spoke.

"But that's my son! I order you to stand down!" the Duke ordered, but the guards stood firm. Susanne cried out of helplessness for her younger son.

'It can't be…' Van thought to himself as he watched the scene with an amazed look in his eyes. Pushing his way through the white knights, he rushed over to Luke's side and held his shoulders. "Luke," he spoke calmly. "Calm down, and take deep breaths."

"I have finally found you, Light of the Sacred Flame," a voice called out to Luke in his head.

'Wha -what?' Luke thought to himself. He felt a foreign power course through his body, as if looking for a way to get out. The feeling was over welling, the power gathered to the tips of his fingers, causing them to glow brighter. Van noticed this and immediately responded to the situation.

"So Asch," Natalia spoke as she and Asch were walking along the harbor. "What are we going to do today?" she asked with a smile on her face. Asch looked at her and was mesmerized by her calm blue eyes, and how her blonde hair swayed in the wind. "Asch?" her voice snapped him from his daze.

"Huh? Oh, I don't know, walk around I guess, unless you want to do something else," Asch replied, an embarrassed blush covering his face.

Natalia replied with a giggle, then smiled as she replied, "I happy as long as I'm with you." Her words caused Asch's blush to deepen as he struggled to avoid her gaze.

Suddenly, the sounds and voices of the people around them on the docks got the two teens' attention. "What is that?" one of the sailors asked.

"Isn't that the Fon Fabre Manor?" another sailor asked.

"Is Malkuth attacking us?" a deck hand asked.

Both Asch and Natalia looked back up towards the top of the giant mountain city. They both were startled to see a pillar of light reaching from the direction of the manor, all the way to the Fon Belt up in the sky.

Asch opened his mouth to say something but he suddenly lost his voice. Natalia put a hand to her heart out of worry. Without even saying a word, the two of them ran as fast as they could to the air car to take them back up to the top of the city.

As the light faded away, Luke lay unconscious in Van's grip. After quickly checking to make sure the boy still had a pulse, he sighed. "It's alright, he just fainted, that's all," Van spoke.

Luke's parents, now released by the white knights were immediately by their son's side. Susanne held her son in a tight embrace as tears spilled from her eyes. "Someone call the doctor!" the Duke barked, unwilling to leave his unconscious son. All of the servants scattered, trying to help the ill-fallen child.

Several hours later, Asch opened the door and entered his brother's room. Natalia had gone home upon hearing what happened to tell her father, and has not since returned. Asch walked over towards the bed where his brother still lay. Poor Luke had been unconscious since his strange episode, but now the sun was close to setting.

"Luke, wake up already!" Asch whispered to his brother. A sudden sound, soft scuffling of metal boots caught Asch's attention. Asch spun around towards the direction of the sound outside the door, but the sound stopped. He quickly passed it off as one of the guards patrolling through the corridors, and released the grip he didn't even realize he had on his blade.

As he turned back towards his unconscious brother, the door behind him exploded off of its hinges. It only took Asch a split second to react, drawing his blade, ready to face his opponent. However, he saw the blue uniform of Malkuth soldiers.

'Malkuth soldiers? ' Asch asked himself. He readied his blade, but despite his skills, he was quickly surrounded and knocked upside the back side of his head by the pommel of someone's sword.

"Quickly, get the boy and let's get out of here, the guards will be here soon, and the boss is waiting for us!" Asch heard one of the attackers say in a hushed voice as his vision began to slowly fade. Asch saw one of them exit the room with Luke in their arms. The fallen boy tried to raise his hand to try and stop them in one last futile attempt, but his energy failed him and his him, and his hand fell.

"Luke," Asch struggled to say as the last of his strength left him.

The Malkuth soldiers dashed from the manor as quickly as they could, stripping out of their uniforms along the way. Five men, two of whom had swords, one had a bow, and another a spear. The fifth carried the unconscious young duke. The five ran as fast as they could. The sound of clanking metal behind them signaled that the white knights had returned from the distraction caused by their boss.

However, the five managed to get away from the knights by escaping onto the air-car heading towards the port. By the time the Kimlascan soldiers, in their crimson uniforms began searching the city for the kidnapers, the crooks were already at the docks boarding a ship already prepped for them.

"Hold it right there!" a small group of Kimlascan soldiers yelled as they closed in on the kidnapers.

"Uh-oh," the kidnapper carrying Luke said as the others immediately surrounded him. The soldiers began charging at the bandits as they stood halfway up the boarding ramp onto the barge. Just a dozen yards from the felons, a cloaked figure jumped down from the top of one of the buildings, sword drawn, and slaughtered the soldiers in a matter of seconds. The dead didn't even know what happened.

The cloaked figure's face was shrouded by a thick white fabric that made up his cloak. He held a long sword in one hand. The figure turned towards the kidnapers and made his way to take the child.

"Oh boss, you came at just the nick of ti-!" the bandit never got to finish his sentence. The moment that the man took the child, he slew the boy's captors.

The figure held his hand out, and used the seventh fonon to create a fonic glyph. The glyph glowed with a bright light. He stepped onto the glyph and was instance teleported away. The glyph disappeared along with him, leaving nothing but a pile of corpses behind.

How was it? This is my first attempt at a Tales of the Abyss fic, so feedback would be nice!