Dying Embers' Howl Chapter 1: Shrouding Genesis, a Tales of the Abyss + Tales of Vesperia Crossover fanfic

Disclaimer: I don't own Tales of the Abyss and/or Tales of Vesperia or their characters; just this fan-fiction plot. Enjoy!

Shrouding Genesis

Chapter 1

-x-x-x-

ND 1996, in the bedrock city of peace of the land of Ilyccia, a child shall be born, but of poverty. He shall be called, "laborer of the archaic original provenience" and be the scion of the Original One. In the form of the human incarnate shall the Original Sentient, King of all Fonim, cross Auldrant to find its Sacred Light.

ND 2000, in Kimlasca shall be born one who inherits the power of Lorelei. He will be a boy of royal blood with hair of red. He shall be called the Light of the Sacred Flame and he will lead Kimlasca-Lanvaldear to new prosperity.

ND 2002, in the city of where snow falls year-round, the one named "the pearly rose" shall be born, and will bring good fruit to her people.

ND 2002, The One Who Would Seize Glory shall destroy the land upon which he was born. A land by the name of Hod. War shall thereafter persist between Kimlasca and Malkuth Empire for a full cycle of seasons.

ND 2003, the young Scion of the Original Sentient shall cross the waters to find and awaken the Scion of Lorelei's power in Kimlasca.

-x-x-x-

ND 1999

~Zaphias, the Bedrock City of Peace~

-x-x-x-

A roaring thunder and flash of lightning boomed over the towering city of bedrock. Waves of dark clouds coated the skies from its radiant moonlight, shrouding everything in its wake in darkness. A man with short, pale-blond hair, dark russet colored eyes, having a tan complexion was armed with a sword sheathed at his left hip, a minutiae dagger sheathed and buckled to his waist's belt and having a swallow-tail cape flowing behind him, had been on the run for quite some time. Beside him was a dog in shades of blue with a long tail shaped like an inverted, curved blade, wearing body armor for protection was also running. In his arms was a small child, no more than three, bundled in a dark blanket wrapped around his tiny body for warmth and protection against the looming downpour that would soon come from the sky. In the boy's arms was a dog extremely similar to the larger one running beside his partner; a young puppy.

They hadn't known the whole details of everything, but they were being pursued. The little boy and his dog had been ripped out of their warm home, the inn, hours ago because of the knights of the Order. They were strangely corrupt and set out to kill the boy. They killed his mother, the innkeeper, knowing she had connections with a nobleman of the city, but it was in hopes of destroying the child she protected. She knew what his future would be, and the strange power the boy possessed. One thing remained for certain through their orders of searching for the child, their target.

He was a threat, a huge threat and thorn in the Score.

Despite his birth was predicted in the Score, they knew they had to find him and detain him in hopes of controlling him. However, as soon they came to retrieve the child, he unknowingly killed—no, outright obliterated—more than half of their platoon with just a bat of an eyelid. The child hadn't known what he had done when he came to; just stood in front of several bystanders with soldiers turned to nothing but dust right before them. The strangest thing about him was that his tiny body was glowing brilliantly while he did, and his eyes looked possessed. They were a dark, blood-red color than their original, young grey tone. In that 'state', for a lack of better words, he could dispel any fonic artes that were sent his way or manipulated them right back at the caster. Another thing that also made that child stand out like a sore thumb.

The color of his hair; it looked black as night, but once you examined him up close, it was an ethereal black with violet hues humming through each strand of lock. Nobody in the entire world had that shade of hair. The closest it would get was if the person was born in the bedrock city of peace. Many lower class women had a shade of that hair color. It was possible the child came from one of them—that was proven when they raided the child's home which served as an inn for the weary. But, a tiny boy with powers that rivaled or rather, harnessed all the fonic elements?

That was not normal from all standards. That boy was not human.

If what his birth Score and the Score read in the Order was absolute truth—which it was, by all means, perceived to be—then that child, that boy…no, that near-godly incarnate, was the ultimate Scion. The one who would find his Sacred Light some day and would one day give birth to prosperity or destruction upon the world. If that was true, then…the boy had to be destroyed, contained if they couldn't kill him, given his near immortal status as an incarnate. But why? Why would the original fonime send its own self in the form of a human flesh into the world? What purpose? Was it because of both the dangers and wonders of the Seventh Fonon? Many have theorized that the Original Sentient wanted to destroy the Seventh Fonon, and one reason it sent its own self in such a form was to do so. Others theorized that the original fonime sentience wanted to protect the Seventh Fonon for whatever means.

And, if the Score is right—which by default, it always is—then the Light of Sacred Flame, the one who will soon inherit the power of Lorelei, the sentient of the Seventh Fonon, that will be born in Kimlasca-Lanvaldear.

The Order was torn apart by this predicament; they would follow the Score as per teachings, uplift and uphold it for days to come. The child's birth was one in the Closed Score—those that would be held against public. But somehow, the child's parents, or parent, it appeared the husband of that innkeeper left her, knew of her son's powers and wanted to protect him. How did she know? As far as the Order knew, none, not even a Scorer, were sent to the capital city of Ilyccia to give any birth scores three years ago. So, how? But even then, the boy was still apart of the Score, and he had a duty to uphold when he aged. He was destined to meet with the Light of the Sacred Flame in a few years. He was sent here by the Original Sentient, possibly by its own soul and flesh as a suitable human body, to do something not even the Order knew what he was supposed to do.

That was all. He had to be the scion that was foretold in Yulia's Score. His first name matched the meaning in Ancient Ispanian. There was no denying this fact that boy was the one who would make a difference in all of Auldrant. And for this, apparently the Order of Lorelei had deduced by majority vote, that the child would be contained in Daath so he would never fulfill his destiny, regardless of what was promised, or he be killed so that it would never be fulfilled at all. After all, in the Score, it said the scion of Lorelei's power will bring prosperity to his people, his nation. There was no mentioning of the Original One's scion anywhere in that passage. They could make a minor detour around the foretelling of the Score.

Just this once.

This is what brings us to the current time.

"Don't worry, boy. I'll make sure you're safe." The swordsman said as he continued running, now outside of the imperial city. His and his companion's feet met many puddles that made themselves visible in the outstretched grassy, Mayoccian Plains of the southern Ilyccian region. He cuddled the child as much as he could, the now rain pouring down as if the Original Sentient itself was weeping for this unfortunate event.

Ah wait, that's right.

The man looked down at the boy, whose eyes were shut tight, silent, warm tears cascading down his young face. He was so precious, but he had nearly forgotten what he was told by the boy's mother before she succumbed to death's call. The boy he was holding now, the child he was to take to the lands of Kimlasca where he would be safe…he is, in one way or another, the Original Sentient, just in the form of this innocent child. What is so important, so great, that the being itself must manifest into the world as a human being? Did it not know the dangers of which its human birth would be considered upon the mortal realm? Was it even thinking when it sent down a fragment, a shard, of its own soul and flesh to become this defenseless child who knew nothing of his powers and of his purpose to fulfill?

But, perhaps it knew what it was doing and that's why it sent itself down. Maybe there was something wrong in the world that it had to cleanse it. But, cleanse it from what?

Regardless of what that may be, the Original Fonim Sentient would protect its scion with all its might.

After all, what he saw back at the inn, there was no mistaking it anyway. The boy reacted to high fonic artes aimed at him when his mother was stabbed and struck down. It was instant, quick, extraordinary, and unfortunately, untamed. Fonic and magic artes merely disintegrated the moment it attempted to come within five feet of his small barrier he created. That power could go out of hand if not tempered at its young stage. It would also be terrible if any malice-hearted idiot comes around and gets their hands on the power as well. It's certainly dangerous, not only to the world, but to the boy himself. He could unwillingly destroy himself and the entire world if he wasn't careful, if he wasn't trained to control it.

And, that may be the reason the knights from the Order of Lorelei were after him.

Clad in sliver with black tabards, armed with swords and helmets, the knights of the Order, Oracle Knights from Daath, were in hot pursuit of the child.

The man found the boy's eyes opening slowly, his dark bangs shadowing his features a little but there was no doubt the kid was terrified. He had just seen his mother killed right before his eyes. That was something no child should have ever seen in his days of youth. He knew the boy was traumatized by the horror of this very night. Even the small, blue puppy he held comfortingly in his tiny arms tried his best to soothe his little master, but that wasn't helping as much. The man knew the boy was replaying the entire scene in his mind, wondering what happened, why it happened, and what went wrong that caused it. He and his mother were just fine, sitting comfortably in bed and waiting for the rainstorm that was predicted in the Score to fall.

But that all changed when suddenly, someone had pounded the inn door downstairs. Wondering who that was, possibly another customer, the mother had went left the bedside of her son and went to see who it was. The boy was told to stay in the room but curious little child he was, followed her. Strange men clad in silver armor were asking and demanding to search through the inn in search of someone important to Daath—a criminal. Seeing no harm as to allow them to search thoroughly, the woman allowed them in. When she noticed her son standing on the stairs, she immediately went to his side and…made a mistake.

She called him by his name.

"Laborer of the archaic original provenience."

She knew from then, the gasps from behind her meant one thing. These knights were after her son; her defenseless baby boy that she had harbored for three years since his birth. And now, he was suddenly a convict? Just for being born? No, that wasn't the reason. They were after him because of what he could do, what he would do when he grew older. She knew his birth score; that was more than evidence enough for these soldiers. She was a criminal for harboring a baby that the Closed Score predicted, but was shadowed from sight. The description of the child was unknown until they saw him. His hair was moderately short—which only stopped around his ears, perhaps an inch longer—and had large, grey colored eyes that almost seemed darker with no light against them. His skin, a fair complexion and he wore simple, dog patterned pajamas, long sleeve and had a small hoodie on the back of the shirt. Right next to him was a small, blue dog with his paws, underbelly, and spots around the eyes a white color. He also had light blue eyes, the nicest shade a dog of its particular breed could have.

The child was barefoot and hadn't known what was going on. At first, the knights calmly demanded for the boy, offering him a place to stay in Daath. His mother politely declined, and that's when things turned ugly. Everything happened so fast, too quick for his eyes to follow, but he soon found himself within a knight's grasp, picking him up tentatively as if he were made of porcelain glass. The puppy was barking and growling as much as he could to ward them off, but figuring the dog would be a nuisance, they bagged it up, too. Turning to leave was their greatest mistake as the mother snuck up behind them, killing one by driving a knife through the soldier's stomach—the one who had her son. The man released the boy, who strangely remained silent but obvious terror was written on his face when he watched his mother defend him with all her might, all her skill.

…Was it foretold in the Score that she would die trying to protect him?

The man noticed the boy whimpering again, possibly due to those forsaken images returning. "Come now, it's going to be all right." He tried reassuring the sobbing child, hoping he would soon stop mourning. Now was the time for escape, and any sound that gave them away wasn't quite welcome. "Your father sent me to help you, and that's what I plan to do until your safe."

Safe. That word repeated itself like a hollow echo rebounding off walls in his mind. Where can anyone be safe in this dark world? How could he be safe when there are knights chasing after him just because he was just being himself? Where could he go? Where could he stay? The boy didn't answer verbally because he was busy self wallowing in his three-year-old despair.

"Your father, I hope he knows what he's doing…" After all, the boy's father was a Viscount of Zaphias, but was with Daath, serving as an Oracle Knight himself. But, this man knew for sure the boy's father wouldn't have been so downright nasty as to send soldiers after his own blood. The boy's father was still a wee lad compared to him, having been a wide too young to be sprouting offspring. However, the offspring changed him from his distrusting ways of humankind. He had resumed his training here in Zaphias under the Nylen Royal Knight Guard after his son's birth, then a year later, was recruited to be a God-General under Daath's military.

But, his father wasn't in the wrong; he had absolutely nothing to do with this insanity. In fact, by the time he gotten word of something suspicious, he had contacted him personally. He was right on the money to believe soldiers from Daath, under a different faction of orders, would come to the capital city of the Ilyccian nation and begin their search for the one foretold in the Closed Score. The poor child…

"Deidon Hold isn't far from here… Let's go, Lambert. We've a mission to do." The man called to his four-legged companion, who simply grunted in response.

Reaching the Capital of Light, as per request from Viscount Pantarei-Lowell was his mission. And he would see to it that it was completed, even if he had to die trying. He remembered the words written on the letter he received from the young man:

Please, if she is dead by the time you get there, please, protect him. My most prized possession. I could not live without seeing his face… General Nylen Fedlock, I ask of you to do everything in your power to bring my son to the Capital of Light, Baticul, in the Kimlasca-Lanvaldear nation. I fear Oracle Knights not under my command will be heading to Zaphias to locate my son because of his inheritance from the Original Sentience, Origin. He must be protected at all costs, and when the time is right, he must be brought to me. I will be waiting in Daath.

Yuri Lowell… My son. Be safe.

Notes:

1. If you haven't noticed yet, this is AU. Vesperia characters are merged into this.

2. Due to my lack of Vesperian knowledge, the Ilyccia continent is the only place from Vesperia that has merged with Auldrant. It is located just south of the Belkend area.

3. Don't ask why I'm making a fan-fiction out of a game I've never played. Who doesn't do that these days? *shot*

4. Those Vesperia players, I punned on a mystic arte of a certain character's in the beginning of the chapter. If you can spot it, you win virtual money! Huzzah!

Anyways, many thanks to reviews, favorites and follows of this story, if there'll be any. Constructive criticism shall be praised. Flames shall be used to fuel my lamp of imagination.

Edited as of June 11, 2013.