Gamer4 in. I think I'm legitimately insane. I should really be checking myself into an asylum- that's the conclusion I've reached. Why else would I have a minimum of three stories going on at once, only to say, "Hey, you know what I should do? Start an entire other series! Great!" And not just any series- an AUA (Alternate Universe Adaptation) of a twelve-games-and-counting series infamous for its great wordiness! So, here we are, at the start of an AUA of the Trails/Kiseki series. For those of you unfamiliar with such, the Trails series is an ongoing collection of RPGs courtesy of Nihon Falcom, one of the OG RPG developers. As of now, its biggest claim to fame is that, compared to episodic RPG series such as Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest or MegaTen, Trails has been telling one ongoing story since its debut in 2004, the current 12 games divided into five arcs (as of now,) usually spanning two or more games, and each contributing to the overall narrative. Right off the bat, you're probably thinking, "Well, that sounds interesting, but how do you intend to cover all that ground with just RWBY characters?" ...Well, I think I've done enough waffling here, let's get to the main story!
Disclaimer: The Trails/Kiseki series is owned by Nihon Falcom, the true RWBY is owned by Monty Oum, and (REDACTED.)
Endless Trails
Miracles in the Sky
Prologue
The Present
Long ago, rising from a distant ocean, was the continent of Anima- a vast, sprawling land blessed by the holy mother Sophia. In ancient times, the land was united under the rule of the Animanians- whether they gave their name to the land, or the land gave its name to the people, no documents describe.
The people of Anima were certainly rich, but their treasure lay not in precious metal or fine silk, but in ether, a substance that allowed them to perform miraculous feats with the assistance of orbments, devices that fulfilled various functions for people of all walks of life- the only connecting thread was that they all used ether as energy to perform these miracles.
Nobody knows exactly what brought the Animanian civilization to an end- the people of Anima who live now operate under a calendar marking this Great Collapse as Year Zero. All that can be said for certain is that their technology and understanding of orbments and ether were lost as well, plunging the continent of Anima into a new dark age that lasted over a thousand years.
From this point, it wasn't until the year 1152 that a group of scientists investigating ancient ruins rediscovered this technology- an event hailed as a blessing from Mother Sophia herself. Within a decade, orbments had once again become part of Anima's everyday life, from the western empire of Erebonia to the easter Republic of Calvard, and all the smaller kingdoms and city-states in between.
One of these kingdoms lies on Anima's southwesternmost edge. Liberl Kingdom, consisting of five provinces surrounding Toluca Lake, one of Anima's great lakes, also known as the Mirror of Heaven. The five provinces are Vale, Vacuo, Menagerie, Mistral, and the capital of Atlas. It is in a small house on the edge of Vale village that our story truly begins.
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1198
The house resided in a small clearing at the edge of the woods surrounding Vale, right next to a small river, complete with a dock for fishing. In the kitchen on the bottom floor was a girl a mere twelve years of age, sitting atop a stool next to the counter, kicking her legs, glancing out of the window every now and again, watching the sun sink closer and closer to the horizon. She was dressed all in pink, a color that clashed marvelously with the bright ginger hair atop her head. Her mouth was currently twisted into a frown. "Daddy said he'd be home early tonight," she pouted to nobody in particular. "Even Yang already went home..." She sighed. "Laaaaaame..."
Her pouting ceased when she heard footsteps on the porch. She immediately brightened. "Daddy?"
The door swung open, revealing her father, a tall, burly man with matching ginger hair and moustache, currently with a large bundle slung over his shoulder. He grinned when he saw his daughter before him. "Ah, Nora- I was wondering if you'd still be up!"
Nora pouted at him. "You said you'd be home early tonight!"
"I'm very sorry about that," her father replied, and he looked it- his eyes were downcast, and he almost seemed to be pouting himself. "I was delayed. Perhaps this present will ease the sting a little?"
"Present?" Nora's eyes glimmered with excitement. "What is it, what is it?! New sneakers? A new hammer?"
Her father let out a short sigh. "Dear Iris, did I raise our child wrong? Aren't young girls supposed to be interested in clothes, jewelry, things like that?"
"I mean, I like clothes and jewelry," Nora shrugged, "but clothes tear so easily, and jewelry just breaks if you wear it outside!"
Mr. Valkyrie seemed fine leaving it at that. "Well, it's not any of those things anyways." He adjusted the bundle over his shoulder, cradling it in his arms, and undid one end just enough to reveal a boy's face, framed by long, dark hair.
"Huh?" Nora tilted her head. "My present's... a boy?"
"I recall you saying you wanted a little brother or sister," Mr. Valkyrie stated. "Well, if he agrees to stay with us, this young lad can definitely be that. That's up to him, though. I found him on the side of the road- as you can see, he's in a bad way. I couldn't just leave him there."
Nora looked closer- indeed, judging by the marks, scrapes, cuts, and a black eye, the boy had been in quite the fight, and come out worse for it. "Are you... sure he's still alive?" she asked, poking at his cheek. "He looks kinda dead."
"Nothing a little chicken soup can't cure, I'm sure," Mr. Valkyrie assured her. "I'm going to set him up in the guest room- put some water on to boil, would you?"
"'Kay!" Nora agreed cheerfully.
She turned back into the kitchen, grabbing a pot from a lower cupboard, filling it with water from the sink and placing it on the stove- an orbal stove, of course, which ran off of ether. Nora herself was too young to fully understand such things- all she knew was that the surface got hot when she turned the appropriate dial, and that touching it afterwards was a bad idea- a lesson she had very much learned the hard way.
Once she was certain the water was increasing in temperature, she nodded at a job well done and hurried up the stairs to the guest room, where she found her father tucking their surprise guest into his bed. He seemed to have removed the boy's upper garments, replacing them with bandages and gauze, causing Nora to wince once again, wondering what could possibly have happened to him. Mauled by a bear, perhaps?
"Water's ready!" she announced.
Her father smiled at her, gently raising a finger to his lips. "Quiet- you'll wake him."
"Sorry!" Nora whispered, clapping her hands over her mouth as she edged closer. "I mean... he looks pretty asleep."
"About your age, if I'm not mistaken," Mr. Valkyrie gauged. "I hope I didn't grab you an older brother by mistake!"
"His hair is so dark," Nora commented, gazing at the locks that fell down to his waist.
"It was in a ponytail when I found him," Mr. Valkyrie informed her. "That hair color and style, I believe he may originally be from southern Erebonia."
"Huh..." Nora mused, before turning to her father with an accusatory glare. "Then where did you find him, huh? He's not an ill-jit-mate child, is he? You weren't cheating on mommy, were you?"
Mr. Valkyrie closed his eyes and sighed. "Where have you been learning these words? Actually, stupid question- Ms. Xiao Long, right?"
"Yup!" Nora nodded brightly.
"Well, no. I simply stumbled upon him while I was on business."
"Ooohhhhh, bracer business?" Nora asked, her face glowing as the words passed through her lips.
The Bracer Guild was a continent-spanning guild of ether masters who had chosen to apply their skills to protecting Anima's citizens, taking on jobs spanning from rescuing cats from trees to acting as a neutral third party in international conflicts. In Nora's eyes, they were nothing short of superheroes- she'd grown up listening to episodes of Flash Gordon, the adventures of a particularly heroic bracer, on their orbal radio. Her greatest dream was to become a bracer herself, and for all her griping about her father's frequent absences, the fact that it was for bracer business was something she couldn't be prouder of.
"Exactly," Mr. Valkyrie agreed, glancing back at the boy. "Truth be told, I don't even know his name. Ah, but perhaps we're about to find out!"
Nora spun around just in time to see the boy's eyes creaking open, his head rising ever so slightly from his pillow. "Ah... wha..." His hand slowly moved from his side up to his head.
Nora broke into a grin. "His eyes- Daddy, his eyes are pink!"
"Where... am... I?"
"I'm very glad to see you awake," Mr. Valkyrie spoke gently, with a calm smile. "My name is Klaus Valkyrie, and I welcome you to my home. I promise you safety during your stay- please, try to rest and recover."
Strangely, the boy's eyes narrowed. "What sort of trick is this, Klaus? Are you out of your mind? You should have left me to die!"
Mr. Valkyrie leaned back, as if contemplating his answer. "Well... I'll admit, those are some difficult questions. I don't suppose 'Things just worked out that way' will work for you?"
The boy's eyes narrowed. "Don't toy with me, Valkyrie! Do you have any idea what you've done?!"
"Hey!" Nora interrupted, her own eyes narrowing. She stomped up and flicked the boy in the face with as much strength as she could put into her finger. "You're doin' a lot of shouting for someone who's supposed to be hurt! Screaming and rolling around is just gonna make it harder for your body to heal!"
The boy was so taken aback that he fell momentarily silent. It was a full minute before he spoke again. "And you are?"
"Nora Valkyrie, future greatest bracer the world has ever seen!" Nora proudly declared.
"My darling daughter," Mr. Valkyrie explained, smiling dotingly down at her. "I believe I told you I had a daughter around your age."
The boy leaned back into his pillow. "Yes, now that you mention it... I do remember something like-" he froze, then sat bolt upright. "No, wait, stop trying to change the-"
Nora interrupted him again, flicking his face with both fingers. He grunted and leaned away into his pillow. "No yelling!" she ordered.
"Alright, alright, I'll stop!" he grunted, raising his hands in self-defense. "Just stop it with the flicking! It's hardly going to help me heal faster, you know-"
He faltered when a dark smile crossed Nora's face as she rose both hands slowly to a flicking position. A dark aura seemed to form around her. "Do I hear Y-E-L-L-I-N-G?"
The boy sighed, leaning back onto his pillow. "...Forget it."
Mr. Valkyrie roared with laughter. "Rule number 1, my boy, don't ever try to argue with my angel! I'm sure she could even overwhelm me, if I made her mad enough!"
"So I see..."
"So!" Nora chirped, sticking her hands behind her back, "with that out of the way... isn't there something you should be telling us?"
"What's that?" the boy asked, rolling over with a grunt to meet her gaze.
"Your name, silly!" Nora grinned. "We can't just call you 'Black-Haired Kid' forever, can we? We told you our names, what's yours?"
"Indeed," Mr. Valkyrie agreed. "Hiding something as fundamental as your name can only serve to your detriment in the long run."
The boy glanced between them, seemingly weighing something in his mind. Finally, he sighed heavily, leaning back onto his pillow. It is rather comfortable, he couldn't help thinking. "Very well... my name is..."
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Prologues tend to be short by nature- next chapter, we'll try and crank the length up a bit- we'll have to, if we want to make any progress into this very text-heavy series. I hope that, whether you know the Trails series or not, you've been entertained enough to stick around until next time. If so, leave a review, let me know what you liked- if not, leave a review and let me know how I can improve! My goal is always to improve my writing- I assure you, my skills would not be anywhere near where they are today (wherever that is) without the constructive criticism I've received on my stories over the years. Until next time, don't you dare go hollow- Gamer4 out!