(A/N): Hey guys, here's Chapter 2. I hope you enjoy. Please feel free to review, criticize, and all that jazz.

I don't own Tales of Symphonia or Tales of the Abyss. They belong to Namco Bandai.

Chapter 2: Onwards, to Iselia!

Luke fon Fabre was amazed.

Sylvarant was actually pretty beautiful. In fact, it was very similar to Aulderant. Lush, green fields, eye-catching scenery, it was amazing. Luke was feeling almost… nostalgic. While traveling down the pathway towards Iselia, he decided to ask Lorelei a few more questions about the mysterious planet.

"Hey Lorelei, what else can you tell me about Sylvarant?"

"Well, for starters, the living beings of Sylvarant consist of humans, elves, dwarves, half elves, as well as various monsters."

"Wait, elves?! Dwarves?! Aren't those just fairy tales?!"

"According to the planet's memory, elves and dwarves have existed for as long as Sylvarant itself."

"O-kaaaay, so, what else can you tell me anything more about elves and dwarves?" Now Luke was curious.

"Unfortunately, half elves are widely discriminated against. Why this started is unknown, but the main reason the hatred is so large is due to the fact that because of their discrimination, a group of radical half elves called 'Desians' capture humans and force them to work in camps called Human Ranches. There, humans are either worked to, starved, or tortured to death".

"That's horrible!" Luke thought. "Is there one near Iselia?" Now he was afraid of being captured and being worked to death.

"Unfortunately, yes. I would advise you to stay away from the ranch. Iselia has a non-aggression treaty with the village to not attack each other and I would like for you to look like a regular person".

Skit: Discrimination

Luke: So there's discrimination here, too?! Man, I guess all worlds have their problems. (Sad face)But still, even though humans treat half elves badly, the Desians forcing them to work til' death will only make things worse.

Lorlelei: My scion, it would do you well to not get caught up in Sylvarant's problems. Our goal at hand is to return to Aulderant. We don't want to seem suspicious.

Luke (Eyes closed, looking down): I know, but… *sigh*I just wish I could do something. It's just like the discrimination against replicas.

End Skit

Luke now was starting to feel sad. All those people stuck inside the ranch, and he couldn't do a thing. Damn it, it felt so bad to not be able to help those in front of him!

He didn't have much time to think about it though, as he heard something rustle behind him!

Turning around, he saw… a dog. Actually, he wasn't even sure it could be called a dog. It was BIG, first of all. Like four times the size of a wolf. And second of all, it had white fur with a teal green mane, and large ears. Not what you would see on a normal dog.

Luke was about to reach for the Key of Lorelei when he heard a (very strangely accented) voice:

"Dagnabit, Noishe! What will it take ye to… hm?" The voice belonged to a short, stout man with bushy brown eyebrows and a thick goatee. And he seemed to notice Luke.

"Ah! Sorry about that! Noishe wasn't bothering ye, was he?'

"Um, no. I just heard your uh, pet behind me and thought he was a monster."

"Ah, sorry. He does that from time ta time. Now pardon me askin', but what are ye doing out here? It not the safest place ta walk around, given all the monsters an' all."

"Well, I was on my way to Iselia. Am I going in the right direction?" Luke asked.

"Yes, as a matter of fact! Just keep headin' south, and you'll see the town in no time." The man seemed oddly enthusiastic about helping a complete stranger.

"Okay! That you, uh…."

"Dirk. Dirk Irving."

"Thank you!"

"No problem. Dwarven vow #2: Never abandon someone in need!"

"You're a dwarf?"

"Yeah. Is there somethin' wrong with that?" Dirk's voice lowered into an almost threatening level.

"No!" Luke said quickly. "I've just never seen a dwarf before. I'm just a little surprised."

"Ah, sorry. No harm done. Now if you'll excuse me, I need to get back to work." And with that, Dirk and Noishe walked away.

"That was... interesting. So that's what a dwarf looks like."

"Yes. And he wasn't lying about Iselia's location. It should be about 5 or so minutes to get there."

"Nice! Let's get moving!"

0o0o0o0o0

(A/N): Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd that's Chapter 2. Please, tell me if Luke sounds right. I don't want to mess his or any other character's personalities. Anyways, please, feel free to review, favorite, whatever. Thanks for reading!

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