Tales of the Abyss: Meaning of Birth

[Flower]

Fonons. Essential components of all matter on planet Auldrant.

Ages ago, a new type of fonon was discovered — the Seventh Fonon. Its discovery threw humanity into chaos, for if one could use the Seventh Fonon, one could learn the future. Wars over the Seventh Fonon raged across the lands, ending only when the miasma — a poison from within the planet — covered the entire world. This is when Yulia appeared.

A fonist skilled in prophecy, Yulia saw thousands of years into the future and foresaw a way to seal away the miasma. With the guidance of her prophecies, humanity sealed the miasma deep within the planet.

Over two thousand years passed.

The world is ruled by Yulia's prophecy, known as the Score. People believe in the coming “unprecedented prosperity” promised in the Score, never straying from the path set forth in the Score which will lead them to that prosperity. They look to the Score as revealed by the Order of Lorelei, the religion Yulia founded, and hold that the greatest virtue is to follow the Score faithfully.

Yulia's Score tells of a young man who is necessary in order to bring “unprecedented prosperity.” An heir to the throne of the Kingdom of Kimlasca-Lanvaldear, he was kidnapped as a child by the kingdom's enemy, the Malkuth Empire. Since his return he has been confined to his family's manor for his own safety. He has no idea of the evil that now draws close.

As of late, there has been stirrings between the groups; whispers of the God-Generals, those that serve the Order of Lorelai, have been acting without permission--both countires are at the brink of war, and while things on the surface don't look well, underneath it's getting worse by the minute...

And for that very reason, I must kill my brother.

Her footsteps echoed throughout the emptied room as a glyph appeared on the floor in front of her.

"So...it's time."

The woman stepped onto the glyph, and it replied by giving an omnious glow.

"Prepare..."

She continued onward towards the center, and a brilliant light engulfed her. A moment later she had escaped the room, and the scenery changed; no longer were walls locking her in, but instead grassy hills met her view. Her uniform and long hair fluttered in the breeze as her eyes narrowed in the direction of her target.

Her left hand reached towards her neck and pulled out a blue-jeweled necklace. Gripping it tightly, Tear Grants made her way through the valley, determined to take down her target.

[Endless Warrior Sora]

Luke fon Fabre stared out of the window of his room. He never got to leave this mansion. It was only seven years ago when he was kidnapped by Malkuth, but that was only based on what he was told.
"Why can't I remember anything?" He silently asked himself, turning away form the window. A ringing filled his ears his head began to hurt deeply.

"Augh!" He cried as he cluthced the sides of his head. It soon ended, as he exhaled. "Those headaches again..."


Mateo yawned, waking up from his slumber. He slowly edged toward the door, where kitchen lie, already prepared for customers. Giving a smirk, he popped on his chef hat and walked towards the meat section. He began cutting, dicing, preparing the food.
"Today's gonna be great!" He said with a smile.

[Skitty Cat]

The sky was perfectly clear, nothing was out of order for the town. A smile touching his lips, he readjusted the brown paper bags in his arms. Since when was it my turn to go shopping today, I did it just the other day, he laughed mentally, finding the situation kind of amusing.

His blue eyes landed on the two children playing, unable to not stop and watch for a while, Guy sat down on one of the benches and watched the two children playing. Remembering the time and that he had to get back to the manor, Guy sighed and stood up, picking the bags filled with fruits and the like headed back to the manor. "Luke, be good and stay in your room until I get back," he whispered.

~- Daath -~

Silence hung in the air of the room; he reached over to the mask on his bedside table. His hand hovering above it, Sync stared down at the mask that helped to conceal what he was. Clenching his teeth, Sync’s eyes flickered over to the mirror. His shirt, nape of the neck green hair was untidy do to him just waking up, his blue-green eyes weren't warm like the Fon Master's, instead they were icy.

He heard the knock on the door, not even turning, Sync grumbled, "What is it?"

"Do you know where Kari is, sir?"

A snarl tearing itself from him, he put the mask on and moved over to the door. Yanking it open, he snapped, "Does it look like I know where she is? Go check with Asch idiot, she normally hangs out with him!" Shouldering his way past the Oracle Knight, Sync headed down the dim hallway, keeping his eyes on the ground, Sync didn't think twice about his bitterness toward the solider.

"Note to self: Talk to Largo about sending his idiots to talk to me in the morning," Sync muttered.

[Nigga Sauce]

Silently, Resh had entered within the Oracle knights base within Daath. His mission was obvious, to kill off the God Generals and everyone related to the reading of the score. A master of his trade, Resh moved throughout the base, taking out only the knights that needed to be taken out, hiding their bodies quickly. Such a rigorous task to find the God Generals or Mohs or the Fon Master. Suddenly something glorious happened. Resh had made his way up to the Fon Master's floor but he didn't know it yet. Making his way to the door, he tried his hardest to try and hear the voices. He couldn't believe his ears, the fon master was right inside. He could hear him. Acting quickly, Resh opened the door, pulled out his sword and pointed it at the Fon Master's face. Calm as ever, Resh said "I'm sorry Fon Master but in order to stop the score, I must do this." Resh paid no mind to the black guy standing in the room.

Van had arrived on time to the castle. He had already spoken to Luke's father about very important matters. But now was time to get Luke and train him. It had been awhile since their last training session and he felt he needed to test the boy. Besides he had to make sure the replica could handle himself if the real one died. Walking upon Luke's room, he noticed Guy as Guy walked past him. Nodding to him, he then knocked on Luke's door. "Luke it's time for training. I need to make sure your not slacking." Van said in such a suave voice which was his usual voice.

[Ubiquity]

Tavish had quite the busy day, with participating the ritualistic notation of reading the score and all, but the only thing that was actually taxing was the conversation he'd been having with Ion for the past 2 hours or so. It was just the idea of fonons and what they could actually be used for that drove him t be friends with people that others either couldn't stand or just weren't of high enough status to be around. Apparently Tavish was of more than just some common stature, his outfit and the fact that he was with the Fon Master just might have been hints of this, but it was all in a days work for him. He enjoyed times like these, just letting the mind bask in what could be in reality. "yes I agree with you completely Tavish the last time that occurred the score happened even more dire in circumstance than predicted, so it makes sensed that the time will come again." Ion sat calmly, though he looked a bit tired than he should have as he spoke to Tavish whom merely smiled, and rolled his eyes.

"What?? I'm serious about this. I mean it can't be wrong anyway, its the score...." Ion coughed a bit and then turned towards the door as Tavish moved around the room, making note of the first talk session they had during the day.

Tavish had a lurking gleam in his eye as Ion coughed louder and then Tavish started to say something, but the door was abruptly opened and some random guy rushed into the room and threatened Ion. "I'm sorry Fon Master but in order to stop the score, I must do this." Tavish looked at Ion, whom started to cough again. It was like the two didn't even care.

"What?? Are you lost or something?? How did you even get in here?? I mean this looks like a joke but I have the mind to burn of all the flesh on that annoying looking frame of yours right now."

Ion looked alarmed at this point. "Umm this isn't good maybe we should...."There was a boom was a small fire ball slammed into the sword pointed at Ion and Tavish shook his arm and rolled his eyes.

"Wow, who the hell are you anyway?? Oh wait, you're.....he stared harder, RESH." Ion stood up and backed away, as Tavish burst into flame but seemed completely unharmed. "Do I need to kill you on here??"

[Endless Warrior Sora]

"Luke it's time for training. I need to make sure your not slacking."

Master Van! Luke gave a grin. One of the few people he actually looked up to. Master Van would always come around to train him so he could fight better and Luke had a lot of fun. But this wasn't about fun and games, now he really had to beat Master Van this time. He moved over to closet and grabbed the wooden practice sword there and walked out his room, and seeing Guy and Van there.

"Oh, hey Guy. Gonna watch me train?,' He asked his best friend, with a haughty smirk. He then looked to his master. "I'm ready when you are, Master."

[Zeagal]

Allen closed the door to his chambers and began to walk down the hall in the direction of the main cathedral where an escort would be waiting. Mohs had been tipped off to a possible location of the seventh fonstone, and with Tear away the duty of inspecting the location fell to Allen. Allen had been working for the Order for a little over a year now and had gotten used to dead end missions like this. He was sure it was just another fake and was getting fed up with Mohs and his demands only putting up with it so that he might increase his odds of finding his brother Leo by getting on Mohs' good side. It was working so far, being a seventh fonist has its advantages...

"Are you ready to depart sir?" one of the soldiers in Allen's escort asked.

"...Wha-uh Yeah," Allen who had been lost in thought replied, "Let's just get this over with."

[Beastly]

Subashi woke up in his home on a regular day. His job was being an oracle knight to protect the empie of kimlasca lavendar. He quickly rushed to the castle to report in to Grandmaster Moh's. He knew that if he didn't arrive on time, he would be severely punished. After 20 minutes, he finally arrived at Moh's dorm. "Subashi, you finally made it", "Yes sir"said Subashi as he panted for his life. "Your assignment for the day is to wipe out the advancing malkuth forces to the east border" said Moh's. "the task must be completed by the end of the day". Subashi rushed to start his task.

[Flower]

"Good morning, Princess."

Natalia Luzu-Kimlasca Lanvaldear nodded to each servant that greeted her as she made her way to the audience hall. "Good morning to you as well." she replied with a smile.

Opening the doors to the hall, she was surprised when she found it empty. "Oh? Where is Luke?" she demanded, pacing her hands on her hips as her green eyes searched the hall, as if perhaps Luke had hid behind one of the statues.

"I do believe the young Lord is training with Lord Vandesdelca." one servant replied to her with a bow. "My sincerest apologies, Princess, shall I go fetch him?"

"No need...I'll go see him myself." she replied haughtily, turning on her heel and marching towards the Duke's manor.

---

"Someone is asking for you, ma'am." a knight spoke with a salute, staring at a woman with her back turned to him.

"Tell them I'm busy." Legretta the Quick replied curtly, her hand on her blonde ponytail.

"It seemed urgent."

"I said tell them I'm busy." the woman barked. "Don't make me repeat myself."

"Of course." the knight replied, walking away and leaving the woman to herself.

As the knight left the room, the woman walked over to the vanity, her cold reflection gleaming at her as she turned towards the door.

"Idiots..." she muttered under her breath, opening the first drawer to reveal a pair of twin fon-tech handguns. After placing them in the holsters on her belt, she walked out of her room, only to meet her fellow God-General.

"Sync." she stated in a greeting, though it hardly seemed like it. "May I ask why you're staring at the ground while you're walking?"

---

"Baticul--The City of Light..." Tear said to herself as she eyed the city from a distance, pausing in the middle of the road leading into the city. Van was here, in the royal castle somewhere. After a small breath of relieving some anxiety, she walked in.

The city was bustling, as most cities do: People running around, doing errands, talking to one another, doing whatever it was that the Score told them. Paying no mind to them, Tear approached the elevator and walked onto the platform as the gates closed behind her.

It lifted her higher above the coty, and before she knew it, she was outside the castle gates. Guards stood outside them, weapons at their side as they watched for intruders.

Hiding behind guards, Van? If only that were enough. Tear thought as she gave a slight giggle, walking towards the guards.

"Halt! What business have you with the Royal--" one started.

"O melody beckoning toward the Abyss..." Tear chanted, and before either guard could do anything, she started to sing. "Tue rei ze croa riou tue ze..."

As if a spell had been cast upon them, the guards slumped down, paralyzed. Without any other interruptions, Tear stepped past them, chanting again to make sure no one else got in her way.

"Tue rei ze croa riou tue ze..."

[Skitty Cat]

Rapping on the door, she waited for a moment, than a voice said, “Come in!”

She smiled as she pushed open the door, stepping into the small rectangular office. Her eyes drifted to the image behind the desk, her smile touched her eyes, finally. The fabric, which the gold tuning fork rested on, was dark purple with gold trimming. Walking around the desk she touched the fabric, it was soft and silky under her fingers; she was stuck in her uniform for the Order. “Hello, what’s brought you here Kari?”

Jumping a little she turned to look at the Fon Master, she saw the other person in the room too, bowing respectively Kari whispered, “How are you today, Master Ion?”

A kind smile on Ion’s sweet, pale face. She straightened and returned the gesture; Kari tried to gather her thoughts in order; but lost them when someone she didn’t recognize entered the room. Keeping her guard up, she eyed the man and listened while he threatened the Fon Master. "I'm sorry Fon Master but in order to stop the score, I must do this.”

Kari snarled once, holding her staff at the ready; her eyes like chips of ice. She didn’t did not have time to ask a question before Tavish attacked the intruder and said, “Resh.”

“Okay, that explains who you are. Now, who the hell sent you!” She sneered, glaring at the intruder now identified as Resh. Tavish burst into flames after that, Kari rolled her eyes at him at this.

She always knew he was a hot-head, this just went and proved it. Not taking her eyes off of Resh, she muttered, "Well, Tavish, what do you want to do on this?"

~- Engeve -~

Cali glanced back at the rappigs; she returned her attention to the farmer a second later. “Miss Taiyou, may I ask why you’re here?”

She laughed quietly for a moment, brushing a loose strand of hair out of her eyes; Cali picked up an apple and examined it. "I'm heading back to Grand Chokmah to visit my parents, maybe even check in with His Majesty." She replied, looking at the farmer she added cheerfully, "I would like this apple too, here's the right amount."

Laying down the correct amount of Gald, she placed it in her item bag and headed toward Rose's house. Cali thought about the current situation, Malkuth and Kimlesca were on the verge of war, and everyone wanted to know the Score. I wonder how Mother and Father are doing, it's been a while since I've last been to see them she thought.

~- Kimlesca-Lavender, Fabre Manor -~

Handing the bags off to the chief, Guy stretched and headed toward the courtyard. He noticed Van heading toward Luke's bedroom. He quickly switched direction and fell into step with Van, he watched him nod his head in greeting. Guy knew that his friend would be out in two seconds flat, after all Luke loved training with Van.

He was right. Guy looked at Luke and smiled, the red head never ceased to be haughty. "Oh, hey Guy. Gonna watch me train?" He laughed at the haughty smirk on Luke's face; no offense to him but Luke could be extremely naive to things around him.

“Sure, why not, I’ve got nothing else to do anyway," he replied. Grinning at Luke, he turned around and moved over to a bench. "I'll sit here and watch you two go at it, alright?" He commented, knowing that neither one would really mind.

~- Daath, again -~

Sync kept moving the way he had left his room, that was until he heard a door open. Glancing up, he saw Legretta and groaned mentally. Why did he have to run into her? He sighed and met her gaze; she stated a greeting, although it sure didn't sound like one. "What do you want now?" He growled, eyeing her behind the safety of his mask.

"May I ask why you're staring at the ground while you're walking?"

He looked at the wall and muttered a quick, "Tch," before returning his attention to her. Sync looked her in the eye and retorted, "It's none of your business what I do Legretta; at least that was the last thing I knew."

A cold smirk coming to his face, Sync said sarcastically, “Besides, shouldn’t you be doing what your ”precious” Commandant Grants wants?”

[Nigga Sauce]

The fireball slammed into Resh's sword, knocking it back. "Damn. I see you must be new. If your protecting Ion then i'll have to kill you as well. I won't let this second chance escape me to kill him. I'll take both of you on if I must." Looking around with only his eyes, Resh scouted out the room. It was medium sized room, so not quite the best place to fight, but he would work it out. "Too bad I have to fight someone so beautiful." Resh said to Kari, his eyes meeting with hers. Acting quickly, the assassin thursted his sword toward Kair. Right as the thurst was finished, he swung the sword at Tavish in way so that Ion would also be in the way of the swing.

Van smiled at Luke's confidence. "Okay Luke. Let's begin." Pulling out the wooden weapon, Van lunged forward. If Luke wanted a fight then he would get a full blown fight. Swinging with quickness, Van brought the wooden sword down at Luke's shoulder without anytime for Luke to react. Jumping back, Van commmented "You must act faster Luke. Now let's see if you can counter this. DEMON FANG!" Van swung the sword and a shockwave of energy traveled along the ground toward Luke. Hopefully the boy had been training and remembered how to use it.

[Omega Prime]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The day was calm and peaceful, no one would guess about the annoyance tugging at the solider. Never breaking stride, he pushed open the doors to the palace and headed straight to Emperor Peony's chambers. "Your Majesty," he said formally, remaining calm.

The emperor turned to look at his childhood friend, grinning innocently at the blonde Peony said, "What honor do I have to see you here, Jade?"

"...."

Jade didn't break eye contact, he held Peony's blue-violet gaze with his scarlet. A smile on his face, he listened as Peony prompted, "Is there something wrong? Did someone get hurt?"


Looking away from Peony and focused on the rappigs his eyes resting on the beautiful female rappig that was well taken care of. His lip twitched in annoyance, not looking away from it, he commented, "Your Majesty, how many times must I tell you not to name your rappigs after living people? Especially after someone’s sister without his or her permission?” Glancing back at him, Jade added, "You know I don't like that."

"Oh come on! They're so cute and your sister approves!"

His eye twitching, Jade took one step forward and said calmly, "Nephry may approve, but I do not remember saying I approve it."

Shaking his head, Jade wheeled and headed toward the door. His hand on the handle, he glanced back at his friend. "I would greatly appreciate it, if you never do that again, Your Majesty." Jade pulled it opened and walked out, closing it behind him, before Emperor Peony even spoke. Sighing, he walked out of his friend's chambers and headed back to his office. "I really need to swing by Daath or somewhere that isn't here," he muttered, rubbing his temples as he left the palace.

[Zeagal]

"It was a big rock with graffitti on it!!" Allen said throwing his arms in the air as he paced back and forth across Mohs' office. Like he expected the tip-off on the location of the seventh fonstone led to yet another fake. "For crying out loud Mohs this is getting ridiculous."

"I'm sorry Allen, but we cannot afford to overlook even one possibility." Mohs replied sitting forward slightly in his chair, hands rested on the desk in front of him.

"But sir, the situation has surpassed the point of a simple mistake, it's mockery!" Allen concluded coming to a halt in the center of the desk. "I will not tolerate the Order being insulted in this manner any further. Something needs to be done."

Mohs sighed. He knew Allen was right, but finding the real fonstone was a most important venture for the Order. Mohs leaned back in his chair and twiddled his thumbs before saying, " I suppose it has gotten rather out of hand. These tips are causing us hindrance in our search...counterproductive. I'll see to it more detailed records are taken at the time of a requested search for the fonstone as to avoid this unpleasentness in the future should another questionable request be made."

Allen looked up and smiled. "Why thank you sir!" He really wasn't that excited. To tell the truth he was annoyed by Mohs more than ever. Thinking that only an idiot wouldn't have thought to do this beforehand.

"Hey Mohs, do you think you coul-" Allen began, but was interrupted when an Oracle soldier burst through the door to Mohs' office in the most urgent of matters. Both Allen and Mohs were taken aback.

"Yes, what do you want?" Mohs said rather impatiently.

"It's Ion, Sir. He's being attacked!" The soldier exclaimed with an exasperated tone.

"Allen," Mohs started.

"Yeah, I'm on it." He replied as he left hurridly, followed by the Oracle soldier.

[Skitty Cat]

"Too bad I have to fight someone so beautiful."

Her eyes cold she quickly raised her staff and blocked his attack, sliding backwards a bit. "Flattery's going to get you no where with me," she stated coldly. Normally she wouldn't say that, but she wasn't in the mood to be silent. Quickly switching to instinct, Kari raised her hand and hastily whipped out a fonic arte on Resh. "Water Barrier!" She muttered, already relieved as a wall of water rose up and took the hit for Ion.

Focusing back on Resh, she didn't say anything but instead she used Splash. She watched him for any sign of return fire with, she wasn't about to loose her temper here, not with the Fon Master in danger. Never taking her eyes off of Resh, Kari moved so she was standing between him and Ion, after that was down she ordered sharply, "Master Ion, please go into your bedroom now."

She didn't have to turn around to know that Ion did what he was told; keeping eye contact she held her staff ready and waited for Resh's next move. Why does he want to kill Ion? Doesn't he know that expect for the Planet Score, basically any Seventh Fonist can read it? she thought.

~- Baticul -~

He watched Van lunge at Luke, but his attention was averted from them as a song drifted toward him. Surprised, he watched the guards that had heard it too collapse. Not good he thought. Guy stayed on his guard, completely forgetting about the training session he listened to the breeze. "Tue rei ze croa riou tue ze..."

Quickly getting up, Guy looked around him, trying to shake off the sudden wave of exhaustion that washed over him. He heard Van criticize Luke, but didn’t truly hear it, if that makes any sense. "What's going on here? Who's singing this fonic hymn?" He asked himself, searching for the source of the song.

[Endless Warrior Sora]

Luke barely managed to block the sword coming down on his shoulder, and was quickly sent to the ground with the Demon Fang. His jaw clenched as he got up and charged at his teacher.
"I may not know Demon Fang but I do have something else!" As he was about to unleash his first arte, he began hearing something. It was a song of some sort, as he began clutching his head.

"W..what is that...song?! What's going on?!" He asked himself, feeling another headache coming along.




Mateo looked up from serving customers. For some wierd reason, he could hear song in the background. Though there was no one playing music or anything. Strange. And it seemed to be coming over from the way Baticul was, but how in the world did he even hear that?