“S-sorry, if I was getting in the way. I thought I should help out, since the other guys seemed to have you all outnumbered.”
It was a strange time, the boy was still gathering his wits after a bright light had engulfed him. His party was no where to be found, and the boy wasn’t where he should be. It was only in the distance, did he hear some scuffle going on that he headed over to see what was happening.
Upon arriving, Luca hide behind some bushes and watched as a small militia fought back against a large group that seemed...strange. As if they were like the undead monsters back at the Royal Tombs of Ashihara. Either way, it seemed like they could use the help and Luca wasn’t about to just walk away.
The person he was at the beginning probably would’ve stayed hidden in the sidelines and watched, but the person that he is now is different.
“I should get going, I n-need to find my friends.”
Luca saw everyday as “empty” aside from the usual things that go on. Brought up by his strict father and overprotective mother, Luca was raised to take over the family merchanting business and has live a quiet and easy lifestyle. However it caused him to have no sense of self, making him an easy target for bullying. He developed into a quiet and introverted kid who saw himself as worthless. Til one day, he dreamed of his past life, Asura. From there point on, things began to take a turn for the worst (you can say the only bright side of it was him making friends). He ran away from home due to a group called Arca hunting him and Iria, a girl he encountered when he went to go fetch hot dogs and he discovered to be the reincarnate of Inanna (his past-life lover), because he was discovered to be an Avatar after trying to protect Iria from the soldiers.
At some point they were captured and taken to a Rehabilitation Ranch for Avatars and from there they met a delinquent named Spada Belforma who was later revealed to be the reincarnation of Durandal, Asura’s sword and Chitose Cxarma. Luca felt he had some sort of connection to Chitose, though he couldn’t put his finger on why. Before he could try to figure it out, he, Iria, and Spada were sent to another room to be tested. It was explained that those who were going to join Arca didn’t have to fight. Luca seriously considered it, but after seeing Spada’s and Iria’s objections to it, he couldn’t. They fought against humans who awakened as Avatars when they saw Luca and tried to kill him. Then at some point, Luca closed his eyes, and Spada ended up taking on the enemy himself in order to protect him. The three of them then had a nice ‘reunion’, until Oswald interrupted and informed them they would be going to the Western Battlefield to fight against the Garam army.
They were shipped by train and, upon arriving, were informed that there were special barriers that made it impossible to escape. The three of them met Chitose again, who had taken an interest in Luca. Iria became irritated, and their little reunion was cut short by the commander telling them they were to report onto the battlefield immediately. As soon as they stepped onto it, Luca was suddenly devasted, realizing everything that had happened up to this point. Spada saw this and gave Luca good slap on the back, telling him to believe in his power and to fight to survive. Among the Garam soldiers were Avatars who lashed out at them without a second thought; even a few of the imperial soldiers, who were supposed to be on their side, fought them because of their past grudges against Asura. As they continued to fight, Luca became more and more confident, becoming intoxicated by the battle. The trio took a break, letting Spada explain the whole Devaloka and Naraka thing while Luca slowly realized that “the Fall” of Providence could’ve been linked to the destruction of Devaloka. Another enemy soldier appeared and, instead of attacking them straight on like most other Ratio Avatars, he prostrated himself in front of Iria. Luca stepped in front of her, brandished his sword, and together they fought the soldier.
When the battle was over, Luca laughed, surprising both Spada and Iria; after all, he had been shaking not too long ago, and this was a drastic change. He admitted in becoming caught up in the moment and feared that he enjoyed it too much. Chitose met them shortly and revealed that she had remembered that she was Sakuya in a past life, who had served at Asura’s side with devotion and had loved him, and had hated Inanna for being able to be with him. They were then interrupted by fire coming from the base camp and they rushed towards it, and there they met Ricardo Soldato, a mercenary who had been sent to ambush the imperial army by Garam and had taken it to its knees in a short period of time. They were ready to fight him but in the end the three of them were no match. The trio then realized that this was Hypnos the Reaper and Luca attempted to apologize for what had happened in the past. But suddenly, a pink clad male appeared, spouting nothing but nonsense. It was Hasta who, like Ricardo, was a mercenary who had been hired. Hasta distracted Ricardo long enough for the group to escape, and the group and Chitose parted ways after Luca received a good bye kiss on the cheek. They decided to try to head back towards Naos, as they had originally planned.
The trio made their way over to Naos by a rumor about an Avatar who wiped out the church. By the time they made it, though, the person was already taken away. Exhausted and starved by the amount of time they’ve spent running, they were then taken to a home of one of Spada’s servant, a man named Hartman, who once worked for his family (and is now retired in Naos). After eating, planning, and having a good rest, they set off for a nearby research facility to find the avatar who was taken before. Upon arrival, they discovered a laboratory filled with Avatars in pods. The three found out what’s been going on in the facility. Avatars were taken here to experiment on and used as power source for machines. As they head deeper into the building, they encounter one of those machines and battled with it, finding the person they were searching for sealed up in a pod, Ange Serena who’s the reincarnate of Orifiel, an old enemy who later became allies with Asura. With a bit of persuasion and encouragement, Ange joins the trio and they decide to leave the place behind. Making their way back out the building, they encountered Ricardo, once more and Ange persuaded him to leave them alone. On a job, Ricardo refuses til Ange bribes him into joining them as her bodyguard. Paid with a handsome fee, he obliged and left the place (after a small encounter and battle against a mysterious man).
With that they then made their way back to Regnum to gather info, the group split up. Luca was paired up with Coda and searched the residential district. Walking past his home, a feeling of homesickness swept him away once he smelled his mother’s home cooking. Then suddenly, the door slammed open and inside could hear his father shouting. As the boy eavesdropped, he understood his parents true feelings and met two people two Luca considered to be bullies, always pushing him around and such, and was surprised to be considered an irreplaceable friend between the two. For once, he felt loved. But then a soldier from the Fallen Hunt approached the three. Seeing Luca in distress, the two decided to help Luca by hiding him and let the boy escape. Finally arriving at the sewer Spada mentioned to be his hideout when he ran away from home, Luca encountered an Orphan named Hermana Larmo. After a while, the party regrouped in the hideout due to the soldiers suddenly put on high alert after spotting Luca. Because of this, the group were troubled. They weren’t able to gather much info on Avatars. Hearing that, Hermana decided to take advantage of the situation and offer a trade. To help her locate a miraculous mushroom within Regnum Cavern in exchange for some information on Avatars. The group agreed to lend a helping hand and so they ventured into deep into the cavern that turned out to be deeper inside the hideout.
After having a hard time exploring the cavern, they party found the mushroom (though Coda had taken a bite of it). All of a sudden, a memory circle was activated and they regained the memory of Asura proclaiming the unification of the two worlds at the end of the Devic Wars. Hermana revealed she was the old dragon Vrtra in her past life, who had taken care of Asura his whole life and had been extremely lonely when Devaloka had fallen. Contemplating the memory circle, Ange and Luca discussed the memory at length until the party was tired enough to go ahead and leave. Before they reached the exit they were stopped by a boy named Chien and his two dogs, who demanded that Hermana tell them where the Manifest was. The party fought and won against him, and through it it was revealed that Chien was the Guardian of the Manifest before the fall of Devaloka.
They were stopped outside by a merchant who had caught the orphans and wished to sell them into slavery in Galpos, and Hermana Awakened, scaring off one mercenary but not the other, who turned out to be an Avatar. Hermana and him fought, and she won; the merchant fled for his life, the mercenary revealed he had been in Vrtra’s death in a past life, and promised to take care of the orphans while Hermana was gone. They decided that they would go to the Naos Cathedral’s hidden library, where they learned about the different shrines; by this time, Luca, Ange, and Ricardo had realized what the Cathedral and the Regnum Cavern had in common, and that was that they were both places of worship. Deciding to set off to Ashihara first, they would make their way around the world to Galpos, Tenos, and Garam to see if there were memory circles there as well. They arrived in Ashihara shortly thereafter.
In Ashihara, the party split up in search for clues for where a place of worship may be. Luca was stuck with Iria, and after making a fool of himself by treating it more like a date instead of an information gathering mission, he was left behind by Iria as she went to go gather information by herself. Upset and exhausted, Luca retired to the Inn where he found Chitose. He learned that Ashihara was where she was born, and that she had just returned to visit before she set off again. She was excited to see him again, and Luca was embarrassed, especially with how he couldn’t remember a time they had been alone before. He soon remembered that she had been Sakuya in her past life and that Asura had been aware of her love and yet, he had chosen Inanna over her. He had also learned that Mathias had been someone very close to him and when he expressed concern over it Chitose realized that he hadn’t remembered enough. As Chitose was leaving, Iria came upon them, growing furious. Once she and Luca returned to the group’s meeting spot at the port, she spoke of Luca galavanting off and flirting with girls instead of looking for information. In the end, other teams had found out much more, such as that the people of Ashihara had a custom of worshiping their ancestors as gods. The Royal Tomb seemed like a possible place for a memory circle to be.
When they arrived at the Royal Tombs, the gatekeepers refused to let them in. At that moment, a herd of Armaboars attacked the city, forcing its few citizens into their homes until it subsided. Ange proposed that they exterminate the beasts in exchange in allowancing them into the tombs and after discussing it with a man named Jiriochou. They defeated the Armaboars and were granted access and made their way in (while they went through the difficult, twisting halls of the tomb meant to confuse graverobbers and thieves). Deep within the tombs, they encountered a mural that told of the creation of the world and the birth of the Devas that explained about the Primeval Giant and how gods prospered while some became greedy and were banished to Naraka and became humans.
In the mural were three Devas (obviously two were Inanna and Asura). Luca realized, that one of them were Mathias’ former incarnation—the Overlord, ruler of all Sensus. As they were pondering, Iria found the memory circle and stepped inside it. It turned out to be something that she didn’t want to remember. Inanna, frightened, attempting to persuade Asura not to use the Manifest. It answered none of their questions. However, as they were leaving, Ricardo noticed another mural and upon the group reading it they learned that it was of the Overlord invoking the Manifest. Luca’s anger welled up within him and cursed Mathias to the heavens. He thought that the Overlord, the ruler of Sensus, had used the Manifest to destroy Devaloka, and that it was his fault that their world was decaying as it was. He learned differently when Chitose stepped into their way while they were making their way out. She asked him to join Arca, Mathias’s group, once more, and Luca refused her, citing the Overlord’s use of the Manifest as the reason. Chitose interjected, saying it was Inanna’s fault that Devaloka had fallen. That she had betrayed and deceived Asura, and it had lead to the destruction of the heavens. She then proclaimed that if Luca stayed with Iria, she would betray him again. He didn’t know if this was true or not, though he knew that he had made a vow to protect Iria and stepped forward to help protect her. At Chitose’s defeat, she laughed and fled, saying that Iria would surely betray them.
The moment the left the tombs, the next ship to Garam was about to depart. They left Ashihara behind, arriving in the volcanic land before long. After some searching, they found that the Kelm Volcano was the place enshrined as the body of the god of the forge, Vulcan. They were warned by the townspeople and the guards that a psycho had gone in, one by the name of Hasta, and the group shrugged their shoulders and said they could take him. They were allowed to enter and, after much sweating and complaining about the heat (except for Spada, who was too busy thinking about Vulcan) they reached the memory circle. Hasta was nearby, and he stepped into the circle, triggering the memory of Asura and Durandal delivering the final blow to the evil spear Gaebolg. They suddenly, collectively realized that Hasta was the spear and proceeded to fight him. They soon backed him into a corner, prepared to kill him no matter how pitiful he looked, when he pleaded for his life.
Like the dumbass he is, Luca stepped forward and let his guard down. Seizing the opportunity Hasta pierced him with his spear and fled the scene, leaving Luca to die, but thankfully the group rushed him to the Inn as quick as they could. Luca slept for three full days, dreaming of Asura. At last, Asura had obtained the power to reunite the two worlds; instead, the eventual outcome was nothing like he had dreamed. Asura’s world was destroyed instead of being born anew, and with this in mind Luca woke up with more questions than answers. He was overjoyed to see everyone worried about him, clustered around his bed; he had never felt a truer warmth of friendship, and his memories of the Devic Era paled in comparison. Or the pain—Spada hugged him twice, tightly and boy did it hurt, but Luca felt only happiness at being liked enough to be worried over.
Though without time to waste, the group quickly made their way onto the next ferry to Galpos, a city that was defeated in a war in the past. As they made their way through, they were given info about how there were recent raids by monsters. According to the keeper, the monsters came in great numbers, led by a boy and two dogs. As soon as the group heard about it, a certain boy came in mind.
Incomplete, I’ll have to play the game again to finish it off.
