Tales of Zestiria: The World Beyond

Chapter 1

"Arthur, are you sure this is where we need to go?" Celica said as she held onto her partner's arm.

"I'm sure of it!" Arthur said with a nervous yet calm tone.

Arthur Rulay, a member of Aero Lumera's Salvation Front, a group dedicated to exterminating monsters in the world of Lumina. He was a simple knight and son of the governor, Stan Maxwell. He had light blonde hair that was short with light, almost icy, blue eyes. He wore a long white cape with light blue as an inverted color; white and golden top and shoe gear; black pants; and long white gloves. And his partner Celica, his spirit companion, and old friend.

Celica had white hair that turned green near the tips with matching eyes. She wore a long-sleeved, green, and white dress, with green and white heels. She was found by Arthur and his team during a war between two countries and took her back to Aero Lumera. At first, she didn't have any memories or even a personality, but as she traveled with Arthur, she learned how to live, and gained a personality of her own, and something of a liking to her partner.

The two had ventured their way into a temple and found themselves lost in the corridors. Celica held onto her partner's arm; she was scared, she hadn't gone into a temple before and anything could come out of the darkness to attack. She had a good relationship with her partner, of course, the two were assigned to be on the same team and would be separated if either grew in power or rank. They were initially paired up because Arthur was the one who found her and she didn't want to leave his side.

Something then came out of the shadows and scared Celica causing Arthur to put his hand on his sword's handle just in case.

"Isn't it amazing?! Look at these ruins!" A boy walked down the hallway. He had short brown hair, green eyes, and wore a white cloak over his blue shirt and black pants. He also had white boots and white gloves.

"I wonder how old it is." His friend stood by his side and looked at the markings on the ruins; something Arthur even hadn't noticed. His friend had noticeably light blue hair, almost silver, hiding a green gem on his forehead, and lavender eyes. He wore a blue shirt and cape with white and gold embellishments.

"Oh hey!" The first boy noticed the two.

"Hello," Arthur said as Celica hid behind him.

"I haven't seen you around before, are you a traveler?" The boy asked.

"Sorey! Don't just go up to random people and talk to them!" His friend said.

"But Mikleo," Sorey looked to Mikleo; it looked like he was just too excited to meet new people to think about it.

"Don't worry about it. Sorey, right? My name is Arthur Rulay."

Arthur took Sorey's hand and smiled at the boy. Celica then grabbed the cape and pulled on it, she didn't like strangers and stayed behind him. Arthur smiled and asked for the way out, Sorey took out a map and pointed to where the exit was. It was a long way from where they stood and Arthur had to memorize exactly where to go before, he and Celica headed off. Sorey waved goodbye to the strangers before Mikleo shoved his back to tell him to move on. They were on a time limit and needed to finish before it got dark.

The temple was dark, with only Arthur's flat-end sword glowing being the light to guide his and Celica's way. There was a part of him that wished Celica was less anxious around strangers, she acted the same way when she met his friends for the first time. Mileena Nive and Cordelia, his teammates who he met on a mission and who enjoyed teasing him whenever they had the chance. It was because he was friendly towards them that Celica started to like them more.

Then Arthur stopped to think, he hadn't seen Sorey and Mikleo before, not Aero Lumera or any of the other countries, and their clothing was different from his. He looked at the markings on the temple walls and saw he didn't understand the language. The temples he usually visited had text in the same language his father taught him, making him think he was in the wrong place. He was sent to the temple because it showed up without any warning. He and Celica entered, and after some time of wandering around aimlessly, they found Sorey and Mikleo.

Celica tugged on his cloak again, she saw from his expression that he was anxious about something. He sighed, he wasn't going anywhere by standing still and thinking. He knew how to get out of the temple with Sorey's help, so decided it was best to go outside and see for himself what the outside looked like.

Before they made it outside, he and Celica were met by monsters that looked as if they were made of gel. Arthur raised his sword, it's glow even brighter than before, and Celica stood behind him. He slashed through the monsters and turned the body into ice, Celica shot a blast of wind at them and shattered them, but it wasn't going to stop them. The shards melted and the monsters returned to their original form.

Arthur changed tactics, the glow on his sword stopped and he summoned a little crystal made of ice to replace the light emitted from it. He charged at the monsters, with his strength and Celica helping him move faster, he cut the monsters into pieces. Then, Celica, with her wind, spread them out far away enough for it to take longer for them to reform. Arthur put his hand on the floor and froze the entire room.

He grabbed Celica's hand and ran with her to the next room. If the monsters couldn't be destroyed, then it wasn't worth it to fight. Especially since neither he nor Celica knew what they were. They both stopped and Arthur caught his breath, he hadn't run like that since Mileena threatened to beat him up if he ate any more of her cake.

"Hey," Celica said. "Where are we?"

"Huh?" Arthur looked up to see lights were above them with star-like patterns and a moon made of gold in the middle.

It was a replica of the night sky, but it was different from the sky he knew. There weren't any figures to represent the other planets, it was just a sky with only stars and the moon. He also didn't recognize the stars. He spent years studying them, their names, their placements, and which planets surrounded them.

"What's wrong?" Celica asked him.

"Look at this sky," Arthur pointed up. "Do you think it looks like Lumina's sky?"

"No, Cerberus should be next to the Moon, Vasusena should be in the north, and I don't see Tamamizu."

"Those stars are usually seen in plain sight, so, where are they?"

"Wait, I heard Sorey and Mikleo talk about night. Something about getting home before dark."

"Do you think it's dangerous after dark?"

"If it's like our world, then yes."

"Then let's go."

(Note 10/13/2020: I just realized how short my chapters were, no wonder chapter numbers rose so fast. I'll be making future chapters much longer than this.

Note: 10/31/2020: I am expanding these chapters to hopefully reach 3K words, 1-3K anyways. I won't repeat or contradict myself and I can only expand with new scenes, character descriptions, and doing more in fight scenes.)