Tales of Eternia: Journeys contains MAJOR SPOILERS for the game Tales of Eternia, from beginning to end. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.
This began as a short story. I suppose a lot of stories do. Characters have a way of getting away from you, of taking on a life of their own, choosing their own paths, and, like children leaving home, it's hard to watch them go and not want to help them along whenever you can. So if they decide to venture into more depth than you might have originally envisioned their story to require, it's difficult not to go with them. At least, unlike children, they don't seem to mind a little hand-holding along the way.
I was a bit disappointed with the ending of Tales of Eternia the first time I played it. I had grown to love allthe characters I had been given the opportunity to meet during my journey through the game, and the end scenes felt rather... anti-climactic. I wasn't ready for it to be over. And Keele had become my favorite character somewhere in the first third of the game -- where was he at the end? Of course, it was good to see that Reid and Farah made it safely back to Inferia; that they had successfully prevented the destruction of the worlds of Eternia; and that even with that separation, the Van Eltia's modifications could now allow travel between Inferia and Celestia. But where were Keele and Meredy? What kind of closure is there in Farah saying that she hopes they can find them in Celestia? Are they alright? Are they together? Was Meredy okay after almost allowing herself to be consumed by the Dark Aurora? What about Keele's place at the university -- would he want to go back? Or did he plan to stay in Celestia?
So many unanswered questions -- I wanted to give Keele and Meredy the same kind of closure (or semi-closure) that was given to Reid, Farah, and Chat. So I took a notebook and started to write...
...and 20-odd pages later, realised that "closure" was apparently not what any of them wanted. There was more story to tell. Nothing as simple as "And they lived happily ever after" -- no, of course not. And then, of course, Lidia showed up -- "Here we go again," as Keele says -- and there's that little problem with the engines... And suddenly, a whole sequel is born. I'm currently at 165 pages of writing, and hoping to soon see the end in sight.
What can I say? It was their idea; not mine. I just wanted to be able to go along with them again. It was too good an opportunity to miss.
***
As you'll realize, quite a lot of the story takes place in the past -- the shared past of Reid, Farah, and Keele, and their separate pasts, as well. I've made up some things for the sake of the story: Keele not living in Rasheans until he was 4, for example, and his family moving to Barole after the attack on the village. The game implies that he and his parents did go somewhere after the attack, because Reid and Farah discuss the fact that they haven't seen Keele for 10 years. But it doesn't say where. Barole would help explain how Keele found them so quickly when he came looking for them after running away from Inferia City -- he knew the area, having lived there. Keele's interest in boats, mentioned only briefly when he talks about the models he made as a kid (and possibly alluded to in his pride in designing the ill-fated Keel Zeibel in Tales of Eternia: The Animation), I also wanted to expand upon, and gave it a basis in a desire to please his parents.
There are other details I've had to provide where the game wasn't clear or contradicted itself: whether or not Reid's parents were killed when he was 2 or when he was 8 (he tells Meredy they died when he was 2, but when Keele says his parents have forbidden him to go to Regulus Knoll, Reid says his dad told him the same thing); when Keele went to university (if he is 17 during the game's events and already student head of his department [according to the Japanese version of the game], he must have started in his early teens); why Farah went to and then left Regulus Dojo; whether or not Reid and Farah are, in fact, cousins (very distantly, I decided -- in a small village, most people are probably distantly related). Reid is definitely somewhere near a year older than Farah and Keele; the Regulus Knoll flashback implies that Farah is older than Keele, since Keele's parents say he's almost seven, and Farah says she was seven at the time. Whether that's accurate or not, I've adopted that for the story: Reid is older than Farah, who's older than Keele. I've played the game multiple times, and the last time it was primarily as research for this story -- I feel fairly confident that most of what I've added to the respective stories of the characters does not contradict in-game information, but if you do find a mistake, please e-mail me and let me know! The only thing I've actually changed, and it was by choice, not mistake, is Farah's mother being dead already from the earliest past events described. It seemed to fit in with some of the impulsive wildness of her character that she might have grown up pretty much unsupervised, her father caring, but busy with duties as village elder.
There is a plot to be found here, but a lot of the story is character exploration. Consider yourself warned now -- if you want action, you might want to wait for the (possible) sequel. There is action to be found, but you'll have to wade through quite a lot of pondering -- particularly on Keele's part -- and flashbacks to find it.
One thing I've tried very hard not to do is allow the characters in their ponderings, particularly Keele, to fall into the trap of being, for lack of a better word, "emo". It's very easy to let musings turn to wallowing in self-pity, and that gets old just as quickly on paper (or your computer screen) as it does verbally. I apologize if they have their moments; I've done my best to keep them under control!
I moved abroad 3 years ago, when I was 20. It was the most frightening thing I've ever done in my life -- I don't think anything will ever compare to how it felt to get on that plane that would take me far away from home... I'd never lived more than 200 miles from my parents, and even then, I only lasted about 6 months before moving back home. This time, I was going 3,000 miles away, to a whole different country, by myself. The first few months living here in England were both the most exciting and most terrifying I'd ever experienced. (And some of the most eye-opening, as well -- what's wrong with these people that they can like Marmite, but dislike peanut butter and jelly!?) I think some of those feelings have come out in my attempting to describe Keele's reaction to finding himself in Celestia at the story's beginning. It's been rather cathartic to write those bits -- and they've also been some of the most fun, because I can really feel Keele's emotions, good and bad. I hope those parts come across as realistically felt.
If you've gotten this far, I'm impressed -- most people don't read author's notes in books, much less online. I appreciate your taking the time to do so, and hope that it will enhance, rather than detract from, the story I have to tell. It's a pleasure to have you here.