Ar Tonelico: Song of Meryu Rifaiah
"How much time has passed since the swan song was sung? A few centuries? Yes...the time when we lived within the towers, above the Dead Sea, came to an abrupt end many years ago. The Sea rose, and threatened to engulf the towers whole. Perhaps the Wills were displeased with the people of Ar Ciel, or some madman's invention caused the catastrophe to occur, but the cause matters little. Our days were numbered, and there was no time for reflection, only a desperate search for survival. There was nothing we could do to prevent our demise, so it seemed, until the Parting Sky plans surfaced. Written by an eccentric airship engineer, the plans detailed the construction of a ship unlike any other, one capable of crossing the Blastline, and traveling to the moons. It was a longshot, but it was the only hope we had.
The final days were full of turmoil. There was no time to save everybody, and only the best and brightest were accepted into the ship that would break through the skies, leaving Ar Ciel behind. Dest Ciel...a behemoth, carrying an untold number of men and women as well as Ini Omness, the last child of the Ar Tonelico project, a tower that had yet to be mounted, for a new world. A vicious war swept across Ar Ciel, as those left behind refused to die, but Dest Ciel could not be stopped. The cage of the Blastline was shattered, and we ventured into the stars, to find a new world to call our own. Meryu Rifaiah...the world that has been our home since then. The world with skies alive, with true soil beneath our feet. Slowly, we have begun to rebuild, determined to avoid the mistakes of the past. But while the world has changed, we have not. Now that there is no crisis in sight, old hatreds have flared up, and infighting has begun to occur, with the organization that calls itself Opened Eyes growing into a looming threat. As the current Chief of Security, it is my duty to preserve the safety of our people. While bounty hunters and vigilantes have covered our ever-expanding settlement so far, that will no longer do. The people of Dor Aje should not have to rely on mercenaries to sleep well at night. I will issue a call for volunteers today. May the Wills arrange for people with a noble heart to answer to it..." -Casial Rainor, Sixth Chief of Security of Dest Ciel.
