Disclaimer: Tales of Xillia, its sequel, Tales of Xillia 2, and all other titles in the Tales series belong to Bandai Namco. This work is simply the work of a fan of the series and is not intended to be sold for profit.

Author's Note: Welcome to the rewrite of End of an Era, or as I'd like to call it, End of an Era R. I have to admit that I started the original story without having played Tales of Xillia 2, and because of that, some of the events I had planned conflicted with the game, characters (namely Leia) were radically different than what was depicted in the game, and a few other items. As such, I chose to rewrite the chapters I had rewritten so far to accommodate the story of the Tales of Xillia 2.

So what's changed exactly? After playing Tales of Xillia 2, I then researched some supplemental material for the game to get an idea of a timeline. Apparently, the epilogue of Tales of Xillia 2 takes place 10 years after the game, and so, I had to push the events of the story to take place during that time (after all, with a title like End of Era, it wouldn't make sense for the story to take place six years after the game's events and then have Tales of Xillia 2's epilogue take place). As such, the story now takes place 10 years after Tales of Xillia 2 as opposed to six years.

Other changes include the current lives of a few characters, namely Leia and Elize. Leia was a Chief Editor for her newspaper according to Tales of Xillia 2's epilogue, and so, it no longer fit that she was in the job market again. Moreover, I made another change to her personal life that will be shown in the rewritten versions of Chapters 2 and 3.

Elize's life is also slightly different; after reading some timeline material, it seemed like Elize would be considered "too old" to be attending a university if ten years have past (heck, Jude had already become a Spyrite researcher at 16!), so I changed her personal life a little bit to better match the timeline.

Otherwise, the rest of the changes can be found within the rewritten chapters themselves. However, I have to admit, the prologue has stayed the same as it is a flashback. Anyway, if you've already read the prologue before, please feel free to skip it and move on to the next chapters, but if you're reading this chapter for the first time, please enjoy!

Prologue

Remarkable, it was the only word the doctor could use to describe his latest discovery. What he had just learned, what he just discovered, it was bigger than anything Exodus had ever hoped to work on; this was bigger than the Lance of Kresnik, so much so that it would render the Otherworld Reactor Plan obsolete.

"Is this thing on? Good," the doctor tapped on the glass of his outdated camera. "This will be my fifth report. For those of you who do not know, my name is Dr. Jarvis Albright and I've discovered what may be a permanent solution to Elympios' mana shortage. This discovery was made five months ago using the Horn of Kresnik. Though originally built to try and communicate with Elympios through the schism of Rieze Maxia using as little mana as possible, I have come across something more valuable in solving our mana problem back home. Here, take a look at this monitor."

Shaking, the doctor turned the camera to face a monitor to his right; though as big as the warehouse room he was in, the contents of the screen were blurry at best, static scratching throughout the audio. However, for a few seconds, a figure of what seemed to be a woman revealed itself, though the image itself was black and white in color.

"This woman is a scientist, claiming to be speaking to me from another world called 'Fodra'," the doctor continued his narration. "Now ma'am, can you hear me? If so, please state your name so that our members of Exodus may hear."

"My name…," the audio on the other side of the audio began to distort once again. "Dr… …aude…"

"…we can skip the pleasantries for now, doctor. For now, can you show us how your world is different than our own?"

As if she could hear clearly, the woman then disappeared from her seat, revealing behind her several shutters. Soon after, the shutters then began to roll upward, the monitor going blind with white for a moment. The camera on the other side began to move soon after, pulling towards the light, causing it to grow dimmer. In seconds, a new landscape the doctor had never seen before revealed itself. It was what seemed to be desolate city and wasteland, filled with craters and broken down metal structures. Life itself was completely desolate from this land; there was no water, no plants, and not even a bug. It was almost like Elympios' landscape, but much worse. This was a land that was obviously torn apart by war, the woman that he was speaking to possibly this world's last survivor.

"Such a landscape is nothing that can be found in Elympios nor Rieze Maxia," Dr. Albright continued. "Not to mention the markings on those structures is nothing like the alphabet of our world. To think that there may be other worlds like our own out there. Perhaps it may be bold to also say that this may be another place in our timeline or even another dimension altogether that we are interacting with? Whatever the case may be, if we can somehow modify the Lance of Kresnik to open a gateway into other worlds such as this one, then this may solve-"

Without warning, the entire facility began to glow a bright red. A loud horn began blaring through Dr. Albright's facility, the voice of one of the base's soldiers echoing throughout.

"This is Sergeant Garland of the 15th Brigade; the east wing of Section 18 is under attack. Requesting immediate assistance!"

"What the, is that a child?" another voice from the speaker asked.

"She's the intruder! Fire! Fire!"

The sound of explosions quickly overtook the sound of the soldiers' voices, the noise nearly destroying the speakers themselves. However, the cries of men then overtook this noise. The sounds of burning fires, violent maelstroms, crackling ice, and rumbling earth echoed soon after, the symphony of the elements even heard without the aid of the speakers from where Dr. Albright stood.

"Oh my god, what the hell are you?!" a survivor's voice rang from the speakers.

"I am Milla Maxwell, the Lord of Spirits," the voice of a young girl boomed from the speaker. "Members of Exodus, you shall pay for your sins!"

Another explosion, but this one didn't need the aid of the base's sound system. In that very instant, the large metal door to Dr. Albright's lab suddenly flew open, as well as the bodies of several soldiers. Dropping his camera, the doctor quickly hurried to his desk, shuffling through all of its contents in a panic, not even caring where he was mixing his valuable research notes. Finally he was able to procure a weapon; a mere spyrix cube that only seemed to have one more use.

Turning to the source of the attack, a young girl no older than six emerged from the newly destroyed door. Not a strand of her blond, wavy hair was singed despite the flames she step through, her pink eyes showing a conviction that even the most dedicated of soldiers would have. With her were four strange beings, each representing a different element. There was no doubt that these were the Four Great Spirits the people of Rieze Maxia told legends about, and that girl with them, she had to be the latest incarnation of Maxwell, she just had to be.

…but then, who was that baby she was carrying with her? The child looked no older than a year old, and yet she held him so closely to her heart. Maxwell was said to be heartless monster who killed and maimed the people of Elympios supposedly in the name of spirits and humans, and yet it looked as if she was willing to sacrifice herself to save the child in her arms.

The soldiers with Dr. Albright readied their weapons now, charging at the young girl and baby. One of the soldiers struck first, using a flame thrower in an attempt to burn the children. The young girl quickly turned her back to the fire, kneeling downward as she did so, protecting the tiny life in her arms. The flames dissipated before they could burn her, the blue elemental spirit creating what appeared to be a shield made of water to block the fire. With stream of fire gone, the young girl then swung her arm outward, commanding the green element to attack. A gust of suddenly blew each of the soldiers backward, only to then have the brown elemental spirits hurl sharpened rocks at them afterward, impaling each of them into the far wall like skewers.

Dr. Albright could only tremble as he saw the girl and the Four Great Spirits, his bladder releasing itself as they drew closer. Panicking, he began fiddling with the cube in his hands, trying to get the device to work in a meek attempt to defend itself. The action made the young girl gasp in terror, her eyes beginning to water as he finally got the cube to emit a spark. Before he could unleash its power however, he found himself suddenly bursting into flames. The fire quickly ate through Dr. Albright's clothes, eating away at his flesh and nerves in a manner of seconds, the doctor tripping over his own feet as he burned.

"Help me…" the doctor pleaded toward the camera that he had dropped just moments before. "He-!"

This time it was the earth spirit that finished off the man, smashing a boulder against his skull to silence him for good. The young girl then innocently walked toward the camera, the baby still in her arms. Holding the younger child in one arm, her other hand poked at the video recorder's lens. Her curiosity quickly turned to anger a second later, the sound of more soldiers quickly overtaking the room, hurling the young girl into action once more.

Fire, water, wind and earth worked together as one, maiming, crushing and destroying everyone and everything that got in the girl's path. Blood splattered, bones were crushed, and screams of death continued to echo in this symphony of destruction. Yet amidst the bloodbath, the camera continued to roll, the viewer on the other side intrigued and delighted as she observed the chaos.

"Perfect…," her lips stretched before the monitor suddenly drew blank.

Author's Note: If you're not aware, the prologue is slightly based on the official short story for Tales of Xillia, The Day Milla Maxwell Was Born. This story will be slightly referenced in a future chapter as well; if you haven't read it yet, a summary of the story can be found on the Taleslations' Tumblr web page (I'm sure it can be googled no problem).

Please keep in mind that this story is supposed to be more of a drama/romance than an action/adventure story, so there will not always be action scenes in each chapter. Also, even though Milla and Jude are the primary focus of the story, the rest of the cast will also get a chance in the spotlight in later chapters.

Unfortunately, the first chapter contains a lemon (already), but due to the rules and regulations of FanFiction, I cannot upload such content on this site. If you are interested in reading the uncut chapters (as well as the original chapters of the story before the rewrite), you can find them in my blog, a URL of which can be found in my author profile.

In any case, since the next three chapters have been rewritten, please continue and enjoy.