Ambience

Ambience Hikaru Sermons
Destiny sucks
Age: Appearance: 17 / Actual:13
Race: Human(?)
Status: Alive
Affiliation: Mana Tribe

Origin

Ambience was born under peculiar circumstances; Aura conceived him while in a dreamlike subconsciousness during a wild mana flux in the Mana Holyland. As such, and though Aura gave subsequent birth to him in the normal sense, his biological creation was anything but "normal." He shares physical traits with both Aura and Seikou, the latter being intimately related to the dreamlike state at the time, having the same midnight-blue hair as Aura and red irises akin to his father. His birth signaled the end of the then-current Mana Tree's reign, as the Dark Manabeast would destroy it soon after, and in the days that followed, Aura gave him up to Seikou to take care of, as her duties within the Holyland seemingly prevented her from doing so herself.

The boy grew quickly as the years passed into what anyone else would acknowledge as a normal human male, albeit some have found his red eyes to be rather intimidating, even for a child. With only nearly seven years since Aura's departure, his strange biology caused his physical growth to outpace his chronological growth, and he appeared closed to ten years of age at that time.

History

Ambience's adventurous nature would lead him to discover Orbonne Monastery a short distance away from the cabin where he and Seikou resided in Oreyndur Forest. Befriending both the Holy Knight Agrias Oaks and Princess Ovelia Atkascha, he became a regular visitor to the Monastery and received an honorary Lordship title from the latter, as well as a treasured sword to call his own from the former. This encouraged Ambience to explore further, and while his father, Seikou, stayed behind at the cabin, Ambience eventually found himself in the City of Truce, where he would then rapidly become involved in multiple different affiliations, one of which would invariably lead to the resurrection of the Sinistrals. During this time, Ambience's continued growth in both his physical and magical nature began to weaken his mental state, and he became a danger to the Middle Realm as a result. Aura was able to capture him before he caused any major harm, but his memory was subsequently wiped of the previous year's events in order to provide mental stabilization. He was also given a limiter in the form of a simple black choker with a diamond inset, stating that his inherent power was vast enough that it could potentially bring about calamitous destruction to the entire Cleft of Dimensions if not suppressed. Despite these grave tidings, Ambience returned to his original life and attempted to pick up where he left off, albeit with far-fewer familiar faces along the way. In the process of this, he became aware of the plot to return the Sinistrals to the Middle Realm, and subsequently returned to the Holyland with his mother, Aura, to allow the lower realms to deal with their own fallout. When the Sinistrals then revived the Fortress of Mana, Ambience was forced to retrieve the Sword of Mana and take up the fight alongside Haut and Sunflash to bring the Sinistrals down before they could subjugate the Middle Realm and its denizens. Though the Sinistrals would meet their end during the battle, the Manabeast would then attack the Fortress itself, requiring Ambience to bring it down in order to prevent subsequent destruction in the wake of its rage. During this fight, the Fortress of Mana was rocked by a massive explosion, and Ambience did not return in the aftermath.

Four years passed in that time.

Ambience would eventually awaken back in the Middle Realm with no knowledge of how he survived the Fortress' destruction. He was taken in and nursed back to health by the Worzen family, who lived at the north edge of Faron Woods as a family of beastmen woodcutters. Integrating himself among them, and being especially taken to by the youngest daughter, Lyll, Ambience discovered that his return came with no small amount of physical casualties, including his sight and various inherent abilities that he could no longer utilize effectively. In addition, his link to the Mana Holyland was apparently severed, and he could neither detect nor be detected by any of the Mana Spirits. He spent a year with his new family while attempting to figure out how to proceed with his own life, and near the end of that tenure, he and Lyll would find their way to the Festival of Lights and reunite with Mollianne and Sunflash, two of the few people he did still remember from his past.

In the midst of bidding the Worzen family farewell, a group of shadowed assailants converged upon the household with little intent other than to seemingly mock Ambience over his physical shortcomings, and just as quickly left. Concerned for what this meant for them, Sunflash and Ambience left for Viorar to determine a strategy on how to proceed forward, but were attacked by two of these shadows en route. Surviving the conflict, they continued to Viorar, but were separated by some unfortunate incident involving Ambience and Mollianne, triggering the former to flee the city and unintentionally teleport himself halfway across the continent, where he would then reunite with Erim, who had once been a close friend prior to her acknowledgement and revelation as the Sinistral of Death. Casting aside their differences, the two were then attacked by another shadow, the events of which returned Erim to full power and forced her to take up residence inside Ambience's body in order to prevent the return of the other Sinistrals. Ambience continued to Orbonne Monastery from there, and was welcomed with open arms back into the pseudo-family he had left half a decade before.

Ambience is somewhat unstable from the revelation that he perished during the assault on the Fortress of Mana and was then revived years later, with no knowledge as to how or why. The combination of the emotional toll on his continued biological growth matched with the strain of his continually-forced involvement of matters against his will have driven him up a cynical wall, but he presses on despite his misgivings, hoping to one day be reunited with his mother in the Holyland at some point.

Abilities, Powers & Traits

Prior to his death during the battle at the Fortress of Mana, Ambience's prowess for both sword and spell were nearly unrivaled. It is said that the limiter he wore was necessary to prevent his inherent power from becoming so great that it would drive him insane and cause great disaster to all the Realms within the Cleft. Upon his return to the waking world, his limiter was lost, but his power appeared stable at the time, possibly due to the losses he incurred upon his resurrection. His physical and magical abilities are minimized at this time, with only occasional bursts of the latter being seen, either as a result of emotional torment or through unintentional activation. Erim's transferal of her consciousness into his body has granted him limited ability to wield her powers.

Like all members of the Mana Tribe, Ambience is gifted with the ability to detect a person's 'Mana Signature,' which is effectively a second sight that allows him to determine the composition of mana within organic/living beings. By analyzing the makeup and structure of a person's signature in this way, as well as changes or shifts, Ambience can detect subsurface traits such as intent, mood, internal health, and so on. While this ability is inherent in all members of the Mana Tribe, Ambience's ability far outclasses others in his field, heightening his sensitivity to mana-related objects and effects and allowing him to further pick up on residual traces of mana from those who have been in recent locations. He also has a limited psychic connection with his mother, allowing her thoughts to be broadcast into his mind, but this does not work in reverse.

Ambience wears a blindfold to minimize the distractions caused by his limited sight, which is akin to extreme nearsightedness, relying almost solely on his Mana Signature detection to get around. Places with limited or no organic activity in a wide area are a serious detriment to this independency, as a result.