"You committed murder, and no matter what the reason, it's considered a crime. You're sent here if you're a minor, and guess what? If you don't prove that you're reformed enough to go back out to the real world, you get sent to Crete, where you'll perfom hard labor until you turn into the dust from whence you came. Of course, no one else knows this at all."
—Artesia Dubois
Tales of Aquila is a dystopian web novel series about two groups of academy students (so far), one from the Ilian capital, Cairo, and the other from the Aquila Disciplinary Academy in Aquila, Greece. Each main character is capable of using a form of combat known as Nuclear Energy Manipulation, which grants them the ability to manipulate atoms. In general, they have one objective: take down the evil empire of Altea.
Each arc follows a new set of main characters, with the first arc following Chase, Kira, Max, Riyas, and Axl (the last two received relatively short appearances in the form of a prologue); and the second arc follows Team SODA, or the Special Operations Division of Aquila. This includes Artesia, Roy, Liana, John, Gary, Tigrys, and Ariadne.
This series contains examples of:
- Academy of Adventure: It's often that teachers will send their students on quests.
- Action Girl: Pick a girl, any girl.
- All Myths Are True: Subverted. All the Greek heroes and gods were exaggerated, overpowered personas of their true, human selves.
- Artistic License – Nuclear Physics: Oh, all over the place.
- First off, Arion Atoms are atoms that are the size of marbles, and are visible to the naked eye.
- People called Manipulators can form them into weapon molecules to create weapons, such as scythes and axes.
- A Nuclear Winter-sized war was brushed off as a minor point in history.
- Authority Equals Asskicking: Downplayed. Even Artesia's the leader, Tigrys has seen much more fighting, as explained in the team bio. Now, the question is WHY, exactly...
- Badass Crew: Both groups can qualify as this.
- Bad Future: The reason why Kira completely rewound time in the first place.
- Blood Knight: Artesia's a perfect example of this. In fact, she doesn't even kill her victims, as shown in "Resonance: The Promise 04". Just tortures 'em...
- Boarding School: Both the academy in Ilia and the Aquila Disciplinary Academy are these, with co-ed dorms to boot.
- Child Prodigy: John got his psychology degree at age 12.
- Keeper of Forbidden Knowledge: Downplayed. He knows a lot of stuff that he shouldn't, but he often doesn't ask for anything in return, mostly offering such knowledge on a whim. It often times begs the question of just how much he acutally DOES know.
- "How... How did you know that?"
- Keeper of Forbidden Knowledge: Downplayed. He knows a lot of stuff that he shouldn't, but he often doesn't ask for anything in return, mostly offering such knowledge on a whim. It often times begs the question of just how much he acutally DOES know.
- Convenient Coma: Roy, especially when one considers what he last remembered doing BEFORE conking out.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Forgets most of his dream.
- Cool Big Sis: Eris to Roy. She can be a little on the snarky side at times.
- Cursed with Awesome: Roy has a sister that's haunting him. As a trade-off, however, he gets tactical insight from a true master, as well as a way to blow off some steam.
- Deadpan Snarker: Artesia, although hers can be downright cruel, as seen in a conversation between her and Roy in "Resonance: The Promise 06".
- It can also be seen as a Manipulative Bastard scene.
- Deal with the Devil: The last little bit of that dream that Roy can't remember. Strangely, this is the only part he CAN remember.
- Dream Sequence: The first half of "Alchemist of Borin".
- Freak Out: Kira has one of these.
- Inter Generational Friendship: Liana and Joan share this relationship, but also a sort of a mother-daughter relationship.
- Humongous Mecha: The Titans and Gladiators.
- Meaningful Name: Ariadne's named after the namesake of Ariadne's Thread; she also uses razor wire as a method of attack.
- The Medic: Liana's the nurse's apprentice, and has plenty of medical knowledge.
- Never Gets Drunk: Professor Altessa drinks tons, but only gets a teensy bit tipsy for a teensy bit of time.
- Our Ghosts Are Different: Roy's dead sister, Eris, remains behind because she feels that he still needs help before she can leave without him.
- Past-Life Memories: Roy has the memories of all his ancestors, making him a master swordsman.
- Story Arc: Revolves around 'em.
- The Strategist: John exemplifies this trope, preferring to completely stay out of the fight in favor of chilling on Pegasus.
- Super-Senses: Liana can see blood in RED CARPET.
- Time Skip: "Resonance: The Promise" takes place two years after "Alchemist of Borin".
- Web Serial Novel
- Wretched Hive: Subverted. The Aquila Disciplinary Academy's students are all criminals, serving a sentence that is an alternative to actual prison. But, problems rarely arise from this mix.
