Once upon a time there was a poor thief known as Masked Man. He had a daughter named Elyse who was sick and couldn't be living for long. On Elyse' 8th birthday, she asked her father for a picture book. Masked Man had no money, so he left the house to steal money in order to buy her daughter that book as a birthday present. He went to a wedding party, killed the groom, but was stabbed by the bride. Bearing that critical wound, he crawled back home along the road covered in snow. Meanwhile his daughter was in her last moment of life, and was sunken in illusions. She asked her father questions about the Heaven, without any answer.

Once upon a time there was a poor thief known as Masked Man. He had a daughter named Elyse who was sick and couldn't be living for long. On Elyse' 8th birthday, she asked her father for a picture book. Masked Man had no money, so he left the house to steal money in order to buy her daughter that book as a birthday present. He went to a wedding party, killed the groom, but was stabbed by the bride. Bearing that critical wound, he crawled back home along the road covered in snow. Meanwhile his daughter was in her last moment of life, and was sunken in illusions. She asked her father questions about the Heaven, without any answer.

In the end both father and daughter died. The thief was cursed and had to search for his daughter eternally, while the daughter went straight to Heaven. And then, through the Abyss side of the album, Masked Man was wandering through various time and space, searching for five little girls that committed sins - Ark, Baroque, Yield, Sacrifice and Stardust - in hope that they were his daughter Elys, and brought them altogether into Abyss, his "Eternal Heaven" buried underground. That's why at the beginning of each Abyss track, you can hear Masked Man asking 「彼女こそ…私のエリスなのだろうか…」 (Is she my beloved Elyse...?) and at the end of each track, the image of Masked Man appears.

Ark

A little girl, Soror, better known as Experimental Subject #1096, was taken together with her brother, Frater, by a group of scientists, to a research institute where their living bodies and minds had experiments being performed on. Those experiments buried all memories about their sibling relationship.

Soror fell in love with her brother (not remembering he was her brother). However Frater's reaction was cold, and eventually Soror discovered the truth that they were related by blood, and that they were nothing but experimental subjects. She was driven mad, and wished for an Ark (a ship that brings salvation to mankind, i.e. Noah's Ark) that would set free her anguish soul and lead her to Heaven. And she found her Ark in the form of a silver knife.

She then stabbed her brother to death, and was imprisoned. The Watcher, a man who lost his left hand's ring finger, had started these very experiments, in an attempt to become a proud God and reverse the natural process of his love's death. Watcher gazed at the monitor and saw the Masked Man, behind Soror, taking her away to Abyss. for having killed her brother.

Baroque

This song is told in form of a young Catholic Sister, Baroque, repenting to God. She was not repenting in seek for forgiveness, because she knew that not even God could forgive the sin she had committed. She was not praying in seek for sympathy, but rather she was sympathizing for herself.

During her childhood days she was rejected by the other children in her village, because she was "different" from the others. But one day, a little girl became her friend. She was enchanted in happiness, and fell in love with the little girl. But when Baroque confessed her love, the little girl refused her because homosexual love was a forbidden subject in Catholic. In sexual deviancy, Baroque beat the little girl to death, and cut off the girl's head. She brought the head to God, and repented that this would be the only way for them both to be together. That was when Masked Man appeared and took Baroque away to Abyss.

Yield

This song is about a girl, Yield, living in a little farmer's family with her father and her mother. And the entire song revolves around a line in the lyrics: "3-1+1-2" which is how Yield expressed her endless love to her family.

"3" is the number of the family members (Yield, her father, her mother).

"-1" is when Yield killed her father by cutting off his head with a sickle. The sound of his head rolling on the ground was like the sound of a ripen sweet fruit falling from the branch.

"+1" is when Yield discovered that her mother was pregnant - she was bearing a boy, who would be Yield's little brother.

"-2" is when Yield killed both her mother and brother at once.

And in the end, even when alone, Yield still loved her family so much, she wanted to love, to become happiness, and Masked Man appeared to take her to the barren land of Abyss.

Sacrifice

There lived two girls who were sisters. The little sister was beautiful and pure like an angel, while the elder sister envied her sister and even said "That wretched girl had better died..."

Maybe God heard her prayer, maybe not, but one day the little sister caught a very high fever. It was then that the elder sister realized that she never truly wanted her sister to die, and again she repented to God. In return for her sister becoming well again, their mother was stricken by diseased, and before passing away, she told the elder sister to take care of the innocent little sister. After their mother had died, the two of them began living a tough but happy life.

One day the little sister was found pregnant. It was plain obvious that the men in the village had raped and impregnated her, but instead of admitting, those men blamed that the little girl was nothing but a witch. The women, instead of protecting the poor girl, actually cursed her for charming their husbands. Thus the little girl was nailed onto a crucifix, and burned to death, like how people had been executing witches.

The elder sister was extremely angry. She knew the truth, and once again said to God "Those evil people must die!" In the end, she lured all villagers, from men to women, from children to elders, into the village church, trapped them inside, and burned everyone, as well as the statue of God inside, to ashes. It was then that Masked Man appeared and took her into Abyss.

Stardust

A young actress was on her way to becoming a famous star, and was fallen in love with a man. However that man was going to marry another more successful girl. Entwined in jealousy, she started falling on her career, not being able to notice the eyes of other men who are deeply falling in love with her.

One day she found her lover together with the other girl. Unable to stay still anymore, she shot her lover to death, soaking his white shirt in deep red blood. The "Star" on the sky was broken into "Stardust" that would lead her way to Heaven. However even if she extended her arm, she still couldn't reach them, and in the end Masked Man appeared and took her to Abyss instead.

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All in all, this is a very dark and twisted album. However, the melodies and music are far from that - many of the tracks are actually happy and upbeat, deceiving those who do not understand the true meaning behind its lyrics.

This album is also a reflection of human's inner contradictions: Love and Betrayal (Ark), Justice and Sin (Baroque), Affection and Disaster (Yield), Sacrifice and Hatred (Sacrifice), Trust and Deceit (Stardust). All those emotions dwelling in the five little girls, together, created ABYSS, a distorted and corrupted Hell on Earth that is mistakenly understood to be a Heaven.

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Note: Below are my own explanations about the other songs in Elysion side.

エルの楽園 [→ Side:E →] (El's Heaven - Side E)

This song begins by showing the scene of Masked Man crawling home, soaked in blood, grabbing a gold coin (that he had just robbed in the wedding party) in his hand. At the same time, Elys ewas close to death, and began to see delusional images of Heaven. She asked her (dead) father questions about Heaven: What kind of flower blooms there, what kind of birds sing there, would she feel any more pain there, would she be together with her father forever there... In the end though, the door to Heaven was closed, separating the two.

エルの絵本 【魔女とラフレンツェ】

(El's Picture Book - The Witch and Lafrenze)

This is the story that was told inside Elyse' picture book. It's about an abandoned child, named Lafrenze with silver hair, crimson eyes and snow white skin, brought up by a witch. Lafrenze was the one to guard the gate connecting between Heaven and the human world, and her virginity was the key to open that gate. But then Lafrenze met Orpheus, the God of Music. Unable to resist sexual lust, she made love to Orpheus. It was then that the gate to Elysion (Heaven) was opened.

エ ルの肖像 (El's Portrait)

This song tells about a boy who has fallen in love with the portrait of girl (Elyse), he loved her so much that he gave in to illness. Under the portrait was some old handwritings that read "Happy 8th Birthday, my beloved Elyse..."

Fallen so much in love with Elyse (her portrait, more exactly), in the end the boy killed himself, thinking that he would then be able to meet her in Heaven, and that they would become the next Adam and Eva. But he didn't know that, in the end, the Eden he was looking for is nothing but Abyss.

エルの天秤 (El's Libra)

This song tells about all the sins Masked Man had committed before: Murdering, pilfering, abducting, smuggling. He sold his soul to demons just for the sake of his daughter. In his last affair, robbing at a sadistic girl's wedding ceremony, he killed everyone, from servants to the groom, but then the bride stabbed him in his heart. This song might very well be Masked Man's recollections of the past before (or after) his death.

エルの絵本 【笛吹き男とパレード】

(El's Picture Book - The Flute Player and the Parade)

This song just tells about an endless parade lead by Masked Man who blows a flute to invite everyone to Heaven. The people he invite includes: The girl who trusts in salvation (Ark), the girl of distorted truth (Baroque), the girl of misleading harvest (Yield), the girl that used her younger sister as scapegoat (Sacrifice), and the girl manipulated by the light of glory and love (Stardust). All those five girls would follow him together to beyond the faraway horizon.

エルの楽園 [→ Side:A →] (El's Heaven - Side A)

Elyse' illusions continued, but then she suddenly woke up, and discovered that Heaven is nothing but a barren land full of withered trees, dried flowers and covered by darkness. She still felt pain, and her smile disappeared forever. Elysion, the Heaven she wished for, did not exist, there was nothing but Abyss, the fallen Hell, the place where Elys would stay forever, eternally.

――退廃へと至 る幻想　背徳を紡ぎ続ける恋物語

痛みを抱く為に生まれてくる　哀しみ

幾度となく開かれる扉　第四の地平線――

その楽園の名は 『ELYSION』またの名を『ABYSS』――

――The illusions that aim for Decadence, the Romance of endless immorality

They are born to embrace nothing but pain and sadness

Again and again, the gate to Heaven opens, beyond the Fourth Horizon――

That Heaven, its name is ELYSION, also known as ABYSS――