| The Free Site | vBuddy - social networking for webmasters | Cheap Web Hosting - starting at $5 |
Standard disclaimer: I don’t own Breath of Fire. I repeat, I don’t own Breath of Fire. Get it? Got it? Good :)
AN: well, well, well. It t’would seem like I actually got… get this… REVIEWS!!! I have REVIEWS!!! ~does ceremonial happy dance~
Hee, I got four reviews from katana777, yamanana and Nina Windia! Two of the reviews were from Nina Windia! Thanks a bunchies guys! You have no idea how happy that made me opening up the reviewer alert thingy in my email the other day! THANKS!!!
Heh, anyway, chapter two, huh? Hard to believe that I’m actually back and writing a BoF fic. One that people actually like :)
Well, anyway, here’s the next chapter :) ENJOY!!!
(Oh, the song that Yuki was singing was from Xenosaga Episode II, Fatal Fight)
The light was slowly being enveloped by the darkness. The source of this darkness seemed to be wrapped around a figure dressed in black, crimson, and dark purple full armor. The armor itself did not seem to have any open areas in it, with the exception of a slit where a pair of crimson orbs were. The helmet had two thin horn-like points protruding from the sides of the helmet. The shoulder guards, breastplate, gauntlets, and shin guards had sharp, fin-like points protruding from them. Thick trails of miasma spurted out of the back of the armor like a pair of black wings.
The dark figure held a massive, black, almost organic, sword in his hand. The dark man swung the sword over his shoulder and laughed. The laugh itself sent tremors across the land.
“DARK ONE!”
The dark man looked over behind him and a white light pierced the darkness. The source of this was from a pair of twin long swords, one with a white hilt and silver blade and the other with a black hilt and gold blade.
Oathkeeper and Oblivion. The dark man knew of only one who could wield the swords of light and shadow. The Lightbringer himself. The overseer of the Grand Design. Lucien.
The dark-haired man was clad in silver and white armor. He pointed the Oathkeeper, the white sword, at the dark man.
“What are you planing, traitor?!” Lucien growled.
The dark man merely laughed. “You dare raise your sword against a fellow god and have the gall to call ME a traitor?”
“You are no god!” Lucien said in a sharp voice. “Merely a demon-bastard with dreams of grandeur. The only reason you are allowed to walk in the halls of this Palace because the Goddess has, for some reason, allowed you to.”
“And you are, Lightbringer?”
“More so than you are, Death Bringer.”
“Here, I will soon be God!” the dark man growled, his voice taking on a gritty and dark tone.
“I will never allow that,” Lucien said in a tone that made even this being nervous. “You know what I am and what I represent. I am the God of Balance. I exist on a whole other level than even the two Creator Gods. I have the power to rend you to pieces, sever that black soul from your worthless husk, and sent you sputtering into the depths of Hell!”
“And I, Lightbringer, I am the Death Bringer, the God of Death and Destruction. I am the darkness that envelops the light!” the dark man roared. “I will not be lectured by the likes of you!!!”
“I will not allow you to betray them,” Lucien said.
“Who says that I want to betray Ladon, or even Myria?” the dark man said. “They have nothing of worth that I might want.”
“Nothing, except perhaps the Goddess’s Maiden,” Lucien said slowly.
The dark man laughed. “Perhaps, God of Balance, perhaps. But that does not concern you whether I have an interest in a mortal or not.”
“It does if you are to harm her.”
“Why would I want to harm her?”
“That’s just how you are,” Lucien muttered darkly.
“Such a being of purity and innocence,” the dark man said gently. “I would never harm one such as her. Instead, I want her by my side, when I destroy you worthless lot of pathetic beings who dare call yourselves gods!”
“You are a sick being,” Lucien growled.
“And you, Lightbringer, are dead!” the dark man roared as he lunged at Lucien.
The Yraall Region, for the most part, was a rural area, surrounded by mountains and trees. The region was connected to both the Sea of Trees and the Ceres Region. The three landmasses landlocked together and in the middle of this was a giant sea known as the Sima Sea, the ancient home of the Creeping Clan.
Cedar Village itself was at the edge of Cedar Woods. There were several ways to get to Cedar Village. One could take a ferry across the sea and reach it that way. Methods of flight were only reserved for Wyndia’s airforce, so that was out of the question. The most popular method of travel was either by train, or by car.
If that was the case, one starting in Crete, which is located in the Ceres Region could travel either the way of the Sea of Trees, or by the Yraall Region. If one was to go by way of the Sea of Trees, then one would have to go up and the long way around. This usually involved driving through a thick and dense forest that seemed to stretch on forever, and then drive through a mountain range. This was not only impractical, but it took at least several days. Jin assumed this is what path the people who kidnapped Ryu took. If only because they wanted to avoid being caught by a local Ranger Guild.
By way of traveling through the Yraall Region, however, was much more practical. One only had to drive through Gant, and voila! You were at Cedar Village. Of course, the trip still took several hours.
Needless to say, it was pretty easy to figure out which route Jin took. Especially after Ryu made such a ruckus about needing to hurry and the such.
“Uh…” Ryu moaned slightly as he slowly crept back into reality. He never did like riding in cars. He lifted his head and glanced out the window. They had passed civilization a mere few hours ago. The city landscape had been replaced with rural farm area.
Ryu knew he was close to home. He shifted in the front passenger’s side of the car and glanced over at Jin. Ryu just couldn’t figure the guy out. It wasn’t everyday one happens to run into the one person that would be willing to help a total stranger.
Ryu figured more than anything that Jin would think this was all some kind of sick joke, or worse, turn him over to Crete’s Rangers Guild. Jin blinked and glanced over at Ryu, and then turned his eyes back to the dirt road ahead.
Ryu also started to slowly figure something out about the dark-haired man. Jin had a type of aura about him that just made Ryu feel a little uneasy. The aura that Jin possessed seemed to radiate magic. Or something very similar to it. Ryu wasn’t sure what it was, but there seemed to be more to Jin than meets the eye.
After all, Jin decided to help Ryu without knowing anything about the boy. And from what he observed about the older man (all four hours of it), Jin was anything but stupid.
“Conce sowe, et tu tay-ee. Yah nee la destani-wa. Come me ne, et tu tay-ee. Yah nee la mestani-ah!” Yuki’s voice all but shattered the blissful silence. Indeed, Yuki did not have the voice of an angel.
Jin let loose a small sigh and looked at his sister in the rearview mirror. Yuki grinned from the back seat and then went back to looking out the back window.
Ryu grinned slightly. Yuki on the other hand…
The girl was just a typical teenager. Granted, she agreed to help Ryu too. Without knowing anything about him. Ryu didn’t think that Yuki possessed any type of magical ability. She just didn’t carry herself as a mage.
Such a strange pair of siblings.
Molly Stephens was not a happy woman. One of her students had been incredibly disrespectful and somehow managed to skip out on a school assembly in which the prince of Dragnier was the guest speaker.
What she didn’t understand was HOW the student had slipped out unnoticed. There was security detail everywhere all over the school. She was going to track down that student and punish them severely.
Besides, the student had not been checked out properly. They had disobeyed school rules.
Molly sighed and flipped through her attendance book that was lying on her desk. She looked out the window. There was a knock on her classroom door. She answered for them to come in.
Prince Demus Laurante, first imperial crown prince and heir to the throne of Dragnier walked into the classroom, followed by two guards dressed in blue and red dress uniforms.
The prince smiled slightly as Molly gasped and jumped out of her black, leather chair and knelt down on the ground in awe and amazement.
“Your highness!” Molly gasped. “Do what do I owe this honor?”
“Rise, Miss,” Demus said in a kind voice. Molly stood up but her head was still held down slightly.
“Oh, of course,” Molly said. She looked up and into the green eyes of the prince of the Brood.
“Miss Stephens, is it? Ah, yes. Miss Stephens. I heard about one of your students going missing during the assembly this afternoon. Most unfortunate.”
“Yes,” Molly said darkly. “It is. That student has no regards for rules or authority of any kind. When I find out who that student was, I swear…”
“There is no need for that,” Demus said. Molly raised an eyebrow in curiosity. Demus continued. “We have been questioning the student body, and thanks to a one Miss Riley McCain, we have discovered that a Miss Miyuki Uzuki went to the restroom this afternoon during the assembly. My guards checked out the restroom and discovered that the window was kicked out. We can only assume that she exited through these means.”
“What?” Molly said angrily. “Uzuki, you say? Yes, that is one of my students in my Ancient History class.”
“We have reason to believe that she might be in some kind of trouble,” Demus continued, his voice taking on a sense of urgency. “We have tried to contact her home, but we are unable to reach anyone.”
“Do you know what kind of trouble she might be in?” Molly asked.
“Apparently, a wanted criminal that my personal Dragoon unit was holding, has escaped. I fear that this criminal has somehow talked Miss Uzuki into helping him.”
“How much danger is she in?” Molly asked, her voice taking on a tone of concern.
“This criminal is wanted for various acts of theft, armed robbery, mischief, assault, extortion, and worse of all, murder.”
“Oh, Ladon!” Molly gasped.
“We are doing every possible thing to apprehend the criminal, but I fear we might be too late.”
“Is there anything I can do?” Molly asked hopefully.
“Well,” Demus mused for a moment. “Actually, there is something. Miss Uzuki’s guardian. How much do you know about Dr. Jin Uzuki?”
“When you said hiking, you weren’t kidding!” Yuki muttered breathlessly as she, Ryu, and Jin made their way through Cedar Woods.
“Well, this isn’t any worse than your mad dashes to school,” Jin grinned slightly.
“That was sweet, blissful pavement. This is three miles, three LONG miles up a steep hill of dirt, weeds, and my personal favorite, bugs. Big bugs. Big bugs that are bigger than that dog I wanted to keep, but you wouldn’t let me!”
“I can’t help it if you are inattentive with caring for your pets. Besides, that goldfish you had deserved honors for dying like it did.”
“It was summer vacation! I can’t help if it I was too busy hanging out with my friends to care for a stinking goldfish that was actually YOURS.”
“Hm, an astute observation, little sister. But, if you remember clearly, you were the one that wanted to take care of the poor thing, may he rest in peace.”
“Hrm…”
Ryu sighed as the two siblings continued to bicker back and forth. This arguing had gone on for the last half-hour, ever since they stocked up on supplies at the grocery store in Cedar Village.
When they had arrived, Jin had spent a few moments casually asking about Bunyan. Surprisingly, no one seemed to know anything about the lumberjack. This worried Jin and as soon as they were ready, Jin had Ryu point them in the general direction of his home.
Now, Ryu was finding himself wishing he had purchased a pair of earplugs. Yuki was whiney and Jin was an instigator.
He really wasn’t sure who started the argument, but it seemed like Jin enjoyed poking at his little sister. Then again, it also seemed like Yuki enjoyed any reason to argue.
Ryu was getting nervous. He briefly wondered if anything happened to his father…
“Bunyan’s a pretty strong individual,” Jin mused. Ryu’s head jerked up and he looked over at Jin. “I highly doubt he could be taken down so easily. Besides, he’s lived in Cedar Woods for years. He knows this place inside and out. I highly doubt he’s hurt.”
Ryu didn’t want to dwell on the matter very much. Instead, he decided to change the subject.
“How do you know my father, Mr. Uzuki?”
“No need for formalities,” Jin grinned slightly, his eyes never leaving the ill-taken path in front of them. “Jin’s fine. And to answer your question, he’s an old acquaintance of mine.”
“Ah.”
“Um…” Yuki mumbled from behind Jin and Ryu.
“Yes?”
“Is that the cabin up on that hill?”
Ryu and Jin looked in the direction that Yuki was pointing in. Indeed, there was a slightly torched cabin in the clearing. Other than a few scorched marks, the cabin seemed undamaged. Ryu, Jin, and Miyuki took off in a sprint up to the seemingly abandoned cabin.
When they got to the door, Jin stepped forward and drew his katana from its sheath and stood at the ready. Ryu looked over at Jin and gave him a confused look. Yuki, on the other hand, knew her brother well enough to know when he was up to something. She pulled the kodachi from her belt and flipped them around in her hands and walked over to Jin.
Ryu shook his head and drew his short sword. He walked over to the two and looked up at Jin.
“What’s going on?” Ryu asked, but Jin silenced him by holding up his left hand. He then made a motion with his hand and carefully opened the front door.
Jin cautiously walked into the spacious front room of the cabin. It wasn’t anything impressive, just a couple of chairs and a couch in the center of the room with a small table in front of the couch. Off to the side of the room was a kitchenette, complete with sink and cutting board. A wood stove stood next to the sink and a table, complete with several chairs were close by.
Jin glanced around and noticed stains of blood on the far wall. Ryu walked over to the wall and sniffed it. Yuki gave them both a looked and placed her hands on her hips.
“What are you doing?” Yuki asked Ryu.
“Seeing if this is Father’s blood, or someone else’s,” Ryu said as if it was the most natural thing in the world.
“Uh?”
“He should have a heighten sense of smell, Miyuki,” Jin mused. Ryu nodded.
“This isn’t Father’s blood. I don’t recognize it.”
“I see…” Jin started, but stopped suddenly and tensed up. He leveled his sword and bent his knees slightly.
Yuki’s eyes widened and she crossed her kodachi in front of her face. Ryu glanced around. There was movement coming from the far hallway. A shadow blurred and Jin sprung into action.
A cloaked figure lunged at Jin with a mighty axe. Ryu tried to get a whiff of the stranger’s scent, but was unable to. Either Ryu’s sense was off, or the stranger was hiding their scent.
Jin jumped forward and with inhuman speed, slashed at the person’s axe arm. The blade made contact, but the person seemed unfazed by the sword. Or didn’t show that the sword made an impact.
Jin jumped right just as the axe came down and splintered the floor. Yuki and Ryu both stared with their mouths open. The stranger growled and butted Jin in the stomach with the handle of the axe. Jin grunted, but stood his ground.
“As much as I enjoy a good sparring match,” Jin grunted as he readied his sword once more. “I think we have more pressing matters to attend to. Right, Sylvanus?”
The stranger took the hood off to reveal a middle-aged man with long brown hair and a beard. The man grinned slightly and lowered his axe. Jin followed suit and sheathed his katana. Yuki just stared at the two and shook her head. Figures.
Ryu, on the other hand, dropped his sword and ran over to the large man and hugged him around the midsection.
“Father! You’re okay!” Ryu laughed.
The large man placed a large hand on Ryu’s shoulder and smiled. “That I am, boy, that I am.”
Jin hummed and looked over at Ryu and Bunyan. “What’s with the warm welcome?”
“Can’t be too careful, eh Doc?” Bunyan grinned slightly. He let go of Ryu and walked over to the couch and sat down. Ryu walked over and sat down beside his father. Yuki sheathed her kodachi and sat down in one of the chairs. Jin sat in the other.
“I concur,” Jin sighed, holding his abdomen.
“Doc?” Ryu asked.
“He’s a doctor,” Yuki sighed.
“So, Doc, what brings you out here, other than the painfully obvious?” Bunyan asked. “Though, I’d have to say that you’re getting a little soft, if a hit like that hurts ya.”
“Neh,” Jin muttered. “I must be getting old. Well, Ryu told me,” Yuki gave Jin a pointed look. “Un, US about your current plight. So, I thought I’d come and check it out.”
“Still playing hero, Doc?” Bunyan laughed.
“Not… quite,” Jin sighed. “Ryu mentioned that you were ran through. You seem fine, though. What gives?”
Bunyan all but laughed. “Well, you know that I’m a fast healer. What can I say?”
Jin nodded in silent understanding. Yuki, on the other hand, looked at the two men as if they were crazy.
“Fast healer?”
“Ah, the blessings of the Yggdrasil,” Jin explained. “As guardian of Cedar Woods, he also, by extension, protects a Great Tree that is in the heart of Cedar Woods.”
“I guess that makes sense…” Yuki mumbled.
Bunyan looked over at Jin. “Thought you weren’t one for religion, Doc.”
“Nope,” Jin said. “I’m not, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t know anything about it. Wouldn’t be much of a scholar if I didn’t study up on the doctrines every once in a while, right?”
“You seemed pretty interested in the goddess Deis when you were younger,” Bunyan grinned slightly.
Much to Ryu and Yuki’s amazement, Jin blushed slightly and coughed, trying to cover up his discomfort. “Right, well, anyway,” Jin quickly said. “Do you know who attack you and Ryu and why?”
“Ah, don’t really know,” Bunyan sighed. “It looked like a Dragoon unit, from the uniforms they were wearing. I think their leader was some red-head woman wielding a giant halberd.”
Jin grimaced. “Right. Well, if it was a Dragoon unit, why would they attack you? The Yraall Region is neutral. Dragnier would have no reason to attack this area, let alone a single home in the middle of BFE.”
“Such a way with words you have there, Doc,” Bunyan grumbled.
“Old habits die hard, Old Man.”
“Sure,” Bunyan smirked. “Anyway, they attacked in the middle of the night. They caught Ryu and me off guard, so we weren’t able to fight back. Ah, as you know, they attacked me en masse and ran me through with their blasted swords. I was unable to protect Ryu as they attacked him and ran him through. I blacked out and the next thing I know is…”
“Yeah?” Yuki asked.
“Well, I didn’t want to say anything about this, but there was this guy that was standing in the doorway. Odd fella really. Had the strangest hair. Blond and spiky to high heaven. Was wearing a long red cape that covered his lower face and had a long buster sword.”
“Anything else?” Jin asked.
“Ah, there was a little girl with him, looked about eleven or twelve. She had blond hair too, but the odd thing about her was that she had a pair of small wings coming out her shoulder blades,” Bunyan said as he gave Jin a pointed look. Jin nodded.
“Any idea what they wanted?”
“No, not really. The guy did make sure that I was okay. He asked me if I saw a Dragoon unit come by; said he was looking for someone named Salla or something…”
“Salla?” Jin coughed.
“Salla, Sarah… it’s hard to remember. Feh, anyway, he was the one that had apparently put out the fire that they started when I was knocked out. I told him what I knew, and they were on their way.”
“Hn,” Jin said. Jin and Bunyan quickly jerked their heads up. Jin reached for his sword and Bunyan grabbed up his axe.
Both men jumped up as a couple of men busted down the cabin’s front door. The first man was a shady looking Highlander clansman that was dressed in red and blue. He laughed and pointed a katar towards the others. The second man, wiry young man with blond hair and a pair of dog-ears, twirled around a spear and looked for the most part bored.
“Who are you?!” Bunyan roared.
“None of yer business…” the first man said. “All we want is the kid…” Yuki grimaced. “The boy with the blue hair, ya moron!”
Yuki frowned as she drew her kodachi and stepped forward, but Jin blocked her way. He looked back at Ryu and Yuki and jerked his left slightly to the left, towards the back room. Yuki looked like she was about to protest, but Ryu nodded and grabbed Yuki’s wrist and started to run towards the back.
Yuki jerked in Ryu’s grasp and turned around and watched the chaos unfold.
Jin and Bunyan nodded and glory charged the two bandits. The Highlander jumped forward and punched at Bunyan as the other jumped at Jin. Bunyan grabbed the man and jerked him around in the air.
Jin spun around and sliced his katana forward and up. It hit the second bandit in the midsection. He went falling to the floor with a painful thud. Jin quickly jumped into the air and spun around and kicked the katar out of the Highlander’s hand. Bunyan laughed as he and Jin sliced at the man.
The other man, the one that fell to the floor, jumped back up and spun his halberd in the air and plunged it right into Jin’s lower torso. Jin screamed and clutched his side as blood started to drip out.
Yuki’s yell turned the four men’s attention back to her and Ryu. Jin growled.
“GO! GET OUT OF HERE!” Jin shouted through the pain.
Ryu needed no more prompting. He dragged Yuki into the back room. The Highlander moved to follow, but Bunyan stood in his way.
“And where do you think you are going?” Bunyan gave the man a threatening grin.
Yuki and Ryu started to climb out the window in the back room. Yuki paused when she heard Jin scream and swear. Ryu shook his head as he forced Yuki out of the window. He soon followed suit and the two were soon standing outside in the wilderness. It was late evening and the sun was starting to set.
“He… he needs help!” Yuki yelled. “We have to go help them!”
Ryu shook his head. “No! Jin wanted us to get out of here! And that’s what we’re going to do!”
Yuki shook her head. “This is crazy!” she then turned to Ryu. “I… this is all your fault! If they weren’t after you, then none of this would have happened and…” Yuki wailed, near hysterics.
“We can place blame later!” Ryu snapped. “Our first priority is to get out of here and get far away as possible!”
“We need to go to the Rangers Guild!” Yuki said. “They can…”
“NO!” Ryu snapped, but steeled his voice when he saw the look Yuki gave him. “No, they… they’re with… the Rangers wouldn’t help us… and those bandits would…”
“RYU!” Yuki screamed.
Ryu looked up just in time to see yet a third bandit club Ryu upside the head with the blunt end of his sword. Ryu’s vision tunneled and he knew no more.
To be continued…