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Standard disclaimer: I don’t own the series, savvy?
AN: So, here I am again ^_^; I hope the last chapter seemed okay. Well, anyway, heh. You know, I looked back on some of my other chapters and realized something. Nina’s not hardly gotten any screen time. I mean, Yuki seems to have the most screen time, followed by Ryu. It just seems like Nina’s just a tag-a-long or something. I don’t know how everyone else feels about that, but I just can’t have that, ya know? The Nina in this story seems just a little too one dimensional. Yeah, we know that she’s a tomboy princess who’s traveling with the party for the adventure and stuff, but is that all to her character?
It’s like my muses viciously attacked me with anvils the other day and told me to fix this little problem. They said that Nina’s a really thoughtful and caring young girl and I need to show that to the readers. Give Nina a chance to shine. And they also told me not to turn her into a damsel in distress! I should show what Nina is capable of doing in and out of combat.
(Oh, for the record, some of those muses are my three flying monkeys named Obadiah, Horatio, and Bob. They’re pretty scary, especially Bob after he’s eaten two pounds of pixie sticks.)
Oh, right. Anyway, so what did that little chat about Nina mean? Hee, hee, hee! Well, I dunno. I guess you will have to read and find out!
Oh, the intro conversation with Nina, Yuki, and Ryu is just like how my friends react around me when I am talking about video games. Guess which one I am! Lol
Anyway, onto the reviews!
Random/Rogue_Kaiser at dt.net: Oh good! I am soo happy @smiley@ Oh, thanks for liking the story @smiley@ Heh, thanks. I wanted to show that things “change” whenever there is someone new in charge. You are on the right track. Yuki didn’t see Ryu ascend the last chapter, so who knows what will happen when she finally does see him ascend. It won’t be pretty, that’s for sure. Welp, here’s the next chapter @smiley@
Anime Monkey:
Yeah. @smiley@ Things can change in 500 years. I remember Jono, the Dragon Elder from 3 said something about how Dragons were both good and bad. Not his exact words, but something along those lines. Demus has some pretty interesting reasons for what he’s doing. Sorta. Still, it doesn’t justify wanting to kill Ryu. Heh, I can say that the Brood WERE in Lahan at the time. But… as to what they were doing there will have to wait another chapter. Thanks for the review! @smiley@
Nina Windia:
Hee, glad you like the twist with Yuki. Oh yes. And since it will probably be one of those scenes when it is a “oh crap! Crap’s hitting the fan” it will be a huge surprise! Yeah, that scene was a little rushed. I was kinda afraid that people might get confused about that. Glad you didn’t @smiley@ Of course. @smiley@ I take any kind of advice that anyone can offer me @smiley@ The last three chapters did seem rushed. All well. The chapters from now on will be slowed down a bit. This chapter for example is like the last chapter. I made that mistake with my other BoF story Dragon Legend and its sequel when it came to rushing things a little too much. All well. I am glad you like Yuki. @smiley@ Heh, you will probably really like this chapter then… @looks innocent@ Nina development! AH! I didn’t see that! You are sooo right! Tantulus… right? Or something like that? Hee, Tantar was one of the names of one of the towns in BoF I. The forest clan’s village, I think. Oh, yeah. Hee… okay, I have to use that joke in something now! Jin the Genie! Lol I love it!
“So, I was playing this video game, right? And you would not believe what the character’s name was! Cecil! Who name’s a dark knight ‘Cecil?’ I mean, really! You would think about something badass like… um…”
“Dingdang Dilwin?”
“Oh, that’s just WRONG!”
“Where did you come up with THAT name?”
“It’s my superhero character! His name is Burning Sense of Justice Boy! His secret identity is Dingdang Dilwin! He’s the Solitary Sidekick who fights the good fight with his sword, Mrs. Flickenstein!”
Nina and Ryu just looked at Yuki like she had lost her ever-loving mind.
“Burning Sense…?” Ryu mumbled, unable to finish the title of Yuki’s “hero.’ “That sounds like the symptom of a STD or something…”
Nina merely shook her head. “Um, Yuki?” Yuki looked at the princess with an innocent look on her face. Nina rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “That has got to be the most CRAZY idea for a character that I have ever heard!”
Yuki shrugged. “Well, had to come up with something to talk about. I am soooo bored! All this walking in silence is driving me crazy!”
Garr merely sighed as he glanced back at his now-charges. The three children were bickering back and forth over something as trivial as a ‘video game.’ Garr still didn’t understand why children were so interested in such an odd form of entertainment. He just knew that Yuki had not shut up for the four hours they had been walking.
Four hours of arguing and fighting. Garr was beginning to wonder why he had ever taken up the mission to protect them in the first place.
Oh, right. His goddess told him too. Never mind.
…and… maybe he owed Jin Uzuki a favor…
But still!
Garr glanced back and saw Yuki smack Ryu in the back of the head with the palm of her hand. This was going to be a long day.
Garr worried about something though. He had seen Ryu transform into a fire dragon. When the boy had reverted back, he was able to stay on his feet. In fact, he was ready to continue to fight Garr, if need be. Ryu had seemed so reluctant to reveal himself to Nina and Yuki. After what Yuki had said about her disdain for the Brood in general, he was beginning to understand Ryu’s line of thought.
Maybe somewhere, deep down, Ryu felt Yuki’s hatred for dragon-kind.
But, what of Nina?
The princess seemed different than her past counterparts. Garr shook his head as he watched Nina stand with one hand on her left hip and her other hand balled into a fist, her pointer finger extended and jabbed in Yuki’s direction. Nina was berating Yuki for smacking Ryu. Yuki had just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms.
Garr actually had to stifle a laugh as both girls crossed their arms and turned their backs to each other. Both turned their heads to look at each other and both stuck out their tongues at each other.
Garr rubbed his snout in annoyance as he watched Ryu jump up and down like he had to go pee, waving his arms in a wide arc, trying to get the girls to stop fighting.
Goddess give him strength! This was going to be much harder than he thought!
Back in the day, during what religious scholars called the First Cycle, during the Age of Heroes, the woods that marked the land around the Forest Clan village of Tantar, were called the Ramui Woods. During the Dragon Wars, and when the dark Wizard of Karma
Tower took control of the nearby area, the woods’ name was changed to the Forest of Despair. A fitting name for a forest crawling with the undead.
When the first Destined Child all but destroyed the evil wizard, the woods regained their liveliness and they were once again called the Ramui Woods. Or so says the bible scholars of the Ladonic Church.
Nina never did bother to look much into the tiny details that surrounded the grand schemes of the stories she read as a young child. She recalled walking into Wyndia’s royal library and pulling off the shelf a book of legends and myths that were dubbed the “Breath of Fire” legends.
She had been so enthralled with the stories about dragon princes and their angelic princesses, fighting along side those of different clans to rid the world of an evil goddess. There was just something so… nostalgic and mystic about the whole thing.
When she had gotten older and was required to study history and religion due to her royal upbringing, she began to learn that those ‘legends’ may not have been legends after all. There had been actual accounts by people during those times of strange things going on.
It was hard to tell anymore. She had been brought up in the Church of Ladon, as the Wyndians were long time allies of the Dragon Clan. The alliance stemmed back all the way to the Dragon Wars, 1,500 years ago. After the wars ended, however, the Dragon Clan vanished and the Church of Ladon was replaced with the Church of Saint Eva.
That particular church had lost face when rumors began turning up about the church having something to do with demonic nature. Soon, belief in the gods almost died out altogether, short of the Urkans who worshiped a goddess that sent her angels to earth to rid the world of evil devils.
Those devils later turned out to be the Dragon Clan and those angels turned out to be the Guardians. That was according to the Ladonic scripture. When the Dragon Clan resurfaced 500 years ago, they immediately began to reestablish old ties and alliances with other clans. They said they had been in hiding to protect the world from the evil goddess. Or something like that.
Nina had a slight inkling that the Dragon Clan had altered history somewhat, but that was just her opinion. She wasn’t allowed to voice her theories and the like around anyone. The Ladonic Church was strict about what was said about the Dragon God. Those who blasphemed against Ladon were excommunicated from the church. Nina didn’t really feel like being banished from the church and the god that she had worshipped all her life.
Nina’s head snapped up when she noticed that Ryu and the others had stopped walking. She looked around and spotted a fairly large village in the distance. Garr looked at the three and nodded.
“Up ahead is Tantar. We can gather supplies and rest there for the night. Let us go,” Garr said.
The others nodded and began to follow after the large Guardian. Nina sighed and ran off after Yuki and Ryu.
It seemed like a good idea at the time. He just didn’t figure that he would be waist deep in trouble. Of course, he also realized that the statement ‘it seemed like a good idea at the time’ almost always ended with trouble.
Oh, irony, it would be the death of him yet.
If his wife or sister didn’t knife him before hand.
Fate was being particularly fickle as of late.
“How’s your side?” Bunyan asked. The large lumberjack was currently seated on a large stump he had somehow found.
Jin grunted and sighed. He and Bunyan were currently sitting out in the middle of Cedar Woods. They had pitched a tent in the middle of a clearing they had cleaned out. The campfire had long died out and neither one decided to re-light it, seeing as it was the middle of the day,
Jin was sitting on his sleeping bag shirtless, attending to the large wound on the side of his torso. He was trying to rewrap the wound with some gauze that he had stashed away in his backpack.
“Oh, I think I’ll survive,” Jin said with a wry smile. “Besides, I’ve had worse done to me.”
Bunyan nodded. “Those bandits gave you a run for your money, eh?” Bunyan laughed. “I thought you were better than that youngster.”
Jin frowned and finished wrapping his torso. He placed surgical tape around the gauze to keep it in place. He then reached over for his long sleeved shirt and slipped it on over his head. He pulled his ponytail out of the collar of the shirt and stood up and straightened the shirt out.
“I guess I was off my game, or something,” Jin snorted.
“Yeah, seeing that you had to retreat.”
“Not funny, old man.”
“Of course it’s funny. It’s just not funny to you because it was you it happened to,” Bunyan said.
Jin rolled his eyes. “Right…”
“So, now what?” Bunyan asked Jin.
“Well, I figure we go find our errant family members,” Jin grinned slightly.
“Yeah,” Bunyan said. “Say, Jin? Do you remember what happened four years ago?”
Jin’s eyes darkened. “How could I forget. Why do you bring it up?”
“Whatever happened to that other kid? The one with the red hair?” Bunyan said as he poked the ashes with a stick he picked up.
“…” Jin sighed. “Safe, for the moment. What I am concerned with is Ryu.”
“The Cymosion?” Bunyan said.
“Yeah,” Jin said. “It’s a miracle that he’s lasted this long.”
“How much longer do you think he has?” Bunyan asked in a guarded voice.
“Not sure,” Jin sighed. “But, what will be, will be…”
Tantar was the ancient home to the Forest Clan. Back in the days of the Dragon Wars, the Forest Clan launched guerilla attacks against the Dark Dragons. A longtime ally to the Dragon Clan of Light, a Forest Clansman fought along side the first Dragon Prince.
Tantar itself was a simple farming village nestled safely in the middle of the Ramui Woods. The Forest Clan had the unique ability to navigate the maze of trees that protected their village.
In recent years, the village has grown and become home to a variety of clans. Most of the clans were human, though. The roads were made of cobblestone and the buildings themselves were made out of wood and brick, unlike the large, concrete buildings of the larger cities. Many open stands lined the streets selling a variety of wares, among them were fruits and vegetables. There was a large river running through the village.
As Nina predicted, there was a small dragon shrine in the middle of the city.
Many people, both Forest Clan and human mulled around the streets, going about their businesses. There were a few Manillo around, as well as a few Shell Clan hybrids. Horse-drawn charts made up the traffic in Tantar.
Several individuals noticed Nina and the others, but what she noticed was that they looked long and hard at Garr. Garr merely stared back, and those looking went back to their business.
Something seemed really odd about the town for a moment. Then it hit Nina like a ton of bricks; there were no children of any clan running around and playing. A young Forest Clansman cautiously approached Garr and gestured towards Nina and the others.
“I would leave as soon as possible, if I were you,” the man said.
Garr stared him down and crossed his arms. “Why?”
“Uh,” the man stuttered. “It’s… not that outsiders are welcomed here, its just… that well…” the man swiped sweat from his brow. “Well, the majority of the children in the village have gone missing, and since your traveling companions are children…”
Garr’s gaze softened. “I understand. We will stay no longer than we need. Thank you for the warning.”
The man nodded and took off in a sprint. Garr rubbed his snout and sighed. “I think we are attracting unwanted attention.”
“Really, you think?” Yuki asked.
“What are we going to do?” Nina asked.
Garr sighed. “Gather supplies and possibly spend the night and be off at first light.”
“We… aren’t going to help them?” Nina asked.
“No. My job is to help you get to Angel Tower. We must not let side issues get in the way.” Garr said as he headed off to one of the street venders that was selling cloaks.
“Oh, and what are you going to do?” Ryu asked.
“Get a new cloak,” Garr said. “I do not enjoy being stared at.”
Ryu bit back a gasp. Never would he have thought that Garr would be so self-conscious of his appearance. He nodded nonetheless and he and Nina and Yuki took off after Garr.
Everywhere they went, they heard the same thing. Children were missing, presumed to be kidnapped. Some of the stranger things was that there was a black smog that usually appeared before the children went missing. Garr didn’t know if it was connected, but he wasn’t willing to take his chances.
Night fell and the party was preparing to settle down for the night at the locale Inn. They had gathered supplies earlier that day and had made reservations at the Inn to spend the night.
The Inn itself, the Nightwalk Inn, was a fairly simple inn with several rooms and a common room, where people were able to eat a hearty meal after a long trip on the road.
Yuki and Nina were going to share a room and Garr and Ryu were going to share the other. The girls were quite pleased with this idea. Ryu, however, was not. The girls figured out why when they heard Garr snoring from the room at the end of the hall.
Nina sighed as she turned around once more in her bed, trying to get comfortable. They were going to have to leave at most likely 5 or 6 a.m. and it was already 10 p.m. She just couldn’t get what that man said out of her head.
Nina hated the thought of Garr not wanting to help, but what could she do?
Nina turned to her side and noticed a faint light glowing near the balcony. She squinted and saw a transparent young girl with red hair staring back at her. Nina blinked and the girl vanished.
Nina sat up and walked over to the balcony. She straightened out her white night gown that fell to her knees and pushed back her sleep-mussed hair. She glanced out the window and saw several shadows in the back alley.
Nina didn’t move until she heard the high-pitched scream echoing from somewhere in the alley. Nina noticed that Yuki didn’t even stir. Nina figured that she must be a deep sleeper. Nina shook her head and quickly changed into her white and green jumper and slid her shoes on.
As quickly and quietly as she could, she slipped out of the room and headed down the hallway. She ran past the front desk, where the desk clerk was currently off in dreamland, and opened the front door. She darted to the alley and looked around for the source of that voice.
“HELP ME!” A loud wail shattered the peaceful silence.
Nina jerked her head around and saw three shadows trying to engulf a young girl, no older than 10 or 11. The girl herself was dressed in a blue sleeveless dress with a red ribbon tied in the back. She was very pale and had shoulder-length, semi-spiked out pale green hair.
Nina yelled and jumped forward, trying to fight off the attackers, but jumped back when she noticed that the so-called attackers really were shadows. Nina shook her head as she watched the girl fight and struggle against opponents that didn’t even exist.
The girl’s pale green pupils contracted as she started to gasp for air. The shadow things were trying to suffocate the young girl.
Nina shook her head and ran right into the heart of the shadows, or whatever they were. She made a sign with her hand and slammed it to the ground. The shadows wailed and vanished in a plume of smoke.
“A spell cast by using dark magic?” Nina mused to herself as the green-haired girl fell to the ground with a sickening thud. Nina walked around the area where the girl laid. The girl was sprawled out on the ground, her eyes dull and glazed over and her chest heaving with every breath she drew.
Nina sighed and knelt down next to the girl. She placed her hands on the girl’s chest and forehead and started chanting. “HEAL LIGHT!”
A white light engulfed the girl, seeping into her very being. When the light died down, the girl gasped and her eyes cleared from the stupor she had been in only moments ago. She coughed and sat up. The girl looked around and finally took noticed of Nina kneeling beside of her.
“What…?” the girl asked, confused.
“I… heard you calling for help,” Nina said quickly. “I came and saw something attacking you and…”
“The monsters?!” the girl cried out.
Nina shook her head. “I don’t know. Hey, what’s going on?”
The girl calmed down and slumped her shoulders. “Those monster…things were trying to capture me. I don’t know why, but I know that they were spotted every time a child went missing…”
“Oh, the kidnappings?” Nina asked.
“Yeah,” the girl said as she and Nina stood up. The girl wobbled slightly and Nina grabbed her to keep her from falling down. “I was trying to search from my missing friends; they were last seen here. But, then that thing appeared and…”
“Do your parents know that you are out here this late at night?” Nina asked in a serious voice with a slight feeling of guilt laced in it. Nina thought about how worried her parents must be with her at this time. But she pushed that aside… for now.
“No,” the girl said. “I am an orphan and so were my friends that went missing. The Rangers don’t care about a bunch of orphans. I have to.. find them!”
Nina sighed and figured she was already caught up in this mess. “I’ll help you!”
The girl looked at Nina in surprise. “What!? No, I can’t ask you to do that! Its too dangerous!”
Nina laughed. “Ha! Danger’s my middle name! (Actually its Ashelia.) I always help out those in need!”
The girl shook her head. “But, what if you get caught too? What if…?”
“Not ifs, ands, or buts! I am going to help you!” By myself? Nina questioned herself. “So,” Nina extended her hand. “My name if Nina! Nina… Strife. What’s yours?”
“Sari,” the girl said as she shook Nina’s hand. “My name is Sari.”
To be continued…