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Standard disclaimer: I don’t own the series.
AN: Hi peoples! Wow, this story is really coming along! It surprises me sometimes just seeing where it’s going. Right. Well, anyway! The great ones once again review this odd fic. Lol Heh, I mean Nina Windia, Anime Monkey, and Rogue_Kaiser! You guys rock the freaking house! I always love hearing from other people how my stories are (hinthint!) Right, the reviews!
Nina Windia: My goodness! What a long review. THANKIES!!! What? I’m Yuki???? Yup, you’re right. I told one of my good friends what you said about me being bonkers. You know what she said? She agreed! You are correct!
Oh, I have got to read that story! Seriously though. Who names a dark knight Cecil. Oh, I feel like I am going to be murdered by FF4 fans everywhere for saying that one. But in all actuality, I love the character Cecil. Though, when one stops to think about it, when he becomes a paladin (spoiler!) it does sound more appropriate. Dunno why.
Didn’t you know that I am a mind reader??? Mwahahaha!!!! Actually, I’m not lol Now, I must ask YOU a question, are you in cahoots with my muses?
Criticism. Great… lol Nah, I like #that# word. I see. So, you are cool? Hee, just kidding! You’re great! Really? That many? Hn, I guess I didn’t notice. Thank goodness that’s all it was. Ah yes. The issues with humor in my story. Sigh. Lol Ever wondered why I put this story as humor/adventure? There’s your reason. But, ah, I will try to watch that for now on. I’m learning, see? Hee.
Oh, good. It kinda plays with the title of the fic. Dämmerung der Götter is suppose to mean, twilight of the gods, in German. I used an online translator to figure that out. I think I could have just used the English translation for the title. All well. Too late to change it now. :)
Oh, I like that! Sounds like something Jin would do. Fits perfectly with his character…~grins all knowingly~
Oh, you are most welcome. So, I get to dodge the bullet this time? Thank goodness. Yes, yes you should. But then again, I am known for waiting THREE YEARS for a FREAKING UPDATE on my favorite stories ~looks at Red Mage 04~ so, take your time. Just don’t wait too long. Or I will have to send my flying monkeys/muses after you. Um, that won’t be too much longer. That’s all I’m saying on that subject…
Anime Monkey: Yup. This is all about Nina! I want to show that our little princess can also kick ass and take names… well sorta. Oh! Sorry! Cymosion is the name of the disease Ryu has. For the record, Ryu’s “original” town is Dragnier and he’s descended from the Light Dragon clan.
Rogue_Kaiser: Hello again and thanks for reviewing!!! Hee, Nina has been known to get into trouble and drag others with her. Heh, it’s happened before, so her bodyguard is use to it. It’s one of the ways he tracks her. He just looks for any info regarding a “Nina Strife.” And she wonders how he can track her. lol Oh, Nina will be pushed to her limits in this chapter.
Yeah, thanks for that :) Nina just seemed… underdeveloped. I can’t stand underdeveloped characters… you know? Yuki was getting WAY too much screen time and Ryu was getting some, but not a lot. You know? So, my muses collaborated with Nina Windia and they “persuaded” me to fix this little problem. Heh. Actually this was somewhat intentional. If was still rushing things, you’d know some more about Nina, but I decided to slow things down a little, so um yeah. Anyway, I’m backkkk!
Thanks for all those who reviewed! You guys are great! Oh, and special thanks goes out to Arcy for the sole fact that I have been making him work day and night to update the Breath of Fire Library. You guys should go check it out. Maybe send him your stories to be posted. Tell ‘em Airess sent you! LOL
(Lil' Arcy says: Lo and fear the author in throes of her muses, for keeping up with her is hard work. @_@ Watch and learn from Airess, boys and girls, for this is how a real writer sticks to her pen and paper.)
“Its been confirmed that Princess Nina Ashelia de Wyndia has been kidnapped by a one Ryu Bateson and an unknown individual,” a young man dressed in black and blue armor said. He was knelt in front of Demus, who was standing before him.
Dragnier’s prince nodded and made a hand gesture. The man stood up and with a bow, exited the room. Demus turned to the large picture window and placed his hands behind his back.
Ryu was proving to be most difficult to capture. After receiving word from King Joshua de Wyndia about Nina’s disappearance, he became suspicious, so he did some research. At around the same time of Nina’s disappearance, two criminals had gone missing. Both were children and one of them was a boy with blue hair. It didn’t take a genius to figure out the rest.
Nina had gone off with Ryu and that Uzuki girl. An informant of his was most helpful in disclosing some information in regards to the whereabouts of the three children… and the dire fate of the three bandits that were chasing the children.
That was what brought him to the battle city of Collosia, a town located about two days from Tantar. The word was that Ryu and his companions were in Tantar. He could send his Dragoons to the city and capture them there, but he didn’t want to alert his father about his plans.
After all, King Gideon thought that the little bastard was dead.
A knock of the door pulled Demus from his musings.
“Come in,” Demus said.
A young woman with pale skin and long red hair dressed in a red battle dress walked into the room. She had on a gold breast plate and gold bracers and shin guard over her battle dress. She bowed at the waist and walked the distance of the room over to where Demus was standing.
“Preparations are complete. All that is needed is for me to enter the Contest of Champions,” the woman said. “What are your orders, my liege?”
“Salla Treiba,” Demus smiled slightly. “Excellent job. However, you will not be entering the contest.”
“My prince?”
“Instead, I will be entering it myself.”
“Are you sure that… Ryu will be entering the contest?” Salla asked.
“You said that preparations were complete, did you not?” Demus countered.
“Yes, but…”
“You have your orders. I want you to carry them out. You need not harm that child, just capture her and use her as bait to lure Ryu to Collosia. He’s too noble to let someone stay in harm’s way.”
“Yes, my liege,” Salla bowed and exited the room.
Demus grinned. Things seemed to finally be going his way…
Nina never did like dark alleys. In the horror movies, the ones Strife would let her watch without telling her parents, always had the innocent girls walking down a dark alley right before the big bad killer would capture them and kill them.
Or something like that.
She was beginning to become concern for her new… friend. Sari was stumbling around behind her, as if in some sort of waking stupor. Nina wondered briefly if it was a good idea taking the girl with her to find her missing friends. After all, she didn’t even know this girl.
But the same could be said about Ryu and Yuki. She only knew them for a total of what? Two, three days? Oh, and let’s not even mention Garr. She knew him for even less time. Maybe this whole adventure thing wasn’t such a good idea after all.
Nina stopped and turned around and watched Sari as she looked around for a moment. Sari walked over to Nina and nodded.
“This is where I last saw my friends,” Sari said as she played with a loose strand of pale green hair.
Nina wondered how she got her hair that green. The stuff seemed to shine under the pale moonlight, almost making the girl look like a ghost. Nina shook her head. She was almost certain that the girl wasn’t a ghost. After all, there were no such things as ghosts… right?
Nina remembered the odd vision she had in the hotel room, right before she heard Sari call for help. Was that thing she saw, the transparent girl, a ghost or just something she just thought she saw. She was, after all, very tired.
Garr was going to be pretty damn mad if he found her missing in the morning. But… she had a mission to accomplish! She had waited all her life to be able to be a hero. She was NOT going to miss this chance!
“Okay,” Nina said. She placed her arms behind her back and walked over to the spot where Sari was standing. “This the place?”
“Yes,” Sari nodded.
“Okay…” Nina hummed. Now what? “Do you remember what you saw?”
“…?” Sari looked confused. She blinked twice and took a step back.
Nina gave her a confused look. Sari just shook her head and pointed behind of Nina. Nina turned around and jumped back. There was a red runic circle that appeared on the ground where she was just standing. The circle flashed and with a gust of wind, dark shadows flooded out of the circle.
Nina tried to will her body to run, but it seemed unresponsive. The circle wasn’t only a summoning spell, but a paralysis spell too. Nina looked over at Sari. The girl was screaming a silent scream. Her eyes were dilated and her breathing was ragged.
Oh, this was going to end badly.
The only magic Nina knew was a simple healing spell and how to undo binding circles. Nina couldn’t move, so she couldn’t undo the circle and banish the shadows. Nina choked as the dark smoke began to fill her lungs.
The last thought that ran through her mind was… “OH SHIT!”
And then she knew no more…
It felt like a white hot knife had just been stabbed into her skull. Yuki jerked awake and screamed. She grabbed her head and moaned as the pain subsided. She sat up and looked around. Nina was gone. Oh, dear.
Then that dream wasn’t a dream after all. Where was Nina?
Yuki stood up and straightened out her tang-top and blue jeans. She reached down for her boots that were discarded at the side of the bed. She tugged her boots on and laced them up. She then combed out her hair and pulled it up in a ponytail. She put on her glasses and headed out the door and down the hallway to get Ryu.
She had been Called after all. She had no idea that Nina could do that. Hell, SHE didn’t know that she could hear Calls from people. But she did. It was like a loud and shrilling drill going off in her head. It hurt like hell.
She blinked and cautiously opened the door. She peaked inside and was Ryu looking out the window, just staring down at the empty streets. Ryu sniffed the air and looked over at the opened door and spotted Yuki. Yuki noticed that he already had his clothes on.
Ryu placed a finger to his lips and then grabbed up his short sword and tiptoed to the door. He exited the room and quietly closed the door. Yuki crossed her arms and looked at Ryu. Ryu gave Yuki a lopsided look and shrugged his shoulders.
Both of them walked down the hallway and back to Yuki and Nina’s room. Yuki walked over to her backpack and pulled out her sheathed short swords. She attached them to her belt and gave Ryu a thumb’s up.
Ryu rolled his eyes and slighted jerked his head towards the window. Yuki gave Ryu a questioning look until she heard loud footfalls coming from Ryu and Garr’s room. Yuki’s eyes widened slightly and her mouth made an ‘o’ shape. She nodded and opened the window.
Yuki climbed out the window; she had great practice with this at Jin’s house. She jumped onto the railing and slid down. Ryu soon followed after her.
When they were on the ground, they both took of in a quick sprint down the street. After they got a few blocks away, Yuki turned to Ryu.
“How did you know…?” Yuki asked.
“I couldn’t smell Nina’s scent anymore. It’s like it vanished. I was going to go look around for her, but then you came to my room…” Ryu said hesitantly. “What about you?”
Yuki closed her eyes as if in thought. She then opened them and grinned. “I… uh, had a dream about Nina being in trouble, so I decided to round you up and go fetch her!” Yuki finished, pumping her fist in the air.
Ryu just rolled his eyes. “Yeah, but how do we find her? I can’t smell her scent anymore.”
Yuki gritted her teeth suddenly and grabbed her head. Ryu took a step forward in case she needed help, but she held her hand up and stopped him. She then straightened back up and grinned.
“I… think I can track her…”
“How?” Ryu asked. “If I can smell her, then how can you… Yuki?”
“It will be… hard, but I think I can do it!” Yuki grinned. Yuki closed her eyes. “I… ACK!” Yuki’s eyes snapped open.
“What?!” Ryu asked, alarmed. “What did you see?!”
“We got to find Nina and quick!” was all Yuki said.
The first thing Nina noticed when she came to was the dank smell. She groaned as she slowly opened her eyes. She realized she was lying down on a damp, cold slab of stone. She twitched her pointer finger; her whole body felt heavy and numb.
She heard a voice… a deep sounding voice, which she assumed was a male. Her suspicions were confirmed when she saw a young man with tan skin and spiked blond hair, dressed in a lab coat and blue jeans come walking over to where she currently laid.
She gritted her teeth and watched the man looked back at her with hauntingly familiar green eyes. She thought they looked familiar, but she just couldn’t place them. Dull green eyes…
“I see you are awake,” the man said with a slight eastern accent. “I am amazed that you are so strong. Most children are comatose when they are brought to me by the shadows.” The man smiled as he reached down to touch Nina’s face.
He placed his palm on Nina’s cheek. Nina twitched and jerked her head. Her mouth opened and the man soon found Nina’s teeth embedded in his hand. The man growled and jerked his hand back.
He cradled his injured hand while Nina gave him a smug look.
“I don’t think so,” Nina spat back.
“Just beautiful,” the man said. “You’re life force shines with such a brilliant light. It’s too bad that I am going to have to drain that light from you.”
“What?!” Nina barked. Okay, so barking wasn’t exactly lady-like, but then again, Nina was no lady. “You pervert!”
“I assure you, I am a perfect gentleman,” the man said as he turned his back to Nina. He walked away from her as she struggled to sit up.
The man walked over to where Sari was lying on another stone slab, unconscious. Nina hardly had time to notice a black cloaked figure emerge from the shadows. She bit back a scream as the tall figure traced something in the air right about her head. Feeling suddenly returned to Nina’s body.
The person made a gesture with his hand to indicate that Nina lay still as not to alert the strange perverted man. Nina’s eyes locked onto the man. The man nodded and melted back into the shadows.
Nina looked around and noticed many different bodies lying on stone slabs throughout the cavern. She wanted to scream. All the bodies were of children no older than she was. The bodies were either completely crystallized… or decayed. Nina now knew what that dank smell was. The smell of rotting corpses was never a pleasant smell.
The blond-haired man smiled as he turned his attention to Sari. He placed his hand on her chest, over her heart. He turned his head in Nina’s direction. “She was quite hard to capture. Her will shines brightly. Her life force, however, is quite weak. Such a fragile little thing.”
Nina rapidly shook her head. She looked for the cloaked man, but couldn’t find him. Had he left?
“What… did you do to all the kids in Tantar?” Nina asked.
“Ah, yes. I am a… doctor if you will,” the man said. “I am known as the Seeker. These children are the result of an unique experiment, if you will.”
“WHY ARE THEY DEAD?!” Nina shrieked.
“An unfortunate side affect,” the Seeker said.
“From WHAT?!”
“Cymosion,” the Seeker said. “A rare, unique disease that attacks the cells and disintegrates them. Well, that’s the case for normal humans and most clans. In the Dragon Clan, however, I have noticed that they are unaffected by this. Those who are hybrids by at least three generations, however, their cells start to crystallize until they are completely crystallized.”
“What…?” Nina asked.
“The disease is not airborne, I do not think. Instead, it is passed through blood. The children you see here that are dead suffered from too high of a dosage. If given in a small dose, the disintegrated cells repair themselves, but that was not the case with high dosages.”
“What does this have to do with Sari?” Nina asked.
“Oh, is that her name?” the Seeker asked. “Yes, she is the only one to ever have broken out of my control. She has great magic potential. I think that’s what kept her from succumbing to the Cymosion. But, she will succumb just as you will, after I,” the Seeker took a needle from his pocket. “inject you with this.”
The Seeker walked over to Nina and started to reach for her arm. Nina screamed and rolled off the table just as an arm jerked forward and grabbed the Seeker’s arm. Nina scrambled over to Sari and pulled her off the table.
She poked her head over the stone slab and noticed the same man that freed her from the bind was currently holding the Seeker’s arm in a death grip. The Seeker jerked his other arm forward and tried to stab the man in the arm with the needle. The man kicked up and knocked the needled out of the Seeker’s hand.
He jumped back and looked over at Sari and Nina. He made a hand gesture and pointed at Sari. Sari’s eyes jerked open. The man grinned slightly as his boot came down on the needle and crushed it. He looked at Nina and nodded. Nina just gave him a confused look. The man turned around and then vanished in a plume of blue and white light.
Nina then understood what the man had done. She was going to have to stop this Seeker guy herself. But… how?
She didn’t have time to find out. The Seeker growled and turned around. “Damn it!” he roared. “Who the hell was that?!”
He looked over at Nina and Sari, who was now awake and alert. Sari screamed as she saw the Seeker advance on the two. Nina gulped as she stood up and took a defensive battle stance.
The Seeker laughed as he watched Nina. He lunged at Nina and before she could react, he sent her flying across the cavern. Nina screamed as she hit the far wall with a sickening thud.
The Seeker then grabbed Sari by her hair and jerked her to her feet. He sneered as he slapped her with his free hand. He then slammed her against the ground. “You stupid little piece of trash!” the Seeker growled as he punched and kicked Sari.
“No… stop…” Nina muttered weakly. She weakly lifted her head up from the stone ground. Her blood boiled with each kick and punch that the Seeker delivered to Sari. Who did this man think he was?!
“STOP!” Nina shrieked. She didn’t even know she could scream that loud.
The Seeker dropped Sari and gave Nina an amused look. “And what makes you think that you can stop me?”
Nina slowly rose to her feet. She swayed a little, but stood her ground. She staggered over to the man, a defiant look on her face. “I said stop! Leave her alone!!!”
The Seeker crossed his arms. “And what makes you think you can stop me? You are just a child…”
The Seeker lunged at Nina again, this time he punched her in the gut. Nina choked and doubled over in pain. The man laughed as he swung his fist up and caught Nina in the jaw. Nina’s body flew up and she screamed as she landed a few feet away. Oh yeah. That diffidently left a mark.
The Seeker walked over to Nina again. He raised his hand and a dark light started to form in it. “You are becoming a pest,” the man said.
The man was going to kill her. The Seeker yelled as he launched a dark sphere at Nina. Nina tried to dodge, but the sphere hit her in her mid torso. She screamed at the sphere tore at her body.
Nina’s head rolled back as she screamed. She wondered if she was going to die. The sphere expanded and started to consume her entire body. The Seeker just laughed at Nina’s pain. That man was truly a bastard…
“I…” Nina choked out. It couldn’t end here! She still had an adventure to go on with Ryu and Yuki!
You have to live…
Nina’s eyes widened slightly as a soft, deep whisper echoed throughout her mind.
Call on thy hidden might…
Nina’s eyes snapped open and flashed bright green. Gold and green light enveloped Nina’s body, canceling out that black light. The light quickly formed into a small sphere in front of Nina. Nina held out her hands and the sphere quickly floated into her hands.
The Seeker’s eyes widened slightly as he watched Nina’s odd attack. He knew this attack; he had studied about it so long ago. Eternal Session. Only those with a strong will and a pure heart could ever attempt such a feat.
Nina’s wings suddenly ripped out of her back and grew in length. Soon, her outstretched wings were the length of her entire body. The wings flashed with the same gold and green light that her body had. The sphere flashed brightly and flew from Nina’s hands and right into the Seeker’s mid torso.
He screamed as he was consumed with gold and green light. The pain was great. It was stronger than he could have ever thought. The light bore into him and tore right through him. The light continued its assault as started to consume him. The Seeker screamed once more and with a flash of dark light, he vanished.
Nina blinked once as the light died down. Her wings returned to their normal size, that of barely covering her back, and hung limply behind her. Nina shook her head and collapsed to her knees, catching the ground with her hands.
Good job… the same voice coiled through her mind. She smiled.
Nina panted for a second and glanced up when she heard several footfalls at the entrance of the cavern. She say Yuki and Ryu come running into the middle of the cavern, weapons at the ready. Both stopped and glanced around in confusion.
Ryu noticed the bodies lying around and flinched when he saw the crystallized bodies. Yuki looked over at Nina. Nina pointed over to where Sari was lying. Yuki gasped and ran over to the wounded girl.
Yuki picked the girl up in her arms and a white light enveloped Sari. When it died down, Sari groaned and opened her eyes and looked at Yuki in confusion. Ryu shook his head and walked over to Nina. He offered his hand to her and she accepted it. Nina dragged herself to her feet and thanked Ryu.
As the four of them walked out of the cavern, Nina explained what had happened. She told them about Sari and the Seeker about the unfortunate victims of what appeared to be a sick experiment conducted by the madman.
When Nina mentioned the Cymosion, Ryu flinched. Yuki and Nina asked what was wrong, but Ryu just shrugged it off and said it was nothing.
Nina asked how they found her, and Yuki said she tracked Nina. And that’s all she would say about the matter. Nina looked at Ryu for answers, but he shrugged and said that Yuki had said a bunch of stuff that just made his head spin, so he just gave up trying to figure it out.
When the four reached the entrance to the cavern, they noticed two things. One, the sun was already rising. Two, Garr was waiting for them, dressed in a large, hooded brown cloak. He asked them what were they doing, and the three began to explain once again.
After all was said and done, Nina asked Garr how he knew where to find them.
“I am not at liberty to discuss that as of right now,” Garr said. “Though, I can say that I was told to come to this area after I woke up this morning and saw that the three of you were missing.”
“What did this person look like?” Ryu asked.
“I do not know. He was dressed in a black hooded cloak,” Garr explained.
Nina’s eyes widened slightly, but she said nothing. Could it have been the same man that had saved her? Is that why he left? To get help?
Garr nodded and looked down at Sari, who had darted behind Yuki. “Who is she?”
“Her name’s Sari,” Nina explained. “Uh, I saved her from that sicko who was kidnapping all those kids.”
Garr nodded. “I see,” Garr looked at Ryu. Ryu checked his Tear and noticed the jewel glowing light blue. Ryu nodded and smiled.
Garr crossed his arms. “We must report this to the locate Ranger’s Guild. They will take care of this. After that, I suggest we leave. We can drop off Sari at the Guild and…”
“WAIT!” Sari yelled. Garr gave her a questioning look. “Please… let me go with you! I… have no where else left to go…” Sari said pitifully as she hung her head. Her green hair hid her face and the tears that threatened to well up.
Garr sighed and looked over at Ryu, Yuki, and Nina. All had adopted sad, pitiful looks on their faces and had their hands clutched together in front of them. Garr then looked back over to Sari, who just seemed to just look more pitiful by the second.
Garr growled when he thought he heard Yuki whimpering like a small puppy. “Enough!” Garr roared. “Fine, she can come. BUT only if she does not slow us down. We are behind enough as it is.”
Ryu and Yuki high-fived each other as Nina jumped up and down for joy. Sari’s eyes lit up like a fireworks display. Garr groaned as he watched the four of them celebrate their “victory.”
After this little trip, he was going on vacation…
The cloaked man appeared in a white and blue light a few miles away from the outskirts of Tantar. He grinned slightly as a large, middle aged, man with a brown beard, dressed in leathers approached him.
“So, how did it go?” Bunyan asked the man.
The man nodded as he took the hood off. Jin merely glanced at Bunyan. “She’s good, that Nina. I didn’t think she would be able to pull it off, but she did. I’m quite surprised and pleased with the results.”
“You interfered,” Bunyan said, the laughter evident in his voice.
“Not really. I just evened the playing field. That bastard never did know how to fight fair.”
“You told Garr where to find them.”
Jin tilted his head slightly. “Maybe so, but he needed to know.”
Bunyan nodded. “What about the… mess in the cavern? How do we explain THAT to the Ranger’s Guild?”
Jin shrugged. “We don’t. I…purified the bodies before I left. The traces of the Cymosion is gone from their systems.”
“I see. So, one more question. Why didn’t Yuki sense you? You are pretty close by and she’s in the area…”
“Simple,” Jin laughed. “Out of sight, out of mind!”
“You aren’t answering the question, are you?” Bunyan asked. Jin just laughed harder. “Figures…” Bunyan grumbled.
To be continued…