Author's Notes: Breath of Fire video game series...own it, I do not.


Breath of Fire: Circle of Destiny
by Esor

Chapter 2:

"...I usually stick to the Great Royal Road whenever I'm headin' through Eastern Wyndia. Nothin' much out there 'cept a couple farm towns, a few patches a' forest, an' lotsa empty space. Sure, the villagers 'round there are nice enough people, but the only place that's really worth visitin' is the Wing Temple. An' I'm not exactly what ya would call a very religious man..."

- Ambar the Traveler, vagabond

Surging red fire covered the landscape, consuming everything it touched and tinting the starless black sky a dark shade of orange. As the flames danced sinuously, writhing and undulating with a peculiar, pulsating rhythm, a shadow appeared in the center of the blaze. The darkness within the raging inferno grew, changing and twisting until it gradually coalesced into a large, hulking figure. A pair of bright amber eyes sliced through the sullen red glow of the fire as the figure rose into the air, flapping it's broad leathery wings. Powerfully massive muscles rippled beneath a thick hide of golden scales as the mighty creature flexed it's long, ivory claws. The beast raised it's long, slim muzzle high, baring dangerously sharp, glistening fangs as it unleashed an earsplitting roar of fury.

"It is time..." A female voice, tender, gentle, and melodic, sang with a certain satisfaction. "The circle begins again..."

With a sudden, panicked gasp of fright, a young woman started awake, bolting upright in her bed. For a brief and terrible moment, the images from the girl's nightmare loomed before her eyes. The dragon's monstrous form hung in the air while its horrifying howl echoed within the vaults of her mind. Still clad in nothing more than a thin nightgown, the girl shook her head quickly, and climbed from her soft bed to walk on unsteady feet over to the window of her small bedroom. Throwing the shutters open, a swift breeze rustled her chin length blonde hair as she inhaled the cool night air deeply in an attempt to calm her racing pulse.

The girl gazed up into the night sky, focusing her deep blue eyes on the full moon looming above her. "It was only a dream..." She muttered to herself, her voice quailing slightly with uncertainty as she spoke. A pair of large, pearl white wings sprouting from each of her shoulder blades flexed unconsciously as she fought to slow her pounding heartbeat. "Calm down, Nina...it was only a dream..."

*****

The sun beamed steadily down upon the earth while Ryu slowly pulled himself up from the dark pit of unconsciousness. The blue haired youth squinted painfully at the bright rays of sunshine as awareness returned, a confused wealth of information assaulting his senses. For some reason, Ryu was outside, laying on his back atop something incredibly uncomfortable.

"Oh man..." Ryu groaned as he shakily climbed to his feet, glancing around in an attempt to piece together what happened to him. "What's going..." He froze, breath catching in his throat as he gazed down at the large pile of burned rubble he now stood upon. "Oh gods, no..." He whispered, the events of the previous evening flooding back into his memory.

Ryu stumbled backward in horror, losing his balance before tumbling off the charred wreckage that had once stood as his home. Tears welled in the corners of his eyes as he sat there, sprawled on the ground. Buried somewhere beneath the broken, splintered, and burned wood lay the body of Ryu's grandmother. Despite the fact that Lynn Mystwing was not a true, blood relative, she was the only family the young man had ever known.

Ryu wanted desperately for this to be a dream, some sort of nightmare he could escape from. "Grandma, no..." He said in a broken voice. A myriad of memories bubbled forth in Ryu's mind. He thought of times spent with his Grandmother, happy and sad alike, ranging from earliest childhood to no more than mere days ago. Over the eighteen years of his life, the gentle old woman had become one of the centers of his life.

Mournfully, regretfully, Ryu then turned his head, emerald green eyes seeking out the form of the girl who had grown to become the other half of that center. Anna's body lay where she fell the previous evening, unmoving, still, and silent. His anguished heart weighing heavier with each step, Ryu crossed the short distance separating them and kneeled by his best friend's side on ground stained dark by dried blood. The cold dagger hurled by Fang remained embedded within Anna's chest for a few moments before Ryu swiftly pulled the sharpened piece of metal free and tossed it to the side.

"...don't tell me you've never thought about her as anything more than a friend?" The words of his grandmother seemed to echo within the vaults of Ryu's memory. She was right, he thought ruefully, staring down at Anna's pale face. Despite his reluctance to admit it, somewhere along the line, Ryu's feelings for his dark haired friend had changed. But whatever future the two of them might have shared with each other was gone now, stolen in a moment of violence.

Ryu lifted the girl's limp body into his arms, gently running a hand down her cool cheek. "Anna..." He said softly. Succumbing to his despair, Ryu held her lifeless form close as warm tears spilled down his face and deep sobs wracked his shoulders.

After mourning for what seemed like hours, it was the sound of footsteps and several hushed voices that eventually brought Ryu's attention away from his sorrow. "Gods...he's still here..." One of the voices said, apprehensively.

"What do we do?" Another added.

Ryu looked back over his shoulder, slightly surprised to see a group men from the village recoil from his gaze in terror. The small cluster of farmers clutched pitchforks, hoes, and various other makeshift weapons tightly to their chests, many of them regarding the blue haired youth kneeling on the ground with open, unabashed fear. However, one rather burly young man with short cropped dark hair, no older than Ryu, did step forward.

"Get the hell away from her!" He bellowed, eyes flashing with anger and hatred.

"Leave me alone, Alan..." Ryu muttered in reply. Throughout all the years they spent growing up in Kanya, Alan always viewed Ryu as an outsider. The larger boy often shunned and picked on Ryu, making it well known that he never did, and never would, fit in with the other children.

"I said get away from Anna's body, you freak!!" Alan shouted, suddenly lunging forward. He thrust the handle of his pitchfork at the back of Ryu's head, only to find empty air. Acting on lightning swift reflexes, Ryu ducked under the strike and rolled his body to the side, away from Alan. Coming to rest near the discarded sword of his late grandfather, he sprang to his feet, gripping the sword quickly.

"What's your problem!?" Ryu asked angrily, holding the sword in a low, defensive position.

Alan stood above Anna, gesturing off toward the center of town. "That..." He growled. "...is my problem." Ryu glanced in the direction Alan pointed, noticing for the first time the pair of bodies laying in the middle of the dusty street amidst a path of utter destruction.

Ryu felt himself nearly retch in revulsion as stared at the sight. The two corpses were mutilated, butchered and mangled horrendously. Limbs had been ripped from their sockets while great chunks of flesh had been ripped out and torn to bloody shreds. Despite the fact that the features of both bodies were scorched and burned beyond all hope of recognition, Ryu still knew who he was looking at. One body possessed the hulking, muscled form of a smith clan member, and the other held the misshapen remnants of Wyndian wings. Averting his eyes from the remains of the men known only as Brute and Scourge, Ryu gazed down at his boots in silence.

"I knew there was something wrong with you, ever since we were kids..." Alan continued, glaring at Ryu all the while. "But last night, I watched you become a monster. I watched you slaughter those two thugs like an animal!"

His mind still reeling from image now burned into his memory, Ryu never even noticed one of the farmers step forward and scoop a fist sized rock from the debris strewn ground. "Get out of Kanya!" The farmer cried, hurling the rock through the air with a grunt.

Ryu's head snapped forcibly to the side, sharp, piercing pain blossoming across his senses as the chunk of stone collided with his temple. Emboldened by their comrades' actions, as well as Alan's heated words, the other farmers soon joined the first, pelting the grieving young man with whatever they could find. Ryu stumbled back in a daze as blood flowed freely down his cheek. Each impact from the rocks struck as far more than just a physical blow, but as an emotional one as well. Some of these men he had watched tend the fields and go about their daily lives ever since his earliest childhood. Now the same men who he had once looked up to and respected stoned him, cursing him all the while.

"Leave us alone!"

"Should have known it was a mistake for Lynn to take in that...that monster!"

"We don't need something like you here!!"

"Get out! And never come back!"

Yeah, never come back!!"

"Please..." Ryu pleaded, throwing his arms up to seek some measure of protection from the assault. "I just wanted to protect everybody...I...I didn't mean to..."

"Protect everybody?" Alan snarled. "Protect everybody!? You're the only thing we need protection from...you're a beast! If it wasn't for you, none of this would have happened!!" The words stabbed into Ryu's heart like a knife, causing far more pain than the barrage of stones possibly could. "If it wasn't for you, Anna and your grandmother would still be alive!!" Biting back a strangled sob of sorrow, the young man named Ryu turned and fled the broken village of Kanya, the only home he ever knew.

*****

Many creatures inhabited the small forests scattered across the Wyndian country side. Ghosting between the treetops on silent wings, avian Rippers cawed with delight as they swooped down to capture mice and other small rodents. Eye Goos slithered across the grass, leaving dark, wet trails of slime in their wake. The small, shadowed form of a Goblin scurried through the underbrush, its loud cackle ringing through the air every few moments. Amidst all of this, a lone person leaned heavily against a tree, plagued by turbulent emotions.

Guilt filled Ryu's heart, running almost as deep as the grief he felt. No matter how he tried to view the situation, Alan and the other villagers were right. Everything that happened in Kanya was his fault. The destruction wracked in the village, the death of his loved ones, all of it came about because of him. Despite Ryu's good intentions, Fang and his friends would never have returned to Kanya had he not stepped in to defend Mr. Wallace, the innkeeper.

One mysterious, strange fact puzzled Ryu's memory, however, mocking him by its impossibility. Somehow, some way, he escaped the previous night, the chaos that claimed lives of those he loved, unscathed. Ryu clearly remembered being beaten viciously by the large, powerful smith clansman named Brute. He vividly remembered the pain coursing through his body as he was pummeled by those massive fists. And yet, no trace of the fight, not a scar, a bruise, nor a scratch, remained. Ryu clutched the silver medallion which still hung around his neck with one hand, desperately trying to figure out why. Why had he been the one to survive? What cruel twist of fate chose to spare his life, and his alone, while allowing others to die?

A low, menacing growl, rising from a bush several feet away, abruptly ended Ryu's pensiveness. Another deep, guttural growl joined the first, and was soon joined by many others as several dark shapes emerged from the surrounding forest. The pack of six wild Currs padded quietly towards Ryu upon clawed paws, their sharp fangs bared and dripping wet in anticipation of an upcoming meal. They circled around their intended prey, fur-tipped tails lashing about wildly as said prey slowly stood, holding the large broadsword at his side.

"C'mon..." Ryu said, his judgement slightly tainted by anger, guilt, and self-loathing. "You want dinner? Come and get it..."

One of the Currs leapt forward with a hungry, savage bark, claws still raking across Ryu's side as the young warrior tried to dodge the attack. The next Curr to strike, spurned on by the scent of spilled blood, yelped in pain as Ryu swung his free arm in a wide arc, slamming the steel bracer around his wrist into the animal's head. Even while the dog-like beast crumpled to the ground in an unconscious heap, two more lashed out, sinking their claws deep into Ryu's undefended back and leg, slicing messily through his flesh. Ryu cried out in pain, while fresh blood splattered across the grass, turning around on his good leg as quickly as possible to face the threat from behind. Thrusting forward with his sword, he managed to stab one of the Currs in the abdomen as it attempted to slash him again.

"Is that all you got?" Ryu spat, breathing heavily and slightly dizzy from blood loss. "Huh??"

The Currs pressed their attack, claws flashing and teeth bared each time they struck, while Ryu desperately blocked, dodged, and fought back. His sword glinted in the sunlight filtering through the forest canopy as it sliced across the air, incapacitating another Curr with an anguished whine and a splash of blood. The largest of the three remaining predators stepped forward, snarling angrily, and leapt upon their would be meal. Blocking with the flat of his sword, Ryu grunted as the weight of the beast drove him down to the ground. With a howl of triumph, the Curr closed its jaws around Ryu's shoulder, drawing a scream from the pinned young man. Ryu's face contorted tightly as the wound burned like he had been stabbed by red hot knives. He shoved the Curr away with a grunt, and scrambled to his feet, fighting down a sudden wave of nausea. The animal simply growled and launched itself at Ryu once more, undaunted. As his vision began to waver, Ryu barely recognized that the danger, countering the attack at the last possible moment. Both hands wrapping around the hilt of his sword, Ryu swung the large blade with all his strength. The edge of the weapon caught the leaping Curr on the neck, it's momentum driving the cold hard steel through skin, muscle, bone, and spine.

With a defeated whimper, the last two Currs fled the scene as their comrade's body flopped to the ground, twitching, and it's head rolled across the wet, bloodstained grass. Ryu, however, hardly noticed. His breath came in short, wheezing gasps and sweat rolled down his flushed skin as his temperature soared. Even through the sudden fever that clouded his thoughts, he knew that something was wrong. Very wrong. Ryu stumbled forward as his strength began to give, retching violently onto the ground before collapsing completely.

*****

A tall, bulky, and rather hairy man of middle age strolled casually through the forest, humming a tuneless song as he basked in the late afternoon sunlight. The man carried a large, double bladed axe effortlessly in one hand, grinning broadly as he flexed the other into a fist. That arrogant merchant from Auria would definitely hesitate next time he had the urge to cheat one of the "local country bumpkins" out of their money. A handful of lost teeth and a broken arm or two would keep his mind on honest thoughts. The man's wide smile settled into a quite self-satisfied smirk. After all, no one got away with trying to swindle Bunyan the Lumberjack.

"What in the blazes happened here?" Bunyan wondered aloud as the trek back to his humble log cabin brought him across a distressing scene. A young man with blue hair lay face down on the grass, his clothing torn and bloodied, next to the decapitated body of a Curr.

Bunyan rushed over to Ryu immediately, gently flipping him onto his back while checking for signs of life. The boy's skin burned hot to the touch, his chest rose slightly with dangerously shallow breathing, and his heart beat at an erratic pace. Bunyan soon identified the cause of the youth's plight in a wound on his shoulder which festered an ugly black color.

"Curr's venom..." Bunyan muttered with a frown. "He must have been bitten by that mangy beast before he killed it..." If treated right away, the venom was usually nothing to worry about. But Ryu had been laying there for quite some time, his body already weakened by numerous other wounds. He was fading fast and beyond Bunyan's capabilities to heal. Bunyan bowed his head, preparing a prayer to the gods for Ryu's soul.

"...grandma...Anna..." The unconscious young man whispered quietly, his lips barely moving. Bunyan, however, found himself unable to continue his prayer. If a boy less than half his age and barely alive refused to give up, then he could do no less.

Stealing his resolve, Bunyan tore great strips of cloth from his own dark brown tunic, bandaging the worst of Ryu's wounds before lifting the limp body over his shoulder. "Up ya go, lad." He said, tucking the young man's sword into his belt alongside his axe. "Maybe, just maybe, there's still a chance...if I can make it in time..." With that, Bunyan began to run, dashing as fast as possible through the dense foliage and low hanging branches.

Bunyan traveled like this for over an hour, pausing periodically for a brief rest while still keenly aware of the fact that Ryu's life was continuing to slip away. Finally, he arrived at his destination, a towering building composed of ancient gray stone. Bunyan bounded quickly up the wide, low staircase, stopping before a pair of broad oaken doors surmounted by the elegantly carved statue of a winged woman.

"Hey, open up!" Bunyan bellowed, pounding the door with his fists.

After a few moments, a flustered young woman dressed in a flowing white robe opened the doors. "W-welcome to the Wing T-temple, traveler...how may..." She began, only to have Bunyan walk unceremoniously right by her, entering the main hall. "Wait a s-second!"

"Don't have time for those ol' formalities, lass." Bunyan said, bluntly. "Get Sela out here, now! I need her help!"

"Holy M-mother Sela is most likely b-busy at the moment..." The priestess said, trailing behind Bunyan as the larger man continued farther into the temple.

Drawn by the commotion, a tall woman with long tawny hair and a gold trimmed white robe stepped into the chamber. "Always the gentleman, aren't you, Bunyan?" She said in an amused voice, her large gray tipped wings twitching slightly with barely suppressed laughter and her wise, clear azure eyes sparkling with mirth.

Bunyan, however, did not reply to the woman's barb. "Now ain't the time for chat, Sela. This kid on my shoulder needs help, now."

All traces of humor disappeared from Sela's face as she caught sight of the body laying across Bunyan's shoulder. She immediately walked over to examine the boy, barking curt orders to the other girls in the hall. Soon, Ryu lay in one of the temple's spare bedrooms, covered in blankets while Sela worked desperately to save his life with her magic.

"This is very bad..." Sela said, grimly. "It is a miracle that he has survived this long at all..."

"Is there anything I can do to help, Mother Sela?" One of the young priestesses asked, standing cautiously in the doorway with a worried look touching her youthful, delicately beautiful face. "Anything at all?" The girl nervously tucked a stray lock of blonde hair behind her ear, her graceful white wings bowed with concern and sympathy.

Sela glanced up to the girl once, then quickly motioned for her to sit on the other side of Ryu's bed. "If we combine our magic, we might stand a better chance at healing him..." Sela said. As she extended her hands over Ryu's chest, a dim glow suffused his body. "Join your strength with mine..." The girl closed her eyes and reached out, placing her hands above Sela's. "...that's right...do just as I taught you..." The dim light quickly grew more intense, eventually blocking Ryu's form completely from view. When the light faded, the various wounds decorating Ryu's body had vanished. The venom had also been purged from his blood, leaving his heartbeat, breathing, and temperature back to normal.

"Will he be alright now, Mother Sela?" The young priestess asked as Sela stood wearily, the amount of mystical energy used to heal Ryu taking it's toll on her aging body.

"Yes child, he will be fine. He may sleep for quite some time, but he will be fine." Sela said with a tender smile. "I am glad that you were here. You did very well."

The girl blushed slightly. "Thank you, Mother Sela..." For some unknown reason, she had been overcome by an irresistible compulsion to help the mysterious blue haired youth. Almost as if the unconscious stranger were someone of incredible importance to her.

"No." Sela corrected. "I should be the one thanking you. I would not have been able to save his life without your help, Nina."

"I was only following your lead..." Nina replied, modestly.

Sela smiled once more, placing a hand on Nina's shoulder. "Still, you are developing into quite a powerful mage. I am proud of you." She said. "Now you should rest. We will visit our patient again in the morning."

"Yes, Mother Sela." Nina replied, casting a final glance to Ryu's calm, serene face before leaving the room with the older priestess.