Ranma the Patryn
Disclaimer: Read the previous chapters. It's there.
Author's rant: Yet another chapter of Ranma the Patryn. I know I should have written faster, but, hey, here it is. :) I suggest you check my profile page in FF.net for an explanation on when to expect the next chapter and also to see what other goodies I have for you.
So far I can tell you that I have completely revised and partially re- written the whole Digital Souls, a fic of which I'm very proud of, and if you like Megaman X or Digimon or both you might like.
Anyway, now let's go with the story.
-WD
Chapter 6 - The First Gate By Wanderer D (wandererd@hotmail.com) -----------------------------------------------------------------------
They walked most of the remaining afternoon but had to stop in a cavern overseeing a cliff for the night. They dared not build a fire despite the cold.
They couldn't sleep though. The night was spent in silent guard; ready to fight and kill whatever made it's way to them. Having seen hope in the form of the Nexus, they could only wonder if they would ever see their home again. They were the farthest from there that someone could ever be.
Morning came and there was no sign of Mythril. The group exchanged grim looks as they made their way down the cliff. They could only hope their friend and companion was alive and well.
Reaching the bottom of the cliff brought no comfort to them. A clear river flowed along it, looking harmless with its slow current and seemingly one foot depth.
But a wolf made the mistake of stepping in it, and in seconds was swept away by the freezing cold undercurrent of water.
Ranma's group watched non-pulsed as the wolf drowned in the blink of an eye, its muscles unable to react in the sudden cold.
***
Rue slowly made her way through the bushes. She was flat down on her stomach, inching towards the sounds she had heard earlier. She could see the others only because she knew where they were. To the casual observer, there was no one where the large rocks met the roots of the mountain to her left. But from there, Hugh made a signal that the area was clear.
To her left and up, Ranma was jumping from tree to tree with his impressive agility and dexterity performing feats that no Patryn or Sartan had been able to imitate without magic. Ranma had once told her that the secrets to some of those feats were revealed in the ancient library of the Nexus. Just like the one he had used to win against Ambereye.
She waited until the shadow and whisper that was Aghathar quickly walked past her before inching forward again. She was moving between the trees, while she and Rena had the ground with less cover. Both girls were the best at hiding after all, and if the sounds were that of a small tribe as they feared, the group had a better chance at escape or attack if they moved stealthily and covered as much ground as possible without losing sight of each other.
Finally, they reached a point where they could look down at a pack of Tiger- men. The creatures were camped in the only way into the valley that would take them to the First Gate. It was a natural bottle-neck with jagged and sharp cliffs and natural walls on the sides. It was almost impossible to cross any of the other two options without at least one of them dying in the attempt. Not to mention the griffons, dragons, snakes and other creatures that they would certainly encounter.
As Aghathar had pointed out, it was the only way they could go.
And all that time, Ranma's amulet pulled them in that direction.
Rue turned to look at the others. "Well, what now?"
They all looked at Ranma and noticed that something was wrong. Hugh cast a nervous glance to his sister, who looked back fearfully. Aghathar couldn't believe it. He thought his eyes must be deceiving him. For there was Ranma: crouched against a rock, shaking and pale, clearly scared.
***
Ranma closed his eyes and gulped. He felt cold. He felt hot. He was trembling. He felt Rue's hand as she squatted next to him.
"Ixar?" she asked. "Are... you okay?"
Ranma still had his eyes closed, but he was breathing steadily now. "It's the c-cats." He said finally.
"What about them?" Rena asked. "Sure they are a lot, but we've faced bigger groups before."
Ranma started trembling again, but he soon controlled himself. "Yeah..." He said with a small smile, "Yeah, we have, haven't we?" He took a deep breath. "Just... let me do something. Watch over the creatures."
They nodded, and Ranma walked away. Rue waited a moment before following him.
She found him behind a large boulder. He was using his Patryn magic. She observed as he traced the runes of the spell in the air in front of him. She recognized it as an illusion spell. And he was casting it on himself.
As Ranma waited for the spell to make effect, Rue went back to the others. She was confused as to why he would use such a spell on himself of all people. She sighed. The casting would attract the attention of other Labyrinth creatures. They would have to move faster.
"I will have to ask him later." She mused.
Presently, Ranma came back. He was normal now, and the others sighed in relief. "Sorry about that." He said. "Anyway, how many Tiger-men are there, Hugh?" he asked.
Still a little confused, Alfred's son was quick to answer. "Twenty. No guards as always. But they cover the entrance to the valley pretty well. There's no way around them. We have to fight."
Ranma didn't look happy at that, but there was no other choice really and he knew his spell might have been noticed by hostile creatures. "We'll have to fight." He announced.
He dropped to his knees and opened his backpack, rummaging through it for a moment, before coming out with a scroll. The others gathered around him and looked over his shoulders at the writings on it. Other than a few drawings of people, they were unable to understand anything, and they dared not risk a translation spell.
Ranma analyzed the scroll for a few moments before nodding to himself. "This will do."
He carefully rolled the ancient scroll, tied it with the piece of silk it had been tied originally and put it inside his backpack. He looked at the others. "Listen... this is very risky, but I think I can do it."
Rue was immediately by his side, putting a warning hand on his shoulder. "Ixar, don't take unnecessary risks..." she warned.
Ranma smiled at her. "Don't worry, if this works as it's supposed to, I shouldn't really be in any danger. But I will need you guys to help me."
***
The Tiger-men roared in frenzy as their target ran among them, kicking, killing with his knife and taunting them. Grabbing spears and preparing claws and fangs, they ran after Ranma in a blind rage, not noticing that the campfires were slowly becoming bigger.
***
Outside the camp, Rena and Aghathar worked their stealthy magic while Hugh and Rue prepared heavy-fire spells in case whatever Ranma had planned didn't work.
He had said they would know if it had worked. Rena and Aghathar tensed as Ranma slowly approached the campfires. They flared them all up at the same time as he reached the center of the camp.
Then Ranma stopped. Rue and the others prepared to bolt out to help him, knowing that it was too late, for the Tiger-men had already jumped at him.
Ranma punched the air.
***
Ambereye stared at a distant tornado for a moment. He knew Ranma was there and immediately turned around in mid air and started flying there. Xar-Drax had been right all along. Ranma had undertaken the path to the First Gate, but even the Dragon-snake hadn't foreseen anything like this.
A few minutes later, he arrived at the destroyed camp of a group of Tiger- men. Most of them were dead; sprawled all over the jagged stones of the mountain pass, as if they had been tossed away. The few that had survived were just beginning to stir.
Ambereye walked among the debris, and picked up one of the surviving Tiger- men by the scruff of the neck, pulling him up to his snout.
The Tiger-man gulped and trembled in fear as Ambereye stared at him. "What happened here?" the Blood Dragon asked.
The Tiger-man trembled, but didn't answer. With a roar, Ambereye threw the tiger-man against the rocks, splattering him, and lightning fast grabbed another of the creatures. "What happened here?!" he asked again with a growl.
The tiger-man howled in fear, but just as Ambereye was about to smash him to the ground and try with another, he had enough sense to shout something coherent. "Patryn!"
Ambereye stopped himself and drew the creature to eye-level again. "What about a Patryn? How many?"
The creature still trembled, but, thinking it might survive by telling the dragon what he wanted to know, was able to answer.
"One! It was one! He ran in, killing and fighting. We thought we had him, but... the fires flared and he used his magic to blast us all away!" the creature explained in the growls and hisses that were the Tiger-men's natural language. "Amazing power!" it babbled as Ambereye considered his words and looked around.
"Idiot!" Ambereye shouted at the babbling Tiger-man. "There is very little Patryn and Sartan magic here! I want the truth!" the dragon roared, scattering the remaining Tiger-men away in a desperate attempt at fleeing, which Ambereye stopped with his fire.
Fire stopped spewing from his mouth and nostrils, and as the burnt carcasses of the other Tiger-men fell to the ground, the one he held started blabbering, insane with fear. "It's the truth! The truth! Fire flaring!"
Ambereye threw the pitiful creature away, not even noticing when it slammed against a rock and broke most of its bones.
The last thing the Tiger-man saw before his vision darkened was the Blood Dragon jumping into the air to fly away, but by then his mind didn't comprehend what it was seeing.
"Ranma..." Ambereye growled to himself as his respect for the Patryn/Sartan grew up a notch.
***
They had not talked at all ever since Ranma had destroyed the town with his new power. Rue, Rena, Aghathar and Hugh had stared at the tornado as wind whipped in front of them. There had been no magic. No casting of even the simplest mench-spell. It had just happened, and as wind destroyed everything in its reach, Ranma had stood silently in the middle, unmoving and with his fist up in the air until the tornado had stopped and they had ran towards him.
They had carried on, silently lost in their own thoughts, following Ranma until they arrived at the base of a mountain.
Ranma's amulet pointed straight at it: to a cave on one of its sides.
"Father told me once, that when he, mom, Hugh and Alfred returned here through the First Gate, the mountain had shaken after they came out of it and huge rocks had covered the entrance to it." Rue said, remembering her father's stories and breaking the long silence.
Ranma and the others nodded. They too, had heard the story from both Haplo and Alfred.
"And yet," Aghathar said, "the entrance is now clear of debris."
Hugh stepped closer to it and peered inside. "I can see a light inside." He reported, looking at them over his shoulder.
Ranma tensed. "We have to hurry!" he said urgently. "Ambereye is coming here!"
"What?!" Rena asked, scared.
"Let's go in!" Aghathar urged them.
The others nodded and ran inside the cavern, just as Ambereye started a spiraling descent to land next to the entrance. He growled. It was too small for him.
He noticed a figure walk into view around a huge boulder. "Xar-Drax." The Blood Dragon growled the name with distaste. "I see your preparations did bear fruit."
If the Dragon-snake had noticed the tone, it didn't seem offended. "Yes. Our time draws near. Have you alerted your brothers and sisters?"
Ambereye merely nodded, and Xar-Drax smiled. "Yes, I too have done so to my own brethren and other allies. Let us follow our way out."
The Blood Dragon became darker until he was nothing more than a black dragon-shaped mass that started shrinking, until it became human-shaped.
Xar-Drax regarded the black-dressed man with the dark-red hair and eyes with yellow irises with undisguised amusement. "You don't have to look so disgusted." He commented.
Ambereye just growled and walked into the cavern.
***
The natural cavern slowly turned into a metal-covered hall. Ranma and the others carried on through, looking around warily. Finally they reached the end of the hall and stood staring at a metallic circle, which according to the descriptions of their parents could be nothing else but...
"The First Gate." Hugh said. "Finally..."
Ranma took a step forth, following the pull of the Amulet, until he was almost touching the cold surface of the Gate.
"Well, here goes nothing." He said more for his benefit than for the others. He pulled the Amulet from around his neck and touched the First Gate with it.
A distant crack of thunder was heard and the ground started shaking. The First Gate Shuddered, and then a slim strand of light appeared in the middle, slowly growing bigger; like an eye being opened.
Wind whirled all around them as the First Gate opened up completely. Energy crackled as the door that shouldn't, couldn't, be opened from that side of the lock was forced by a strength greater than that of the Sartan that had designed it; a force greater than what Urd had put into the Amulet. For when Ranma, who now was not exactly Patryn, Sartan or Human touched it, the force behind it opening was Destiny.
The last thing Rue saw before losing consciousness was that everything seemed to turn around and collapse on itself and she and the others were suddenly falling out of a clear sky and into a pool of cold water.
*** End Chapter 6
Next Chapter: Destiny
AN: Well, here starts the next step in the story of Ranma the Patryn. Can you guess where exactly the portal opened? :) I already have some plans, but I'd like to know your opinion and what Aghathar and Hugh might turn into, IF the pools are what you might think it is.
Later!
Disclaimer: Read the previous chapters. It's there.
Author's rant: Yet another chapter of Ranma the Patryn. I know I should have written faster, but, hey, here it is. :) I suggest you check my profile page in FF.net for an explanation on when to expect the next chapter and also to see what other goodies I have for you.
So far I can tell you that I have completely revised and partially re- written the whole Digital Souls, a fic of which I'm very proud of, and if you like Megaman X or Digimon or both you might like.
Anyway, now let's go with the story.
-WD
Chapter 6 - The First Gate By Wanderer D (wandererd@hotmail.com) -----------------------------------------------------------------------
They walked most of the remaining afternoon but had to stop in a cavern overseeing a cliff for the night. They dared not build a fire despite the cold.
They couldn't sleep though. The night was spent in silent guard; ready to fight and kill whatever made it's way to them. Having seen hope in the form of the Nexus, they could only wonder if they would ever see their home again. They were the farthest from there that someone could ever be.
Morning came and there was no sign of Mythril. The group exchanged grim looks as they made their way down the cliff. They could only hope their friend and companion was alive and well.
Reaching the bottom of the cliff brought no comfort to them. A clear river flowed along it, looking harmless with its slow current and seemingly one foot depth.
But a wolf made the mistake of stepping in it, and in seconds was swept away by the freezing cold undercurrent of water.
Ranma's group watched non-pulsed as the wolf drowned in the blink of an eye, its muscles unable to react in the sudden cold.
***
Rue slowly made her way through the bushes. She was flat down on her stomach, inching towards the sounds she had heard earlier. She could see the others only because she knew where they were. To the casual observer, there was no one where the large rocks met the roots of the mountain to her left. But from there, Hugh made a signal that the area was clear.
To her left and up, Ranma was jumping from tree to tree with his impressive agility and dexterity performing feats that no Patryn or Sartan had been able to imitate without magic. Ranma had once told her that the secrets to some of those feats were revealed in the ancient library of the Nexus. Just like the one he had used to win against Ambereye.
She waited until the shadow and whisper that was Aghathar quickly walked past her before inching forward again. She was moving between the trees, while she and Rena had the ground with less cover. Both girls were the best at hiding after all, and if the sounds were that of a small tribe as they feared, the group had a better chance at escape or attack if they moved stealthily and covered as much ground as possible without losing sight of each other.
Finally, they reached a point where they could look down at a pack of Tiger- men. The creatures were camped in the only way into the valley that would take them to the First Gate. It was a natural bottle-neck with jagged and sharp cliffs and natural walls on the sides. It was almost impossible to cross any of the other two options without at least one of them dying in the attempt. Not to mention the griffons, dragons, snakes and other creatures that they would certainly encounter.
As Aghathar had pointed out, it was the only way they could go.
And all that time, Ranma's amulet pulled them in that direction.
Rue turned to look at the others. "Well, what now?"
They all looked at Ranma and noticed that something was wrong. Hugh cast a nervous glance to his sister, who looked back fearfully. Aghathar couldn't believe it. He thought his eyes must be deceiving him. For there was Ranma: crouched against a rock, shaking and pale, clearly scared.
***
Ranma closed his eyes and gulped. He felt cold. He felt hot. He was trembling. He felt Rue's hand as she squatted next to him.
"Ixar?" she asked. "Are... you okay?"
Ranma still had his eyes closed, but he was breathing steadily now. "It's the c-cats." He said finally.
"What about them?" Rena asked. "Sure they are a lot, but we've faced bigger groups before."
Ranma started trembling again, but he soon controlled himself. "Yeah..." He said with a small smile, "Yeah, we have, haven't we?" He took a deep breath. "Just... let me do something. Watch over the creatures."
They nodded, and Ranma walked away. Rue waited a moment before following him.
She found him behind a large boulder. He was using his Patryn magic. She observed as he traced the runes of the spell in the air in front of him. She recognized it as an illusion spell. And he was casting it on himself.
As Ranma waited for the spell to make effect, Rue went back to the others. She was confused as to why he would use such a spell on himself of all people. She sighed. The casting would attract the attention of other Labyrinth creatures. They would have to move faster.
"I will have to ask him later." She mused.
Presently, Ranma came back. He was normal now, and the others sighed in relief. "Sorry about that." He said. "Anyway, how many Tiger-men are there, Hugh?" he asked.
Still a little confused, Alfred's son was quick to answer. "Twenty. No guards as always. But they cover the entrance to the valley pretty well. There's no way around them. We have to fight."
Ranma didn't look happy at that, but there was no other choice really and he knew his spell might have been noticed by hostile creatures. "We'll have to fight." He announced.
He dropped to his knees and opened his backpack, rummaging through it for a moment, before coming out with a scroll. The others gathered around him and looked over his shoulders at the writings on it. Other than a few drawings of people, they were unable to understand anything, and they dared not risk a translation spell.
Ranma analyzed the scroll for a few moments before nodding to himself. "This will do."
He carefully rolled the ancient scroll, tied it with the piece of silk it had been tied originally and put it inside his backpack. He looked at the others. "Listen... this is very risky, but I think I can do it."
Rue was immediately by his side, putting a warning hand on his shoulder. "Ixar, don't take unnecessary risks..." she warned.
Ranma smiled at her. "Don't worry, if this works as it's supposed to, I shouldn't really be in any danger. But I will need you guys to help me."
***
The Tiger-men roared in frenzy as their target ran among them, kicking, killing with his knife and taunting them. Grabbing spears and preparing claws and fangs, they ran after Ranma in a blind rage, not noticing that the campfires were slowly becoming bigger.
***
Outside the camp, Rena and Aghathar worked their stealthy magic while Hugh and Rue prepared heavy-fire spells in case whatever Ranma had planned didn't work.
He had said they would know if it had worked. Rena and Aghathar tensed as Ranma slowly approached the campfires. They flared them all up at the same time as he reached the center of the camp.
Then Ranma stopped. Rue and the others prepared to bolt out to help him, knowing that it was too late, for the Tiger-men had already jumped at him.
Ranma punched the air.
***
Ambereye stared at a distant tornado for a moment. He knew Ranma was there and immediately turned around in mid air and started flying there. Xar-Drax had been right all along. Ranma had undertaken the path to the First Gate, but even the Dragon-snake hadn't foreseen anything like this.
A few minutes later, he arrived at the destroyed camp of a group of Tiger- men. Most of them were dead; sprawled all over the jagged stones of the mountain pass, as if they had been tossed away. The few that had survived were just beginning to stir.
Ambereye walked among the debris, and picked up one of the surviving Tiger- men by the scruff of the neck, pulling him up to his snout.
The Tiger-man gulped and trembled in fear as Ambereye stared at him. "What happened here?" the Blood Dragon asked.
The Tiger-man trembled, but didn't answer. With a roar, Ambereye threw the tiger-man against the rocks, splattering him, and lightning fast grabbed another of the creatures. "What happened here?!" he asked again with a growl.
The tiger-man howled in fear, but just as Ambereye was about to smash him to the ground and try with another, he had enough sense to shout something coherent. "Patryn!"
Ambereye stopped himself and drew the creature to eye-level again. "What about a Patryn? How many?"
The creature still trembled, but, thinking it might survive by telling the dragon what he wanted to know, was able to answer.
"One! It was one! He ran in, killing and fighting. We thought we had him, but... the fires flared and he used his magic to blast us all away!" the creature explained in the growls and hisses that were the Tiger-men's natural language. "Amazing power!" it babbled as Ambereye considered his words and looked around.
"Idiot!" Ambereye shouted at the babbling Tiger-man. "There is very little Patryn and Sartan magic here! I want the truth!" the dragon roared, scattering the remaining Tiger-men away in a desperate attempt at fleeing, which Ambereye stopped with his fire.
Fire stopped spewing from his mouth and nostrils, and as the burnt carcasses of the other Tiger-men fell to the ground, the one he held started blabbering, insane with fear. "It's the truth! The truth! Fire flaring!"
Ambereye threw the pitiful creature away, not even noticing when it slammed against a rock and broke most of its bones.
The last thing the Tiger-man saw before his vision darkened was the Blood Dragon jumping into the air to fly away, but by then his mind didn't comprehend what it was seeing.
"Ranma..." Ambereye growled to himself as his respect for the Patryn/Sartan grew up a notch.
***
They had not talked at all ever since Ranma had destroyed the town with his new power. Rue, Rena, Aghathar and Hugh had stared at the tornado as wind whipped in front of them. There had been no magic. No casting of even the simplest mench-spell. It had just happened, and as wind destroyed everything in its reach, Ranma had stood silently in the middle, unmoving and with his fist up in the air until the tornado had stopped and they had ran towards him.
They had carried on, silently lost in their own thoughts, following Ranma until they arrived at the base of a mountain.
Ranma's amulet pointed straight at it: to a cave on one of its sides.
"Father told me once, that when he, mom, Hugh and Alfred returned here through the First Gate, the mountain had shaken after they came out of it and huge rocks had covered the entrance to it." Rue said, remembering her father's stories and breaking the long silence.
Ranma and the others nodded. They too, had heard the story from both Haplo and Alfred.
"And yet," Aghathar said, "the entrance is now clear of debris."
Hugh stepped closer to it and peered inside. "I can see a light inside." He reported, looking at them over his shoulder.
Ranma tensed. "We have to hurry!" he said urgently. "Ambereye is coming here!"
"What?!" Rena asked, scared.
"Let's go in!" Aghathar urged them.
The others nodded and ran inside the cavern, just as Ambereye started a spiraling descent to land next to the entrance. He growled. It was too small for him.
He noticed a figure walk into view around a huge boulder. "Xar-Drax." The Blood Dragon growled the name with distaste. "I see your preparations did bear fruit."
If the Dragon-snake had noticed the tone, it didn't seem offended. "Yes. Our time draws near. Have you alerted your brothers and sisters?"
Ambereye merely nodded, and Xar-Drax smiled. "Yes, I too have done so to my own brethren and other allies. Let us follow our way out."
The Blood Dragon became darker until he was nothing more than a black dragon-shaped mass that started shrinking, until it became human-shaped.
Xar-Drax regarded the black-dressed man with the dark-red hair and eyes with yellow irises with undisguised amusement. "You don't have to look so disgusted." He commented.
Ambereye just growled and walked into the cavern.
***
The natural cavern slowly turned into a metal-covered hall. Ranma and the others carried on through, looking around warily. Finally they reached the end of the hall and stood staring at a metallic circle, which according to the descriptions of their parents could be nothing else but...
"The First Gate." Hugh said. "Finally..."
Ranma took a step forth, following the pull of the Amulet, until he was almost touching the cold surface of the Gate.
"Well, here goes nothing." He said more for his benefit than for the others. He pulled the Amulet from around his neck and touched the First Gate with it.
A distant crack of thunder was heard and the ground started shaking. The First Gate Shuddered, and then a slim strand of light appeared in the middle, slowly growing bigger; like an eye being opened.
Wind whirled all around them as the First Gate opened up completely. Energy crackled as the door that shouldn't, couldn't, be opened from that side of the lock was forced by a strength greater than that of the Sartan that had designed it; a force greater than what Urd had put into the Amulet. For when Ranma, who now was not exactly Patryn, Sartan or Human touched it, the force behind it opening was Destiny.
The last thing Rue saw before losing consciousness was that everything seemed to turn around and collapse on itself and she and the others were suddenly falling out of a clear sky and into a pool of cold water.
*** End Chapter 6
Next Chapter: Destiny
AN: Well, here starts the next step in the story of Ranma the Patryn. Can you guess where exactly the portal opened? :) I already have some plans, but I'd like to know your opinion and what Aghathar and Hugh might turn into, IF the pools are what you might think it is.
Later!