-Rants & Raves-
For all those lads and lasses who doubt their skill...Keep up all the good work my fellow writers!
-End Rants & Raves-
(I wish but) I don't own Capcom, Breath of Fire or its characters. But the characters, and world in this story for the most part are my own creation
Chapter 5: Revelations
Orion whistled happily while the sun playfully hid behind the clouds. Walking had taken a toll on Imperial and Lakaiko as they made their way to the little known eccentric city of Auria, which lay by the seaside. Imperial, mostly tired from having to carry Lakaiko the majority of the way, began to lag behind the cheerful cat.
"Orion, how much further until we get to this town?" Imperial whined as Kaiko's small hands toyed with her long hair.
Orion took a deep breath and exhaled loudly as he unrolled a small map from his hip pouch "Only a little bit further. By this map I say about another fifteen miles." Imperial stopped in mid stride with her wings turning blood red.
"Another fifteen miles! I thought you said this was a short cut! Either we take a break or you're going to have to carry Kaiko." She protested stamping her achy foot on the ground, kicking up the loose dust.
Orion glanced at Lakaiko sitting in Imperial's tired arms then back at Imperial's face in mock innocence "I can't understand why you are so tired, I had to carry you further then this to get to my house." He laughed as the young woman made a nasty face at him. She set Lakaiko down and sat upon the short grass near the dirt road in order to stretch her tired legs and arms. Orion sat on the opposite side of the dirt pathway and rubbed his neck.
"I don't know why we are going to a out of the way port town anyway." Imperial muttered to herself.
Orion playfully twitched his tail teasing Lakaiko to catch it. "In my travels abroad I've heard Auria has one of the oldest libraries on the continent. Personally I've never been to the library or town myself but it might have books on deciphering dreams. I figure there might be something behind this story you told me. I thought if we start be interpreting your dreams instead of wandering aimlessly, we can figure out what's going ON!" The word came as a high-pitched yelp as Kaiko finally caught the ever- shifting appendage and gave it a sharp yank.
Imperial folded her arms across her chest as she tried to stifle the laughter bubbling inside her. The pained expression the Woran had made was just the humor she needed at the moment. She turned her head, watching Kaiko run towards a field of wild flowers.
"You never did tell me how Lakaiko came into your care." He stated bluntly still rubbing his sore tail. "Or how is it that you're human and have fairy wings?"
Imperial smiled broadly at the scholar's question. "Curiosity killed the cat, you know..."
She continued to chuckle as Orion playfully growled something under his breath.
"I found Lakaiko when I was fifteen." She began "I was out exploring in the Fay forest when I found a cave covered by bush. Being the curious type I went inside..." Lakaiko ran over to Orion, placing a flower halo on top of his furry ears. Orion ruffled the boy's hair as a sign for forgiveness for what he had done earlier. Imperial openly laughed at the cute picture the two made.
"I came across people talking inside a huge room." She continued, "Hiding behind a rock, I watched what was going on. There were seven guys and ladies' wearing these beautiful dresses and robes standing near an altar made of diamond crystal so clear I could see right through it." With her finger she drew a diagram for the woren in the dirt. "All of them were wearing white masks to cover their face."
"There was a woman who gave Kaiko to the people because some monster was looking for her and him. The men and women placed Lakaiko on the altar and put their hands on him. I turned to leave but they started singing a song so wonderful that I couldn't move until they finished." Imperial closed her eyes, reminiscing on what happened so long ago.
Imperial's wings turned blue as she glanced toward ground not to show the tears that were being to swell up in her eyes. "At the end of the hymn, they all began to disappear. Somehow she and the last of the men saw me hiding behind the rocks and called out to me. But before I could walk to her another man appeared from out of the woman's shadow. They began to talk in a foreign language until the guy turned towards where I was hiding. He began to change into a Chimera and come after me."
"I wanted to do something to help her but I was so afraid I couldn't move. When she realized what the fiend wanted, she yelled for me to run into the room where Kaiko was laying. A few moments later, she and the beast disappeared into the ground." Imperial sighed.
"I don't know how long I waited but I wanted to make sure no one was going to come back for me. After awhile Kaiko began to cry. As I picked him off the altar, I looked down into his face and he smiled at me, a true smile. He was a newborn and he smiled at me as if he knew that I was going to take care of him. I carried him out of the cave and ran as fast as I could to the fairy village." Imperial paused to take a breath. Orion transfixed sat there staring at her, hanging on every word Imperial uttered.
She shook her head with a snort and proceeded on. "I went back to the fairy village not knowing what to do. When the queen saw what I found she banished me from the village, as simple as that. My fairy sisters gave me this as a going away present." Imperial ran her hand up and down the scepter, placing the cool chrysm orb to her head.
Orion drew in a deep breath as he placed his furry hands over his knees. " What about you? How did you come to live with the Fairies?" he questioned.
"My story is brief." Imperial chuckled softly to herself. "From what I was told some lady wondered into the fairy village one night, carrying this staff and me. She was searching for safe hiding place for me. None of the fairies knew how she made it into the village. Usually, humans have to be invited and given a relic from the queen to visit the fairies..."
Imperial continued on failing to see Lakaiko wander off to pursue a butterfly. While chasing after the fluttering insect, Kaiko tripped into a patch of browning grass. Wiping his hands and knees off he observed the large sunburned patch. Placing his small hand upon the area, Kaiko shuddered in pain.
He closed his eyes as his lips moved without a sound. A flash of light seeped into the ground from his hands causing the deadened tuff to sprout little green shoots.
"By our Queen's law, fairies are not to interact with humans unless directed to do so but fairies are hard headed and forget easily. My sisters took me in anyway. They figured they would keep me as a pet and wrapped me in a cocoon silk. When they opened the cocoon I emerged with fairies wings." Imperial stretched the glistening wings at the end of her sentence.
"They told the queen that they had found a stray in the forest when hunting. The queen thought nothing about it that is until I kept growing. She went ballistic over what they had done and was about to punish them all by banishing me. Yet couldn't do it, she had grown to love me like one of her own. She allowed me to stay only on one condition; I was to never the village. She figured I would draw attention and bring others who would harm the fairies. When I went out to the village and brought Kaiko to her I disobeyed her order. She had no choice but to get rid of me." Imperial shrugged unhappily.
Kaiko ran over to Imperial and kissed her on her forehead. She hugged the little boy close to her and sat him down in her lap. He placed his head against her chest and watched the wind blow through the now tall, green grass he helped to grow.
"Before I left with Lakaiko, my fairy sisters told me an old fable that was passed down to them for generations. A paladin will present the Blue Seed to a dying world in order to burn anew. In old fairy language blue seed is pronounced "Lak" meaning seed and "akio" meaning blue one. For some reason the words stuck with me and I named the baby after the fable by merging the two names together to come up with 'Lakaiko'. I've taken care of him ever since. He is like a little brother to me, so I watch over him." She finished by wiping away the image in the dirt.
Looking up at the now orange sky, Orion jumped up grabbing the little boy from her lap. Swinging Kaiko around once he placed the gleeful child on his shoulders.
"We should be moving along before it dusk settles." He grinned at Imperial, as he bounded down the path. "And this time I'll carry the load."
When they reached the outskirts of town the full moon had become their guiding light. Orion decided that it would be best if they seek shelter for the night before heading out to the library. Imperial pointed to the side of the dirt path, noticing a small house some distance away from the road leading into the town.
As they came closer to the building they were relieve to see that it was an inn. When they entered the house, Orion rang a rusty front bell. Looking around, he took notice of the many cobwebs inside the corners of the low ceiling along with the light smell of mold. Most of the simple furniture that took up the main hall was muted in color due to infrequent use.
Sitting Kaiko down on the front desk, the cat rang the bell again. An armadillo in a dirty chef's frock walked into the room with an alarmed face. With a suspicious glare, he gave the group a long look over as he cleaned out his smoking pipe.
"I don't rent beds to foreigners!" he voiced gruffly. "You are not welcomed here..."
Orion frowned at his rudeness "Excuse me, sir but you have no signs posted stating that ridiculous rule. Furthermore, how do you know we're foreigners?"
The armadillo grunted in aggravation, "I know you're not from around here! What business do you have with me?"
"We would like to rent a place to sleep, of course! This is an inn, is it not!" Orion glared at the lumbering beast incredulously.
The Armadillo grunted again seeing the group made no moves to leave his presence. "It'll be 200 zenny a night. That's if you're even use the bed for that long." He added nastily, glancing at the boy.
"Are you mad! 200 zenny for one night? " Orion boomed out "Why that's preposterous, you flim-flaming son of a b..."
"We'll take a room." Imperial interrupted abruptly before Orion had a chance to curse out the innkeeper. After receiving payment, the Armadillo held the keys in his palm, snorting.
"As soon as day breaks I want you foreigners out of my inn, understand?" Imperial snatched the keys from the Armadillo's hand as she continued to bit her tongue. She thanked him through clenched teeth as they walked toward the steps.
"It not hard to see why no one would want to stay here!" Orion mumbled as they climbed the stairs. "I never met such a boorish person in my life..."
It took them awhile to find the room since the innkeeper only had small candles as a light source on the upper floor. After a few minutes they found the door to their room. Orion walked inside with his backpack muttering a string of foul curses as he bumped into the ill placed furniture. Sitting upon the bed, Imperial shook her head chuckling lightly as she realize they had forgot someone downstairs.
"Orion, where's Kaiko?" She questioned jokingly. Orion turned towards the door that they came in, then back at her smacking his forehead. "I got so upset over that ill-mannered moron, I forgot to take Lakaiko off of the desk. Sorry Imperial, I'll go back down and get him."
A few moments later he walked back into the room "Did he come upstairs?" Orion asked Imperial.
Dropping her belongings, Imperial hurriedly went downstairs to search for the small boy. "Lakaiko, no hide and go seek, it's time for bed..." When she didn't receive a response she began to look for him.
Orion called out for the innkeeper, no answer. Imperial rung the bell at the front desk, again there was silence. It was then that they realized that they were the only ones in the whole inn.
"Oh by the gods, Orion!" She spoke in a distressed whisper "Kaiko's gone!"
For all those lads and lasses who doubt their skill...Keep up all the good work my fellow writers!
-End Rants & Raves-
(I wish but) I don't own Capcom, Breath of Fire or its characters. But the characters, and world in this story for the most part are my own creation
Chapter 5: Revelations
Orion whistled happily while the sun playfully hid behind the clouds. Walking had taken a toll on Imperial and Lakaiko as they made their way to the little known eccentric city of Auria, which lay by the seaside. Imperial, mostly tired from having to carry Lakaiko the majority of the way, began to lag behind the cheerful cat.
"Orion, how much further until we get to this town?" Imperial whined as Kaiko's small hands toyed with her long hair.
Orion took a deep breath and exhaled loudly as he unrolled a small map from his hip pouch "Only a little bit further. By this map I say about another fifteen miles." Imperial stopped in mid stride with her wings turning blood red.
"Another fifteen miles! I thought you said this was a short cut! Either we take a break or you're going to have to carry Kaiko." She protested stamping her achy foot on the ground, kicking up the loose dust.
Orion glanced at Lakaiko sitting in Imperial's tired arms then back at Imperial's face in mock innocence "I can't understand why you are so tired, I had to carry you further then this to get to my house." He laughed as the young woman made a nasty face at him. She set Lakaiko down and sat upon the short grass near the dirt road in order to stretch her tired legs and arms. Orion sat on the opposite side of the dirt pathway and rubbed his neck.
"I don't know why we are going to a out of the way port town anyway." Imperial muttered to herself.
Orion playfully twitched his tail teasing Lakaiko to catch it. "In my travels abroad I've heard Auria has one of the oldest libraries on the continent. Personally I've never been to the library or town myself but it might have books on deciphering dreams. I figure there might be something behind this story you told me. I thought if we start be interpreting your dreams instead of wandering aimlessly, we can figure out what's going ON!" The word came as a high-pitched yelp as Kaiko finally caught the ever- shifting appendage and gave it a sharp yank.
Imperial folded her arms across her chest as she tried to stifle the laughter bubbling inside her. The pained expression the Woran had made was just the humor she needed at the moment. She turned her head, watching Kaiko run towards a field of wild flowers.
"You never did tell me how Lakaiko came into your care." He stated bluntly still rubbing his sore tail. "Or how is it that you're human and have fairy wings?"
Imperial smiled broadly at the scholar's question. "Curiosity killed the cat, you know..."
She continued to chuckle as Orion playfully growled something under his breath.
"I found Lakaiko when I was fifteen." She began "I was out exploring in the Fay forest when I found a cave covered by bush. Being the curious type I went inside..." Lakaiko ran over to Orion, placing a flower halo on top of his furry ears. Orion ruffled the boy's hair as a sign for forgiveness for what he had done earlier. Imperial openly laughed at the cute picture the two made.
"I came across people talking inside a huge room." She continued, "Hiding behind a rock, I watched what was going on. There were seven guys and ladies' wearing these beautiful dresses and robes standing near an altar made of diamond crystal so clear I could see right through it." With her finger she drew a diagram for the woren in the dirt. "All of them were wearing white masks to cover their face."
"There was a woman who gave Kaiko to the people because some monster was looking for her and him. The men and women placed Lakaiko on the altar and put their hands on him. I turned to leave but they started singing a song so wonderful that I couldn't move until they finished." Imperial closed her eyes, reminiscing on what happened so long ago.
Imperial's wings turned blue as she glanced toward ground not to show the tears that were being to swell up in her eyes. "At the end of the hymn, they all began to disappear. Somehow she and the last of the men saw me hiding behind the rocks and called out to me. But before I could walk to her another man appeared from out of the woman's shadow. They began to talk in a foreign language until the guy turned towards where I was hiding. He began to change into a Chimera and come after me."
"I wanted to do something to help her but I was so afraid I couldn't move. When she realized what the fiend wanted, she yelled for me to run into the room where Kaiko was laying. A few moments later, she and the beast disappeared into the ground." Imperial sighed.
"I don't know how long I waited but I wanted to make sure no one was going to come back for me. After awhile Kaiko began to cry. As I picked him off the altar, I looked down into his face and he smiled at me, a true smile. He was a newborn and he smiled at me as if he knew that I was going to take care of him. I carried him out of the cave and ran as fast as I could to the fairy village." Imperial paused to take a breath. Orion transfixed sat there staring at her, hanging on every word Imperial uttered.
She shook her head with a snort and proceeded on. "I went back to the fairy village not knowing what to do. When the queen saw what I found she banished me from the village, as simple as that. My fairy sisters gave me this as a going away present." Imperial ran her hand up and down the scepter, placing the cool chrysm orb to her head.
Orion drew in a deep breath as he placed his furry hands over his knees. " What about you? How did you come to live with the Fairies?" he questioned.
"My story is brief." Imperial chuckled softly to herself. "From what I was told some lady wondered into the fairy village one night, carrying this staff and me. She was searching for safe hiding place for me. None of the fairies knew how she made it into the village. Usually, humans have to be invited and given a relic from the queen to visit the fairies..."
Imperial continued on failing to see Lakaiko wander off to pursue a butterfly. While chasing after the fluttering insect, Kaiko tripped into a patch of browning grass. Wiping his hands and knees off he observed the large sunburned patch. Placing his small hand upon the area, Kaiko shuddered in pain.
He closed his eyes as his lips moved without a sound. A flash of light seeped into the ground from his hands causing the deadened tuff to sprout little green shoots.
"By our Queen's law, fairies are not to interact with humans unless directed to do so but fairies are hard headed and forget easily. My sisters took me in anyway. They figured they would keep me as a pet and wrapped me in a cocoon silk. When they opened the cocoon I emerged with fairies wings." Imperial stretched the glistening wings at the end of her sentence.
"They told the queen that they had found a stray in the forest when hunting. The queen thought nothing about it that is until I kept growing. She went ballistic over what they had done and was about to punish them all by banishing me. Yet couldn't do it, she had grown to love me like one of her own. She allowed me to stay only on one condition; I was to never the village. She figured I would draw attention and bring others who would harm the fairies. When I went out to the village and brought Kaiko to her I disobeyed her order. She had no choice but to get rid of me." Imperial shrugged unhappily.
Kaiko ran over to Imperial and kissed her on her forehead. She hugged the little boy close to her and sat him down in her lap. He placed his head against her chest and watched the wind blow through the now tall, green grass he helped to grow.
"Before I left with Lakaiko, my fairy sisters told me an old fable that was passed down to them for generations. A paladin will present the Blue Seed to a dying world in order to burn anew. In old fairy language blue seed is pronounced "Lak" meaning seed and "akio" meaning blue one. For some reason the words stuck with me and I named the baby after the fable by merging the two names together to come up with 'Lakaiko'. I've taken care of him ever since. He is like a little brother to me, so I watch over him." She finished by wiping away the image in the dirt.
Looking up at the now orange sky, Orion jumped up grabbing the little boy from her lap. Swinging Kaiko around once he placed the gleeful child on his shoulders.
"We should be moving along before it dusk settles." He grinned at Imperial, as he bounded down the path. "And this time I'll carry the load."
When they reached the outskirts of town the full moon had become their guiding light. Orion decided that it would be best if they seek shelter for the night before heading out to the library. Imperial pointed to the side of the dirt path, noticing a small house some distance away from the road leading into the town.
As they came closer to the building they were relieve to see that it was an inn. When they entered the house, Orion rang a rusty front bell. Looking around, he took notice of the many cobwebs inside the corners of the low ceiling along with the light smell of mold. Most of the simple furniture that took up the main hall was muted in color due to infrequent use.
Sitting Kaiko down on the front desk, the cat rang the bell again. An armadillo in a dirty chef's frock walked into the room with an alarmed face. With a suspicious glare, he gave the group a long look over as he cleaned out his smoking pipe.
"I don't rent beds to foreigners!" he voiced gruffly. "You are not welcomed here..."
Orion frowned at his rudeness "Excuse me, sir but you have no signs posted stating that ridiculous rule. Furthermore, how do you know we're foreigners?"
The armadillo grunted in aggravation, "I know you're not from around here! What business do you have with me?"
"We would like to rent a place to sleep, of course! This is an inn, is it not!" Orion glared at the lumbering beast incredulously.
The Armadillo grunted again seeing the group made no moves to leave his presence. "It'll be 200 zenny a night. That's if you're even use the bed for that long." He added nastily, glancing at the boy.
"Are you mad! 200 zenny for one night? " Orion boomed out "Why that's preposterous, you flim-flaming son of a b..."
"We'll take a room." Imperial interrupted abruptly before Orion had a chance to curse out the innkeeper. After receiving payment, the Armadillo held the keys in his palm, snorting.
"As soon as day breaks I want you foreigners out of my inn, understand?" Imperial snatched the keys from the Armadillo's hand as she continued to bit her tongue. She thanked him through clenched teeth as they walked toward the steps.
"It not hard to see why no one would want to stay here!" Orion mumbled as they climbed the stairs. "I never met such a boorish person in my life..."
It took them awhile to find the room since the innkeeper only had small candles as a light source on the upper floor. After a few minutes they found the door to their room. Orion walked inside with his backpack muttering a string of foul curses as he bumped into the ill placed furniture. Sitting upon the bed, Imperial shook her head chuckling lightly as she realize they had forgot someone downstairs.
"Orion, where's Kaiko?" She questioned jokingly. Orion turned towards the door that they came in, then back at her smacking his forehead. "I got so upset over that ill-mannered moron, I forgot to take Lakaiko off of the desk. Sorry Imperial, I'll go back down and get him."
A few moments later he walked back into the room "Did he come upstairs?" Orion asked Imperial.
Dropping her belongings, Imperial hurriedly went downstairs to search for the small boy. "Lakaiko, no hide and go seek, it's time for bed..." When she didn't receive a response she began to look for him.
Orion called out for the innkeeper, no answer. Imperial rung the bell at the front desk, again there was silence. It was then that they realized that they were the only ones in the whole inn.
"Oh by the gods, Orion!" She spoke in a distressed whisper "Kaiko's gone!"