This story belongs to me and my creative mind. However, most of the characters, names, and places all belong to their respective companies, so don't yell at me for copyright infringements! Remember, Italics represent a person's thoughts or the telling of past events.

Enjoy...

:Faraway Dreams:

Part Three: The Things we Blame on Fate

Chapter One:

The number of people in the city had remained the same as previous months despite the cooling winds that came through. As many people that left the city to mark an end to vacations and summer travels came an equal number of people for the Festival of the Hunt. Lindblum, aside from plays and the christening of new Airships, had little to offer it's populace in terms of entertainment. The solstice and seasonal traditions that held a strong position in small towns and villages was lost to the metropolis, the changes throughout the year blotted out by the artificial walls of the Grand Castle. Lindblum, if anything else, could always claim to have the most moderate weather out of any territory. Whereas Alexandria experienced snow and freezing temperatures, and Burmecia suffered hail and massive windstorms, Lindblum citizens stopped and stared when it simply rained.

The Festival of the Hunt, once a tradition set by the hunters and woodsmen who first claimed the hillock Lindblum sat on as home, was always about pride and honor. The first settlers had to go about choosing their best men, and they took to the woods and killed every last monster and vicious creature that lived there. It was a slaughter of massive scale that took days to complete, but all in the effort to protect the frail humans who sought shelter within the canopy of branches. It was the strength of those warriors that allowed Lindblum to blossom into the city it was.

After time moved on, the Festival was reduced to a mere spectator show to see who among the fighters of the land was strongest. Men and women from all over would travel and take the tests to participate, hoping for a chance to reenact the purging of the once great forest. Monsters from the region would be captured and then let loose in the city, and the hunters would flood the streets and kill them all to earn their points of valor. Whoever had the most points would be declared the Master Hunter and be given the title officially by the Regent himself, a prize of their choosing prepared. Every year a new Master Hunter was chosen, and the previous bearer would go with the rest to vie for another year as wearer of the title. It was a spectacular event, heroic by some standards, barbaric by others, but never condemned or unwanted.

The current mood of the Festival was energetic at the least, this particular competition being highly anticipated by the number of famous warriors that were rumored to attend. Rivalries, fresh faces, and the large number of participants promised an exciting event to liven the mood of the city to new heights.

.

"You know...it's scary how casually I take all this." Fedrich shook his head. "To anyone else, this would look like the dreams of a madman, the insane. At least you've only come to my dreams a few times instead of nightly."

Consider it a sign that you are capable of remaining open minded about things, and you're welcome.

"Sure."

Now if you are quite through with idle banter, perhaps you'd be quiet and listen to what I came to tell you.

"I'm listening..." Fedrich nodded, leaning against a wall of the dreamscape street that looked like one in Burmecia. The other person, covered in a large cloak and neutral as to gender or appearance, was sitting on a fountain in an intersection of two streets. A small red gem danced around thin fingers as the figure prepared for the lesson.

You already know what the golem is capable of, and the vast amount of potential they possess together or alone. What you do not know is what they are exactly. The cloaked figure waited a moment, gathering words. Golems are made of mist and pure magic. The mist is like a conductor of magic power, like wood conducts fire and metal does lightning. The golem, a pure creature of magic, is both a blessing and a curse to all who know of it. Any magic the golem uses will be extremely potent, but as things tend to be, it can bring a person back from death or condemn a healthy man to ashes.

"Sounds pretty bad." Fedrich commented. "But how can mist and magic combine to make something like that?"

The figure chuckled, a common reaction to the Burman's questions. That remains a mystery even to me. No known records of that art remain, and it is for the better that it is so.

"Why?"

The golem is far too easy to abuse, much like destruction is simpler than creation. The golem has no emotions, shows no hesitation or pain, and obeys only it's creator and those the creator deems worthy. Order it to heal a man, and it will do so until he is healthy and free of injury. Order it to kill a man, and it will do so until it completes the order or dies, not stopping for anything, be it land, sea, unbeatable odds...nothing. With one command it will become the perfect killer, a tool that never tires or slows, a monster unlike any beast alive. One golem on it's own can cause much havoc, and as their numbers increase, their destructive potential rises exponentially. An army of golems... The figure let the words trail off, knowing the demi-human would understand his meaning.

Fedrich whistled in amazement. "Now I know why you are so worried about making sure I know the facts. How could anyone possibly fight an army of those things?"

Our predecessors did. The figure answered, providing a rare glimpse into it's identity.

"Your ancestors?" Fedrich repeated the phrase, curious. "Did someone make them in the past?"

Technically that much is true, the rest I'm not at liberty to say.

Fedrich stood up and looked around the street, the ruins of his hometown and the sight of a possible future where his people were massacred by the golems. The visions were his only clue as to finding a way to stop it from happening, and so he endured the maddening discussions with the phantom whenever it came. In the past he was afraid of the speaker, of the images he saw, but now he was either dulled to them or finally beginning to accept them as something more than nightmares.

"So why-" Fedrich trailed off, seeing the cloaked figure missing from the fountain. "Nevermind, then." With a quick motion, he spun on his toes and punched the wall of a random house. The dream shattered apart as he felt no pain, and with that fact, concluded the landscape was a dream and could bring it to an end. He never wanted to spend a minute more in the illusionary ruins of his home than necessary.

.

Fedrich's eyes opened slowly, the light of the early morning spilling across the bed and on his face. Grumbling lightly, he rose up and rubbed his eyes clear of sleep, then yawned widely and stretched his limbs. Pulling the bedsheets off his body, he got up and cracked his fingers, kicking life into his legs and toes. Feeling tired still, he made his way to the dresser and lazily picked out his clothes, donning light pants and his durable mythril vest, adding his beaded necklaces and finally the leather wraps for his feet and feathered hat.

"Gods, he couldn't have picked a better night." Fedrich figured he only had a few hours of sleep, up into the early morning hours with everyone as they had a rare time to come together. Gordan was perpetually busy running the efforts of the Gestahl Industry that was partially located in Lindblum's industrial sector. Macky, too, was tough to get hold of when he seemed locked away in meetings or other work orders. The only people out of everyone he had grown to call his friends were Gerick and the sisters Killjoy, and even Illis was growing distant with her desire to stay by Gordan's side. The Regulators were becoming overburdened with the patrols, and no one was coming to join and assist, making free time a rarity for them.

"Seems like hard times...even with the Festival nearly on us." He picked up his sword, slinging it across his shoulder. "Hopefully it will liven things up again."

Finished combing his hair back with quick finger strokes, the Burman gave his mirror counterpart a smile and left his room in the Regulator Hall. Walking down the short hall, he saw the three remaining Regulators milling around the central table, Gerick taking a deep swig of his precious coffee.

"Morning, everyone."

"You're late again." Gerick's angry tone was proved false at the sight of his wide grin. "I oughta dock your pay."

"Sorry, but it's not like you're always awake on time." Fedrich retorted.

Gerick chuckled, then stood up and stretched his arms out. "Alright, let's be off."

The four Regulators all picked up their weapons and headed out towards the plains surrounding the Lindblum walls.

.

"Here we go..." Gerick grinned. "Plenty of targets coming right for us."

The other three looked to the edge of the field, seeing a pack of wild Iron Beaks stamping across the plains in their general direction. The trends of monster migrations was apparently late this year, an increase of activity coming in late summer when it was normally seen at it's beginning. The bearded man was happy to have more work coming, it meant more money to pay for food and taxes.

"With all these monsters, there'll be a lot to choose from for the Festival." Fedrich commented, drawing his sword.

"A lot of money, too, but it doesn't mean I like it any better." Illis glared at the beasts. "I'd rather they not show up at all."

"Then we'd be out of a job." Gerick grumbled.

"True...but I'm sure there's got to be something easier for warriors like us to do than this."

"Sure there is, but this is somethin' that only the dedicated peacemakers do. Anyone can be a soldier, it takes a special kinda person 'ta be a Regulator."

"Another lecture?" Illis stared at the elderly man in annoyance.

"Just a reminder about what we're 'ere to do."

"I hate to interrupt, but it looks like they've seen us!" Ruthy warned, stringing an arrow.

"Okay!" Gerick swung his hammer out, moving around to get his blood pumping. "It's showtime, ladies! Let's go!"

The four Regulators ran to meet the approaching monsters, and the two groups collided in a spray of blood. Gerick's hammer shattered part of a beak while two swords hacked at exposed flesh and limbs, arrows piercing bodies and hobbling the movement of legs. Screeches and caws of anger sounded across the grass, wings flapping to generate additional movement and taloned feet ripping up the dirt in hasty motions. A cacophony of sounds rattled through the ears of men and monsters for a long minute, until slowly it lessened, a final choked chirp bringing an end to the chaotic symphony.

Gerick huffed a breath, legs slumping and his hammer supporting his weight. "Heh, that was more like it."

"Damnation, my arms are killing me." Illis muttered, wiping her sword free of blood.

"Come on, you've only been complaining about work as of late, sis." Ruthy scolded her elder sibling.

"I've got a right to it. Things have only been harder since Gordan left the team to run his family business."

"You sure it's that he's not here to help, or just that he's not here?" Ruthy arched an eyebrow is curiosity.

Illis growled a warning. "Both, the slacker thinks he can leave me here to do all the work?"

"Come on, you two, enough already." Gerick insisted. "I'm gonna go deaf just being near 'ya." He chuckled lightly, swinging his hammer to rest across broad shoulders. A glance to Fedrich made his voice quit, seeing the Burman standing completely still with his eyes focused on the horizon, ears twitching. Normally the demi-human would be at task to collect usable parts from the monsters, but something broke his routine, and that made the Regulator's leader worried.

"Somethin' up?" He asked.

"...I don't know." Fedrich replied honestly. "There's something about the air, the wind, something about it has changed."

A pause. "Come off it, speak it in plain words."

"Look...before today, there haven't been a lot of monsters around to fight. Now all of a sudden we see a pack of Iron Beaks walking in the open, and that hasn't happened in more than a month." He looked around the field quickly, something tugging at his mind. "It's not normal, and I don't like it."

"Eh, it's probably nothin'." Gerick dismissed the feelings with a wave of his hand, moving to a nearby body. "Let's just take care 'o this and go home."

"Just a sec, let me check something." Fedrich wiped his blade off and sheathed it, then took a step forward and jumped into the sky. The wind tore at his face and made his eyes water, but his vision cleared up as he came to the apex of his leap. Looking around the field, his eyes caught the movement of figures near the city wall. Although hard to make out, he noticed they were tall and thin, and that there were dozens of them in uniform motion. Gravity pulling him down, he landed uneasily and almost lost his balance, arms out to assist.

"So?" Gerick questioned after bashing a section of beak free of the body.

"Once more." Fedrich asked, jumping up towards the clouds. Seconds later he landed, and this time he did fall onto his rear without much grace. Scrabbling to his feet, he looked around with panicky eyes. "That must be it..."

"What's it?" Gerick repeated, annoyance in his tone.

"Vices. There's a lot of Vices near the city wall, and there coming this way."

"Oh? Sounds like we've got more money to collect." Gerick grinned, but the expression died as he saw Fedrich's face show fear rather than determination.

"No, there's a lot of them, too many." He paused a moment to take a deep breath. "We need to go, they're probably coming to see what happened here."

"Now hold on a-"

"I'm serious, Gerick!" The Burman half shouted. "We should go, I'm not kidding when I say there are too many!"

"What, don't you trust us?" Illis prodded. "We can take them."

Fedrich hesitated.

...For now, be vigilant in your guard of innocent life...

"No, I mean yes! I...I don't doubt any of you, but I honestly think we'd be in serious trouble if we stay and fight!" Fedrich began to move away from the fresh corpses. "Gerick, if you're concerned about the kills, let's at least back off and let them pass."

Gerick scrunched up his face, but nodded after a moment. "Alright, if it spooks you that much, we'll let 'em by. Let's go!"

The four ran upwards towards a collection of tall and convoluted hills, ducking through valleys and thick shrubs until they couldn't see the grassy fields. Motioning with his hand, Gerick ordered them topside, and the four climbed up a hill until they rested on the top, hidden from obvious view but afforded a wide range of surveillance. The sunlight made it difficult to see clearly, but Fedrich was determined to keep his eyes on the approaching creatures.

"Ruthy, you've got better eyes, can you see them?"

The redhead paused a moment, putting a hand up as brown orbs flicked back and forth. Long moment later a nervous whine came out of her throat. "Yeah, you were right." She pointed towards the base of the hills just north of the battlefield. "There, almost at them."

The others looked hard at the place she indicated, able to see numerous shapes walking at the edge of the field, seemingly on their own patrol around the city walls. The numbers were vague, but at least thirty of them were in constant view, all holding the clawlike swords that was the trademark of warrior Vice. The humanlike monsters came upon the battlefield, and they immediately went defensive, collecting in a circular group and investigating the immediate area. The sword bearing Vice looked around the nearby hills, and the few Vice holding staves merely stood in the center and scanned the horizon. Several agonizing minutes later, the Vices seemed satisfied with their work and continued moving on.

Fedrich let go of held in breath. "Good."

"Hells, though, I've never seen so many of 'em together in a long time." Gerick rubbed his beard. "It's bad, whatever they've got."

"What's bad?"

"Vices normally stick 'ta small packs, never more'n a dozen. The only exception is when somethin' gets them on edge, the beasties are damned smart enough to know about strength 'n numbers." The elder man chuckled. "I remember a time back in the Guard, the Vice's all came together in a single group. Hundreds 'o them together, all 'cause we'd been trying to flush them outta the mountains 'n northwestern ranges. The Regent actually made a declaration against 'em, so we all went out an' had a war to break them up."

"How did it go?" Ruthy asked.

Gerick's expression fell. "Vice's may be monsters, but they got smarts that scare me about fightin'. We managed 'ta push them into a forest near Midvalley, but the bastards would use sneak attacks on us. From outta nowhere they'd attack, take a few men a day until we couldn't stand 'ta stay anymore." He looked towards Fedrich with a curious expression. "Did 'ya know, at first humans thought yer kind were monsters? Tall and all gangly, it was until your people got smart 'n tried talkin' things out did we think otherwise. Fer all we know...Vice's could be the same. Just like humans, but different lookin' and unable to talk, or something, 'cause they can be damned smart when they have the time."

"Enough, you're giving me material for nightmares, there." Illis snorted, rubbing her nose. "Vice's are just freakish demons, they can't possibly be human like any of us."

"I wouldn't say one way or another fer sure." Gerick insisted.

"Forget about it, they've gone." Fedrich motioned. "We can get our pay now."

"Alright." He stood up slowly, wiping his forehead. "Let's be goin', you three."

.

"So! Looks like you've found where they've been hidin'!" Corban laughed, straining to lift the final sum of beak scards onto his scale. He then added in numerous counterweights, carefully checking to see when it evened out.

Gerick chuckled as well. "You could say that."

"Fifty three kilos speaks fer itself, twenty eight a bit, so it comes to..." He took up a penci, thick fingers scribbing down numbers in a worn book. "Fourteen hundred eighty four Gil! Quite a haul."

"So what's that between us four?"

"Lessee..." More writing, muttered curses for the want of proper numbers. "Three hundred seventy?"

"Good enough fer me." Gerick nodded, accepting the heavy load of coins into his hands. "You haven't heard anythin' about the monsters, have 'ya?"

"Nothin' important, no."

"Well, you let anyone who comes here know that those damned Vices are gatherin' up again, and 'ta stay careful of 'em. We ran into a big 'ol group of them, and even Fedrich here was worried white about fightin' them."

"Oh? Musta been tough lookers to do that!" He glanced at the aforementioned Burman. "Who'd ever think you'd be cautious in battle, the guy who goes head on with dragons!"

"Let's say that I'm learning to keep out of things I can't handle." Fedrich meekly avoided the man's questioning gaze.

"I'll keep that on hand, then. You all have a good day, now!"

"We will!" Ruthy piped in as the foursome left the Hide Shop and into the main street of the Business District.

The late afternoon crowds were thicker than normal, many of them bearing foreign clothing and gawking at the city's dominating stature. Fedrich chuckled to himself, recalling that just four months prior he too was walking around in a daze at the immense scale of the city's walls and buildings. The things he experienced, the ups and downs of his work and life, made him feel years older than when he first stood at the entrance to the Grand Castle city.

It feels like it's been ages since I've first arrived. Stumbling onto the Regulators, entering into a fight with the so named Knight of Fire, Elric, and his quest to take Illis and Ruthy back to their hometown. Gordan and the loss of his uncle, and the entire betrayal by Claire and the hunt for her. Then there's all the training with Gordan and Illis, getting burnt and cut and bruised. Goddess Rei...I've done more here than I'd have done in decades back home! Father would be surprised to see what I've gone through. So much for simply training for the Festival...

"Fedrich!"

"Eh?" He focused back into reality, seeing Illis staring at him. "Yes?"

"I said goodnight, and don't forget, the trials for the Festival start at the end of the week."

"Of course, I already registered my name." The Burman paused a moment. "You're turning in already?"

"Yeah, I could sleep through the rest of the month right now, staying up most of the night and then having to go on patrols." She sighed and shook her head. "It's tough enough with the work, now I can hardly see Gordan during daylight hours."

"At least you can see him, he's always busy running the business whenever Ruthy or I try and stop by." Fedrich smirked lightly. "I guess you're the exception to the saying business before pleasure."

Illis snorted a laugh. "He knows what's more worth his time. Goodnight."

"G'night."

"I'll be going to bed, too, so see you both tomorrow!" Ruthy added, skipping over to her sister's side.

"Right! See you both tomorrow!" Gerick waved them off, then stretched his arms until his joints popped. Exhaling contently, he slapped Fedrich's back and chuckled. "So yer finally gettin' a chance to attain your goal. You think you'll win it?"

Fedrich nodded with a cocky grin. "Even if I broke both legs I'd still get second place."

"That's the spirit! Take as much time as 'ya need to get ready, it'll be a tough three days for you."

"Thanks again, Gerick...for everything. I'd never have gotten this far without your help." Fedrich gave the elder man a warm smile.

"Ach, it's nothin' I wouldn't do for anyone." He waved the compliment off. "You just win it and make us all proud, got it?"

"I will."

.

The Author Speaks!

Just a quick little note for everyone. The move, although full of problems from cats acting like drunks and missing furniture to my basement bedroom being damp, went just fine.

Two bits of information need to be told. The lesser of them, we no longer have AOL as our browser, so you won't see me as often on AIM as before. Concerns and critiques can be sent by email still to my yahoo account on my bio page. The greater of them, I'm still helping to unpack stuff, so I'll be busy still for another month at the rate we're going. Hopefully it won't impede on my writing time, but don't be worried if more delays occur.

The Author is IN, and it's good to be back!