Few, I am really sorry that I didn't write anything for such a long time, gomen nasai!
But it gave me time to think through some points of the story. I hope, that from now on I will update more frequently.
Well, this chapter will have some things, that might confuse youu, but they have their reasons and shall be explained in later chapters. mysterious grin
I hope you like it!
Ahm, perhaps I should first hope, hat there still are any readers. big sweatdrop
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Around ten years later…
Breath of Fire, another Story
Chapter I: Sanctuary
The soft light of the early afternoon shun through the high glass windows, marking the thin layer of dust on the bookshelves looming high above the floor. The carpets, which lay on the grey stone made floor were plunged into light, illuminating their old and complex patterns and the shadows of the trees slightly moving in the breeze waved over the walls, shelves, carpets and the desks, placed in the grand library of the high academy of the arcane arts.
Only one person was sitting there deeply absorbed in the book lying on the table in front of him. It was a boy of perhaps sixteen years with reddish blond hair, emerald green eyes and a gentle, handsome face, wearing a strange purple garment with dark grey seams and a silver symbol on the breast, resembling a robe as well as a warrior's garb. A sword lay on a table next to him, resting in a rune covered scabbard. He was neither very tall, nor the opposite, perhaps 1, 70 meters in size, rather frail and delicately built. A thin almost faded, cross like mark with the upper and lower arms bowed back, thickening left and right arms, which ended in a almost crescent like form and an a bit thicker slightly oval shaped centre was visible on his forehead.
The young magic knight apprentice or squire of the arcane arts, as the disciples of this section of the high academy of the magic arts were called, carefully turned over the page of the old quarto volume he was reading, his expression clearly showed his eagerness.
The Page was filled with a small thin handwriting; the capital letter however was very big and skilfully elaborated. A serpent like dragon had slung his body around the T and seemed to watch the reader with its small blue eyes.
The history and legends of the Dragonclan
The ancient times
Where did the dragons come from? Where does their story begin? Little is known about the ancient times, when the gods
Ladon, the Dragongod
To be the first, who but no one unlike Namanda and ancient civilisation
We know flying cities technology, which surpasses
Metalsmiths created other , like the ancient
of a stone robot. Dragon said to
origin of temples build shrines Dragongod.
now of further . According to
which says battle restored.
The boy stopped reading and leaned back in a sigh, the arms crossed behind his neck. "That is totally useless. More than half of the text is completely bleached out", he dejectedly said with his head to the ceiling of the high room. He straightened again and turned over the next pages. The old parchment was yellowed and the ink also had mostly faded away. Only small passages were still clear enough to be read, but none of them standing alone was enough to understand the old text. But the boy still continued to search through the book, his face showing first hope and then disappointment with every new page, which turned to be just as unreadable as the rest. Finally, he reached the end of one of the chapter he was "reading" now, as a bride ornament at the bottom of the page indicated. He sighed and turned over the next page. His sigh however turned abruptly into a sound of surprise. He looked at the just opened page his eyes wide in astonishment. This time, the page was not yellowed and bleached out, it was certainly old, but the ink was clearly visible, without even one single faded letter.
"How…"
The voice of the boy was merely a whisper as he stared at the opened page in front of him.
The First Goddess War
He still could not move his eyes away from the book.
"It… it is just like the others. There are always the same parts missing, almost as if..."
But he was suddenly cut off as the winged door of the library swung open with a loud bang…
"Ryu-chan!", a slightly angry voice shouted behind him.
Totally startled by the sudden intrusion, the boy, trying to quickly grab something to discretely cover his book, send his chair falling backwards and unceremoniously crashed on to the floor -together with the piece of furniture.
Sighing, yet showing n a bit embarrassed smile, he looked up to see the figure of a girl dressed in an identical, yet yellowish green and white seamed, garment looming over him.
She had long blond hair, which she wore in a plait falling over her shoulders as she bowed down to the boy. Her blue eyes looked down at him accusingly, yet her face couldn't hide a mischievous grin.
"Nina-chan, you know you should not rush into the library like that or master Halfas will ban you from ever entering it again someday", he said while rolling of the fallen down chair.
The girl just grinned in reply and said in a cheerful, mocking voice: "I can't see the old codger anywhere around, so why bothering with his stupid rules. He is in the great hall enjoying his lunch just as all the others, you are the only one in here so why all the fuss?" She stretched out here hand down to him, which he gratefully took, returning to a standing position in a fluent motion.
"So you mean I am not worth a princess' politeness after all?", he replied with a grin.
"YOU want to call me impolite?", the girl angrily planted herself in front of the boy, pushing him almost back against the table, where his sword was lying. "Master Helvin made ME search for YOU, just because YOU didn't show up at lunch again. So I had to run through half of the castle just because you once AGAIN forgot everything else about your stupid, stupid books! Now, is that how a proper gentleman is supposed to treat a lady!" She almost yelled now pushing him further back with every word.
"Well, a proper lady wouldn't shout around in a place of quietness and learning, such as a library is, would you not agree?", he replied smiling gently, yet with a slight trace of mischievousness in his face. "And unlike you, I don't want to let my studies slack of, you know. However", he said with a dramatic expression, yet still grinning, " a princess surely has to estimate such low and trivial matters as learning, study or the passing of exams to be far beyond her dignity. Surely, these are what only a commoner such as me would waste his precious time to commit himself into", he finished with a smile and gripping his sword, he got out of her reach with a back flip.
"Oh, you!", she screamed, launching herself forward as if she wanted to tackle him, which was actually quite likely.
However, her target just with a smile removed itself from the zone of attack in time.
Instead of the boy, Nina's tackle hit the bookshelf behind him, sending myriads of books all fluttering and falling to the ground.
"Oh no!", the girl cried out in horror.
"You did it again, Nina- chan…" the boy said calmly and with a hind of resignation in his voice, looking to the ground wearily.
"Quit commenting and better help me put them back, before the old codger sees…", but she was interrupted by an indignant, menacing voice booming through the room from the other side of the library: "Nina Wyndia!"
The girl froze in place as if hit with a thunder spell.
"How dare you causing havoc in this place again! Haven't I explicitly warned you, that I would not take this lack of respect, this carelessness any longer?"
Master Halfas, the librarian, had by now emerged from behind tone of the large rows of bookshelves, his dark grey hair and beard waving behind him and his eyes flashing with anger and his menacing, tall figure dominating the room.
"Even though you are a princess and descendant of one of our founders, you are no less subject to the rules of this school than anyone else!"
Nina tried an apologetic smile to soothe the raging old wizard, but failed miserably in the attempt.
"Ah, well, I, I really, really am sorry, you know, master Halfas, but we, ahm, kind of had a, well, rather not just verbal argument, and somehow I accidentally hit the she…"
But her words did not at all achieve to calm down master Halfas, instead, he almost seemed to burst with anger.
"Ah, I forgot, master Helvin wanted me to search for Ryu here." Nina rushed out in a desperate, last attempt. "I really would like to stay and repair the damage I caused, but…"
Then, gripping his arm, she turned around to Ryu: "Now, run!" Without waiting even another second she dashed forward, still clutching his arm and thereby dragging him along.
"W, wait, Nina, why do I have to…"- You stay here girl until I'm finished with you!"
But neither Ryu's protest, nor the librarians angry shouts stopped the Wyndian princess from running through the great front door as quickly as she had come in, the struggling boy still dragging with her, forcing him to run as well.
"Well then, master Halfas!", Nina shouted backwards with a slight grin.
"Don't think you will get away that easily, he shouted and throw his hand forwards.
A cluster of flaming orbs had materialized over his head and, following his gesture, they flow after the running princess like a pack of fierce wolves.
With a roaring sound, the first fireball hit the floor barely half a meter behind them, sending a small wave of head after them. Ryu was now on the same level as Nina, his hand finally free of the princess grip, yet still running to avoid being hit by the balls of heat exploding always just shortly behind them, chasing them through the stone corridor.
"Why do you always have to provoke him even more, Nina- chan?", Ryu asked while jumping forward to avoid one of the persistent fireballs.
"Quit complaining, you nerd and keep running!", she shortly responded, having trouble with a fireball following at her heels.
"I'm not a nerd!", the boy shouted. "You simply are a slacker!" He quickly jumped aside to avoid a n explosion. "And that's not the point now anyway!"
"Then", Nina jumped to the other side of the corridor," why asking me such a nerdy question?" , she said smugly .
A loud bang indicated another explosion behind them.
"Why do I always have to be dragged into the trouble you cause", he sighed wearily, but more to himself.
"Poor boy", master Halfas sighed. "I wish, this girl would take a leaf out of his book", he laughed, " or at least take any book into her hand at all." Shrugging his shoulders, the librarian closed the door and with a swift motion of his hand, he pointed at the scattered books lying on the floor. They slowly started to vibrate than, without warning, they shot up into the air coming to a sudden halt just in front of the empty places in the bookshelf. Master Halfas stared at them for a moment, than, carefully mustering the books, he moved his hands in a complex pattern, pointing in different directions. The books, as if moved by an invisible hand, changed their positions while still floating in the air. It took perhaps a minute until all the books where in the proper place, than, with another swift movement of his hand, he sent them flying back into the shelf. Shaking his head, he turned around and glanced at the table, where still a book was lying open, where the person reading had left it. He quickly scanned the content of the page, than, having mustered the headline, he flipped back some pages all covered with the same clear and elaborate handwriting. He only stopped when he reached the first page of the chapter with the carefully elaborated and detailed picture of the dragon around the letter T. "As I thought…", he murmured to himself, "he won't ignore it."
The old man carefully closed the book and sent it flying back to its shelf.
Heavily panting, the two knights of the arcane art in training finally came to a halt in front of the door leading to the training hall of the knight apprentices.
"Huh, I'm shattered", Nina let out with a moan. "Why does the old codger always have to be so mad?" She leaned against the door.
"Why do you always have to make him that way?" , Ryu sighed in reply, leaning himself against the wall, still panting and brushing his sweated hair from his forehead.
But even though, he still smiled at her wearily.
"Well, this time, it was not only my fault", she said accusingly yet smiling, too.
"You provoked me, so if you blame me for making him mad, than you should think of who made me hit that bookshelf in the first place. Plus, I wouldn't have been there if not for you anyway", the mischievous, confident smile returned to her face.
"What logic is that supposed to be, Nina- chan?", he said sighing, yet still smiling.
"But anyway", he looked into her face, his expression no serious, just like it had been, when he had been leaning over the book carefully reading every letter, "why have you come looking for me in the first place?"
Nina grinned, here voice was playfully mocking as she spoke: "Well, I don't know if I should really tell you, you scatty bookworm. After all the trouble I had to go through because of you."
Ryu's face however kept serious, almost stern. Not going along with Nina's mocking, he spoke calmly: "Please tell me. You said master Helvin had sent you, so it has to be something very important."
Nina sighed: "Couldn't you just be a little bit less stern and sensible sometimes?"
She rolled her eyes, but then her smile returned to her face. "Fuma- chan has returned. Master Helvin told me to go looking for you, he wants you to come to his office, Fuma will be there as well."
At the words of the girl, a wide and genuinely happy smile appeared on the boys face.
"My brother is back? When has he arrived?" His voice was filled with sheer, pure happiness.
"It has been so long, I've missed him so much!" He felt like a gently tickling rush of happiness flood through his body and couldn't resist the urge to hug the girl in front of him, pressing his cheek against her shoulder; they both were of almost the same height.
Nina sighed and patted him on the head: "You know, you can sometimes be such a child Ryu- chan", she said smiling a hint of a pained expression yet in her eyes.
"Well, you better…", but Nina did not come to finish the sentences, as right at this moment, the door against they both now were leaning gave way to their weight, sending them both falling back down the few stairs leading to the hall beneath them landing both next top each other on the unfortunate opener of the door. For a moment, they kept lying there, all three moaning painfully. Ryu, who had fallen face forward, felt something fury tickling his nose and brushing against his cheeks. Looking up, he saw into the face of Sorata, one of the knights of the arcane art and also their teacher, even though he was more like an older brother for Ryu and the closest friend of his actual big brother Fuma. The Forest clansman's mouth twisted into a smile and the gentle amber eyes rested on Ryu. Without much effort, he stood up, despite the two children's bodies spread over him, lifting them both up at the same time. The red haired boy, still with his face against Sorata' s chest, felt the strong muscles tightening through the cloth. "You should really be a bit more careful you two, if it wasn't me but old master Yg…", betraying his words though, he smiled still and ruffled Ryu' s hair with the fury palm of his hand.
"I am sorry, Sorata", Ryu replied looking a bit guiltily. Giving Nina a slightly reproachful look, he added: "Yet it was Nina- chan who leaned against the door in the first place.
The girl gave him back the smug, quick witted smile she so often showed: "Well, if you hadn't hugged me, it wouldn't have come to this to start with."
"Hugged?", Sorata asked genuinely interested. Nina quickly looked into another direction, while Ryu simply looked back into the questioning amber eyes with a little-boyish smile on his face. "Yes, I was so happy, because Nina- chan told me that Fuma is finally back", he said in a genuinely untroubled voice. Sorata grinned showing the sharp wolf like teeth. His voice had the calm gentle expression that made him such a good teacher. Ryu admired the inner strength, which lay behind the calm, friendly appearance of his brother's best friend.
"You two really are like siblings", he said with a gentle laughing voice, smiling at Ryu, yet not as the red haired unaware of the strange smile, that had flushed over Nina's face when he spoke those words, the same as when Ryu had joyfully hugged her.
Ryu suddenly froze. His smile was vanishing. "Oh, I am supposed to see master Helvin in his office! Nina- chan told me, that Fuma would be there, too. I can't let them wait", he said horror-struck.
"Don't worry about that Ryu", he said, giving him a reassuring look. "If you don't mind, I will accompany you to the office, master Helvin asked me to come as well."
Nina gave them a questioning look, her voice changing to a more girlish, pleading tone. "Can I come along, too, Sorata?", she said trying to smile engagingly.
But Sorata shook his wolf like had with a teasing grin.
"No, Nina, master Halfas told me to summon you to his office immediately. Have you caused havoc in the library again?", he asked, deliberately failing to pretend to be genuinely curious.
"She has tackled a bookshelf", Ryu said grinning, followed by a girl's fist hitting is shoulder.
"I didn't do that on purpose! And it was just because of Ryu anyway", she frowned. Changing the tone, she asked Sorata nervously: "Is he, is he still mad?"
Ryu couldn't resist and a choked laugh emerged from behind the hand covering his mouth, which earned him another hit of the angry Wyndian.
"Well, you know him, Nina", Sorata said gently, "he has a hot temper, but he is also quick to calm down again. Still though, he has put you into detention, insisting though", Sorata smiled", that you spend it far, far away from the library. Off you go now", he said.
Nina sighed and trotted away from the two, exchanging a last look with Ryu, who gave her an encouraging smile.
He could be really a nice boy, she thought, though he rather showed that side to Sorata and Fuma or the other teachers, especially master Helvin. She drove the thought away with a smile, thinking back at the first time the met.
"I'm glad he has warmed up to others, glad that we have our little fights", she sighed, "After all, we perhaps are really more like siblings…"
She looked at the ceiling, sighing again loudly: "I bet the old codger will have something nasty up his sleeves. Glad it won't be cleaning the whole library again…"
At the same time, Sorata and Ryu were on their way to the office of master Helvin, who hold the position of the arch mage of the high academy for more than thirty years by now.
Ryu had known him since he was six, since the day he arrived at the academy, together with his brother. He still remembered the day, when he woke up in the soft bed, the sun of the winter morning shining through the high windows. He had felt numb and weak, the fever still making his head hurt as he tried to lift his torso up a bit to get a good look at the room. There had been voices, people were talking, but he could hardly understand a word, all still seemed blurry, all tones were unclear and faded. But there was something, they had spoken about, the voice of his brother, the voice of the old man he soon was to know to be master Helvin and the voice of Sorata. They had been speaking about him and his brother and…
"Is something amiss, Ryu", Sorata's voice broke of his chain of thoughts.
"No, it is nothing, the red haired boy replied. Then he added: "We does master Helvin wants to speak with me?"
Sorata gave him a strange look, as if carefully mustering him, but there was also something else…
"It is about you, Ryu. About the reason you came here", Sorata said.
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I hope, stopping at a cliffhanger will motivate me not to let it slack of like that again. big sweatdrop
And of course I hope you liked it. This will be perhaps one of the lightest chapters of the story, later, it will rather turn into a different atmosphere. Well, but the chapters title should show you as much anyway.I hope you enjoyed the fighting Nina and Ryu. smile
