Breath of Fire III: Of Gods and Dragons
Chapter Two: The Truth is Cruel
Written by Estrelita Farr
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Ryu was unsure of how much time had passed he was unconscious. When he finally stirred, groaning softly, he was first aware of the throbbing headache he felt in his head. Once the pain had passed, relief filled him and he slowly sat up.
He found that his arms wouldn't move, restricted by a rope tied around his torso. Suddenly recalling the events that had happened before he fainted, he looked up before him.
And froze.
The towering figure of Bunyan was right before him, gazing down at him like a frightening mountain monster. His pose was relaxed, his muscled arms crossed across his chest, but his expression was rigid, as though he was a serious judge dealing with criminals.
Ryu could only stare, his eyes widened, his heart pounding from fear.
"I already told you, lad," Bunyan said in a gruff voice, lowering his arms. "If I caught Teepo and Rei, they'd be sorry. That goes for you too."
The boy hung his head, feelings of remorse and regret overwhelming him from deep within him. He knew, he had known that stealing was wrong, it was something he believed. But how could he have gone against his companions when they had rescued him and allowed him to stay with them when he had nowhere to go?
"Hey, little buddy," Rei's voice came from his right, causing Ryu to look up at his smiling, striped face. "You all right?"
Ryu nodded, forcing a smile, but did not reply.
"Of course he's all right! He's tough!" Teepo said scornfully from Ryu's left, looking at his companions and then at their captor. "Hey, old man! We didn't steal anything from your house, okay? So let us go home already!"
The woodsman shook his head. "Don't you know that at a time like this, when everyone's suffering…" He gazed at all three of them, one at a time. "If you don't work, you can't eat?"
Evidently the purple-haired boy didn't like this sort of treatment, not when it was from neither Rei nor Ryu, for he arrogantly yelled, "Shut up! We WERE working!"
"You just don't get it, do you? Robbing people isn't honest work."
That shut him up.
The conversation then lapsed into an awkward silence, with Ryu staring at the ground, Teepo glaring forward and Rei focusing his eyes elsewhere. After a few long seconds, Bunyan spoke again.
"I've half the mind to run you out of the woods, but…" He paused for a moment. "Well… if you say you'll mend your ways, all three of you, I could forgive and forget."
The young man's ears perked up immediately; the statement had successfully gained his full attention. "What do you want us to do?"
A slight smile formed on the woodsman's face as he knelt in front of him. "Rei, you're a strong lad, I've got a job for you." He pulled out a dagger and severed the half-tiger's bonds. "You've heard of Mt. Glaus, haven't you? The big mountain north of here?"
He nodded as he massaged his sore arms and waved his tail. "Yeah, I know Mt. Glaus."
"Listen here, I want you to go there and take care of our little problem… understand?"
Ryu was confused – what problem was there in the mountains?
At first Rei seemed puzzled as well, but after a while the answer apparently dawned to him, for he nodded again. "Okay, I got it, but…" He glanced at the two boys on his left, concern showing on his face. "What about them?"
Bunyan waved a hand nonchalantly. "Don't worry about them, I've got something else in mind for them."
Rei sighed. "I know, I know, you're keeping them as hostages so I'll do what you want, right?" Bunyan shook his head, but he continued anyway, "All right, I'll do it." He turned to the older boy. "Teepo, keep an eye on Ryu, okay?"
Teepo nodded. "Sure will!"
The half-tiger nodded as well and walked down the path.
"Rei, be careful!" Ryu called out after him, and he received a raised hand as a reply.
The remaining three entered another uncomfortable silence as they watched him walk down the path. Ryu's spirits remained down… what would happen to them?
"Hey, old man!" the older boy shouted rudely the moment Rei was out of sight. "What're we supposed to do?"
"Work, Teepo," the woodsman answered, not seeming the least offended by the boy's words. "If you want to eat, you have to work… understand?"
He stepped closer to them and cut the ropes with his dagger. Suddenly freed, the two boys found themselves gladly stretching their aching, stiff limbs.
Ryu was the first to speak after that, "Bunyan, what kind of work are we going to do?"
Bunyan went over to a pile of large logs, grabbed the whole lot, and placed them next to a tree stump in front of his house. "It's really simple, all I want you to do is chop some firewood. I'll let you go after you finish chopping all of these."
"Chop firewood? Hah! That's easy!" Teepo scoffed, and turned to the other boy. "C'mon, Ryu! Let's blow this job and go after Rei!"
Ryu nodded. "R-right!"
With that, they started working on chopping the firewood on the tree stump, each taking turns to use the unusually large axe. The axe was heavy and the logs were hard, so their arms tired and ached very quickly. Still, keeping their word, they persevered and patiently went through each piece of log.
Once they were done, both of them heaved a sigh of relief and relaxed their aching arms.
"Hm…" Bunyan chuckled. "Not bad."
Teepo scowled. "There! We worked, didn't we?" He crossed his arms. "Now you won't complain if we steal, right?"
His companion shook his head. "Teepo…"
Bunyan crossed his huge arms. "If you keep that up, one of these days you'll be sorry…"
The older boy kicked the air in an arrogant manner, startling Ryu. "Hah! Who cares? One day, real soon, we're getting out of here and heading to a big city like Wyndia! I ain't afraid of nothing!"
The other two couldn't find the right words to say.
"C'mon, Ryu!" the older boy said. "Let's go after Rei!"
Ryu nodded. "Right!"
They sped down the path, Bunyan completely forgotten now. The woodsman shook his head as he grabbed a nearby axe and leaned its blunt edge on his shoulder.
"Humph, kids these days…"
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-o-o-o-o-o-
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Ryu was still pretty new to sword fighting, but he was beginning to get a hang of it. At the very least, he was no longer completely petrified from the sight of monsters but relaxed enough to move around. Unfortunately, it was clear that he was still frightened of these creatures, for he had a tendency to shut his eyes tightly while swinging his sword wildly about. Of course, while he could hit sometimes, this made him miss most of time, to Teepo's annoyance.
As they travelled in the northern direction for about an hour or two through Cedar Woods, the trees began to disperse and led the way to a long, winding path along a river. In the distance, a huge mountain loomed, and the boys knew that was their destination.
All of a sudden, Teepo stopped in his tracks, then pulled Ryu by the arm quickly to a tree nearby.
"Teepo? What are you–"
"Shh!" the older boy whispered. "Do you see that huge purple thing over there?"
He looked over Teepo's shoulders and stared at what seemed like a huge purple rock with green moss on its head. He thought it was just a boulder, but felt surprised when he heard the loud rumble of a snore from it.
"What on earth is that?" he asked softly, not wanting to wake that thing, whatever it was.
"It's a Man Trap," Teepo explained, still whispering. "Man Traps always sit around waiting for victims to approach them, thinking they're a rock, but those sleepyheads almost always fall asleep while waiting."
He glanced at the Man Trap again, catching sight of a huge mouth filled with razor sharp fangs. "It looks vicious… let's just sneak by around it."
"Are you kidding?" his companion exclaimed, shaking his head. "It looks big, but it's really a wuss! Here, I'll show you!"
"H-hey! Wait–"
But it was too late. Teepo had already started moving towards the Man Trap.
His azure-haired companion sighed and followed slowly. He felt that he would rather not go near those vicious-looking fangs, but he decided to stay with him, just in case.
Teepo stopped a few feet away from the Man Trap, raised his left hand towards it, and focused. To Ryu's surprise and awe, a great flashing ball of energy appeared before his companion's palm, and he could even feel the power even though he was not the one casting it.
Wow, he could use magic…
After a few seconds, Teepo's eyes snapped open and he swung his flashing left hand, and a burst of flame burnt the sleeping Man Trap!
"Teepo!" Ryu cried. "You'll wake it up!"
"Ryu, you dope!" The other boy crossed his arms smugly. "Why don't you take a longer look?"
Surprised, he complied. As he stared at the Man Trap, he realised that it hadn't moved at all. And, to his disbelief, it gave another loud snore.
"What?" was all he could say.
"You see? You should trust me!" Teepo shrugged. "Man Traps only wake up if you hit it with a weapon, but it wouldn't wake up no matter how much magic you throw at it! Of course, waking it up would be a bad idea… those fangs hurt."
"I'd think so…"
"Time to finish it with another Flare!" Teepo grinned again as he cast the spell two more times, and by the time the flames faded, the purple monster gave a loud roar and disappeared into thin air, like other dead monsters.
Ryu sighed a little. "Whoa, I wonder if I could use magic…"
"You could, if you put your mind to it!"
He smiled. "Yeah… thanks, Teepo."
"Right, let's go!"
They continued along the faded dirt path on the ground, keeping an eye out for more monsters.
"Say, Teepo," Ryu started. "I've been wondering… are monsters always this vicious? And how come they disappear right after they die?"
His friend shrugged. "No idea… they've been like that for as long as everyone could remember, so no one really knows." He looked thoughtful for a moment. "There was once some old grandma in the village who mentioned something about it."
"And what did she say?"
"Well, apparently someone fed them too much cake and they had an overdose of sugar."
Ryu stared at him.
Teepo laughed heartily. "Haha! Of course, that old woman's always sprouting some lie or other, so no one believed her!"
"…you just wasted a minute of my life…" he muttered to himself.
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-o-o-o-o-o-
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The rest of their walk through the dispersing trees was rather uneventful, except for several encounters with Rippers, sleeping Man Traps (which never once woke up) and other monsters.
By the time half an hour had passed, they finally exited Cedar Woods and arrived at the bottom of Mt. Glaus. Teepo groaned at the tall mountain as they crossed the bridge on a river.
"Oh man, it's going to take a long time to get up there…" he complained, then kicked a nearby rock hard. "Whose bright idea was it to follow Rei anyway?"
"Um… yours?" Ryu suggested.
His expression fell. "Oh, right… I knew that."
With that, they started hiking up the steep ledge of the mountain, occasionally stopping to climb onto ledges to get higher. To make things harder for them, fire-breathing Currs blocked their path with a snarl, and even though these wolf-like monsters were dispatched easily enough, their arms still ached from Bunyan's firewood cutting session, so they were already rather tired by the time they were halfway up. Still, they pushed on, no longer talking more than they needed to.
Hours later, the sky shone a stunning orange colour as the sun said its final farewells to nature, accompanied by caws of the birds flying back to their nests in the forest. By then, though, both Ryu and Teepo were so tired that they were beginning to think of beds at home and nothing else.
A few minutes until it became completely dark, Ryu slowed to a stop. He thought he saw a small cabin not too far away… or was he dreaming?
"Hey, Teepo," he called and pointed. "Do you see that cabin over there?"
His friend took a moment to stare into the darkness, and then nodded. "Yeah, I see it. Look, let's just call it a day, and rest here… maybe Rei's staying here too."
Ryu nodded. He didn't feel he could go any further either.
Without thinking of the possible inhabitants inside, they barged right into the cabin, eager to escape the cold night mountain air.
The cabin was brightly lit from the warm flames at the fireplace in the far left corner, and the place was neat, despite being covered in a thick layer of dust. A bed stood at the far right corner, while a bear rug lay on the wooden floor. And leaning against the wall near the fireplace was…
"Rei!" Teepo exclaimed.
Sure enough, it was their half-tiger companion. His ears perked up at the sound of the voice, and a look of surprise washed over his striped face.
"…Teepo? And Ryu too? What are you two doing here?"
The older boy grinned, albeit tiredly. "Heh, we took care of what that old man told us to do in no time and came right after!"
Ryu gave a nod. "Yeah, we were worried about you being out here all alone…"
Rei smiled, seemingly touched, but then scratched the back of his head uncertainly. "You know what? I think the reason Bunyan sent me here alone is… well, because he was worried about you two."
He blinked. "H-huh?"
"Wh-what do you mean 'worried about us'?" Teepo demanded immediately. "I mean, he said he was keeping us as hostages, right?"
Suddenly, there was a loud, inhuman cry echoing in the dark night sky outside, startling both boys.
"W-what was that?" Teepo cried.
Rei crossed his arms, seemingly unsurprised by the loud cry he had heard. "You know the monster that's been attacking the village? Rumours say that it's here in the mountains." He shrugged. "Well, Bunyan wanted me to kill it."
"Why only YOU? It's real big and strong, right? He could've ask us all to go together and–"
He shook his head. "You're right, it is big and strong, but I'm stronger… if I were alone. But now I won't be able to use it, since you're here… oh, never mind, forget it." He sighed in exasperation. "Boy, doesn't this just beat all…"
Teepo, however, pursued the topic further. "It's obvious that you're hiding something, Rei! Why are you stronger if you're alone?"
He sighed again. "Look, forget it, okay? We're all tired, so…" He gestured to the bed. "Let's just get some rest, it's dangerous to go out at night."
He didn't argue with that, but gazed at the other two. "…so, who gets the bed?"
Everyone stared at each other.
Ryu yawned. "I'm too tired to argue, so I'll just stay on the floor."
"That's probably the best." Rei stretched. "After all, we'll need all our strength tomorrow."
Teepo groaned. "I was looking forward to sleeping in a bed too…"
But he slept on the floor like the rest.
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-o-o-o-o-o-
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When Ryu woke up, everything around him was silent, save the soft breathing of his companions. It was dark in the cabin, but since the windows and doors were completely shut – as a safety precaution against monster while they slept – there was no way of telling how late it was.
Since there was no hurry, he remained on the wooden floor, resting with his eyes closed as he awaited the time to wake up.
And it came not long later. All of a sudden, the loud, inhuman cry echoed in the sky once again, just like last night.
His eyes snapped open as he sat up immediately. The other two did the exact same thing.
"It's him all right," Rei said, confirming their thoughts. "He's close by."
Teepo looked serious for once, as he stood up. "Here we go, I guess we have no choice."
"No, we don't… let's go out there and give it our all."
The boys nodded. All three of them prepared themselves, physically and mentally, for the battle ahead. Once they were ready, they stepped cautiously outside the cabin, and they subconsciously noted that the sun had already risen.
…so was a huge creature.
The cry sounded once again, and a large creature leap from the nearby cliff and landed on the ground in front of them, the way it stood on its four legs indicated that it was ready to eradicate them.
It was simply the ugliest creature Ryu had ever seen. It had the face of a purple baboon with a pink nose, framed by flaming pink mane and connected to the body of a muscular gorilla. There were sharp claws at the end of its long fingers, and its sharp fangs gleamed in the sunlight. Behind it, four snakes hissed simultaneously… connected to the behind of the bizarre creature.
"So… it's a Nue," Rei stated, pulling out his daggers from their sheaths and twirled them once before getting into his usual battle stance.
"…he's up early, isn't he?" Teepo remarked, drawing his rapier.
Ryu never really knew whether his companion was being sarcastic or being genuinely serious, but he said nothing as he unsheathed his own short sword after fumbling for it as usual. He could feel his heart banging against his chest, feeling as though it was beating ten times faster than usual.
He knew… he might even die in this battle.
The Nue roared and initiated the battle by jumping high into the air in hopes of landing on its attackers. They scattered quickly in three different directions, stumbling slightly as the ground trembled and sank with its weight.
Rei retaliated by rushing forward with lightning speed, slashing at its head rapidly with his knives. The monster lashed out with its large front claws. The first time he was able to evade it, but the second time he wasn't so lucky and was thrown brutally against a nearby tree.
Ryu, despite being scared out of his wits, ran forward as well, slashing wildly and not as skilfully as his older companion had. He gave a cry when the Nue suddenly roared and was about to claw him, but Teepo, who had been charging a spell, managed to save him by throwing a Flare spell right in the monster's face in time, pushing it back.
As the Nue gave a loud roar of pain and backed away, Rei shouted, "That seems to give him more pain than our weapons! Keep those Flares coming, Teepo!"
"Right!" Teepo replied, another flashing sphere of energy at his palm indicating that he was charging another spell.
"A-and thanks, Teepo!" Ryu said as he scrambled back, eager to get away from the monster.
The half-tiger charged and slashed repeatedly at the Nue's head, trying to get its attention on him so that the sorceror could keep throwing magic at it. Ryu kept fighting his terrible fear and moved forward, helping Rei with the offensive.
"Flare!" Teepo yelled, as another burst of flames blew up in the Nue's face, and once again it roared madly in pain.
Abruptly, it leaped high over Ryu and Rei's heads and landed before the purple-haired boy, as though it knew it was him who cast the spells. He could only stared wide-eyed at it as it towered over him with its massive size.
"TEEPO!" Ryu screamed.
Only his companion's screams of utmost pain replied as the Nue attacked savagely with its claws, trying to tear its victim into pieces.
"DAMMIT! Get away from him!" the half-tiger shouted as he lunged forward, stabbing his knives right into the Nue's ribs as hard as he could.
It snarled as it jumped away from him, baring his fangs.
"Ryu! Go get Teepo! I'll distract the Nue!"
The younger boy nodded and quickly went to Teepo's side. As soon as he was close enough, though, he gasped – Teepo had large wounds all over the front of his body, blood oozing out of them and forming a pool around him. He was on his knees, one hand on the ground to steady himself and the other on his chest, breathing heavily as though it was a terrible effort.
"D-dammit…" he cursed shakily between gritted teeth, frowning as he tried to endure the pain. "I was careless…"
"Teepo… oh no…" Ryu muttered as he knelt by his side, tears beginning to sting his eyes.
He had finally found friends, he was finally not alone anymore. But then this had to happen…
No!
He shut his eyes tightly, his hands curled into tight fists as he began to glow.
I won't let him die!
A rush of energy washed over him, gathering at the palm of his hands and quickly making them burn, as though it was aching to burst out from them. Ryu gladly released them, focusing and manipulating them into green sparkles that circled his wounded friend. He focused even harder, forcing more energy out of him in a similar way, letting the green light surround him. Then, all too abruptly, the light disappeared, leaving him breathless and slightly drained.
"Ryu…?"
His blue eyes snapped open, gazing right into Teepo's crimson ones.
Teepo was no longer breathing as hard, and his wounds were no longer open and bleeding. He seemed surprised by what happened.
Ryu's eyes lit up. "Teepo, I'm so relieved…" He shook his head, concerned. "Are you okay?"
His companion nodded his head. "Yeah, I'm fine… still aching, but I'm fine." He smiled. "Thanks."
A loud roar made them both look up, and they were just in time to see the Nue fleeing into the nearby cave, away from a panting Rei.
"Rei!" Teepo shouted and got up somewhat stiffly. "Are you okay?"
The young man spun around, fear showing in his face followed by surprise. "H-hey, you're fine…"
"Yeah, it still hurts though." He stretched, and then grinned. "But it's all thanks to Ryu. See? I told you that you could use magic if you put your mind to it!"
Rei smiled. "Yeah, and turns out he's right! Well, I didn't really expect healing magic to come from you, but I'm sure it'll help greatly."
The younger boy turned a bright shade of red.
Teepo grinned again, smugly this time. "Heh, and that Nue's a big wuss too!"
Ryu's spirits fell. "I… don't think I want to see that thing again…"
"Unfortunately, we've already started this." Rei shook his head. "We'll just have to finish it…"
"…okay then…"
"But hey, with Ryu's Heal spell, we'd be invincible!" Teepo stated.
The half-tiger laughed and clapped a hand on Ryu's shoulder. "Well, looks like you're in charge of healing now, Ryu!"
Ryu nodded, feeling somewhat better. "Okay!"
"And now, after that Nue!"
Both Rei and Teepo sped into the cave, though Ryu hesitated at first. As he started to walk towards them, he spied a small statue at the side of the house. It looked just like an ordinary statue of a Dragon sitting elegantly, its wings folded neatly behind it. It was apparently a small shrine for travellers to pray at during their journeys.
However, to Ryu, the statue seemed rather familiar, as though he had seen it before…
…Lord… Ladon…?
He blinked. Did he just call it Lord Ladon?
No. No way. There was no way he would know the name of an unknown statue by just looking at it…
"Hey, Ryu!" Teepo's voice yelled from inside. "Get over here, you slowpoke!"
"C-coming!" the younger boy yelled back, and quickly ran towards them, the statue now forgotten.
But for a flickering moment, the statue came to life and shook its Dragon head, as a serene male voice spoke.
"Heh, looks like you still remember me, Ryu… it's a good start."
And, in a blink of an eye, the statue resumed its original pose, still as though nothing had happened.
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-o-o-o-o-o-
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"Geez, now where did that thing go?" Teepo wondered aloud, his voice echoing off the walls of the dark cave.
Rei's sharp eyes spotted a trail of blood on the ground. He knelt and touched it lightly with a finger.
"The blood's still wet," he stated and stood up. "So it went this way."
The trio followed the trail of blood, occasionally ducking to avoid diving bats and low hanging stalactites. The interior of the cave was a complex series of tunnels, branching here and there to confuse them, but the trail of blood never deviated. Strangely, the cavern wall seemed to glow, lighting their surroundings just enough for them to see. Eventually, they emerged in a large cave, on a high cliff overlooking a rushing river. Further upstream was a low waterfall.
"That's funny…" Rei said, looking around. "The trail just stops here."
Ryu took a look for himself and sure enough, the last blood patch was just at the end, right next to a human skeleton lying on the ground. He shivered; maybe this person was attacked by the Nue, left here to die all alone…
"Hey, I think I figured it out!" Teepo suddenly exclaimed.
The half-tiger raised an eyebrow. "What?"
He grinned, evidently excited. "I bet the monster jumped into the water to get away! Yeah, that's it!"
"You're probably right…" Rei swished his tail as he crossed his arms. "So the question now is, how do we go after it?"
Teepo stayed silent for a while, not looking as confident anymore. "...I dunno."
He slapped his forehead. With a sigh, he suggested, "Well, we could take a detour from the trail and look around. Maybe we'll find something."
Ryu nodded. "Yeah, okay."
They backtracked out of the high cliff, back into the main section of the cave, and took the first path away from the trail of blood they passed earlier, which led to another fork. Shrugging, Rei simply led them to the left path, and… arrived at yet another fork.
"Man, this place is confusing!" Teepo complained. "Why can't caves just be straightforward like how the village is… huh? Hey!"
They had arrived at another large cave on a high ledge, with the same rushing river below. They were now further upstream, right before the waterfall, where the current was the strongest.
The older boy turned to the other two. "Okay, this time I really got it!" He gestured to the stream below. "There must be a cave behind that waterfall, so we'll dive in from here and float all the way there!"
Rei scratched the back of his head uncertainly. "Well… what do you think, Ryu?"
Ryu jumped. "H-huh? Me? I don't know…"
"Ah, what the heck!" Teepo cried. "I'll show you that I'm right! GEROMINO!" He got to a running start and leaped off the cliff, diving into the stream below.
"…well, here we go!" The young man jumped down after him.
Ryu sighed, shaking his head. "I still don't think it's a good idea…"
Gulping, he jumped lightly into the water and landed with a big splash. At first he went under, the water entering his mouth, then he somehow managed to keep himself afloat by kicking his legs. He coughed water and took a deep breath, glad that he was able to float, but the current then started moving much more rapidly, pulling him along. He began to feel nervous as the roar of the waterfall grew louder as time passed, and he gave a yell as he fell down the said waterfall.
"Oh no… HELP!"
Suddenly, strong hands suddenly came from inside the waterfall, grabbing him by the arms, and pulled him in, saving him from a huge splash that almost came. Breathing hard, Ryu looked at whose hands they were and was relieved Rei's striped face. His companions were both there, dripping wet like himself.
"T-thanks, Rei," Ryu said.
Rei set him down. "No sweat, buddy."
"See? I told you it'd work out!" Teepo half-shouted in triumph.
"Uh huh…" The half-tiger cross his wet arms. "And what would've happened if we went further?"
His confident expression faded. "Uh…"
"Oh well, at least we got here." Rei got onto all fours and shook himself hard like a dog, sending water droplets onto the other two like rain.
Teepo scowled. "Hey!"
Rei grinned. "Oops, sorry."
Ryu shook himself as well, though not as hard as he did, and Teepo tried to get the water out of his hair by squeezing it dry.
"Well, personally, I hate water…" Rei shook his head. "Probably a race thing."
"Uh, Rei…" Ryu began. "I think tigers love water."
He blinked. "Oh, really? How'd you know that?"
Now it was his turn to blink. "I… don't really know."
A loud roar interrupted their conversation, and both Rei and Teepo immediately drew out their weapons.
"It's here!" the half-tiger cried.
It was then Ryu realised the trail of blood continued on the ground, from where they were standing towards the Nue. And it was then he realised they were surrounded by bones… bones of the monster's unfortunate victims. In the dim glow of the cavern walls, the huge shadow of the Nue limped out of the hole, baring its fangs. It roared again, preparing itself for battle in spite of its bleeding wound.
Ryu fumbled around for his sword again, trying to ignore the fear that consumed him. Rei had already lunged forward and slashed relentlessly with his daggers, expertly evading all of the monster's claw swipes.
"Flare!" Teepo cried.
Magical flames burnt the Nue furiously. It roared loudly in pain and reared on its hind legs, flinging its claws at the closest one at it – Rei. He let out a yell as the razor sharp claws drew blood from him. Gritting his teeth, he managed to back away before it lashed out with the other claw, clutching the new gashes on his chest.
Ryu quickly started casting a spell. He was still rather new at it, but he focused his mind as hard as he could, feeling the energy gathering in his hands. He started glowing as the spell neared its completion, and then he stabbed his sword into the air above him.
"Heal!" he shouted, and the familiar green sparkles circled Rei as his wounds healed.
"Thanks, Ryu!" The young man held his knives in front of him properly, ready to strike again. "Teepo! I've an idea! Throw another Flare at him, the strongest one you have!"
Teepo nodded. "I've got it!"
"Ryu, stay far enough from its claws – leave this to me!"
The smaller boy nodded as well. "Be careful!"
"One Flare coming up!" The other boy grinned, throwing his free hand forward as the sphere of light flashed. "FLARE!"
This Flare was unlike the previous once he had cast; this time the fire that burned was bigger than the last, twice as furious… it engulfed the Nue mercilessly, causing it to roar. Just like before, it reared on its hind legs once again, its claws raised and ready to strike.
"NOW!" Rei cried, and lunged at that very moment.
With one swift movement, he stabbed the monster's chest with both his daggers, then pulled out three more and threw those as hard as he could. This time it let out an ear-shattering roar, forcing the others to cover their ears with their hands.
Teepo, then, threw the final spell he had been charging. "SIMOON!"
Suddenly the Nue exploded in a burst of flames, which expanded like a growing sphere. The force sent it crashing into the wall behind it, sending a tremor along the cave wall. It slid slowly to the ground, its head lowered, its body limp. Then, with one final ear-shattering roar, it reared up for the final time, spreading its front legs to the side… and froze.
All three of them stared at it, unable to believe their eyes.
"…it's dead…" Rei broke the silence.
As though the ice had been broken, they collapsed onto the floor breathing rapidly. Though the battle was short, it had been a frightening one.
Teepo grinned. "We did it! We killed the monster!"
Rei nodded, grinning as well. "Yeah, and I didn't think we could do it too!"
Ryu smiled, his heart filled with relief at the end of the battle, but his eyes wandered towards the dead Nue. It was dead, yet its rigid body stayed in that same position, its front legs spread awkwardly to the sides. Somehow, the sight of him made him uneasy… it was as though the creature was trying to protect something.
He spied a small opening in the wall behind it, and vaguely remembering that it had come out from there when they arrived here earlier. He got to his feet and walked over to the body, squeezing through the small opening.
…and gasped.
"Hey, Ryu, what did you find?" Teepo's voice came from behind him.
There was no reaction from him.
"Ryu? What–" Rei froze.
Beyond the opening was a small cave, part of the ground covered in straws, furs and leaves… a nest. On the nest were all kinds of food that could be found in the village, both fresh and rotten – fruits, vegetables, and cooked meat – and three small unmoving creatures. They looked just like a smaller, skinner version of the Nue, without a single strand of fur on them.
But, the terrible stench that came from them indicated that they had been dead for a long time. The Nue might have not realised that her cubs were dead, and kept bringing food…
And for that, they killed her.
Ryu stared blankly at the three cubs, not even realising that tears were streaming down his cheeks.
Rei shut his eyes tightly.
Teepo laughed nervously in a feeble attempt to remain undisturbed by the scene. "…boy, it wasn't too bright, was it? I mean, its cubs were already dead, and it didn't realise…"
Then he, too, lapsed into silence.
It took a long time before they could leave the ghastly scene behind them, and even then the scene burned into their mind. It did not leave them even after they had jumped into the underground stream and let it float them outside, nor did it leave them when they pulled themselves out of the river and onto land at the foot of the mountain.
But seeing a familiar person did take it off their minds for a fleeting moment.
"You managed to kill the Nue, huh?" a gruff voice said, its owner approaching.
Rei shook his head. "Bunyan…"
Bunyan crossed his arms. "So, how does it feel like to do some real work for a change, hmm?"
None of them replied.
He looked around the mountainside. "Soon spring will come, animals will return, and life will get a little easier…" He smiled. "You three did a good job."
When he was replied by further silence, he turned to leave, but the half-tiger suddenly spoke.
"Bunyan."
Bunyan stopped and faced them again, silent this time.
"You knew… didn't you?" Rei, suddenly angry, swung an arm in the air. "You know she was only hunting food for her cubs, and still you had us KILL her?"
More tears slid down Ryu's cheeks, but this time he made an effort to wipe them.
Bunyan remained silent for a moment, then spoke softly. "If you had known… would you have let her live? Would you have let her continue to plague the village?"
All the anger ebbed away from Rei as he stared, stunned. "…I…"
The woodsman turned away once more. "Sometimes, in order to gain something, one needs to sacrifice something else… remember that."
With that, he left them.
Ryu sniffed, his gaze remained on the ground.
Rei sighed, but no other sound came from him.
Teepo, then, spoke.
"Did we… do the right thing…?"
.
Alas, the truth is cruel.
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End of Chapter Two.
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Author's Note:
I always find the part on the Nue cubs so sad. T_T
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Review Replies for Chapter One:
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To Kestre Wynde:
Whoa, that's a really fast review; the chapter hasn't even sat there for three hours yet. O_o
I like longer chapters compared to shorter chapters; somehow it's like, "Yay, it's a long chapter! It's worth the wait!" But short chapters are nice too. :D
Glad to hear that you like Teepo's first battle; you'd see battles around that length often, because I don't really like a long, drawn-out battle in my stories. Being bad at it is one thing, having no battle imagination is another thing. T_T
But I'm glad to hear you also like my character descriptions! I was hoping they weren't too long, but I like giving proper descriptions to characters so that people who don't play the game will also have an (some?) idea on character appearances. xP
The half-tiger bit is... well, in the whole BoF3 game, I've never actually seen people calling him a Woren, let alone seeing another one. Also, the other "half animal people" weren't given clan names either, even the Dragon clan names were lost in time (we only saw it in BoF1, didn't we?), so I'm guessing the names of the races / clans were lost in the flow of time. Pretty deep, but I didn't really touch on it in the story. o_o
Since I'm done with the novelisation now, I'll be updating the story about the same time every week, unless I get delayed by other stuff. Thanks for the review! :D
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To Jonathan Priest:
Haha, I understand about the whole "being on hiatus while writing a novelisation that took two years to write" thing; it's what exactly happened to me with Breath of Fire 3. xP
It's great to see you like Chapter One! I've always liked making the characters more in depth than the game itself, though I usually don't pull it off that well. I realised the importance of character depth after I finished my first original fiction… which hardly had any character depth other than the protagonist and his family. o_o
I plan to write a Suikoden 2 novelisation after this… except I'm taking a break from writing for a while. That, and the fact that it doesn't have a complete game script, so I want to properly prepare myself before I start this challenge!
Thanks for reviewing again. :D
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To Nina Windia:
I'm glad you like it! It makes me feel a little more… at peace. xP
I feel that I shouldn't follow the game script too closely in case it might bore people who already played the game, which is the case with most readers, I'd think. I actually use a game script from GameFAQs and play through the game when I write the chapter (the Charge function helped me to train while I write and made Ryu do 2HKO's to bosses later in the game T_T), so I think there shouldn't be too many errors with my novelisation… I hope. There are a few things that I changed to suit my mood, or how I feel would be more dramatic, or how it would suit the bigger change that we'll see later in the novelisation. Though of course, while I enjoy writing and reading it, I never thought of it as perfect. o_o
I like how soft Rei is, too! He's always so carefree, so it's fun making him feel that way despite the fact he keeps thinking of the harshness of reality. xP
Thanks for reviewing!
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To Airess Byrd:
I like Rei and Teepo too; they make the otherwise gloomy atmosphere light and funny. And Teepo does tease Ryu so. xP I'm glad you like how Ryu was found (and how Teepo didn't stay at home for fun o_o), and how Teepo was adamant in getting Rei to bring Ryu in despite his worries. I understand how Rei feels too… I never really know what to do in this case. o_o
Thanks for the review!
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To Omega Gilgamesh:
I'm not sure if you know this fact, but people who like the first four of the BoF series tend not to like Dragon Quarter, though that's because the gameplay and everything are rather different than its older siblings. I like Dragon Quarter though, except I gave up the first time, waited a few months, then finished the game the second time. I was going to write a BoF5 novelisation after this but I was struck by a massively busy semester and thus lost my writing enthusiasm for a while. o_o
I hope my novelisation will really inspire you. :D
Thanks for the review!