Breath of Fire III: Of Gods and Dragons

Interlude

Written by Estrelita Farr

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The story of a Dragon seeking for family and friends.

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The distant loud roar echoed loudly in the halls of the tower, shaking it even more.

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The story of a princess living in fear of loneliness.

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"Ryu! Where's Ryu?" Nina cried, almost screaming. "Where's Ryu?"

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The story of a Guardian questioning the very reason for his existence.

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Garr did not reply as he quickly led the way out of the tower, his golden eyes dull with remorse.

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And of their companions who are inevitably involved in this conflict.

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"I hate to say this, Nina, but we'll have to trust Garr for now!" Momo half-shouted, pulling the princess by the hand.

"Pukyu!" Peco agreed as he bounced along the halls beside them, with Honey clinging tightly onto his head.

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Little did they know that, even now, their paths have already been tightly intertwined together, like bonds of trust that can never be broken.

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"No! RYUUU!" Nina screamed, sobbing loudly.

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The path to the future carved by Destiny has been set in stone.

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-o-o-o-o-o-

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He ran across the darkness, his erratic breathing loud in the great abyss devoid of light. His sheath stayed empty, its weapon forgotten. His legs felt weak, as though his knees were going to buckle at any moment, but he still continued to run as hard as he could, without a destination in mind, without knowing if he would ever break free of this great darkness.

He wanted only to escape. To escape from the terrible truth that plagued his mind.

Yet, as he ran, he did not know where to run to. Where to turn to.

Everywhere he turned, he could see the wisps circling before him. Pursuing him.

No matter how hard he sprinted, the wisps always caught up to him, rushing past him in a great streak of light.

No matter how hard he covered his ears, the voices kept reaching out for his fragile mind, relentless in their chase.

"Why? Why do you run?" a male voice asked, a voice he had once heard in a dream.

The silhouette of a young man formed before him, filling his heart with dread.

It was not his master. Not Lord Ladon.

But someone else… someone he did not want to see.

"N-no! Leave me alone!" he yelled as he skidded to a stop. He spun around and sped down a new direction instead.

Another streak of light overtook him and stopped in front of him, forcing him to skid to a stop once more. It separated into wisps, then gathered to transform into a young man with flowing violet hair… whose silhouette he had seen earlier. The man turned towards him, an unreadable expression on his face.

"We're not like them…" the voice persuaded him further, clear and crisp from the lips of the young man. "We're not supposed to be with them…"

"G-go away!" he cried in increased fear, dashing in yet another direction.

"You have to face the truth, Ryu!" the man cried as he ran. "You have to embrace the blood that flows in your veins!"

Even as he ran, the voice repeated in his mind over and over. Repeatedly, never allowing him a moment of peace.

And his form began to change

Gleaming green scales appeared all over his body, horns sprouted from his head. Wings spread from his back, a tail swished behind him, and claws appeared on his hands and feet. His cerulean blue eyes turned golden.

The Dragon whelp continued running, fleeing into the great darkness within.

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-o-o-o-o-o-

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The cogs of Time continue to turn.

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The stone statue of a Dragon growled as it turned towards the night sky, anger glinting in its glowing eyes.

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Slowly, steadily, like a traveller focused on his destination.

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"So… it's your doing, Myria…" Ladon's voice came from the statue, low and dangerous. "I won't ever forgive you…"

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But, the journey on the path of Destiny has now come to a standstill.

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The only thing that answered him was a playful giggle that rang through the dark starry sky.

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And it will be a long time before it will continue once again.

The cogs of Time continue to turn.

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End of Interlude.

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Author's Note:

Sorry for such as short chapter, this is just the interlude after all… I feel that the next chapter starts too abruptly, so I had this chapter to "lead on" to the next. At least now I feel better about it, despite the fact that it's only almost two and a third pages long. :D

I was having some difficulty naming this piece for a while… and I still don't know whether to leave it as "interlude" and rename my "prologue" / "epilogue" as "prelude" and "postlude", or leave them as "prologue" / "epilogue" and get another name for this chapter. I prefer the sound of "epilogue" to "postlude", which is why you still see my first chapter as "prologue" and not "prelude" at the beginning. Also, I didn't name this chapter "intermission" because according to Dictionary (dot) com, it's a period of rest or pause, whereas "interlude" is a short dramatic piece, formerly introduced between the parts. So… here, you see my dilemma. o_o

Also, thanks to RedemptionWarrior, who mentioned two parts in the previous chapter were a little rushed, I've gone back and added more stuff for those parts. Hopefully it's better now!

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Review Replies for Chapter Fourteen:

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To Rogue Kaiser:

Thanks for the cookie, I'm glad that you like the chapter!

(Spoiler alert for non-BoF3 players. x_x)

Here's my theory on Ryu's ability to turn into the Kaiser even without the Infinity gene; I've always thought that it's his inherit form simply because he's the Dragon Prince (Kaiser is a German title for sovereign, if I'm not wrong). He's always had access to the Dragon form, just that the conditions to transform into the Kaiser are rather difficult to achieve normally without the Infinity gene. Remember how he always goes berserk if you don't use the Infinity-Radiance-Trance combination?

Imagine there are two areas connected by a rushing conveyer belt, and the only way to get to the other side is by sprinting in the opposite direction of the belt. If you don't have enough power and stamina to get to the other side, you'll collapse and go back to where you started. But when he's pushed beyond his (psychological) limit, he can unconsciously tap into the power of the Kaiser, but as a result goes berserk. Getting the power (Infinity gene) later on is like slowing down the conveyer belt; it makes it possible for him to consciously transform into the Kaiser, and without going berserk (using the Infinity-Radiance-Trance combination). Does it make sense?

Thanks for the review! :D

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To RedemptionWarrior:

Oops! Did the volcano and Angel Tower parts really seemed rushed? It's probably because the whole chapter overshot by one page (I try to limit myself to twenty pages in fear of making it too boring for readers), but I guess it was a bad idea to. T_T

I've gone back and adjusted the interior of Mt. Zublo and Angel Tower scenes; hopefully they don't sound as rushed now. :D

But I'm glad to see that the chapter's realistic enough! Thanks for reviewing!

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To Ferane:

Oh, hey! Here's a high five to a fellow Malaysian with more pro English than the average and me! :D

Glad to hear that you like the novelisation! Originally I included the senile old man (and two serpents) battle, but in the end had to scrap it because of the length of the chapter… my chapters are longer than the usual chapter length compared to other people, and I went over the self-imposed twenty page limit even without the battle. x_x

Yeah, I too was thinking the extra scenes might give an early spoiler to readers (especially the non-BoF3 players). But I did it anyway, hoping that when we finally hit the major storyline shift (where you'll see where I heavily edited the storyline), it'll be a big enough surprise to both non-players and players alike!

Or at least I hope so; until now I've no idea whether it'll have a positive or negative impact to players… I'm a bit worried people will say, "Hey, what the heck? Why'd you edit the storyline like that?" Oh well, it's a risk writers take, isn't it? xP

I'm glad you like the Nue and Emitai scenes! At the moment, I don't have the skills to improve them further, sadly. T_T

And as for Garr's English, thanks for the reassurance; I'm glad to hear that it's fine even though it's not really all that correct. As long as it has that ancient oomph, I guess anything goes. :D And I do agree that the whole of Urkan Tapa is medieval!

Thanks for the review!

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To Nina Windia:

Thanks, it's great to hear you like the chapter! I've always liked dramatic chapters… you probably know from my short story Protector. xP

Yeah, this is the last scene of the childhood saga, except I'm dragging it slightly longer with this interlude. It's because the adult saga starts too abruptly for me, and I like each chapter to lead on to the next. :D

Thanks for reviewing!

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To Lord Kain:

Yeah, the adult saga is starting soon! I've always liked the childhood saga, of course, but I prefer the adult one… Ryu's more pro that way. :D

I'm not going to say anything about the reunions yet, I'll only tell you that you have one more chapter before that, after this interlude. xP

And yeah, a glomp would be much better when Ryu meets Nina again, especially considering how close they are!

Thanks for the review!

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To Airess Byrd:

Thanks, glad to see you like it! :D

I like the fact that the Dragon genes are actually spirits of the dead Dragons, who in the end swore to lend what's left of their power to Ryu and protecting him, thus becoming Protectors. Originally I didn't intend for it to happen (I actually skipped out on the Behemoth form before x_x), but after that short conversation through PMs about Dragon forms with RedemptionWarrior, I decided to add the Behemoth form, and after that it just turned out that way. I got lucky. xP

I agree Ryu and Nina are sweet together, even more than the game shows! If they did go through the volcano (and not leave poor Garr to walk in there alone o_o), I'll probably go through some sob scenes on how Peco's affected by the heat and such. Nina and Momo too, but probably not as bad! But I feel that I've already gone too far with the length of the chapter (22 pages zomg x_x), so I decided to leave it that way. T_T

Of course, Garr's the experienced one in the group! I'm glad his personality is portrayed well enough in this chapter, and that the Angel Tower scenes are good enough this time!

But how will Ryu and Garr fare together after this…? Read on, my friend, read on. :D

Thanks for the review!