Fan Fiction ❯ The More Things Change... (An Endless Story) ❯ Endless Tide ( Chapter 1 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

Okay, this is basically my... attempt at a take on a rather atypical Breath of Fire pairing, plus (probably) another that may actually be a bit more common.

Disclaimer: The entire BoF series belongs to Capcom, and my making this little fic won't change that! I WANT to own the series, but... I'm pretty much SOL. (If it were up to me, there'd BE no BoF:DQ. IT SUCKS!)

Now then... here's a basic listing of "fic facts."

Story base: BoF4.

Story point: One year post-"good" ending. Fou-lu absorbed by Ryu, Endless banished, etc. (Hey, Capcom was practically BEGGING for a sequel, official or not, with THAT ending!)

Basic plot: That "god"-making bastard Yuna is up to no good again! Time for divine vengeance! (BTW, Ryu didn't *QUITE* succeed in banishing the Endless... all he changed in himself is that he's mortal and slightly weaker now. Yuna vs. Kaiser... I wonder who's gonna win?) More importantly, Ryu discovers feelings he holds for a former companion... and they aren't for Nina! She may be in the same boat, though... (Basically, it's a generic Mary-Sue plot, but I'll try to give our buddy the Yorae Dragon some BIG problems... maybe puberty since he's still technically really young.)

Pairings:
Ryu-Ursula! (IMO, the coolest male and female "playables" (besides Scias, but I don't really see him getting together with anyone). Ursula's cute and Ryu's never really given a personality beyond "you're bad, so I'll kill you", so... HE'S FAIR GAME! He can't really get Out Of Character 'cause he doesn't really have any Character to get Out Of.)
Nina-Cray (Why? Jus' for the helluvit) (May substitute Nina-OC, depending on whims... or even switch mid-fic)
Other possible pairings may be revealed later...

Okay, anything else to say before we start...? Okay, character locations and activities (only major characters in the game or this fic) (IN ORDER OF GAME APPEARANCE, IF ANY):

Nina: Being protected very... zealously by the Wyndia Royal Guard as she tries to aid everyone who lost something in the wars (both between Fou-lu and his Empire and between said Empire and just about everyone else).
Cray: Dealing with repercussions in Worent, of course!
Ryu: Near Chedo ruins, trying to cope with his new duality and apparent loss of power.
Fou-lu: Absorbed by Ryu.
Ershin: It's off hex-busting again. Who knows where it is right now.
Yuna: Probably turning some hapless bystander into his own vision of a god. Who knows where, though...
Scias: Still doing the "wandering mercenary" thing. As with Ershin, location unknown. Expect him to pop up later, though, like when I come up with an excuse for it.
Deis: Still possessing Ershin.
Ursula: Still trying to rebuild Chedo after it was demolished by A-tur under Fou-lu's orders.
Kaerlos: (OC) Recently summoned Endless using the Imperial ceremony. Right now he's wandering Chedo and wondering what's going on. As with both of the other Imperial summonings (Fou-luRyu and Deis), however, he's got a defect, in his case having to rely on summoning others to do his fighting for him since he seems unable to access most of his own power. Normally weak things like, say, Goos and such, but occasionally (and usually without trying!) he gets something huge, like maybe, oh, say... Dragonne? Sometimes the things he does with his summonings can be downright bizarre, but most summons are utilitarian or combat-related in nature. There seems to be a pattern to when he pulls off a "super summon:" The more desperate he gets, the more powerful the summoned creature. At least he doesn't have the ultra-archaic speech patterns of most Endless! (ie, he fits in more easily when he talks instead of sounding like he was just pulled out of the Middle Ages... no "thou" and "thine" for him! Maybe the occasional reference to "mortals," though.) (Somehow his summoners f*ck up REALLY badly and lose any claim to control over him... must be outta practice) *DESCRIPTION LATER*

As with the game, sometimes the POV will make a sudden jump in this story, usually between Ryu and Kaerlos andor his creations.

And now on to the story, which, oddly enough, begins at night... (Check on Ryu first, then introduce Kaerlos to the readers.)

AUTHOR'S NOTE: There is no mention of the process of summoning an Endless (either the Chek or Imperial version) so I'll just make one up for the Imperial mode.

*--------*: POV switch
[___]: Writing
*___*: Thoughts
"___": Speech (of course)
(___): Author's notes andor explanations

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Chapter 1
Endless Tide

Ryu was sleeping the sleep of the exhausted. His entire life thus far had revolved around combat of some sort, and he didn't see that changing anytime soon so he was training in his now-mortal abilities to the brink of utter exhaustion. He had declined Ursula's offer of combat training with firearms, preferring instead to stay with the Royal Sword he had inherited from Fou-lu. As was his habit for the past year, he had fallen asleep in full battle gear: Royal Sword sheathed at his hip, Royal Armor completely covering his body, and of course his Dragon Tear amulet.

He turned over as his dreams shifted to something more... disturbing. He began dreaming of the rise of more Endless, though few of them actually being "true" Endless, and of the wars that would result in. Little did he know that these dreams were caused by his Dragon's Eye, still present even after all he had been through, attempting to warn him of a future that was not just possible, but probable.

*--------*

All was dark in the Imperial Place of Summoning, lit only by candles placed precisely on the six points of the star called for by the summoning procedure. Six acolytes stood near the candles, chanting the prescribed incantations in perfect unison, though, as they would find out later, imperfect precision due to a mistranslation. A high priest stood almost precisely in the center, offset only by the marble table which held the magical incense and offerings to power the spell. At the height of the incantation, the high priest tossed the offerings into a small brazier to burn them, at the precise moment called for by the spell.

Light flashed. A small portal appeared in the air near the table, dropping an extremely tall young man onto the ground next to it. He was around 7 feet 8 inches tall, was a lean sort of muscular, and had blood-red hair, equally red eyes, and rather pale skin. This confirmed, to the priests' knowledge, the end of the ceremony, and they began to bring clothes and equipment for the newly-summoned god. He ended up wearing a red shirt (think Ryu's, except for the color), black pants (more like Fou-lu's), leather gloves with no fingers, heavy boots, and tougher armor than most people could imagine (it was all a bit tight, though). The armor, for some reason, did not include a helmet, and the only arm protection was some kind of metal bracer which he wore on his left arm. He experimentally swung the sword they had given him, a massive blade that put to shame even the largest of Cray's clubs in sheer size, before placing it in an equally large sheath and strapping it to his back, cross-draw style (ie, he's right-handed so it's on his left shoulder).

"What do you guys want with me?" the newcomer asked quietly after a short time.

"We have summoned you here for a purpose, Endless," the high priest intoned.

"Yeah, yeah, don't people always have a purpose?" the man asked rhetorically. "By the way, my name isn't Endless, it's Kaerlos."

"We have summoned you to forge a new empire," the priest continued, disregarding Kaerlos's comments.

"Empire? Not for me," Kaerlos announced, surprising all present. "Well, I'm outta here. Not every day you get yanked into a new world, so I gotta find out what's going on."

As Kaerlos started to walk off, one of the acolytes asked the high priest, "Why did he refuse us so openly? I thought it was impossible for an Endless to disobey his purpose."

Kaerlos stopped and glanced back over his shoulder. "Frankly, I think you messed up somehow. Maybe you should look over the ritual again and find out." With that parting comment, he walked off, leaving the priests to their own devices.

When he finally figured out how to get out of what was left of the Imperial Palace he saw several men, women, and even children working to rebuild what was quite obviously a ruined city. When he saw one walk a short ways away from the others, he took that as an opportunity to strike up a conversation.

"Hey. Can I ask you a few questions?" Kaerlos asked the man in question.

"Well, I'm taking a break now, so I've got time," the man answered.

Kaerlos nodded. "Okay, first off, I'll ask a question that I bet you'll think is stupid: Where are we?"

The man blinked. "You don't know where we are? You hit your head or somethin'?"

Kaerlos sighed. "Actually, it's more like suddenly finding myself in a place I know I have no right being."

"Well, this is Chedo... or used to be rather, since it was destroyed last year."

"Alright, question number two: You wouldn't happen to know of a man named Fou-lu, would you? I need to brush up on my combat skills," Kaerlos announced.

The man stepped back in shock. "What would you want with that maniac?" he blurted out. Then he collected himself and said, "Besides, he's dead now. According to the woman who's heading the reconstruction, he was absorbed into his other half, whatever that means."

Kaerlos crossed his arms and tilted his head. "Alright, so where is this 'other half' and what is he called?"

"I don't know, you'd have to ask Ursula."

"Okay, could you take me to this Ursula, or at least point me to where she is?"

The man took a pose of deep thought for a few seconds before nodding and saying, "Okay, follow me." As they walked, however, they ran into several monsters: A large dinosaur-like creature, and two creatures that looked like the living shadows of men. The man started backing away, saying, "You've got a sword, so USE IT!"

Kaerlos gulped and started backing away too. "Ummm... you know why I wanted to brush up on my combat skills?"

"WHY?!"

Kaerlos started looking extremely nervous. "I dunno how to use a sword. Spears, maybe. I've used a couple axes too," he explained. "Swords? That was Fou-lu's specialty."

"Well there's only one thing to do... RUN FOR IT!"

Kaerlos looked at their surroundings a bit, then said, "That's a good idea- run until you can fight. There's just one problem..."

"WHAT?!" the man screamed.

"We're cornered," Kaerlos pointed out.

One of the shadows started laughing evilly as he approached the pair, saying, "You guys're gonna die now..." By this point the still-unidentified man was gibbering in fear, but Kaerlos was trying to conceal his desperation.

*Hmmm, have I gotten any magic from being summoned?* the Endless thought. As one of the shadows lunged at him, he screamed out with his mind for help, almost out of instinct.

A katana suddenly interposed itself between Kaerlos and his attacker, forcing the shadow to jump back. Shortly after, a classic samurai-like monster stepped into Kaerlos's view. "What's a Kolpum doing here?" the shadow demanded.

Kaerlos was, however, not there to answer. As soon as the Kolpum had interfered, he had grabbed the worker and run off, letting their unexpected ally hold the shadows and dinosaur off.

After they had run a few minutes, Kaerlos stopped. The man's reaction was, in a word, shock. "Why did that monster help us?"

Kaerlos thought for a second- out loud. "Hmmm... That shadow thing was about to kill us, it charged me, and that monster- shadow called it a Kolpum- got in the way... I just can't figure it out." Then he considered a bit more and said, "Well, I was thinking we needed help... could that be connected?"

"Monsters attacking monsters... Too much for me. I'll DEFINITELY have to take you to Ursula now."

A while later, the man had led Kaerlos to a very pretty young woman in a purple uniform. "Hi. I take it from this guy's reaction that you're Ursula?" Kaerlos asked as a greeting.

The woman nodded. "Yeah, I'm Ursula. Why?"

Kaerlos tilted his head. "I heard that my brother was... 'absorbed' into his 'other half.' I was wanting to meet him."

Ursula nodded, then did an uncharacteristic double-take. "The only person I know of who was ever absorbed into another was Fou-lu, but..."

"That's him. Where can I find whoever he's become?"

Ursula stepped back a bit unconsciously before realizing what she was doing. "You're not gonna start any trouble, are you?" she asked threateningly, reaching for a pistol.

Kaerlos tilted his head. "Not if I can avoid it. Why?"

"Fou-lu's the reason this city was destroyed."

Kaerlos blinked several times before looking thoughtful. "Well, he always judged the masses by a few examples... Maybe he just saw a few bad apples and jumped to conclusions." He shrugged. "Anyway, I'm not as impulsive or vengeful as my brother i... was, so I don't think I'll be starting trouble anytime soon."

Ursula relaxed some, but then said, "Why do you have that huge sword strapped to your back? How do you fight with it?"

Kaerlos tensed suddenly at the question. "I don't. Some priest guys gave it to me after some kinda ritual- I don't even know how to use the thing!" Changing the subject, he asked, "You wouldn't happen to know how I got here, would you?" When Ursula looked at him like he was an idiot, he said, "Not this particular spot, I mean... ummm... what did that guy call this place again...?"

"Chedo," the man supplied.

"Sounds like something my brother would come up with..." Kaerlos commented under his breath.

"I don't know, but I suppose we could see if Fou-lu knew you..." Ursula thought for a second, then nodded. "Let's go. Maybe Ryu knows you."

"Ryu? That the name he's going by nowadays? I mean, that's the guy who absorbed him?" When Ursula nodded, Kaerlos said, "Okay. I don't really expect an overwhelmingly favorable reaction, though- Fou-lu was never exactly fond of me... sort of a rivalry, you know."

"Understandable. He should be staying just outside the city. Follow me." When Ursula started walking off, Kaerlos followed, all the while evaluating her apparent abilities, mainly to gauge her potential as a threat. She quickly noticed, though, and asked, "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Quite frankly, I always try to figure out how good everyone is at fighting- helps me prepare for threats. Bit of a habit I've gotten into." Kaerlos suddenly stopped. "Oh, yeah. You got a spear or an ax I could borrow?"

"No." The reply was short, simple, and decisive. "We'll have to keep going if we're going to find Ryu anytime soon."

Kaerlos sighed but resumed walking. *Seems I've been dumped headfirst into more trouble than I can even imagine... Looks like I might have to figure out how to use this... monstrosity through experimentation.* After another brief period of walking in silence, he said, "You seem used to command."

"Anyone can lead others," Ursula stated by way of reply.

"Yeah, but not very many can do it well," Kaerlos countered. "Take me, for example. Give me an army of five thousand men and I guarantee that within a week, a month at most, I'll come back with maybe... MAYBE... a hundred left." Ursula considered that statement for most of the rest of their trip.

Eventually Ursula stopped. "We'll camp here."

Kaerlos nodded. "I was starting to wonder if you needed sleep. I'll go see if I can get some food for us... unless you thought to bring something?"

Ursula shook her head. "No, I'll hunt. You seem unfamiliar with how things work around here- I don't trust you not to come back with something poisonous by mistake." She pulled a camping kit out, though Kaerlos couldn't figure out how she carried it.

*Don't ask! You might not like the answer!* Kaerlos told himself when he started getting curious.

"Here, you set up camp while I hunt," Ursula continued, seemingly not noticing his quickly-contained curiosity. As Kaerlos took the kit, she turned and stalked off, muttering something he couldn't catch.

Shortly afterwards, Kaerlos had the tent set up and was trying to figure out how to hold the sword the priests gave him. *How did Fou-lu manage this, anyway?* he complained silently.

"Well... You weren't kidding when you said you didn't know how to use a sword." Kaerlos turned toward the sudden voice to see Ursula carrying a large white (?!) boar over her shoulder.

Kaerlos shortly caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of his eye, and heard a faint giggling sound from a few feet to his right. The only sign he noticed, however, was a brief flick of his eyes in that direction. He sheathed his sword and sat down, glancing left and right for any sign of movement. *Hmmm, we're not... There!* Suddenly, his hand snapped out, and he grabbed a fistful of what turned out to be hair. At Ursula's surprised look he said, "We're not alone."

His words were shortly confirmed as a small, winged, extremely feminine humanoid faded into view. "Hey! Let me go!" it complained.

Ursula relaxed. "It's only a fairy. Shouldn't be too dangerous."

When Kaerlos released the fairy, it glared at him as it said, "How'd you do that! How'd you see me!"

Kaerlos looked vaguely surprised. "You were invisible?" he asked the fairy in disbelieving tones. When it (or is that she, since they look more like girls than neuters, as they claim to be) nodded, he said, "Didn't look too invisible to me."

The fairy glared some more before recoiling in shock. "How'd you get a Dragon's Eye?" she asked.

When Ursula snapped her head around to stare at him, Kaerlos said, "Guess I shoulda told you the whole truth, huh? According to those priests, that ritual I told you about was a summoning- apparently me."

Ursula sighed. "Why would they want another god?" she mumbled.

Kaerlos thought for a little, then asked, "Does being summoned as a god give the summoned person any... powers of any kind?"

Ursula and the fairy both nodded. The fairy beat the larger woman to speaking, however, by saying, "Yes, it does. Immortality, enhanced abilities and various magical powers, usually manifesting as shapeshifting into a dragon-like being."

"And when they're in that hybrid form, they can change into a full dragon state for a short time... or they can just summon a dragon," Ursula finished.

Kaerlos nodded. "I don't know if I've got shapeshifting, but it seems I've got summoning powers- not necessarily dragons, though," he stated. "You know what a Kolpum is?"

Ursula nodded. "Basically a samurai-like monster. Why?"

Kaerlos nodded back. "Well, a Kolpum helped me out against a couple of shadows and a... dinosaur-type... thing." When Ursula didn't seem to react, he continued, "From their reaction, I'd say that Kolpums aren't exactly a common sight in the city."

"Wait a minute. In the city? I've only seen them in the Imperial Palace."

Kaerlos nodded and said, "Seems like this 'divine power' thing is manifesting as monster summoning for me." Then he yawned and said, "If you don't mind, I think I'll turn in for now." Without waiting for a reply, he went into the tent and promptly flopped on his back. As was usual for him, however, he didn't fall asleep for a while. *That Ursula's pretty... I may even go so far as to call her beautiful... but she isn't my type, I can tell already. Not my brother's type either, unless being absorbed caused a REALLY drastic change in his personality.* He glanced out the still-open tent flap at Ursula, who was cleaning a gun and eyeing the surrounding area suspiciously before laying his head back and staring at the top of their tent. *Funny... I sense... something... I can't describe it, but... it's there.*

A while later, Ursula came into the tent. Kaerlos pretended to be asleep as she looked him over, and he could almost hear her thoughts: [Not for me.] He almost thought he saw an expression similar to [He's not worth it] on her features for an instant, but dismissed it quickly. He watched through nearly-closed eyes as she laid down, still in her combat uniform, to sleep. Seeing that nothing more would happen that night, he closed his eyes fully and began the long, laborious process of forcing himself to sleep.

*After all,* his last thought before he fell asleep was, *I don't like meeting new people when I'm tired.*

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Well, how is it so far? If you read this and decide it has potential, feel free to give it a proverbial facelift, but remember to give me credit for the original ideastory AND submit it to me so I can decide if it is, in fact, an improvement! If you want to feature Kaerlos in a fanfic, ASK FIRST!

By the way, I got tired of the typical RPG "characters sleep instantly" routine, so I made Kaerlos almost an insomniac when it comes to getting to sleep (just like me!), partly for realism, partly for variety.

Anyway, next chapter's gonna be called "Endless Dreams." Concept is almost a direct rip from when you get Cray in the game, but it WILL be different, if for no other reason than different characters! I won't list the possibilities since they're almost endless (not the Ryu kind, either!) so you'll just have to use your imagination until I decide.