One fiery night, an old woman shook Ryu. "Wake up! We must go!" she cried. Ryu sat up in surprise. His room is engulfed in flame. He jumped out of bed and ran out of his room. "Follow me!" the woman said. Ryu started to follow, but sparks ignite the dry wood in front of him. "Stand back," the woman commanded. "I'll cast a spell to put it out." She casted IceX, which put out the fire. "My powers were once stronger, but we must get to safety. No time for stories now."

Ryu and the woman ran to the basement, where the townspeople were gathered. The Wise One said calmly, "There is an evil army outside. We are safe here." Amid angry exclaimations, Ryu's sister, Sara, yelled, "There's the leader! I'll fight him off."

"You can't, Sara! You'll get killed!" exclaimed a townsperson.

"You brought this upon yourselves..." Sara turned every person in the room to stone. She walked over to Ryu. "Someday you will be a great warrior. Destroy the Dark Dragons!"

With that, she walked outside. "There she is!" three guards running over to her exclaimed.

"Where is your leader?" Sara demanded.

"Me? I am right here," said a man in a flowing cape. "My name is Jade, but after you're under my control, you can call me Master!"

"I will never be controlled by the likes of you!"

"Once I have the Goddess Keys and I am all-powerful, maybe you will change your mind..."

"Not if I can help it." Sara gritted her teeth and summoned lightning bolts. Jade dodged every bolt with ease. After that burst, Sara was exhausted. "Now I can put you under my control, and you can't do anuthing about it!" Jade smirked.

"No one has the keys. If you want them, you'll have to steal them from the guardian statues!"

"I have poeple who can do that. Let's be off!"

"Ooh, my head..." Ryu moaned. "Where's Sara?"

"She left long ago with Jade," said the Wise One.

"I'll go save her. I'll need some money and armor, though..."

"Here's 300GP, some Cloth, and an ArmPad. Will you need weapons?"

"No, I have my Dirk. Thanks for everything!"

Ryu set out almost immediately. He walked for a day, then came upon a gigantic castle. Ruy spoke to the king standing outside the castle. "There's a frog in there! My warriors have gone in, but they haven't come back. Please help me!"

"Err...Um...Well...Okay..." Ruy mumbled.

"This castle is so cold at night! At least there's clean water. Whawazzat?!? J-just the wind, I'm s-sure. How much longer until I meet up with this frog?" Ryu stumbled up a flight of stairs.

"Rrbt! Rrbt!"

"The frog! Eww...What a tongue! I hope I can beat it!"

Ryu's dirk flashed as he whirled it around. The frog waddled closer and flicked its tongue out. "Is that all you've got, frog?" Ryu taunted as he darted by and slashed at its underbelly. "It is? Then you are the kind of thing I eat for break-whoa!" Ryu tripped over the frog's tongue. The frog loomed over him.

"RRBT!"

"Oops...er...heh...Was that YOUR tongue? I-I guess I'd better be going..." The frog planted its foot on Ryu's throat, pressing harder and harder until Ryu could barely breathe. As an act of desperation, he thrust his dirk into the frog's leg. With the pressure released, Ryu was then able to jam his short sword into the frog's belly.

"Rrbt...Rr..."

The frog collapsed, dead.

The king saw Ryu exit the castle and thanked him profusely, then handed him a bag of GPs. "This should help you along your journey. There's 1000GP in there," he said.

"There's one thing..." Ryu started.

"Yes, Ryu?"

"You know the Dark Dragons?"

"Of course. If you're looking for them, I've heard that there's a knight serving Zog, the leader, somewhere close to Winlan."

"Okay. Isn't that northeast of here?"

"Yes. Good luck!"

Ryu saw the city of Winlan nearby. He started running, then ran into a girl with wings.

"Whoa! Sorry. Are you all right?"

"Yes, I'm fine. What's your name?"

"Ryu. What's yours?"

"I'm Nina. Winlan and Nanai have been having awful earthquakes. You look strong, could you help us?"

"Sure, I'd be happy to."

"Could you help my father, too? For some reason, he's really sick. If you cure him, I'm sure he would reward you lavishly..."

"Sure, why not? I'm in the area, after all. Ouch! I'm only kidding..." Ryu said as Nina gave him a solid punch to the jaw. They walked for a little while, until they came inside the gates of Winlan.

"Wow! What a huge castle!" Ryu exclaimed.

"My father's chamber is at the very top. You can have some equipment, and we'll rest here for a moment," Nina said.

After resting a while, Ryu follows Nina to the armory. It was rather small, as Winlan only declared war on nations only if they were in eminent danger. Ryu chose a curved Scythe and a Bandanna from the tiny room. Ryu catches up to Nina, who is almost out of the city and heading northwest. They walked together for a while, then came upon the village of Nanai.

"This is where the earthquakes have been coming from. There's supposedly an underground maze that leads to an earthquake machine below the Nanai dungeons."

How are we going to get in, Nina? There are guards everywhere!"

"We'll wait 'till dusk. That's when the guards change shifts, and some are asleep."

"Now's our chance! We can get in!"

Ryu and Nina descended deeper and deeper into the Nanai dungeons.

"How much farther?" Ryu asked.

"It shouldn't be much farther now."

"That's great. Thing is, you said that three floors ago!"

"Sorry! I haven't been into the dungeons before!"

"Look! That looks like the start of a maze, right?" Without waiting for an answer, Ryu dashed headlong into the maze.

"Ryu! Wait!" Nina ran after him.

Together they dashed through the maze until they lost all sense of direction. They kept walking through all of the paths until they had tried all but one.

"Well, there's the path that leads to the end of the maze," remarked Ryu. "I guess I should have asked this a while ago, but do you have the Bronze RP?"

"Yes, and you have your Scythe. Relax, I didn't forget anything."

Ryu held up a Bandanna. "Yes, you did. See?"

"Ryu, that's yours. Mine's right here, dummy!" Nina pointed to her head.

"Err...Right..."

"Hey, Ryu, did you feel something?"

"No...Y-yeah!"

"That's the earthquake machine. See that glowing light up there? The figure silhouetted in it is the Dark Knight. Ryu? Ryu?! RYU!!"

Ryu had already ran off to do battle with the Drak Knight. "Here's Nanai's revenge! Oh, wait..." Ryu stopped in his tracks. "Do they know we're down here, Nina?"

"No, Ryu! Want a tip? Don't stop when you charge at an enemy!!"

"Okay, yeah, thanks. I'll remember that."

Nina groaned in exasperation. "THEN RUN AT HIM, RYU!"

"Right. I'm going." Ryu ran at the knight once again. Scythe clanged against shield as the knight blocked Ryu's blade.

"Where's your feathered friend?" the knight sneered.

"Who? Not Nina...She doesn't have wings yet..."

"She will get wings eventually."

"Thanks for the tip!" Ryu slashed his Scythe, but it was deflected by the knight's shield again. "Every attack I throw at him is deflected! I'll never win if he blocks every shot! I'll have to-"

"Ryu! Look out!"

It was Nina. The knight was going for a fatal blow, aiming for Ryu's head. Ryu raised his sword just in time to avoid getting killed, but his hand tingled from the force of the blow. "Ouch...My hand..."

"Ryu! Keep your head in the battle! CURA..." Nina cast Cura to heal Ryu's hand. Then she whispered to Ryu, "I'll distract him. You attack from the back."

Ryu sprinted behind the knight while Nina slashed at him with her BronzeRP.

"Evil never WIIIINS!!"

Ryu quickly aimed, then jammed his scythe between the knight's body armor and his helm. The knight was reduced to a bloody corpse, and a key popped out of the machine. "It's the E.Key, used to control the machine!"

Ryu and Nina retraced their steps out of the dungeons, then exited Nanai. They ran back to Winlan to find soldiers leaving.

Oh, hi, Nina!" said one of the soldiers. "There's Xeon Gas pouring out of Karma Tower, and we think that that's what's making the king sick."

"We'll go with you!"

"Okay. You can ride on my back." The soldiers transformed into the birds that the Clan of the Wing was known for.

The soldiers started coughing and flickering between men and birds the closer they got to Karma Tower.

"We can't go any further as birds..."

"Yes...The Xeon Gas..."

The bird-men dropped out of the sky, luckily landing on top of the tower. Ryu cast a pained look at Nina. "Will they live?" he asked.

"They'll just be unconsious for a while."

"A 'while' is HOW long?"

"Until the Xeon Gas clears."

"Oh. I guess I should look for whatever is causing it, then."

"Hurry, I won't last much longer," Nina coughed.

Ryu ran off in search of the Xeon Gas. When she knew he was gone, she ran in the opposite direction. She came to a stairway and went down. She puzzled her way through a maze of dead ends and stairwells when she finally came to an underground room. She stopped at an opened chest.

"Ryu has already been down here..." she thought. "Maybe he's already found the source of the gas...Ryu?" Nina whirled around at the sound of footsteps behind her.

"Hmm. I should check this room more often. Maybe I could get more pretty prizes like this!"

"Ryu? What happened?"

"I'm not Ryu, lass. I am a very powerful wizard, and terrible things would happen if you decieved me. Come with me, little lady."

"Ryu! Where are you?!" Nina screamed, praying that somehow Ryu would hear. She was pulled up the stairs suddenly.

"Welcome to my somewhat humble abode," the wizard said.

Someone- or something- clattered up the stairs.

"Let her go, wizard!"

Nina rolled her eyes, but at the same time, she let out a sigh of relief. "Sheesh, Ryu, it took you long enough!"

"Are you okay, Nina?"

"I-I'm fine...Just weak from the gas..."

"Ah! A member of the Clan of the Wing! A rare treat..." exclaimed the wizard. "The Xeon Gas is working..."

"Your fight is with me!"

"A Dragon Clan warrior!"

"Correct." Ryu unsheathed his scythe. "Ready?"

"When you are."

"Let's begin!"

Ryu dug in his bags for anything to use against the wizard. He came up with two B.Stns, a C.Stn, and an F.Stn.

"Here, Nina, take these. That one attacks with lightning bolts, and that one attacks with fire," Ryu explained. "Use them on the wizard."

"Wow, is that what you're supposed to do with them?" Nina asked sarcastically. "I know what to do, Ryu!"

"Sorry," Ryu said as he threw a stone at the wizard. Lightning bolts erupted out of it, electrocuting the wizard.

"Aargh! Stupid boy!" the wizard yelled. "Fry!" Bolts leapt out of the wizard's outstretched fingers. Ryu was about to raise his scythe, but he was pused out of the way by Nina.

"Stupid, metal attracts electricity!" she yelled.

"Er...Right...Get offa me!"

They leapt up in time to see the wizard about to cast another spell. Ryu crouched down into a defensive position, scythe at the ready.

"Fire!" Flames sprung out of the ground, singeing Ryu and Nina.

"Fort!" Nina shouted. A protective barrier rose around them. "Hurry up and kill him, will you? I can't hold this much longer!"

Ryu hurled the C.Stn and Nina's F.Stn at the wizard."Atk-Up!" yelled Nina, at the same time dropping the barrier. Ryu felt an enormous surge of energy pulse through him.

"Count of three," Ryu whispered. "One...Two...Three!"

Ryu and Nina charged at the wizard, aiming for where the wizard's heart would be. It disentegrated upon contact, and the Xeon Gas cleared.

"Look! It's the remedy, the wizard hid it!" exclaimed Nina

"Come on! Hurry, we should get that to the king quickly, right?" asked Ryu.

"Yes. Warp!"

Nina warped herself and Ryu back to Winlan. Ryu quickly administered the potion to the king. The king coughed, then woke. He drew a shaky breath and mumbled, "Ryu...Poison..." His eyes closed, and his chest didn't draw any more breath. The king of Winlan was dead.

"RYU! Wha'd you do that for!?" Nina shrieked. She turned to the guards. "You saw the whole thing! This guy killed my father! ARREST HIM!"

The guards walked over to where Ryu was standing. "You are under arrest. We sentence you to death. You will be executed in six days at noon."

"B-but...I did-"

"Do not speak in the presence of the queen!" One of the guards cuffed him about the head.

Ryu spent five days locked in the dank dungeons. On the sixth day, the door opened and a guard entered. "You are to be executed in one hour. Please prepare yourself," the guard said tonelessly, then left.

Ryu shouted after the guard, "I swear to every known god and goddess that has been conceived that I didn't know that it was poi-"

The iron door slammed shut.

In one hour's time, Ryu hadn't done anything. He had only gotten himself more depressed than he thought was possible. He welcomed the death.

The same guards that had arrested him six days earlier came in the cell. They tied a rank-smelling cloth around his eyes, then led him out to where Ryu figured the execution would take place. He stumbled over something, and instantly knew what it was. A severed head.

"Last words, prisoner?" the guards asked.

"I will no longer be your prisoner after I pay for a crime I didn't commit. I swear on..." Ryu paused. "...Everything holy or sacred that I didn't do it! I didn't know that it was poison!"

Ryu was laid down on the execution block. He heard whistling, then his head was laying right next to the head that he had tripped over. Ryu, the last Light Dragon warrior, was dead.

Author's Note:

This was going to be the first Breath of Fire video game, but I got tired of writing it, so a couple nights I thought up a quick ending. Sorry if the ending seems a little abrupt, but I'm not going to write this any more. My friend also wrote one paragraph, and I'm sure (I hope...) he knows which one it is.