Breath of Fire III and all related trademarks belong to Capcom. The story, its original contents and ideas, and any original characters belong to the author and cannot be used or reprinted without the authors permission.

-Well, just to say that you'd need to have completed the game to fully understand this. Then again, by this time, who hasn't?

Warrior of Fate

By nightdragon0

"Hey, you coming or not?"

"Yeah, just give me a while more." I yelled. "Hargh!"

I brought up my twin blades and sliced the remaining two targets into pieces. A sense of satisfaction came over me as I sheathed the two swords. Flawless, like always. But it could be the last training I'd get for quite a while. The real thing was about to begin.

Like every Urkan warrior, my blade was my honor, the pride of my life.

No, I'm not just any warrior now. I corrected myself. I looked down and ran my clawed hands over each other. A Guardian.

The ultimate honor in our faith. Taking a look into the full-length mirror in the room, I spread my wings and flexed my tail. I looked over my reptilian-like appearance and felt the twin horns of my dragon-shaped head. My, light silver mail was built to give me maximum speed and motion capabilities over the defense heavier suits provided. After all speed, was my forte. It still seemed to amaze me whenever I looked in a mirror that I was actually looking at myself, and not some mystic creature from my wildest dreams.

And to think I was human not too long ago.

We, the guardians made great sacrifices. Granted awesome powers from the gods themselves, we were the warriors chosen to fight against the dark dragons supposedly threatening the land. I'd been told that they were called the Brood. It surprised me at first, how we reassembled dragons ourselves, but I soon came to the conclusion that we needed dragons of our own to fight dragons.

Simply spoken, fight fire with fire.

I clearly remembered the day of my transformation, the day I'd walked up and plunged into the sacred waters deep beneath the temple. And later, aroused the awe of everyone who'd witnessed my new form.

It had all seemed so simple back then. Go out there, fight evil, follow my faith. I just didn't know what I was really getting into back then.

"My, still admiring yourself in the mirror?" another voice came.

"Oh, shut up already." I growled and turned to face who I though was the guard trying to call me in for the meeting.

My heart practically jumped when I caught a first glimpse of him. Another guardian, one who was definitely many times my size. He was accompanied by another fellow, a little shorter, but easily much larger then me.

I desperately bit my lip and tried to act calm.

"Sorry, stress getting onto me." I muttered.

"Hmmm...anyway, I'll fill you in, since you conveniently decided to skip our briefing."

"Oh that...erm..." I groaned, slightly embarrassed. And that meant I'd also missed the first time all the guardians were meeting up too.

"He's young. Give the kid a break." The shorter warrior stepped in front and offered his hand, "My name is Gaist, and the large and mighty one here is Garr."

"Andrax." I introduced, shaking his hand.

"Odd name for a guardian, if I do say so myself." Garr commented.

"Well, its mine, so get used to it." I growled.

"Somebody's all fired up for battle." Gaist smiled.

At that, I swiftly drew one of my swords and slashed at a candle stand, blowing out the flames with the motion of the blade.

"Just point me at the enemy." I grinned, "And I'll do the rest."

"Just remember that it'll take more than a few sword tricks to win a war." Garr said. "But if you're ready, then we should get moving. "

I nodded and followed him and Gaist out of the room.

And I admit that was the very last time where I'd known exactly what I was doing...

The enemy dragons did look somewhat intimidating. I was seriously having second thoughts about doing this, but I shoved those feelings aside. I was determined not to show any signs of weakness in front of my peers.

From afar, the battle seemed to be in our favor. Only when I got nearer did I realize it was a one sided battle. Only one force was actually attacking.

Mine.

Ahead of me, Garr and Gaist charged into the fray. I however, stood there and stared.

The Brood could've easily defended themselves. Yet, one after another, they stood and allowed themselves to be slaughtered.

I grasped a trembling claw on the hilt of my blade. However, I simply could not bring myself to draw it. Using it now would taint the sense of honor I held so dearly.

"What's wrong?" Garr was suddenly beside me, grasping my shoulder.

"This isn't a battle, it's a slaughterhouse." I muttered, without looking back. "Look at them, they're not even fighting back."

"They ARE the enemy..." Garr insisted.

"What sort of warrior fights an unarmed foe?!" I spun around, "I was trained to fight with honor, protect the innocent...not to perform a mass execution!"

"Try to calm down," Gaist came over as well, "It is also what the goddess commands..."

"Screw the goddess, dammit! I couldn't care less!" I yelled so loudly that several other heads turned in our direction.

"Andrax..."

"Get away from me!" I drove my elbow into a startled Gaist's face, causing him to stumble over. Without waiting for any response, I turned and ran.

Ignoring their cries, I increased my speed. I didn't care which way I went; I just closed my eyes simply had to get the hell out of here and away from all this madness.

I'd grown up on the battlefield. Fighting was my life; the stench of death was nothing new to me. And yet, I was utterly sick to my stomach.

A thousand things were racing through my mind.

Garr...Gaist...the battle...faith...honor...WHY?!

At some point, my body must've finally passed out from exhaustion. For when I next regained conciseness, I was laying face down near the edge of a forest.

Just when I though I'd finally gotten away, I saw it.

Two of our soldiers had cornered a white-scaled dragon. And she apparently wasn't making any attempt to even escape. That was the breaking point. It was now or never.

Jumping out between the two Guardians and the female dragon, I drew my swords.

"Leave her alone." I ordered, not knowing and neither caring whom I was talking to.

"What do you think you're doing?!" the first one snapped.

"Who's side are you on?!" the second one was equally annoyed.

"I fight for honor," I growled, "no one else."

One of them finally lost his patience and hurled his spear. I instinctively dodged it, although realizing that it hadn't been intended for me.

I heard a soft cry of pain from the female behind. Then, I completely lost control. With a bloodthirsty cry, I charged at my own people.

Form then on, I remembered only breaking both their weapons and slashing wildly. Random screams and images seemed to pop into my mind. Slashes, blocks, dodges. What was a mere number of seconds lasted an eternity to me.

Next thing I knew, I was looking down at the bloodstained sword in my hand, stained with the blood of my own people.

"W...what did you do that for?" A heard the weakening voice of the dragon from somewhere behind.

"Andrax! Andrax!" It was Gaist. "What have you done..." he gasped, staring at the bloody mess.

"I...I..." I panted, failing to form any legible response.

"The others are coming!" Garr's voice cried from further away.

"Andrax! Andrax!" Gaist literally shook me back to reality. "Run!" He yelled, staring me in the eye, "Get out of here! Go! And take her too!"

I hesitated for only a moment longer, then scooping up the wounded dragon, I started running like crazy and never looked back.

My fate had been sealed.

Sandra, as was her name, had been fatally wounded. Both she, herself and I knew that she wouldn't last much longer.

I traveled many miles eluding my own people and the battles, and dragging the weakening dragon along was no easy task.

In what little free time we had, we talked a lot. I shared bits of my life, and she did like wise. We even laughed at times. Even with my highly inadequate medical skills, I realized that she was lasting longer that what she normally would've. Because of me, perhaps? I never really did ask.

One time, in particular, that I would never forget was the night we spent beside that small pond in the forest, somewhere in the central region. There were rumors that fairies had been seen around the area, though none decided to show up on that night.

"The moon is beautiful tonight, isn't it?" Sandra asked. The orange glow of the campfire seemed to dance along her pure white scales.

"Yes, indeed." I replied, taking a seat a little closer to her. "As you are, Sandra."

"You are too kind, Andrax. I thank you."

"Why," I asked, "why would my goddess order us to destroy one as noble as you? I may never know that, but I will never rest peacefully if I don't ask you this first."

"What is it?"

"Your people had the power, so why didn't you try to defend yourselves? Looks at the piles of dead dragons now, you could have prevented it if you'd fought. You might have had a chance to win..."

"Is fighting all you can think of?"

I looked down in surprise.

"You say it as if death would answer everything." she continued.

"No it's not like that. But...don't you want to live?"

"We all do, but at what price? Even if it mean't using a power capable of causing massive and excessive destruction?"

"You have to look after yourself first, before you can start worrying about others." I insisted.

"That's where you're wrong." She replied, almost instantly.

I was taken aback.

"We all want to live, yes, but live to make the future brighter for the generations yet to come. We want to make their world brighter, now fill in with the darkness of today."

"Yes, but..." I begun, when she took my claw in hers.

"When you have the power, you'll understand what great responsibility it takes." With those words, I felt her dragon powers, the power of the Brood, flowing into my being.

"You, gave it to me?" I asked, feeling the power flowing through my body. I was beginning to understand, "Why?"

"Because you have a noble soul, a kind heart, and seek the truth. You turned your blade for what you believed was right, even though it meant condemnation for yourself. I know you will safeguard this power well, Andrax..."

Sandra died a few days later and I buried her deep within the Dauna forest. After which, I retreated to a small hut out in the forest. I had much time to reflect and to think.

Hundreds of years passed in solitude and I eventually begun to hire myself out as a mercenary, long after the wars ended.

I thought I'd left the past far behind me, however, it would catch up with me one last time...

Garr.

Somehow, he'd managed to track me down after all this time. He did appear the same at first, but I could see that the years had changed him as well. Considering he claimed to have a friend who was a survivor of the Brood and needed my help to find him as well.

"You mean the dragon that's been running around Dauna Mines?" I asked.

"So it is true." He muttered. "I've been searching for so long..."

"And what thereafter?"

"I intend to go to the goddess herself and ask why we were ordered to destroy the Brood." He paused, "And I want to ask you to accompany us."

"Even though you know that I'm now part Brood as well?" I asked.

"No matter what you become, you will always be the honorable warrior I knew all those years ago." Then he added in, "And I realize that I now understand how you felt back then. I may not fully understand, but I see why you made your choice."

I was silent for a long while. I walked over and ran my claws over Sandra's grave marker. Then, I knew that it was destined to be my final act.

"Let's go." I nodded.

So, the great adventure begun and ended. I even got to speak to Gaist one final time.

Now, I stood one the platform of the 'goddess' orbital station. Looking over at Garr's stone form and listening to the pleadings of Ryu and the others.

"No, this is where my tale must end." I said, shaking my head. "But here, catch." I tossed Ryu a very old, worn book. "My personal diary." I told him. "It's time for you to write your own stories my friends."

Even as they finally left, I calmly sat down and waited for the end.

Sandra...will you let me join you?

Andrax, your journey has been long and hard. Come, you have earned your place...