Suikoden Sunset 1/2

by madhat886

The Meeting of Three Friends

!

Prologue –

"Why am I doing this?" a young man asked himself. Here he is traveling in a carriage on a long dusty road to the Yaza Plains that will drop him off there. The driver of the carriage paid the young man no attention as he led the horses pulling the cart. The young man in question is an indecisive, ordinary young man and the new master of an old castle called Budehuc.

He scowled bitterly as he thought of the reason why he is going to the middle of nowhere. 'It's all thanks to HIM!' he thought bitterly. He would not be here if HE had not assigned him somewhere so far away.

The young man is dressed in a light brown coat on top of a white button up shirt and dark green pants. The pant's legs rode up a little to show gray colored socks. His hair is a very light color brown and his pale yellow eyes seem to speak of something hidden deep inside. Next to him is an old sword that looks like it has not seen the light of day in years. The young man looks to be no older than sixteen years of age.

'Some father he is, sending me away as soon as he meets me,' he thoughts to himself with a sigh. 'Why mother ever slept with him I'll never know. Probably got her drunk or something. He's not fit to be a father or husband, the bastard!'

He looked out at the passing scenery with a forlorn expression.

'So why am I doing this then?' he asked himself again for the umpteenth time. 'I guess I better just live with it. Maybe something will happen there that will change my life.' He has no idea how right he is.

!

Meanwhile, in another world -

Another young man is about to change his life forever, for once by his own decision instead of someone else's.

"This, young sir, is the Mirror of Chaos," the old man said to the young man.

The old man is the owner of the magic shop where Kuno bought the Phoenix Egg a while back. He held up a large mirror to the young customer in front of him. The mirror is shaped like an eye with a dark metal rim. The glass gleamed as it reflected the image of the youth before it.

"I don't really believe it, but the story says that whoever holds the mirror can be sent to another world. However, it works only for those who have earned it," the old man said.

The young man touched the glass so gingerly that you would think he is afraid it would break if he put too much pressure on it.

"So this has the power to give me a new life, right?" he softly asked the proprietor as he gazed at the mirror with a slight light of hope in his eyes.

He looks to be about eighteen years old and is dressed in a red silk shirt and dark, loose pants and Kung Fu shoes. His black hair is tied in a pigtail and his deep blue eyes spoke of a deep sadness just barely hidden. A large cut a little over an hour old is on his left palm and is covered by some cloth wrappings to stop it from bleeding. In his other hand he grasped the hilt of a broken katana, the blade having been snapped off a little over halfway to the tip. It is a sword of exquisite quality and there are few things in the world that could have broken it, but break it had. The deep crimson of dried blood marred its silver sheen.

The old store owner is a little unsettled with the young man. Usually in his dealings with this young man he is full of adventure. He has always been a happy go lucky guy. Sure the young man has hit him a couple of times, but those were forgivable since he has caused a lot of problems for him. The proprietor looked at the cut hand first before staring into his eyes, just daring him to lie.

"You cut yourself with that sword, didn't you," the old man stated instead of asked.

The young man's eyes looked down at the blade, then to the old man's eyes. "Yes. I left my old life behind. I had to leave behind my blood as well to do it."

The grief his eyes conveyed is enough to melt even the most cold-hearted man.

The old man did not stand a chance. He is greedy, not heartless.

"Well, here is something to keep that sword from rusting." the old man said.

He looks around in the back and pulled out a green colored sheath from behind the counter.

"This should do it," he said and hesitated for a second before adding. "Free of charge."

It is the least he could do. Never in his whole life has he met a person so deeply distraught. Having traveled around the world before settling down he had met a lot of people. None of them carried the sadness the young man before him did. It looks like his very soul is dying. Only the stubbornness to keep on living is keeping his very spirit alive.

The young man is a bit surprised, but after a moment he takes it in stride.

"Thank you very much sir," the young man said as he bowed deeply from the waist.

The old man became intrigued as the words and the action is foreign to the young man. In fact, from his previous encounters with the young man he was expecting him to have poor grammar and horrible manners, not the young man who speaks very well and shows respect to is elders. He watched as the young man first cleaned off the blood, then sheathed the broken sword and strapped it to his back.

"So, how do I use this mirror anyway sir?" the young man ask.

Weird as it sounds the young man seemed to be switching personalities, as if revealing a side of him the public doesn't know about. The old man brushed it off though and proceeded to tell the young man how to use the mirror.

"Hold it up to your face and ask the mirror to take you somewhere else. However, it only works for the ones that it picks to work for. I do not know how it chooses or where it would send you," the old man said.

"That's good enough for me," the young man said.

The young man held the mirror to his face for a long time, caressing the glass and trying to steel himself for what he is about to do. There is no turning back if this does work. He closed his eyes and though about what he would be leaving behind. He thought about what has happened to him today, what he has gone through for so long. He though about the people he would be leaving behind. Finally, he spoke.

"I wish for a life where I can be the master of my own destiny. One where no one can choose my path for me and where I can finally find... happiness," he spoke from the heart, and the mirror responded.

A bright light beamed out from the glass, hitting him and making his whole body glow brightly.

"Thank you," he said as a lone tear made its way down his face.

That's the last thing the old man heard before the pigtailed man vanished in the light and the mirror dropped to the floor, miraculously not breaking. Picking up the mirror the old shopkeeper looked at it as if seeing something besides the mirror.

"Well my boy, I hope your new life will be better than this one," the old man said and went to put the mirror back in storage.

!

Another world -

A tall woman with long red hair, a unicorn horn on her forehead, horse ears, tail and light fur coat ran down a hallway. The woman looks like a model in both her body and her beauty. She wore a loose pair blue pants with a checkered light blue pattern, a tuck in purple shirt with green stripes, a red tie with white polka dots, a pair of black suspenders, and a pair of brown leather shoes. She carried two large shoulder bags filled with things she would need as she made her escape from the castle. Both bags are magical bags of holding that she taken from the magic vault.

All those promises that were told to her, were nothing but lies. She had done everything to be what SHE wanted her to be and it was still wasn't enough. She was suppose to be the one who become a princess, and instead SHE just gave the title to Cadance and made her apart of her family. While she was just toss aside because she wasn't good enough for her, never enough.

Behind her are the sounds of the guards chasing after her, she ran faster hearing the voice of her behind her. She ran into the room where her escape from the castle is kept. She ran straight for the mirror and leap through it. Leaving behind her world for a new one and a mentor who could only stare at her student who is more than that, gone.

!

Another world -

"Hey driver! Slow down for a second! There's two people over there," the young man in the carriage shouted.

On the right side of the road is a young man dressed in strange looking silken clothes. His hair is tied in a pigtail and strapped to his back is a sword in a shape the young man in the carriage has never seen before. Next to him is a young woman with long red hair with a yellow stripe on it. She's carrying two large shoulder bags and dress in strange clothes too. The pigtailed young man and red haired woman are walking down the road ahead of the carriage at a sedate pace.

"If they're dangerous don't blame me," the driver said in response as he slowed down the carriage besides the silken-clothed man and red haired woman. It did not matter to him. It is just a job anyway and one passenger or two does not matter.

The young man in the carriage poked his head out. "Do you two need a lift?" the young man asked the travelers.

The travelers looked a bit surprised at being offered a ride, but seemed grateful anyway.

"Thank you. We really appreciate it," the man said.

"We been walking for hours," the woman said as she and the man climbed into the carriage and sat across the good-willed young man.

"So where are you two going?" the young man asked the traveler as the carriage started up again. He noticed the signs of stress on the travelers and assumed wrongly that it is because of fatigue from walking so much.

The man shrugged and gave a small smile at the young man across from him. "No idea. I just got here and looking for a place to stay. So where are you headed?"

"The same for me, I met him as, I was traveling and we joined up, as it's safer to travel together than alone," the woman said.

"Lucky we found the road and been following it since," the young man said.

The other young man is surprised. Most people would at least have a destination in mind when traveling, especially in places like they are currently headed towards. It seemed as if the travelers does not care at all.

"Well, we're almost to the Yaza Plains where we'll be dropped off. I have to make my way to an old castle called Budehuc. I'm…its new master," he hesitated calling himself a master. It seemed so foreign to him that he is having a little trouble assimilating it.

The man's eyes widened a bit. "Wait. You mean you're going to go, by foot, to an old castle with those MONSTERS running around?"

He remembered those rabbits holding axes and those fur-balls attacking him and his traveling companion. While they were weak he can see that the young man across from him is no fighter.

"Those monsters I ran into were weak, but I can tell your no fighter yourself," the man said as he eyed the way the young man moved and the sword by his side. From what he saw he would just barely be considered about the equal of those monsters he had encountered. If he were attacked by a large number of them he would be in trouble.

"Unless you can use magic like me," the woman said which earned her a head shake.

The young man shrugged, as if saying 'don't look at me'. "That's true, but I need to get there before nightfall. I have this sword to fight with at least."

He pulled out his sword from his sheath to show the two the blade. The young man sitting in front of him took it and held it in front of him, looking it over. The young man noticed that one of the other man's hands is wrapped by a bloodstained cloth, but guessed he got it from fighting off the monsters and did not say anything about it.

"Nice blade. Good balance, strong, durable, and also lightweight. It does need some sharpening as the edges have dulled a bit, but it's still a good sword," the man said.

He may not know much about swords, but he knew enough about them since one of his rivals used to attack him sometimes with a real sword. The young traveler handed back the sword.

"You haven't really trained with that sword have you?" the young woman said having seen enough nobles who played warriors to see someone who never had to fight for their life before.

The young man looked a bit shamefaced.

"Yeah, but I do know how to use it a little. This end goes into the enemy, right?" he said as he pointed at the sharp end.

The 3 chuckled a lttle at his joke. The young traveler seemed to brighten a bit, as if getting a good idea.

"Hey, since you helped me how about I go with you to the castle to return the favor?" the pigtailed man suggested if someone were to have look deeply into his eyes. They would have seen something being renew in them a light that was flickering out.

"I can join too, I need someplace to stay. Plus, I do have magic to help out," the woman said making a ball of magic appear in her hand.

The young man thought about it for a moment before nodding his head.

"Thanks. I'll take you two up on your offers. By the way, I never did get your name. Mine's Thomas," he said, holding out his hand.

"Ranma. No last name." Ranma took his hand and shook it. Thomas thought that last sentence was weird, but brushed it off as it looks like he just made a new friend.

"And, I'm Sunset Shimmer," the woman said as gave out her hand as well to Thomas.

She needs to learn all about this new world she's in and while Ranma wasn't a fountain of knowledge from what she managed to get out of him as they walk together. This young man, Thomas seems to be a nobleman who just been put in charge of a castle. And if the castles are anything like the ones back home, it be a center of a community or at least a depot for travelers to stop by to rest. She'll be able to learn all about this world from there. (1)

!

Author's Note:

1 - The Suikoden world is based on the manga not the game. So while some of the game rules still work, the enemies don't have health bars or can just survive attacks that should had killed them because they still have some green in their health bar.

And more importantly it doesn't run on RPG logic, so no just taking turns to attack or other game logic but for when monsters are defeated loot can still be taken from them.

Comments

[Blackholelord]

Actually it's from a game series as I encountered a story similar enough that I looked it up and discovered it was from a game series. They might have done a manga for the game if popular enough as I did see it for another popular game series that it was enough to launch a anime series.

[madhat886]

11657878
I know it’s a game series. I just using the manga of the 3rd game so that it won’t run on game logic.