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| The Legend Of Zelda: The Fourth Piece | |
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| Topic Started: Aug 25 2008, 01:00 PM (673 Views) | |
| CourageWisdomPower | Aug 25 2008, 01:00 PM Post #1 |
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T H E - L E G E N D - O F - Z E L D A T H E - F O U R T H - P I E C E - S E R I E S F I R S T - B O O K PROLOGUE 1|Onslaught A snakelike ring of fog slithered 'round the Castle of Hyrule. The great citadel was built upon a mountain of rocks that sat like a crown on the surface of the dark waters surrounding it. Bastions extended from the castle, also supported by rocky pillars beneath them. The thin flags atop the castle spires would have been completely still if it weren't for the gentle breeze. A very long bridge of stone connected the castle to a cliff; on the cliff was a small town of houses and shops. But this story actually starts within the castle walls, where a wagon waited in the stone courtyard. It was between 4 and 5 o' clock in the morning and the king, Armand Nicodemus Hyrule, was just stepping into the wagon at this time. Though his great, bearded face sunk into the darkness inside of the wagon, the king's smoothly-brushed white hair still glowed in the shadow. As his dark-skinned hands quietly shut the carriage door behind him, his daughter, Zelda, peeked in at him. The princess was still in her night garments—having been awoken for her father's departure and not expecting to remain out of bed after. "Do you have the breakfast I made you?" she asked him out of curiosity. The king double-checked the seat beside him to find the packed meal. "It's with me," he answered. "Thank you." Just then, an early bird raven peaked atop one of the castle's spires croaked and fluttered away. A hound began to bark at the noise despite the tugs on its collar from a Hylian Soldier. The soldier, finally hushing his canine, straightened his posture toward the king. "Godspeed to you, His Highness," he said. The king bobbed his head in a nod to the soldier and turned to Zelda again. They kissed each other on the cheek and whispered their goodbyes. Two other Hylian Soldiers then approached and climbed before the reigns of the grey horse that would be moving the carriage along. They also lit some torches and placed them on the wagon to light their path. Even another pair of soldiers then arrived and mounted separate horses that were to follow the wagon. All at once, the carriage and the followers on mounts began to put distance between them at the courtyard they were in just a minute ago. Together, they advanced across the nearing-endless bridge of stone and into the town on the cliff. They hushed their pace—careful not to wake any folk still asleep in their homes. The ones that weren't and had already found something to do outdoors gave a small bow of respect to the company coming from the castle. They finally passed through the town and looked upon the open fields of the country of Hyrule. They stayed on the main path and started across the land. The king's eyelids were still heavy, so he rested his head against the side of the wagon and very quickly dozed off. _ «´¯`>·<.,¸¸,.·´¨¯¨`·» - /_\ - «·´¨¯¨`·.,¸¸,.>·<´¯`» «´¯`>·<.,¸¸,.·´¨¯¨`·» - /_\/_\ - «·´¨¯¨`·.,¸¸,.>·<´¯`» The slightest of bumps on the trail woke the king less than an hour later. The sun was now rising in a cloudless sky and shining into the carriage. The torches on the carriage had also been extinguished. Unable to find rest again, the king reached beneath his seat and pulled out a small leather parcel that was fastened with a string. He gently untied the string and spread the pages before him. What he read were his notes concerning some disturbances within the village called Kakariko. The very wagon he was in was on its way there. Some time earlier, Armand had been informed of these disturbances within the hamlet, and in journeying there and accompanying them, he was to discover what needed to be discovered and to assist where assisting was needed. With his notes, he had things he was to ask, tell certain people, and letters to give to the ones of higher authority in the village. As he read everything over, he remembered the breakfast that was made for him. He opened the burlap bag containing his first meal of the day and from it he drew several pieces of bread, a small jug with a sort of broth or soup inside, and a wooden bowl. A smile came upon his face before he began to prepare the breakfast. He poured the contents of the jug into the bowl (there was little enough for it not to spill in the wagon) and dipped the bread into it and chewed away. The soup had tiny bits of meat and slivers of vegetables, which gave a savory flavor to the already filling bread. His eyes wandered outside from under the cover of the carriage as he ate. Hyrule was a remarkable country. The air was fresh and it carried the melodious sounds that the birds made. Different terrain of trees, rocks, and grass layered the surface of the ground as far as the snow-capped mountains in the farthest distance that the eye could see. Lost in the visuals, his bites of bread were soon no more and he sipped the rest of the soup from the bowl and stuffed everything under the seat again. For the next few hours, the king read his notes and letters again, remained silent and stared out at the sceneries, or made small talk with the soldiers on horses not far behind or the ones at the reigns of the wagon. Once, he found himself playing with the signet ring on his right hand—a habit he was not proud to have. The ring was silver with weaving gold designs on the edges, and his grand seal was carved into the metal finish on the top. He got over his habitual boredom sensations and before midday, they had arrived at their destination. They passed a tall birch tree that stood outside of the gates and entered the village of Kakariko. A soldier met the company at the gates. Her mail clothing chimed as she approached the carriage and peeked out at the ones at the reigns through her helmet. She held in her left hand a staff with an end that would hurt, but not injure, and at her waist was also a glaive. "Welcome, castle guard!" the soldier called out. She added, "I am Torina Drail, Captain of the Kakariko Guard. The Hylian Soldiers returned with a "Hail!" As Torina approached the wagon, she offered, "Come, I will escort you to the inn. Your reservations shall be the first to take place." With the knights on horses at both sides, the wagon began to follow Torina into the village thoroughfare. Many doors to homes were opened and villagers, both adults and children alike, stared out and waved or simply nodded to the soldiers. The soldiers returned smiles, waves, and nods. They soon had stopped before a widespread two-story building that was the inn. One of the knights at the reigns of the wagon jumped down and opened the door to the carriage for His Highness. Inside, the king gathered all of his things together in the parcel on the seat beside him, tied the string, and placed it under the seat again. Then he stepped down and took a breath from the village's air. As he placed his feet on the ground and shut the wooden door behind him, the burnt red cape hanging over his shoulders dropped. The cape was trimmed with wool and held in place by what looked like an unrolled scroll of gold plates linked together spreading across his chest. The purple gem that adorned the king's bronze crown was reflecting the sun's shine on Torina as she took a bow toward her king. "Thank you, now rise," said Armand. Torina began to lead the way inside, and the soldier that opened the door to the wagon followed behind the king. The remaining knight at the reigns of the wagon brought it around to the side of the inn and the remaining knights on the horses did the same with their steeds. The trio of soldiers then got down from where they were and kept a watchful eye around the outside of the inn. Inside of the inn, other trio made their way to the counter. In the lobby chamber around them was a lot of bustling folk, all seated at tables. Waiters and waitresses zipped in and out of the kitchen, sometimes with a platter that was bare and sometimes with a platter that had a meal on it (all this commotion was called for as it reached lunchtime). Lost in his loud and distracting surroundings, the king wasn't paying attention when Torina was needing his approval to warrant the reservations. Torina cleared her throat and asked, this time trying to be heard above all the other noise, "His Highness?" King Armand heard her voice this time and fixed his gaze on the one who had called him, still rather absentminded. Torina, now having the king's attention, explained to him that the innkeeper was requiring regal sanction for their reservations. When the king heard that, he looked past Torina at the innkeeper—a middleaged man with big arms and a soft face—and stepped forward. They greeted each other and the king stamped his signet ring into a spill of clay on the reservations. The innkeeper finally took the reservations after that, smiled, and stepped away with them. Armand turned to face Torina and the Hylian Soldier, saying, "Before we settle in here, I want to have a look around." _ «´¯`>·<.,¸¸,.·´¨¯¨`·» - /_\ - «·´¨¯¨`·.,¸¸,.>·<´¯`» «´¯`>·<.,¸¸,.·´¨¯¨`·» - /_\/_\ - «·´¨¯¨`·.,¸¸,.>·<´¯`» The Castle of Hyrule was in a very different environment than the last time we visited it. The sun was now high in the sky above guards in watchtowers that reached to the clouds. There was not any shade for them, nor could they rest from the heat of wearing all of their armor and carrying all of their weapons. It was autumn, so it wasn't even close to the hottest of days, but it was certainly not comfortable for the sweating guards. On one particular lookout tower were a pair of knights. One was beefier than the other with a horn on his belt and the other was slender with a bow in her hand and a quiver on her back. Perched on the archer's arm was a brown falcon that she called Pierre. These diligent soldiers looked left and right and saw only mountains and rocks, up and down and saw only empty ocean and the heavens. In the silence, the archer heard a muffled growl. She leaped to her sandaled feet—almost throwing Pierre off her shoulders—only to be stopped by the fellow guard, "Stay still," he said. "That was from my midriff." They both chuckled. "You hunger then?" asked the archer. "That I do," the other knight sighed. "Not much longer and we shall retreat for luncheon." The archer smiled and looked to Pierre. "How about you? Are you, too, eager for a shift change?" She found it peculiar that it wouldn't make eye contact with her—Pierre was fixed on something in the distance. The archer squinted her eyes and looked also. A dark shape appeared in sight and there was a raspy crow. The shape was a raven, soaring right above the watchtower and over the castle. Just then, the same hound from earlier that morning began barking again in the courtyard. The archer turned her gaze far below to see a Hylian Soldier trying to silence the dog. Behind her, a figure landed onto the watchtower with them unnoticed. It stood and looked around. It appeared to be a knight in black armor, but one would not be able to make out a human face on it. It had rotted skin, a maw full of teeth, and no eyes staring out from its helmet. The black knight noticed the soldier with the horn on his belt first, roared, and charged him. The guard turned just in time to receive a blow across the chest, followed by a second upside the chin. His neck froze in position and he fell over the edge of the lookout tower without a sound. Pierre screeched from the archer's shoulder, which finally caught her attention. The first thing she did was order Pierre to make haste away from there, then she fitted an arrow in her bow and fired it in the black knight's chest. The shaft only barely drilled its breastplate. The monster knight, unaffected, took down the fleeing falcon with a powerful swing of its arm. "Pierre! No!" came a cry from the archer. She dropped her bow, grabbed an arrow from behind her, and jumped onto the black knight. She prepared to stab the shaft in her hand into the black knight's helmet, but before she found the chance, they had wrestled each other clear off the watchtower. Everyone that had been on that lookout tower fell to an unmistakable doom that day. Following the first black knight, a legion more came upon the castle in descent. The ones that landed on watchtowers took out the guards there, and the ones that landed in the courtyard ravaged. They slaughtered everything they could, even making a grisly intrusion to the chamber where many unknowing and unready men were eating. They soon moved on to raid the town on the cliff outside of the castle, bellowing in their onslaught. _ «´¯`>·<.,¸¸,.·´¨¯¨`·» - /_\ - «·´¨¯¨`·.,¸¸,.>·<´¯`» «´¯`>·<.,¸¸,.·´¨¯¨`·» - /_\/_\ - «·´¨¯¨`·.,¸¸,.>·<´¯`» KABOOM! The wagon outside of the Kakariko inn exploded into an endless rain of pieces from a fireball. Torina, the king, and the Hylian Soldier all heard this from elsewhere in the village and saw some of the blast. "King, get out of here!" the Hylian Soldier said in a scream. Immediately after, there was a faint thunk and the soldier's body slammed to the ground with one of the monster knights on top of him and a spear in his back. This warrior was somewhat different from the others before. Instead of having the figure of a human, this one resembled a big Goron with rotted skin. The monster looked at Torina and the king trembling just ahead of it. It pushed off of the impaled body of the Hylian Soldier and took off for its prey by rolling as a ball—something Gorons are known for. Torina stepped in front of King Armand and drew her sword. "Back off!" she yelled at the incoming dark Goron. It only heard her warning mid-leap, and yelped as Torina's blade ran it through and tossed the heavy corpse aside. Torina drug her sword in the grass as she looked out at a few more of the monster knights running around the village. "I have to take you somewhere safe from them," she said to the king as she turned and walked past him. Armand followed, although he had no idea of where he was being led. Torina approached a corner where ten or so wooden crates were piled around each other and she quickly began moving them out of the way. She removed most of the ones on top and told the king to climb up to where the crates just were. When she had reached all the way to a back corner, she knelt down to the wall. Most of it was covered by a blanket, which she lifted up to reveal a passage. "After you," she said as the king was getting down from the crates. He looked from her to the little tunnel and back again. With a sigh, he got to his hands and knees and crawled inside. Because of the small opening, his crown was knocked off his head as he entered. He started to move back to retrieve it, but a roar in the distance and Torina's opposition caused him to leave it and move on. Torina quickly followed the king into the open tunnel, covering it behind them. Their crawling wasn't so long, but at the king's age, it left him aching when they were able to stand in an open chamber. The king looked around the dark grotto they were in. There were tools, weapons, and armor lying on the ground, on tables, or hung on the walls. Behind Torina were people in another chamber practicing martial arts. "Is this some kind of lair?" asked King Armand. She said nothing. The king forgot about his question as he noticed a shovel on top of a table that he approached. Some of it was wrapped with cloth, and on it was written: "Dampé the Gravekeeper". It came to Armand's mind that one of the complaints he received from Kakariko earlier was regarding the village gravekeeper's stolen shovel. "You—You're the troublemakers of the village!" he gasped. Review Thread is here. Edited by CourageWisdomPower, Jun 2 2010, 05:49 PM.
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| CourageWisdomPower | Aug 26 2008, 12:00 PM Post #2 |
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2|On Raven's Wings The raven that visited Hyrule Castle this morning and afternoon glided above Castle Town after the monster knights had taken it. It circled once, looking down at the burning homes and corpses that were left, and then drifted away and over the rest of the country. The whole land was sullen and covered in the shadows of stormy clouds ever since the monster knights had came upon Hyrule Castle and Kakariko Village earlier. Beating its great wings, the raven flew away toward the edge of the kingdom, to where the mountains were so high that even the clouds formed below their peaks. Soon, the air began to fill with smoke and ash from the ravaged village of Kakariko, much like the air surrounding Castle Town. Still, even if the monster knights had never payed Kakariko an unpleasant visit that day, volcanic ash would be breathed instead due to Death Mountain looming over the village. As the raven swept the desolated hamlet from above, it noticed less bloodshed than in Castle Town; for fewer monster knights had attacked Kakariko, and their whole purpose for being there in the first place was simply to kill the king. Furthermore, the raven's current business was to bring assurance of the ruler's untimely demise. A twinkling object near some crates caught its eye, so it turned and flew down there. Upon taking a closer look, the raven saw the object to be none other than the king's crown lying on its side in the grass. Overjoyed, the raven crowed up to the sky before swooping to take the crown in its talons. At once, it took flight—headed back to Hyrule Castle. On the way, the stormy clouds in the sky finally came alive with the clapping of thunder and began to pour rain down on the earth. Hyrule darkened even more, from the depths of the woods to the open foothills. As it reached the castle, the raven—still holding the crown tightly in its claws—spiraled around and up a tower before darting inside through a window. The chamber within was the throne room, where the raven swiftly floated over its long blue carpet down the middle. At the end of the carpet was a tall hooded figure standing at the steps leading to the throne. As the raven passed over the form, it called out with a croak and released the crown. The figure stretched out its big hand and grabbed the crown in midair, clenching its fingers tighter around it. It then swung its arm and heaved the crown bouncing and scraping on the floor until finally it rolled away into the shadow behind the throne. The figure spoke in a masculine voice, saying, "Armand Nicodemus Hyrule is fallen, is fallen." A bolt of lightning crackled in the distance as if it was on cue to his words. The figure then threw his hood back to reveal a head covered with fiery orange hair as he stepped forward to seize the throne of Hyrule. Review Thread is here. Edited by CourageWisdomPower, Apr 14 2010, 04:26 PM.
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| CourageWisdomPower | Aug 27 2008, 11:00 AM Post #3 |
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THE ADVENTURE BEGINS 3|A Walk to Remember Returning to late morning of the same day you've been reading about, the dawning sun shone through Link's window and into his resting eyes. His eyelids rose and he sat up in bed, stretching. He planted his feet into a rug beside his bed to see Kryll, his fairy, snoozing on an oak table. He stood and yawned, then kicked the table with his foot to wake the little ball of red light. "Hey, wake up, you!" he called to her sleeping form. She fluttered herself up a bit and let the light draft carry her up to Link. "Morning," she said drowsily, unfolding her silk wings. Link slipped into his leather shoes that were next to the front door and reached for a floppy cap before heading outside. The cap rested nicely on his head of bright brown hair and matched the olive color of what he was wearing—an apronlike garment that hung over the front of his legs. Underneath that and covering his arms and legs was a sandy white bodysuit, and a dirty yellow strip of cloth was knotted around his neck like a scarf. He opened his front door, walked down the few steps of his porch, and dipped his shoes into the dusty road. Kryll darted through the door just before it slammed shut and caught up with her friend. They looked upon the small town called Yoru Bend—known for its farming community. Link and Kryll followed the trail a bit, passed a hut and a cabin or two, crossed a bridge, and turned at a block. On that block was their destination—a large fenced-in property. Link threw his weight over the fence and made his way to a barn in the distance. Outside of its westernmost wall, between the barn and a house beside it, was a cart filled with hay bundles. Link lifted the cart's wooden handles and drug it to the entrance of the barn. He threw the doors aside and brought the cart in. Kryll took a peek in and quickly retreated back outside. "I, uh, think I'll stick around the house," she said, disgusted by the smell within the barn. Link dropped the cart and rubbed his hands together. "Suit yourself," he replied with a shrug. "Say hi to Edric for me." With that, he turned to begin his chores. He spent most of the rest of the morning sweeping and scrubbing the floor and feeding the animals inside, among other irksome tasks. _ «´¯`>·<.,¸¸,.·´¨¯¨`·» - /_\ - «·´¨¯¨`·.,¸¸,.>·<´¯`» «´¯`>·<.,¸¸,.·´¨¯¨`·» - /_\/_\ - «·´¨¯¨`·.,¸¸,.>·<´¯`» Kryll hung around the deck of the house nearby. It wasn't long after Link had started his chores when the owner of the acreage, Edric, came from inside and sat out on the deck with a cup full of warm coffee. He appeared to be fifty-eight or so and he wore a rolled-up long-sleeved tunic and trousers. He didn't even notice Kryll until she made a faint ding and greeted him. "Hello, sir!" Edric jumped in his seat and nearly spilled all the coffee. "Ho!" he said, startled, and looked up at Kryll with a smile. "Oh, good morning." A moment later, he took a wary sip of his coffee, unsure if it was cool enough to taste yet. "Has Link already started?" he asked, smacking his lips. Kryll sighed. "Yeah, he has," was her reply. There was a moment of silence between the two before the front door opened and a young woman came from inside. She was in a dark gray tunic underneath a pair of fading overalls. "Morning, Papa," she said as she shut the door behind her. After she had leaned over to give Edric a soft peck on the cheek, she realized Kryll was floating just beside her. "Oh, hiya, Kryll!" Before Kryll could respond, the girl was already wading into an entourage of waist-high grasses. She brushed her hand through the stems of the crops and danced among the buckwheats. Edric let out a long sigh and smiled at his daughter. "Do you think he's going to try to bring her along this time?" Kryll said with a smirk. Edric shot a sly glance at the fairy. "I think we both know the answer to that," he retorted. They kept their eyes outward and watched the girl harvest beans, berries, and seeds from the plants on Edric's property as the morning went on. _ «´¯`>·<.,¸¸,.·´¨¯¨`·» - /_\ - «·´¨¯¨`·.,¸¸,.>·<´¯`» «´¯`>·<.,¸¸,.·´¨¯¨`·» - /_\/_\ - «·´¨¯¨`·.,¸¸,.>·<´¯`» Later, when Link had finished his chores, he approached Kryll and Edric on the porch. The young woman was gone. Edric shook Link's sweaty hand and they greeted one another. "Get yourself washed up in the back, and then Epona's yours for the day," said Edric as he watched Link wipe his face with the neckcloth. "Ah, thank you!" Link said with a grin. He started for the steps, but stopped and turned back, staring Edric down. He asked his question just with his pleading eyes. The old farmer chuckled and shook his head, saying, "Yes, it's all right to take Emelyn with you too." A smile came upon Link's face and he leaned forward to pat Edric on the shoulder. "Thanks again!" He descended all of the porch steps in one bound. Edric's eyes rolled until they stopped on Kryll. "You see? What did I tell you?" They both shared a laugh. _ «´¯`>·<.,¸¸,.·´¨¯¨`·» - /_\ - «·´¨¯¨`·.,¸¸,.>·<´¯`» «´¯`>·<.,¸¸,.·´¨¯¨`·» - /_\/_\ - «·´¨¯¨`·.,¸¸,.>·<´¯`» Link returned a few minutes later, his skin drenched in faucet water that was already beginning to dry in the heat of the sun. This time, the young lady from before—Emelyn—stood on the porch waiting for Link. She was in her late teenage years, but past adulthood like Link. Big, green eyes filled with kindness looked out at Link and black hair that was wounded at the ends draped on her back. They greeted each other and hugged. Link quickly dismissed himself with a 'be right back' and disappeared into the nearby barn. He was back a minute later holding the reigns of a giant horse—Epona. The steed's sorrel coat glinted a tawny shade in the morning sunlight. Link led the mount to the porch steps and helped Emelyn get on. They said their goodbyes to Edric and Kryll as Link brought the two girls over to the gate at the end of the path and lifted its lock. He closed it behind them after they had passed through and finally mounted Epona himself. Link snapped the reigns and flapped his boots against Epona's sides and they were off down the winding sunlit trail, watched by the father and fairy still on the porch. The three spent the rest of the daylight together, strolling through soundless forests and over widespread hinterlands. In the woods, they passed by several varieties of motley mushrooms with arched caps peaked at the top of their fat stalks. Among these sights they also saw many tiny flowers, each with different colors on their curvy petals. Leaving the scenery of green for the country farmlands, they encountered a much different display. Tall wheat rose from the ground, tickling the bodies of those who passed over them. They went on for miles, and Link, Emelyn, and Epona chased each other in them the whole way. Within an hour, they brought out the lunch that Link brought along—sandwiches stuffed with chopped meat and cheese, and some fruit. By the end of the meal, they were lost in a game of Emelyn pitching grapes into Link's mouth. Few of the pale, green orbs ever found their target. That is, saying that the target wasn't everything on Link's face other than his mouth. Anyway, Link was pleased. He hadn't had the chance to spend time with either Emelyn or Epona for quite some time, so he was savoring every minute of it. It rained on them in the afternoon, so they found shelter and talked until the sun emerged in the sky once more. As the end of the day neared, they found a spot on the bank of Goldlight Lake—not far outside of Yoru Bend. They sat under a beech tree in the brittle leaves of autumn. Its huge branches reached far over their heads, unclipping colorful peels one at a time. Epona wandered about the area, slurping the water and circling the tree beside Emelyn and Link. As they stared out at the lily pads drifting over the surface of the lake, Link looked over at Emelyn, saying her name and, "I want to know something..." He didn't continue when he heard the quiet rustling of leaves behind him. All in the same moment, Epona let out a deep and frightened neigh, Link and Emelyn spun around, and something came crashing into Link from the branches of the tree. They fell against the rocks in the shallow water of the lake and quickly got to their feet. Link took a moment just to look at the thing. It resembled a Zora in dark armor with rotted scales covering its fins and skin that matched the monster knights that attacked Hyrule Castle and Kakariko. As soon as it had recovered, the dark Zora screeched with a maw full of razor-sharp teeth and clobbered into Link's chest. They squabbled for a moment until Link lobbed his combatant off of him and into the water. But the creature, as if having expected it, made a graceful pose and bound nicely into the lake. Link was on his feet in a hurry and started for Emelyn, who was still on the bank. "Run!" he cried as he approached. They both turned to the path leading back to the Bend when the creature rocketed out from the water, over Link and Emelyn's heads, and rolled to a stop ahead of them. Once it was standing, it lunged between the two and held their necks with its arms. As the three of them fell to the ground, the dark Zora activated a tornado of electric shocks from its body around them all that electrocuted Emelyn and Link. The pair hit the bank hard and now started to lose consciousness. The last sight that Link saw was the blurry shape of the dark Zora towering over him... Review Thread is here. Edited by CourageWisdomPower, Apr 14 2010, 04:26 PM.
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| CourageWisdomPower | Aug 28 2008, 02:00 PM Post #4 |
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4|Chosen It's true," Torina admitted to the king. "You're only here because we have stolen from the village." She lowered her head ashamedly as she finished. King Armand searched his thoughts for a question he could ask about all of the things he was wondering. "Who are you?" he finally said. Torina sighed and shut her eyes, dwelling on what she was about to tell the king of Hyrule. "We are Sheikah." "Sheikah? The lost?" "The lost..." echoed Torina. Before she said anything else, the king spoke again, "And what about you? You're involved in this...rebellion?" Torina looked him in the eyes. "I'm of Sheikah heritage, His Highness. And Kakariko Village was built by Sheikah hands. Being Captain of the Guard here, I discovered these poor remnants still practicing the Sheikah ways, and I began to train and study with them." The King found a seat at the table where he found the gravekeeper's shovel, for he was still a little weary from crawling through the tunnel before. In the silence, the two could hear the sound of rain outside. "Miss Drail," King Armand said. "You must know the law. I am a politician—I can't overlook the rebirth of these forbidden tactics." Torina nodded and mouthed an 'I know'. Nevertheless, the king leaned forward a little, saying, "Well?" Torina's head lifted some when she heard him. "Aren't you at least going to show me around?" _ «´¯`>·<.,¸¸,.·´¨¯¨`·» - /_\ - «·´¨¯¨`·.,¸¸,.>·<´¯`» «´¯`>·<.,¸¸,.·´¨¯¨`·» - /_\/_\ - «·´¨¯¨`·.,¸¸,.>·<´¯`» Link awoke inside of a bobbing dinghy with his hands tied behind his back. It was nightfall by now. He struggled to pull his wrists free, but the rope that bound him was too tight. Trying to keep still as if he was still unconscious, he looked around. There was a pair of squalid boots right beside Link's face. They belonged to the feet of the dark Zora that had attacked him and Emelyn on the bank of Goldlight Lake. It was sitting and rowing the dinghy. Link stretched his neck over to see the front of the boat. There, standing tall and looking over the water, was another figure. This one had a man's strong body and was in an tunic of mostly white. It was a bulky outfit, suggesting that there was probably a breastplate hidden underneath. On his head was a cap similar to Link's, except that it was so wide that it engulfed the wearer's head. Two leather gauntlets cut off at the fingers with tangling designs on them covered his hands and forearms and a blade waited in a sheath at his waist. Knives and pouches also hung from his belt. This man appeared to be a primed warrior. His head wheeled slowly from left to right, looking out at the foggy mist creeping around the hull of the boat. A lantern near Link and the Zora barely even penetrated the fog above the dinghy, so it wasn't doing a good job at lighting the path ahead either. As they slunk over the water, Link began to discover a shape in the billowing clouds. He squinted his eyes to make out what the image was while being careful not to make a creak by sitting up. He soon realized that it was the Castle of Hyrule towering above them on a rocky cliffside. They didn't appear to be headed for the moonlit citadel, however. Before long, Link noticed pointy rocks rising from the surface of the water. He peeked over the edge of the boat and saw a cavern at the bottom of the cliffside beneath Hyrule Castle. There was a walkway on the western side of the cave, where the dark Zora tied the boat. It shook Link's arm to "wake" him before pulling him up. They traded the light of the lantern for torchlight at the end of the walkway, where there was an old jail cell. The other man remained on the boat, staring at the two on the walkway. When the captor and captive approached the cell, the dark Zora threw the rusty door open and shoved Link inside. The door and bars were covered with algae and muck. It almost looked as if living sea creatures were growing from the crumbling floor that was just inches above the echoing water of the cave. Link preferred Edric's smelly barn over this. "Wait!" Link cried to the Zora before it abandoned him. "What is to become of me? What is happening?" The Zora didn't stop, but the warrior in the boat answered instead, "His Highness Ganondorf decides what is to become of you." With that, he waited until the Zora stepped into the boat with him before they rowed away—leaving Link alone in his cell. Link was confused. From the cell, he could hardly hear what was said other than "His Highness Ganondorf." That doesn't sound like the name of who is supposed to be 'His Highness' in Hyrule, he thought. He wanted to get out and discover what was going on for himself. He looked through the bars of the prison. The dinghy was fading in the distance, so if he broke free, there shouldn't be any trouble in escaping unnoticed. Link took note of the door. Unlike the rest of the cell, it was solid instead of barred. It appeared frail enough to tear from its hinges with enough force. Link braced himself and sprinted for the door. The collision was rough, but the door did not budge. Link fell on the ground as his shoulder throbbed. He laid there and sighed. That was when he heard a peculiar sound coming from outside of his cell. He turned his attention through the bars to see what was making the sound and watched a pink bubble of magic sink through the ceiling of the cavern. Suspended inside of the bubble were two Hylian Soldiers and a young woman. The bubble fell onto the walkway and exploded in a splat. The woman immediately threw her arms forward and two blasts of fire lunged forward and engulfed the soldiers in flames. Their screams fell silent as soon as they plummeted into the water. After making a victory stance, the woman released a long breath in exhaustion. From his viewpoint, Link could see three triangles on the back of her hand—one of them glowing. The Triforce! In that same moment, his cell lit up with a similar glow from his own hand. The woman looked quickly at Link behind the bars of his cell, and then to the light coming from his left hand. She approached, and that was when Link thought he recognized her. No way! "A-Are you Princess Zelda?" he asked. No answer. The woman flicked her arm at the outer handle of the cell door and it flew off into the water with a spark. She reached her hand through the hole in the door she just made and tugged it open. Upon entering the cell, she used a similar trick to slice the rope binding Link and grabbed his wrist to examine the back of his hand. "Ow!" he exclaimed involuntarily. The woman looked up from Link's hand and into his eyes. He looked back at the two orbs filled with a color like the sea. "In that case," the woman began, "yes, I am Zelda. What is your name?" Link answered. "Link," Zelda echoed his reply, "do you realize exactly what that is in your hand?" Link looked down from the princess for the first time to see what was glowing on his hand. He couldn't believe his eyes. The power of the Triforce—in his own hand! Out of three, one of the divine triangles was glowing. He knew which one it was: Courage. Zelda could tell from his expression that Link knew very well what power was inside of him. "The chosen hero..." she drifted off. "You?" Link thought through what she was saying and was taken aback. "Now wait just a moment," he said, "I don't even know what I'm doing here! Do you know what's going on?" Zelda did. She took a deep breath to prepare for her explanation. "A demon thief from the desert named Ganondorf came upon us to take the throne while the king—my father—was away. He used his own Triforce—the Triforce of Power—to instill his dark deeds into the minds of Hyrulians—transforming many of them into dark monsters." That answer only partially satisfied Link, so he asked, "Then why was I imprisoned?" "Well, my guess is that Ganondorf knew that the Triforce of Courage had chosen you, even though its power was not yet alive. I know that I was taken because of my Triforce, but I used what magic was not zapped from me already to keep from being imprisoned myself." She looked at Link again, only this time with misty eyes. "I fear for my father, Link. He...left me in charge. In letting this happen, I've made it unsafe for him and all of the people. Do you understand what is required of you? You have been chosen as the hero that everyone will be looking for right now. Will you use your power wisely? Will you offer Hyrule your hand in its time of need?" the princess finished her plea with a slight bow of her head. Link took a deep breath. It all happened too fast for him. He saw Zelda peek up at him from her bowed posture. In her eyes was a new, yet faint glint of hope. Is she really expecting this out of me? Link knew that her life and many others depended on him now that he had been chosen. Saying yes would submit himself to giving up every last bit of strength inside of him until he could rid the world of light from the forces of darkness. But saying no would allow everything in Hyrule—and soon enough, him—to perish. He searched his heart and found it in him the willingness to fight till no end for his country. "Yes, I will," he said, and took Zelda's hand. She gave him a big, bright smile from ear to ear in thanks. "I'll see you again," she promised. Backing away, she slipped out of his hand. The Princess then waved high over her head as bright sparkles fell down gently on her. Once they were gone, so was Zelda. Link took a moment to listen to fresh rain that started to pour outside again. Hundreds of little splashes were hitting the water as chilly wind blasted in his ear with a howl. There was no turning back now. Link saw the Trifoce of Courage in his hand again and hoped that it would prove to be of some assistance to him later on. For now, he needed to mentally prepare himself. Try as he may, however, there was a bravery refined inside of him that was ready at that very instant. A vision of Emelyn entered his mind just before he dove into the water. His tunic became heavy and cold, so he spent more energy in his strokes. Swimming out of the cave, he made it to the rocky face of the mountainside and began climbing it. His tunic wasn't even allowed to dry from the seawater as rain poured down on it, but Link still had to press on. Once at the top, he pulled himself onto the grass and laid on his back for a moment's relief. The rain seemed to be soaking him to the bone until he became numb to the green blades he was among. He flexed his hand to feel the grass, and decided to get up from there. Running from the edge of the cliff, Link passed through Castle Town—which was sizzling as rain washed the ash. He saw houses broken apart around him and toppled baskets spilled out things like hay and food into the street. A particular wooden post in the ruins of a shed provided a perch for a raven that was glaring daggers at Link. It cawed loudly, finally bringing the creature to Link's attention. He thought nothing of it at first—in fact, shooed it away—until the thing lunged at him and began flapping its wings over his head. Must not like me! thought Link as he began to flee the raven's pursuit. He made it out of Castle Town, but then his foot caught on a thick clump of grass and he fell flat on his face. Panting, he quickly sat up only to be blown back down again by a sudden thunderous outburst hailing from the clouds. It clapped louder and louder, spreading all the way to the farthest corners of the land. The raven, hearing this, turned around and flew back in the direction of Hyrule Castle. From a distance, Link watched as two great entry doors at the foot of the castle shut loudly just before the raven whisked inside. Screaming wind extinguished the torches on the stone masonry walls of Hyrule Castle and dark, shadowy clouds began to pour from the tallest spire of the castle, spilling over its walls. They engulfed Castle Town and began blanketing the field, getting closer and closer to Link. Without even a second thought, Link sprang to his feet and sprinted away from the blackness that lashed out at him. But it was no use. The substance crept up Link's ankles and wrapped around his body. He immediately began to feel tremendous pain of all sorts everywhere on his body. His skin went pale and his bones rattled. He fell to the ground and cried out, holding his ears to try to tune out the screeching whispers that came from the darkness around him. He held his hands out in front of himself and gasped at the sight he saw; fur was growing from his fingers and over his arm. His nose lengthened and his clothes tore. "What is happening?!" he cried, but his shout was slowly changing into that of a beast. Link transformed into a black-and-white wolf! Review Thread is here. Edited by CourageWisdomPower, Apr 14 2010, 04:27 PM.
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| CourageWisdomPower | Aug 29 2008, 03:59 PM Post #5 |
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5|Enter Caelan Dappled light surges coiled around a red symbol. The symbol resembled a glaring eye and above it were three triangular-shaped lashes. Under the eye was a teardrop shape. One could recognize this symbol as the one that represents the Sheikah. It floated alone in the center of the starry skies of space, illuminated by surrounding nebulas. Suddenly, a bright flare rocketed into the symbol and shattered it, sending the debris into the far reaches of space. But then, the triangular "eyelashes" returned and locked their edges together so that they formed the very familiar Triforce. After that, the eye came back as well. It soared behind the Triforce and shone a brilliant light through its center. When the light died down, another triangle, this one upside-down, rested right in place in the middle of the Triforce. _ «´¯`>·<.,¸¸,.·´¨¯¨`·» - /_\ - «·´¨¯¨`·.,¸¸,.>·<´¯`» «´¯`>·<.,¸¸,.·´¨¯¨`·» - /_\/_\ - «·´¨¯¨`·.,¸¸,.>·<´¯`» Caelan awoke in the middle of the night to the sound of rain. The moon lit the forests and fields far beneath it. Caelan was in one of those forests, lying beside a wet campfire from the night before. He tossed and turned, but failed to get any more rest. After several sleepless minutes, he pulled his pack over his shoulder and started for the dark woods. The downpour showered down through the treetops and soaked Caelan's hair. Caelan was a young man in his early twenties, with bright red eyes and hair the color close to that of the bark of the trees surrounding him. He wore a tunic the deep color of black under a lightweight breastplate. A dark blue cape that clung to his shoulders trailed behind him as he leaped over logs and splashed through small creeks. A quiver hung from his back underneath the cape and a long blade was sheathed at his side. As Caelan circled around a tree, allowing his hand to slide over the trunk, he suddenly jolted to a stop and fell to the ground. He hid in the shadow of a bush, spying on a nearby deer and its young fawn lying a comfortable distance from the rain in some leaves underneath a beech tree. He slowly slunk backwards, careful not to startle the animals. Once they were out of sight, he stood up straight and continued around them. It wasn't long after that when a chilling wind picked up and blew against Caelan's back. His rumpled hair reached in all directions in the fierce breeze, and that was when he realized that the wind came from every angle, targeted only at him. He shivered and continued on, but was disturbed by even more threats. He heard soft rustling behind him and turned around. He wanted to believe his eyes were deceiving him, but what he saw was all too real. Thin vines were creeping through the leaves right for him! He began hurrying away from the vicious cords, but they were too fast for him. The wind blew harder than ever before directly in his face and knocked him off of his feet. The vines caught his ankles and held him upside-down to carry him somewhere deeper in the forest. It was only a matter of seconds before the cords released their grip on Caelan and dropped him before a tall wooden throne. The royal seat rested on a high stone platform. Stairs met with each side of the dais, coming from out of the ground. Seated on the throne was a striking mistress. She was beautiful, but at the same time you could sense an atrocious deceit in her eyes. A leafy crown decorated with flowers sat upon a head of silver hair and she wore a crafty frown on her sickly pale face as if she was disgusted at the sight of her captive. She was. "We meet again, my son," she murmured. Caelan did nothing but stare at her, breathing in long, heavy breaths. The rain around them was the only sound for a moment. Finally, the woman spoke again, tilting her head around her throne. "Do you remember our forest?" she asked him. "This is where—" "Please, Lady Daryn," Caelan interrupted. "Spare me the reminder." Lady Daryn straightened her posture as a smart gesture to his defiance. "Now," Caelan began again, "what do you want with me?" Lady Daryn leaned forward a bit as she replied. "Caelan, I have a reason to believe your life may be in danger." "Somehow I don't think my life would be of much importance to you," Caelan scoffed. "What is it you really want?" Lady Daryn sighed. "A man from the western desert seeks The Fourth Piece. He will be after a Sheikah such as yourself to tell him where to find it." She cleared her throat before she went on. "I welcome you back to Prynwyn Forest to stay with us and hide from the Gerudo King's spies." Caelan was shaking his head as she finished. "You still would seek to have me a part of your tribe, don't you? I'm a Sheikah. Not only is that who I am, but it's who you are too." Daryn gritted her teeth and tightened her fingers against the log armrests of her throne until she gave herself splinters. "The Sheikah are no more, Caelan. It's foolishness to get yourself caught up in their lost ways as you have. Don't let it bring you to your death as it did to your father." Caelan resisted. "My father died a Sheikah—so will his son." With that, he turned around and left the woodsqueen's lair. Surprisingly to him, he was not followed. He marched through the rest of the forest until he reached the ghost town of Prynwyn Village outside. It was a small neighborhood, surrounded by a short brick wall and a gate that shut the petty number of huts within. Blackness stared out at Caelan from the dark voids housed in each shattered window of the deserted homes. He held the hilt of his sword tightly and tried not to let his eyes wander to the creepy corners and moonlit shapes around him and stared straight ahead until he had reached the iron gate at the end of the village. He lifted the lock with ease and the gate swung open on its own with the wind. The breeze picked up all the more until the gate slammed against the wall with a noisy bang. Outside of the hamlet was a wooden post with a sign that read 'Prynwyn Village'. It swayed violently on its hinges in the savage wind. The post was pierced with an arrow about midway through. Caelan walked past the sign and to a hill about a quarter mile from Prynwyn Village. There, on the hill, was his father's grave underneath a tree. Caelan knelt before the tombstone. "What am I to do, father?" he said in a whisper. "Your bride took your blood. Am I still here only to avenge that? I am not certain whether I hate her by now or not, nor do I know if you ever stopped loving her. I wish I knew what you would do..." With that, he got up to his feet and turned away. In the distance, Caelan saw a mysterious black cloud spreading over the treetops of Prynwyn Forest. It then moved on to sweep through the village before it split in all directions. One of the columns of darkness came creeping toward Caelan. In a desperate attempt to escape the approaching shadow, Caelan fled down the hill with haste, almost losing his footing once or twice. But the clouds still came in from all around him and engulfed his body. To his surprise, nothing happened to him. After the shadow had passed, Caelan looked around. The color of the sky had changed to the burnt orange of twilight, and small black particles were floating through the air. Caelan felt the features of his face, and to his relief he was still in human form. Then he remembered. He patted his tunic with a smirk and continued down the valley. Caelan pulled his bow from off of his back as he made his way back into Prynwyn Forest. For it was he of all people who knew of the dangers lurking in the twilight... Review Thread is here. Edited by CourageWisdomPower, Apr 14 2010, 04:27 PM.
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| CourageWisdomPower | Aug 30 2008, 05:00 PM Post #6 |
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6|The Wolf and His Boy Did you hear that?" a Hylian Soldier said, concerning a howl coming from outside the castle walls. He was still human in the twilight and his raiments were all black. Another guard shrugged, impatiently swatting at the black particles of the twilight that carried themselves through the air. "It was only a startled stray hound, we need not fret." The first knight shivered anyway, saying, "But it sounded awful close." He made his way to the inner wall and peered through a small opening, searching the fields for the source of that ominous howl. _ «´¯`>·<.,¸¸,.·´¨¯¨`·» - /_\ - «·´¨¯¨`·.,¸¸,.>·<´¯`» «´¯`>·<.,¸¸,.·´¨¯¨`·» - /_\/_\ - «·´¨¯¨`·.,¸¸,.>·<´¯`» Meanwhile, Link was far from the vigilant eyes of the curious watchman. Still getting used to his new canine form, he stumbled this way and that on his four dirty paws. His bare toes ached from stepping on prickly grasses and sharp-edged rocks that hid in the ground. It felt unusual to have the ability to move his ears and a tail, but Link tried his best to take control of it. What remained a mystery, however, was the twilight environment all around him. No other form of weather dared to manifest their effects in the realm of twilight. Everything just seemed empty and dreary. It gave Link a feeling of insecurity. He kept all of his senses alert, on his toes as if he were stalking a target. Although he kept off the main trails of Hyrule Field, Link had managed to stay within the limits of the plains. Some yards beside him was an immense forest. Soon, the woods had passed on and Link was now walking around the corner of a hilltop that the trees of the forest climbed up to. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks. He sniffed the air. Link wasn't exactly sure how these scents worked so far, but he could still tell that something was up. His eyes jolted open and he leaped to the side a heartbeat before a speedy arrowhead pierced the ground he just stood on. Once he had recovered, Link snarled ferociously at a figure hidden in the trees atop the hill. The figure fell to the earth, bow and arrow in hand, and approached the wolf. Link snapped the air in front of him with his teeth to ward off the person, but he didn't appear to be intimidated. The young man fitted an arrow into the slender cord of his longbow and yanked it back, ready to release. But for some reason, he hesitated. Lowering the weapon, he looked at the wolf in front of him. Though it stood there growling at its attacker, the man felt that he wasn't seeing its true nature. "You're different, aren't you?" he asked the animal. Link stopped growling for a moment and loosened his tense muscles. "Were you once," the man began again, "human?" Link took a step back and nodded, not sure if the young man could tell what he meant. Although Link took the form of a wolf, the young man still seemed to understand his answer. "Oh, no..." he sighed. "I wonder what else the twilight has done to the—" he stopped for a moment, eyeing wolf Link. "You don't know what's going on, do you?" Link shook his head. "Forgive me," the young man pardoned. "My name is Caelan. Follow me and I'll explain everything to you." Caelan led Link to his small campsite in Prynwyn Forest where he had spent the night before. He sat on a wide log facing Link, who had found a spot to lay on Caelan's small bedroll. "Everything you see is called the twilight. It is a dangerous spell that has stolen all the light from this world." Caelan's eyes wandered around the forest before resting on wolf Link. "It can affect people in unusual ways. Most people and animals become invisible in the twilight, and only the glow of their spirit can be seen. But it is on few occasions that one transforms quite like you did. In fact...such a thing would only be possible to one who carries a light within himself—one that suppresses the bewitchment." As he finished that last sentence, he glanced down at the topside of wolf Link's left paw. There, etched into his skin and shining through his fur, was the insignia of the Triforce. Out of the three captivating shapes, one shone brighter than the rest: "The Triforce of Courage," Caelan said. He looked up from Link's paw and arched his willowy eyebrows. "You are chosen by the gods, and only that keeps you from turning into a spirit, or worse, into a dark monster, when you enter twilight." Having seen the Triforce on the hand of this beast, Caelan was assured that it was exceptional, even though he still felt strange saying things to it. He looked down at the back of his own two hands, visualizing in his mind what it would be like if the power of the Triforce was in them. In that moment, after he saw how his hand was different than the wolf's paw, Caelan realized that he hadn't explained something. "Oh! And you must have wondered why I have not been affected by the twilight. The spell of the twilight is of Sheikah origin, you see. I am, by the way, of the Sheikah tribe. Anyway, we put the spell's suppressant into threads of clothing. What you see me wearing here is holding the effect of the...'cure'—if you will." When Caelan was finished talking, Link thought for a while about everything that he was told about the twilight. He soon came to wonder how he would get garments like Caelan's in his possession. "So," Caelan said between Link's thoughts, "if you wish, I can take you to where you can probably find yourself some garments like mine—that you may be human again." It was as if Caelan knew exactly what Link had been thinking. Link wondered whether he could trust the Sheikah yet. He knew one thing, however, and it was that he couldn't fulfill his appointed task as a wolf. So, somewhat conditionally, he bobbed his head up and down in a nod. "Good," said Caelan. "We'll be on our way then." He stood and stretched for a moment. "Oh, and I must warn you: What you seek is in the cold, dead fingers of the Royal Family, and they will not give up something of such value very easily. It is possible that you will be tested." With that, he bound into the forest. Link remained a little while longer in thought. He wondered what 'test' he might face. Would he be able to accomplish it as a wolf? Caelan called out to him from deeper in the woods, "What delays you? We must make haste before nasty things crowd our path!" Link got up and shook himself off before chasing after Caelan. Together, they continued through Prynwyn Forest without falter, pushing through the low boughs of trees. Since they hadn't gone very deep into the woods, it didn't take long to find their way out. "We've made good time already," Caelan said, looking to each end of Hyrule Field. "Come, we journey to the graveyard of Kakariko Village." Caelan sprinted ahead and Link scampered after him. They knew that the travel across the kingdom would not be without its dangers, but both were armed and and ready for whatever came their way. Review Thread is here. Edited by CourageWisdomPower, Apr 14 2010, 04:28 PM.
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| CourageWisdomPower | Aug 31 2008, 07:00 PM Post #7 |
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7|Twilight Fugitives Link and Caelan charged over grassy land of Hyrule. The fastest way to Kakariko Village was to cut across the field, and so they were doing. Black particles still climbed the air and the sky was painted burnt oranges and yellows from the twilight spell. They were just coming over a tall rounded hill when wolf Link stopped in his tracks and roared a hard bark. Caelan came to a halt too and turned back to look at Link. "What is it?" he whispered. Link held his head low and sniffed, then bore his teeth in a growl. He crept forward to peek over the hill and dashed ahead behind a boulder that laid on the other side. Caelan did the same and sat down, leaning against the rock. He stared over at Link with a questioning glare. Link gestured with his long furry nose for Caelan to look over the boulder. Taking a deep breath, Caelan did. His mouth fell open at what he saw. Before them was an army of enemies. A legion of over a hundred humans and monsters alike. The garb of the human soldiers was a black tunic—just like Caelan's—underneath even blacker armor and mail. Their breastplates were outlined with a gold thread that weaved in and out of tiny holes in the armor. In the center of the tar-like black of their breastplates was a blood-red symbol that Caelan wasn't familiar with. Each knight, as expected, carried some sort of deadly weapon. Some held only a shield, leaving their sword sheathed at their waist, while others preferred battle axes or spears that pointed high above the troops. The creatures traveling among them were a much different lot. They didn't resemble any animal Caelan knew of, and besides, animals were supposed to become spirits in the twilight as most humans do. No, these brutes seemed to have been bred out of the twilight itself, feeding off of it. One had a muscular black-colored torso, with a broad head like a hammerhead shark. Out of its chest were hundreds of tentacles that stuck to more new ground with every step it took, wearing it down. Others were too bizarre to describe, but they all looked dangerous nonetheless. Suddenly, a tremendous flying beast soared from within the tallest boughs of a tree near the boulder. Caelan jumped and scurried back behind the boulder. The winged creature circled around and glided just inches above Caelan and Link's heads. Caelan pushed against the rock at his back, nervous that the flying beast would come around again and see them. It did turn and head back for the army, but didn't seem to notice Caelan or Link under the shadow of the boulder. Then, at the very last second, Caelan saw its head jolt down in his direction and probe him with its gigantic eye. A colossal thud rocked the earth seconds later and a piercing screeched followed. A soldier heard the noise and separated from his legion to get over the hill. Scanning the distance, his eyes stopped when they saw a wolf running away. The soldier shrugged and turned back to join the others. Just as he got to the foot of the hill again, his eyes wandered to a small green flame floating an inch above a branch of the tree. A tweeting sound came from it. The knight shrugged that off, too—thinking that it must be the twilit spirit of a bird. Then he realized that the wolf he had just seen wasn't a spirit like it should have been. He spun around and looked again to see a man now with the wolf at least one hundred yards away. He turned to face the legion and shouted something in another language and held his weapon up high. A trumpet blew and the legion changed their direction, now running to catch up with their prey. _ «´¯`>·<.,¸¸,.·´¨¯¨`·» - /_\ - «·´¨¯¨`·.,¸¸,.>·<´¯`» «´¯`>·<.,¸¸,.·´¨¯¨`·» - /_\/_\ - «·´¨¯¨`·.,¸¸,.>·<´¯`» Caelan ran as fast as his legs would carry him, although wolf Link took the lead—having lupine abilities. Neither of them dared to look back, but instead kept a speedy pace and hoped to find a place to escape from the shadow of the flying beast in pursuit of them. They could feel the faint wind against the back of their necks from the beat of its wings. After a couple long minutes of running, Caelan's knees began to cramp and his thighs burned. But he couldn't stop now. Their journey had only just begun; they couldn't fail so early on. And they weren't going to. He wouldn't let it happen. He strained and surprisingly increased his speed, focusing what strength he had left into his legs. He was now somehow catching up with wolf Link, and smiled as he passed him. SNAP! The short moment of revel didn't last long, for the nipping jaws of the creature behind them was getting closer. Caelan shot a quick glance back to see the approaching maw of the monster. He shut his eyes—expecting the worst. There was another snap, just inches from Caelan's face, but it wasn't as loud as the one before. Not to mention he wasn't being swallowed by the creature yet. His eyes opened to wolf Link warding the creature away. Believe it or not, the winged beast actually turned around upon seeing wolf Link get in its way. Then, all of the sudden, it dug its giant talons into the dirt, pushed off of the ground, and flipped back in their direction with its teeth gnashed. They started to run again, but something made Caelan relieved this time—up ahead of him and Link was Prynwyn Forest. Apparently they backtracked, but at least they would be hidden for now. With a long leap, the two surrendered themselves to the darkness of the forest. _ «´¯`>·<.,¸¸,.·´¨¯¨`·» - /_\ - «·´¨¯¨`·.,¸¸,.>·<´¯`» «´¯`>·<.,¸¸,.·´¨¯¨`·» - /_\/_\ - «·´¨¯¨`·.,¸¸,.>·<´¯`» After a few twists and turns, the pair stopped to rest. Wolf Link's pink tongue hung out of his mouth as he huffed and puffed from the running. His ears perked up when he spotted a small puddle of rainwater from the night before sinking into the wood of a log not far away. He lapped up as much of it as he could. Caelan wrinkled his brow and curled his lip in a scowl. "Well, that's just revolting," he said. Link glanced over and did his best to express a shrug before returning to his drink. They heard a low rumble from outside of the forest. Wolf Link's head twisted as he listened. Caelan looked up to the short treetops and sighed, saying, "They're surrounding the forest. We'll be trapped in a matter of minutes." Just then, a thought drifted into Caelan's mind. He knew what to do, but he wasn't about ready to do it. However, the next thing that happened there gave him no choice. The cold, curved edge of a scimitar blade rested against the back of Caelan's neck. In that same moment, wolf Link was spread out on all fours, snarling at the wielder of the weapon. Caelan managed to slightly turn his head to see the person holding the sword. It was Lady Daryn—his mother—again. He glared over at her and didn't say a word. Again, she was the first to speak. She said, "You disappear for all this time, and now we meet twice in one day." "Are you finally going to kill me now?" Caelan asked foolishly. Daryn pretended she didn't hear him and tilted her sword a little so that Caelan could see the design of its hilt. The bottom of the handle looked like the head of an eagle and the crossguard took the form of its wings. "This was your father's blade," she told him. "I would hate to see you fall to it as he did." The words pierced Caelan's heart as if he had already been stabbed by the weapon at his neck. His lips trembled and his eyes looked glassy. "Come with me," Lady Daryn ordered, "and I'll get you and your new pet out of the trouble you've gotten yourselves into." She removed the blade from Caelan's neck and edged him forward. A band of archers then began to close in around them from the shadows of the forest. Some of them were sprites, while others were human-shaped creatures made of mossy wood. Wolf Link snapped at each one of them, not expecting to be captured so easily. The bowmen were not intimidated. They all ganged up on Link, tying his ankles together with vines and jabbing him with the splintery edges of wood sticking out from their body parts. Link yipped and whined as he was drug off as the latest prisoner of Daryn and her crew. He and Caelan were led further into the forest, all the while hearing the sound of many thundering footsteps getting louder outside of the forest... Review Thread is here. Edited by CourageWisdomPower, Mar 29 2010, 06:28 AM.
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| CourageWisdomPower | Sep 1 2008, 04:00 PM Post #8 |
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8|A Question in Black Caelan and Link were brought by Lady Daryn's goons to a large rock somewhere in the forest. One of her creatures came forth to the foot of the boulder. It knelt down and a vine that was wrapped around its arm reached down and began to feel the ground. Hidden among the plants was a trapdoor handle that the vine grabbed onto and pulled up into the waiting hand of the creature. Lady Daryn stepped inside first, followed by Caelan and then the archers escorting wolf Link. The opener then released its hold on the trapdoor and let it slam shut. Finally, it fell backwards on the ground where it blended in with the forest terrain like camouflage. Underground, wolf Link and Caelan stood on a mat before a curtain hanging in a doorway. The tribe's hideout was like a burrow. Wooden shafts held up the crumbling earth and candles hanging from the ceiling provided light. Even underground, the dark particles of the twilight spell wandered in the air. Lady Daryn had excused herself behind the curtain and left Caelan and Link in an aisle between crowds of her creatures on the left and the right. They mumbled among each other and gnashed their teeth at the visitors. Caelan listened in on a couple vague sentences from the murmuring. "One has the skin of the Mistress," he heard one say. "The furry one's hand glows," another whispered. Lady Daryn returned from behind the curtain at last. She sighed in front of the two travelers. "I wonder," she began in a bitter tone, "which one of you would be the one with the bounty on his head so grand that a legion has pursued both of you into my forest?!" There was no answer. "Would you like to know what I think?" she said, not expecting an answer that time either. "I think that it is this pup you've brought along with you!" She targeted Link and aimed a finger at him. Her eyes blinked down at Link's feet just for a moment and she smiled, saying, "The Triforce. "This must be most unfortunate for a holder of Courage," she mocked. "A question for you: Am I right when I assume that you hired my boy here to help you restore your human form? That you may try to do something about Ganondorf with that thing in your hand?" Link did nothing but glare up at her. Lady Daryn was beginning to get tired of the staring and no answers. She looked over at Caelan and said, "Did you even tell him of The Fourth Piece?" Caelan almost immediately opened his mouth to retort, but he found himself stammering and turning away from Lady Daryn. "Ha," she jeered, turning her back. The four-legged Link tilted his head over at Caelan in confusion. Before Caelan could respond, Lady Daryn spoke up again. "I fear for the climax at hand; there is a question that is without an answer...question that is still left in the black." She turned around and faced everyone with a whitened face. "Who is to bear The Fourth Piece?" All eyes turned upon Lady Daryn and the candles flickered suddenly. "Consider it, confer, and speak up!" she said. There was silence. She went on, "Surely the bearer cannot be allowed to be the dark lord Ganondorf, for with that and the Triforce of Power—which he already holds in his hand—he would bring the world of light into even more turmoil. He has already begun with this dreadful twilight spell." She shot a strange look at Caelan and explained. "You see, Caelan, my tribe here are somewhat of an advanced Sheikah. Our magic never ceases, and it is powerful enough to protect us from this twilight curse at all times." Caelan stared. Daryn simply shook her head. "Now, where was I... Oh, yes, and although it would have been such a perfect match, The Fourth Piece shall never be used by your father, either," she ended with a cruel smile. That was enough. In a flash, Caelan's sword was in his hands and he was charging Lady Daryn. He threw his blade at her with all of his strength only to be blocked by a bubblelike shield the woodsqueen had formed a moment before the attack. The impact of Caelan's weapon shattered the magical bubble into shrapnel that rained upon everyone in the room. Just before Caelan brought his blade down again, Lady Daryn had her own out and blocked the second assail. Their swords locked and Caelan threw his arms forward to push Lady Daryn backwards. She tore through the curtain and into another chamber. Before Caelan followed her, he yanked a hanging candle from the ceiling and tossed it into a bundle of hay that sat in the corner. It caught the hay and some of the wooden shafts aflame and formed a wall of fire in the doorway where the curtain had been. Caelan leaped over the flames and into the chamber with Lady Daryn. He didn't even have a second to catch his breath after the jump, for Lady Daryn was waiting for him. She lunged forward and pinned him to the ground. He rolled out of the way as her blade came down again and stabbed the dirt where he had just laid. He got to his feet and took the moment he had to examine the room he was in. There were a couple desks with parchments laid on them, and more candles. Besides that, Caelan noticed that there was an entrance to a long, dark tunnel on one of the walls of the room. He thought that must be a subterranean route under the forest. Returning to the sword fight, Caelan circled around Lady Daryn until he had made it to her other side that spared him one last moment. He called out Link's name in the loudest voice he could muster over the crackling of fire and cheering of the creatures in the other room. In response, wolf Link sprung over the wall of fire and into the chamber with the two duelists. Caelan raced to a corner and reached for another candle from the ceiling and then gestured for Link to follow him into the tunnel. After they were both inside the passage, Caelan felt quickly for some sort of door. Sure enough, he discovered a crevasse in the movable part of the wall that was meant to hide the entrance to the tunnel. He pulled it as hard as he could until it slammed shut and blotted out all light other than the candle he had brought with them. Without a moment to lose, Link and Caelan sprinted down the tunnel. Lady Daryn stood in her chamber, fixed on the wall that her captives just fled through. Fire began spreading closer to her, but she didn't care. She wrinkled her brow and let out a long sigh before sheathing her sword and returned to help clean up the mess. Edited by CourageWisdomPower, Mar 29 2010, 06:32 AM.
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| CourageWisdomPower | Sep 2 2008, 08:00 PM Post #9 |
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9|Tales By Torchlight I'm sure you are wondering what that was back there," said Caelan, his voice in an echo. The tunnel seemed to go on forever, with no telling what could in the shadows around them. Every hundred feet or so, they saw wood shafts on both sides of the underground passage. Sconces were nailed into the shafts, and in them sat torches. That added up to two torches for every time they came across the shafts. Because of this, Caelan blew out and dropped the candle he had brought. And other than the few curves they encountered in the straight channel, it never strayed from its stiff pattern. So, wolf Link and Caelan found themselves going straight forward for almost an entire hour; neither was exactly sure of where they might end up. After there was no response from wolf Link (not that Caelan was expecting one), he continued, "In the past, the Sheikah were a clan of warriors sworn to the Royal Family of Hyrule. Nearly twenty years ago, one greedy Sheikah tried to steal the Royal Family's treasures. Although the miscreant was caught, further disputes intensified, which ultimately led to the banishment of the Sheikah. They were cast out of their village, Kakariko, and forgotten. They soon began to unlearn their ways of old until their numbers dwindled. "There were two, however, who rebuked even the thought of that. A father and son. Their names were Caelan and Abel." Wolf Link glanced over and perked his ears up at Caelan's last sentence. Caelan noticed Link's interest and went on, "My parents were Daryn and Abel. Dad raised me as a Sheikah, teaching me their ways. I never understood why my mother would get so upset about it. She wouldn't show it around me, but I could sense the tension between her and my father. She didn't respect Abel's decision to continue to carry the title of a Sheikah. "We lived in Prynwyn Village at the time. I remember when my mother and I would explore its forest to look for pixies. But then, everything changed." He paused. They had just passed another pair of torches, and Caelan was supposed to be keeping track, but all of the sudden he had forgotten what number he was at. He stared down at his feet and continued. "After I reached adulthood, we found out that Daryn had been secretly organizing a race of forest-dwelling creatures she called the Veu. Our walks through the forest were merely her cover-up... She came with the Veu and tried to force us to ignore everything we had learned about the Sheikah and join her gang of brutes. We refused, and... She murdered him. My father. I believe she had every intention to do the same to me, but I escaped while I could. The Veu drove everything out of Prynwyn Village and its forest, leaving a trail of forlorness everywhere they went. I kept in their shadows whenever I was able, but I have been in confrontations more than once. "Anyway, all of this was just to tell you about one thing: that there was a powerful secret kept in my family called The Fourth Piece, a legendary artifact connected to the Triforce. Some deny its existence, but I know firsthand just how real it is. It is the fourth and final divine triangle, the one which has not yet chosen its master. So it lies in wait, placed in a secret chamber in the Castle of Hyrule by my father himself. My mother knows of its location, too, and if she could, I have no doubt that it would be forced in her hand right now." "It...is..." came a gruff voice. Link and Caelan jumped and stood at ready toward where the voice came from. Faintly lit from the light of one of the nearby torches—but mostly in shadow—was a giant tree. It reached up the wall of the passage to the ceiling, which would actually be the forest ground. Protruding the tree trunk was the body of a man. Most of him was fastened to the trunk, but chest-up one could distinguish it peering from inside of the bark. His mouth creaked as it moved to speak again. "My name is Arwor. I was once one of the Veu," he said. Caelan took a step forward, still holding the handle of his sword, and asked, "What did you mean when you said that Daryn already has The Fourth Piece in her possession?" Arwor pushed even farther out from the tree as creaks and snaps were heard. "It's a secret to everybody," was his statement. "She already has it, but The Fourth Piece—it doesn't accept her as its bearer. If it had, I fear we would all be doomed already." He wheezed a little in that last sentence. "I found out, and she cursed me like this..." He leaned back into the trunk and sunk into the bark. "It's a secret to everybody..." Caelan removed his hand from the sword as his mouth dropped open. "Wait! Has she had it long?" But there was no answer. Caelan looked over at wolf Link to see him droop his ears. "Maybe that is a good thing," suggested Caelan. "It's further from Ganondorf now." He stood straighter and began walking down the tunnel again. "The plan remains the same—I'll get you back to being a human again. That was the initial objective, so just do me a favor and don't let this Fourth Piece and Veu nonsense trouble you." _ «´¯`>·<.,¸¸,.·´¨¯¨`·» - /_\ - «·´¨¯¨`·.,¸¸,.>·<´¯`» «´¯`>·<.,¸¸,.·´¨¯¨`·» - /_\/_\ - «·´¨¯¨`·.,¸¸,.>·<´¯`» The pair continued down the passage for many more long minutes until they came to an upward slope that led out of the tunnel and to the surface. Once they were both outside, Caelan took a look around. They were somewhere in Hyrule Field and, to no surprise, it was still twilight. A birch tree towered near the tunnel exit. Caelan seemed to recognize it. Turning around, he saw just what he was expecting: The Kakariko Village gates! "Look!" he called. "We made it!" Caelan pushed one of the gates open and entered the village after Link. Just like everywhere else in the twilight, Kakariko felt very spirit-sinking and empty. There were no sounds to be heard or people to be seen, just a couple of floating lights that were twilit spirits. Caelan led Link around a corner and below an archway, headed for the graveyard. As expected, their eyes rested upon many tombstones. They went up and down a few aisles, admiring the graves of different shapes and sizes, each having a different short memoir written on them. One headstone in particular stood out to Link. Engraved into the giant tablet was the scene of a group of soldiers holding their swords up to the Triforce. There was even a scent coming from it that seemed important. "That's the grave of Hyrule's Royal Family," Caelan said from behind. "We're going to have to get down there." Link glanced back and bobbed his head up and down in a nod. He turned again toward the headstone and began digging in front of it. It was a first for him, but there wasn't much to hacking one's claws into the ground. Suddenly, the patch of dirt he was scouring into collapsed, bringing Link tumbling down with it. He yipped as he fell into the darkness and slammed to the hard floor. Caelan was quick to follow him and crouched at his side to help him up. Shaking himself off, wolf Link stood and nodded for Caelan to know he was all right. Link went ahead deeper into the shadows of the grave until he noticed that Caelan hadn't followed. He turned back and looked at him in confusion. "Whatever lies ahead is for you alone," Caelan said. He then began to pull the strings on his garment, to remove it. "I give you my tunic and sword, that the Royal Family may witness what the hero they chose can really do." He dropped his sheathed sword on the ground in front of him first, then took the tunic off. Caelan vanished—even his shadow. There, appearing glossy in the light shining down from the hole in the ceiling, was Caelan in spirit form. The green flame of light retreated to the shadows so that Link could approach the sword and tunic. Wolf Link nuzzled his snout into the tunic and black particles began pouring from his body until his human form appeared underneath. He stood tall with the sword in hand and smiled in the direction of spirit Caelan. With that, he turned and disappeared into the darkness of the grotto. Review Thread is here. Edited by CourageWisdomPower, Mar 30 2010, 05:33 AM.
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| CourageWisdomPower | Sep 3 2008, 02:00 PM Post #10 |
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10|The Test As Link advanced through the Royal Family's grave, a green fog thickened around him. It was becoming so dense that Link couldn't even see ahead of him. He heard something shift at his feet and looked down to see human bones scattered around his boots. He gasped and stepped away, bumping into a wall behind him. He looked and thought he saw a face in the wall's surface staring back at him. Everything started to get louder for some reason, and more things began to frighten Link everywhere he turned. Suddenly, everything around him seemed to go into slow motion. He heard his heartbeat above all else until another sound came piercing through. It was the sound of a blade cutting through the air. Link rolled to the ground just as a sword sliced through the fog where he had just been. Getting to his knees, he unsheathed his own sword and prepared to face his unknown attacker. There was silence. Link's eyes darted all over the chamber until they rested on a pair of red circles in the smoke. The circles approached as Link discovered what they were—eyes on a dark face. The face mirrored Link's, as did the enemy's clothing and physique, but it was all covered in shadow. The dark Link held its sword up high, preparing an attack. In response, Link threw his blade up in defense as the blow struck from above. Dark Link pulled its sword away and began to swing it down again, but Link was too fast. He lunged with his own sword, only to find that dark Link executed the exact same move and they both missed narrowly. Thinking dark Link would have a quick counterattack, Link retreated and held his blade up defensively; dark Link also blocked. Defeating this foe would be no simple task, for Link now realized that his every move was being copied. Carefully choosing his blows, Link began to plan out what he was going to do overcome his shadowy self. Just then, dark Link put a little more strength into one of its duplicated swings and knocked Caelan's sword right out of Link's hands. Link watched the sword disappear in the green fog as he ducked away for it, which doubled as a dodge from dark Link's swipe that followed. After stumbling in the mist for a moment, Link heard his relentless enemy already coming from behind. He turned in an instant and delivered a sharp blow to dark Link's cheek, knocking it back and giving Link more time. Once he carried on with his search, Link spotted the handle of Caelan's sword. As he grabbed it, however, dark Link was already on his feet and coming at him again. Link smirked with his back to the approaching foe. In one graceful move, he twirled the sword in his hand and slammed it through dark Link. Then, he yanked the sword back out and watched dark Link fall to the ground. A whistling sound was heard in the chamber and the fog was chased away. Link looked around the room, expecting some sort of congratulations for passing the Royal Family's test. After nothing had happened, Link looked down again and saw only a black tunic lying on the ground. Reaching down to pick up the tunic, he wondered if it would keep him safe in the twilight like Caelan's. He began to remove the tunic he was wearing to try dark Link's on when something kicked him from behind. He fell onto the hard floor and dropped Caelan's garments. With the twilight still present, he was immediately transformed back into a wolf. Wolf Link jumped to his feet and growled at whatever had hit him. Stepping out of the shadows, a wolf that was wicked and dark came forth. Link looked at the other canine and then at dark Link's tunic, and that's when he realized what had happened. He now had to dispatch dark Link once and for all in their wolf forms. They lunged for each other just moments apart, and met in midair. Then, as they fell back to the ground, Link felt a piercing pain like never before in his neck. Dark-wolf Link had its sunk teeth into wolf Link and was pinning him down. Wolf Link clawed and nipped, but it was proving to be too difficult to break the hold. He backed up against pillars and steps, but dark-wolf Link still wouldn't release its bite. Finally, Link had dragged them both into another chamber that consisted of just a ledge over seemingly-bottomless darkness. He slowly backed off the edge until dark-wolf Link was dangling over. It let go of wolf Link's neck in shock and went frantic to get back to the ledge. It dug its claws into the ledge, but they didn't hold for long. One-by-one, they unclipped themselves until dark-wolf Link was left howling below. There was a heavy splat shortly after he was swallowed up by the shadows. A wailing wind gusted from where dark-wolf Link had just fallen and blew around the room. Suddenly, the wall across from the chamber doorway seemed to light up as the gale blew against it. "You have passed the test," came a strong, echoing voice. "The entire kingdom has been reduced to a netherworld ruled by the cursed powers of darkness. The blight will not stop with Hyrule. Before long, the entire world of light will fall into the hands of the dark lord." The grim news only added to Link's burden. He was reminded of just how much depended on him. Nevertheless, he listened as the voice continued. "O brave youth... In the land covered in twilight, where people roam as spirits, you were transformed into a blue-eyed beast. That was a sign that the powers of the chosen one rest within you...and that they are awakening." Wolf Link's ears perked up. "Brave Link, take with you the garments of your defeated shadow." The whistling gale then died down and the light on the wall began to fade. "Take courage," were the last words Link heard from the voice. Now, everything was silent again. Link sighed and turned back to the previous chamber. He burrowed his nose through dark Link's tunic and—just as he thought—it brought back to his human form. He then stuffed Caelan's tunic in his pack, sheathed the borrowed sword, and started down the path to the entrance of the grave. Review Thread is here. Edited by CourageWisdomPower, Apr 2 2010, 01:18 PM.
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