The Kindred



Chapter I: Scripture

Author's Note: Zelda and any characters affiliated with it are a product of the Nintendo entertainment company. 2002, all rights reserved. (Sorry, legal jargon) My first Zelda fic, so go easy. My other story, King of Pawns, is currently sucking up most of my writing time, but surprisingly enough, this seems to be more popular. Please check it out  if you like this.

Skim stared out the single square window of his small home in Kakariko Village, and scratched something onto the piece of parchment on the desk in front of him. He stood up, pushing his wicker chair back, and set the quill down to fetch a lantern. The fading sunlight did not make ideal writing or drawing conditions, and a picture of a male Zora was not an easy task.  He had taken a rough sketch earlier with a homemade charcoal, and was reconstructing it in ink, and adding details. 

A close up of a glistening blue-green scale was in the bottom right corner, and several notes were scattered about the drawing.  They stated information on everything from major arteries to natural weapons.  Skim was very proud of his abilities as a scribe's assistant, and was one of the best of his class.  The man had barely a score of summers behind him, but had already become an assistant to the great scribe, Mantilulas. Skim had often reminded himself that he was blessed with a short, simple name, rather than the cumbersome, lavish title.

Several decades ago, a mysterious warrior clad in a green tunic emerged from the Temple of Time. He fought his way through the re-deads of Hyrule Village, and purged the minions of Ganon from the land. Unfortunately, when Ganon was sealed away in the Shadow Realm, he apparently lost control over all the monsters in the kingdom. They began reproducing in unprecedented amounts, until even Deku Scrubs were a threat. Not only had the Emerald Warrior left, (He was called this by most, for few who still lived knew his true name) but the three golden triangles known as the Triforce were stolen as well, only a week before the refugees from Kakariko arrived to rebuild Hyrule Town.

That was 30 years ago, and several new towns had appeared, and the empire had grown, despite the ever-growing monster population. The Emerald Warrior had disappeared, but that doesn't mean Hyrule was utterly defenseless. The Hylians had begun their own means of defending themselves, in the form of an army that far surpassed the few guards that used to inhabit Hyrule Town. Skim had applied for the role of assistant scribe at exactly the right time, for scribes were becoming ever more important. With the growing army, Hyrule desired more information on their enemies, and the other wild inhabitants of Hyrule.

There were two kinds of scribes. There were the stereotype gray-whiskered, droopy-eye browed, old scribes that sat in libraries and choked their already decaying lungs on dust. They whiled away the hours doing math and scanning through volumes of forgotten tomes, searching for some sort of weakness in an enemy, or the key ingredient to a strength potion.

And there were Skim's type of scribes. The kind who risked their lives to get close enough to a creature to draw a detailed sketch, then note behavior and attack patterns. They were the heart and soul of the intelligence of the Hylian army, but nobody knew that, or cared. Them and the wraiths. Wraiths were resurrected spirits infused with magic, giving them life. They were silent, powerful, and could cast devastating spells. The only problem with them is since they had life, they could die, and they hated scribes. Their hatred was probably because of the fact that scribes didn't get along with poes. And the poes are the only things keeping the wraiths from tearing the life from every human in Hyrule.

A poe is a mischievous spirit, who sometimes will help humans for a bit of shade oil. poes all carry around lanterns, to ward off spirits that would take them back to the underworld.  Without them they are sucked back to death, and shade oil is the only thing in Hyrule that can fuel the lantern. Rumor has it that the only reason the army can afford poes and wraiths is because of the massive amount of shade oil buried under Hyrule castle. Of course, the poes don't know it's there, and if they ever found out. . . Well there wouldn't be much need for humans, would there?  However there was one Poe in particular that would not only become Skim's unexpected ally, but would also draw Hyrule into a war much larger than it could have ever prepared for.

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