A Reachman in Skyloft
A/N: This story is an SI set primarily in Skyward Sword with some Twilight Princess, Ocarina of Time and Skyrim elements, pairings aren't set.
The Storm
"Arryn!" I push through a bush, raising my lantern so I don't ignite it and try to peer through the storm, "Malon!"
Ten years ago I was an average Brit, reintroducing myself to the Legend of Zelds series, but after a freak lightning storm I woke up in Ordon village as a six year old.
Yeah, going through puberty a second time is traumatic, the upgrade to my junk does make it somewhat worth it… Malon's mood swings though, were the reason I became a Warden… give me Bublins, give me Staltroops… or even a pissed off Moblin… but Malon at that time of the month? I think I'm lucky not to have been made half a male.
Naturally the mood swings calmed as she got older, but then we realised her temper hadn't changed, she was a tomboy, proud of it, and hated guys leering at her voluptuous figure… something Arryn has yet to figure out.
My main job as a Warden is to patrol the forest, keeping the roads clear, but we are an auxiliary force of soldiers for the Jarl in Kakariko, so we see real action often enough. Just last month I was part of the advance force in a mission to rescue the Jarl's daughter, Hilda, but I took a beating when I discovered the Princess and her friends were guarded by a Moblin Chief, officially I'm on light duty until I recover.
Which is why I'm in Faron woods looking for the two strays, Malon was rounding up the herd and Arryn was apparently trying to show her his skills… idiot!
"Malon!" I can hear Hadvar shouting to my left and Soling to my right, "Arryn!"
Lowering my lantern I finally found footprints in the forest floor, I'd know those treads anywhere, Arryn's expensive Dodongo hide shoes, pillock.
"I've got tracks!" I just hear Hadvar respond over the howling wind, but I could see his lantern bobbing in my direction, a glance showed Soling's doing the same.
I don't know how long I follow the git's footprints, between the storm clouds in the sky and the wind now trying to blow me off my feet, I'm struggling to stay upright, blinking away the rain in my eyes, I stop… there's a light ahead, in a clearing.
"Malon!" I think I hear an answering shout as I reach the edge of the clearing, only…
It isn't a clearing.
I look around as I step out of the trees, in front of me is a pit, maybe an old quarry from the spiral path to the bottom, on the far side are looming ruins bathed in shadow, save for a single spot of light from a lantern.
I jumped down onto the rising path, but froze as I felt something in the air…
Magic…
This whole place was swimming in Aetherial Energies… Light, Dark and Something in between. I had a natural affinity for Magic so I could identify Magics around me, but this place… I felt like I was drowning in it.
I looked over my shoulder as I heard a gasp, Soling and Hadvar were staring at the sky, I looked up, I nearly fell on my arse…
Clouds of Magic swirled violently just above the level of the ruins, churning the storm above. As I watched lightning arced between the clouds and down onto the Earth.
"THAT'S NOT A NATURAL STORM!" Soling bellowed.
It was four lightning bolts striking a stone pillar at the bottom of the pit that stirred me into action, the winds grew even more violent as the clouds began to spiral, forming the eye of a hurricane, I briefly saw blue sky through the eye but was blown against the wall halfway around the pit as the Magic infused winds climbed past the cloud layer.
I used the wall to prop myself up as I continued to make my way forward, the wind was strong enough to push me into the wall, impeding my progress but keeping my feet planted, I slung my cold lantern on my belt, the wind having extinguished it, just as I reached a gap in the wall, I managed to make out the three figures huddling in the ruins.
Malon, Arryn and an old woman with a tall pointed hat, a hat a red so bright I'd mistaken it for a lantern.
In front of me was a gap in the wall, but in the gap, halfway to the next section, was an ancient statue of a strange bird that vaguely resembled the descriptions of Loftwings, the Goddess' blessed guardians, I'd read in books.
I knew I wouldn't make it on my own, so I channelled my magic into my legs, I crouched, then I jumped…
I was terrified I wouldn't make it, until my hands closed around the weathered stone, but as I felt my magic flowing back into my upper body I felt the stone under my hands come alive.
Before my eyes magic flowed through the stone in strange, and possibly decorative, patterns, before reaching out around it, a vortex formed around me, the statue its eye.
I clung to the stone as my feet left the ground, I closed my eyes and held on with all I had, even as voices mingled with the wind in my ear, vaguely I can recall Malon, Soling and Hadvar, but I distinctly remember another…
"…Now you've done it, Ignorant creatures! Do you know what you have done?! Have you any idea the focus such delicate magic requires? I would make you suffer if I had the time for recreation…"
I don't know why that is so clear in my memory, perhaps he wanted me to remember? I don't think I'll ever know, but I knew that voice belonged to the one responsible for that mess the instant I heard it again.
The stone started heating up under my hands as the vortex around it grew fiercer, even though I wore my full armour my body was being tossed around like a sack of wheat.
The stone burned, even under my thick gloves my skin started to blister… I let go.
Malon tries to reach for me as I pass, but the old woman holds her back, probably saved her life, Arryn watches in horror as I'm swept away…
My body twists involuntarily as I'm pulled through the air, it's five circles before I see the ground again, Soling and Hadvar are tiny dots, the other three are a single blob, for a brief moment I see something in the centre of the pit, then its gone, and my body turns again, leaving me to watch as the thick clouds thunder past and then…
Blue sky… beautiful blue sky…
Then I'm facing the clouds again, the hole getting very small.
"I've got to stop this," I mutter, I draw on my magic and send the charge into my cupped hands, forming a ball, I continue to pour energy into the ball for a few seconds, then flatten it into an ovoid and wrench it apart, creating a flat circular blast that radiates out from my body, cutting through not only the side I'm in but through the far side as well.
The blast disrupts the magic maintain the hurricane, causing the winds to break apart.
I stop rising as the winds die, but I'm still going sideways from the centrifugal force in the hurricane, it's then I realised just how stupid a move that was.
My body starts twisting again as gravity asserts its hold, just as the blood starts rushing to my head I see two winged specks some distance away, I lose sight as I start to fall, I finally right myself with my back to the ground and my legs in the sky.
Just as I black out I see a shape diving at me.