People always ask: What would it be like to be dead? What do ghosts do all day and night? Would it be fun to be a ghost? Well, I can honestly say that it sucks being a ghost. Being dead is far less fun from being alive. As for how we spend our time, we sleep in the day, and wander aimlessly at night. Most wander aimlessly, anyway. My name is Ka'azan, and I'm a Poe.
There were sixty of us to start with. Now we are down to three or four. I've not been to the lake to check on Daw, the poe who resides on the cliff side under some amusement attraction or other. The wolf was last seen lingering around in that general area, and I worry about my others. The four sisters in the Arbiter's Grounds are gone, the others in all of the temples have vanished, and even the others who went into the skies are gone. We last four are all that is left of the Poe community.
Typically, I love wandering the ruins just past the South exit of Castle Town. I skirted about the area with another of our kind, and we would often meet up with one more, who played around on the steps. Those days are over though; we never saw it coming. It happened right before dawn... the wolf attacked. Wolves are highly uncommon in areas outside of Snow Peak, and even then the only place you ever see them is around the base of Zora's Domain. This wolf, though, is different. He is not from the snowy land past the lake. The first time I saw him, he came from the forested area towards the south, in the Faron province. I highly doubt that is his origin.
Normally a Poe will take a liking to one spot, and root itself to the area, it will grow attached. Most of the time this is because the spot is related to the death we went through. I have never completely rooted myself down, I dislike the idea. Then again, I cannot remember more than my name and old job of my prior life as one of the living; this makes me think that it gives me no reason to become attached to a singular spot. I liked to frequent the area outside of Castle Town because others liked the area as well. The desert was another area.
I woke up for the first of many times in the center room of the Arbiter's Grounds. The four sisters were around me, and they were so kind. I couldn't understand them at first, but soon everything cleared up as I opened my eyes and tried to focus.
"What is your name, new one?"
"Maybe he cannot remember it."
I blinked and peered at them through my blueish silver hair. I lifted a hand to swipe it from my eyes, and stopped and stared at my fingers. They were white, and gave off a kind of glow. It was eerie, but comforting. One had asked my name... My name? What was my name? Images flashed through my head. A younger sibling, maybe, came running up while calling a name. The memory dissipated, and I repeated the name.
"Ka'azan." My voice was hoarse and raspy, and words did not come easily. The sisters all laughed, and it sent chills through my body. At the same time though, it sounded pleasant to my ears. They explained that were were souls of those who lived and died in agony, and could not rest in peace. I had lived such a horrible life that I was to relive a new one, albeit as a tangible spirit? I wished to know what I had gone through, but no more memories came to my aid.
The following years, I explored the grounds, talking to the skeletal warriors who liked to rest in the sand, teasing the Stalfos who could not leave their rooms as they pleased. I met several others like me and the sisters in the deeper parts of the grounds, and they revealed that it was safe for us here. Outside, daylight forced us to go into a slumber. Certain things could actually re-kill us, and the elements zapped us of our power. Despite his warning, I wished to see it. The sisters told me that, before I could go outside, I had to have a scythe. I had a lantern as any respectable Poe did, and I carried it under me, but I started to notice that all the other Poes had these wonderful looking things they carried around. They had a metal half-moon piece attached to a stick of wood, and when it was made so they could wield it, it made a wonderful sound when you swung it.
The sisters sent me to pick materials for my very own scythe. I spent weeks killing off Stalfos to get a magical substance their bones held. It would make the weapon mine and mine alone, as well as form the metal of the blade. Instead of just bolts to hold it, I pried and pulled at an old, broken, chandelier until my fingers were raw and silvery purple blood oozed from them. I got a grating piece that I was very happy with. And then I searched and searched and searched until at least I found a crooked wooden staff close to the mirror chamber. When the sisters showed me how to make it all combine, I was ecstatic about my new weapon. I played with it ll the time. Rats, when struck with it, would fall dead, then turn into the kind of being similar to my own. They lived, but were not in the living dimension. It did not work on the undead, sadly. I wanted to have one of my best friends be able to communicate with me more easily.
Then there was the day that the man came through. The sages who protected the chamber of the twilight mirror had him dragged through. He was what the sisters called a Gruedo. I had seen some before, and they had all been women. As was my understanding, a male was not normal in that race. I followed behind the sages and the man, staying out of sight. I never got to see what became of him though, since the second dawn hit, and the Mirror Chamber was bathed in light, I understood what they meant by we went to sleep. I awoke that evening, and nothing looked right. It smelled stale, and everything had the essence of chaos to it. It was enthralling, listening to the land whisper stories about what had happened. That was the night I decided to leave. I said my goodbye to the skeletal warriors and the sisters, and left two night later when I had stored more energy to survive off of.
When we are awake, we use energy, which we collect from activity around us. When we sleep, we use energy, but do not collect it. It is dangerous to let yourself get low on energy. I traveled all over, and came to like the spot fore mentioned near Castle Town, but never stayed in one spot for too long. It was seven more years, and I saw the wolf when I was in the Eldin province. I also saw him attack the Poe who lived on the hill in the area. He fought and took down the other easily. It was surprising that he could see more than our lanterns, and when he ripped out what we called our soul, I fled. I ran straight to the sisters and told them of what I saw, and they warned me to stay away from the wold from the forest. They had felt the flames of more and more of the others going out, and they wished for me to stay safe.
Stay safe, they said; so what safer place to stay than on the trail of your enemy. I stalked him at a far distance, and I was shocked when I saw him change into a human. I had killed so many of those flabby things when they wandered too close to the glow of my light, and now here one was, parading as a beast and killing us. After twenty of us were gone, he stopped and did other quests for a while. I never followed him into new temples. Those sacred places were tainted, and I could not bare to enter any without a heavy weight bearing down on me. I dared once to follow him, and half-way past the first room, I was thrown into a fit of pain and agony. I almost shattered my lanterns when I fell from my spot near the ceiling. It was memories of my living days. I had been an archer in another land, similar to this one. Then a war happened, and.... and.... everything stopped. It just, stopped. I couldn't remember anymore, but the pain from the memory was enough to make me want to never see that again. I left that temple and went back to the desert.
My name hadn't been Ka'azan as I had thought at first. That had been the word for older brother in the language I used to speak. It didn't matter, it was my name now. I may be one of the youngest of the sixty Poes, but I acted as though I had years of knowledge. Others tended to steer clear of me at first because my attitude wasn't all that great. I didn't care, really. Only a few of them dared try to crack the barrier I put up, and I let them in. They deserved nothing less for being willing to try.
It broke my heart when the wolf came to the land where my two friends and I were hanging out. He was changing back and forth from man to beast, moving statues with some odd rod of sorts, and collecting ancient letters. He killed them both, and right as he turned to lunge for me... dawn broke. I ran when night fell again, and kept track of who was left. It wasn't many, and I found that he was hunting us down now. He always seemed to be where I thought I could hide less.
Tonight, I am going to check on Daw. When I arrive at her ledge though, I am sad to find the shattered remains of her lanterns in the grass, the flame in it flickered out and gone... for good. Now there are only three. I go for the other one who hides on a ledge above Death Mountain Trail, and his lantern is smashed as well; two left, now. I go down to the grave yard, and I feel a horrid dread to hear the quays singing about the death of the only other Poe. Her grave has no lantern pieces by it, but the silvery purple blood is on the grass all around it. I'm all that's left, aren't I? I can't bare to look at the murder scene, and leave the grave yard. Kakariko is quiet at night, and the little goron boy who sells stuff at night pays me no mind. He has seen things worse than a wandering soul, and knows I will do him no harm. I make my way up to the watch tower, then realize another one was killed here, and promptly turn to mull around the rubble of an old store house.
It's almost dawn when I hear an annoying giggle. I turn around and look at him. He's human right now, but he's staring right at me. I lower closer to the ground, and his eyes follow. The thing normally mounted on his back comes from his shadow at this time, and says something about me being the last one. So I am alone, then? Might as well let him have me. He changes to a wolf, and growls while stalking forwards. I do nothing to move or attack, and it makes him double weary of me. He lunges and strikes me, and I fall back. He jumps back and readies for another strike. A wicked smile places itself on my stitched lips. He lunges again and I feel my blade swinging through the air. It strikes him and he yelps as he is thrown back. I cackle as the rush goes through me, then look as dawn rises. He lunges and snaps where I would have been seconds ago. He snaps and snarls in the spot where I was floating moments before. He comes back every night after that, always looking for me, following a trail I left. He always finds my new hiding spot, and I always disappear right as dawn comes, and right as he is about to finish me.
I'm running low on energy, and I can't fight back for much longer. I commend his efforts though. I will not go down easily, but damn that wolf is persistent.