The Legend of Zelda: The Orb of the Goddess
The trees of the forest rustled softly as a gentle wind blew through them. High in the black sky, the moon illuminated a lone figure walking along a dirt road that wound through the trees. The figure, obviously male, wore a linen cloak and carried a large pack on his back. He trudged dutifully down the road, humming a soft tune to himself. His face was fair, with dirty blonde hair, sun-kissed skin, and blue eyes that shone with intelligence.
He had been on this road for weeks, making his way northward. Currently, he was nearing the border between the provinces of Gerundo and his destination of Hyrule, his ancestral homeland. Link, that was his name, was a Hylian, a people that were mostly indistinguishable from humans except for they had pointed ears and knack for magical arts, though Link seemed to have received the short end of the stick in terms of magic as he had extreme difficultly practicing even the most basic spells.
Link had no solid reason for going to Hyrule. He simply felt as if he should go. Considering he was from the Waker Islands, a small nation off the southern coast of the continent, it was no easy task to reach the province. He had to travel almost the entire width of the Empire. It had been a year since he left home before he even entered the southern parts of Gerundo. Undoubtedly his parents and siblings missed him, and he missed them too, but soon he will arrive at the border to Hyrule and complete his journey, though he loathed the thought of how long the return trip would take.
After an hour of continued walking, a set of lights appeared in the distance. Within minutes, Link approached the source, the torches of an imperial border station.
"Halt!"
Link stopped as a border guard hurried out to meet him.
"What is your business here?" The guard asked with an authoritative tone. He wore a very light set of leather armor, with a steel shoulder pad bearing the insignia of the Empire, a lion treading over a map of the continent with the symbols of the three Great Goddesses on the edges of the map.
"Just passing through." Link responded.
"Papers?" The guard asked, holding out his hand.
Link took off his pack, opened it, and began rummaging through it, eventually pulling out two sheets of paper and handing them to the border guard. The Empire liked to keep records of who went where, and so it was difficult to cross the provincial borders without identification.
The guard quickly looked through the papers and raised an eyebrow. "You came from the Waker Islands?" He asked.
Link nodded.
"Awfully long why to come to get in this god-forsaken place." The guard said.
"I'm Hylian." Link answered simply, shrugging.
"Yearning for the homeland?" The guard chuckle. "Wait here, I have go record this." He said, waving Link's papers in his hand before turning around and entering the border station.
Link stood in the middle of the road for what seemed like an hour before the guard reemerged and handed the young man his papers back.
"You're free to go." The guard said. "Just be careful. Hyrule is a harsh place, even without the war."
Link nodded and stepped past the guard and continued his journey. Link had heard all about the war while he was traveling. It's root laid in another war that occurred nearly forty years ago. The Great War of Fifty Years between the Empire and the Hegemony of Termina was a devastating conflict. While Link wasn't alive during and for sometime after the war, he had heard all about it growing up. The war began when the Terminans invaded the southern most tip of the continent and quickly grew into a bloody struggle for the fate of the Empire. The war ended in a stalemate, but the damage had been done to the Empire. The Terminans had managed to capture almost the entire southern half of the Empire, which had been the primary food source for the entire continent. The Terminians began an embargo on the Empire, determined to use starvation to finish what their armies had started. Without it's largest source of food, the Empire quickly turned to other provinces to keep starvation at bay. One of those provinces was Hyrule, which, despite it's cold northern climate, had a large agricultural economy. However, with the Imperial Treasury short on coin to pay Hyrulian farmers upfront, the Empire began to simply seize the food to be transported to other parts of the Empire, promising the farmers that they would be compensated as soon as the Empire could afford to.
Unfortunately, the farmer's were never repaid, and unrest began to build in Hyrule. Things came to a head when the emperor saw fit to move an Imperial Legion into Hyrule, to support the local authorities in quelling any unrest. Many in Hyrule saw this as an act of war against Hyrule's people. While Hyrule was part of the Empire, the Empire was less of one unified body and more of a large group of nations that had banded together for their mutual benefit. Theoretically, each nation, or now province, reserved the right to leave the Empire if they see fit. However, the Empire could not afford to let Hyrule leave, not when the Empire had no money to trade for food and thousands relied on the food extracted from the province for survival.
The emperor made sure the the royal family of Hyrule were loyal to him, along with many of the nobles that ruled their territories within Hyrule. However, the people of Hyrule did not want to remain part of the Empire, and because their nobles and rulers wouldn't listen to them on the matter, they revolted. Within a year, a rebel army had begun to form, centered around the enigmatic Rauru Mageheart, a man who fought in the Great War and now led the fledgling army, which had named themselves Magehearts in his honor. Of course, a real, full scale war had yet to break out. There were mostly minor skirmishes as both side tried to shore up as much support as possible. But only a fool would not see that the outbreak of a full scale war was on the horizon.
Link shook his head as he continued walking. "I picked the damnedest of times to come to Hyrule." He muttered to himself.
The sun has risen as Link continued to walk along the road. At some point the road had become very loosely cobbled. Birds began to tweet as Link pushed forward, following the road in the hope that it would take him to the nearest town. He rather not sleep in the wilderness like he had been for the past few weeks.
Soon enough, Link saw the light trails of smoke in the skies the were usually indicative of a settlement and picked up his pace, eager to reach civilization. It wasn't long until he was approaching the gates of a small town. Hanging above the gates was a wooden sign with the words "Avalon" craved into it. Link assumed this was the town's name.
Unfortunately, it seemed Avalon's gates were closed this early in the morning. Link could wait outside until the gates were open, but he had little patience for that seeing as his was tired and hungry from his long walk.
"Hey!" He yelled out, hoping someone would hear hear him. He waited a few seconds but no one came.
"Hey!" He cried out again, this time louder. A few seconds later a very annoyed looking soldier poked his head over the wall's ramparts.
"What do you what?"
The soldier's armor was very familiar, seeing as Link had seen it several times before in Gerundo. The sun gleamed off the steel armor of the Empire Legionnaires. He wore a chest-plate modeled after a naked torso with a blue tunic underneath. Link could see two steel bracers with a intricate design craved on each one and Link would bet all he had on that the legionnaire had the bottom part of his tunic covered in dangling straps of armor and bare legs with his feet in steel boots. The only thing the Legionnaire was missing was his helmet, which too was made of steel and had a horse hair crest.
"Can you let me in?" Link asked the legionnaire.
"No." The legionnaire said looking annoyed.
"Why?"
"Because the gates don't open till nine." The legionnaire looked to the rising sun and shielded his eyes. "And judging from the sun, it's around six." He smirked. "Sorry, mate."
"Surely you could let me in before then." Link asked, starting to feel very annoyed.
"It's a rule set down by my captain, not me." The Legionnaire shrugged. "Something to do with 'increasingly aggressive' wolves."
Link sighed in frustration and kicked the ground. "Come on now. Are you sure you can't make an exception this once?" Link asked, looking back up to the legionnaire. "I've been on the road for weeks."
The legionnaire again shook his head. "Can't. Sorry." This time he seemed sincere.
Crestfallen, Link shrugged off his pack and sat down with his back against the wall in order to wait until the gates were opened at nine.
"Hey, mate."
Link looked up and the legionnaire was leaning far over the edge, looking straight down at him. "Mate, there'll be a load of wagons carrying prisoners coming up the road in a while."
"I suppose you'll want me to get out of here because you can't risk me being here to free the prisoners." Link asked dejectedly, kicking a nearby pebble away.
"No, not at all. Listen, I'll have to open these gates to let those wagons in, and I'm pretty sure if you duck inside too no one will notice." The legionnaire said with a wink.
Link gave the legionnaire a surprised look. "You're serious?"
"You didn't hear it from me, mate."
"Thank you." Link said, filled with gratitude.
The legionnaire nodded and retreated away from the edge.
Not thirty minutes later did Link see three horse drawn wagons off in the distance, moving quickly down the road. One of the wagons was filled to the brim with tired looking legionnaires, while the other two carried a dozen men and women in some sort of brown uniform, all with their hands in chains.
"Open the gates!"
The town's wooden gates creaked open, both sides pushed by a legionnaire. Once the gates were fully open, they snapped into a salute as the wagons rumbled past. Once the final wagon was through, Link quickly passed the threshold, receiving only a side-ways glance from the legionnaires as the gates were closed behind him. The wagons continued down the road without pause, as Link looked around Avalon. The town was exceptionally small, only a bit larger than a village. All the houses had thatch roofs and the residents seemed to just be waking up, with some milling about, speaking to neighbors. One large tower, possibly a keep, rose above all other structures.
Link stared after the wagons, which seemed to be headed for the center of town. After a moment's consideration, Link decided to follow, his curiosity of the prisoners piqued. He broke into a light jog down the road. Residents of the town were also moving in the same direction, undoubtedly to see what the fuss was.
Link reached a point where the road curved around a building and he turned the corner to find several legionnaires blocking the road, making a wall with their shields. Beyond them was what was mostly likely the town square. The three wagons were stopped on the far side opposite of were Link was with legionnaires forcing the prisoners out of the wagons. Off to his left, Link saw the tower from earlier. It turned out that the tower was on it's own and not connected to a keep, which was beyond the wagons. Link guessed it was most likely a guard tower, though it certainly was one of the tallest he had ever seen.
He wasn't the first one to reach the square ad there was several of the towns residents standing in front of the legionnaires.
"What's going on?" One man asked.
"Imperial justice." One of the legionnaires answered gruffly.
"Imperial justice my ass!" A man, bent over with old age, yelled. "Who're are the poor sods you lot are accusing to be rebels now, eh?"
"We happen to know for a fact that these are rebels." A calm voice called out.
Link looked for the source of the voice, quickly finding it was coming from a middle-aged man who had just walked out of the guard tower. He was obviously a Labrynnian, the people hailing from the province of Labrynna, and who were responsible for the creation of the Empire. The Imperial Capital was located within Labrynna and many of the Empire's generals hailed from the province as well. The armor he wore was similar to the standard set worn by most legionnaires, but instead of being steely gray, the armor was a bright gold color and had the Goddess Din's symbol of power imprinted throughout.
"As a matter of fact, " The general continued, walking toward the crowd. "We have captured Rauru Mageheart himself." His lipped twitched up to form a half smile.
A large part of the crowd whooped in joy. However, those that did not cheer looked on with interest, or anger. One woman burst into tears. It became evident to Link the the common folk of Hyrule were not as united as he had heard.
Apparently not everyone wants to leave the Empire, Link thought, eying the celebrating townsfolk.
"What do you plan on doing with Rauru, Veturius?" The old man asked the General with a voice laden with barely hidden despair. He was not among the men that cheered.
"Oh, he, and his followers, will be executed promptly." General Veturius said nonchalantly. "We can't risk him escaping. The sooner he's dead, the faster his little revolt will collapse." With that the general turned away and went over to where the prisoners were being held. Link pushed his way through the crowd so that he could hear.
"So, Mageheart, I've finally caught you."
The man that was apparently Rauru Mageheart glared at Veturius. He was fairly old, but it was obvious that the man had the build of a soldier and several scars pockmarked his face, which was surrounded by a thick mane of gray hair and a bushy beard of the same color. He wore ragged clothing, seemingly the remains of some sort of battle uniform.
"Do you have anything to say for yourself?" Veturius asked.
"Tyrant." Rauru growled and spat at the general, hitting him in the cheek.
Veturius wiped the spit away. "I won't lie. I'll be happy to see you go, but not after making you watch every one of your Magehearts here meet their end at the chopping block." Veturius turned away.
"You're a monster." Rauru called after the general.
Veturius stopped walking, and then turned around slowly. He had a dark shadow over his face.
"I am a monster?" He asked in a low, calm voice, barely holding back anger. "I'm sorry, Rauru, but I'm not the one that seeks to cut off the Empire's food supply so the Terminans can simply walk over our starved corpses!"
"To the Dark Realm with the Empire!" Rauru bellowed.
Veturius spun towards his troops, barely keeping himself composed. "Start the executions!"
A group of legionnaires strode forward, led by one in bright, silvery armor, a centurion. Picking a prisoner at random, they dragged the unfortunate man toward center the square. Forcing him to his knees, the centurion unsheathe his sword.
Link looked away as the centurion sliced off the Mageheart soldier's head.
"Next!" The centurion called out, kicking the now head-less body aside.
Another Mageheart was chosen at randomly and pushed towards the waiting centurion, who grab the prisoner and forced him down to his knees.
"Gods damn you!" The Mageheart cried out. "Gods damn you all!"
The centurion lifted his blade, which gleamed in the morning sun, about to execute the poor man.
Suddenly, a small tremor coursed through the ground. It wasn't strong enough to throw anyone off balance, but it was definitely felt.
The centurion lowered his sword.
"What was that?" He asked.
"A simple tremor." Veturius answered dismissively. "Carry on with the executions."
"But sir, this part of Hyrule has no tremors."
"It does not matter to me which parts of this land has or doesn't have tremors." Veturius said, now looking irritated. "Carry on with the executions before I have you thrown in to be executed as well!"
The centurion looked like he was argue but apparently decided against it as he answered with a sullen, "Yes sir."
He lifted his blade back up. But before he could swing the blade down to end the life of the Mageheart before him, a second, much more powerful tremor. It was powerful enough to make all present stumble, and some even fell.
"What in Din's name?" Veturius looked around, his eyes fell on Rauru. "Is this your doing? Have you summoned sort of dark magic to save you?"
"I have nothing to do with this." Rauru said.
"Sir! The sky! Look at the sky!" One of the legionnaires shouted. Everyone looked up to see the sky darkening as unnaturally black clouds began to from, blotting out the sun. Link shivered as an usually cold breeze blew through the square.
"By Nayru..."
Without warning, a loud crackling noise, akin to the sound made by a log on fire, filled the air. Within the dark clouds, what looked like a large, red crack began to form in the sky, growing larger by the second. The breeze had picked up into a howling wind that sliced through Link's clothing, chilling him to the bone.
"What is going on?" The centurion cried out over the din, fear apparent in his voice.
"I don't know!"
Suddenly wind stopped and the noise of the crack disappeared, and for a second the town was bathed in silence. Link could almost feel the fear emanating from the townsfolk, legionaries, and Magehearts. A fear that he himself felt.
BOOM.
A wave of energy emanated from the rift, hitting the town of Avalon. It was so powerful that it knocked Link, and several others, off his feet. As Link impacted the ground, his head flew back, colliding with the stone road.
Dazed, Link looked up to the rift just in time to see a massive black ship fall out of it. The shape spread it's wings, and roared "I AM FREE!"
Link tried to get up, to get away from the creature that emerged from the crack. But with the creature came fiery brimstone, falling out of the crack. When they hit the ground, the rocks exploded. Screams began to fill the air, and within the rift, Link saw what could only be describe as a dark hell full of fire and death.
He tried to run, to flee, towards the gates of the town, but before he could take two steps, a projectile from above hit the ground in front of him, exploding with such force that he was thrown backwards. When Link hit the ground, he did not move.
"Hey! Can you hear me?" A voice called out, seemingly muffled.
Link groaned in response. Someone was shaking his shoulder.
"He's alive!" The voice said. "Hey! Hey! Can you get up? We need to go, now!"
Link's eyes slowly opened. His entire head was throbbing in pain, and anytime he moved a sharp pain shot up his side. Kneeling next to Link was a man. He wore the tattered remains of a Mageheart uniform. He had sandy blond hair and red eyes, indicting Sheikah descent.
"That's it, come on, get up. We don't have time." The Sheikah said, helping Link to his feet.
Another sharp stab of pain coursed through Link's body. He looked down and saw a splinter of wood embedded in the side of his abdomen. His clothing around the wound was red with blood, but the wound didn't seem that bad or life-threatening. The Sheikah saw Link had noticed his wound. "Now's not the time to treat injuries, we need to get out of the open."
"Wha-?" Link asked, still half dazed. The Sheikah began to pull him towards the great stone tower, and as Link's mind cleared, he realized that almost ever building was on fire. Looking up, Link saw the rift was gone, but the sky was still blackened, mostly from the smoke. However, Link blood ran cold at the slight of a shape flying towards him and his savior.
"What is that?" Link asked, looking at his companion. The Sheikah looked up and made a strange strangled noise. "Oh gods." The Sheikah said, panic in his voice. He pulled Link into a run towards the tower.
"Quickly!" He shouted. Link ignored the pain in his side and broke into a sprint to follow. The Sheikah reached the tower's door and flung it open.
"Come on!" He yelled to Link, who had fallen behind, as the massive creature flew closer. Link pushed himself, pushing himself as fast as he could possibly go. The Sheikah stepped aside as Link barreled past, slamming the door shut behind him just as a massive column of fire seared the ground just in front of the tower.
Link bent over, wheezing as he caught his breath. He glanced around the room and saw that they weren't alone. Several Magehearts, including Rauru himself, were sharing the room with them. He looked over to the Sheikah. "I'm Link." He said, holding out his hand. The Sheikah grabbed and shook Link's hand.
"Name's Sheik."
Link straightened out. "Did my eyes deceive me, or was that really...?"
"A dragon? Yeah." Sheik said solemnly.
"May the gods have mercy on our souls." Link muttered, and then winced. The splinter of wood was still imbedded in his side. He reached down and yanked out the splinter, hissing in pain as the blood began to pour freely.
One of the Magehearts, a young man with the beginnings of a beard, pulled a strip of cloth off a nearby table. "Here." he said, handing it to Link. Link smiled and took the cloth, wrapping the cloth around his wounded abdomen. It wasn't much, but it would help stop the bleeding until he could get proper medical attention. The back of his head throbbed as well. Reaching back, Link touched the source with two fingers. He cringed as his head stung, and pulling his fingers back he saw the tips wet with blood.
Link decided it was best to not dwell on his injuries. Despite the stone walls, he could still faintly hear the sounds of screams, fire, and the dragon attacking the town. He turned his attention to the Magehearts, opening his mouth to ask if the group of rebels had a way out of the dying town, but stopped when he saw Rauru Mageheart glaring at his Sheikah savior. Link now noticed the palpable tension hanging in the air, as all the other Magehearts looked between their leader and the Sheikah, some with fear, and others with interest.
"Lieutenant Harkane," Rauru began, addressing Sheik "I thought I told you to leave this man behind." The head Mageheart raised his hand and pointed at Link. The eyes of the other Magehearts swiveled and rested on Link for and second before returning to the grand show.
"Considering that he is standing here now," Rauru continued. "it would seem that you disobeyed the orders of your leader."
"Forgive me, my liege." Sheik fell to his knees. "But I could not allow him to die. It wouldn't have been right."
Rauru face, which had calmed when the Sheikah had addressed him as "liege", became red. "I am your sovereign!" He boomed. "It is I that will lead Hyrule to freedom! And I will not have dissension in my followers, no matter how well-intentioned this dissent is!"
"But-."
"Silence!" The master of the Magehearts practically screamed. He let out a long, drawn out breath, and his angry eyes turned to Link. The Hylian swallowed hard and took a step back, expecting Rauru to lash out at him. Instead, the Mageheart looked him up and down.
"Where are you from?" He asked.
"The Waker Islands, sir." Link answered.
The leader of the Magehearts approached, studying him thoughtfully. "I know of the Waker Islands." He said. "The won their own war for independence against the Empire shortly after the end of the Great War, did they not?"
Link nodded.
Rauru circled him, the rest of the Magehearts looking on in complete silence. The din of the chaos outside filled the air until Rauru spoke again. "Have you come here to assist Hyrule in her struggle for freedom?"
Link shifted. "No, sorry."
Rauru stopped in front of the young man, giving him an intimidating look. To Link's credit, he did not cower. "Why have you come then?" Rauru asked, stroking his beard.
"To see Hyrule." Link answered simply.
Rauru nodded thoughtfully. "I can find no fault in desiring to see our grand homeland. And it is most grand, even if those Imperial bastards have been raping and pillaging her for the better part of forty years."
"You may come with us on our escape." The leader said, clapping Link on the shoulder. "Even if the lieutenant disobeyed my orders, he is honorable and I am not a cruel man. Though," Rauru looked over his shoulder towards Sheik. ", he will be disciplined."
He let go of Link's shoulder's and turned to his men. "Alright, it's time to move, follow me and stick close. If you fall behind, you get left behind. And if any Imperial scum try to stop you, send them to the Sacred Realm or die trying." The Magehearts cheered. Their leader pushed past them and swung open the tower's door.
"Come on, men!" He shouted and broke into a run, with the Magehearts and Link following. The destruction seemed to have worsened, or maybe Link was just more conscious to observe it. Every house was ablaze, their wooden frames collapsing as fire ate away at the supports. The surviving townsfolk were in a panic, all trying to hide or escape. The road that lead to the town square which Link and the Magehearts had entered through was blocked by flaming logs, originating from what looked like an inn that had collapsed.
Legionaries were fighting, shooting arrows at the beast, which circled the sky, spewing down death and destruction.
Link followed the Magehearts through the square and down a side-street, heading for the west side of town. He assumed there was another gate along the walls there that would let them out of this hell hole.
They turned the corner only to find themselves face-to-face with a group of legionnaires. The Imperials paid them no mind, however, focusing on the beastly dragon circling the town. The creature was as black as night, with gleaming red eyes and sharp spikes growing out of it's spine and the ends of it's wings. It spun through the air masterfully, rolling and looping about as it rained death on the town below. Most unusual about this beast was an amber jewel encrusted on what one could call it's "forehead", or at least what was as close to a forehead as possible for a dragon.
"Shoot it! Shoot it!" One of the legionaries cried, nocking an arrow into his bow. His compatriots did the same and loosed the projectiles towards the monster.
"Past them, quickly!" Rauru shouted, but before the group shove their way through, a black shadow covered them.
"By the gods!" A legionnaire screamed before being squashed by the dark from that descended from above. The dragon hit the ground with such force that it toppled everyone over.
The dragon was right in front of Link. It roared, it's hot breath washing over the pitiful mortals in front of it. Link started to scramble away but the dragon looked at him, and the two locked eyes. Link saw intelligence in the depths of the red pools, and what seemed like recognition. The dragon seemed to grin evilly and opened it's mouth wide, and Link saw fire beginning to form in the depths of it's throat.
Link closed his eyes, thinking his death was only seconds away. Not even one day in Hyrule...
However, there was a sharp twang, and a mighty roar. Link opened his eyes, he saw a lone legionnaire, armed with a bow firing another arrow into the dragon's face.
"Death to you, unholy beast!" The legionnaire yelled, nocking another arrow and loosing it at the monstrosity.
The dragon roared in pain again.
"Run!" Link heard the voice of Rauru Mageheart cry out. "To the keep!"
Link turned his head to see the retreating backs of the Magehearts, fleeing the way they came.
Inspired by their comrade, the remaining legionaries held their ground and began attacking the dragon.
"FOOLS", The monster bellowed, much to Link's surprise, and opened it's jaw, a torrent of flame forming rapidly.
Link looked to the side and saw a small alleyway. He sprung to his feet and ran into the space between the building just as a massive plume of fire race out of the evil lizard's mouth, consuming the brave legionnaires that tried to fight it.
Link flew down the alley, not daring to look back lest he found himself staring at a column of flame spewed from the horrible monster. He emerged from the alley onto the next street over.
He had no idea were to go. Panting, he looked around, seeing the tower rising in the distance. It was crumbling, with fire raging within the higher floors. He recalled Rauru's order to head to the town's keep.
Taking a deep breath to steel himself, Link broke into a run, heading down the street to the keep. As he ran, he realized that the screams and sounds of battle he had heard earlier were no longer there. Either they were now dead, or they had escaped. Link had a sick feeling that it was the former. He soon arrived at the square. Unlike before, it was completely empty now, no legionnaires, no townsfolk, nobody.
He turned towards the keep and saw a group of legionnaires fighting on the battlements. A dark shadow passed over the sun and Link broke into a run, not needing to see in order to confirm that the dragon was circling above the keep.
He barreled towards the keep great wooden doors, bashing them open to get away from the horrors outside. The doors swung shut behind him and Link found what was left of the Magehearts gathered around a weapons rack. They all turned when he entered, looks of shock on their faces.
"You're alive!" Sheik said, grinning.
"Yeah, no thanks to you all." Link said. Sheik sobered and turn away. They were in a sort of atrium, with a iron chandelier hanging above their heads and several doors along the stone walls, leading off into other parts of the keep.
"Impressive feat." Rauru said. "Maybe you aren't deadweight." He picked up a sheathed sword and tossed it to Link. "Do you know how to wield a blade."
"I knows the basics." Link said unsheathing the sword. "What is your plan?"
"We will fight our way out." Rauru said, handing out more weapons to his followers.
"Against that beast?" Sheik asked, incredulous. "Are you insane?"
"I believe it is the only option we have." The Mageheart leader said, picking out a longsword for himself. "I refuse to stay in this keep and die like a coward."
The other Magehearts shifted uncomfortably and muttered amongst themselves. They did not seem to agree with their leader. Rauru's eyes flashed.
"Disobey me." He said, in a low, dangerous voice. "And I will cut you down where you stand."
The Magehearts looked deeply dissatisfied. One stepped forward. "Why should we follow you?" He asked. "We're all dead anyways."
A look of fury on his face, Rauru raised his blade high in the air while the soldier stared at him, defiance in his eyes. In a flash, Sheik had moved between them with unnatural speed. His red eyes blinked in anger.
"You will not strike him down." The Sheikah said in a low voice.
"Get out of my way lieutenant." The head Mageheart growled.
"No."
Rauru began to gasp for breath and shake from the fury that welled in the old man. Link feared the older man was about to keel over from a heart-attack. "You dare defy me!" He shouted. "Get out of my way or you shall be the first I strike down tonight!"
Sheik snarled and opened his mouth to respond when one of the doors along the walls the atrium banged open and a group of five legionnaires poured in armed with swords and large rectangular shields, led by the centurion Link had saw earlier.
"I thought I had heard some of the famed Mageheart infighting." The centurion said, grinning wolfishly and drawing his sword.
The Magehearts forget their quarrel and readied to face their long-time foes. The two sides, all with weapons drawn, faced each other. The Magehearts out-numbered the legionnaires by three men, but the Legionnaires were better armored and equipped.
"I'll enjoy this." Rauru said, twirling his blade above his head. The Imperials braced, holding their shields in front of themselves.
However, before either side could strike, Link stepped into between the two. "Stop!" He commanded.
Both sides gave the Hylian disbelieving and slightly offended looks. "What do you mean 'stop'?" The centurion asked.
"Look." Link began. "A damn dragon is attacking this town. As far as we are aware we are the only survivors. We don't have time to continue this war of yours. If we're going to get out of this alive, we need to work together."
There was a few seconds of silence, and then Sheik lowered his weapons, two hand-axes, and stepped up next to Link. "The man's right. We can't escape and fight each other at the same time."
One by one, the would-be combatants lowered their weapons and eyed each other suspiciously. Even Rauru sheathed his blade, though reluctantly.
"Okay." Link said, a feeling relief washing over him. He turned to the Legionnaires. "Do you know a way out of here?"
One of the legionnaires nodded at the keep's main doors. "There's one." He said jokingly, with a grin.
Despite himself, Link cracked a smile. "I mean one that doesn't involve trying to run from a dragon."
The centurion looked off thoughtfully for several seconds. "Well, if I recall correctly, there is a well down in the kitchens, yes?" He turned to his men for confirmation.
"Yes sir."
"We're looking for an escape, not a pool of water." Rauru said from behind Link, coming up to the Legionnaires, his arms crossed.
The centurion glared at the leader of the Magehearts. "Avalon doesn't draw it's water from a still source. A stream moves in the caves under the town, and if I recall correctly, the cave the stream runs through leads out into the valley."
At that moment, the ground shook violently. The dragon outside seemed to have finally turned it's attention to the keep itself.
Link shot a look at the Magehearts. "Well, then, what are we waiting for? Let's get to that well."
The centurion nodded. "Follow us then." He turned, with his legionnaires following closely, and walk over to one of the doors dotting the wall of the atrium. Flinging it open, the centurion motioned for the rest to follow.
The unlikely group moved through the keep as it continue to shake. Dust and mortar fell from the ceiling and the roars of the beast on the outside could be heard. They descended down into the lowest level of the keep, entering a room that was obviously a kitchen, filled with food, dishes, and eating utensils.
"There." The centurion pointed. On the opposite side of the room was a small stone well. Link walked over it and listened. The sound of trickling water could be heard from down below.
"Alright, who's first?"
The Magehearts and Imperials looked at each other, neither willing to send there own men down first in fear of weakening their numbers, providing a chance for the other to attack.
Link sighed. "I thought there was a truce."
The centurion gave Rauru a glare before looking over to Link. "That doesn't mean that the Magehearts will uphold it. They aren't known for honesty."
Rauru looked furious. "Now listen here you Imperial shite stain. The honor of men far outstrips yours!"
The centurion laughed. "Only if spreading lies and betraying your country were considered honorable."
The two sides glared at each other with loathing in their eyes until the ground shook, more violently than before, causing them all to stumble.
"When you all are done?" Link asked, looking thoroughly irritated, gripping a nearby table edge for balance. "Rauru, you have more men, so maybe you should send the first man down?"
Rauru frowned. "Fine then." He looked over at Sheik. "Lieutenant, you're first."
"Yes, sir." The Sheikah respond. He walked over to the well and climbed into it, gripping the rope used to pull buckets of water up to ease himself down.
The group watched Sheik disappear over the edge and waited until they heard a splash, followed by a yelp.
"There's a stream down here alright!" Sheik called up. "And it's cold! And dark! We'll need torches."
The centurion nodded at his men, who quickly went off to gather torches. Link turned to the Magehearts. "Next?"
It took the better part of thirty minutes for everyone to descend into the cavern below. Link was the last one to climb down the rope. He splashed down in chilly water that went up to his calves. The legionnaires and Magehearts were standing, some carrying lit torches, all shivering from the icy water.
Without a word, the group set off, trudging through the water. As they walked, the roars faded into the distance and the shaking of the ground gave way to barely noticeable tremblings. The walk in the stream was somewhat treacherous. Occasionally, one of the men would step into a part of the stream-bed that was deeper than before, causing the poor sod to fall face first into the water. After an hour, it had happened to each man at least once, and now they were all cold, wet, and very miserable.
Link was near the back of the group. He had fallen two times, and wanted nothing more than to emerge from the underground caverns.
"Hey." Sheik had appeared at his side, seemingly emerging from the shadows. Link jumped a bit.
Sheik laughed. "Sorry, I tend to move pretty quietly."
Link waved the apology. "Because you're Sheikah, right?"
Sheik grinned. "Partly."
Both men continued on in silence until Sheik spoke up. "Look, I want to apologize."
Link gave him a quizzical look. "What for?"
"When I abandoned you to that dragon." Sheik said, looking uncomfortable. "I should have tried to pull you out of there, seeing as I'm the reason your traveling with us right now."
"Don't worry about it." Link said.
They continued to walk behind the rest of the group. Link looked up towards the roof of the cave. "Hey, what's that?" He asked, nudging Sheik and pointing up.
Above them was what looked like a giant cobweb. It dangled from the roof of the cave, illuminated by the torches held by the group. Some of the other men had stopped to look at the strange sight.
"It's just a cobweb." Sheik said, though he didn't seem entirely convinced. The other men shrugged and continued forward.
However, as the group pressed forward, the more and more cobwebs appeared until they were blocking the cave.
"I don't like this." One of the Magehearts said, pulling out his sword to begin hacking away at the webs.
Their progress was slowed as the group began cutting their way through the webs, which got sticker and stronger the further they progressed. Finally, the webs seemed to give away and the group spilled out into a part of the cave that opened out. The walls, from what they could see, were covered with webs, with large "beams" of webs crossing one side of the room for the other.
"What is this place?" The centurion asked, looking around.
"I don't know, but I don't think we should stay." A Mageheart replied.
Link walked forward, taking a torch for one the Magehearts. As he walked, the webbing stuck to the soles of his boots. Holding the torch up, the Hylian looked around. All he could see was the white webbing on the ground and walls.
Link then looked up and felt his stomach churn. Above the group in the darkened ceiling of the cave was what seemed like stars. Stars that were moving closer, blinking, and had started to make chittering sounds once Link had seen them.
"Look!" Link shouted, pointing at the sight.
Quickly, the "stars" descended into the torchlight, revealing them to be the eyes of dozens of monstrous spiders, all roughly the size of a large dog.
"Skulltulas!" A Magehearts cried out.
The cave was filled with the sound of blades being drawn and was quickly followed by an increase in the spiders' chattering. Link drew his own blade just as the skulltulas began leaping down from the walls. The creatures were terrifying, covered in shiny brown and black hairs, their mandibles gnashing together in excitement at the thought of their next meal.
Link slashed at one that started got too close to him. It squealed and scurried away, bleeding some sort of brown liquid. Two more took it's place and more continued to descend from the ceiling.
Link kept swinging his sword wildly, backing up as more and more skulltulas focused their attention on his. The majority of the spider creatures were going after the rest of the group, which had bunch together to defend themselves.
Link slowly maneuvered his way over to them, hacking and slashing all the way.
"What do we do?" He asked, shouting over the horde's deafening chattering.
"I don't know!" Rauru yelled, slicing a spider in half.
Suddenly there was a scream, and Link looked to find the source being a Mageheart soldier being dragged down to the ground by several skulltulas. They bit into his flesh, injecting the poor man with a fast acting poison. The spiders had just begun to wrap the body up when three Magehearts separated from the main group, and killed the spiders, only to be surrounded by more.
Link hacked apart several more spiders when he saw it.
A dropped torch had begun to set fire to the webs. Link suddenly had an idea.
"Burn them! Burn the webs!" He shouted, holding his own torch near a large column. It was surprisingly flammable, catching fire in only a few seconds. The other men saw and began thrusting their torches into the webbing. Soon the skulltulas' home was ablaze. The chattering of the spiders changed into a panicked hisses and squeals as they began to retreat.
"Now what?" Link heard Sheik's voice call out.
"Follow the damn stream!"
The group began to run through the stream, cutting down and webs and skulltulas that got in their way.
Link's lungs burned as a heavy smoke began to hang in the air, but he continued running. They ran and ran, until a small dot of light appeared in the distance.
An exit!
The men ran even harder towards the light. Link squinted as the hole of light grew bigger as they got closer.
Suddenly they were in the outside world. The sun was blinding, but all the men laughed and welcomed the light of it.
Link looked back at the cave, but it did not seem like the skulltulas had followed them. However, high in the distance, Link saw a massive cloud of smoke. He knew it was Avalon, or at least what was once Avalon.
Rauru looked around, counting what was left of his men. Out of the seven that left Avalon with him, only five remained, two having have been lost to the Skulltulas. The centurion was doing something similar. However, the legionnaires had only lost one man.
"Well." The centurion turned to face the Mageheart leader. "I suppose we'll go our seperate ways now then"
Rauru nodded and gruffly said, "Indeed."
The centurion nodded and motioned for his men to follow him and they quickly departed, armor clanking as they disappeared into the trees. It seemed that neither side had made much of a lasting impression on each other. At least they didn't try to kill each other.
Rauru turned to his men. "Well, let us begin heading back to Ordon. I daresay you all will want to get home."
The Magehearts nodded and smiled in agreement.
Rauru smiled and began to turn around when Sheik spoke up.
"Sir, wait."
Rauru looked over his shoulder and glared at the Sheikah. Apparently, he still wasn't happy with his lieutenant.
Sheik seemed unfazed and continued. "My sister lives in a village down in the valley. The village is near Avalon, I'd like to stop by and check in on her."
Rauru regarded Sheik coldly. "Very well. You can go, but the rest of us will return to Ordon."
"Thank you, sir."
"And let me make it clear that you will still be disciplined when you return to Ordon."
"Yes, sir."
The Magehearts turned their backs on Sheik and soon they too disappeared in the trees, leaving Link and Sheik alone.
"So, do you have anywhere to go, Link?" Sheik asked.
"Not really. Do you think that I could travel with you to that village you spoke of?" Link said.
"Sure." The Sheikah said.
Link smiled. "Thanks."
Sheik grinned and motioned for Link to follow. "Come on then.
Author's note: Hey guys! Thanks for reading! I tried to make this story about a year ago, but while making the second chapter, I felt I wasn't skilled enough to give the story justice. So I deleted the original Goddess Orbs, and a year later created this newer version. Skyrim inspired me to make this story, and one of the reasons I discontinued the original was that I felt that it was basically a rip-off of the game. However, this version is more original, and while the Skyrim influence is still there, I feel like I made it more Zelda-like.