Chapter 2: A New World
Hey, guys. I have to write this chapter, Wave's being lazy and I'm tired of editing. I know the whole dang storyline better than he does, so I'll take over for him for a while. Second of all, I'm VERY sorry this is coming out late. I've encountered a rather difficult family problem, and it's made me so depressed I haven't written anything in a while.
Majora: Everyone knows Gerudo owns nothing. So go away lawyers.
Special thanks to Sakurahanaalice, Seldvia, and "Some one" for reviewing!
Sky. Rushing water. Maria groaned, opening her eyes. Everything hurt, her head especially. Soft grass and moss brushed her neck. "Ugh . . . . What the hell?" and then she remembered. "Rane?!" She jumped to her feet. Anxiously, she started to lose her composure, angry with them for keeping her waiting. This isn't right . . . where is everyone? They were just up that hill . . . except there was no hill.
The spring beside her was not the same. The whole area, surrounded by high walls of natural earth and stone, was unfamiliar. Water spilled from a higher pool into the sand, barely ankle-deep. Large, peaceful trees framed the pool, letting in tiny shafts of light. A rainbow stretched across the rocks, and a cool breeze ruffled her hair.
This wasn't the same place she'd been.
All right, calm down . . . she took a deep breath . . . .
And began to yell. "Rane?! Kuza! Hakkai?! Anyone?! Hello?!" she ran from one end of the area to the other. "HAKKAI?! Farore's Wind, where are you?!"
A sudden snap sounded behind her, and then a voice came from behind. "Are you lost?" she whirled around. A young boy, maybe fourteen or fifteen, stood at the enclosure entrance. He wore gray pants cut off at the knee, a white, simple shirt stained with dirt, and no shoes. His long, black hair ended roughly at the shoulder, his skin tanned from the sun. However, despite his rather untidy appearance, he seemed like someone she could trust.
"W-what?" she stuttered blankly. He'd spoken, but she hadn't heard, as caught up in panic as she was.
The boy clicked his tongue. "I said, 'are you lost?'" he repeated slowly. "Who're you calling for, anyway?"
"I . . . I was looking for my friends," she said hesitantly. "They were . . . I don't know where, I saw them, we were traveling together . . . ." she trailed away, but the boy gave her a strange look.
"Well, there's no one around here, kid," he replied. "What's your name?"
It took a long moment for her to speak. "Maria . . . ." What's the harm in telling him my name? she wondered. Best not even to think of those possibilities.
"Well, Maria, I'm Natrias, but you can call me Nat. Everyone does."
She lifted one eyebrow. In one of her father's books, she'd read about Natrias, the corrupt Hylian King finally killed for the sake of Hyrule by Rixa II, his own wife. Why a commoner had a noble's name, she did not know. Of course, her brain was only throwing out random facts to ease the mounting panic before she went insane.
"Nice to meet you." Maria remembered something else. "This may sound strange, but I need to know. Where exactly are we?"
Nat looked even more surprised. "You don't know?"
"I wouldn't ask if I did know," she growled curtly. He rolled his eyes. Obviously, wherever he came from, he was used to sarcastic comments by the females in his life.
"We're in Hyrule."
There was a silence, and then Maria realized the oddness of his statement. "What?! We can't be! I was just . . ." her voice trailed away weakly. She cleared her throat. "I mean, we were, my friends and I, were heading for Hyrule, but we were miles away . . . how did I get here?"
Nat shrugged. "You look tired," he commented. "And you're bleeding." It was true. A thin line of blood dripped from her cheek. She scowled and brushed it away impatiently.
"What of it?" she demanded coldly.
He sighed. "Come with me, I'll take you home. My mother might be able to help you, or Aunt Uli." He turned and walked away briskly, but she remained rooted to the spot. "Are you coming?!" he yelled. She scowled and ran to catch up.
-- & --
Natrias lived in a small, simple house in a small clearing, removed from the village he called "Ordon." As he opened the door to his home, Maria saw four or five other people rushing about the house, gathering clothes, cooking, working on various tasks. "Maria, this is Messa," he pointed to a girl sitting at the foot of the stairs. She couldn't have been much older than five, with long black hair and bright green eyes. Her clothes consisted of a plain white dress and gray leggings. Messa smiled childishly and greeted her in a piping voice, but Maria remained coldly impassive. She never really liked young children, having no experience in interacting with them.
"Who's this, Nat?" a young woman, maybe sixteen years old, stood at the base of the stairs, a basket of laundry in her arms, long, blonde hair tied in a braid. Stern blue eyes sparked at the sight of Maria, a look nothing short of distaste. Maria met the glare with an equally venomous one of her own.
"Rama, this is Maria. I found her outside, in Ordon Spring."
"Hmm." She seemed skeptical. "Aunt Uli?" she called.
"Yes, Rama?" An older woman came from a room at Rama's call. Her short, sunny hair lay over the top of her head, her pale face gleamed pink with heat from the cooking she had been attending to. Her clothes were simple, held together with scraps of cloth and a thick belt. She looked like a friendly sort of woman, and instantly, Maria liked her.
"Natrias brought something home." Rama waved a hand in Maria's direction, and then stalked off without looking back.
Uli looked worried. "Oh, dear," she sighed. "Forgive Rama, she is not very trusting. What's your name, dearie?"
While Natrias introduced Maria, the girl noticed Rama standing in the doorway of a room to the left, glaring with utter hatred at this intrusion in her home. Her eyes were narrowed; her hands gripped the doorframe with fingers turned white from the pressure. Karir Saka," she mouthed. In Ancient Hylian, it was an old saying. Rama would watch Maria carefully for any threat. And if she found something threatening about her, she would kill without hesitation.
"Zaru Eanzami," Maria silently replied in Gerudo. I'm waiting.
-- & --
Dinner was a cheerful affair. Uli's husband, Rusl, and their son Colin came over to eat with Lia and Saru, Nat's parents, Messa, Nat himself, and Rama. All throughout the meal, Maria sensed Rama glaring at her. Although she attempted to block it out, the venomous blue eyes never left her face.
Finally, things took a disastrous turn. Rama looked Maria directly in the eye and said, "So, Maria," she said the word with raw sarcasm, "what brings you here?"
Nat, talking with his mother, immediately quieted. Rama's loathing glare never left Maria's face, but she remained emotionless.
"A few friends and I were travelling to Hyrule, I was separated from them," she said coldly.
"Oh? And what mother would allow their . . . offspring, to travel without them?"
For once, Maria let emotion show through. She scowled. "My mother is dead," she said flatly. It's not really a lie, she reasoned, the Gerudo think she's dead, and I certainly don't know her . . . .
Rama was smirking. "Well, then, were you travelling with your father's new wife?"
"No. He's dead also. I'm alone."
Silence greeted her words, and Rama calmly took a sip of her drink. "Pity. You're probably the reason he's dead, am I correct?"
Maria was trembling in fury. "No, I am not the reason my father died." Everyone else focused on the verbal battle, Messa completely unaware of the problem. Lia and Saru watched Rama, but Nat, Uli, Colin, and Rusl stared openly at the foreigner.
Rama was perfectly calm, a tiny smirk playing on her thin lips. "Well then," she mused, "perhaps he killed himself so he wouldn't have to take care of you. Probably hoped you'd die in a gutter somewhere."
Maria leaped up, but Uli, sitting next to her, pushed her down. "Rama," ordered Lia sharply, frowning at her smug daughter. "That is quite enough. How dare you insult our guest?"
"How can you call her a guest?!" demanded the infuriated teenager. "She's a worthless drain on society that nobody loves! It's why she's alone!"
Nat grabbed Maria's hand. "Come on," he said in a low voice. "Let's get out of here, let them argue."
-- & --
No one noticed Nat and Maria slip out of the dining room and into the kitchen. Once there, Nat sighed and held the door open a crack. "Wow, Rama looks pretty mad," he commented. "I wonder why she hates you so much."
Maria looked glum. "What she said is true. I am alone in this world. There isn't anyone else who cares whether I live or die." She rested her head in her hands. "My mother died at my birth, my father was killed a few months ago. I don't have anyone else . . . ." she trailed away dismally.
"Don't say stuff like that," ordered Nat. "If all else fails, maybe we can take care of you. Cheer up, Maria; it's not all that bad."
The girl sighed. "I suppose." Reluctantly, she went to peer through the crack with Nat.
Lia stood in front of Rama, an angry look on her wan face. Her hands twisted the fabric of her skirt. "Rama," she began sharply. "Why did you treat her so badly? She's only a child; she did nothing to hurt you or us . . . ."
"I don't care," hissed Rama. "I don't trust her, Mama. Did you see her eyes? They're yellow . . . it's unearthly. I've never seen a decent human being with eyes like that. And she carries a sword. What if she decides to use it? She could kill us all!"
"I doubt she will," replied Naru sternly. He locked his hands behind his back. "She's a small, frightened child trying not to let her fear show. She's been separated from her friends; she's alone in Hyrule without a family." Maria was faintly shocked that Naru could sense all that, he'd barely spoken a few words to her. Her respect for the family rose considerably.
"Besides," added Rusl, playing with the hilt of his knife, "one child against me, Naru, and Nat? The kid doesn't stand a chance."
Rama scowled in frustration. Her hands shook angrily, her eyes flashed in the direction of Rusl, Uli, Naru, and Lia in turn. Colin, uncomfortably close to this battle, quailed under her fierce stare. Finally, jaw twitching, Rama stood abruptly, upsetting a cup of water. She twirled around, skirts billowing, and left without another word, vanishing into the living room.
-- & --
That night, Maria shared a room with Nat, Messa sleeping peacefully in her tiny bed across the hall. The room was small and plain, consisting of a bed, a dresser, a desk, and a bookcase with a few books, all made of simple wood.
Maria lay on the floor, staring at the low ceiling. At her insistence, Nat slept in his own bed instead of sacrificing it to her. Now she pondered on the many facts of her predicament in the peace and serenity of night.
If this is Hyrule . . . No, it can't be. There is no Ordon Village in Hyrule. This can't be real . . . . It was a question she'd avoided all day, trying to make sense of her predicament. Nat called this place, "Hyrule." The place Maria grew up was called "Hyrule." There were multiple similarities, such a Princess Zelda, the Triforce Crest, the Three Goddesses, and a fabled Master Sword. The fate of her homeland here was, to her, yet unknown.
Home . . . . Maria missed the Gerudo, her own home at the Fortress. She missed Hakkai, Rupee, Rane, Seva, and even Enari. Homesickness welled up inside her, but she viciously banished the thought. The time to cry would come later, when she knew what was happening.
Thoughts of home brought back a memory, sitting in the library shortly after her father's death. She was reading a passage from one of his books. It was a study on parallel universes. According to the book, there could be multiple worlds with many similarities in existence, no two quite the same, whether it was geographic or cultural differences. Various scholars attempted to explain the reason behind the multiple worlds. Some guessed magical mistakes, an error on the Gods' part that produced more universes than needed. A few believed the choices the Goddesses/people made created new worlds where the outcomes of such choices played out.
If this is an alternate reality, then . . . why am I here? she mused. Gods above, how did I get here? Some fluke in time and space? The possibilities made her head ache.
Something made her pause. Hesitantly, she stood up and went to the window. Outside, the sun gave way to gentle shades of purple and deep blue, tiny stars gleaming in the night sky. The grass swayed gently in the fields beyond, waist-high and still a deep, lush green. The perfect image of peace.
But the sky . . . Maria's neck prickled. Her hand went to her pocket to brush against the crystal Rane gave her. It made her strangely lightheaded to touch it, but once she withdrew her hand, it began to shine, her fingers tingling oddly from the contact. There was a certain hostile apprehensiveness in the air, a feeling of poorly concealed danger about to strike. The world darkened, the grass stopped moving. Everything was utterly still.
Maria watched the developments, head tilted upward, tense and waiting, for whatever occurred next. Slowly and deliberately, she reached for her sword, propped against the dresser in its sheath, the belt still hanging from it. She slid it over her head and onto her waist, waiting, watching . . . .
Something ripped, high overhead. The sky turned black, a soft, slightly sweet scent swept into Maria's nose. The black patch in the sky began to glow with blood-red runes, and from it, tiny fragments plummeted to earth, resolving into a shape. Bright red, inquisitive eyes watched her from the field, the owner floated into the air to the window. Its skin was a combination of black and white that wove around each other in spirals and thin, graceful spikes. The turquoise runes, similar to that of the portal it came from, glowed in the night. Thin lips twitched in a ghost of a smile, the eyes watched her unblinkingly.
"Who are you?" Maria's own voice sounded faint to her ears. The red eyes glowed catlike, but the creature stayed silent.
Finally, it raised one hand. It was black, with blue runes around the base of its ring and pointer finger. A single trail of white stretched from the wrist to the tip of the middle finger, a thin wisp like a column of retreating smoke. The thing smiled, tiny, too-white teeth gleaming in the night.
"I am Luna, Protector of the Twilight," she answered, in a soft, deep, strange-sounding voice. "And you, Maria Dragmire, are the one I have been Chosen to aid. And by the Goddesses, you'll need my aid before long."
Third, I've learned that some people don't like me, simply because it's me. That REALLY sucks . . . . But this isn't supposed to be ranting time. Review!!
Okay, not a good ending. But, well, I'm really tired. I haven't had a very good few weeks, it's been hard for me with concerts and recitals and other miscellaneous crap. Wave, oddly enough, is actually TRYING to catch up on homework. :D LOL
Second, if anyone wants to draw Maria Dragmire, I'd be grateful. I'm no artist, and Wave doesn't draw people well, just weapons and animals. Just post it on Deviant Art or whatever place accepts art. I don't want people emailing it personally, so if you don't have a DA/other Internet account, don't worry about it.