Link's blood ran cold as the bell's ominous chime filled the streets of the town square. He had hoped with all his might that he would never hear it in his life. He tightened the grip around his sword and hefted it in front of him, still looking around for the exact source of that horrible roar.
Next to him, Malon stood completely still, briefly wondering if she had somehow slipped into a nightmare. "This can't be real," she thought, feeling her heart begin to race. But she knew better.
Her first theory was an invasion. In her mind, she could picture dozens if not hundreds of heavily armored soldiers pouring into the village, stealing and destroying whatever they could find. Legions of heavy siege equipment might explain the shaking ground. The town had only a dozen lightly armed guards to hold off such an attack. Dedicated? Undoubtedly, but they were inexperienced and accustomed only to maintaining the peace – not the horrors of battle. Lamentably, they would have no chance against a well-organized army. But the more she considered the idea, the less plausible it seemed. Sovec was of little strategic importance, sitting many miles away from the nearest border. The village had never once seen an attack, and Hyrule as a whole was on good terms with its neighbors.
Link turned to his friend, who was practically motionless. "Malon! Malon, are you okay?" he called, trying to snap her out of her daze.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she replied, still staring out into the fields. The sound was unnatural and completely unfamiliar to her. "What... what was that? It sounded like... a dragon?" She had neither seen nor heard one before, but she considered it the most likely explanation.
"I... I'm not sure," Link returned. "I have to go. Please, just get to safety." With that, he turned around and started towards the perimeter of the town square alongside a few other guards.
Before Malon could speak, the land began to shake once more. This time, the quake was far more violent, and managed to knock Malon and several other townspeople off of their feet. The farm girl tried to stand back up but struggled to find her balance on top of the unstable cobblestone surface. With the help of a nearby table, she was able to stand at last.
Suddenly, the land erupted a few yards in front of her, sending a shower of soil and stone into the night air. An ear-piercing roar boomed through the town as Link and Malon tried to regain their footing and escape the explosion. A large chunk of stone slammed into the ground and rolled for several feet, narrowly missing Malon in the process. After recovering, Link turned towards the site of the eruption and placed himself between it and his friend.
"Run! Everyone, get to cover!" Link shouted.
Malon looked on in horror at the source of the explosion as the unimaginable began to unfold. As the dust cleared, a hideous creature began to claw its way out of the chasm it had just created. Long, jagged claws scraped against the cobblestone as the rest of its form slowly emerged, revealing a snarling beast. Its head was lizard-like in appearance, and its body was covered from its head to its tail in dark green scales, each one as thick as plate armor. Many of its scales shined with an eerie red glow, illuminating a bizarre pattern on its shell-like hide. For a second, the foul creature reared up on its hind legs, revealing itself to be nearly seven feet tall. It released a chilling cry from its cavernous maw, something between a hiss and a roar. Piercing white eyes looked across the crowd. They seemed empty, yet they glowed with the intensity of a fire.
Malon stared wide-eyed at the beast, nearly frozen with fear. The very air around her seemed to disappear as she struggled to catch her breath. In all her years, the only monsters she had ever seen were from storybooks, and this was far worse than anything like that. She did not move, fearing that even the smallest action would catch its attention and cause it to lunge at her.
With his sword readied and his stance tight, Link began to approach the lizard-like monster, hoping to draw its focus. He kept a defensive posture and knew that without a shield, he would have to choose his attacks with the utmost care. "Malon, get to safety!"
The crowd began to retreat towards the more fortified buildings in town. Malon began to follow them, but she stopped herself after a few hurried paces. Something inside her compelled her to ignore her basic survival instincts - to not only stay, but to somehow intervene.
"I... I can't just leave him!" she told herself.
"Link! Wait -"
"Don't worry about me! Just run!" Link yelled.
"But..." she trailed off.
"Hurry!" he yelled. With tears in her eyes, she reluctantly raced off to join the rest of the town.
Malon and the others dashed through the nearly abandoned paths of the town. Although she could no longer see the awful beast, she was almost certain that it was chasing them furiously. She looked back over her shoulder and saw only more empty streets, but this did little to put her at ease. Every so often, another roar would rend the air, causing her to tense up with fear.
"Link, please be careful. Please, just survive."
At long last, she and around a dozen other people had found shelter in an abandoned windmill near the edge of town. It was certainly not designed to withstand attacks, but it was fairly remote and at least marginally more durable than the average shop or barn. A lone torch struggled to illuminate the inside of the structure, leaving much of it in total darkness.
A tear ran down her face as she slumped against the cold stone wall, mostly removed from the rest of the crowd. She stayed quiet and attempted to process everything that had just happened. The older men in the group murmured among themselves, with a mixture of confusion and anger on their faces. A few of them had been soldiers many years ago, but there was little that they could do now. Mothers and fathers tried their best to calm their sobbing children while still hiding their own fear. A few of the men reminded her of her own father. The one solace she had at a time like this was knowing that he and Ingo had taken a fishing trip for a few days. At the very least, she could count on their safety.
Malon stared past the others into the distance. Over and over the image of that horrible creature appeared in her thoughts. A few wolves had intruded on her ranch before, and she had fought off the some of the more aggressive ones with a pitchfork when they threatened her cows and horses. Such threats were comparatively easy to handle. But this was nothing of the sort, and she couldn't begin to explain what that creature was. She clenched her fists and scowled as she considered her situation.
"I'm just... I'm just sitting here helplessly while he's trying to protect us from that... that thing."
She stood up abruptly and looked out of a small window towards the rest of the town. In the distance, it was only a faint light against the night sky. It seemed peaceful enough, but she dreaded what she couldn't see.
"I shouldn't be here..." she told herself, looking over the crowd. "I should be out there helping him." She paused to consider the gravity of what she was saying.
"Oh, who am I kidding?" She slumped back down to the floor and held her knees to her chest, hiding her face in shame. She could feel another tear welling up in the corner of her eye."I can't help him. I'd only get myself killed."
The sense of helplessness stung her to her core. Her best friend was out there staring into the maw of some kind of horrible beast, all alone. Time dragged on as she sat still in the darkness, hoping desperately that her friend and the others would make it.
Link flourished his blade and closed the distance to the beast, his heart racing and his hands shaking. As the rest of the townspeople ran, he released a battle cry, hoping to keep its attention squarely on him.
The attempt worked, and the beast let out a furious roar that lingered in Link's ears. As the hunter approached, he could feel a strange pressure in the air, almost like he was being pushed back by an invisible hand. The scaled beast swung its massive paw at him, but narrowly missed and instead shattered part of a wall of a nearby building.
The creature wasted no time and quickly followed up with another wild swing. Link barely managed to deflect this attack with his blade, but the force behind it was enough to knock him off balance for a second.
Link took several steps back and began to circle the beast as other guards arrived on the scene. He made sure to keep the creature facing away from the retreating crowd. Even if he couldn't win, he could at least buy them some more time to escape.
In between instances of dodging and parrying the creature's attacks, Link scanned the monster for an opportunity to strike. In all likelihood, he would only have once chance. Nearly its entire underside was coated with row upon row of scales, some of which had apparently been burned. After the creature reared up on its hind legs for an aggressive swipe, he noticed that certain areas of its body were comparatively unarmored. As the beast continued to lunge at him with its immense strength, he knew that he didn't have time to look for another weakness.
"Aim for the neck and joints!" he ordered the other guards.
They complied quickly, and brandished their bows, taking careful aim at the monster. Within moments, a small volley of arrows hit the creature. While many of them bounced harmlessly off of its scales, it howled in pain as several managed to find its unarmored areas.
Link seized the opportunity and charged at the monster once more, this time swinging his sword at its nearest vulnerable joint. With a direct hit, the creature collapsed and roared furiously in a cacophony of roaring and hissing. Link and the others moved in and quickly finished it off with multiple well-placed strikes to its neck.
Link could feel his lungs burning as he tried to recover from the fight. He kept a careful distance from the beast until he was certain that it was dead. A guard approached him, struggling for air as well.
"Good work, sir. We need to get moving, I think there's more to the west."
Link continued to glare at the dreadful thing, unconvinced that the fight was truly over. Its mere presence seemed to cloud his mind, and he felt a subtle urge to distance himself from it. At any given moment, he was certain that it would desperately lash out one more time. However, it did not move even slightly.
"Yeah, let's go." With no more delay, Link and the others began to sprint towards the fields.
Over the past few hours, Malon had said almost nothing. She knew she had no chance of getting any rest that night, not that she had really tried to. Rather than try to sleep on the cold floor and end up stirring restlessly for hours, she spent her time pacing about, trying to ignore the worrying statements and murmurings from the rest of the crowd. Every so often, she'd look out the window towards the town again, but it was difficult to see beyond the dark fields before her.
"He's going to be fine. If there's anyone that can handle this, it's him." She gripped the edge of the stone windowsill tight, not removing her gaze from the village.
Some time around two in the morning, there came a knock at the door of the windmill. The people grew silent as the door opened and the silhouette of a man appeared in the doorway. For a moment, Malon thought it might be her friend, but that was clearly not the case as he held his own torch up, illuminating his dusty, haggard face.
"All clear. Everyone alright in here?" the guard asked, stepping into the room. The crowd began to throw dozens of desperate questions at him at once, but he could do little to answer them.
"Are you sure they're really all gone?" an older lady called out.
The young sentry tried to get a word in edgewise over the others. "The monsters are dead, we've made sure of that," he said, trying to raise his voice without startling everyone.
"What are those things? Where did they come from?" a man asked.
"Did everyone make it?" Malon asked. "Is Link alright?" She wasn't sure if he'd know, but it was definitely worth a try.
The guard did not respond to her, as he was overwhelmed with simultaneous questions from so many other people. Malon tried once more. "Did Link survive?" she asked, this time louder and with more urgency. She wasn't used to raising her voice like this, but he still could not hear her.
"Did Link -" Malon cut herself off mid-sentence. She couldn't wait for an answer any longer – the question burned inside her and she had to find out now. Without another word, she ran out of the windmill, sprinting down the path to town as fast as she could. The chilled air bit away at her and she could feel weariness from the sleepless night setting in, but she ignored it. She wouldn't stop until she found him.
Her heart pounded faster as she crossed into the town square. A couple of guards wandered about, surveying the damage and speaking with frightened citizens. Her stomach churned as she ran straight back to the site of the monster. Upon reaching it, she saw that a crowd of villagers had gathered to examine the chasm left by the creature. She had little desire to look at the abomination again.
"Link? Link, can you hear me?" she shouted.
"Malon, over here!" called a voice from nearby. She quickly turned about and saw Link running up the road, clearly exhausted, but very much alive.
"Link!" she exclaimed, racing over to him as fast as she could. The second she closed the distance, she embraced him as hard as she could. "Oh, thank goodness you're alive!" Link returned the hug enthusiastically, though his strength had been severely depleted throughout the night.
"Great to see you too," he returned, grunting a bit from the soreness in his body. "You have no idea how happy I am to see you."
After a few moments, Malon pulled away slightly to get a better look at him. His body was visibly covered with bruises and cuts, and there was more than a little blood on his arms and face. She could feel him leaning on her a bit as he struggled to remain standing.
"Oh, Link..." she began, tears forming in the corners of her eyes. Even after dangerous hunting expeditions, Link had never arrived home looking as bad as he did now.
"Y-you're gonna be alright," Malon offered, as a reassurance to both her friend and herself. "Let me help you." She carefully helped him sit down against the side of a damaged shop, taking care not to touch any of his wounds. With so many visible injuries, she had no idea where to even begin.
"Malon, I'm fine," he said, his eyes half-open. "Just got a bit roughed up, that's all."
Link knew that while he'd be able to walk away from this in one piece, he also knew that many others were not nearly so fortunate. He became quiet as he thought of the men that hadn't survived, ones that he had known for years. For the moment, he did his best to conceal his sorrow, so as not to worry his friend.
Malon shook her head, unconvinced of his statement. "We need to get you some medicine, Link. I think I have some back at the farmhouse."
Link placed his hand on her shoulder. "I appreciate it, but I'm alright, I promise."
Malon released a deep breath. "At least let me wrap up your arm. It looks pretty bad."
Link uttered a tired laugh. "If you really want to."
Malon looked around and spotted a bottle of water that had been discarded during the chaos. She quickly retrieved it and carefully poured it over one of his cuts to wash the grime away. Once she was satisfied, she offered what was left for her friend to drink. He happily quenched his thirst in a matter of seconds.
Unsurprisingly, the farm girl didn't have any bandages ready, and she figured that most of the town's supply would be needed for the seriously injured. Without hesitating, she tore the bottom of her apron and began to gently wrap the strip of soft fabric around one of the larger cuts on his arm. After a few moments, she tied a small knot in it. It wasn't a lot, but it was a start.
"There, that should help stop the bleeding and keep the dirt out." A small smile appeared on her face for the first time in hours.
Link inspected her handiwork and nodded in approval. "Thanks, Malon. A good night's rest and I should be good to go tomorrow."
"No problem. You sure you don't need anything?"
Link shook his head and laughed quietly. "I'm sure."
"If you say so..." she replied before sitting down next to him. After everything that had happened, she was taken aback by his optimism. "But I'm stayin' right here and that's that!"
Link was perfectly okay with this.
For a while, the two sat together but didn't say very much. Malon was tempted to ask about what happened, but she knew that she would find out soon anyway, and decided to save such questions for a later day, preferably long after Link's wounds had healed.
Link tried to rest but found it almost impossible as the night's events replayed over and over in his mind. He didn't want to think about how much more damage those beasts could have caused. He had defended himself more than a few times before. Wild animals had attacked him on a few occasions, and every so often he'd have a run-in with a few bandits during one of his trips, but such "battles" were typically over in a matter of minutes. Tonight had drained practically everything from him – his entire body ached and he simply wanted to lie in bed for a day. But he wasn't about to mention it around anyone else. He had to conceal the discomfort as best as he could, especially from Malon.
A voice woke him from his uneasy rest. "Link, how're you holding up?"
Link recognized the voice of the guard captain. He opened his eyes and slowly returned to his feet, ignoring the aching in his legs. "Doing fine, sir. Just a few cuts, that's all."
The captain was tall and somewhere in his mid-forties, with balding brown hair. Judging by the fresh dents and scrapes on his light armor, it was clear that the captain had seen his share of fighting throughout the night.
He turned to Malon. "And yourself, ma'am?"
"I'm okay, thank you."
"Good to hear," he replied before turning back to Link. "I just came by to check up on you. We couldn't have done it without you." He shook Link's hand in gratitude.
"Anytime, sir," Link answered. "What's the report?"
The captain released a breath. The damage and loss of life were terrible, and he considered downplaying the news as long as he was in mixed company. However, he decided against it, knowing that everybody would learn sooner rather than later.
"Our garrison's been devastated," he began, keeping his voice low. "Down to just four of us, including myself. " The two Hylians lowered their heads in sorrow. "I'll reach out to some nearby towns for reinforcements," the captain continued. "But I know that most of them are stretched pretty thin as it is."
The soldier surveyed some of the nearby damage. A house that had been standing strong only a few hours prior was now a heap of splintered wood and crumbling stone. "Still can't believe it," he said quietly. "Never thought I'd see anything like this." Link remained silent and looked down at the symbol on the back of his hand. Malon followed his eyes to the golden triangles as well. She gently rubbed his back to comfort him.
The guard captain turned back to Link. His expression had turned even more serious. "There was one other thing, Link. We just received a message. The Elder wants to see you."