And with the ending of one journey comes the beginning of the another, right? With "The Final Adventure" out of the way, I can set my sights on this story now. I know I should take a break (and finish FF7, right, Angel?), but my writers' flow is incessant. Besides, why keep you waiting? I'm eager to get to the exciting parts of this story, so I'll just keep writing. And writing, and writing! And maybe break in between for video games. Still need to finish up Golden Sun… And it seems that both my website and my other seven or so stories will never get touched…
But I update my blog and my fanfiction!
I don't remember if I told you or not, but I'm doing review replies by means of blog. The link is in my profile, at the very top, just below the user information (not the bio!). Now I'm going to get right back to work on Chapter 4 of this! Yeah, Chapter 3 is already finished. This one's just flying!
Chapter 2: Beginning of a Journey
The sun hadn't even broken the horizon by the time Zephyr and Maris had thrown together a couple crude supply packs. They didn't expect a very eventful venture, so they only packed enough food for the trip to the Great Sea and back. For once, it was Zephyr who was nervous and tense. Maris was unusually calm.
"What's wrong, brother?" the girl yawned as she shouldered her pack. Zephyr shook his head and sighed. "Let's head out before Sisha catches on," he recommended. Maris nodded in agreement and the two silently passed the threshold.
Then came hitch number one. There was a fresh coat of snow on the ground, which would be a great impediment to their travel. Add to it, the clouds were a neutral gray color and were very high—a definite sign of more snow in the future. Zephyr shook his head. They'd not yet left Snowbound and were already facing ill prospects.
"Brother, should we stay here?" Maris whispered, sparing a glance at the inviting door of her home. Zephyr grunted in unspoken dissent and began trudging through the snow. The snowdrift was higher than he expected; it came up halfway to his knee. Luckily, both he and his sister had on thick boots meant for hiking through deep snow.
They had been walking for only fifteen minutes before Maris started complaining. "Zephyr, I'm hungry," she informed. The boy scoffed. "Then take something out of your pack and eat it," he suggested, evoking a frustrated sigh in response. Soon enough there was a bone-chilling breeze blowing with a flurry of snow at its heels.
"I'm cold, Maris," Zephyr fussed, trying to tug his cloak around his shoulders. "So take something out of your pack and put it on," his sister replied mockingly. He rolled his eyes and detached his robe from his golden necklace and wrapped it around his body. Ten more minutes passed in silence, then half an hour.
"I wonder what kind of lands are past the Northern Reaches," Maris mused aloud. Zephyr shrugged. "We'll see when we get there," he responded, smiling over his shoulder at the girl behind him. Maris was the world to him; she was all he had left of his family. Sisha would always be there to lend a hand, but she couldn't identify with him the same way Maris could. Besides, he and his sister weren't Shiekah. They didn't belong in Snowbound, a Shiekah village. Of course, they didn't quite belong in the Great Sea either.
Another deafening silence grasped the siblings as they plodded onwards. "I wonder why the Monastery outlawed Tri'dism," Zephyr yawned, to make conversation. Maris tilted her head with interest. "Tri'dism's been illegal for so long, brother," she reminded. "The Monastery only allows Unrism. It's been that way as long as I can remember. Why are you questioning it now?"
Zephyr shook his head. "It's not that I don't believe in Unra… It's just that I don't get why the Monastery banned Tri'dism if it was the mainstream religion for all those centuries," he explained. Lies. That was exactly it: he didn't believe in Unra. But to admit such a thing in that day and age would mean instant persecution.
Tri'dism, worship of the Triad, or the three golden goddesses. Before the Changing, almost everyone in Hyrule, regardless of race, had been Tri'dist. The divine scriptures were taught as history. However, when the Monastery came into power, the ideals of Tri'dism faded away with the Age of Kings. With the coming of the Age of Queens, Unra was introduced by the Monastery. All traces of Tri'dism were erased from the records of the royal family and were replaced by mentions of Unrism.
Unra was said to be twelve feet high with four powerful arms and a golden beard to his knees. The Monastery insisted that it was Unra who created all of Hyrule with the help of three angels, who were his eternal minions. According to Unrism, the Changing occurred because Unra was outraged that the people who thrived upon the very land he formed with his great hands were betraying him for the Triad. The Changing was meant to cleanse the world and open their eyes to the wrongs of their ways, an event organized by Unra's angels.
But it still puzzled Zephyr that a religion so developed and loved as Tri'dism could be wiped away so easily. Personally, he wasn't entirely fond of Unrism, but he accepted the principles set by the Monastery, as was law.
"Brother, what are we going to do when we get to the ocean?" Maris asked suddenly. Zephyr raised an eyebrow. "We're gonna see what we see. It was your idea to go, remember?" he reminded. What exactly were they going to do besides try not to get arrested by the Zora Navy?
"It's… really far away. The ocean is," Maris whispered. "I think Aine showed me a map once. If I remember right, there's a bunch of chunks of drifting ice called the 'Glacial Islands'. They lead up to the Great Sea. Then, far, far across the sea is the Zora city of Seabound, the capital of all oceanic communities."
"Maris, who is teaching you these words?" Zephyr chuckled. Maris huffed. "What I'm trying to say is that we've got to get across each one of those ice bergs if we're gonna get to the Great Sea! And if we're headed so Seabound…"
"Well, then we've got nothin' to worry about," the elder sibling said as he winked at his sister from over his shoulder. "'Cause you got water magic. Remember?"
Maris frowned and set her gaze firmly upon the snow. "Aine said it's ice magic…" she mumbled. Zephyr groaned. "Don't be so pessimistic! It's water magic! Go on, give it a try! Try to take the water out of the snow using your magic," he encouraged. Maris ceased her progress and sat down on her knees. She set her hands levelly upon the snow and closed her eyes. Slowly she raised her hands. As she did so, droplets of water rose up from the ice.
"See? Aine just didn't pay attention. You're magic is water," Zephyr grinned. Maris, however, remained cynical. "What if that's just snow that melted at my touch?" she murmured. Her brother growled, then sighed in frustration and turned around. "If you're through blabbing about your water powers, can we get moving again?" he suggested bitterly. Maris pressed her lips together and rose, following her sibling.
They soon came to a place where the land cut off into a jagged cliff. Zephyr placed his hand over his eyes to shield them from the sun and squinted across the water. He could see a large ice floe in the distance. "Sister! Use you water magic and make us a bridge!" he said as he stepped back and pushed Maris towards the coastline. The girl gulped and took a deep breath, then stepped forward. A pillar of water rose and solidified into ice beneath her feet. Zephyr gave a triumphant laugh and hopped across the pillars as they appeared.
It wasn't long before they reached the first glacier, but the consumption of so much of her power left Maris unbearably weak. She collapsed to the ice as soon as her foot left the final pillar. She shivered from cold, her face pale. Zephyr leapt off the bridge his sister had created and knelt at her side. "Sister… are you all right? Can you hear me, Maris?" he whispered as he took the frail girl in his arms. Her breath solidified in the crisp air and her eyes refused to open.
Zephyr took his cloak and blanket and wrapped them both around Maris. He set her down in his lap and rested his chin on her shoulder. The cold was biting at his exposed skin and hunger writhed in his stomach like a parasite, but Zephyr refused to do anything for himself until he was sure Maris was all right. Vaguely he remembered that day so many years ago.
The land was ravaged. Fire burned everywhere and arrows protruded from the ground. Corpses lay about, just festering in the heat. The earth was rumbling as if in great sorrow. Land was pushing against land or, in other places, tearing apart. Mountains climbed to the heavens. Trenches were torn into the once-peaceful earth, and from them came lava. It seemed as though the chaos would never die down.
Zephyr narrowed his eyes. Most people had sweet memories. His could all be likened to a nightmare. He could almost remember sitting on the ashen ground with his baby sister wrapped in his arms. A person came near and took his hand. It was Sisha, he thought. Sisha found us and brought us along with her. But something wasn't quite right. The person he saw with his mind's eyes wasn't his beloved Aine. This being was a man, and Zephyr could almost swear that he was holding a sword.
He remembered the man picking him and his sister up and carrying them a ways. He remembered the man talking to them and assuring that everything would turn out all right. He remembered being set down in the snow with a kiss on his forehead. He remembered the man hurrying off, sword in hand. He remembered hearing Sisha shouting things as she approached. After that was nothing besides the same old memories of the Shiekah encampment.
"But that man… why am I only just now remembering him?" Zephyr wondered aloud. Maris stirred in his arms. "Sister, are you awake?" he asked worriedly. The girl nodded her head and looked up with tired eyes. "What's up, Brother?" she smiled.
Zephyr reclaimed his cloak, though he let Maris keep the blanket for the time being. He set to work making a small fire. Perhaps they could catch some fish. One way or another, Zephyr decided that they weren't going to set out again until morning.
What a way to start an adventure. Next chapter is the first fight scene of the fic! Zephyr learns something about himself and his sister. And… Welcome to Seabound, home of the Royal Zora Family! But that's next chapter.
I'm going to have to warn you that my writing is going to become very intense as of late, because I have lots of new music. So, I find an mp3 to fit the scene I'm writing and let the music's emotions help with my words. I think that's contributing to my writers' flow quite a bit. Anyway, I've also found that if you pick some music to listen to while reading, it'll amplify the emotions of the writing. I've got all the music from both Golden Sun games, a whopping 97 mp3s, so I just pick one and use it for a certain part of the fic. Just a little reading, or even writing, advice, as it helps me out greatly.
Contest ends January 3, reviews replied to by blog, all details in the profile. Hope ya enjoyed the second chapter!
