Chapter Two: The Unfamiliar Place

"Big brother."

I sat up with a jolt. A splinter of wood caught in my palm, and I cringed in pain as blood dripped slowly down my hand.

"Big brother!" The girl exclaimed, running up to me. She was wearing a very calm robe and had long blonde hair. She was very short. "Oh, big brother! Does it hurt?"

"Nope." I said, obviously fibbing. I never was a very good actor. "And why do you keep saying 'big brother'? I'm an only child!"

"Aww, big brother, don't be so mean! And on your birthday, too!" She whined, yanking the chunk of wood out of my palm. Now the blood was flowing more, running excessively down my arm and hand.

"Huh? (EYAH!) Oh, yeah. (AGH!) It's my birthday. (OWW!) What about it?"

"Grandma wants to talk to you. She's at home."

"Home?" I asked inquisitively. "Where?"

"Oh, you silly! It's over there!" She said giggling, and she pointed to the farthest house on the other island. "And come back when she's done! I have a present for you!"

I smiled lightly, although it was simply a front. Inside I was freaking out. Where the hell am I was the main phrase that repeated over and over.

I quickly stood up and walked over to the ladder nearby, and began climbing down. It appears that I was on a look out of some sort. I now almost laughed at the repetitive pain in my hand. The blood was coagulating in the wound, so the blood would stop flowing eventually.

After climbing down, I walked onto the first island, which was connected to the lookout by a thin wooden bridge. I stepped through the clean, calm grass that began to be ruffled by the slight breeze running through the air. I passed by a house to my left, and I stepped onto the bridge connecting the two islands. There was an occasional stone in the water that impeded on the progress of the bridge.

Continuing on, I ran through a grassy area as before and into the house up ahead. I could hear a man yelling at me to look up at him as I passed a house, but I ignored him. Entering in 'my' house, there were two visible floors, one containing a rug, a bunk-bed, a rocking chair, some stools, and a warm fireplace, a good fire already stoked inside. The upper floor contained nothing more than a rug and a family shield hung on the wall. In front of me was an old woman, maybe 60. I walked up to her, and she began talking.

"Oh! Link! There you are!" Link? Who was this old woman talking about? I hope she's not senile at this age. "I have a surprise for you!" She held out her hands, and she handed a pile of green clothes to me. I looked at them with disgust. "Oh, Link! Don't give me that! It's our island's tradition that every boy must wear the Legendary Hero's clothing on their 12th birthday! It's an honour! And you only have to wear them today! So put them on already!" I whined, but hesitantly threw them on. Wow! They're so heavy! Does the senile lady expect me to wear them in this weather? I'll die! And I'm not 12, I'm 14! I don't look that young... do I?

"Uh-heh-heh. I... love them." I said, suddenly feeling exausted. Everything going on just wiped me out completely. "Is it okay if I just have a nap for a bit?"

"Of course," She replied. "As long as you go up to visit your sister later."

Sister? Wow, even the senile lady's lost it. But I slowly drudged over to the bunk bed by the fireplace and lied down.

And soon...

I sat up. Annoyed by the dissatisfying sleep, I left the house. While walking to the lookout, I was dieing in the sweltering heat. I climbed up the tall ladder, noticing the pain had evaporated. Once I finished climbing the wooden ladder, and found 'my sister' sitting up there, still waiting for me. She wheeled around and smiled at me.

"Oh, big brother! You're finally back!"

"Ah-heh-heh. Yeah. So I am. What do you want?"

"You silly! I already told you! It's your birthday! And... um... gee, those clothes look REEEEEEEEALLY hot! Are you okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm fine." Note to self: Learn to Act.

"Anyways, I have a birthday present for you! Here!" The girl gave me a telescope. It looked like she treasured it, no matter how inexpensive it was. "But you hafta give it back to me later, okay? But try it. Try looking at our house from here."

I smiled slightly, but held the telescope up to my eye and looked down at the house. By the house, there was a strange bird man removing letters from the mailbox. Was he a post man? He had a mailbag, but...

Suddenly, he shot a glare up in the air, and franticly began to take flight. My 'sister' screamed, "BIG BROTHER! LOOK! UP IN THE AIR!" I quickly pointed my telescope up to the sky, and a giant phoenix-like bird appeared, holding a young girl in it's arms. It squawked loudly, piercing my ears, and a cannonball went flying past it, just narrowly missing. I looked down to my left, where a great pirate ship was sailing in the water. It shot another cannonball. It smacked right into the bird, causing it to drop the girl, and fly away quickly.

The girl fell far, as if to her doom, but landed safely inside the forest. My sister exclaimed, "Big brother! Did you see that? You have to help her! But you need a sword or something to go into the forest... but no one even knows how to use a sword on this island anymore... do they?"

My sister's words left an impression. She was right. No matter how much of a coward I am, I had to help that girl. I nearly slid down the ladder, and I sprinted to the house on the second island that I had passed by on the way to granny's house. I ran in, and an old man, probably older than 75, stood there shirtless and holding a spear. He looked very wise.

His words he spoke rasped out with a gentle kindness and were highlighted with an overtone of fury, "Hello, Link. Have you come to be taught in the ways of the sword."

Senility runs deep in this village. "Uh... yeah, I have. Or hath. However you speak english. And was that even a question?"

"No, it was an assumption." He spoke again, "No other reason there would be to visit me."

December 22, 2006. The day grammar died. "Then begin, we shall. My hour draws on apace. Soon take leave, must I, for a maiden, rescue, shall I provide."

The man grabbed a small sword, and handed it to me. "I want you to come at me. Attack me with your sword."

I walked towards him and swung. He deflected it, and shouted, "Good! Now 8 more times!" I swung again, as he said, and he continued, "Now jump at me!" I jumped at him, forcing my sword down with me. I did this eight more times, and he spoke again, "Lunge, now!" I ran at him, stabbing my sword towards him. He deflected it again and again, until finally he responded, "Now spin your sword to attack!" I pulled my sword behind me, and swung out ahead, causing me to spin in a circle and hit him. I did it again, and he said for the last time, "Now parry!" He began walking towards me at this point, and got in a stance. His sword came before me at lightning speed, and I jumped above him. My acrobatic skills intact, I slashed down behind him, and did it once more. "Excellent!" The man exclaimed, amused by my progress.

He returned to the centre of the dimly lit, cavelike room, as he was before, and spoke to me. "Good job, Link. I'm proud. Keep the sword, on the condition that you use it only for good purposes." I smiled at the old man as thanks, and left the room. I suddenly snapped back to earth, noticing that the pirates were docking on the short dock just metres away, and sprinted for the first island again.

I ran around the house on the first island, tripping and landing face first on the grass. I cursed under my breath, and pulled my legs in front of me. Wait... WHAT? My legs... they're... STUBBY! Oh no! I have stubby legs! Why didn't I notice this before? Am I blind? I looked over the rest of my body. AH! This... THIS ISN'T MY BODY! Wait... I remember this... this body... I saw it somewhere before... OF COURSE! This is the body of the HERO! I... I... transformed? ...the hell? I tried to stand up, but collapsed. My right ankle...! AGH! It's sprained! This is not my day!

I awkwardly stood up, leaning on the handle of my sword. It's hard to adjust to a body when you realize it isn't even yours. I limped to a path upwards of the house I had passed, cutting down some small trees in the process. I limped up the long, winding dirt path, surrounded by rock walls. At the top, there was a large tree, a natural pedestal in the grass, and a bridge connecting the tops of the two islands.

I hopped across the unsturdy wooden bridge, skipping over a missing plank in the middle. I was straining through, toughing out the pain, and I stumbled into a cave entrance to the forest.

Inside, there were trees, of course, bushes, grassy areas, and a raised section in the middle, containing a giant tree. And on one of the jutting branches hanged a girl. The same one we saw before! I ran to the area where the tree was, and jumped, but try as I might, it was too high.

"Damn it." I muttered, and slowly stumbled to a walkway to my right. The path, which led up like a ramp, was followed by a quick drop, and I fell, dropping my sword as well. I stood up slowly, as an enemy up ahead caught my eye. It was a sort of tall green demon, carrying a spear alot like the one the old man had used. I limped up to it, and it snapped to attention and ran towards me. "Crap." I muttered again. "This really isn't my day."

I waved my sword towards him, slashing him in time to get it back into the crutch position. He took damage, clearly, but attacked me back, stabbing me in my right arm. "Daaaaaaaamn it all!" I whined, but continued slashing him until he was dead.

I climbed up a tree trunk nearby slowly, hopping over to another raised area, which was followed, again, by a freakin' big drop. I fell down, again, and slowly limped through the small area. There were no enemies, thank God, and there were two more raised bits ahead of me, acting as a sort of staircase to the tree where the girl was. I chuckled cynically, and made my way across, but soon, two more demons fell from the sky, carried by birds, and started attacking me.

"Oh my god!" I screamed, as they were preparing to stab me, "Show respect for a cripple!"

They began to stab me, now in my left leg, and suddenly... without an explanation... my mind went blank.

I snapped awake what seemed like moments later, and the demons were on the ground dead, carrying mystical purple jewels. I picked one up, and looked at it. It looked cool, but not very valuble. I dropped it on the ground and stabbed it with by sword. I had no use for such a thing, anyways. The jewel exploded, and it suddenly began to rain red hearts and green crystals.

I looked at everything. The crystals must be currency, or something. They're called... I think, rupees. Don't they use these in third-world countries, 'n stuff? I gathered all of the rupees, and picked up a red heart. Weird. Suddenly, the heart seemed to jump out of my hand, and it entered my chest.

A strange sensation covered my body. It feels like... a warm tingling. Like being held... by someone you love... The pain in my arm and leg suddenly disappeared, and I looked at the wounds. They're closing up on their own, and the blood is evaporating. At the same time, the blisters that had been forming on my palms and the hole from the chunk of wood had sealed themselves. There was still pain I could feel in my body, but grabbing a second heart and feeling the same sensation, it evaporated.

I walked towards the tree, noticing my ankle had fixed itself. I hopped up to the tree, and at that same instant, the tree's branch gave way, and the girl fell to the ground.

"Ouch..." She moaned standing up, "Stupid bird. I'm only lucky it hadn't taken me all the way to..."

"Oy!" A pirate interrupted, entering the stone entrance at that moment, "Miss Tetra! Over here!"

"It's about time you saved me. If that bird had gotten away with me..." She mumbled, jumping down from the ledge and walking to the pirate.

"Oh, but Miss Tetra... you should be thanking this young man. This forest is supposed to be full of monsters... I think he got rid of them all just to rescue you." The pirate mumbled back.

"Yeah, yeah... whatever." Tetra said as she left the forest, and the pirate hesitantly followed.

Huh. I didn't hear even the slightest thank you. What ever happened to manners...? Actually, I should talk. I jumped down from the ledge, and walked through the tall grass to the entrance.

On the outside, the pirate and Tetra were waiting, and my sister was on the other side of the bridge.

"Big brother!" She shouted happily and ran across the bridge to meet me. In the distance, however, I heard a thunderous squawk, and I looked. The phoenix bird was back! It swooped down on the bridge at break-neck speeds and grabbed her.

My throat clogged up, and suddenly, I screamed, "Sis!" I ran for the edge of the cliff. If I reach out... just far enough... maybe...

I dropped down the cliff, and Tetra's hand grabbed my ankle. "Stop!" She yelled, "She's gone now! There's nothing you can do!" With the help of the pirate, she pulled me up, and reached out for my face. Using a finger, she wiped a tear that had welled up in my eye, "God. Don't be such a baby."

I... was crying...? Why? I didn't feel sad... I just did what felt... right...

We walked down to the beach near where the pirate ship had docked. "What... you want to come with us?" Tetra said amazed.

"Yeah." I replied sadly, "I have to help her... I mean, my sister..."

"Oh god. Save me the emotions..." She groaned, "I mean, why should we take you with us?"

"It's pretty obvious, I think." A voice said, approaching us. It was the mailbird, "His sister was taken away by that bird. And you know why?"

"Huh." Tetra said, uncaring.

"That bird mistook that poor girl for you! That bird has been kidnapping girls all over who have pointy ears. Haven't you heard? And NONE of this would have happened if you big, bad pirates hadn't come to this quiet island." The mailbird went on.

"But... but..." Tetra attempted to come up with an excuse, but nothing came to mind, "Fine. But really, is all you have that flimsy sword? I mean, with all the monsters we fight, you should at least have something to protect yourself with. This puny island has to have something you could use as a shield!"

I remembered back at granny's house, there was an old heirloom, or family crest, or something. I ran over to our house right nearby, and entered. I climbed a tall ladder up to the second floor, but the shield was missing off of the wall...

I climbed back down, and found Grandma standing there, clutching the shield, "Oh, Link. Aryll... she's been kidnapped, hasn't she? And now... you need this shield... and you're going to leave to save her... aren't you? Oh, Link... please take the shield... and don't worry... I know you'll be back... some...d...ay..." At this point she handed me the shield, and began to sob. Shield in hand, I walked out the door, whispering, "Thanks for everything... grandma..."

I walked up to Tetra, and she moaned, "Fine. Let's get going. We shouldn't waste time."

We all filed onto the pirate ship, and everyone assumed their positions and jobs. Tetra and I took our places at the very back, overlooking the islands. I waved goodbye to everyone who had left their houses to say farewell. A gong sounded on the ship, and we began to move. Everyone on the island shouted cheers to us, and I looked over to our house for one last time. I saw Grandma seeing me off, and I waved harder than before.

Don't worry Grandma. I'll get sis back.

For you.

For both of us.

Kansou no Satsuka

Whoo! Chapter 2 is up! I'm so happy! The story is finally up and running! And wow, Touya sure sustained alot of injuries in this chapter. A chunk of wood in the palm, a twisted ankle, and multiple stab wounds! Oh yeah, and you're probably wondering about why Touya would have such a strange dream. No reason, actually, but the dream is actually the first third of an exact same dream I had about a year ago. I swear, I never did know flying was so... liberating. But other than that, I've nothing else to say for this chapter. I'll see you all next time!

-Shojo