The Legend of Zelda: The Demon Within

Chapter 4: Ice Fortress

The three rushed down through the winding series of caverns that led up into the higher hills. Mickaw had clearly well-planned their route, and so without delay, the trio arrived at the top of the manor, where they were able to slip down into the courtyard from the high walls. It was an easy passage, save for the sharp icicles within the caves, but the rest of the way would not be so simply.

Jasper was krafty, and his citadel was filled with not only traps, but also monsters. His highest guards prowled the corridors, and the snow-filled courtyard amidst the heavy stone blocks. Canons were positioned in numerous locations around the courtyard, and each was manned by a few bokoblins each. White Wolfos also prowled the snow, but ice warriors, too, marched back and forth.

The intruders hid behind a tall wall of stone, contemplating their next move. "Okay," Zelda remarked, "we made it inside… but truly, we are at a heavy disadvantage. His power over ice will be a huge detriment to this mission. If we had a way to generate heat that would work to our advantage, but unfortunately…"

"We don't." Relm concluded.

"Exactly."

Mickaw sighed. "There must be something we can do… really, though, I'm doing all I can to keep warm… a nice fire would do me good…"

"That's just because you're a wimp… unable to take a little cold…" Relm snorted.

Zelda opened her eyes wide. "Relm! How could you—"

The red-haired girl simply ignored her and started walking down the stairs. "Just leave it to me, I'll take care of them," she called out, rushing down the stairs with her blades out.

As Relm slipped away, Mickaw turned his had to face Zelda. "What's her problem?"

"Don't ask me. It has been bugging me for a while now, though. She wasn't like this before…"

Mickaw stretched his arms back, but turned his head to face the princess again. "Oh, really? As I've heard, you yourself have only known her for about a week, correct? Clearly not a lengthy amount of time to get to know someone…"

"But… I've gotten to know her very well over that time!" she explained. "It wasn't until a couple days ago that she started acting this way…"

Relm suddenly gripped her hand tightly on the rail of the long set of icy stairs. She using the momentum from her dashed to flip herself over the side, into the air, and landing gracefully down into the snow below. Instantly she spun in a complete circle, her twin knives out along her side, slashing through a trio of white wolfos lunging at her from all sides.

She then brought her left hand back around, holding her palm up. A black energy began to swirl from beneath the silk wrappings covering her arm. She quickly turned to her right and threw her hand forward, allowing the surge of dark powers to swirl through the air. The shadows reached out for an ice warrior aiming to attack and shredded it to pieces, the remaining icicle shards falling into the snow.

Zelda turned to Mickaw and shrugged her shoulders. Mickaw sighed, but then laughed out a bit. "Heh… might as well," he remarked.

The zora king jumped up into the air, flipping forward and landing on the edge of the frozen siderail to the stairs. He slid down along it, and as he did, he pulled his arms back. Two bright blue, razor-sharp fins sliced through the air and into a bokoblin that had snuck up behind Relm. She turned around just in time to see its throat being slit by one of the deadly projectiles.

Above, a long chain flew out into the open air. It wrapped itself around a stone pillar looming over the courtyard, allowing Zelda to swing down into the midst of the horde. She didn't land, though. Instead, she pulled out her sword and slashed across a group of the wizard's minions, destroying them.

Using the momentum from the large fall, she rose back up to the opposing side of the room, kicking off the stone wall, and flipped back around. As she came back down, she kicked away a couple of bokoblins and they crashed into the side of the stairs leading back up again. Zelda then let go of the chain, launching herself into the air, rebounding off the side of the opposing wall with her feet, and crushed down a freezard that had slid behind Relm. She then grabbed hold of her chain as it came swinging back along, tugging it quickly to release it from its grip.

Zelda pushed her hair back and turned to Relm, smiling. "It looked like you could use some help." Suddenly, she raised her fist back behind her head and smashed in the face of a bokoblin that came up from behind.

Relm quickly grabbed three small steel stars from her pocket and spun around, releasing them from her grip. The three razing projectiles quickly impaled a white wolfos that came approaching from behind. The redhead turned to Zelda. "I don't need any!" she snapped back.

Zelda sighed, shaking her head. "Yes you do…" she whispered underneath her breath. "Psychological help, that is…"

"What did you say?" Relm asked, glancing back before the ice warrior even had a chance to collapse into the snow.

The elder girl threw her hands in front of her. "It's nothing." Instantly she spun around and gutted a scimitar-wielding bokoblin dead.

The three grouped together at the center of the field and looked out across the courtyard. Only a few stragglers remained, but they'd be simple to take care of. A number of bokoblins lay in the snow, but the rest of the monsters just returned back to the darkness from whence they had come. Mickaw raised an eyebrow. "Hmm… I guess he's focusing too much attention on defending the mansion on the outside, and not enough of defending it from within."

Zelda nodded. "That is the idea, right? Allow the soldiers to distract the guards while we take out the command center?"

Relm nodded. "We have to hurry up and open the gate!"

The three turned and rushed to the southern doorway to the courtyard, opening it wide. It seemed to be a majestic living quarters, with a door ahead, a door to the right, and a door to the left. The fireplace was lit, a warm glow emitting from it. All of them entered into the small room and closed the door behind them.

"Ah, that's better…" Mickaw proclaimed.

Relm raised an eyebrow. "Hmph… too hot in here… and I'm not about to take off my coat since we're only going to go right back out, anyway."

Zelda ran over to the south door and the others followed. She pushed on one side and Relm got the other. Together, they were able to open up the double-doors out into the large foyer. There was a staircase on either side, with a long corridor leading back to the front entrance. A young woman stood at the center of the room, two white wolfos sitting beside her, with another two ice warriors also standing at the sides.

The woman was covered from top to bottom in white and blue robes, and a pointed white hat on her head. She had pale skin, almost white, and bore long pointed ears, as most Hylians had. A wide smile crossed her face. "Ah, welcome to our humble abode… Sir Jasper was expecting you…"

Relm shook her head. "Okay, so just who do you think you are?"

The woman laughed, placing her right hand on her chest. "Why, me? Well, I'm Elena, the first apprentice of Sir Jasper, the White Wizzrobe… My master has sent me to deal with the intruders. That'd be you, I take it?"

Zelda lashed out her chain whip and snapped it back with her right hand, entering into a fighting stance. "So… you're the head mistress of this household? It seems that you're also a wizzrobe, too, I take it…"

Mickaw spun his guitar in his hand and strummed his hand along the strings. "Hm… this ought to be interesting…"

At the center of the pack, Relm, shrugged her shoulders, before holding her blades out in front and in back of her. "Ah, yes… more unworthy opponents… This should be fun!"

Elena held a hand up to her mouth, giggling, wielding her long crystal staff in her hand. "Heehee… yes, fun indeed! I get to show Master Kolanna how strong I really am!" Swiftly, she spun around in a circle, whispering a spell in ancient Hylian. Suddenly, she vanished, and her minions attacked.

Relm dashed forward, throwing her blades out in front of her as both wolfos lunched upon her. She held back their sharp claws with her blades before kicking out the feet of the first one. It yelped and fell back, but the second wolfos bounced away and ran around a bit, dashing through the chamber.

Zelda quickly leaned back to avoid an ice javelin from piercing her, and then dodged to the left. She tried to approach the ice warrior, but it was as swift as she was, able to easily evade her maneuvers. Swiftly, she swung her chain with her right hand and launched it forward, snapping back just as it reached the icy fiend's arm. The limb shattered to piecing, and the monster looked at her. Suddenly, a new limb grew back out of the opening. The princess gasped out. "What?! No fair!"

Mickaw held up his guitar to block back the cold blade. He followed up by kicking out his feet to knock down his opponent, but instead of approaching he chose to back away a bit. He pulled out his guitar and began playing, starting softly, but growing in rhythm.

The wolfos growled at Relm as she tried to approach. She lunged forward with her blades, but it jumped to the right and slammed head first into her side, knocking her down to the ground. She quickly rebounded, though, pushing off of a column and slashing across with her blade. The ghostly canine jumped up, right over Relm, but its leg was cut by the sharp knife and it fell to the ground, rolling along.

The redhead landed softly on the ground, but suddenly found herself pounced by the other wolfos, which she had forgotten about. She was pushed down to the ground, and it lashed its teeth out at her face. She struggled hard to get the beast off of her.

The elder princess turned to her sister, gasping out. "Relm!" Immediately she found herself being smashed into by the ice warrior's long icicle spear and knocked to the ground.

Zelda recovered as quickly as she could and jumped back up on to her two feet. That's when she heard the peaceful melody. She also saw another ice warrior barreling down on her, charging at her with a long white-blue sword in its hand. She quickly put away her chain and pulling out her own sword, slashing across its blade.

Relm kicked her feet up above her, knocking down the wolfos. She flipped over onto her stomach and quickly regained her footing, rushing forward at high speed. She heard the melody start to soar, and suddenly, the creature howled out, burning away in flames.

The second wolfos ran around, rushing back towards the zora playing his tune. The stern song continued to play, first an F tone, followed by a low D, then F again, finally ending in a chorus of A, F, A, and then F one last time. The music repeated constantly, playing out over and over. One by one, the ice fiends in the chamber burned away.

Relm snickered. "Oh, is that it?"

Mickaw stopped playing and looked around. "Hmm… I wonder what happened to that Elena… I guess she must've fled."

"Perhaps you should think again…" a voice called out from behind.

Just as soon as everyone had a chance to turn around and look, they realized that it was a trick all along. A barrage of ice missiles shot out in seconds, Elena having already vanished once again. Relm gritted her teeth, dodging left and right, and also having to both duck and jump out of the way to avoid the freezing glacial attack.

Zelda and Mickaw chose different methods, though. The princess weaved in and out a bit, but she also used her sword to cut threw a few of them. Mickaw simply batted the shards away with his guitar, though one did stab right into his guitar, another cutting passed his arm briefly, leading a bad scar. He took the pain, though, and went on.

Behind Relm, snowflakes began to settle in a central area. Zelda turned around and gasped out, calling out. "Look out!"

Relm spun around just as Elena appeared in front of the door. The young wizzrobe laughed out, whispering an incantation. Not wasting any time, the redhead clasped her hands together and whispered lightly. Soon, a clash of startling white energy smacked straight into a black cloud of darkness. The two spells were not of opposing elements, but they still did well in deflecting one another.

Elena vanished again, and everyone looked around, trying to spot where she would appear next. Relm looked back in the corner, underneath the staircase on the east side, a little behind where Mickaw stood, and pointed back. The zora nodded and spun around, quickly throwing off his fins after the white cloud. The wizrobe appeared, snowflakes falling all around her, but upon seeing the attack she quickly vanished once more. Mickaw raised an eyebrow, unsure of what to make of it. "These wizrobes are really starting to get on my nerve…"

Zelda glanced around the room again, finally seeing her reappear. Finally, she got an idea. "Hmm… its not about the attack itself… its about the timing… If we can calculate how long it will take for her to appear, we can determine when to throw a projectile in order to hit her before she has time to vanish again… it has to be quick, though. It'll be almost impossible to hit her with a physical attack."

Relm turned to the spot where Elena was appearing again, only a few feet away from herself. The redhead knew that a shuriken could be thrown much faster than Mickaw's fins or Zelda's chain. Perhaps if she fired now…

Quickly the girl removed three stars and swung her arm around, launching them at the cloud of snow. Elena opened her eyes and gasped out. She quickly whispered out a spell, but the three razor-sharp blades struck her body before she had a chance to warp away. She did so, anyway, and vanished once again.

Zelda sheathed her sword and pulled her chain off of her back. She looked around the chamber, holding a wound version of the chain with her left hand, and a section of the end of it with her right. She spun the end of the chain in her right hand, preparing to strike, but waiting. Mickaw also readied his fins, not sure when or where the girl would appear again.

Out of the corner of her eye, Relm noticed a glimmer of snow appearing just behind her. The dust began to settle between the spot where she stood and where Zelda stood. Quickly, she spun around and threw her stars. Zelda also launched her whip in that direction.

Elena began to appear, but Relm's stars when straight through her. The wizrobe cried out after being struck by the whip, though. She breathed in heavily, glancing around at the three of them, before vanishing once more.

Mickaw felt an uneasy feeling. He turned around and he saw Elena appearing again. He quickly threw his fins, and they slammed through her. The image faded into a puff of snow, though. Relm found a similar façade and gasped out after wasting another couple stars on a false image. Zelda, too, pulled her chain back in disappointed, finding only a fake.

"Fools… you are crafty, but my magic will outdo you!" Elena called out, standing on the second level, looking down upon them. She threw her arms out to her side, a wall of ice forming in front of her. Zelda lashed out with her chain and Mickaw launched his fins out, but both struck the barrier and bounce back.

The apprentice smiled, staring them down. "Now, witness my true power… Jasper didn't think I could handle such a capability, but I will prove my worth! I summon the ultimate ice magic… Ether!"

She drew her hands together, and her bright blue hair flowed up into the air, as well as her entire body. The three below backed away, trying to avoid getting caught in this final move. Mickaw looked up to her, shaking his head. "You're only an apprentice… you can't possibly control Ether!"

She shook her head, though, and drew her hands back out again. "The absolute frost, come forth!" she cried out. Shards of ice and snow spread out all around her, freezing everything. The entire upper floor froze solid. Elena landed back down onto the platform, her body shattering into pieces.

Relm and Zelda gasped out. "Wh-what?!"

Mickaw shook his head. "She turned into pure ice… She didn't simply freeze her body. Her body literally transformed into a massive block of ice. Just as the ice warriors are animated ice particles put together, so she became… she could not handle the true powers of Ether."

Zelda looked down, sadness and pity in her eyes. "I… I do not appreciate her actions, but… what a way to go…"

Relm shook her head. "Whatever. Let's just get that door open, and find Jasper."

Zelda turned to look at her sister, shaking her head in dismay. 'Just what has happened to your heart…?' she thought to herself, but dared not speak it aloud.

XXXXX

"Very well, then. We'll let Ruto and Maya lead the soldiers into the mansion, and then we'll proceed to take down Jasper."

"Romani, you're doing it all wrong!" her voice called out.

I looked up at the cows, and then down to the bucket sitting on the ground, half-filled with milk. The other half covered the ground and my hands.

"But, I—"

She nudged me out of the way and reached out for the udder. "Here, let me show you again… if we don't do this right, then we won't have any money for food!"

I stood up, shaking my head. "No!" I screamed. "I just can't do it! I've tried a hundred times already!"

Cremia quickly dried her hands and stood up. "You haven't done it a 'hundred' times! It's only been eight so far. Don't worry; you'll get the hang of it."

I shook my head. "I can't and I won't! It's too hard."

The older girl put her hands on her hips. "Well, who's going to, them? I can't do everything myself, and what will you do if something happens to me, hmm? You an never predict what the future holds."

"I can take care of myself."

"With what skills? You're too stubborn to learn anything; always out playing all day!"

"But—I practice archery every day! That's a skill. I'm good at that, aren't I?"

Cremia slapped her right hand against her forehead. "But that's just another game! I mean REAL skills."

Overwhelmed, I started crying. "All I've ever done was to please you! I tried… I want to help, but I…"

Keeping a calm expression, Cremia kneeled down and held me in her arms. "And you can… but you can't give up. Just keep working at it and you'll make it. Sound good?"

I nodded, drying up my tears. Afterwards, my smile returned. "Okay… I'll… I'll try…"

She nodded. "That's a good girl."

I nodded back, hugging her close. "I love you, big sis…"

She held me tight, closing her eyes and smiling. "I love you, too, l'il sis."

"Cremia…" I whispered softly.

"Actually, my name is Malon."

Romani suddenly gasped, jumping in surprise. "Wha-?!"

That didn't last long, though, because the next thing she knew, she was on the floor. "Ow…" she murmured.

Malon gasped out, but starting giggling. "Heh… sorry… did I scare you?"

The younger girl stood up, turning back to face young woman. "You… you're not Cremia? Actually, come to think of it, my sister would never wear something like that…"

The woman chuckled, tipping up her hand. "Heh… I get that a lot. I guess I've grown into a bit of a tomboy after I lost my mother, only having my father to take care of me. He's gone now, too, though."

Romani lowered her head. "You SURE you're not related to my sister, right? Or me? My mother died in childbirth… bearing me… I never knew her. My father died when I was six. I was raised up by my big sister all my life."

Malon nodded her head. "I can assure you, though I am mighty surprised how close in resemblance you are to me, that I share no relation with you at all. My mother died when I was a little girl, and my didn't die until I was about… well, twenty-six, ten years ago."

The young ranch girl raised an eyebrow. "Wow… you're old… you definitely couldn't be my sister; she's only six years older than me, twenty-four."

The young woman shook her head, eyes closed. "Thanks for the compliment, miss…"

"Romani."

Malon nodded. "Yes, of course. Romani."

"Mmm… Romani… that's a nice name." She stood up and walked over to the girl. Romani was tall for her age, but she was still about half a foot shorter than Malon. "You probably already know that, but my name is Malon."

Romani held out her hand, nodding her head. "It's nice to meet you, Malon."

They shook hands, but then another barged into the room, slamming the door wide open. "Malon, we've got trouble…"

The woman turned off to her right, looking to the door. "What's wrong, Link?"

Romani jumped up, surprised. "Link?!"

The goron entered into the room, and her expression dropped again. "I'm sorry, but you're probably looking for THE Link… I have the honor of being named after the great Hero of Time, Link. But alas, I have business with fair Malon. Please excuse us."

Puzzled, the girl looked over to Malon, who too looked slightly puzzled. "You… you know Link?" the woman asked.

Romani nodded her head. "Y-yes… I'm just wondering how YOU know him…"

"Save this banter for later!" Link-Goro called out, before turning back to Malon. "Please, see me in private."

Malon nodded her head. "O-of course… come, let's go."

Romani watched the two leave, sad to be unable to talk to anyone anymore. "Geez… now this is getting even more confusing…" she stated to no one in particular. "How could he have been here… and where could he have gone?!"

"East, perhaps?" another voice spoke out.

The young girl turned to a dark corner. From the shadows came another girl, her hair flowing down behind her, nearly touching the floor. The girl's hair was pure white, and she wore a simple green dress with brown leather sandals. She also had a quiver slung over her back, with a bow sticking out from it, but there was nothing else special about her appearance.

"You… I saw you on the field…" Romani proclaimed.

The other girl nodded. "Y-yes… but if you're looking for Link, I don't think you will find him… He is gone. I have heard that he's alive and heading east, but I do not know if the rumors are true or not. If you wish to find him, you'll have to ride east."

The red-haired girl shook her head. "No… I can't… my horse is gone…"

"I can let you borrow one of our horses. We have plenty, and Malon will be more than willing to let you take one."

Romani shook her head again. "No, no… I couldn't do that… its just not right… I mean, I've only just met you guys and all… and I don't know this place at all… Where am—"

"Hyrule," the girl remarked.

The elder girl cried out, stunned. "Hyrule?! L-link… Link always talked about… about a place called… Hyrule… he said it was where he came from; it was his home… where he grew up… you mean… I'm in Hyrule?"

She nodded. "Yes, indeed it is true. Where do you come from, though? Clearly you don't know this place very well."

Romani lowered her head. "I'm from a place called Termina… I tried to follow Link, through the Misty Woods… I found a strange portal of some sort, and wound up here… I'd been tracking Link's trail north through the forest, and I came to this field… I've lived on a ranch all my live, too, and I heard the horses, so I thought to come here…"

"So you came from Faron Woods?"

"N-no…" Romani stated. "I just told you—"

"There are three great forests in the land of Hyrule," the girl began. "All of them are in the south and southeast of our land. The forests are all connected, but they share different properties. The spirit Faron to the south watches over the Faron Woods, and over the edge of the sea. In the southeast, Hyrule's lands border a great plain known as Ordona. The forest between this plain and Ordona is known as the Ordon Woods, watched over by the spirit Ordona. The Lost Woods is the largest forest in Hyrule, to the east and southeast. It is watched over by a spirit known as the Great Deku Tree, and by his guardian fairies. You came from the south, so clearly, you came from Faron."

Romani sighed. "Well, whatever it may be, all I know is that somehow I ended up here, because I was angry at my sister and wanted to find Link. My sister had sent him on an errand a couple days ago, and hasn't been back since. I was getting worried, but Cremia didn't want me to leave… and I got angry with her…"

She started to tear up, but the girl came and hugged her. "Its okay… cry all you want…" she began to tear up, too. "I've… I've learned that it isn't a good idea to bottle up your feelings… having someone to talk to makes it all better…"

The red-head nodded again, and a smile crossed her face. She dried up her tears the best she could. "Th-thank you… uh…"

"Sheila," the girl remarked. "Please, call me Sheila."

Romani smiled. "Thanks, Sheila… I feel a little better now… but I'm still mad at myself…and now I don't know when I'll ever see her again…"

"I'm sure you'll find a way home, but until then, I will pray to the Goddesses for your sister, and for you."

The elder girl raised an eyebrow. "Goddesses…?"

Sheila backed away, shaking her head. "You really aren't from around here, huh?"

Romani sighed. "No, honestly, I'm not…"

The white-haired girl slapped her forehead. "Well, then, this will be a long day…"

Author's Note(s): Wizards and wizrobes are identical. Wizrobes are simply the term the characters use in this case, but sometimes "wizard" is used instead. Essentially, that's all I've done with Wizrobes in this series. They're based more on the wizrobes from A Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, and Majora's Mask, where they're just robed wizards whom throw magic spells at you. They aren't bird-like creatures as in certain games, such as The Wind Waker.

There are different types of Wizrobes, each for a different elemental, obviously. There are no wizrobes for the elements Nature, Time, Life, or Spirit. In Zelda games, Blue Wizrobes are typically Ice, but instead, White Wizrobes are Ice here. It goes in this way: Red (Fire), White (Ice), Blue (Water), Purple (Bolt [Thunder]), Brown (Earth), Green (Wind), Black (Shadow), and Gold (Holy).

There are also sorcerers (sorceresses for females), but sorcerers and sorceresses are basically far more powerful wizrobes. Before I was using these two terms interchangeably, but then I decided to fully define them. In one case, a certain Black Wizrobe ends up becoming a Sorceress after gaining a great deal of additional power...

Of course, another thing I've defined is that wizrobes aren't all just old men with a kooky laugh. Elena is actually a teenage girl, but is completely loyal to Jasper. Elena was already concepted as a boss for the Dark Horizons RPG, and I simply decided to flesh her out a bit. She's basically the "miniboss" of Snowpeak Manor. A random note, but although she is a wizrobe, she's technically still a maid for Jasper, as well. Originally she was going to be just a maid that wound up attacking you, because I found a neat little "battler" artwork that showcased it, but changed that idea all-together.

Furthermore, yes, I did like the idea of retaining certain spells from prior games, including "Ether." Ether is clearly a very powerful ability, so in this plotline, Ether is the ultimate Ice spell... which Elena couldn't quite handle. Quake and Bombos will also be included as the highest level Earth and Fire spells, respectively. For other elements, I have created new ones to fill in the gaps. If I can determine possibilities based on monsters and the like, though, I'll try and include those.