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Legend of Zelda, Book 1: Spirits
Chapter 4, The Ember War
XxX
Whoosh.
Midna leaped to the side, narrowly dodging the swinging axe-head trap… Just in time to step on another pressure plate and trigger another axe-head.
"Argh! I wish magic would work in here!" she shouted in frustration as this axe-head missed her, but made a huge gash in her cloak, "Stupid magic nullifiers!"
Indeed, the Sacred Beast had- with its final breath- made magic useless in this chamber of trials. Midna scowled as another Keese attempted to knock her into a pit-fall trap. Smacking the creepy devil bat away, Midna cautiously made her way over to the door, dodging multiple Rats and Bat-Skulls along the way.
"Finally! The door!" Midna cried with glee as she wrenched open the door at the end… Only to see another, even longer hall with many visible traps and enemies.
"Oh, sweet mother of goddesses, what have I gotten myself into…"
XxX
Enter Hyrule…
Link frowned. He had been sitting in a chair for the past hour, and his tunic was starting to itch. As he watched, Princess Zelda and the Council continued discussing taxes, land rights, and other political junk.
This better end soon, I'm already itching for a fight, Link thought, watching the group continue to debate heatedly, Zelda yelling just as much as the rest of the group. Unfortunately, it was very, very long time before the meeting closed.
-3 hours later.
"Yes! Finally!" Link yelled, backflipping out of the room, then bowing to the princess.
Zelda smiled, amused at the youth's way of getting rid of all his built up energy over the 4 hours he had been there.
"So, if you would please, I would like to discuss matters of utmost importance in my private chambers, in half an hour. Ask Romi to escort you if you are lost." Zelda said simply, then walked up the nearby stairwell and disappearing from sight.
Link smiled, happy that he at least got half an hour to get rid of all his pent-up energy. Jogging out of the castle, he headed to the local Malo Mart to stock up on potions for the inevitable journey.
XxX
Enter the Twilight Realm…
Midna swore.
She glanced around herself fearfully, watching the three Aeralfos flying around her with calculating eyes.
With a screech, one of the ugly, winged lizards dove towards her. Finding no way to block the attack, Midna simply ran towards the other end of the hall.
The Aeralfos screeched with anger, and gave chase to the fleeing Twili. Midna glanced back to see that the Aeralfos had apparently called some buddies, as she now had a huge hoard of White Wolfos and Stalhounds after her as well.
Midna, not liking those razor-sharp fangs one bit, simply ran faster, all the while thinking, why me, why me, why me!
XxX
Enter Hyrule…
Link knocked loudly on the ornate doors to Zelda's private chambers. The dark oak double doors had the royal crest carved into them, and golden handles to open and close.
"Come in!"
Link pushed open the doors, and walked into Zelda's fancy smancy room! (Sry, couldn't resist. :P)
There was a plush purple carpet leading from the doors straight to the bed. The bed itself was huge, with plenty of white pillows and a large, purple blanket with gold edges on top.
On the walls behind the bed were huge windows that had equally huge purple curtains, and the ceiling was especially interesting. The ceiling had scriptures depicting the journey of the Hero of Time, as Link could easily tell by the famous Ocarina of Time pictured in one of them.
"So, you like purple." Link stated simply, walking over and sitting down on one of the many sofas that were in the room. Zelda smiled, nodding.
"Purple is my favorite color, but I did not call you here to discuss my favorite things. I trust you still have the letter I gave you?" she said quickly, ever on task.
"Yeah, it's right here." Link said, drawing the letter out of his pocket, "What was up with your friend though?"
Zelda laughed easily, "My friend was one of the last of the Sheikah, the royal bodyguards. Aside from the one you spoke to on your journey, there are less than ten Sheikah left today."
Zelda frowned, "Onto business then! Recently, one of the scouts that I have all around Hyrule has reported that he saw a strange twister group in Arbiter's Grounds. You can see it from here, if you look."
Link stood and walked over to the windows with Zelda, and she pointed out the twister to him.
It was very noticeable, three twisters- one blue, one white, and one black- that spiraled together to form a sort of colored funnel down. The cliffs blocked the view of the actual prison, but Link had no doubt that's where the twisters hit.
"This is no natural phenomenon, and I thought it best to have Hyrule's Hero go and see if this could be a potential threat or not." Zelda glanced at Link, "You will go, won't you?"
Link scowled at the twisters, a foul feeling in his gut already forming.
"Of course I'll go, your Majesty, but what do you think it could be if it is not natural?"
Zelda sighed, shaking her head, "I have no idea, Link, but hopefully you'll be able to find out."
XxX
Enter the Twilight Realm…
"Gah!" Midna yelled as she slammed the door shut behind her, stopping the huge hoard of baddies from coming through, "Seriously, Sacred Beast, how long is this thing?"
Midna scowled at her clothes, which had been reduced to her hood, and skirt. The cloak part was completely cut off.
Turning around to face the newest hall of tricks and traps, Midna wasn't very happy with the Sacred Beast at all.
-1 week and 12 more halls later…-
"Omigosh finally!" Midna cried in relief as she turned around from the latest door she had slammed shut and turned to see huge golden double-doors with a wolf carved into them. Walking forward in awe, with a bit of a limp due to a stray arrow that had somehow lodged itself right under her knee, she slowly pushed the doors open.
Climbing the white stairs from the entrance, Midna could only say "Whoa."
XxX
Enter Hyrule…
"10 rupees!"
Link fished out his wallet and handed 10 rupees to the maniacal cannon guy as he waited for it to be aimed at the desert. Climbing in to the semi-safe structure, Link prayed that he wouldn't get blasted into the cliff face, then with a whoop he was gone!
-1 minute later…-
Pwoosh!
Link picked himself up after a less than perfect landing from the sands of the desert. He checked to make sure that the Ordon Sword and Hylian Shield were on his back, then set off towards Arbiter's Grounds.
-1 hour later-
Link hopped skill-fully (sp?) through Arbiter's Grounds, all traps already disabled by him. He could hear the roaring winds of the twisters, and immediately wished he had brought the iron boots. Unfortunately, said boots were in Epona's saddle bag, and Epona was still in Castle Town.
Link drew the Ordon Sword and stabbed it into the ground, using the blade to gain leverage against the winds. As he dragged himself slowly into the mirror chamber, he was stunned to see that the three twisters were converging onto one point- the empty mirror pedestal.
Seeing the empty golden frame stirred many memories and emotions in Link, the most prominent being his loneliness after She left, and wanting to know why the mirror had to be broken.
As he watched, the twisters grew stronger, pushing him back despite his best attempts to get closer to see exactly what was going on. With a scowl, Link hid behind a nearby wall, barely staying there against the winds.
"What in Farore's name is this wind!" Link muttered angrily, now crouching behind his shield in an attempt to minimize the wind pushing against him, "I can't even get close to it!"
At this point, the three twisters were spinning, creating a tri-colored spiral. All three were obviously being caused by the same thing, as there was now a noticeable bulge about 100 or 200 ft up. Link glared at the bulge, knowing something important was bound to be there, and grabbed his bow.
He tried shooting an arrow, but the winds blew it away. He would have to use something else.
"Gods!" Link said angrily, "I only brought the bow, sword, shield… and the Gale Boomerang!"
Link grabbed the white-green boomerang and threw it expertly, but alas it was also blown back by the winds.
"So how am I supposed to get up there…"
Link suddenly hit an idea, but it was both ridiculously crazy and stupidly risky.
"Eh, better than nothing," he finally conceded, and started setting up for his "master plan".
-Half an hour later…-
"BAD IDEA! BAD IDEA! BAD IDEA!" Link shrieked fearfully as he was picked up by the winds. He was standing on his Hylian shield, using it as a sort of surfboard to "ride the winds". He had left all his gear below to minimize his weight, but now he was going up way too fast.
Not to mention he could fall off the shield-board at any second.
Crouching down and grabbing the edges of the shield in a sad attempt to steer his craft, Link helplessly soared way above the strange bulge in the twisters.
Looking down at the ground which was over 300 ft down at his height, he simply said,
"I am so screwed."
XxX
Enter the Twilight Realm…
Midna gazed around her in wonder as she limped up the steps to a large platform. The steps were pure white, but there was a golden carpet which she was currently staining with the silverish blood dripping out of her leg wound.
All along the walls were stacked different weapons. From axes to daggers to bows and even boots, you name it, this thing had it!
Finally reaching the top of the stairs, Midna gazed at a handsome golden wolf resting on many animal furs. Even more furs were strewn around the apparent 'bed'.
In front of the wolf and the furs was a rectangular grey stone that read:
Ember, the Wolf.
Savior of the Realm.
You have our eternal thanks.
May you rest in peace.
Midna stared in shock. This was the legendary Sacred Beast! The wolf who stopped the Ember War and stopped the destruction of the whole Twilight Realm!
Midna limped closer to the golden wolf to see that it was only a coffin, as you could tell by the many jewels set in it and the large clasp.
Glancing around the room, she decided that she should at least find something to bring along before leaving…
Oh no, Midna thought suddenly, where's the exit?!
She looked past the wolf, to see a solid wall. Weapons lined everywhere else. Midna rushed back to the double doors from whence she had entered, but found them sealed by some force.
"Now, now, Midna, calm down." She whispered quietly, "You're probably just not seeing the exit. First get a weapon, then search for the exit."
With a new goal set, she started looking first in the long-sword selection. After all, Link had used a long-sword.
Midna flinched at the sudden wave of feelings thinking about her old traveling buddy brought. Even now, 2 years after they split, she hadn't accepted that they would never meet again. With a sigh, she returned to looking at the weapons.
-1 hour later-
Nothing.
After thoroughly checking the sword, dagger, axe, -even the bow seletion!- Midna had found nothing she liked, or even took a second glance at.
She hadn't even touched a single item yet.
The weapons were beautifully crafted, no doubt about that. Even the simpler ones had designs so intricate that none in her kingdom could match the skill needed to achieve that level of mastery. All these weapons, yet none of them felt… Right.
"Of course not, for the weapon you seek is not in this chamber…"
Midna leaped to her feat instantly at the new voice. She spun around, to see a white wolf sitting there, tongue out of its mouth.
"Hello there, Princess. My name is Ember. It's not my original name, but the name given to me by the people when I saved them because of the flame shaped scar on my left side." The wolf grinned, "But that doesn't matter. The weapon you seek is one of legends, used to slay the evil of the world… Follow."
The wolf stood and leaped past the golden coffin and bed of furs to a tapestry depicting two swords, one with a white blade and a blue handle and another with a dark silver blade with strange red designs along the center, and a black handle.
Midna recognized one of the swords instantly. The white-bladed blue handle one was the Master Sword.
"Seem familiar, hmm? Most don't know it, but the Master Sword had a twin. The blacksmith was a legendary wizard whom used the power of the goddesses to forge two blades. Unfortunately, the Interlopers used one blade for evil purposes, and thus that blade became accustomed to dark, and rests here…" Ember the Sacred Wolf pressed a paw to a pad on the wall, and the tapestry disappeared, revealing a narrow staircase down.
"W-what is this?" Midna asked, following the wolf down.
"You are traveling to the Hall of Time, where all the events in this realm and others are recorded… You must learn about the four original shadow beasts as well as the Ember War before you will understand how to control the blade…" Ember smiled cheerily, "You will also learn about yourself in this experience, for you will play a large role in what is to come…"
Ember dashed down the stairs, leaving Midna to walk down slowly, pondering his words.
"A large role in what is to come? What does he mean?"
With that, Midna followed the strange Ember down the stairs, and into the Hall of Time.
XXX
Well, I liked how that played out. Link is Air-Surfing! Yeah!
Oh, you'll learn all about Twili history in the next chapter, ha! History class, FTW!
READ AND REVIEW!
Bye for now, Sky Stormrunner