Chapter 10- The Contraption Koloktos

Vaati lowered himself before unceremoniously dropping Link to the ground with a thud. As Link picked himself up with an annoyed groan, Vaati hovered back into the air, eye focused on the gleaming metal behemoth that stood ready to swing one of the six giant swords it wielded.

"Distract it while I find a weak point," Vaati stated, flying higher to give Link no choice but fend for himself. "Try not to get crushed. I'm not going to swoop down and save you," he added, the irritation he felt towards helping save the hero twice creeping into his voice.

Link sighed and drew his sword before staring up at Koloktos in a terrified awe. He swallowed once, knowing that the odds of him defeating such a large, metal-plated monster with a normal sword was near nothing. Maybe if he had the Master Sword of legend he would have felt a bit more confident in his abilities, but right now he felt insignificant standing before the golden monstrosity. A bug battling a giant. That is how he felt right now. He did, however, run towards the monster to distract it from Vaati, hoping the demon eye could figure something out before Link ended up smashed into the ground.

Vaati watched as Link took off and began striking at Koloktos's legs before nimbly rolling away as the swords crashed to the ground in attempt to catch him. The metal contraption's focus was fully on the brat, earning a satisfied, single laugh from the demon sorcerer. He went to work looking over the monster, once again concluding that there were no obvious weak points. Unlike most monsters it lacked a giant eye that made for easy targeting. No, Eivie would not have made this creature have such a glaring weakness.

With that analysis, he decided to just attack it with everything he had, thinking that one of his spells would surely work. A crackling ball of red energy formed in front him, charging and growing until it was the size of Vaati's demon form. The blast rocketed forward to squarely hit Koloktos's chest and head.

Link screamed as he ran away, the ground exploding around him. The spell had glanced off the metal and split into smaller rays of energy, tearing the ground asunder.

"Watch what you're doing, you idiot!" Link shook his sword at Vaati before the warning hum of Koloktos's oncoming attack forced him to return to dodging swords.

"Eivie," Vaati hissed, his eye narrowing. It was worse than Koloktos merely being covered in metal. No, of course she made it magic resistant as well. It would take a lot of wind to even unbalance the monster. Energy blasts were seemingly a lost cause. Slamming into it while it crazily swung its scimitars around was too risky- even a barrier wouldn't last against multiple strikes.

Blue light gathered in front of him, his anger blinding him. The spell stuck Koloktos uselessly. All around the ground hardened to stone, a few nearly striking Link in the process.

"Stop that! Clearly that isn't working!" Link yelled again, this time not turning away from the monster as another sword plummeted towards him. He sidestepped before rolling backwards.

As he danced around the falling blades, Link looked over Koloktos in attempt to find a weak point because Vaati had obviously failed. Another sword slammed down beside him, sending clumps of dirt into the air. As Koloktos raised its arm, Link caught sight of an almost bow-like joint connecting the upper and lower arm of the monster. The areas connecting the sections of the arm let off a dim purple glow, contrasting greatly against the shimmering metal. He looked over the rest of the monster. Every arm was connected the main body with the same purple glow. Whatever made up the inside of Koloktos wasn't metallic, and therefore vulnerable.

Koloktos hummed as it swung another sword to sweep over the ground at Link. He laid flat on the ground, the sword rushing above him as he nearly squeaked in panic. Its changing tactics made it more than just a moving fortress of armor. Koloktos had some intelligence. As Link got to his feet, he leapt out of the way as another sword crashed down beside him. While Koloktos worked to wrench its blade from the ground, Link slashed at the joint to land a blow to the purple glow.

While his sword did not cut through, the monster gave a high pitched, screeching whirr as it pulled its arm away to show the attack could be effective. Link just needed something a bit more… destructive.

"Vaati, aim one of those blasts at the joint!" Link yelled, pointing to the arm. "That purple area!"

Vaati narrowed his eye as he followed Link's sight to the area between one of Koloktos's arms. Sure enough, amongst what he thought had been a purely gold creature, was a small connecting area of purple. He growled as he charged his energy blast. How had Link even noticed such a tiny little detail? Vaati should have noticed that first! Now it looked like he was an idiot. Like Link knew better than him.

Link sprinted away from the metal giant when Vaati formed an excessively large red sphere of energy in front of him. The resulting explosion as the blast met the target forced Link to cover his ears and close his eyes as the ground was torn apart. He was knocked from his feet when the shockwave hit him. Even Vaati was forced higher into the air to avoid the explosion.

As the dust cleared, Link gawked at the sight as he slowly got to his feet. Golden metal parts lay scattered about the feet of Koloktos. Vaati had overdone the spell more than even he had intended. Three of Koloktos's arms- all that was on one side of its body- had been blown off.

The metal monster stood still for a moment before it let out another hissing hum. It stepped forward, the ground quaking, before it began to swing its remaining arms in a fury of attacks that moved in a blur. Suddenly the monster did not seem sluggish or held back by its own size as the blades whirled dangerously close, Link running as fast as he could but the wind of the swinging swords at his back.

A whirlwind caught Link, sending him into the air as he flailed. When a claw wrapped around his waist he calmed down, the string of mumbled curses easily recognized as Vaati's as he saved him from the stampeding automaton.

They watched as Koloktos slowed its rapid attacks, gradually stopping. It turned to face its two airborne opponents. When it raised its arms, Vaati tensed, ready to avoid another bout of enraged swings, but the monster only hummed.

Air movement behind him caused the demon sorcerer to fly higher into the sky. The parts of the assumed-destroyed arms rocketed past them in a blur as they raced towards Koloktos. In a matter of moments the parts arranged themselves around Koloktos before the same mist-like purple substance filled them, reconnecting them to the body.

"What is that thing?" Link muttered in horror as the monster put itself back together.

Vaati remained quiet as he watched the monster finish reconstructing its dismembered body. Whatever was inside that metal shell had not been injured from the arms being blown off. He squinted at the monster, focusing on the main portion of the body critically. On the chest he noticed that there was a metal grill of sorts. That was probably where the answer to Link's question was. His magic had been unable to destroy the metal. If he wanted to see what was behind the grill, he would need to find another way.

"It's not even scratched," Link muttered, taking a look at the monster himself. That blast could have leveled half of Ordon Village, but Koloktos just put itself back together like nothing had happened. As angry as Link was with Eivie leaving them to battle this terrifying machine, it was probably for the best. She said she had worse in the Arbiter Grounds and Link didn't want to think what could be worse than a towering, invulnerable hunk of metal. And he certainly didn't want Shadow to have anything that powerful.

Vaati returned Link to the ground when the immediate danger had passed- and when he noticed he had saved Link despite his earlier decree. With neither having a plan to tackle the problem of Koloktos's reconstructing, they –Link, namely- went back to their earlier tactic of distracting it until some useful revelation came about.

Link became an expert at rolling out of the way of Koloktos's swords as they smashed into the ground. The problem now was the ground was so torn up between the energy blast, the swords, and Koloktos's stomping around that every roll included some lump poking into his back or head. He could no longer tell if his scalp was wet with sweat or blood. And his head was pounding. All he heard beside the hums of Koloktos was a throbbing thud, thud, thud, like a heartbeat. Either he had a horrendous headache or…

Link gazed upward at the metal creature, the metal grate on the front of its chest catching his attention. A red orb, each beat sounding in time with each pulse the orb gave. A heart? If not that, then a weakness of some sort. Why else would it be protected?

"There's some sort of orb behind the grate" Link reported to Vaati, only to earn a snort from the demon. Link sighed in frustration as he dodged another falling blade. Vaati could have at least told him he had figured that out already. Clearly his communication skills were lacking.

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, a brilliant red glow sent him into a mad dash to away from Koloktos. Another of Vaati's energy blasts crashed into Koloktos in an explosion. The metal monster halted momentarily as it steadied itself to remain standing. Once again it was left unscathed, leaving Link with a dimming sense of hope. Vaati took it even less well, his growling turning to snarling and muttering of curses as he flited about the sky in a rage. Above the clouds began to gather into a thunderhead.

While Vaati threw his tantrum, Link went back to problem-solving. He evaded swords as they came, weaving around the deadly edges as he neared the monster's stubby legs. Once in range he let out a grunt as he swung his sword into the metal. His arms shook and his sword sung as it quivered from the blow. Link feared that if he kept striking the obviously well-made armor of Koloktos his sword would snap like a pathetic little twig.

"Vaati!" Link shouted excitedly as he ran from Koloktos's striking range. "I scratched the metal!" He pointed to the small ding in the plate on the monster's leg.

Vaati nearly attacked Link because how happy the brat seemed to be with a nearly invisible scratch on the metal. He only stopped himself when he remembered that that scratch was the most damage they had inflicted on the contraption yet. His magic was ineffective, but Link's sword was much too small to break through the grate to the orb. They needed something larger. Vaati's eye narrowed in delight as he thought of the perfect weapon to use.

Another blast was sent at the golden automaton, it barreling into the side of its body. Two arms separated from the monster, dropping to the ground in a clatter as they disassembled. "Pick up one of the swords!" Vaati ordered. Koloktos still had too many flailing weapons and vitality for Vaati to risk getting close, but Link… He was used to charging into insanely reckless situations. "Grab one!" He yelled again when Link looked up at him with an eyebrow raised.

"How am I supposed to use that thing? I can't haul that around, let alone swing it," Link said as he stood with his hands out in a gesture of doubt.

"Get to the damn sword!"

"All right. Fine." Link rolled his eyes as he returned his sword to its sheath. He sprinted over to the nearest discarded sword before crouching down to grab the grip of the sword that was double his height. He lifted and nearly fell over as the sword raised above him effortlessly. He stared at the weapon, questioning how such a gigantic hunk of metal was as light as his own sword. The answer to his question was simple when he saw wisps of magic swirling around the sword. Vaati had used some spell to alter the weight, or at least make it seem lighter. Link didn't have time to figure out the details behind the spell, however, and charged forward.

Koloktos was in the midst of its wild sweeping of its remaining swords, not seeming to care what it hit –if anything or everything- in its rage. Link was forced to maneuver the oversized sword around the crazed swings by weaving about and tilting the sword away from a direct, potentially disarming, blow. Once in range it took one downward strike accompanied by screeching metal to metal contact to break open the protective grate guarding the orb.

Before Link and Vaati could move to hit the orb, Koloktos dropped a sword to cover the opening. It did not hesitate to call back its limbs laying strewn about the ground, now needing the extra arms to protect its weakness. As the body reconstructed, the sword Link held was pried from his hands, flying to Koloktos's waiting hand. The monster dropped the sword from its other bottom hand to cover its chest more. Just as they thought Koloktos was done and ready to move back to its earlier tactic of swinging blades about, violet flames formed a ring behind it.

Link stumbled back as the ground beneath him opened up, a boned hand grasping at the dirt to claw out of the soil. Around him, several more skeletal figures pulled themselves from the ground in a chorus of hisses and clacking bones. Soon Link found himself standing among a group of stalfos.

Above, Vaati looked on with disgust. The very sight of undead creatures reminded him that the sorceress had forced them to clean up her own mess. He was done wasting his time with Eivie's nonsense. He should have just left the monster behind for Link to battle alone, and gone after Eivie and Shadow. Vaati considered leaving Link for a second before his anger towards the metal monster blinded him from what he would call reason.

Link dove for the ground as Koloktos's discarded sword flew through the air by way of a cyclone. Vaati caught the blade in a clawed hand before shooting over to Koloktos, effectively telling Link to deal with the stalfos while he finished off Koloktos. Link wasn't about to argue with the snarling bat demon as he dangerously flung a giant sword about. Stalfos were frankly less of a threat to his life.

Vaati swung the borrowed sword, lashing out at any part of Koloktos near him. Metallic shrieks rang out as the blade slide across the plating. The noise gave away to be replaced by another shrill hum from the metal automaton as it slashed at the demon bat still hovering nearby, Vaati's agility limited because of toting around the oversized weapon.

One of his secondary wings fell to the ground, dark blood seeping from the wound. With a growl Vaati retaliated by swinging his sword upwards into Koloktos's chest. An arm fell to the dirt in a rattling pile of armor. Koloktos returned to a frenzied slashing of arms, forcing Vaati to the defensive until it tired.

Link blocked another swing of rusted sword as a stalfos lunged for him. By his feet were a pile of bones that had yet to disperse in the classic cloud of purple energy that seemed to remain as a monster perished. While he fought the by-comparison weak skeletons, he glanced over at Vaati nervously.

He noticed the missing wing. Even though it did not see to be one essential for flying, he could tell that the wound was making Vaati sluggish. Vaati seemed to be relying on random swipes opposed to a systematic attack. While he could have been a bit more strategic, Link could see that Vaati was forcing Koloktos into a proverbial corner. The metal machine did not call back its missing limbs, nor was it able to cover its open chest with another hand. Link's sword bit into the neck of stalfos as he returned his attention to his own fight.

Koloktos's hum turned to a hiss as another arm fell to the ground. The remaining arm had no option but reveal its chest in order to pick a sword from the five strewn about the dirt. In that time Vaati brought back his arm and flung his sword, using magic to keep the blade on target.

Stillness. Time seemed to slow as Koloktos came to an abrupt halt, sword stabbed into its chest. The remaining two stalfos turned to smoke as the metal monster let out a roaring hum. What followed sent a shiver up Link's spine. Koloktos began laughing, the sound childlike yet demented at the same time. The purple insides of the metal creature bloated, plates shifting in a din of screeches. In a single explosion the eerie laughter died, metal scattering about in a storm of wreckage.

As the sword fell to the ground, several purple wisps rose. They lingered for a moment, their pale yellow-green eyes beholding their vanquishers. Eventually the wisps faded from sight with one final chiming of laughter from each.

"They were…" Link stared at the spot where the spirits had been. Something about the monsters' eyes reminded him of the poes that once roamed the graveyards of Faron. "They were poes?"

Vaati glanced at the remains of Koloktos as he thought. Link hadn't been able to hear the poes' words, perhaps because they were so weakened and close to death. We are free from the sorceress. That had been their departing words as they faded from existence, the orb likely what they were bound to. Or, rather, what Eivie had forced them to bind to. The design of Koloktos was ancient, maybe even nearing Vaati's age, if not older. Eivie had not been its original creator, perhaps stumbling upon it somewhere and deciding to experiment with it. Her test subjects were her own underlings, or more likely, those who had defied her and that she had decided not to eat.

"She used an amalgamation of poe souls to make the animate the armor," Vaati stated, causing Link to look up at him, asking for Vaati to explain further. "Whatever this machine had been in the past, it had been powered by magic. Once its creators died, their magic's power waned. Eivie could not replicate whatever spell had animated Koloktos, and instead used poes."

He let out a low, rumbling growl. Eivie was not above experimenting with her own. While he was not wholly surprised -seeing as how she must have eaten a great number of the spirits to grow so powerful- he was bothered as to why she would make something like Koloktos. Binding souls to a suit armor controlled by a rod was by far more impractical than simply scaring normal poes into submission and ordering them to attack. It was just another part of the puzzle that didn't seem to fit anywhere. A metal monster. Bringing the Twili to Hyrule with the intention of betraying them anyway. Giving up the Palace of Winds with little complaint.

"That's… sort of disturbing," Link muttered as he returned his gaze to the shimmering wreckage, his brows pushed together. He'd heard stories of poes possessing objects on occasion, but for multiple souls to bind to a hunk of metal… He hoped it wasn't something that was regularly done because an army of such monsters would mean disaster for Hyrule.

"We're leaving," Vaati snarled, making Link flinch with the sudden ire radiating from the sorcerer. Vaati took hold of Link in one of his claws before taking to the air. He didn't even feel the wound from Koloktos anymore. No, he remembered something that he hadn't got to ask Eivie yet. Back when he kicked her out of his Palace, she had Gomess try to possess him.

"His body would have saved us some time." That is what she had said. She needed a body for something, but what? He'd make her answer him. There would be no more dodging around his demands.

"Where are we going?" Link shouted, his voice barely audible above the wind. "The Arbiter Grounds?"

"Where else?" Vaati hissed.

Link quieted, noticing that Vaati's mood had soured even further. If he kept talking he may end up getting dropped on the blurred ground rushing by far beneath them. Being clutched in a demon's claw was uncomfortable enough. He looked ahead of them, focusing on the horizon in an attempt to avoid getting dizzy or, goddesses forbid, him getting sick. He tried to take his mind of flying, but his mind only seemed to find one subject it wanted to think about.

The Arbiter Grounds. Even the name made Link want to shiver. Legends said that it had been a Gerudo temple turned prison. Then every prisoner that had been held there was killed by a poe, becoming wandering spirits and undead that haunt the area. The Twilight Hero had defeated that monster, but the poes never left, instead growing in number. Now people avoided it at all costs. Not only because of the poes and the like, but because that was where the Undead Queen –the leader of the monsters existing in a state of death- supposedly lived.

And, apparently, that too was Eivie. A lot of legends seemed to warn about the sorceress's presence throughout the centuries. Link wondered why he had never heard about Vaati, then, considering Gomess and Eivie both confirmed that Vaati had been an ancient monster of sorts. He didn't want to believe Vaati was an evil demon until he had more proof than the words of two monsters.

He'd keep helping until the Twili were gone, and, by then, hopefully he would have his answer to Vaati's nature. He… he really hoped that Vaati wouldn't turn out evil. Now that Link knew he was the hero, he also knew that the duty of defeating an evil demon would be his.

Link sighed, staring at the mountains coming into sight on the horizon. Once they reached the other side, they would be in the Gerudo Desert. From there it would not be long until they reached the Arbiter Grounds to see what destruction Shadow had wrought to it.

A/N- As promised, this was entirely a battle scene. I am certainly getting used to writing these, so hopefully they're decent. I re-watched the Koloktos battle a few times to try to describe its fighting style. Also tried something different this chapter with flipping between Link and Vaati's POV, and I hope it didn't make it harder to read- it was a style experiment, really.

I based Koloktos being animated by poes on the idea that Eivie could not use the same magic used by the Dominion Rod and the statues it controlled in Twilight Princess. Also, seeing as how purple = evil in the Zelda universe, the insides of Koloktos seems like dark energy while the metal is just metal. And the orb in the chest reminds me of Gomess. Hopefully that all makes sense, but if someone really wants my thought process behind it, I would certainly try to explain it more.

Next up, seeing what's happened in Arbiter Grounds under Shadow's attack and some more non-cooperative Eivie!

Thank you for reading! Review, please! It might pull me away from Elder Scrolls Online to get some typing done.

AMaeJay- I was really considering making it young child/poe at some point! I mean, it would make complete sense with that laugh of its. But- in the context of this story- more low level poes making up the monster made more sense because Eivie or Gomess would have eaten anything strong enough to move the statue on its own. Thank you for reviewing, your kind words are a great motivator!

And, with that, good day and until next chapter,

-AwkwardBlackCat