Three great beasts with merciless riders approached at full speed, churning grass and dirt beneath heavy cloven hooves. A man of great size ran before them, dragging a cart behind him. Within was a woman that carried life within her, and a dying creature of the forest that should never have left. An injured animal limped ahead in a broken canter, only slightly faster than the other stragglers… but there was one that ran with them that did not have too, a man armed with sword and shield.
He would be unable to change the outcome of the coming slaughter, but it seemed he would not abandon such a group either.
The monsters squealed, soon they would have blood.
"Kill them."
((()))
Rusl raised his shield, as he heard the hiss of arrows slashing past him, interposing himself between the archer and his wife—
But the arrows did not come from the moblin archer.
The archer in question was currently slumping sideways out of his saddle, riddled with at least a dozen short arrows. The other moblins also died in similar fashion. No arrow struck the bulbos. It was unwise to wound them. If they could not be killed in a single blow, it was best not to try. A wounded bulbos was a terrible thing to see.
Naturally, the death of the riders had no effect on the blood-thirsty mounts. They would charge until they hit something they could not overcome.
The kokiri had killed the moblins, but they carried no weaponry large enough to kill a bulbos—
Rusl's eyes met Uli's. In that moment, the woman he loved knew his heart. He tried to look away, before her face twisted in fear and anguish. She knew what he was about.
I'm sorry, I love you.
Rusl ran to the right, banging his shield with his sword, "Ha! Ha! Here!" he yelled. The boars veered towards him, attracted in their rage to the clamor he made.
In a second, he would die, but his unborn child and wife would not.
It was a fair trade.
Something brushed against Rusl's ankle, and he looked down, startled. A sapling had erupted, growing in inches for every moment.
When he looked back up he saw the bulbos dig in their hooves, screaming in panic this time, not rage.
Something moved at Rusl's back, but he dared not look, lest he lose his nerve. Something terrible stood behind him. It would save him, or kill him. His fate was not in his own hands. The sky grew dark beneath the leafy canopy.
The bulbos had come to a juddering stop, one had even fallen and rolled, regaining its stubby feet awkwardly.
But they did not run.
They slowly approached, heads lowered, snuffling loudly.
The monster behind Rusl gently brushed past beneath the cover of new trees, one childish hand held palm up, out to the monstrous boars.
Not terror. Awe.
Rusl felt his heart strum, trying to drag him towards the child of the forest. She was pure. Not good, not evil, for those were constructs of a mortal mind. She was simply pure.
The monsters gently touched their massive snouts to the forest child's hand.
"Welcome, children. The forest has need of you," the Forest Sage whispered, gently caressing the war beasts, a smile in her voice, though her mask still hid her features.
Saria turned to Rusl, "Come, we must hurry back into the forest, the Twilight is almost upon us," she warned.
Rusl bowed deeply.
He knew royalty when he saw it.
((()))
Veran held up a hand, and the sheikah slowed to a halt around her, as the shadow warrior studied the scene below.
What was this?
A woman crawled through the ash, clutching something to her breast. Seven men walked around her, armed with swords, axes, and a few spears. They walked strangely, occasionally one would pause for a moment, his form becoming blurred, or possess one too many limbs, before returning to "normal."
"Interlopers," Sana spat.
Indeed.
But strange. They moved as if honor guard to a funeral procession… and yet not.
Veran's gaze was drawn to a more monstrous Interloper that approached the group. It moved like a predator, though it appeared to be formed from a rotted horse with shrubbery filling in the missing parts… though the mane was made of black tentacles, not hair.
The woman stopped, and rose on her knees, holding the bundle out towards the interloper, and her guards moved, creating an opening for the interloper to approach. The men and woman had moved in unison. Like a single body.
The horse interloper approached, as if sensing a trap, its eyes darting, glancing at the armed interlopers, sharp teeth gnashing nervously, but the warrior interlopers made no move to attack. The horse lunged forward, sinking its teeth into the bundle. There was a cry, and a small explosion of light that disrupted the weaves of shadow the Sheikah were using to remain invisible. Four new shapes stood at the epicenter of the light blast. A horse, two bokoblins, and a disheveled man dressed in merchant clothing.
The kneeling woman slowly stood, turning to look at the sheikah.
"We do not know you," the woman said, her eyes flickering strangely, holding the bundle tightly to her breast. The others moved, even the newcomers, as a single unit, protecting the woman from the sheikah. Or perhaps the bundle, not the woman?
"What manner of Interloper are you?" Veran asked curiously, her fingers moving furtively at her side, silent commands to the warriors behind her. Her subordinates drew back, though they subtly readied teleportation magic, to return in a moment if needed.
"We are…" the faces of the Interlopers became confused, in unison, as they struggled to answer.
A gestalt… Veran guessed, intrigued.
"I have seen no others like you. Why have you not combined your essences into a single creature?" Veran questioned, addressing the small crowd.
"We… lost… something…" the group murmured, distressed, almost plaintive. Like children.
Veran reached up, pulling down the wrap that veiled her face, to let it hang free around her chin.
"What did you lose?" Veran asked gently, taking a half-step forward, her face a mask of concern, testing the perceptions of the group.
Weapons rose. They could sense her intent in the currents of twilight, they were not fooled by her appearance.
Interesting...
[Bring word of this to the princess] Veran finger signed to Iko. The young sheikah released his weave, and vanished.
Veran was unsure of what had occurred here, but the bundle most likely contained the final fragment of the Great Faerie they sought, and was also probably responsible for this anomaly…
((()))
The trees appeared deserted, on first glance, as well as second, third, and fourth, unless one had particularly keen eyes. In reality kokiri, skull kids, and plant-like creatures known as deku scrubs hid, ready to fight.
"They come," Mido said quietly, arrow on the string of his bow. He studied the interplay of Twilight as it nibbled at the edges of the forest below. Saria gently kissed his elbow as she passed, lowering her mask into place.
The forest stood, as it always had. Generations of spells had been woven into the trees, the land, the very air that breathed beneath the trees.
This forest was life.
The first of the monsters stood within the Twilight, eyeless heads twitching, inspecting the vibrant green foliage before them, confused. Mido narrowed his eyes. The new growth his mate had called forth half an hour ago… it was withering… the surfaces becoming hazy, as if smoke was rising from the bark and loam…
Like a dirt dam challenging a river's flow.
The monsters cautiously inched forward.
Saria studied the compromised band of forest. She could sense the… change, as the Forest Sage.
What she wanted to know, was could she reclaim the allegiance of the corrupted life?
Saria held out her hand to a young tree, of apparently thirty year's growth (and not thirty minutes). It stood well within the dying strip of Twilight choked new growth.
She had held it in her hand, the tiny seed not long ago. It stood bravely, trying to live, to breathe… as the Twilight smothered it, attempting to turn it into naught but an idea. A thought. Something easily discarded, or forgotten.
It had not even had a chance to live before death declared dominion.
Saria reached down into the earth, finding a root from the desperate tree. She called, and the tree answered, tendrils frantically leaping from the soil, to twine around her hand and wrist.
Saria slowly turned her gaze upon the Twilight. Fury burned in her eyes.
MINE.
The forest answered, surging through the root, bringing life, instead of water or nutrients to the flagging tree. Amid the grimy monochrome, the tree burst into the colors of life… and Saria laughed.
It was time to play.
Mido drew back his arrow and fired. Its stone arrowhead held something in the binding.
A seed.
Dozens of arrows joined the flurry, finding their marks in shadow-flesh. Monsters howled in rage that any should dare raise a hand to them.
Saria breathed gently, and granted her power to the life within the monsters, much like a Hylian might breathe embers of a campfire back to life.
The howls of rage turned to pain and terror though, as trees erupted from the chests of the monsters, roots burrowing through flesh to find the soil… literally rooting enemies where they stood.
"This is not your land…" Saria hissed. But you are welcome to become a part of it…
((()))
Princess Zelda stood before the group of strange Interlopers. She could feel the shards of the Great Faerie within her shift and tremble, with the proximity of the last shard so close nearby. The roughly wrapped bundle held by the unknown woman in the middle of the Interlopers stirred fitfully.
Zelda stared at the faces that looked back at her… within their orange eyes, she saw something that disturbed her greatly.
Worship.
The woman with the rags may have been their prophet… but apparently, Zelda was their god.
"What did you lose?" Zelda asked into the silence. Veran and her clan stood some distance off, ready to appear in a moment if needed.
"We don't remember…" the crowd answered in unison. They crept closer to Zelda. The Princess held her ground, her face remaining placid and smooth. She could not read the Twilight as well as her bodyguards, but even she could sense the volatile emotions of the crowd… like a simmering pot. She could not see the future consequences of her actions… but she decided to take a chance.
Zelda stepped forward, into the crowd. They parted for Zelda reluctantly, not from a desire to bar her passage, but rather to remain in close proximity to her.
The woman with the bundle stared into Zelda's eyes, and a change come over her as the princess drew near.
"Greetings, Hero of Wisdom," the woman said, sketching a formal bow.
"Who am I addressing?" Zelda asked politely.
The woman smiled slightly, pained.
"Make it whole," the woman answered, offering the bundle. Light began to leak through rips in the tattered wrappings.
"Please?" the woman sobbed.
Cautiously Zelda accepted the bundle. Her finger touched something within through a hole in the cloth.
Light filled the valley.
((()))
Darkness slammed against the barrier of trees, seeping through like crumbling paper against a stream. Something moved within the army of Interlopers. It had bulbous eyes, and long, grasping fingers. Saria thought of a frog when she saw it… and it was powerful. It easily outstripped her.
"Fall back!" Mido shouted.
Kokiri and skull kids retreated deeper into the trees. A few were outstripped by the rippling twilight, and became trapped on the wrong side of the barrier, among the advancing monsters.
Their deaths were not quick, nor easy.
The creature of strange power screamed vindictively, as all fell before it.
"Enough," a voice commanded.
Light burst forth as if from the very trees, and the advancing wall of Twilight ground to a halt. The light coalesced into a massive creature, seemingly based off a squirrel or monkey…
Faron had taken to the field.
"You are not welcome here, Interloper," Faron stated.
"You cannot stop me," the monster hissed.
Faron's glowing eyes blinked, like a momentary passage of cloud and sunlight. Saria had never seen the spirit of the land take form before, though they had spoken on many occasions.
"You have trespassed. You claim land that does not belong to you. You claim lives that do not belong to you," Faron paused, as if from thought.
The shadow slammed a fist against the barrier of light, almost petulantly.
"I will devour you, as I did the others like you!"
"Unlikely, but possible," Faron conceded. It raised a massive paw, and light seemed to linger between its claws.
"I am Faron. Get out," the spirit of the land commanded.
"I will never be stopped, I will devour all!" the Interloper raged, though it did not step from the twilight into the land of forest, despite the lack of sunlight. It was safe within the twilight, as none could—
Faron stepped forward through the barrier. Where golden feet touched the ground, life and light bloomed, reclaimed, for Faron was the land.
The time for words and warning was over. The Interloper had made a mistake. Night follows day, plunging all in darkness. But night does not last forever. Not when a sun stands vigil.
Faron lunged at the Interloper, who recoiled from the burning light. The Interloper's flesh melted and bubbled, healing as rapidly as it was damaged so that smoke appeared to be pouring off its flesh.
Faron made no sound. No threats, no roars… a harsh counterpoint to the screams and shrieks of its foe. A burning paw smashed into the Interloper, leaving a charred pit across part of its head, a pit that slowly reformed. The interloper's grotesque fingers slashed and swarmed across Faron's body, but the spirit of the land did not seem to care, or notice; the surface of its body rippling as if from careless fingers dragged through water, not flesh.
In moments, the greatest scourge of the interlopers would be torn in—
Faron ceased its advance, and calmly watched the Interloper.
They had reached the edge of Faron's lands. This far, no farther.
With a shrug, the spirit of light raised its paws, and the twilight vanished from his borders.
This was Faron. Not Twilight.
((()))
Rusl leveled his blade as the nearest bubbling corpse of a monster began to move, interposing himself between the refugees and it. Several of the kokiri dropped from nearby trees, scavenged blades held at the ready. The formless ooze dribbled and rolled like a thing alive, heading through the underbrush, harsh black smoke clearly marking its trail… though nothing it touched burned…
Rusl bent closer, inspecting the trail. It appeared that the forest was burning the ooze. Interesting.
Other trails of ooze began to pass by the tiny cluster of hylian refugees, all headed in the same direction. The kokiri made no move to intercept the strange substance, beyond making the occasional hissing noise, and raising a weapon as if in warning. They reminded Rusl of cats confronting snakes…
Screams began to echo through the forest, from the direction the ooze had traveled. Rusl looked to Mayor Bo.
"Forest demons, aye," the mayor said quietly, clenching his fists.
((()))
"You break easy," Midna said, bored, drifting through the air.
Link had managed to roll over onto his back, but still felt weak. Ilia hovered nearby, as if unsure of what to do. One of the sheikah remained nearby, the one Link had injured. Link didn't know if she was there to guard him, or keep an eye on him. He felt heavy, and stupid. Link also hurt everywhere, although his mouth burns were feeling better.
"You would last longer if you played the game right," Midna said, floating upside down, nearly nose to nose with Link. She'd moved between blinks again… but she didn't startle him. He'd almost expected it? No… that was not quite right, but he couldn't think very clearly.
Sana continued to watch the Hylians, and the Interloper, as the princess had commanded her. What she saw with shadow sight worried her. The boy visibly appeared unscathed, but to her sight there were burns and punctures running throughout his slightly hazy body, most centered in his chest and head, as if a thorny vine had taken root within him, only to be burned to ashes. He was not whole. For that matter, neither was the girl. Long burns ran down the side of her head, as if from three burning claws, and she was more transparent than the boy, as if there were less of her to occupy her body's shell.
Sana tried not to look at the Interloper with her shadow sight, if possible, as there seemed to be too many layers folded in on themselves to fit within the childish body the aberration presented to the world. Worse, the interloper could sense her gaze, and any number of starring eyes would open within its body, to study the young Sheikah in kind. It made Sana think of a sparrow being noticed by a preening hawk.
((()))
Zelda studied her hand, as it trembled of its own accord.
Power.
She had never felt such strength that now burned within her veins, a "gift" from the Great Faerie of Power… in the back of her mind, Zelda knew that this was a pale shadow of that which the Triforce of Power bestowed… but to her inexperienced perceptions, it felt as if she could move mountains. She couldn't, she knew that… yet the feeling persisted.
Ah… arrogance… tempered by wisdom… a welcome change from most mortals… a voice whispered softly in Zelda's mind.
"Great Faerie?" Zelda whispered.
Yes, child of Hylia? The broken Faerie answered.
"How should I address you?"
Why, by my name of course, child. Call me Power.
"Do you know where Eldin can be found?" Zelda asked.
Anger radiated from Power, making Zelda's breath catch.
Yes.