"Your Highness!" A cloaked stranger bellowed, his voice reverberating off the walls of the imperial Hyrulian throne room as he advanced into the large space. "May I say that it is an honor to meet you!" Nothing but the man's eerie smile was immediately visible due to a dark hood over his head.
Queen Zelda sat at her throne, regal braids hanging down from the golden crown that shaped around her forehead. She wore a light purple gown, which gracefully fell from her dainty shoulders and draped around her very pregnant belly. A handmaid stood close to Zelda, eyes cast down, but obviously ready to assist her highness in any way necessary.
"Do I know you, Sirrah?" The Queen inquired, her expression less than impressed with the stranger's arrival.
"Why no, your Highness." The stranger answered, approaching the Queen further. He got down on knee and bowed at the base of the stairs that led to the throne. "We have never met before now."
"May I ask why you are here then?" Zelda placed one hand on her swollen stomach instinctively. She traced small circles around the fabric mindlessly, expecting this stranger to be yet another citizen who has come to her with either grievances or praise.
At this time, the stranger stood and removed the hood that covered his eyes and hair, revealing a pair of bright auburn pupils and a mop of shaggy brown locks. The man couldn't be over the age of thirty, vaguely the same age as the young Queen of Hyrule. She gazed upon him with disinterest; he appeared to be nothing more than a commoner to her eyes.
"I am here, my Queen, to pose an offer to you." He ran a hand through his thick tresses before continuing. "You see, I am Avi, the leader of a nearby clan of nomadic people."
Zelda raised an eyebrow. She had heard of Avi and his followers, but she never expected the self-proclaimed chief of the wandering "tribe" to ever make a live appearance in front of her royal court.
Rumors of Avi's strange ideals had swarmed around Hyrule for the past several years. He was said to be a dictator, a brainwasher, and a cultish ruler. His idea of peace was having absolute control over all of his "subjects", and he openly criticized the monarchy that governed Hyrule.
Needless to say, the royals did not like him.
"I know who you are, Sirrah." The Queen murmured, her voice laced with disappointment and disdain. "And let me say, I am not one to agree with your ideas of living."
Avi's face fell slightly, his smile fading the slightest bit.
"I understand, my Queen. However, please let me explain my position." Avi bowed again, bending down lower than before. "I understand that the child you carry within your womb is not one of Hylian decent. In fact, I believe that the father is another royal from a rival kingdom."
Zelda's eyebrows furrowed together. It was obvious that her unborn baby was not Hylian, for her husband was a foreigner. While most of the Hyrulian population was perfectly fine with a partially unnatural heir, there were some that proclaimed the child would be a menace to Hyrule. They questioned Zelda's morals and also her judgment in marrying a foreign prince and producing a questionable offspring. However, her truly loyal subjects supported her decisions and held unyielding confidence in the monarchy.
"It is no mystery that my child will only be half Hylian," Zelda commented, looking away from Avi momentarily. She shifted her gaze to the maid beside her, who stood unfazed and waiting. The Queen felt uneasy, and she wanted to make sure that someone else was alert in this situation with her.
"Your Highness, I have predicted that this heir will be the downfall of Hyrule." Avi's auburn eyes glowed with a new low intensity, which could be seen even from where the Queen sat several feet in front of him. Zelda squinted, as if trying to read the man's inner thoughts through his expression. "It has been written in the stars that your child will be the end of the monarchy."
"The downfall of Hyrule?" She questioned, her tone still fairly uninterested. Avi nodded, believing that the Queen was listening to him with legitimate concern.
"However, there is a way to save the country, your Highness," Avi continued, extending his arms out in front of him. "If you chose to combine with my tribe, there will be hope for the survival of Hyrule. We shall join together and rule over all of the land mutually as one supreme sovereign."
Avi was obviously very absorbed in his own proposition, as if he believed his words with every fiber of his being. Zelda smirked the slightest bit, almost amused by the naivety of the cloaked man. She found him to be so small-minded and consumed by his own ideas, a very different person than what she tried to be.
"I apologize, Sirrah," The Queen finally answered. "But there will be no combining of our societies." She chuckled the slightest bit and brought a hand to her lips, trying to hide the entertained smile that threatened to stretch across her expression. "I feel no need to make such rash decisions for Hyrule based on the intuition of one citizen. My child will be guided by my own past successes when he or she takes the throne. I am confident that Hyrule will not fall because of my heir."
Avi's excited expression fell into confusion. His arms slowly dropped to his sides as he realized that all of his plans had just been immediately rejected. Once again, he ran a hand through his thick hair, exhaling heavily.
"You have made a grave mistake, Madam," he whispered, his voice much lower than before. Zelda frowned, feeling the tension rapidly rise in the room. Suddenly, Avi looked up, his face full of rage, and pointed a sharp finger toward the Queen at her throne. "That demon," he spat. "That demon spawn will be the end of your glorious society."
Zelda stood as fast as she could, the maid also rising to assist her. She kept one hand on her swollen belly and the other clutching the handmaid for support.
"The only mistake I have made today was letting you into my abode," she retorted, scowling back at the man. "Leave this place. You are no longer welcome within my borders."
The Queen's young face was stern and commanding, despite her apparently weak and struggling body. Avi peered right back into her eyes, searching for some sign of vulnerability within her being. At first, he found nothing, no sign of helplessness or insecurity that he could grasp and exploit.
But then, he caught a glimpse of the very flaw he was looking for. Behind those fiery eyes, the love and connection the Queen felt toward her husband and unborn child sat dormant and unnoticed. Although hidden, the emotion was obviously something that the Queen relied on heavily, and if this were taken from her, Zelda would surely crumble into misery. Immediately, Avi felt the urge to reach out and grab the emotion by the throat, strangling it until nothing remained but despair and loneliness.
"Guards!" The Queen shouted, snapping Avi out of his thoughts.
"There will be no need for that, your Highness," the man murmured, smirking the slightest bit under his breath. He bowed a final time and wrapped his dark cloak around himself. "Do not think this ends here," Avi pronounced, turning on his heel. When he reached the tall pillars of the entrance to the throne room, he looked back at the Queen once more and uttered:
"The end of this will be written in blood."
Zelda awoke with a start, her breathing heavy and rushed. She sat up in bed and looked about herself, trying to remember exactly where she was and how she'd gotten there. The room around her was dark and small, and the Queen soon recollected that she was staying in a small inn in a village not far from the capital of Altea.
It'd been three days since she had left her beloved husband and daughter in search of the home she had left long ago. She'd taken only a coach and driver, not wanting to attract attention with an extravagant royal carriage. No one had recognized her yet, thankfully, and she had been able to travel the Altean countryside without distractions.
Twice now, memories of the past had haunted her dreams. The night before, Zelda had dreamt of the farm she had once lived on with Caleb. It had been a pleasant vision, only spoiled by the morning light forcing her to awake and face the truth of reality. Now, the painful recollection of her fallen Hyrule was playing through her mind. It'd been so long since she had thought of the man named Avi and his frightening encounter.
She lay back down on the bed, resting her throbbing head on a feather pillow. She willed away the sorrowful thoughts and tried to calm herself back down. Clutching at one of the quilts that covered her, Zelda started to drift back into unconsciousness.
Once again, she remembered the child that had left her long ago. She envisioned him playing around in the golden field of the old farm, calling after his mother as he ran further ahead of her. The wheat danced in the wind around him, and young Caleb was soon playing and skipping along with it. She watched as he ran, a smile spread across his beautifully youthful face. He soon moved back towards her, his arms extended out in a willing embrace. She took the boy in her arms, never wanting to let him go ever again.
A/n: Yay! New chapter! So, I'm really just now figuring out some storyline details, but hopefully there will be more soon. A big thanks to greenboy1197! I love you and your reviews!
