Okay, so this chapter got me. So much drama and angst. And some considerable progression.

Anyway, first order of business! I'd like to thank the reviewers who have stuck with me and are continuing to review. Reading those make my day.

Second order of business! To answer the guest reviewer Heart of Virgo and a friend, Bluestar, I actually do have plans to write a fanfiction revolving around Breath of the Wild (awesome game). I plan on starting it once I finish one or two of the stories I'm working on now so as to minimize my workload. I also have to work some things out with the plot concerning that matter.

I do not own Zelda. Please, enjoy this angst-filled chapter.

In my life, I rarely ever had any good times or things come from it. Fortunately, this was one of those times.

Clouds zoomed past me as we traveled at high speeds. The cold air from the high altitude nipped at my nose and ears, but it didn't bother me. I was having way too much fun here, on the back of the dragon that I was happy to call a friend.

We quickly learned that trying to leave Snowpeak was going to highly improbable, so Faie opted to transform into her dragon form, despite the tundra-like environment, and fly us out. To say it was easier and much faster would be an understatement. Now, we flew through the air back towards Oki.

A quick glance over my shoulder confirmed that Nix was feeling about how I was. Elated. The young child was letting out squeals of joy and delight, no doubt loving the freedom he was experiencing.

Faie let out a thundering roar, her body vibrating underneath us. Nix laughed even louder.

However, the good times we were having were doomed to end. Dark pointed down below, a bright red blazing beneath us. "What's that?!" he shouted over the wind. "Is that a fire?!"

It was. But it wasn't just a field burning; it was a village! A village was on fire!

Faie needed no instructions. With a quick change in direction, she swooped downwards, landing in a nearby forest. As much as her dragon form would be helpful in this situation, she could not be seen. We all slid off her back as she began to transform into her original shape, bare to the world.

Handing her pack to her, Dark and I headed towards the village, leaving Nix in Faie's care while she recuperated. Transforming was sure to drain her energy.

Upon reaching the village, we discovered that we were too little too late. The place was ablaze! People screamed in terror as fire consumed the buildings, running in blind panic. The most we could do now was help the villagers get out safely. Dark and I sprang into action, ushering people out of their homes and out of the village. They ran quickly, scooping up their children and heading for high ground.

The sound of a baby's cry set alarm bells off in my head. I could have sworn we had gotten everyone out! Rushing into the home the crying came from, the entrance caved in behind me. I coughed as smoke filled my lungs, eyes watering. Lifting my shirt over my nose, I continued through the house, checking the rooms for any signs of life. Laughter met my ears as I stepped through the threshold to the nursery. A figure stood before me, a familiar symbol brandished on his waist cape.

My eyes went wide. "C-Colonel? Is that you?"

His head turned, and I stared into the face of my commander. "It's funny," he spoke, eyes blazing. In his arms was the infant I had heard. "When we cornered that mage at the cathedral and wound up here, I thought that some divine entity—if they even exist—was punishing me. Little did I know that this world is full of monsters to be rid of. I was sent here to destroy them, I now see that!" Colonel Cato fully turned towards me, his blonde ponytail slipping over his shoulder. "You were brought here too, Callisto, to help me." He extended his hand. "Join me."

While I was happy to have found my commanding officer, something wasn't right. He wasn't one to exterminate people, even if they were supernatural. Like he had told me once before, he didn't hate anyone. So why was he doing this?

"I'm afraid I cannot do that, sir. And I cannot let you continue to do this! It isn't right! I know that now. I've met with the people of this world and became friends with a lot of them. They're just like regular people with minds and wills of their own… You used to believe that too… so what changed?"

"Everything changed!" Cato snarled. "Why can't you see that?!" His face was twisted in anger, but with a deep breath, he sighed. "Fine. If you insist on fraternizing and protecting these… things…" He glanced at the child. "Then you can die with them!"

The child was tossed into the air, and I dove to catch it in my arms. The building around us began to collapse, wood splintering off everywhere as fire rained from above. I curled myself around the child as Cato disappeared once again, leaving us to die.

I wasn't dead, that much I was sure of. And yet, I didn't feel like I normally do. Cautiously, I opened my eyes—secretly afraid that for some correlating reason more debris would fall as I did. Unsurprisingly, none fell, but what was surprising was the violet-colored barrier surrounding the child and myself. Was the child doing this?

No… I was! I was doing magic!

Analyzing my own barrier, I found myself rather impressed. Despite not knowing how I did it, I had managed to put up a stable barrier. Unfortunately, I couldn't safely dispel it, risking all the debris to fall on top of the child and me. I had to get someone's attention, if anyone was still in the area.

"Hello?!" I shouted. "Is anyone out there?" My own voice echoed loudly around me. "Hello!" No one came. Was the barrier soundproof?

The bundled up infant suddenly let out a shriek, probably alarmed by my shouting. It's little face was scrunched up and redder than a strawberry, the anger and frustration evident. Easing myself down to the ground, I picked up the child, holding it in my arms. I rocked it back and forth, bouncing as I went. "Shh," I cooed. "It's okay." The child looked up and locked eyes with me, going still with fright. My eyes were scaring it. Great, I scare the thing just by looking at it. I should probably stop calling it and 'it.' What gender is it even? With a quick check, I confirmed that the child was female. And now that I really looked, the feminine traits were a little more obvious.

Suddenly, the barrier around us shuddered, a rumbling sound echoing within as the debris on top shifted around. I swore quietly, feeling strangely guilty about cursing in front of the child. We had to get out of here. Standing up, the kid crying loudly in my arms, I ran to the edge of the barrier and pounded against it with a fist.

"Help! Anyone, please!"

"Callisto?"

"Dark! Is that you?!"

"Yeah," he responded. "Where are you?"

I looked around. "I don't know! I'm under some rubble! It's about to collapse!" I didn't want to admit it, but I was scared… not for me, but the child. I wasn't sure if I could protect her if the structure surrounding the barrier came down.

"Ah, o-okay! Just… just hold on!" the demon called back. Like I could do much else, but I chose not to mouth off. I could hear Dark and possibly other people shifting through the rubble. They moved the broken shingles and hefted the beams off the violet dome, revealing the beaming light of the sun. The demon's face soon came into view. His eyes, full of panic, closed in relief. "Oh, thank the Goddess."

I looked up and scowled. "Yeah, yeah. Feel free to thank whoever you want, just get me out of here!"

"Right. Right."

The rest of the wreckage was moved from the area, and just in time too. No sooner than when the last piece of drywall was removed, the barrier fell, fading around me in a cascade of light. I let out a breath that I wasn't aware I was holding in. It was comforting to not have danger literally looming over my head.

Dark helped me up from my position on the ground with the help of another—whom I could only assume was one of the villagers. "What happened?" asked Dark.

I handed off the child to the villager and faced the demon. "Well, I can safely say that we no longer have to return to Oki and head for the Lost Woods."

"How can you be so sure?"

"I confronted my commander in here before the house collapsed on top of me. Something was off about him. He was never as malicious as he was now," I explained. The encounter was definitely strange. I had never known Cato to be so unforgiving and cruel during my time at the Order. He was one of the few agents that believed that all life should be given a chance to survive, no matter its heritage. Only when it has done wrong should we act and intervene.

This was not that Cato.

This Cato seemed to revel in causing pain to the people of Hyrule. He enjoyed torture and spreading misery. Something was wrong with this Cato, disgustingly so.

I turned to the villager. "Does this child, in anyway, have any connection to non-humans or inhuman skills?"

The woman shook her head. "Both her parents were one of the few humans residing in the village. We haven't been able to test her yet for abilities."

"Test?" I inquired, confused. "Doesn't having human parents make her human?"

She shook her head negatively. "No. We're not quite sure what it is exactly that causes it, but after years of research, we Sheikah have deduced that not all supernatural children are born from supernatural parents. It could be a recessive gene skipping generations, or maybe even a mutation influencing the DNA in the hopes of thriving survival. It could be anything really."

Dark seemed very interested in this. "How is that you go about testing the children?"

The Sheikah woman shrugged. "Only the elder is allowed to know how it works. The only thing we are aware of is that she uses an ancient relic. Everything is harmless, though. All of the children come out of the elder's hut just as they went in."

That was very intriguing, but even with how interesting it was, another thought occurred to me. I had successfully performed magic in a place where magic users were apprehended and used as machines. "You're not going to report me for using magic are you?"

The woman smiled and looked around. "I didn't see any magic," she said nonchalantly. "None of us did. All we saw were a couple of heroes pulling us out of a fire." I smiled. With a bow, acting as a semblance of a thank you, the woman turned and left, leaving Dark and me to ourselves.

The demon pointed up the neighboring mountainside. "I was speaking to the other villagers, and they said their elder lives in a hut at the base of the mountain, away from the village. We should go check it out, but we need to retrieve Faie and Nix first."

"Agreed."

Turning on our hills, we waved goodbye to the village folks as they set about cleaning up. They would have a lot of work ahead of them.

Grass and leaves crunched underfoot as we made our way back into the woods by the village to pick up our friends. Hopefully, Faie was all rested up by now. I felt the need to get to the elder's house quickly. There was no telling where Cato was heading, and I prayed it wasn't there. And even if it was, I found myself curious about the relic the woman mentioned. Was Cato looking for it? Why? Was it to locate infant supernatural and eliminate them?

"So was it really your colonel?" Dark ripped me from my train of thought.

Nodding sadly, I made a sound of disappointment. "Yes. He knew stuff that only he and I were there to witness. It had to be him. And yet, it's like it wasn't."

He kept up with the conversation, nodding at the appropriate times. "Yeah, you mentioned that he seemed meaner than before."

"That's the thing. The colonel was never mean, not even to creatures that weren't human. If he was charged to kill something, he did it quick, never one to draw it out. He thought how you and Link do." I thought back to the Order, and the sneering faces of the council. "An unpopular opinion. Cato kept it to himself mostly. No, this was definitely Cato, but something was wrong. It was like he was possessed. He kept saying that he realized he was sent here to basically commit genocide. And didn't seemed concern if the people he were killing were supernatural or not."

"Do you think he knows about the thing with the children?"

It would make sense. Right now, he was killing anyone he expected would have inhuman abilities. He was going of assumptions. Surely he would want a more undeniable solution. "I hope not, though I doubt it."

Making it back to the clearing, we ended our conversation. Faie and Nix were resting calmly against a pair of trees. Faie was fully dressed and looked much more alert than when she first shifted back. She appeared reprieved as we walked into her field of vision. Nix on the other hand looked overjoyed. He sprung up from his seat and ran to me, throwing his arms around my waist.

"I'm so glad you're back!" he exclaimed. "I missed you. Did you save people?"

I laughed and ruffled the ash blonde hair. "Yeah, we saved a bunch of people." I looked to the Ignis Draco. "We have a new heading. We're going to be paying the elder of that village a visit."

"Did something happen aside from the fire?" she asked.

"Colonel Cato was there, but he was different. I'm hoping the elder will have some answers for me. I—" I paused midsentence. The wind had suddenly changed direction and a familiar scent was carried to my nose. My eyes widened in horror and I whirled around, spotting someone in the trees. "Watch out!"

But I was too late. The man in the trees had already raised and fired the blow dart tube, the dart driving itself into Nix's neck. The boy gasped out in pain, falling to the ground, writhing. Eyes blown wide, Nix clawed at his neck, blindly searching for the dart.

Dropping down to my knees, I pulled the dart out before Nix could hurt himself in his struggling. My head snapped to the man in the trees. "Cato!" I snarled, raising my pistol. "Why?!"

He only laughed. "You better hurry, Callisto. Prove to me that you're worthy of keeping alive as a challenge." He leapt from the trees, disappearing, only leaving his scent behind.

As much as I wanted to go after him, Nix needed me more. I pulled the incubus to my body, holding him as he trembled, crying out in pain, strange and raspy noises coming from his throat. He needed help.

"It's a poison dart. There's monkshood on the tip, and something else too, but I can't tell," Faie informed me. "We need to get him to a healer. Quickly!"

I picked Nix up and positioned him on my back. "The elder can help us. I'm sure of it."

Dark nodded as he and Faie picked up the packs. "Let's go!"

It was a race against time. Nix had lost consciousness a couple of minutes ago, but his breathing remained labored, loud against my ear. His body was hot to the touch, and I just knew we didn't have much time left.

We continued to the mountain, looking for any sign of the elder's hut. We had to hurry, but the hut was hidden well, remaining out of sight. It was only when Faie pointed out a large cave did hope swell in my chest.

Running inside, we came face to face with the hut, having been inside the cave. We burst through the doors without so much as a knock. An old woman was kneeling on a cushion at the opposite end of the room. "What is the meaning of this?!" she shouted. Another girl stood to the side, knees knocking together in fear.

"Please!" I pleaded, placing Nix before her on the wooden floor. "Help him! He's been poisoned…" I was practically in tears at this point.

The old woman stepped off of her cushion and kneeled before the little incubus. With a withered hand and a spyglass at her eye, she stroked Nix's face ever so gently, parting his hair to feel his forehead. She then placed it upon his chest before checking his pulse at his neck. "I'm afraid there's naught I can do," she said, listening to his breathing, ear over his chest. "The poison has already made its way to his heart and its pumping it to the rest of his body. I'm sorry."

I felt myself deflate as the tears in my eyes finally found purchase and poured over their rims. "No," I sobbed. "I was too late."

The old woman cleared her throat. "Now, I didn't say that."

"What?"

She smirked at the three of us. "Lucky for you, this boy is only in his human skin. His façade is masking his true abilities and dampening his senses. If we awaken his true form, I am most certain that he will shed his skin and his new body will work to cleanse itself of the toxin."

"True form?" Faie questioned. "How is that possible?"

"Many a great things are possible, my dear. Now stand back." Pulling what appeared to be a strange white mask from her sleeve, the old woman placed it upon Nix's face. The red eye at the center was menacing looking, and I felt as if it were staring into my very soul. "O Mask of Truth," the woman chanted, "reveal to me which is unknown. Keep not from me which is forbidden. Uncover this boy's true form using your all powerful Sheikah eye."

It was like she had used magic, for no sooner did she finish speaking, Nix suddenly screamed. He was in agony, and his screams were deafening. He thrashed around wildly as his body burst into blue flames.

"Nix!" I yelled, ready to jump into the fire.

"No!" the elder scolded me. "You mustn't touch him!"

I watched as the flesh was stripped away from Nix's body, leaving a dark shade behind. Claws ripped from the ends of his fingers, blood spurting from their entry. I wanted to gag at the grotesqueness of it all. More blood began to pool around the boy, coming from behind the mask and underneath him, only to be evaporated by the flames. It seemed to take forever before the flames finally died down. However, as the flames dispersed, I grew confused, unsure as to what I was looking at.

Approaching slowly, I took notice how Nix's skin seemed to have darkened considerably, his clothes having been burned away by the fire. He was quite tan, pink undertones visible beneath his skin. A long, silky, silver tail curled in on itself from his rear and gnarly claws adorned each hand and foot. He had truly been transformed.

The elder then removed the mask, revealing Nix's face to all of us. It was relatively unchanged, but as the boy panted, fangs could be seen between his lips and dark and twisted horns had sprouted from his now silver hair.

He was kind of beautiful… as expected of an incubus.

"It is done," the old woman spoke, her straw hat shielding her eyes, the charms on the brim tinkling softly. "I must say, I didn't expect for the boy to be so powerful for his age. If his body doesn't rid itself of the poison, surely the flames would have. Now, he must rest." She sighed and returned to her cushion. "We have yet to be properly introduced. I am Impa. The girl that was in here earlier was my granddaughter Paya."

Dark stepped forward. "I'm Dark and this Callisto and Faie."

"It's a pleasure. At any rate, how is it that this boy was poisoned?"

I sighed. "It's a long story."

Impa nodded. "I understand… You all must be tired, and this boy needs his rest as well." She looked to a doorway. "Paya."

The girl from earlier peeked around the doorway. "Y-Yes?"

"Please, show our guests to some rooms. And I believe Miss Callisto wishes to stay with the boy?" I nodded in affirmation.

"Of course," Paya bowed. She addressed us. "Right this way."

Lifting the newly changed Nix, we followed the timid girl to our rooms.

It was now well into the night. Nix lay on the only bed in the room, his breath even and deep. I sat propped up against the wall, unwilling to let myself rest. The fear that Cato would return had wormed its way into my mind, dangling just out of reach. I couldn't let myself be caught off guard.

The sound of the door opening set off my alarms, and I bolted up, pistol aimed at the entryway. I never expected for Link to pop his head through. "Callisto? Is that you? Impa said I could find you here—Whoa!"

I had rushed the werewolf, pinning him to the wall. I snarled. "You should have been there! You should have been there!" I pounded against his chest, resisting the urge to scream. "But you were too busy worrying about that stupid pearl!" The barrel of the gun was now digging into Link's sternum.

Link shoved me back hard, grabbing my gun. "Hey, it's because of this pearl that we're alive and how I got here in the first place," he retorted.

"You should have just come with us! If you had, you would have smelled Cato faster than I would have, and Nix wouldn't be in this situation…"

He drew back in surprise. "What?" he asked. "Cato? He did this to Nix?" I nodded solemnly. "How?"

I turned to face the sleeping boy, running a hand through my hair. "Poison. This was the only thing we could do to save him." I sat down on the end of the bed. "How did it come to this?"

A gentle hand was placed on my lower back, fingers splayed. Link stared down at Nix and me, concern evident on his face. "I'm sorry," he apologized. "You're right. I should've been there to help prevent this."

It was all too much. Turning to the werewolf, I spoke softly, "I'm sorry, but could you please leave me be for now? I-I need some time."

Link was surprised at my inquiry. "Yeah," he answered. "Of course. Take your time." He turned to leave. The last thing I heard from him was the sound of my gun being set down on a nearby dresser and the door shutting with click.

Hope you guys enjoyed that chapter and are looking forward to the next one. We're almost to the end. Only a few chapters left.

Please, keep submitting those tasty, tasty reviews. They are my nutrition… I need them to survive.