Sorry for late chapter (which may be seriously edited in the future). I am officially moved. Working on new schedule.

Beautiful Blades


Chapter 28: Masters of Walls and Not So Masterful 'Experts' of Stealth

"Do you understand just how exciting this is?! You have discovered a living relic, something of ancient times!" Shad exclaimed, pacing back and forth in the bar. He was literally unable to contain his excitement after Dark and Sheik had conveyed their rather interesting story to the other members.

After being pulled from the waterway (and after Telma checked Dark over excessively for injuries), the group had managed to sneak their way back to Telma's bar, where Telma prepared refreshments for the boys while Alfonzo drew Dark a bath. Dark was unsure how, but Sheik didn't even smell. Meanwhile, thanks to those… things crawling in the pipeline, Dark was literally drenched in sludge, gunk, and the gods know what else. Luckily he had packed other tunics to wear until the ball tomorrow, but they were at the inn. So after quickly cleaning himself off in the rather chilly bath (which one could barely call a bath since it had so little water), he found himself wearing some old green tunic that clearly hasn't been removed from storage in ages.

Dark lifted the tunic to his nose and sniffed the fabric. Disgusting. It smelled like dust and mothballs.

They didn't start talking about their adventure until after they settled down at the table. Or rather, more appropriately, until Dark sat at the table. Sheik, having avoided a bath and took no interested in the snacks, was leaning against the far wall, one leg crossed over the other and his arms folded across his chest. His eyes were closed most of the time during Dark's retelling of what they found, and only spoke to either correct Dark or add a detail to the story. He did, however, end of finishing for Dark, considering he was the one awake near the end of it.

Taking a sip of the cool refreshing milk, Dark gave Shad a rather nasty glare for his upbeat attitude. "Yeah, well, ancient times almost killed us," he told the eager historian, setting the glass down. "Wouldn't be the first time the gods have shown that they personally favor me to die a horrific death."

Shad's eyes went wide, as if a child would while receiving a gift. "You have seen other wonders of the world?!" He seemed to have selected hearing at this point, completely ignoring the part about horrific death.

"Not any 'wonder' like that!" Dark snapped. He pointed towards the door, to indicate back to the waterway. "So are you going to tell me what the hell that thing was yet?!"

This entire time, Dark had been quietly freaking out. He had just witnessed something impossible, and based off of Sheik's reaction in the pipeline, it hadn't been an illusion. But now he was tired of waiting around for an answer; all these secrets and conspiracies were getting kind of old. Now it seemed like they were purposely making him suffer, and he was sick of it.

Startled by his increased volume and aggression, Shad fiddled with his glasses as he apologized. "Ah, you are right, terribly sorry!" Shad set the archaic book he had dug up from some a chest labeled 'Shikashi' and placed it in front of Dark. Dark leaned forward to get a better look. It instantly hit Dark about just how old this book truly was. The paper was brittle and yellow, the spine worn and broken, and the ink fading. And more importantly yet, it appeared to be written in a different language. Dark remembered enough from his lessons with the prince to know, though, what it really was.

"I don't read Ancient Hylian," Dark mumbled, glancing across the page. A picture of a severed hand, drawn expertly by someone (most likely the author), was displayed on the page Shad had indicated. At the top in larger letters was probably the creature's name, while what remained at the bottom were facts or a description. Arrows pointed to specific parts of the hand, most likely some sort of autonomy lesson on the monster.

"Luckily, I do!" Shad said proudly. Dark wasn't surprised to hear that. "The moment you started to describe what happened to you reminded me of this creature. This does look familiar, right?" Shad asked hopefully.

"Y-yeah…. But what, you can't be serious," Dark exclaimed, pointing at the hand. "That thing was real?!"

"Very much so," Sheik said, walking over to the table next to Shad to take a better look at the drawing. "…. Wallmaster."

"Very good, as expected from a member of the Sheikah tribe!" the historian said cheerfully, praising Sheik for his ability to read ancient symbols. He pulled a chair out from the table and sat down to discuss more details. "Wallmasters are quite scary monsters, that's for sure! According to this book, they hang from the ceiling and wait for prey to come by. The moment they do, they swoop down and snag them, dragging them back to where they came from. In that way, they protect their territory!"

"They hang from the ceiling?" Dark repeated, raising an eyebrow. "Shouldn't they be called 'Ceilingmasters?'" Then he mentally slapped himself as he held his hands up. He was starting to let himself get caught up in all of this nonsense. He needed to ask the real questions first. "Wait wait, but this thing dragged me through the wall, according to Sheik! And it's a freaking hand! Moving on its own! Severed!"

"But of course!" Shad said, now looking confused for a moment. "I mean, it sure is surprising to find one in this day and age. Like I said, a living relic."

Alfonzo took a sip from his mug while he leaned on the counter before he spoke up. "I think the kid means that it should be impossible, not that it's surprising. Even though it is." He said the last bit mostly to himself rather than to the group. Telma gave a chuckle but remained quiet in all of this, feeling it was best to keep her nose out of the conversation. For now.

"Yes!" Dark threw his hands up in exasperation. He was glad Alfonzo seemed to get it, since Shad here seemed oblivious to the fact that what Dark had meant.

Unfolding his arms, Sheik also took a seat. By the look in his eyes, it was clear that he wasn't as baffled as Dark was about the matter. In fact, Dark was about to learn very fast just how informed Sheik really was on the matter.

"They are the remains of the old days. The scraps left behind, to put crudely," Sheik said casually, staring intensely at the table.

"What do you mean?" Dark asked slowly, not following at all.

Glancing up at the young guard and quite serious, Sheik asked, "What do you know about magic?"

Dark looked at Sheik for a long time. He then looked at Shad, before glancing back at Sheik. After another few minutes of staring, he started to laugh. Shad had an uncomfortable look when he started to do that, while Sheik waited him out. They let him laugh for a long time, until Dark wiped his eyes and lost the smile. "Don't screw with me. Magic? Are you trying to tell me this has to do with folklore and myths? Children's stories for bedtime?"

Shad looked rather disappointed in Dark's response, and looked at Sheik sadly. Sheik kept his eyes on Dark as he gave a slight shrug. "They aren't myths. It's the history of this world." When Dark opened his mouth to say something, Sheik held up his hand for Dark to be quiet. "Why do you think those hands were walking around? You mentioned moss spores, but usually hallucination is unique to the individual. We both saw the same thing. What you… we saw was what is left of the days of magic. Centuries of war and evil wore down magic slowly. Every year, more magic decays."

The skeptic boy shook his head. "That's impossible."

"But it's not," Sheik said. "Sheikah are more than just loyal warriors to the royal family; we are also keepers of history. I know what I am talking about." Sheik gave a small sigh. "But even I was surprised to see it."

Dark clicked it tongue in annoyance. "I still can't believe it. It… it just has to be impossible…"

It just had to be. This went against everything Dark has ever known. Sure, the prince's nursemaid had spoken of times of fairies and magic foxes and golden relics that granted wishes, but it had only been stories. Fairytales. A comfort that there was more to this boring, dull world than just the mundane and tragic realities they had to face day after day.

But it was clear on these people's faces that they weren't kidding around. They really did believe what they were telling him.

As much as Dark wanted to stand up and just walk away, some of his training started to kick in, combined with his intense instinct to satisfy his curiosity. Orland had often told him that people would believe in different things. Didn't make them wrong or right, usually, but no matter what you would say you could never change their minds.

So instead, you accept it and run with it. Perhaps you may learn something, or find common ground.

Still not believing them but willing to listen more calming, Dark folded his hands on the table. "…So…" he started slowly, "If there is still magic… in this world, um…. Does that mean those monsters are responsible for the water shortage?"

"Unlikely," Shad said, taking the book back to read the passage on the page." Wallmasters generally move into abandoned, dark environments. They really aren't the type to mastermind such things. They live by instinct, not by thinking."

"So we are back to square one? It really was a huge waste of time?!" Dark asked, feeling the anger boil again.

"In terms of the water shortage problem, yes," Sheik said. He looked sadly at Shad as he handed over empty vials. "We found no evidence of what may be causing the river to dry up down there. We need to get to Lake Hylia; that is our only option now to find answers."

"No way," Alfonzo said, cutting in. He swung his hand across his body as he said that, as if to completely toss out that idea. "We went down that road long before you came here, Sheik, and it didn't end well." Shad nodded sadly at that comment, agreeing with him.

Sheik looked between the two men, not pleased with their answer. "The people are running out of time. We cannot rely on Labrynna to supply water forever!" Sheik said, standing up to face Alfonzo.

"Alfonzo's right, honey," Telma said, seeing it was now time to add her input. "You are skillful but even you would struggle to get to the lake. You are mature and have been through much but you are still young. It would be a suicide mission."

Sheik continued to argue, but Dark wasn't listening anymore. He had stopped listening after hearing that this had been a huge waste of time. He had literally given up on his original mission for nothing. He probably almost died down there, and now is listening to tales of nonsense.

That was it. He was done.

As everyone's voices started to rise as they argued more, Dark stood. Shad was the only one who noticed right away. "Dark?" he asked in his soft voice. Ignoring him, Dark turned on his heel and marched towards the door. He picked up his dirty tunic that hung from a chair and reached for the doorknob, never wanting to see these people again.

He didn't get far when he felt a hand grab him by the back of his tunic and lift him up. "And where are you going?" Alfonzo asked, having noticed Dark trying to escape just in time.

"Hey, put me down!" Dark yelled, struggling to get away.

Alfonzo tossed him back towards the table and stood in front of the door, arms folded. "Careful kid, that tunic is an antique."

Dark straightened out his clothes in a huff, not liking the fact that he was just manhandled. "Let me go, I am no longer interested in helping you guys."

"What?" Shad asked, leaning forward in shock. "But why?" He lifted the book and pointed to the Wallmaster. "Look at what you discovered! Evidence that the ancient world is still out there! So many people have searched on purpose for years, and you and Sheik just happened to stumble upon it! This is huge!"

Dark glared at the page before glaring at Shad. "I thought I was going to help Hylians get water back. I walked away from everything and almost died for nothing. Now I'm out of time and haven't done a single thing!"

"Hmph," Sheik grunted, keeping his back to Dark as he made this noise.

"What?" Dark asked, nearly snarling.

"Not a single thing? We probably just discovered why people are going missing there," Sheik said. He pulled out one of his knives and inspected the blade, continuing to speak. "I don't know what you 'walked away' from, but it honestly didn't take that much convincing." His eyes seemed to pierce through Dark. "You have come to care for people here. Whatever your original reason for your actions was wasn't the only motivator."

Dark felt his anger suddenly calm a bit. He blinked slowly, then looked at Alfonzo, Telma, then Shad. Sheik was right. Perhaps he didn't care about the people in this room but… His mind raced to Marin, Ashei, Miss Victoria, Fledge…. Those people have been kind and caring to him. He loved Link, but Hyrule has grown on him since he has been here. People like Marin have bent over backwards for him, or Miss Victoria who has made sure he avoided the heat of things. Perhaps, without realizing it, he had decided to help them too.

These people may have irritated him, but they honestly didn't know that the pipeline would have been a bust in the quest to fix the water. Letting out a sigh, Dark scratched at his head in embarrassment, deciding to change the topic. He didn't want to admit out loud that Sheik was right. That boy seriously had the insight of a wise old man. "What about those people missing? The Wallmaster thing took them?"

"Most likely not," Shad answered, suddenly flipping through the book and neck breaking speeds before stopping at a page and holding it back up for Dark to see. "You said you saw a hand crawling? Wallmasters don't crawl; they climb. Floormasters, on the other hand, crawl. They fit the description. Afraid of light, attacked you directly, and crawling on the floor." Shad tapped the picture. "You saw two separate creatures, which makes this finding even more amazing!"

The page, like the one before, had a picture of a hand and a lot of ancient writing. Dark stared at the paper. "It looks exactly the same!" he exclaimed.

"It does not!" Shad chuckled. "See the differences here, here and here?" he asked, pointing to some parts on the picture. Dark did not see the differences at all. He gave Shad a blank stare.

Realizing that Dark wasn't following, Shad chuckled awkwardly and closed the book. He coughed into his fist to clear his throat. "Anyways….. What should we do now?"

Alfonzo shook his head at the question. "We need to plan our next move now. Going to the lake is not an option," he said this as he gave Sheik another look. "But we can get close." Walking over to a large map of Hyrule on a wall, Alfonzo pointed to a part where the river was exposed to a field. "This part of the river is very close to the lake, but also easily accessible. The catch is that it's a day or two ride away. We would need to be sure to bring enough food and water for the journey."

"And being so far away, if we come out with nothing we would have wasted nearly a week," Telma said. "I can't close my bar for that long."

Alfonzo stroked his chin as he thought. "Well, if I take Sheik and…"

Sheik suddenly shook his head, not letting Alfonzo finish his thought. "Our discovery may not have helped our original cause, but it's still important. I cannot go on this mission."

Everyone looked rather startled at this. "But Sheik…" Shad started to say.

"There are people being killed by the monsters in that pipeline." Sheik looked at Dark. "You still have a part to play in this, even if you are supposed to leave in just a few days. You need to tell Princess Zelda. Get the Royal Family involved, so they can take care of it. Without their consent, the army will never investigate."

"Hmph," Dark mumbled, folding his arms across his chest. "… Fine. It's not like I'm going out of my way or anything, since I'll be seeing her tomorrow." He wondered, though, if Link would believe him.

Giving Dark a satisfied nod, Sheik wandered over to the map and marked the spot Alfonzo had indicated. "Until the monsters are under control, I will not be leaving Castle Town. Meanwhile, we can keep this spot in mind."

"Fair enough, honey," Telma said with a chuckle. When Alfonzo looked ready to argue, Telma poured another glass of beer and held it straight in his view. "The boy is right, Alfonzo. It may be an amazing discovery, but people are at risk as long as people can still get to the pipeline. Look how easily we moved the cover, after all."

The beer worked. Alfonzo twitched, trying to fight the bait, but resistance was useless. After a small struggle, he finally took the beer and chugged it.

The cover….Sheik looked lost in thought for a moment, before he started to walk towards the door. "Dark, just do your part."

"And what about you?" Dark asked, looking at him suspiciously. For some reason, it seemed like Sheik was… avoiding something. But Dark couldn't pinpoint what.

"I've got something else to figure out now." Sheik opened the door. "You better get a good night rest, Dark," he said over his shoulder. "After all, you are going to have a long day tomorrow."

As Sheik closed the door behind him, Dark realized he was right. Tomorrow was the day of the ball. His last proper day with Link. He didn't have much time now to figure out what the hell he was going to do. Just how was he going to find a way to stay longer so he could truly help Link?

Arg, this was just getting worse and worse! Dark pulled on the loose skin below his eyes in irritation at everything. What started out as a curiosity in a dancing princess turned into an adventure with 'magic'. They didn't talk about it much, but the fact that the hole was covered overnight was concerning. He wondered if that was what Sheik was going to go investigate; the cover. Did... did someone else know about the magical creatures belong? And why did no one else here seem concerned? Perhaps it was because they were too concerned. Maybe they didn't know what to think of it. Or maybe there was too much else to worry about at the moment.

He still didn't believe in what he saw in the pipe, but clearly something very bad was going on down there. If Link didn't believe him, maybe Miss Victoria would. Either way, he wasn't going to have this night go to waste. Someone was going to hear what happened down there.

And then, Dark was going to find that tattooed man before he has to leave Hyrule for a long time.

Dark started to gather his things, ready to go back to the inn. Seeing him preparing to go, Telma gave him a wink. "Don't forget to leave the tunic behind, honey. It's belongs to someone else. I want to make sure he gets it when the time comes."

"Oh, sure," Dark mumbled. He glanced at his dirty black tunic and cringed at the prospect of wearing the smelly tunic home. It wasn't going to be pleasant.


The street was dark, only lit by the torches that flickered against the slight wind. In the faint light, banners and colorful stands stood in the streets, ready for the celebrations the next day. A stray cat ducked behind some barrels while a dog strolled on by, sniffing the road on his patrol. A group of solders made their rounds as usual. One of the soldiers at the end of the line paused for a moment to stare at a sign for a bar, itching to stop by for a drink. He rocked on his heel as he thought about it and for a second he looked ready to go in. Unfortunately, someone else had noticed him and went back for him, taking him by the arm and dragging him away. He protested loudly, saying he deserved a break, but his friend paid him no mind as they rejoined with the rest of the soldiers.

As soon as they had passed, the door had opened and a slight figure emerged. The figure glanced side to side, before expertly and gracefully climbed up to the rooftop of the building, disappearing into the forest of houses.

Groose, Cawlin, and Strich watched the figure do this in complete awe. "Did you see that?" Cawlin asked, shaking Groose's shoulder. "Like a monkey!"

"Quiet, you fool!" Groose growled, bonking his comrade on the head. The dull thudding sound made Strich giggle slightly. "We cannot give away our position."

Rubbing his bruise head, Cawlin gave Groose a glare. "Ow…" he mumbled. "Aren't you curious about who that guy is, Groose?"

"Hmph, of course," Groose hissed back. "After all, Dark is hanging out with them. They are all probably criminals, especially since they went to the waterway."

While the two of them exchanged angry glares, Strich tried to stretch out his legs. He was exhausted; they had been following Dark all night, laying low in wait. For a moment, Strich was sure that the slim-looking masked kid had known they were there, but he never went in their direction. Either he knew they were there and chose to ignore them, or he suspected and decided he was wrong. He really just wanted to go back to the barracks; he was tired of following these two idiots around.

"He hasn't done anything illegal all night," Strich told them, stifling a yawn. "So he met up with people and then went to a bar."

"But he didn't you see how messed up he looked when he was pulled out of that hole?" Groose asked, reminding him of earlier. "Trust me, he's up to something. I simply just don't know what it is yet."

Strich let out a sigh. Groose had a point, unfortunately. But Dark is going to leave the day after tomorrow. What evidence can they pull in that time? As far as Strich was concerned, they were out of time. There was nothing more they can really do.

The three of them suddenly went extremely quiet when they heard the door open again. They slowly peeked over the barrel they were hiding behind to see Dark sprinting down the street. Groose made some unreadable signals with his hands before rushing after him. Cawlin followed instantly, eager to please. Strich sighed again before straining to get up, bored and exhausted. He was quite some distance behind the pair as they followed the Labrynnian.

They didn't get far, though. Not long after they stood up to chase Dark, Cawlin and Groose suddenly fell flat on their faces, coming to a skidding halt. Groaning, the two of them pushed themselves off the ground, looking disoriented. Strich, having had seen them trip, jogged up to them and bent down to see a rope loosely on the ground. He picked it up carefully to inspect it as Groose fully sat up. He snapped his head around to check his surrounding, before punching the street.

"Damn it!" Groose swore. He stood up and ran to the corner that Dark had turned and checked to see if he was there. The street was empty, and there were too many connecting roads for them to check which one he could have taken. "We lost him! The loser could have gone anywhere!"

As Groose threw a tantrum, Strich followed the rope to behind a pillar, but nobody was there. Odd, he thought. He failed to see a shadow streak by as a young Sheikah warrior returned to the rooftops which he had originally climbed. He took one last look at the three idiotic knights to make sure they were down for a while, before he vanished into the night, satisfied that they would be unable to follow Dark now.


Thank you to everyone who follows, favorites, and reviews. It means the world to me.

Next Chapter: Chapter 29: The Last Day (24 Hours Remain)