Sparse clusters of brown dying plant life shot up from the yellow grass that covered the landscape of the region known as the heartless savannah. The typically dark sky met with the brown grass on the horizon, sculpting a picture of vast depression. Yet, despite these conditions, more animals lived in this region, than in any other region of the vast world. The broken sing-song chirping of birds infected the airwaves. Ferocious four legged beasts prowled through the grass, no doubt on the hunt. Queer three legged monster mulled around in small packs, licking each other with incredibly long tongues. More and more animal life strolled around, in their natural land.
It was all disrupted by a black portal which opened in the air above the cluster of three-legged beasts. It spat out a young man, who promptly fell from the portal onto his face, sending the animals bolting away at a surprising speed.
"I could have done a better job on the landing..." Link muttered, picking himself up and dusting himself off.
He scratched his head as he looked around the area, looking for the tribal temple he needed to visit. To his surprise and joy, he had been dropped right in front of the temple's steps. It was a simple structure crafted from earthen brown/orange stone blocks. A wide stairway led up to the entrance, which was a simple arch leading into a room dark with shadows.
Link leaped up the stairs and into the temple. He waited impatiently for his eyes to adjust to the shady interior, and when they finally did, wasted little time eying the scenery. 2 short doors stood on opposite ends of the room from each other, and Link approached the one on the right side of the room. It swung open with a ear tearing squeal, exposing the new room. This room was even smaller then the room before, though still square. It was only a few yards wide from end to end, with no door, barring the exit.
"Did I stumble into some tribal cleaning closet?" Link muttered, perplexed.
He turned from the small room, walking to the other door he had seen, believing that would show him the way. Instead, he was shown a room identical to the one he'd already visited.
"What the..." Link murmured.
Driven by his frank unbelief, he burrowed into the small room, looking for something that could be of use, or another door. Perhaps a crack in the wall? Yet he found nothing. There were only one or two small crates. Anger snapped into Link, and he struck one of the soft wooden boxes, sending it skittering against the wall. Link slapped his forehead in self deprecation as he saw the crate had been covering a hole. It was deep, and Link couldn't see the bottom, due to the shadows in the temple. He noticed that the hole was wide enough for him to reach his arm into, and so cautiously sunk his arm into it.
He felt his arm graze something in the hole, and drove himself in to the shoulder, grasping the cold hard object. Link ripped his arm back out with some work, and saw that his hand held a dull red gem. Confused, he left the small room, entering the larger entrance. He looked around once more, and saw that he'd missed a statue set into the center of a wall. He came closer, and saw that statue was depicting a man. The man was dressed in tight pants that flared outwards when they hit the knee, and an open dress jacket. A shirt came down to just above his naval.
Link was less concerned with the attire of the statue, instead focusing on the two hollows where the eyes should have been. He examined the red stone he'd taken from the hole, and tried to place it in the statue's eye socket. It went in, giving off a silence snapping click, and the gem began to give off a faint glow.
Knowing what he must do now, Link went back to the first small room he'd entered, and pushed away the crates, finding a similar hole. He grabbed the gem from the hole, and returned, placing it in the empty eye socket of the statue. The gem began to glow. Then the statue head turned, and stared at Link, who staggered back at the sudden movement. The statue pulled itself from the wall, sending cracks out like lightning. Link noticed for the first time the menacing scimitar the statue held.
"All right then. Let's go." Link shouted at the statue. It glared at him with it's two glowing red eyes. It began to move towards Link slowly, it's heavy footfalls cracking the floor. The slow gait of the sentinel was all Link needed to see in order to lose any thought of his demise.
He backed up, keeping out of range of the scimitar. He rose a hand, and felt heat fill his palm. A cone of fire spiraled from his hand, lacing around the stone guardian like orange vipers. The sentinel only continued it's slow, crunching walk towards Link, waving it's scimitar in a wide arc. Link let the flames dissipate to conserve his mana, and instead thought.
He brought his hand up once more, and a torrent of water doused the unrelenting statue. Then the water spewing from his hand was replaced with a gale of arctic blizzard. A cracking sound ripped through the air as the water turned to ice almost instantly, freezing the statue in place. Link ran up to it, and hurled himself into the air, and turned, slamming his heel into the frozen statues temple. It snapped, and whipped across the room. The eyes dulled once again, and the air shifted, somehow convincing Link the thing was defeated.
It was only at this point that Link took notice of the door that the moved sentinel had uncovered. It was simple, just a hard-wood door with a simple brass knob. Link pushed it open slowly, hand touching the pommel of his sword.
A series of "Tinks" and "Clunks" and other noises permeated through the room. The room was filled with people, actual people. Humans. Some odd part of Link was pleased with this, yet something made him stay back. Then he realized what it was. The foul smell of blood and roasting flesh was singing his nostrils. Faint screams were filling his ears along with the other sounds of work. The air was damp, thick, and moist, like that of a swamp.
He was on the top of a stairwell that led down to the work area where the noises and smells came from. No one had noticed the intruder, and Link crept down the stairs with delicate care. He clung to the wall, tip-toeing down on the far side of the stairs, to prevent creaking. While doing this, he looked at the workshop.
Most of the people sat at benches, pounding away on whatever it was in front of them. They were dressed in ragged clothes that looked like thy were made from the animals Link had seen outside the temple. Dull dirty stripes, thin brown fur, feathery garments, all sewn together to make something that passed as clothes, barely. Link was unable to see what it was they were beating there hammers onto, and did not particularly wish to find out. The room was in the shape of a backwards 'L' with the workers along the vertical bar. The floor was covered in white powder. Link reached the bottom of the staircase, with was positioned at the lower bar of the 'L'. He peeked around the corner, and saw another door, but realized, with dread, that he would have to pass through the work zone in order to get to it. There was no way he could sneak by all these people. Unfortunately, that was his only choice. The workers were directed so they looked away from where Link was, facing a raging fire that made the room a cozy inferno. Link slowly came around the walls, and sidled against the wall, praying that no one would turn around.
He made it halfway to the other end of the room before he made a noise. In his analysis of the room, he had not noticed that in the center of the room, a large circular grid of steel replaced the floor. He stepped on this, with made a clang, which may have gone unnoticed amongst all the others. The noise that got him caught was the small shout he gave off as the grid fell an inch. The grid was apparently not perfectly set, and so made Link feel as though he were to fall.
The worker closest to Link turned, and saw him, his eyes widening. Link could see the empty hatred in those eyes. It rose, pointing a long gnarled finger at him, and opened it's mouth. It gave off a horridly broken scream that made Link shudder. The other worker stopped mindlessly pounding away at their work and rose, seeing link. They joined in the original's screeches. Now Link could see what they were pounding.
Human bones.
The bones were broken and misshaped from the abuse of the workers' hammers, but were still vaguely recognizable as human. Link's stomach turned as he realized what the white powder coating the floor was. Then the screeching of the worker's stopped.
"What it is, Children?" A calm, classy voice called.
A new figure had entered the room, from the door Link had seen earlier. He looked to be in his mid forties, with thin wrinkles lining his face. His dark hair seemed to be receding, coming down in a sharp widow's peak. It was slicked back, and finely combed, split cleanly with a right part. A pencil thin mustache sat over the man's upper lip, and his eyes were a deep blue. He was garbed in a black high collared cloak that surrounded his body. Purple and blue runic symbols were sewn into the cloak's fabric.
"Oh, we've a visitor." The man said, smiling. His voice had a way of dancing over the words. In his speech, he held the vowels for just a slight bit longer than the consonants. "I welcome you to our humble home, stranger. By now, I presume you know what my children do. Allow me to question, why is it that you are here?"
Link hesitated to answer. The man before him was older, but not that old. What's more, there was no way he could have fathered so many children of roughly the same age. The man saw the confusion on his face and laughed.
"Confused, are you? They may not be my biological children, but I father them, one and the same." He said, the smile never leaving his face.
"How did he know?" Link thought.
The man winked at him.
"My name is Vincent Reavis, but I prefer to be called by Vincent." He said. "Come, enter my study. I'd love to hear you speak." Vincent said, beckoning Link with an arm. He turned and entered the study. Link hesitated again, and looked at the hate-filled stares of the 'children'. He shuddered and followed the man into his study.
The room was large, hosting a large variety of miscellaneous items. One wall was wholly taken by shelves filled to the brim with thick dusty tomes. Several netted sacks hung from the ceiling, holding more skulls. Link forced himself to not shudder. The most intimidating object in the room, however, was a large reptilian skeleton. It was mounted on a pedestal, it's grinning head pointed at Link. Link was reminded of the statue he'd fought earlier. A comfortable looking armchair was positioned next to a fireplace. Vincent had removed his cloak, and had sat in this armchair.
"I ask once more, what is it that you are doing within my domain?" He asked, his smile still remaining.
Link tried to talk, but for some reason, no noise could come out. He coughed, and his voice returned.
"I am...seeking an object." He said.
"Well, that's interesting, isn't it? I too, am on the look for something, you see. Perhaps you can help me." Vincent said. "come now, sit, my boy."
Link's skin seemed to crawl at hearing the man call him 'my boy'. Vincent gestured to a leather chair Link had not seen prior, and he sauntered over, sitting down in it.
"You see, Link, I am very interested in...recycling, I suppose you could say. You could also say I'm a medicine man of sorts. As you can see, I'm very learned in the world."
"What do you want?" Link broke in, unnerved somehow by the man's speech.
"You saw my children, yes?"
"Yes."
"Then you surely saw how sad they look. And I ache so strongly for the day when my children were happy. I just want happy children again." He said. Link found anything that smiling face said hard to believe.
"So what do you want me to do?" Link asked.
"well, come in a bit closer. Prying ears are all around." Vincent said.
Link moved in closer to the man, against all his nerves and instinct telling him not to. The man brought his lips to Link ear and began to whisper.
Link didn't see the knife in his hand before it was too late.