Chapter Eight: Ghost Stories

There was a long, drawn out pause in front of the crooked door. The building stood alone towards the Northwestern edge of Castle town, but still hid between the town walls and the shadow of the castle. It was made of the same material as every other building, and yet… this building felt older than anything else Mystique had laid her eyes upon. It felt ancient.

All of that changed when Owin promptly opened the door. His face beamed a smile, with a missing tooth, as his hair chaotically curled around his face and partially into his eyes. Mystique smiled back.

"Welcome to my granddad's house." Owin gestured for Mystique and Nivan to come in. Nivan waved to Owin as he casually entered the home. Mystique looked up and down the street before she followed the boys, a stuffed bag clung around her hip.

Within the home the same feeling crept in through the door with Mystique. There was typical furniture. A couch, a table, some chairs, and a sink. But something felt off. Nothing was dusty or reeked of mold. Mystique thought she heard spirits as they moaned and groaned in the air, but that is when she noticed the very old man who sat in a chair in the corner.

The man was hunched over, with a slight overbite and not a single hair on his head. He held a book in his shaky and mangled hands, and a pair of glasses slid to the bottom of his hooked nose. There was a rusty shovel next to the man's chair.

"Is that your granddad Owin?" Mystique pointed.

"I dunno, he could be a ghost Misty." Nivan whispered underneath a laugh.

Owin clasped his hands together. "So, you two are the first ones here. Place you bags on the couch, but not on my granddad."

The old man looked up from his book. "Are you sure you want to have a sleepover here? I'm sure your friends have a better place to rest."

Mystique thought briefly about her home with the warm furnace and the slight smell of leather, which wafted everywhere within the shop. She thought about her room with Nivan upstairs with the two beds and the shelves on the walls her dad had traded some pairs of shoes for. Then she remembered Nivan's face when Owin mentioned he had invited Agitha to the sleepover and how they were now in a house which smelled like death.

There wasn't much time before a loud knock rattled the air from the door. Before Owin even had a chance to answer the door, Agitha the VIII waltzed into the house with a little suitcase. Hudde followed behind quietly without an entrance.

Again, Owin clasped his hands. "Welcome everyone to my granddad's house." He paused and looked over at the man still reading the book in his chair. "Please feel free to place your bags on the couch. My Ma packed some food which is in the oven. And it should be ready soon." He turned around and vanished into a different room.

The four kids stared at each other in silence. Nivan hid slightly behind Mystique despite being several inches taller than her.

Agitha broke the silence. "So this is what the inside of a grave digger's house looks like. I expected more poes." She laughed.

"That's silly, does that mean your house is full of bugs?" Mystique said half jokingly.

"Duh." Agitha didn't hesitate to answer. "Every bug has a dedicated terrarium. We let them all have high tea every Saturday at noon."

Hudde, Nivan, and Mystique all tilted their heads in response.

The old man cleared his throat. "Thankfully the poes stay in the graveyard out back, or else I would have moved long ago."

Mystique wandered over towards the window next to the archway to the kitchen. She pressed her hands against the glass while she peered out into the darkness. There wasn't much to see, as no light flickered or danced within the dark empty spaces above the rows of graves.

"Why are there so few graves Mr. Owin's grandfather?" Mystique asked into the window.

"Most people request to get buried in the Kakariko graveyard including the royal family." Owin's grandfather paused. "It was nice to downsize to a smaller lot after spending years at Kakariko."

Agitha jumped up and down suddenly in the center of the room, her little heels click-clacked on the floor. "Do you think that we will see some poes tonight Mr. Dampe?!"

Dampe rolled his eyes. "Why would you want to do that?"

"Because!" Agitha excitedly shouted. "Because I have never seen one and I bet that it would be cool to see."

"It wouldn't." Dampe cleared his throat. "Why don't I tell you all a little story? Maybe that would change your mind."

In the background the oven timer rang. Owin scurried away while the other four children sat on the couch. When Owin arrived in the room with plates and a platter of food, all of the kids somehow shifted to sit on the floor. All of them stared up at Dampe while they ate their dinner.

Again, Dampe cleared his throat.

"Why don't I tell you the story of the Big Poe?" There was a long pause before Dampe spoke again.

The world of the undead is a curious thing. They all live under the law of obeying the King of Darkness, and for the longest of times we had all believed them to be senseless monsters with no ability to organize. No ability to think. And, no ability to live. It wasn't until the last great war between light and shadow in which we saw how wrong we all were.

This time, when the hero swung the sword which banishes the darkness, there were no animalistic creatures hiding behind locked doorways, or only the king himself puppeteering the strings of the hero's monsters. No, this time there was organization. Behind every door a general waited or even an assassin ready to take away the relics gifted to the hero by the sages.

There were two generals that stuck closest to the sides of the King of Darkness himself. They were Lieutenant Darcy of the Stalfos and Meegan of the Poe. There are many stories about these two and how they were lovers, how they almost succeeded, or even their demise against our last hero.

For this story, the hero journeyed across the bloodied fields of Hyrule in search of the sage of shadow. This sage always came from the proud Sheikah tribe. As the hero walked past decayed bodies and swords strewn within his path, he kept his guard up.

Her name was Impa, and she was a great general of Hyrule. She was merciless in her attacks against the opposing forces, and never shied away from a situation when it got too tough. When the hero found her she was standing face to face with an army of poe by herself. For a moment, everything was still.

And…

And suddenly, the poes began to merge into one. Now before the hero and Impa, one large poe towered over them both. Its mask tilted to one side and a high pitched eerie laugh echoed across the landscape. The ground shook beneath the hero's feet as he charged towards the creature. With one hit the giant poe exploded back into many smaller poes.

But that is where the trouble for the hero and Impa began. Unlike the moblins, bokoblins, and many other creatures, the poes hid from the hero's sword. They swung from behind the hero when he wasn't looking, and sent him running in circles. When the hero finally landed a hit on one of the poes it had already combined with another and just split into smaller ones.

Impa and the hero fought for hours throughout the darkness against these creatures, and only made it through due to the sunrise scaring the poes away. You would think that this would be the end of the story, but no.

Eventually the hero and Impa went back and slayed the poes, but no one really knows if they got all of them. Even after the hero banished the darkness we still had all creatures of the shadows lurking just behind every corner. There are still poes within this world, and they love to play in the places we do not.

I have seen quite a few through my years working the graveyard in Kakariko and now Castletown itself. I'm sure poes roam through the city of Salis, of Jetier, of Tilton and Lonlon. They may even exist in places like Zora's Domain or Rito Village.

But, if you ever see two poes together, you should always run. Because they will merge and become a creature of your nightmares.

Dampe sighed.

Agitha immediately raised her hand. "How did the hero and Impa slay all of the poes Mr. Dampe?"

"It varies per iteration of the story." Dampe answered. "I'm sure that the poe hunters, if they were still around, would know the correct answer."

There was silence before Agitha raised her hand again. "How did the poe hunters come to be?"

"I'm not a historian." Dampe looked down at all of the kids. "But the name always confused me as they fought all kinds of monsters. Not just poes." Dampe paused. "You see, from what little I know, after the war ended there were still monsters running rampant throughout Hyrule. The king saw no immediate threat of evil, so he did nothing."

"That's stupid," Agitha responded. "If there were monsters there was still evil."

Dampe went to open his mouth, but closed it again. "Does anyone else have any stories they'd like to share?"


The bitter cold air wooshed past Cerise as she jumped from roof to roof. There was a small dusting of snow in the air as she gracefully landed onto the next building. She stopped and turned around. Somewhere behind her she thought she saw a small green light, but it was hard to tell between everything else mingled within the Castle Town landscape. Cerise pursued onwards.

Behind, between small flakes of snow, Lumina floated. She casually bobbed and bounced up and down as she followed Cerise across the rooftops of Castle Town. Whenever Cerise stood frozen, Lumina glided towards the nearest light to blend into the surroundings. The closer the two journeyed towards Hyrule Castle, the easier it was for Lumina to find a nook or cranny of light to hide herself in. Lumina was unsurprised when she saw Cerise jump down from the walls and into the Castle Courtyard.

It was here, however, that Lumina lost track of Cerise. The little fairy cursed under her breath as she glanced around the frost covered bushes around her. The door to inside the castle remained shut. There was nowhere to go except up. So up Lumina went, towards the large tower which pierced the heavens.

What Lumina had missed, and instead had gone up, was that one of the bushes was slightly askew.

Cerise ran down one of the many hidden tunnels in the labyrinth that was Hyrule Castle. The tunnels themselves only saw the occasional Sheikah, and because of that they all smelled of must and apples. As she ran, Cerise thought back to her childhood eating apples in the tunnels with Pom, Impa, and a few other Sheikah. She remembered the piles of apple cores stuffed behind the stone of the tunnels, and the rat infestation that followed. Cerise knew after that was punishment, but the smell of apples still lingered in the darkness.

When Cerise found Impa she was standing on a balcony overlooking a courtyard.

"The princess passed out here back during the Harvest festival." Impa stated to the moon.

"Did she suffer any injuries?" Cerise asked, her face still covered by her scarf.

"No," Impa looked back at Cerise. "But she said that she spoke with a demon."

"Do you think it was Gannon?" Cerise walked towards the edge of the balcony where Impa stood.

"Maybe not directly, but I'm sure it was some form of him." Impa paused. "I have had the Sheikah doctors examining the princess to make sure that she is not possessed."

"And what if she is?"

"Then we have to lock her up." Impa smiled bitterly. "We wouldn't be able to get the demon out until the hero emerged with the seals of the sages I'm sure."

"At least we have one sage figured out." Cerise sighed.

"We have two figured out." Impa answered. "But that still leaves five to find."

"We're running out of time." Cerise tapped her fingers against the balcony. "Have you had any more luck with the sage of Shadow?"

Impa frowned. "It would be easy if I was the sage of shadow, but Hylia has rejected me of that power." Impa walked back towards the door and turned around to face Cerise. Impa held out her hand. "Follow me, I want you to try something."


The five kids walked through the Hyrule graveyard, the frost covered grass crunched beneath their feet. Mystique and Agitha held little lamps as they led the group through the lot.

The graves sat crumbled and decayed into the dirt underneath them. Nothing was polished or pristine, nor were the carvings on a majority of the graves legible. The occasional wilted flower leaned against a grave or lay in the middle of the dirt path. At the back of the lot a large monument with a door stood. Two half-dead trees arched in front of it, their branches manipulated into many different directions.

"If I were a poe I would hide in that mausoleum." Agitha stated, with one hand on her hip.

"But what if it's a big poe? How are we going to defeat it?" Hudde asked from the back of the group.

"Easy." Mystique spoke louder than she should have. "We have two great swordsmen here to defeat them. And if that doesn't work I'll kick the poe in its…" Mystique paused and thought about where she could even kick a poe. "I'd throw a rock at its' dumb head." She answered instead.

"The rock will just phase through the poe if it sees it coming, Misty. "Nivan walked casually through the graveyard. "The key to taking out a poe is to take away its lantern if it carries one. Poes that carry lanterns tend to hide their souls in there, which makes them go transparent. If you take away its hiding spot it can't hide."

"And then I hit it with a rock!" Mystique exclaimed.

Nivan chuckled, "yes then you can hit it with a rock."

Mystique turned and looked back at Hudde. "See? We'll be fine if we run into any poes!"

By now the kids stood in front of the Mausoleum. Agitha strode forward and easily pushed the door open. It screamed against the air behind it as darkness beckoned for the kids to come instead. Without questioning anything, all five children went inside the mausoleum.

Nivan immediately held out his arm and stopped any kid from walking further into the room. He turned back and stared at every member of the group and held up his pointer finger to his mouth. With his other arm, he pointed towards the center of the room.

When Agitha had guessed that there would be a poe inside of the mausoleum she was correct. What she did not guess was that there would be many poes inside of the mausoleum. They all floated in a circle within the center of the room. A beam of moonlight shone through a circular window on the ceiling and highlighted a stone tablet. Nivan gestured for the kids to follow him behind a pillar, where they all watched.

With how rhythmic the poes danced around the tablet, it took Mystique a few tries to count how many poes were in the room. Her best guess was that there were ten. They wore long transparent dresses which draped down to the floor and across their oval bodies. Each one held a lantern, and there was a high pitch squealing sound as they all glided around the tablet.

"What should we do?" Huddle whispered.

"Well we can't just talk to them." Agitha whispered back. "I'm sure they'll be done with their little dance soon and then we can leave."

"Weren't you the one who wanted to see the poes?" Hudde whisper-shouted at Agitha.

"Yeah, but they are a lot scarier in person." Agitha shrugged.

"Should we stop what they are doing?" Mystique whispered.

"We don't even know what they are doing… they're just dancing." Owin whispered, with a hint of confusion in his voice.

"They're summoning something." Nivan whispered. "We chose a really bad day to search for poes."

"How do you know all of this stuff about poes?" Mystique whispered.

"I read a book about it Misty." Nivan kept his eyes glued towards the center of the room. "They must be summoning something big if there are that many of them in the ritual."

"There's only ten?" Mystique questioned.

"No. There's fifty." Nivan answered.

"Fifty?!" The other four kids whispered.

Nivan nodded, his eyes glued towards the poes.

"I guess that we're stuck here until they are done." Owin whispered.

"Let's hope that they aren't summoning something that will come after us." Hudde's voice began to quiver.

All of the poes twirled, their lanterns raised above their heads. They all let out a loud shrill squeal as they bobbed up and down through their little dance. Mystique thought she heard something lower, something more menacing, being uttered underneath the screams of the poes.

It happened suddenly that the grey walls underneath the soft white of the moonlight turned purple. A fog rolled in from underneath the walls and the beam of light over the table began to crackle on and off. A louder squeal filled the room that made all of the kids hold their hands over their ears. When Mystique attempted to block out the noise, the lower voice became clearer. She squinted towards the group of poes, who now chaotically glitched in and out of existence throughout their circle. There was one poe, however, that remained still directly in front of the tablet. It wore a slightly different color robe, and a fancy little hat as it chanted.

Black smoke curled around the tablet and drifted up into the air. A figure formed through the shadows. It was hard to tell what the shadow tried to replicate as the trails of smoke drifted and twisted into many different designs, but one thing stayed consistent. Its eyes. Two red eyes stared out from the smoke and stared around the room. Mystique could have sworn that she saw a grin hidden just beneath the surface right below the eyes.

A few flickers of light crackled around the figure as it grew bigger towards the mausoleum's ceiling. A roar bellowed out from somewhere within the figure and shook the pillars of the room.

"I think we are in trouble." Hudde whispered.

A shadowed claw reached out from the center of the smoke and stretched itself to grab onto the ceiling. The arm wandered across the stone and traced the perimeter of the ceiling. All of the kids sucked in their breath when the hand glided above them.

"Soon." A voice said.

The kids almost jumped out of the skins.

"She is too late." It spoke again.

The poe in the fancy hat continued to chant while the others disappeared into the smoke.

When it was just the creature made of shadows and the last poe. It stopped its chants and stared up at the beast before it. There were dozens of hands. Dozens of heads. Dozens of feet that the creature constantly shapeshifted between. The poe floated up to where the creature's head would be, and floated silently as it was consumed by the darkness.

And suddenly, everything was gone, save for the kids. They wandered cautiously out from behind the pillar towards the dusty tablet at the center of a quiet and grey room. Owin walked up to the tablet and used his sleeve as he brushed several layers of dust off of the tablet. Mystique stared at the tablet and recognized not a single glyph carved into the stone.

"Can anyone read that?" She asked. Her voice cut against the silence.

"No." All of the other kids answered.

"It must be a really old tomb," Owin answered. "I can ask gramps about it tomorrow."

"I'm surprised that there are no spiders or fun beetles in here if its that old." Agitha muttered louder than she thought.

Hudde walked away from the center of the room and towards the door. "I don't know about you guys, but I want to go be safe in my sleeping bag after that."

Slowly, each kid followed Hudde outside of the mausoleum. Both Owin and Mystique stopped and stared back at Nivan, whose eyes never left the tablet as they left.


Queen Kassandra Tacita Hyrule lay in bed by herself in a rather large bed. At the end of the room there was a small balcony with the door cracked open just wide enough for a chilling breeze in. The breeze danced around the room and made the drapery flutter as if fairies and spirits played with the fabric. Around the bed several layers of curtains flowed around the bed and hugged the mattress tightly.

The Queen herself laid above the covers in a simple white nightgown. Her eyes were open as she stared at the ceiling, droplets of blood speckled across her face. Deep shadows burrowed underneath her eye sockets, which accented how her bones stuck jarringly out from her face. She coughed and her whole body rattled.

The King was nowhere to be found.

From the balcony, a bony shadowy hand grabbed the frame before the rest of a body floated into the room. A long purple dress draped down to the tiles of the room and glided behind a tall skinny figure. When the creature got to the bed, it pulled aside the curtains and revealed the Queen, her body pale and fragile. The figure smiled with no teeth, just blinding whiteness against a ghostly face.

"It seems that your time is almost up." The figure hissed. "You've failed."

The Queen coughed.

The figure smirked wider. The crown on its head tilted as it let its head fall back into a cackle. It stopped and looked back down at the Queen, and it let its ghostly long hands stroke the Queen's face. "Poor little Hylian." It cooed. "Poor little Hylian who had heard the words of the goddesses, only to be foiled by the ignorance of your husband." The figure sat down on the side of the bed, its long purple gown weaved into the curtains.

Yet again, the Queen coughed.

"How many sages did you find?" It tilted its head. The Queen opened her mouth to speak, only to have the figure place a finger against her lips. "Don't waste your breath. I already know the answer." The figure laughed. "None."

The Queen struggled to breath as she spoke. "Why… why… are you… here?" Her whole body shook as she pushed out those words.

The figure smiled. An ornate necklace dangled around its neck as it jangled its head back and forth to an unknown melody. "Is that what you really want to know?"

The Queen struggled to nod.

"I could tell you so many things dear Kassandra, like where all your precious little sages and your hero are. But, instead, you want to know about me?" The figure took several rings from out of its pocket and slid them onto its fingers. "I'm here to bask in the glory of despair and misery that will shortly befall Hyrule when you die." The figure stared at the rings on its hands. "Do you know how beautiful that feels to me? And I'm sure my lovely little poes would feel the same. Your death might even be enough to fully resurrect the king himself."

The Queen coughed blood onto her white nightgown. She gasped and struggled to speak for several moments, a monologue of her own tried to escape into the cool air of the bedroom. Instead the Queen's gasping was followed by silence. Her eyes stared past the ghostly figure on her bed and towards the little green light, which floated just outside of the window.

A ghostly hand, now decorated in colorful golden rings, wavered over the still Queen's chest. Its fingers curled and pointed in unnatural directions as it stole an orb of light from outside of the Queen's chest. The figure held the glowing ball of light in front of its face. "I know what you are looking for." It said to no one in the room. "But you haven't deserved that yet. You still have a job to do." The figure placed the orb of light into a pocket within its long purple gown. When the figure turned around towards the balcony there was only darkness.