The Life and Adventures of Sheik
Chapter 2: Shadowplay
Disclaimer: As nice as it would be, I own nothing mentioned here. Zelda, Link and everything else related to them are owned by Nintendo. End of story.
"I suppose I knew it would be happening soon. If the rest of the world fell into death's shadow, what was there to keep Kakariko safe? Well, little did I know there was something out there to do just that…"
They all knew the day was coming soon. News of the Redead raids was growing more and more urgent. The townspeople of Kakariko became further restless as the days drew on. And that is when it all came crashing down.
As if nature itself felt what was coming, the sky had blanketed Kakariko with sheet after sheet of piercing rain. By this time, Zelda had ventured outside, a strange urge overtaking her to seek camaraderie with the storm. She heard something, something unlike she had ever heard before, and it struck a terrified chord down to her soul. The sound echoed again, an inhuman shriek that nearly made Zelda jump at its abruptness. She couldn't be sure, but she thought she heard another sound under it, that one being almost too human. A feeling of urgency came upon her, and without thinking she rushed towards the main gate where the shriek had originated.
As she grew closer, yet another sound became audible under the pattering of the rain, some type of tortured groaning. She stopped suddenly, that subhuman murmuring was a sound she had heard before. Once before, while passing the abandoned and forsaken plaza of Hyrule's Market Town. Redeads! thought Zelda to herself as she came to an abrupt halt. She spotted the drained body of the Royal guard that had been previously stationed outside the gate to the town, and instantly knew what was happening…they had come.
Desperately she tried to turn and run, but it was already too late as the deformed figure of a redead caught her in its gaze. It let out another unnatural shriek, its sound so agonizing it permeated her soul, paralyzing her in place. The redead started its way towards her, and in the way it moved and moaned, it looked to Zelda like more of a lost soul trapped within some sort of disfigured doll. She stared helplessly in mute horror as the creature limped its way all the more closer, threatening to lunge out at her at any given moment. It paused a moment in front of her, admiring its victim, and lunged
Zelda's short life began to flash before her eyes as the redead lunged through the air at her. Memories of royal balls and enjoying soothing picnics in the castle's court yard glittered before her eyes. More than any other memory, though, memories of Link and the quest and the destinies that seemed destined never to be fulfilled flooded her mind. Link… she thought with what seemed to be her final moment. What happened? Where did you go? Where is the world we were supposed to save together…? And that is when the world flashed around her.
Zelda's paralytic trance was broken. She threw herself to the ground, covering her head in an attempt to blot out the light, and to keep the demon from consuming her. For what seemed a long moment, everything was still. Realizing that the assault of the redead was slow in coming, he allowed herself a look upwards…and saw nothing. Stealing a glance around, she noticed the redead sprawled on its back, its soul apparently sent back to the hell it had originated. In an act of childlike defiance, she gave the creature a sharp kick. Something fell out of its neck, and clattered to the ground. Tilting her head, Zelda stepped over the redead and picked it up. It was a small, flat, silver dart. Looking it over, she discovered a symbol on it that immediately tipped her off to where it came from. "This symbol…it's…an eye of Truth? This is a Sheikah dart…"
Zelda spent the next twenty minutes trying to find Impa and question her about the dart. Searching all around the town, Zelda was soon dumbfounded as to where her caretaker could have gone and disappeared to. Then, it dawned on her. Redeads don't travel alone! Zelda began to rush back towards the gate, past where the dead redead lie, past the dried body of the former royal guard, past the open gate. But if I only saw one, then...
She was on the stairs now. She rounded the first flight that gave her an open view of Hyrule field, and she saw why she saw only one. From where she stood, rows upon row of undead soldiers from the bottom of the stairs to past the small bridge were trying to march up and take Kakariko for themselves. The only thing standing in their way was the small pockets of the white and blue clad protectors known as the Sheikah among the waves of brown. So frightening was the sight that Zelda took an unsteady step back, and tripped.
Through the penetrating sounds of the redeads' moaning, the flicks of darts through the air, and the shrieks as redeads struck down some of her fellow Sheikah, Impa thought she heard a new sound. She threw a small nut towards a redead, setting it ablaze as it struck, and she spun around, trying to locate the source of the faint thud. Looking towards the stairs, she saw Zelda there, her eyes wide and tear-streaked. Impa grimaced. The call to arms had been so sudden, Impa had not even been given the chance to secure Zelda safely. Taking down the lone redead that had somehow managed to break the Sheikah lines was the only support she had been able to offer. But now, she felt it necessary to get the Princess to safety. She threw down her hand, the signature flash giving her the time to appear next to Zelda. "Princess! You must get back to the city, it is to dangerous here!" Zelda looked at her, her eyes portraying the numbing shock that she was in. "Impa...make them go away..." She cringed, putting her hands over her ears and looking towards the ground. "Princess...come with me" Taking Zelda's hand, Impa preformed another Sheikah teleport, and they reappeared back at Impa's house. "Stay here Princess, I'll come back for you as soon as I can."
With that, Impa left Zelda to battle with the hellish image that would be engraved in her memory for the rest of her life...
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Phew...I could've gone further without leaving such an abrupt ending, but I thought the chapter was spanning just a bit too long. But now with this done, I should actually start getting this fic on the ball. Expect the next chapter within another week or two.
'Til then!
