WHEN
WORLDS COLLIDE
By
Katt006
lturk@bigpond.com
April 23rd : Lucky for you guys I was stuck in a traffic jam for
hours the other day with only my notebook to keep me sane. So I got writing and
here is chapter 10 ^.^ (Curse those Australian interstate highways! -_-') And
I'm finally onto the next saga…yay.
Katt006
(Saga
#2 Keeping the faith.)
*Dedicated
to my friend Samoan Gard
CHAPTER
10:
The brightness that had swelled around them
slowly faded to reveal a shadowy landscape. The sky was a strange dark grey
with storm clouds as far as the eye could see. The group felt the humidity
envelope them as soon as they regained their senses.
"Jeez, who ploughed through this place,
it looks so dejected." Link questioned flatly, scratching his head.
Malon scanned the horizon and spotted several
formal dwellings that now lay as piles of rubble. Navi flew onto her shoulder,
"I got a strange feeling about this place." The fairy began.
"It's eerily quiet and too still."
Malon nodded grimly, "Yeah, there's no
breeze and I can't even hear any animals…no birds singing. It's like the place
is dead."
Impa walked up to the remains of a fallen
tree and moved her fingertips across the scorched surface. "Shit, must have
been one hell of a battle here." She remarked, withdrawing her hand and
inspecting the black smudges caused by the singed tree.
Link stood in silence and looked around
uneasily. His eyes fell to the princess on her knees, staring sadly at the dull
surroundings. "This is Hyrule… no, this WAS Hyrule, what has happened to
it?" She asked.
"One hell of a strong force has swept
through here like a plague." Impa replied truthfully, kneeling down beside
her princess. "I'm sorry your highness."
Navi flew from Malon's shoulder to Link's.
"Something is seriously wrong." She stated. "I can't sense any
people or signs of life nearby."
Malon kicked at the dirt uneasily. "My
ranch is close buy… do you mind if I go take a look?" She asked the
others. "I'll quickly go on my own and meet you guys at the entrance to
the Kokiri forest ok?"
"No can do hon." Impa replied.
"We don't know what's been going on here or if it's safe yet. We can't
risk you going off alone at the moment. It's not an inconvenience either, if we
know what happened here it'll give us an outlook on who's behind this. The best
thing to do now is ask around."
Almost straight after Impa's statement the
team made a B line for the Ranch.
* * *
Malon stood before her former home with a
dazed expression. The place was in complete ruin. Upon their entrance all that
was to bee seen was dead livestock and crumbling dwellings. "Please be all
right daddy…" She whispered quietly to herself, seeing tears beginning to
distort her view.
"I… just don't understand." Navi
mumbled. "All these animals weren't scared or moved to one side of the
paddock or anything. It just looks as though they were… struck dead on the
spot. By the looks of it, they never had time to react either."
The oldest of the group walked briskly ahead of
them and un-sheathed her weapon before leaping skilfully into one of the lower
house windows.
"Hmm? What are you doing Impa?"
Malon inquired, wiping away tears.
"I'll check in here for anything of
interest." The Hylian replied. "Link, go check the barn shed."
The male teen nodded in reply and obeyed her request.
After several slow ticking minutes the two
emerged to reveal nothing important.
"So there were no signs of human remains
in there?" Zelda asked curiously. "That must mean that they were not
present and could possibly be still alive." She smiled over at Malon who
looked brightened by a small flicker of joy.
The fiery-haired hylian walked away from the
group's discussion and sat on the edge of the paddock where the fence formally stood
to look out at the desolate landscape. The ghostly silence of the land provoked
her into some pondering. About her past, her home and her loved ones. 'I
hope you're safe dad, Ingo… and you too Trunks.'
* * *
Emerging from Lon Lon Ranch, the travellers
halted to discuss their next motive. "So… where to next?" Link asked
the woman behind him.
Impa pointed a finger to her chest, eyebrow
raised in question. "You're talking to me? Who ever nominated me as the
leader, Mr. Hero of time." She asked accusingly before shrugging off the
uncomfortable silence that followed. "Well… we have two choices. We could
head straight for Kokiri forest or take a small detour to the castle. But I'm
taking it into account that Zelda wants to visit there and I'm kinda curious
myself… so what the hell. Castle it is!"
After several minutes into their trek Link
caught movement in the corner of his eye. Bringing up the rear of the group, it
was his job to protect them of back attacks as Impa had told him earlier.
Spinning around to face the opposite direction he moved his hand automatically
to his sword but soon realised that he didn't need it. There he faced a little
old woman carrying an armful of various food supplies. "Uh… hi." Link
said simply.
"You mind tellin me where you kids are
going in these types of conditions?" The elder croaked. "If you were
smart you would seek shelter as soon as you could."
Link peeked over his shoulder and found his
party that soon noticed his absence, were moving back to where he and the woman
stood. "Well do you mind tellin me exactly what happened here?" He
asked.
"Arg, where have YOU been lad?" she
asked through squinted eyes. "I don't know where you and your little
friends are from but not too long ago two great forces battled over Hyrule. Their
selfish and reckless fighting left a most of Hyrule in ruins. I don't really
know who one, nobody really does because it was quite obvious that neither were
on our side." Then her eyes squinted in suspicion at the travellers. "Hey, I've never seen you kids around here
before… are you in league with either of those men?"
"Uh… could you please give us a more detailed
description of them?" Zelda asked politely.
"You didn't see them? Now you really scare
me. One was an evil looking man with dark skin, the other a young man with
brilliant gold hair."
"Hmm… brilliant gold hair? Kodas maybe? He
had very blonde hair." Impa mumbled thoughtfully to herself.
"That'd be a safe bet." Navi added, listening
into Impa's mumblings.
"Look I don't know who you people are or
where you've been for the past few months. But my suggestion for you would be
to get somewhere safe. You see, after Hyrule's fall. The monsters from the far
south have been moving in to take advantage of the survivors and destroyed
regions…"
"Survivors? Where are they all?" Navi butted
in with enthusiasm.
"In Castle Town and around the castle area.
That's where everyone has gathered… however I am afraid that the current
population of Hyrule has dropped to about one tenth of the size. That's just
downright depressing."
"So they're all at Castle town? Good. We were just heading there ourselves!"
Impa grinned at their good fortune. "Thanks a lot old lady." She said before
taking off with the others.
But Zelda remained for a minute. "Yes. Thank
you miss." Zelda said whilst giving a small bow. She felt she just had to add
some formalness in with their rag-tag group.
"You look so familiar young lady." The woman
stated, "I wonder I we've met."
The princess smiled warmly "Yes. Perhaps."
With that she gathered up her dress and jogged to catch up with her friends.
* * *
They stepped into Castle Town and took in
their new surroundings. The buildings had seen better days but were still quite
stable. People rushed busily around the area and by the look of it, these people
were not at all fazed by their arrival. When passing through the town onward
towards the Castle Zelda heard someone yell out her name. She turned to find
that she was facing many of the townsfolk that had gathered around her.
"You see!" A middle-aged man called out. "It
is our long lost Princess! I could never forget her beauty. She has returned to
us at last!" With his statement came everyone crowding in towards her. Zelda
stood there dazed as her subjects who were asking a thousand questions on her
past whereabouts were mobbing her.
Link
quickly recognized the distressed look on the royal's face and moved to aid
her. He reached to his back, un-sheathed his sword and leapt between Zelda and
the suffocating crowd. Holding the blade in the air above him he yelled. "Clear
out!" The crowd shrank back in terror at the sudden outburst and Link took his
chance. "Ok that's our cue Princess." Before she had time to protest, he had
grabbed her hand and was charging with her through the crowd, the others close
in tow.
Once they had cleared the entrance gate to
the Castle's front Zelda reefed her hand away from Link's and turned to face
him. "Just who do you think you are?" She questioned with a glare.
Link gave a weak grin. "Uh… The hero of
time?"
"Big deal. There was no need to scare those
people."
"But it got you out of being flattened didn't
it?"
All the princess could do was sigh, "I'm in
no mood to argue with you. Let us go see my father."
* * *
Once they had gained entrance to the castle, Zelda
rushed off to the main chamber where her father would be. She burst into the
room and leapt into her father's arms.
"Z…Zelda?" The king asked in complete
surprise.
She looked up from the embrace and nodded.
"The king seemed overcome with joy as he embraced
her even tighter."
They had a lot of catching up to do…
* * *
"Bah! Too fragile!" She frowned at the sword
before hurling it over her shoulder to her 'failures' pile. Impa kneeled in the
middle of an upturned weaponry room, which was in such a state due to her.
Hunting recklessly through piles of various shields, swords and armour, she
aimlessly threw unwanted items over her shoulder hoping they didn't break
anything wherever they landed. A rather distraught guard stood at the door and
could only watch in horror as the female warrior practically tore the place
apart in search of a decent weapon.
Malon stooped at the door and tried to
suppress a giggle at the older woman's affair. Impa smiled and motioned for the
farm girl to join her. Tiptoeing her was through the masses of weaponry, she
accompanied Impa down on the floor. "What are you doing."
"Looking for a decent weapon. What about you?
You'll need one too ya know. Have you had some experience with any?"
"No… well kind of. My grandfather liked to
take me down to the archery range to practise with his sometimes. I even
entered some competitions…"
A large wooden bow and several arrows were
shoved into her arms. "Well that's good enough!" Impa smiled. "Besides, I don't
think you really have a choice. We need another person with a long-range
weapon." Than her eyes trailed down to Malon's clothing. "Also, you and Zelda
should change out of those dresses. Do you know how hard it is to fight in
them?"
* * *
"…So that is what happened and that is why I
am asking for your support in supplying for our upcoming quest." Zelda
concluded her discussion with the king.
"Of course! I would never say no to my little
angel. You know, ever since you were born your mother and I always sensed
something different about you. I have full confidence that you will succeed my
little angel." The king beamed with pride as his daughter embraced him once
more.
Not too long after the team had reassembled
outside the front of Castle town. Malon had changed into dark brown trousers
and a tight-fitting white sleeveless top. Her hair was tied up behind her with
a dark green ribbon. She stood next to a happy but rather overweight man who
couldn't stop smiling at his daughter. Malon had been searching the town for
the past hour and had found her father.
Talon held the ropes Epona. And behind it
were several other horses carrying supplies that the king had generously given
them all. And not too much delay was present as the team mounted, said their
goodbyes and made their hasty exit to head for Kokiri forest.
They rode from the Castle and were soon on
the vast fields.
"So where next." Malon asked, breaking the
silence.
"Well, we exit through Kokiri forest into the
other region. We should get prepared because hardly any people cross borders
into other regions, except for some royals and extremely experienced warriors."
Impa informed. "Anything is possible. I don't even know what to expect myself."
Link reached forward and patted Epona on the
mane. "Ok. So we exit Hyrule…enter another reigon, then what?" Link asked
thoughtfully.
"Dunno. I just guess we take things as they
come. Saria would know." Impa replied.
"Yea, I guess it's time to pay an old friend
a visit."
TBC…
I know. That chapter was a tad bit boring but
it was once again just setting the scene for the upcoming chapters. I gotta
find another way of writing, my style seems to lack somewhere. Ah well I'll get
there. Practise makes perfect ^.^ Cya next time all.