Legends of the Waker: Remnants of Old
Chapter XXIX: Kingdom Darkness
-Mako
You remember that night, don't you? The waves were thrashing all around us, Fado was up in the bow, playing his cello and convincing Holly and I he was a Deku nut. Don't forget we were still Koroks. After the boat fell apart, I was tossed about by the waves the entire night. When I awoke, I was still floating. I passed in and out of consciousness, every time I came to I saw different islands, different scenery.
Eventually, I washed up on a rocky shore, and saw a deep, cloudless blue sky before I went under again.
"Hey, Zelius! An onion washed up over here! Come look!"
"Aye, it looks rather good, Cletus. Fresh and green leaved. Let's eat it."
"Let's tell the boss first."
"Let's eat it, and THEN tell the boss."
"Sounds good. And tasty." I started awake to see two pig-like creatures standing over me. A voice in my head whispered they were Moblins.
"Er. . .how do we eat it?" Zelius seemed unsure of the whole thing, and very uneasy.
"Like this!"
"FOOLS! IDIOTS! KEESE! What do you think you're doing?" I'd been roused from within such a deep sleep I hadn't realized I was resting halfway within Cletus's mouth.
I felt a wave of despair hit me as Ganondorf in all his ill will came charging down the shore from a smallish tower on the other side of the island that I hadn't seen before. I'd never seen Ganondorf, but I didn't think it could be anyone else. Ganondorf started laying about with the flats of two swords, making the Moblins wince backward and drop me. Ganondorf picked me up and treated me with an ugly grin.
"This little one is just the treasure I've been seeking."
"Er. . .you like onions too, boss?" Zelius asked from somewhere behind us.
"This is no onion, you towering measure of incompetence!"
Tucked under the evil king's shoulder, I saw a bouncing view of the island. There didn't seem to be any others nearby. A desolate expanse of ocean and a half sunken ship were all I could see. The shadow of the tower reached forward and swallowed us up as we neared. It had seemed small from the shore, but while this wasn't completely inaccurate, it was much larger than I thought. Ugly purple stones that appeared somehow otherworldly were mortared together in a jagged, haphazard way that suggested the intelligence of its architect did not match with that of its builders.
After passing through a door that opened on its own, we passed up a spiral stair, Zelius and Cletus grinning after me and making faces. The chamber we entered after all this easily shocked me to the point that I cried aloud.
Raised a few feet from the floor were six cages of glass containing six skeletons. Rags of various colors decorated the ghostly bones, and a few still had hair of various colors. One looked like a fish's skeleton, and another somehow rocky, and three had to be Hylians, but it was the last, the one with green hair, which later caught my attention.
Saria. The Kokiri Sage. One of the great heroes of forest lore. These were the six sages of legend.
But at the time, I didn't notice. My eyes were drawn to the seventh, still living prisoner. Tubes connected the raised cages to each other, surrounding and plunging into another cage in a circular pattern, creating a sort of machine.
Within an orb of solid crystal rested a Great Fairy. She looked a little smaller than most, and even more so for her tragic and sickly appearance.
-Draema-
When I was brought into the room in Ganon's arms, she smiled softly. Sympathetically. She was kneeling, her hair falling about her face in a curtain, divided to reveal her tearstained eyes.
There are only so many things the Forest Folk can bear.
Seeing a fairy, much less a great one, mistreated isn't one of them.
Despite my lack of physical strength, I fought free, invigorated to the point of madness by my anger. I burst forward and pressed a hand against the glass. She put forth her own hand. I should have been able to see, to feel, the magic bursting from within Draema, but I felt nothing.
Blinding pain seared like a knife wound as Ganondorf kicked me, launching me across the room and into a strange tapestry that broke my descent. I stared at the wall hanging for a moment, but I was whipped into the air by my arm before I could get a closer look.
Draema leapt to her feet in rage. Ganondorf looked away from her burning gaze and found himself trapped in mine. His horrible, depthless eyes seemed to scream out to me about pain, deceit and hatred, but somehow I kept my gaze fixed, too stubborn to look away, too unsettled to do anything.
"Do not think," Ganon whispered, holding me close to his head, "That I have lived so long by being a fool. I know what a danger allies together is to me. Say goodbye to your friend. You will not set eyes on her again until the ceremony.
White-washed, surprisingly clean walls rose high above me. The shadow of prison bars stretched along the wall across from me, where the large oak door stood that kept me here. Loud screams came from the other side of the door. They reminded me of the Moblins I'd seen earlier, but were much more articulate in speech. I couldn't make out specific words through what seemed to be a foot of solid wood, however. An occasional clank also reached my ears. Eventually I realized the Moblins that had thrown him in had been too dumb to take away his spear.
The shadow bars moved to the floor and vanished as I sat in that room, awaiting my fate. I wasn't fed. I wasn't given even a sip of water, and began to feel horribly ill without it. Worst of all, without you two, I began to feel terribly lonely. I walked to the door and began to yell.
"Is anybody out there? I need water! Hey, Goron doof! Anybody ever tell you-"
"Hey, whoever you are, quiet down." It was the eloquent Moblin. "I can help you. Just be patient."
The sky was filled with stars before anything happened. Bars of moonlight had taken over the shift from the sun. The massive door burst in and the face of a skinny Moblin was illuminated by them. I ran across the room and out the door, just a second before he slammed it closed behind me, and found myself standing in a narrow hallway, torch lit and draped with shadows that veiled everything.
The Moblin pair that had discovered me on the shore ran towards us, brandishing their javelins. A few seconds later, the dead bodies of Zelius and Cletus were bleeding onto the worn rug floor, and the Moblin was strapping their weapons to his back.
Ganondorf came lurching down the hallway and the two were soon enmeshed in battle. The Moblin threw his spears up above his head and into the walls of the tight passage, and was suddenly battling from the air, leaping from pole to pole and countering Ganondorf's swords with a small knife he'd somehow procured.
Whispering a prayer for the Moblin, I took off down the hall. I didn't have a clue where I was going. I only knew I had to find the fairy. The building was small enough that I eventually reached the building. The room was black as a night on the floor of the forest, no moon penetrating to the room. The only illumination came off a ghastly shine from the skeletons, filled with some secret power. Draema should have lit the room like a small sun, but her glow could only be seen when I crept close to the glass.
"You must away, Mako," she whispered with a sore, but still vibrant voice, reminding me of the song in the voice of every fairy, making them so pleasant to hear. "The Evil One means terrible things for us. Worse than you can imagine."
"I can go nowhere and swear never to leave you until you see your fountain again."
She smiled and spoke kindly, "Do not bind yourself to an oath you cannot keep. It is. . .too late for this fairy."
"How very true."
I'd fully failed to hear Ganondorf's approach. A squad of Moblins came in as well and spread around the room, facing the apparatus.
"It is time, little one. A shame you missed the death of one of the rare intelligent Moblins. I have to deal with one every once in awhile." I struggled and fought as he lifted me up, but I was far too small, possessing no strength except that of will. "Funny. Something so tiny, so frail, containing so much power." My arms were pushed into two of the tubes, and I was set down.
Immediately, I dashed away, speeding towards the exit.
"You can't escape this."
I reached the edge of the tube's give and snapped back, landing face up with my head against Draema's cage.
Ganondorf picked up two tubes as well, and gripping them with tight fists, thumbs inserted, he began to scowl and grimace strangely. The ever- tangible presence of his hatred pressed down the air and gave me a headache. A green vapor began to slink down the tubes, filling all seven prisons with its presence. As it began to float towards me, I screamed and backed away, filled with overwhelming dread.
"No, please no!"
The green smoke hit my arms and began flowing out of my mouth and eyes, filling the room and obscuring everything in mist.
Ganondorf's laughter rang through the air. Draema was on her knees, coughing and crying. I struggled to think of something, anything, to break free and rescue her. I felt a sharp mental stab, and realized it had come from within. The harder I tried to think, the worse it became. It was like trying to juggle sword blades. I felt ripped apart. I could still see, hear, and feel, but thought was denied to me. The problem grew worse and worse, and my mind seemed to be full with a metal ball like a mace-end, spikes pushing me back as they grew and grew.
When the haze had cleared, the room was empty save for living beings; the machinery and skeletons had vanished. Draema now had her face to the ground, the Great Fairy looking all but dead.
This passed my eyes and burned onto to my memory, but every time I tried to consider it, my mind was wounded. Something was inside me now, something I couldn't touch.
"Now that I have my vessel, we don't need her." The wizard nodded to the Moblins and two walked forward. One shoved his spear underneath her face and forced her into a kneeing position. Her head reeled back and the other used his weapon to hold it forward, forcing her into an execution pose while Ganon drew one of his swords. The Great Fairy said and did nothing.
He pulled the weapon back. . .
The sight sunk into my shredded being and I screamed, all the suppressed anger coming to blows with the foreign presence in my mind.
"HALT!"
I pressed past it all, feeling memories go blank, watching them vanish before my eyes.
The three of us and Fillwir making the Great Deku Tree tell us stories.
Gone.
That time Holly tried to sew socks and stitched herself to the ground.
Gone.
Mido dying to save us all, making sure every last Kokiri made it safe to our new home.
Gone, all gone. I lost my memories.
But still, with a strength that could not have been my own, I brought Ganondorf to the ground. Draema stood up. Her vibrant spirit seemed to sing back into life, reminding me of the forest, with all its birdsong and insect voices crying out. For a moment, I felt as though grass were back beneath my feet, and the comforting presence of trees overhead. Home.
The fairy leaned over to me and smiled what could only be called a Fado grin, and whispered.
"Wind fair thee well, little one."
The next second, I was vaulted through the air, the ruins of the tower smoking. Draema was dead. Though I knew Ganondorf was not defeated, she had stopped his evil plan. A tear slid down my cheek, but no more. I could not mourn. The sharpness was back. I landed in the water and was eventually found by Rito postmen.
I finished my story with a sob choking my words. Fado, Holly and I knelt together in the grass of that strange island, and wept.
Chapter XXX: Withdrawn
-Nemos
Hi.
I've been asked to tell you a story. Which one do you want? I'm six thousand years old, after all. And fairies don't experience time the way others do. We see all parts of our lives at once, and live all of them constantly. But I can see I'm confusing you!
Poor dear! I am sorry! I'll try to be plainer. It must be rough being so intellectually apathetic. There, there. I know where to start.
My finest hour was perhaps when I led the town at Outset. Er, granted, I got a little out of control, and may have introduced poverty, disease, and overpopulation, but that's much more interesting than a little fisherman's village, eh?
No?
Oh, sorry. I was thinking the way I did back then. Oops! I was a vain little thing. Not anymore. Not without reason, anyway. Isn't my hair just gorgeous today? Try not to stare too much, dear.
Anyways. Back then, a series of odd events began to occur. Three sages and several members of a race I thought extinct since the Rains. Dooko Sponges, I think they were called. They didn't look very spongy, though. More like clumpy bushes with big, horribly unattractive noses. One of the sages was a sponge, too.
After an odd scuffle at the Healer's house that I didn't see, except for the destruction of a roof I thought particularly pretty, a pirate ship I'd been watching for some time arrived. My rage was inflamed after they destroyed a house. I grew so angry I physically left my fountain, something generally deadly to my people. Prolonged leave would eventually kill me.
Shocked heads turned away from the shore and up at me as my glittering radiance challenged the sun. It wasn't before I'd gotten halfway that I realized I couldn't actually do anything. I floated high over-head, straight above the pirate ship, and bellowed out as loudly as I could.
"LEAVE MY ISLAND AT ONCE, OR BE DESTROYED. I WILL NOT HESITATE TO HURT YOU OR MAKE YOU BLEED OR ANYTHING ELSE THAT MIGHT HAPPEN TO SCARE YOU."
The pirates trembled with fear but their captain, a tall, blond haired woman, screamed something to her men. They rallied together and somehow got a canon pointed straight. I was pegged in the stomach and retreated to my fountain to recoup.
It was three days before I came out again. I was much surprised to find much of the city in ruin, only a scattered few were left, picking through the ashes for survivors, the pirate ship was drifting out towards sea, very low on the water. I went back into my fountain and never left again.
Chapter XXIX: Kingdom Darkness
-Mako
You remember that night, don't you? The waves were thrashing all around us, Fado was up in the bow, playing his cello and convincing Holly and I he was a Deku nut. Don't forget we were still Koroks. After the boat fell apart, I was tossed about by the waves the entire night. When I awoke, I was still floating. I passed in and out of consciousness, every time I came to I saw different islands, different scenery.
Eventually, I washed up on a rocky shore, and saw a deep, cloudless blue sky before I went under again.
"Hey, Zelius! An onion washed up over here! Come look!"
"Aye, it looks rather good, Cletus. Fresh and green leaved. Let's eat it."
"Let's tell the boss first."
"Let's eat it, and THEN tell the boss."
"Sounds good. And tasty." I started awake to see two pig-like creatures standing over me. A voice in my head whispered they were Moblins.
"Er. . .how do we eat it?" Zelius seemed unsure of the whole thing, and very uneasy.
"Like this!"
"FOOLS! IDIOTS! KEESE! What do you think you're doing?" I'd been roused from within such a deep sleep I hadn't realized I was resting halfway within Cletus's mouth.
I felt a wave of despair hit me as Ganondorf in all his ill will came charging down the shore from a smallish tower on the other side of the island that I hadn't seen before. I'd never seen Ganondorf, but I didn't think it could be anyone else. Ganondorf started laying about with the flats of two swords, making the Moblins wince backward and drop me. Ganondorf picked me up and treated me with an ugly grin.
"This little one is just the treasure I've been seeking."
"Er. . .you like onions too, boss?" Zelius asked from somewhere behind us.
"This is no onion, you towering measure of incompetence!"
Tucked under the evil king's shoulder, I saw a bouncing view of the island. There didn't seem to be any others nearby. A desolate expanse of ocean and a half sunken ship were all I could see. The shadow of the tower reached forward and swallowed us up as we neared. It had seemed small from the shore, but while this wasn't completely inaccurate, it was much larger than I thought. Ugly purple stones that appeared somehow otherworldly were mortared together in a jagged, haphazard way that suggested the intelligence of its architect did not match with that of its builders.
After passing through a door that opened on its own, we passed up a spiral stair, Zelius and Cletus grinning after me and making faces. The chamber we entered after all this easily shocked me to the point that I cried aloud.
Raised a few feet from the floor were six cages of glass containing six skeletons. Rags of various colors decorated the ghostly bones, and a few still had hair of various colors. One looked like a fish's skeleton, and another somehow rocky, and three had to be Hylians, but it was the last, the one with green hair, which later caught my attention.
Saria. The Kokiri Sage. One of the great heroes of forest lore. These were the six sages of legend.
But at the time, I didn't notice. My eyes were drawn to the seventh, still living prisoner. Tubes connected the raised cages to each other, surrounding and plunging into another cage in a circular pattern, creating a sort of machine.
Within an orb of solid crystal rested a Great Fairy. She looked a little smaller than most, and even more so for her tragic and sickly appearance.
-Draema-
When I was brought into the room in Ganon's arms, she smiled softly. Sympathetically. She was kneeling, her hair falling about her face in a curtain, divided to reveal her tearstained eyes.
There are only so many things the Forest Folk can bear.
Seeing a fairy, much less a great one, mistreated isn't one of them.
Despite my lack of physical strength, I fought free, invigorated to the point of madness by my anger. I burst forward and pressed a hand against the glass. She put forth her own hand. I should have been able to see, to feel, the magic bursting from within Draema, but I felt nothing.
Blinding pain seared like a knife wound as Ganondorf kicked me, launching me across the room and into a strange tapestry that broke my descent. I stared at the wall hanging for a moment, but I was whipped into the air by my arm before I could get a closer look.
Draema leapt to her feet in rage. Ganondorf looked away from her burning gaze and found himself trapped in mine. His horrible, depthless eyes seemed to scream out to me about pain, deceit and hatred, but somehow I kept my gaze fixed, too stubborn to look away, too unsettled to do anything.
"Do not think," Ganon whispered, holding me close to his head, "That I have lived so long by being a fool. I know what a danger allies together is to me. Say goodbye to your friend. You will not set eyes on her again until the ceremony.
White-washed, surprisingly clean walls rose high above me. The shadow of prison bars stretched along the wall across from me, where the large oak door stood that kept me here. Loud screams came from the other side of the door. They reminded me of the Moblins I'd seen earlier, but were much more articulate in speech. I couldn't make out specific words through what seemed to be a foot of solid wood, however. An occasional clank also reached my ears. Eventually I realized the Moblins that had thrown him in had been too dumb to take away his spear.
The shadow bars moved to the floor and vanished as I sat in that room, awaiting my fate. I wasn't fed. I wasn't given even a sip of water, and began to feel horribly ill without it. Worst of all, without you two, I began to feel terribly lonely. I walked to the door and began to yell.
"Is anybody out there? I need water! Hey, Goron doof! Anybody ever tell you-"
"Hey, whoever you are, quiet down." It was the eloquent Moblin. "I can help you. Just be patient."
The sky was filled with stars before anything happened. Bars of moonlight had taken over the shift from the sun. The massive door burst in and the face of a skinny Moblin was illuminated by them. I ran across the room and out the door, just a second before he slammed it closed behind me, and found myself standing in a narrow hallway, torch lit and draped with shadows that veiled everything.
The Moblin pair that had discovered me on the shore ran towards us, brandishing their javelins. A few seconds later, the dead bodies of Zelius and Cletus were bleeding onto the worn rug floor, and the Moblin was strapping their weapons to his back.
Ganondorf came lurching down the hallway and the two were soon enmeshed in battle. The Moblin threw his spears up above his head and into the walls of the tight passage, and was suddenly battling from the air, leaping from pole to pole and countering Ganondorf's swords with a small knife he'd somehow procured.
Whispering a prayer for the Moblin, I took off down the hall. I didn't have a clue where I was going. I only knew I had to find the fairy. The building was small enough that I eventually reached the building. The room was black as a night on the floor of the forest, no moon penetrating to the room. The only illumination came off a ghastly shine from the skeletons, filled with some secret power. Draema should have lit the room like a small sun, but her glow could only be seen when I crept close to the glass.
"You must away, Mako," she whispered with a sore, but still vibrant voice, reminding me of the song in the voice of every fairy, making them so pleasant to hear. "The Evil One means terrible things for us. Worse than you can imagine."
"I can go nowhere and swear never to leave you until you see your fountain again."
She smiled and spoke kindly, "Do not bind yourself to an oath you cannot keep. It is. . .too late for this fairy."
"How very true."
I'd fully failed to hear Ganondorf's approach. A squad of Moblins came in as well and spread around the room, facing the apparatus.
"It is time, little one. A shame you missed the death of one of the rare intelligent Moblins. I have to deal with one every once in awhile." I struggled and fought as he lifted me up, but I was far too small, possessing no strength except that of will. "Funny. Something so tiny, so frail, containing so much power." My arms were pushed into two of the tubes, and I was set down.
Immediately, I dashed away, speeding towards the exit.
"You can't escape this."
I reached the edge of the tube's give and snapped back, landing face up with my head against Draema's cage.
Ganondorf picked up two tubes as well, and gripping them with tight fists, thumbs inserted, he began to scowl and grimace strangely. The ever- tangible presence of his hatred pressed down the air and gave me a headache. A green vapor began to slink down the tubes, filling all seven prisons with its presence. As it began to float towards me, I screamed and backed away, filled with overwhelming dread.
"No, please no!"
The green smoke hit my arms and began flowing out of my mouth and eyes, filling the room and obscuring everything in mist.
Ganondorf's laughter rang through the air. Draema was on her knees, coughing and crying. I struggled to think of something, anything, to break free and rescue her. I felt a sharp mental stab, and realized it had come from within. The harder I tried to think, the worse it became. It was like trying to juggle sword blades. I felt ripped apart. I could still see, hear, and feel, but thought was denied to me. The problem grew worse and worse, and my mind seemed to be full with a metal ball like a mace-end, spikes pushing me back as they grew and grew.
When the haze had cleared, the room was empty save for living beings; the machinery and skeletons had vanished. Draema now had her face to the ground, the Great Fairy looking all but dead.
This passed my eyes and burned onto to my memory, but every time I tried to consider it, my mind was wounded. Something was inside me now, something I couldn't touch.
"Now that I have my vessel, we don't need her." The wizard nodded to the Moblins and two walked forward. One shoved his spear underneath her face and forced her into a kneeing position. Her head reeled back and the other used his weapon to hold it forward, forcing her into an execution pose while Ganon drew one of his swords. The Great Fairy said and did nothing.
He pulled the weapon back. . .
The sight sunk into my shredded being and I screamed, all the suppressed anger coming to blows with the foreign presence in my mind.
"HALT!"
I pressed past it all, feeling memories go blank, watching them vanish before my eyes.
The three of us and Fillwir making the Great Deku Tree tell us stories.
Gone.
That time Holly tried to sew socks and stitched herself to the ground.
Gone.
Mido dying to save us all, making sure every last Kokiri made it safe to our new home.
Gone, all gone. I lost my memories.
But still, with a strength that could not have been my own, I brought Ganondorf to the ground. Draema stood up. Her vibrant spirit seemed to sing back into life, reminding me of the forest, with all its birdsong and insect voices crying out. For a moment, I felt as though grass were back beneath my feet, and the comforting presence of trees overhead. Home.
The fairy leaned over to me and smiled what could only be called a Fado grin, and whispered.
"Wind fair thee well, little one."
The next second, I was vaulted through the air, the ruins of the tower smoking. Draema was dead. Though I knew Ganondorf was not defeated, she had stopped his evil plan. A tear slid down my cheek, but no more. I could not mourn. The sharpness was back. I landed in the water and was eventually found by Rito postmen.
I finished my story with a sob choking my words. Fado, Holly and I knelt together in the grass of that strange island, and wept.
Chapter XXX: Withdrawn
-Nemos
Hi.
I've been asked to tell you a story. Which one do you want? I'm six thousand years old, after all. And fairies don't experience time the way others do. We see all parts of our lives at once, and live all of them constantly. But I can see I'm confusing you!
Poor dear! I am sorry! I'll try to be plainer. It must be rough being so intellectually apathetic. There, there. I know where to start.
My finest hour was perhaps when I led the town at Outset. Er, granted, I got a little out of control, and may have introduced poverty, disease, and overpopulation, but that's much more interesting than a little fisherman's village, eh?
No?
Oh, sorry. I was thinking the way I did back then. Oops! I was a vain little thing. Not anymore. Not without reason, anyway. Isn't my hair just gorgeous today? Try not to stare too much, dear.
Anyways. Back then, a series of odd events began to occur. Three sages and several members of a race I thought extinct since the Rains. Dooko Sponges, I think they were called. They didn't look very spongy, though. More like clumpy bushes with big, horribly unattractive noses. One of the sages was a sponge, too.
After an odd scuffle at the Healer's house that I didn't see, except for the destruction of a roof I thought particularly pretty, a pirate ship I'd been watching for some time arrived. My rage was inflamed after they destroyed a house. I grew so angry I physically left my fountain, something generally deadly to my people. Prolonged leave would eventually kill me.
Shocked heads turned away from the shore and up at me as my glittering radiance challenged the sun. It wasn't before I'd gotten halfway that I realized I couldn't actually do anything. I floated high over-head, straight above the pirate ship, and bellowed out as loudly as I could.
"LEAVE MY ISLAND AT ONCE, OR BE DESTROYED. I WILL NOT HESITATE TO HURT YOU OR MAKE YOU BLEED OR ANYTHING ELSE THAT MIGHT HAPPEN TO SCARE YOU."
The pirates trembled with fear but their captain, a tall, blond haired woman, screamed something to her men. They rallied together and somehow got a canon pointed straight. I was pegged in the stomach and retreated to my fountain to recoup.
It was three days before I came out again. I was much surprised to find much of the city in ruin, only a scattered few were left, picking through the ashes for survivors, the pirate ship was drifting out towards sea, very low on the water. I went back into my fountain and never left again.