Legends of the Waker: Remnants of Old
Chapter XLVIII: Separated
(Link)
Zelda was gone from me.
The door was closed. Nothing I could do would open it. My knuckles were raw. Carvings lay at my feet, shaved off from the striking of my sword. My voice was hoarse from yelling every imaginable promise, threat, or password. Now I sat staring at the door. Every attempt and failure pushed me to one certainty, until I knew all else was futile.
I had to use it.
Remembering the Poe that was trapped still, a memory suddenly came to mind, telling ghost stories one night at Roc's Island, and all at once, I was six years old, back under the star-strewn night sky, sitting further from the fire than everyone else because Meena couldn't stand the heat. Han, the village blacksmith, was telling one of his always sought after stories.
- - - "The boy fearlessly walked into the cemetery, a tiny, closed in place with high walls that stretched over him as if ready to close in. But he didn't care. The gravekeeper was messing about, but when the boy pushed a tombstone to challenge the ghosts of the graveyard, he didn't notice. He just kept singing.
"'What's gonna come out?
What's gonna come out?
When I start digging,
We'll sure find out!'
"With a massive shove of disproportionate strength the boy moved the tombstone and out came the biggest ghost in the ghosty world. One with massive, sharp teeth! A lantern of burning fire that will drown your soul in anguish! And a rather nasty rash.
"A Poe.
"The boy drew his sword and locked eyes with the Poe, but it did no good. The Poe disappeared with a snorty giggle. All he could see was her lantern, glowing in the shadowy darkness like a fallen star. But he hadn't come to be defeated. He knew what to do. As she spun closer, he blocked her with his shield and with a might battlecry and a swing of his sword that shook the air with thunderous noises, the Poe was struck down and defeated, her lantern breaking.
She became but a little drop of flame then, and the boy caught her in a bottle. Drinking the Poe down in one gulp he belched and cried out to the cemetery walls and the shuffling gravekeeper, who had been knocked over in the excitement.
"'So refreshing! That stuff's so addicting!'" - - -
I knew what to do with the Poe when it was free, but how to purge it out of my system? And then I had it. I should have seen it coming, when I'd had magic added to my schooling back home. My father had been training me for the day Ganondorf would come for his "apprentice". It hadn't been much. Aside from Roc, who had kept to himself, nobody on the island knew much about it, including my father.
But if it worked. . .
Without another thought, I tapped into the Triforce of Courage.
(Edgar)
Release! Finally free of being tied to the Triforce.
I smelled a rat. Something wasn't right. A strange door covered with familiar shapes stood directly before me. I very cautiously took a step towards it. I looked back and saw my hometown, Kakariko, and began to run towards it. And by back was overcome by a chilling pain that drew icy tendrils across my body.
Unlike before, two swords were strapped to my back. I reached around and ripped them off. One came easily but the other stuck to my hand, frozen fast. Desperately I tore, and ripped off frostbitten skin.
My back returned to normal instantly, my fingers healed, leaving only a couple of scars and a nasty itch.
Scratching absentmindedly, I approached the sword. It had a blue hilt and a full Triforce on the blade. I'd only seen it once, but that was enough. The Master Sword.
Suddenly I was sprawling bodiless, a Poe once again. I turned and Link grinned at me, picking up his swords and beckoning.
"But how. . .?" I asked.
"The sword. Evil cannot wield it. You were evicted by the good within."
Angrily I charged, but it was no good. I soon found myself trapped within a bottle that smelled of soup, an old Shiekah recipe.
Link held the bottle up to his face, still grinning. "Bottom's up!"
Chapter XLIX: The Girl without a Face
(Fado)
When I returned my vision to normal, there stood before me an old man nearly ten feet tall. The transparent pirate bellowed with a voice like muffled thunder when he spoke, and always, always, hatred radiated from him in a way I hadn't felt since I'd battled Ganondorf all those years ago. Or at least, what seemed years.
"Be you a fool or a madman, setting foot on board our ship?"
Wearing my customary grin, I spoke cheerfully. "I've been called both in my time, good sir. Which are you?"
"-Do not mock me!-" he roared, then spoke more quietly. "Who are you? Who do you say you are?"
"I am Fado, warrior-sage. I've already given you a warning, but out of kindness I'll give another. It is very much in your best interest to let my friend and I go."
"Let you go? It has been some time since we had a fresh visitor. You are aboard the first ship to sink on this young Sea. Besides, an impudent, foolish madman like you has lessons to learn. Rough lessons."
Without warning I went spinning into the air and was flung against a wall. I stuck my staff out at the last minute and rebounded back to the floor. "I think it is you with lessons to learn. Lesson one: Don't mess with a sage."
I charged forward with my staff held out and leapt into the air. . .
. . .and landed against the far wall after passing through the ghost's foggy body. The man's expansive laughter cut through the air. Perfect. "Lesson number two: Don't get distracted by what seems to be a mistake." Taking advantage of his laughter, I dropped my staff to the wooden floor below and sent a row of green orbs into his chest.
He fell backward against the door and went right through it, then began to fall through the floor when he caught himself and swung back up to his feet. "You'll pay for that one, boy. Here's a lesson for you: never drop your weapon."
Without warning I was plucked from the wall and slammed against it. Over and over again, rolling, I struck the plain walls of the large room. I sent a blast of wind at it and flew to the floor, sweeping up my staff as I went.
The voice of the old pirate seemed strained as he spoke again. "You can't win. Just give up. No more of this. It's time to teach you the way of pain. Much like we did all those years ago. . ."
And the room was gone. Everything vanished and I was left in darkness. Before I could do anything, I was pulled downward. My stomach lurched, making a stab at leaving. I could have fallen for an eternity, or a single second, but I wound up in worn, tattered leather chair, storage boxes towering over me. A blinding lantern made it easy to see where I was, but my brain couldn't seem to focus. Too much. Too much too take in.
It wasn't long before a new pirate was obviously on his way, pulling a wheeled tray that squeaked ever louder as it grew closer, grating into my mind. He came into the light and I saw a tiny man dressed as raggedly as the rest, this one wearing shattered glasses that cast eerie reflections across everything, including the rusty tray he bore. I tried to get up but found I was strapped in.
The ghost smiled as he reached me, a horrible, depraved grin that held no joy free of willful, overbearing malice. "Are you ready for your operation?"
(Mako)
I expected to get paint on my face. I expected to see my work ruined. I expected to need an angry comment ready.
What I expected didn't happen.
The world of the painting grew, wrapping around me, the blurry, imperfect land becoming more realistic.
I stood amidst a sea of violet color and realized that it hadn't been flower choked grass, but simply purple grass. A cool breeze wafted through the air, shaking the leaves of trees that floated three feet above the ground. Spreading outward from where the trunks terminated was a cover of dirt that spread out four feet but came in and tapered to a point so that they looked vaguely like pinecones.
Something about it all looked vaguely familiar, as if I'd seen it in a dream. Perhaps that was where it had come from it. I didn't know. I hadn't told Fado or Holly, but some of my memories hadn't come back they'd rescued me, and it certainly wasn't from the long stream of dreams I had after I told my story on that tiny island.
You've already heard my description of this world, so you know what's left. A green sky. But something was odd. There were very strange clouds I hadn't noticed before. They seemed to burst into the air from some point in space. You could be looking at an empty sky one minute and then with a quiet whoosh of noise, there one would be, puffy and white.
My eyes roved to the rounded, egg shaped mountains and the welcomely normal sight of the village. There was no sun. I wouldn't find out why for some time.
What my eyes set on next was something that haunted my nightmares for some time. The girl from the painting was standing ten feet away.
And she had no face.
Red-gold hair shimmered in the odd, green light. As I'd combined aspects of Holly and the ghost girl, she had aspects of both. Holly's tan skin and preference for going barefoot, and the other girl's apron and dress. But where eyes, nose, mouth, and ears should have been, only smooth flesh sat.
I don't know how she spoke, but simply hearing the girl's voice sent shivers up my spine. "Hello sir, how are you?" She walked forward to me and I stepped back, hands shivering.
"Stay-stay back. Go a-a-away." I don't know how my staff got there with me, but it was resting on the grass so I picked it up.
"What's the matter? Is something wrong? You must come with me. Everyone will be very pleased to meet the Maker."
The thought of a village of faceless men, women and children did nothing to assuage my terror. "Why-what-where is your face?" I asked.
She cocked her head, confused. "Why would you ask that, my Maker? You know we cannot have faces until you are ready to give them." She walked closer still. "Are you ill, why do your hands shake so?"
Thrown into a new world, meeting people that made no anatomical sense, and being seen as something I wasn't would normally be easy to handle. For Fado. But I'd been throw into it. And I had to find a way to deal with it. Finally I found the words I needed.
"I'm not your Maker. I didn't mean to create any of this. I didn't realized what I was doing, and I definitely didn't plan on coming here."
"Don't be silly. I won't take no for an answer. Come with me." She grabbed my hand before I could stop her, and began dragging me to the little town. These people were expecting me to give them faces? How in the world could I do that?
Chapter L: "Make Wisdom Yours."
(Laruto)
I awoke in someone else's body. Someone a little taller, and with no head fin, which are an uncommon trait among Zora.
From what I could tell, I was in the massive front hall of a castle. Everything was clean and white. Winding staircases led up and down, and right behind me was an enormous fountain, with a statue of the well-known visage of the Hero of Time. Before me was a closed drawbridge leading to the outside world.
I still had my weariness, the attrition on a body that had been through too much.
So this person was going through trials as well. Around me I noticed a few others. Two women, Hylian, and what I thought might be a Goron. The history books at Greatfish were fuzzy on their appearance. No Zora alive had ever laid eyes on one.
-No Zora that used to be alive-, I corrected myself.
Suddenly I felt the names of the three whispered into my head.
-Nabooru-
-Impa-
-Darunia-
Darunia, the possible Goron, was pulling a chain, the large, brown, rocky skinned creature's muscles straining. Impa and Nabooru, one tall with short silver-white hair and light armor, the other with flowing red hair wearing strange, baggy pants, a vest, and the belts for the two broad scimitars that were strapped to her back, were both looking through spaces in a massive, boarded up window. Every few minutes one would call out, sharing with Darunia what was going on.
At the moment, Impa was speaking. She had a strange accent, her voice quiet, probably marking a woman who talked very little. "The moat seems to be giving them trouble, as the Majorai can't seem to survive in water. The bomb flowers are also helping, but I do not think either will hold for long."
"The drawbridge is secure," Darunia responded with a deep, bass voice. "I wish them luck trying to get to it! I just hope my people can hold on to Death Mountain for a little longer."
"I'm sure they will," Nabooru said. "Ruto, you've been awfully quiet. Almost finished?"
Ruto? That had to be me. Despite the size of the massive foyer, we were the only four around. The name struck a bell. I remembered asking my mother years ago where my name came from. -"It's a combination of Laru, the Prince of Torrents, and Ruto, the mother of our people."-
There had been many girls named Ruto back home, so hearing a Zora called it wasn't surprising, but how many in the days when castles still stood. Such buildings were only found in history books now. "RUTO! What's going on?" I was shoved back to the moment. All three of them were standing just a few feet away, faces creased with concern. I had to find words fast.
"I just drifted off. Sorry."
Nabooru nodded apologetically. "Worried about your family? And your people? I am too. We can only pray that this horror will end, that Link will return from his quest and end this madness."
From one of the staircases a conversation burst drifted down the hall, turning attention from me at the best possible time. I breathed a hopefully unnoticed sigh of relief as two men with white hair came into view. One, a short, overweight Hylian man, bore a heavy, grave manner and wore yellow robes. The other was also somewhat short, but was thinner and more heavily muscled and wore a long red robe and crown. And what was far more eye- catching, he had the Wind Waker tucked into his belt.
The more richly dressed man had been yelling. "I will not give in to the reckless hate of that barbarous fiend! My daughter, the Hero of Time, the Shiekah, we must have faith in them."
The other man said something quietly, and both turned,
-Rauru-
-Daphnes Nohannson Hyrule, King of the Kingdom-
"Any change?" Rauru asked as they neared.
"No. They're holding for now. I don't know how long it will last, though." Impa said, curtly, soldier-like. A massive thump sent everyone to the window. And I got my first peak at the outside world. A storm was obviously brewing overhead. Veins of lightning were draped across a night sky, joined with the massive drumbeat of intense thunder.
But what was on the ground was far more eye-catching. Amidst the wreckage of a village stood a. . .creature. Vaguely heart shaped, with thick arms and legs, at least thirty feet tall. Running all over the wreckage, the monster, the yard before the castle, were hundreds of tiny mirror images to the first monster, about Laruto height.
A little girl with green hair suddenly dropped from the ceiling. Wise eyes that spoke of age far greater than appearances suggested were tightened in fear. "They've got a dragon on the way. We will soon be open to attack."
-Saria-
Another girl, possessing hair similar to the first if darker and longer, and with younger eyes and a thinner face suddenly appeared, coming from a nearby door out of breath. She was crying, she spoke when Saria ran to hug her, and her words were gasped out between sobs. "Saria! Saria! I've done it. I prayed on the rooftop, and now something terrible is going to happen! I-" She broke off, overcome, as a the patter of rain reached us from the ceiling.
The drawbridge burst open before we could process this information, and wide nostrils and blade-sharp teeth pressed their way into the opening. Foul clouds of purple and red smoke pressed into the room and I felt my heart beat with terror as the creature, with its masses of jutting veins and deep red skin, began to press its way in.
-Majora's Servant-
Someone screamed, and I heard a roar of anger from behind me, and then for just a single second, all went dark. In that flash, everyone disappeared, including the dragon. I'd experienced a fragment of the past, I knew, but it was over. I was just dreaming now. And back in my own body.
I walked to the jagged opening where the dragon had pressed its attack and instead of the landscape I'd seen out of the window, a long tunnel stretched before me. I stepped into it and was swept into a whirlwind of pictures and sounds.
As I sped to some distant point at the end, I heard a voice speak. "This, my friends, is the Wind Waker." I saw only a flash of a man enshrouded in white armor with an eye on his chest before the next image came.
"In the darkness, bring the light." A boat with the head of a lion.
"It ends." A boy dressed in the green of the two girls I'd seen earlier, only taller and wielding two swords.
"Gods of the Triforce! Hear that which I desire! Hope! I desire hope for these children! Give them a future! Wash away this ancient land of Hyrule! Let a ray of hope shine on the future of the world!!!" The king I'd seen before, older, heavier, grasping a complete Triforce as it floated in the air.
"Relax, and let things come as they will. Worry'll only get you gray hair." A boy with an immense smile and eyes that seemed to electrify the girl he spoke with to believe his words.
"My magic is strong now." The younger green-haired girl facing an army of strange creatures with a skeleton at her side.
"These are the legends of the Waker. . ." A very strange, treelike creature that radiated madness.
"Someday. . .When this seal is broken. . .That is when I will exterminate your descendants!! As long as the Triforce of Power is in my hand. . ." Ganondorf falling into nothingness.
"I've seen true despair, and I've washed my hands of it. I am fearless now." Medli.
When I finally reached the end of the tunnel, I was in a round room, as if someone had come along and blown into it, puffing it into a perfectly spherical shape. It had the feel of and look of a throne room. Indeed, floating in the center of the room was a woman on a throne. Long gray hair swept over the back of her chair, dangling in midair.
Though no voice whispered her name, I knew somehow that this was Zelda.
Her head was bowed onto her knees and her hands clasped, as though she were in prayer. She lifted up her face to me, and powerful blue eyes with depth and void bored into me. And she spoke. Her voice light but commanding.
"Make wisdom yours, Laruto my child."
She opened her clasped hands to reveal a shard of the Triforce. The Triforce of Wisdom?
A glint of illumination struck the incredible object and grew to a wave of light that washed over me and sent me back into full sleep.
Chapter XLVIII: Separated
(Link)
Zelda was gone from me.
The door was closed. Nothing I could do would open it. My knuckles were raw. Carvings lay at my feet, shaved off from the striking of my sword. My voice was hoarse from yelling every imaginable promise, threat, or password. Now I sat staring at the door. Every attempt and failure pushed me to one certainty, until I knew all else was futile.
I had to use it.
Remembering the Poe that was trapped still, a memory suddenly came to mind, telling ghost stories one night at Roc's Island, and all at once, I was six years old, back under the star-strewn night sky, sitting further from the fire than everyone else because Meena couldn't stand the heat. Han, the village blacksmith, was telling one of his always sought after stories.
- - - "The boy fearlessly walked into the cemetery, a tiny, closed in place with high walls that stretched over him as if ready to close in. But he didn't care. The gravekeeper was messing about, but when the boy pushed a tombstone to challenge the ghosts of the graveyard, he didn't notice. He just kept singing.
"'What's gonna come out?
What's gonna come out?
When I start digging,
We'll sure find out!'
"With a massive shove of disproportionate strength the boy moved the tombstone and out came the biggest ghost in the ghosty world. One with massive, sharp teeth! A lantern of burning fire that will drown your soul in anguish! And a rather nasty rash.
"A Poe.
"The boy drew his sword and locked eyes with the Poe, but it did no good. The Poe disappeared with a snorty giggle. All he could see was her lantern, glowing in the shadowy darkness like a fallen star. But he hadn't come to be defeated. He knew what to do. As she spun closer, he blocked her with his shield and with a might battlecry and a swing of his sword that shook the air with thunderous noises, the Poe was struck down and defeated, her lantern breaking.
She became but a little drop of flame then, and the boy caught her in a bottle. Drinking the Poe down in one gulp he belched and cried out to the cemetery walls and the shuffling gravekeeper, who had been knocked over in the excitement.
"'So refreshing! That stuff's so addicting!'" - - -
I knew what to do with the Poe when it was free, but how to purge it out of my system? And then I had it. I should have seen it coming, when I'd had magic added to my schooling back home. My father had been training me for the day Ganondorf would come for his "apprentice". It hadn't been much. Aside from Roc, who had kept to himself, nobody on the island knew much about it, including my father.
But if it worked. . .
Without another thought, I tapped into the Triforce of Courage.
(Edgar)
Release! Finally free of being tied to the Triforce.
I smelled a rat. Something wasn't right. A strange door covered with familiar shapes stood directly before me. I very cautiously took a step towards it. I looked back and saw my hometown, Kakariko, and began to run towards it. And by back was overcome by a chilling pain that drew icy tendrils across my body.
Unlike before, two swords were strapped to my back. I reached around and ripped them off. One came easily but the other stuck to my hand, frozen fast. Desperately I tore, and ripped off frostbitten skin.
My back returned to normal instantly, my fingers healed, leaving only a couple of scars and a nasty itch.
Scratching absentmindedly, I approached the sword. It had a blue hilt and a full Triforce on the blade. I'd only seen it once, but that was enough. The Master Sword.
Suddenly I was sprawling bodiless, a Poe once again. I turned and Link grinned at me, picking up his swords and beckoning.
"But how. . .?" I asked.
"The sword. Evil cannot wield it. You were evicted by the good within."
Angrily I charged, but it was no good. I soon found myself trapped within a bottle that smelled of soup, an old Shiekah recipe.
Link held the bottle up to his face, still grinning. "Bottom's up!"
Chapter XLIX: The Girl without a Face
(Fado)
When I returned my vision to normal, there stood before me an old man nearly ten feet tall. The transparent pirate bellowed with a voice like muffled thunder when he spoke, and always, always, hatred radiated from him in a way I hadn't felt since I'd battled Ganondorf all those years ago. Or at least, what seemed years.
"Be you a fool or a madman, setting foot on board our ship?"
Wearing my customary grin, I spoke cheerfully. "I've been called both in my time, good sir. Which are you?"
"-Do not mock me!-" he roared, then spoke more quietly. "Who are you? Who do you say you are?"
"I am Fado, warrior-sage. I've already given you a warning, but out of kindness I'll give another. It is very much in your best interest to let my friend and I go."
"Let you go? It has been some time since we had a fresh visitor. You are aboard the first ship to sink on this young Sea. Besides, an impudent, foolish madman like you has lessons to learn. Rough lessons."
Without warning I went spinning into the air and was flung against a wall. I stuck my staff out at the last minute and rebounded back to the floor. "I think it is you with lessons to learn. Lesson one: Don't mess with a sage."
I charged forward with my staff held out and leapt into the air. . .
. . .and landed against the far wall after passing through the ghost's foggy body. The man's expansive laughter cut through the air. Perfect. "Lesson number two: Don't get distracted by what seems to be a mistake." Taking advantage of his laughter, I dropped my staff to the wooden floor below and sent a row of green orbs into his chest.
He fell backward against the door and went right through it, then began to fall through the floor when he caught himself and swung back up to his feet. "You'll pay for that one, boy. Here's a lesson for you: never drop your weapon."
Without warning I was plucked from the wall and slammed against it. Over and over again, rolling, I struck the plain walls of the large room. I sent a blast of wind at it and flew to the floor, sweeping up my staff as I went.
The voice of the old pirate seemed strained as he spoke again. "You can't win. Just give up. No more of this. It's time to teach you the way of pain. Much like we did all those years ago. . ."
And the room was gone. Everything vanished and I was left in darkness. Before I could do anything, I was pulled downward. My stomach lurched, making a stab at leaving. I could have fallen for an eternity, or a single second, but I wound up in worn, tattered leather chair, storage boxes towering over me. A blinding lantern made it easy to see where I was, but my brain couldn't seem to focus. Too much. Too much too take in.
It wasn't long before a new pirate was obviously on his way, pulling a wheeled tray that squeaked ever louder as it grew closer, grating into my mind. He came into the light and I saw a tiny man dressed as raggedly as the rest, this one wearing shattered glasses that cast eerie reflections across everything, including the rusty tray he bore. I tried to get up but found I was strapped in.
The ghost smiled as he reached me, a horrible, depraved grin that held no joy free of willful, overbearing malice. "Are you ready for your operation?"
(Mako)
I expected to get paint on my face. I expected to see my work ruined. I expected to need an angry comment ready.
What I expected didn't happen.
The world of the painting grew, wrapping around me, the blurry, imperfect land becoming more realistic.
I stood amidst a sea of violet color and realized that it hadn't been flower choked grass, but simply purple grass. A cool breeze wafted through the air, shaking the leaves of trees that floated three feet above the ground. Spreading outward from where the trunks terminated was a cover of dirt that spread out four feet but came in and tapered to a point so that they looked vaguely like pinecones.
Something about it all looked vaguely familiar, as if I'd seen it in a dream. Perhaps that was where it had come from it. I didn't know. I hadn't told Fado or Holly, but some of my memories hadn't come back they'd rescued me, and it certainly wasn't from the long stream of dreams I had after I told my story on that tiny island.
You've already heard my description of this world, so you know what's left. A green sky. But something was odd. There were very strange clouds I hadn't noticed before. They seemed to burst into the air from some point in space. You could be looking at an empty sky one minute and then with a quiet whoosh of noise, there one would be, puffy and white.
My eyes roved to the rounded, egg shaped mountains and the welcomely normal sight of the village. There was no sun. I wouldn't find out why for some time.
What my eyes set on next was something that haunted my nightmares for some time. The girl from the painting was standing ten feet away.
And she had no face.
Red-gold hair shimmered in the odd, green light. As I'd combined aspects of Holly and the ghost girl, she had aspects of both. Holly's tan skin and preference for going barefoot, and the other girl's apron and dress. But where eyes, nose, mouth, and ears should have been, only smooth flesh sat.
I don't know how she spoke, but simply hearing the girl's voice sent shivers up my spine. "Hello sir, how are you?" She walked forward to me and I stepped back, hands shivering.
"Stay-stay back. Go a-a-away." I don't know how my staff got there with me, but it was resting on the grass so I picked it up.
"What's the matter? Is something wrong? You must come with me. Everyone will be very pleased to meet the Maker."
The thought of a village of faceless men, women and children did nothing to assuage my terror. "Why-what-where is your face?" I asked.
She cocked her head, confused. "Why would you ask that, my Maker? You know we cannot have faces until you are ready to give them." She walked closer still. "Are you ill, why do your hands shake so?"
Thrown into a new world, meeting people that made no anatomical sense, and being seen as something I wasn't would normally be easy to handle. For Fado. But I'd been throw into it. And I had to find a way to deal with it. Finally I found the words I needed.
"I'm not your Maker. I didn't mean to create any of this. I didn't realized what I was doing, and I definitely didn't plan on coming here."
"Don't be silly. I won't take no for an answer. Come with me." She grabbed my hand before I could stop her, and began dragging me to the little town. These people were expecting me to give them faces? How in the world could I do that?
Chapter L: "Make Wisdom Yours."
(Laruto)
I awoke in someone else's body. Someone a little taller, and with no head fin, which are an uncommon trait among Zora.
From what I could tell, I was in the massive front hall of a castle. Everything was clean and white. Winding staircases led up and down, and right behind me was an enormous fountain, with a statue of the well-known visage of the Hero of Time. Before me was a closed drawbridge leading to the outside world.
I still had my weariness, the attrition on a body that had been through too much.
So this person was going through trials as well. Around me I noticed a few others. Two women, Hylian, and what I thought might be a Goron. The history books at Greatfish were fuzzy on their appearance. No Zora alive had ever laid eyes on one.
-No Zora that used to be alive-, I corrected myself.
Suddenly I felt the names of the three whispered into my head.
-Nabooru-
-Impa-
-Darunia-
Darunia, the possible Goron, was pulling a chain, the large, brown, rocky skinned creature's muscles straining. Impa and Nabooru, one tall with short silver-white hair and light armor, the other with flowing red hair wearing strange, baggy pants, a vest, and the belts for the two broad scimitars that were strapped to her back, were both looking through spaces in a massive, boarded up window. Every few minutes one would call out, sharing with Darunia what was going on.
At the moment, Impa was speaking. She had a strange accent, her voice quiet, probably marking a woman who talked very little. "The moat seems to be giving them trouble, as the Majorai can't seem to survive in water. The bomb flowers are also helping, but I do not think either will hold for long."
"The drawbridge is secure," Darunia responded with a deep, bass voice. "I wish them luck trying to get to it! I just hope my people can hold on to Death Mountain for a little longer."
"I'm sure they will," Nabooru said. "Ruto, you've been awfully quiet. Almost finished?"
Ruto? That had to be me. Despite the size of the massive foyer, we were the only four around. The name struck a bell. I remembered asking my mother years ago where my name came from. -"It's a combination of Laru, the Prince of Torrents, and Ruto, the mother of our people."-
There had been many girls named Ruto back home, so hearing a Zora called it wasn't surprising, but how many in the days when castles still stood. Such buildings were only found in history books now. "RUTO! What's going on?" I was shoved back to the moment. All three of them were standing just a few feet away, faces creased with concern. I had to find words fast.
"I just drifted off. Sorry."
Nabooru nodded apologetically. "Worried about your family? And your people? I am too. We can only pray that this horror will end, that Link will return from his quest and end this madness."
From one of the staircases a conversation burst drifted down the hall, turning attention from me at the best possible time. I breathed a hopefully unnoticed sigh of relief as two men with white hair came into view. One, a short, overweight Hylian man, bore a heavy, grave manner and wore yellow robes. The other was also somewhat short, but was thinner and more heavily muscled and wore a long red robe and crown. And what was far more eye- catching, he had the Wind Waker tucked into his belt.
The more richly dressed man had been yelling. "I will not give in to the reckless hate of that barbarous fiend! My daughter, the Hero of Time, the Shiekah, we must have faith in them."
The other man said something quietly, and both turned,
-Rauru-
-Daphnes Nohannson Hyrule, King of the Kingdom-
"Any change?" Rauru asked as they neared.
"No. They're holding for now. I don't know how long it will last, though." Impa said, curtly, soldier-like. A massive thump sent everyone to the window. And I got my first peak at the outside world. A storm was obviously brewing overhead. Veins of lightning were draped across a night sky, joined with the massive drumbeat of intense thunder.
But what was on the ground was far more eye-catching. Amidst the wreckage of a village stood a. . .creature. Vaguely heart shaped, with thick arms and legs, at least thirty feet tall. Running all over the wreckage, the monster, the yard before the castle, were hundreds of tiny mirror images to the first monster, about Laruto height.
A little girl with green hair suddenly dropped from the ceiling. Wise eyes that spoke of age far greater than appearances suggested were tightened in fear. "They've got a dragon on the way. We will soon be open to attack."
-Saria-
Another girl, possessing hair similar to the first if darker and longer, and with younger eyes and a thinner face suddenly appeared, coming from a nearby door out of breath. She was crying, she spoke when Saria ran to hug her, and her words were gasped out between sobs. "Saria! Saria! I've done it. I prayed on the rooftop, and now something terrible is going to happen! I-" She broke off, overcome, as a the patter of rain reached us from the ceiling.
The drawbridge burst open before we could process this information, and wide nostrils and blade-sharp teeth pressed their way into the opening. Foul clouds of purple and red smoke pressed into the room and I felt my heart beat with terror as the creature, with its masses of jutting veins and deep red skin, began to press its way in.
-Majora's Servant-
Someone screamed, and I heard a roar of anger from behind me, and then for just a single second, all went dark. In that flash, everyone disappeared, including the dragon. I'd experienced a fragment of the past, I knew, but it was over. I was just dreaming now. And back in my own body.
I walked to the jagged opening where the dragon had pressed its attack and instead of the landscape I'd seen out of the window, a long tunnel stretched before me. I stepped into it and was swept into a whirlwind of pictures and sounds.
As I sped to some distant point at the end, I heard a voice speak. "This, my friends, is the Wind Waker." I saw only a flash of a man enshrouded in white armor with an eye on his chest before the next image came.
"In the darkness, bring the light." A boat with the head of a lion.
"It ends." A boy dressed in the green of the two girls I'd seen earlier, only taller and wielding two swords.
"Gods of the Triforce! Hear that which I desire! Hope! I desire hope for these children! Give them a future! Wash away this ancient land of Hyrule! Let a ray of hope shine on the future of the world!!!" The king I'd seen before, older, heavier, grasping a complete Triforce as it floated in the air.
"Relax, and let things come as they will. Worry'll only get you gray hair." A boy with an immense smile and eyes that seemed to electrify the girl he spoke with to believe his words.
"My magic is strong now." The younger green-haired girl facing an army of strange creatures with a skeleton at her side.
"These are the legends of the Waker. . ." A very strange, treelike creature that radiated madness.
"Someday. . .When this seal is broken. . .That is when I will exterminate your descendants!! As long as the Triforce of Power is in my hand. . ." Ganondorf falling into nothingness.
"I've seen true despair, and I've washed my hands of it. I am fearless now." Medli.
When I finally reached the end of the tunnel, I was in a round room, as if someone had come along and blown into it, puffing it into a perfectly spherical shape. It had the feel of and look of a throne room. Indeed, floating in the center of the room was a woman on a throne. Long gray hair swept over the back of her chair, dangling in midair.
Though no voice whispered her name, I knew somehow that this was Zelda.
Her head was bowed onto her knees and her hands clasped, as though she were in prayer. She lifted up her face to me, and powerful blue eyes with depth and void bored into me. And she spoke. Her voice light but commanding.
"Make wisdom yours, Laruto my child."
She opened her clasped hands to reveal a shard of the Triforce. The Triforce of Wisdom?
A glint of illumination struck the incredible object and grew to a wave of light that washed over me and sent me back into full sleep.