Where the Water Leads.
I lay there awake in the grass, and I could feel pain through my waist. I tried to recap everything before I passed out. Bunglia? Vlad Drac? And Illidan. Illidan had attacked me and knocked me out purposefully. I suppose he didn't want to kill me. I guess it was for old-time's sake. Or whatever the fuck he was thinking. I was about to get up, but as I tried to flex my stomach muscles, I felt a surge of pain. I got up using my arms. I then carefully bandaged up my waist. I was pretty bandaged up at that point. I felt like the walking wounded. Technically, I was.
I slowly mounted Epona and gave her a quick whip on her side to get her moving. I tried to recap the happenings in the dream I had. That dream had only made me want Malon even more. Though I was on my way to Lon Lon Ranch I remembered hearing Illidan say that he was off to Zora's Domain to attack Zora's Fountain. I wondered if he had already attacked as I must have been laying there for some time. Nevertheless, I felt that I had to make effort to stop Illidan or at least inspect the aftermath. After all, Hyrule was in danger but I was in no shape to help it. I steered Epona in the direction of Zora's River. I rode as quickly as I could without hurting my damaged gut. As I reached the entrance to Zora's River, I got off Epona and walked in.
Zora's River was quite calm. Except of course for the hostile Octorocks and Blue Tickettes. The blue tickettes were much more powerful than their red brothers. They had harder flesh; we're sharper and more intelligent. They were still no problem to fend off as I journeyed upstream. The water I felt was considerably colder. There was a good explanation for that, though. The ice caps on Zora's Fountain and Domain must have melted, leaving very cold water to rush through the river. As I crossed the wobbling wooden bridge, I stopped after looking around the corner. There was Illidan. He obviously couldn't enter Zora's Domain as he looked threatening and had no connection with the royal family.
As quietly as I could, I drew my bow. I have to fucking do this I thought to myself. I aimed for the back of his head. I pulled back the arrow and the string. I felt great regret as soon as I let the arrow fly. In a split second, Illidan spun around and deflected the arrow. Damn his supernatural senses. He looked around. I quickly hid behind the corner. I was pretty sure he could sense me and was going to look and find me, but I lost that feeling after about five minutes, he didn't come around the bend. Just then I heard his foot steps getting dangerously close. I knew using Farore's wind wouldn't get me out of it because he could see intangible things anyways. It didn't matter what form you were in around Illidan. He knew you were there. I held my breath and slowly slipped under the wooden bridge that was only about 6 feet away. I latched myself onto the bottom of the bridge and dismissed the sound of rushing water and listened for his footsteps. I heard him approach a little closer. In fact I could see him. I wondered if he knew where I was because he stood motionless at one point just looking in my general direction, but not at me. I kept holding my breath until he walked back to where he was standing before. I slipped back on top of the bridge and stood behind the fold in the wall again looking at Illidan.
I would have to try a different approach. I grabbed my magic crystal that held Din's Fire within it. I raised it above my head and subtly threw it. It landed softly by Illidan's feet. I could see Illidan sense it was getting hotter around him as the dome of fire grew. I remembered that Illidan had one great weakness- the elements. Illidan's legs were now engulfed in the flames. I could hear him scream in terror as he tried to fly up. But the dome kept growing; faster than he was flying upwards. Soon his entire body was on fire. He screamed and let himself fall into the water where his body was extinguished of flames. I could tell he wasn't dead- but was definitely put out of commission for some time. His body was swept down stream. I watched it as it slipped farther away.
I then decided that I should head down stream and finish him off. As hard as it would be to do, it had to be done. I quickly ran down Zora's River, but I knew the river flew faster than I could run. As I reached the small lake where the water from the river was deposited, I looked around the banks and shores for the demon hunter's body. I couldn't see it anywhere. Then another thought struck me. Perhaps it was carried into the royal reservoir and into Hyrule castle. That must have been what happened because his body was no where to be seen- not even at the bottom of the shallow lake. As his body would be brought through the royal purifiers, I'm sure he'd drown or get cut up and destroyed. I knew he would die, and I was thankful that the river would do it for me.
After battling my own mind with the thought of finally visiting Lon Lon Ranch, I mounted Epona, who wasn't too far off, and started riding towards the castle. I just had to know the whereabouts of Illidan before going to Lon Lon Ranch. Besides, I was procrastinating the hard moment at the same time. I rode towards the royal moat and saw where the water entered the castle. It was in a small hole underwater. I quickly looked around to see if anyone was traveling the plains at this time. When I saw no one, I quickly got undressed and changed into my Zora tunic. This allowed me to breathe as long as I wished underwater. I jumped into the water, and dove deep into the reservoir.
In the purifiers, since I was such an agile swimmer (the Zora Princess Ruto taught me) I was able to dodge all the machines that a knocked out body would unconsciously ram into. After seeing a few of the devices, I was sure Illidan was dead. Also note I swim with my arm strength only and occasionally my legs, so my stomach wound where Illidan slashed me did not throb with my body actions at all. I quickly swam through the rest of the underwater contraptions and came up for a breath of fresh air in one of the free-air chambers. As I climbed out of the water to take a break from swimming, I could've sworn I heard something dart around behind me. I turned, half expecting to see Illidan, but saw nothing. I shrugged, and climbed up out of one of the air shafts to find myself in the middle of the Bombachu Bowling Alley. I discreetly slinked out and then got out of the market place back onto the plains of Hyrule.
I found Epona not too far away from the river that flew into the castle. I quickly mounted her and felt dead set on entering Lon Lon Ranch this time. As I road off on the beaten trail to Lon Lon Ranch, I began to wonder again. Was Illidan really dead? I had to get that message encrusted into my mind that he was surely dead. There was no way he could have survived those mechanics. They would have torn his body up. Yet then I realized something else. There was no blood littering the waters. It didn't bother me in the first place because I figured that the purifiers would rid the water of any trace of blood. Then again... could they? I didn't see his body at all either. Of course with devices that work out every little problem I figured his body would be diced and torn into such small pieces, I probably wouldn't have seen him. But what about his bones...? I quickly put the thought out of my mind as it really didn't matter. He was dead. I kept telling myself that.
As I kept riding the path towards Lon Lon Ranch, I realized as it came into view in the distance, there was a good amount of smoke rising from the ranch. Was it a fire? I whipped Epona's side to make her gallop a little faster. It would only take another minute to reach the ranch. As I increased speed and rode towards the ranch I began to wonder what caused it. Illidan? No! Illidan was dead. I had to keep telling myself that.
I finally reached the entrance. I sped up the incline and around the bend that lead to Lon Lon Ranch. As I entered I looked for where the fire was coming from. It wasn't the house. I looked to my right and saw no signs of smoke from the stables. I rode past the two buildings and looked over at the mill. It was the mill. The mill was on fire.
I shook myself out of shock and grabbed my Nayru's Love crystal out of my tunic. Along the way as I rode to the mill I saw Malon's father, Talon. He saw me, and with a panicked tone in his voice he said "A flaming spark from Death Mountain came flying over and spiked the mill! It's been burning for some time and Malon already went for help. Do you have anything that can work?" I didn't answer Talon; I just rode up to the mill and got off Epona. I aimed my crystal at what looked like the heart of the fire. I threw it, but then realized the not-so-heavy crystal couldn't quite bash through the hay blocking it. I would have to go inside and climb the rafters towards the heart of the fire. My plan was that I could trap the heart of the fire in an air-tight Nayru's Love shield, therefore not giving the fire any oxygen, and in result, putting it out.
I entered the mill. It was extremely warm, almost unbearable. I quickly stripped there on the moment and put on my Goron Tunic. That's much better I thought to myself. I looked up for a good vantage point. I saw a pretty thick rafter about 25 feet up. I pulled out my hookshot and aimed for the rafter. What I would have to do is latch onto the bottom and quickly lash my arms out and hold onto the top of the rafter. I let my hookshot fire as I sprang upward and in a heartbeat grabbed onto the top of the rafter. I lifted myself up and swung my legs around to help myself get up. As I started to rise on top of the rafter, I realized there was a harshly burning flame right above my head. Seeing it, I decided it was a good time to test my plan. I took the crystal and aimed at the center of the flame. While throwing it, the crystal bounced back off the flame, leaving a small crystal of a shield in its place. After about two short seconds, the flame extinguished. I half smiled and continued looking upwards. I could see the heart of the fire about 18 feet upwards. I saw another good rafter to latch onto, but it was dangerously near a large flame. I took my crystal and threw it at the flame blocking me from getting higher. The same thing happened- a good-sized air-tight crystal enveloped the flame and put it out. I ran along the rafter to grab my Nayru's Love crystal before it fell. I grabbed it, pocketed it and turned my attention to the second rafter.
I pulled out my hookshot and aimed right above the middle mark of the rafter. I fired my hookshot and it hit the perfect spot as I went flying towards an area I could easily jump off to reach the rafter. After getting on top of the rafter, I looked around to see what to do next. I was only about 9 feet away from the heart of the fire. I started to walk, but then I realized my gut was throbbing every second I was in the mill. I clutched my side, but decided I would have to put out the fire before anything else. I drained all magic within me to put it into one giant Nayru's Love crystal. After depositing at least 68g of magic into the crystal, it became considerably heavy. As I tried to lift into a throwing position I realized I was putting way too much weight on my stomach. Fuck was the only word darting around my mind. It hurt extremely badly. I still lifted the crystal into throwing position and aimed at the heart of the fire. As I threw it with all my might, I felt something rip around my stomach area. "Fuck!" I screamed in sheer agony as I clutched my side. I had no idea what happened, I just knew it hurt a lot. I all of a sudden felt it become much cooler in the mill. I must have put the fire out. I felt my Nayru's Love crystal gently fall on top of me as it had grown smaller again after all the magic within was depleted. I lay there on my back on top of the rafter, feeling a lot of pain. I didn't take my hand off my side until I passed out.