Chapter One: Observation

The aging Professor Rufus Kalliem stroked his grey beard as he wondered what marvels the heavens would reveal tonight. It was fine for the middle of summer. The weather was mild; the crops were doing well. All blossomed in the kingdom of Hyrule. However, Rufus did not take abode in Hyrule. Not anymore. In his youth, he was ambitious, adventurous even. But as he aged, he found he preferred peace and solitude more often. He still had an older cousin in town, which usually told stories at the local inn and bar for a few rupees a day. No, Rufus thought. That was not for him.

He lived comfortably enough. His home was a wide short tower with a dome for a roof. An observatory, he called it. Where he could observe things, preferably the stars. For studying the stars, he had a telescope of magnificent proportions. It was huge, poking out from the domed roof, it's lens eyeing the skies with wonder.

For Rufus, it was perfect. He had, in fact, invented, or at least improved upon it. He had gotten a blueprint sketch for it out of the hands of the Skull Kids. With that, he had also gotten some sort of "picture taker" whatever that was. The Skull Kids claimed it came from some other world named Termina. Rufus scoffed. There was no such kingdom in the entire known world.

However the prints interested him greatly, so, for a price, he had bought them off the little forest devils. What the Skull Kids were doing so far from the Lost Woods, he would never know. All he knew is that he had something of great worth that could revolutionize the kingdom. He improved on the designs, constructed small prototypes and presented them to the old king. They fascinated the late King of Hyrule, however, sadly, only the telescope was made. The new Queen had indeed, like the 'Picto Box' just as much, having the right mind to make a few. It didn't go well with the religious fanatics and nobles of the kingdom, and the idea was thrown out. But, Rufus managed to obtain and renovate an old fortress in the northern mountains as payment for the designs. Thus his observatory of the stars was born.

Of course that was well over twenty years ago since he had received his payment from the king, and two years ago since the new Queen had liked the Picto Box. Rufus was middle-aged then and old in the counting of the years now. His hair was long, withered and grey. His blue eyes were still as bright as ever, but they were surrounded in a sea of wrinkles that consumed his face. He seemed to have shrunken since the days of his youth. He did not slouch, but things seemed to get bigger every day. He wore faded red robes and an old red cloth cap. It may not have been much attire, but it suited the old Professor.

So now, like every night, he struggled to climb the stairs. They simply gradually wrapped around the circular walls, ascending to the observatory itself. But old age and creaky joints simply made the journey harder. But, as always, he eventually made his way into the tall round room and settled himself into the chair in the center.

The observatory was an engineering marvel by normal Hyrulian standards. The floor around the chair and telescope could rotate along with the domed roof. To some, it was dark magic, and that is why it never received many visitors. No one wished to unravel the mysteries the heavens held, they only wished to worship, not understand.

Next to the chair on it's left side was a large box that controlled everything in the observatory. It was made of stone and wood, and now it even had a new feature. Rufus had combined it with the Picto Box so he could take pictures through what he saw in the telescope. Most pictures appeared blurry and the images distorted, but Rufus refused to give up. Stubborn always comes with old age.

The telescope was propped up with pillars melded into the floor. It was made of shiny metal, and glass for its lens. It was biggest at its far end and gradually got narrower as it came into the peepholes Rufus had made to see. At first, combined with the immensity of the telescope and complicated panel of controls next to him, Rufus was clumsy, slow. But now, if a star fell across the sky, Rufus could nimbly follow its path. He had practiced much since his first time with it twenty years ago.

In fact, falling stars were precisely why Rufus had stayed up so late. The sun was ready to rise over the eastern skies, but, according to his calculations, many stars were scheduled to fall before this happened. They were due to fall over the southern skies any moment now. Rufus, zoomed fully out, and was ready to adjust the telescope at a moments notice.

He didn't have to wait long. Bright balls of light streaked across the sky: first slowly, then rapidly in many numbers. Rufus chuckled softly as he pulled the level to take a picture. Nine left, he noted to himself. Although the original plans for the Box had only storage for three, Rufus had managed to up that number by seven, so it now could store ten.

The old professor snapped happily away seven more times. It was a wondrous sight to get captured forever in a picture. He was about to stop and take some notes, when something out of the ordinary happened. There was a series of incredibly bright flashes coming from the stars. Rufus frowned. This should not have been happening.

But then it stopped, and there were several new balls of light getting bigger all the time. Dawn was just about to break, which was a pity. Perhaps this was how stars were formed? It was a theory… but… wait a moment. Now they were descending. Stars did not descend! Only the might heart of Din, the Sun, and the heart of Naryu, the Moon, rose and fell daily. But now stars did it as well?

A pang of fear struck the astronomer. Perhaps they were actually falling. Falling into the very ground! Yes, that seemed to be what they were doing. It had to be. Rufus made a few mental calculations. If they continued going at the speed and direction they were, they may crash into thecastle, or Death Mountain!

This was big, far bigger then the old scholar originally thought. The castle and Her Highness were at stake! Not to mention what a star could do as it crashed into the earth. Rufus shuddered. He had better get going, yes, best to warn the Queen of this sign. It certainly couldn't have been a sign of the goddesses, for they would not wreak such a thing if his predictions proved true.

The old man hurried from the observatory, threw his dark blue cloak around him and hurried to his steed in the one-horse stable. It was a difficult journey going down from the mountains. Even more so at the speed he wanted. Nonetheless, something big was going to happen. And Professor Rufus Kalliem hoped it would not shake the very kingdom to its foundations.