Chapter Two: Impact

The cuccos crowed daylight broke over the eastern walls of Lon Lon Ranch. Hues of pastel melded into the sky, making a lovely color for the morning. The door to the farmhouse opened, and out stepped a young woman with reddish-brown hair and blue eyes.

Malon yawned. She hadn't gotten much sleep the previous night. An uneasy feeling plagued her, like something was happening that shouldn't happen. But, she shook it off. There were chores to be done. The cows needed let out to be grazed, and the horses fed and exercised. It certainly wasn't going to get done by itself.

Malon lazily walked over to the stables. She reached for the knob, but stopped. There was a faint hissing sound coming from over the field. She looked, but there was nothing there that could hiss. No cat, or insect, or other beast. In fact it was completely empty at all. Malon scratched her head. Maybe she was just hearing things, but it was still there.

Then, something exploded in the southern tower. Or more specifically, something crashed through it. It reeked of heat and flame, a stench Malon was not familiar with. The thing itself was a great ball, streaming down towards the ground. Malon did not get a good look at it, for she covered her eyes as it hit the ground.

To put it in the most literalistic sense, thing, whatever it was, exploded. Lucky for Malon the force of it was contained mostly within the iron fence that ran around the field. That couldn't stop a heated wind from thrashing over the farmwoman, knocking her on her bum.

She shook her head. The wind had picked up some light dirt and sand. Now her hair would feel gritty all day. She groaned. There was nothing she could do. Malon crept slowly towards the fenced field to look at what had fallen. Whatever it was, it giving off smoke like crazy, making it difficult to make out. An eastern wind soon blew it all away and Malon was left looking upon the fallen.

That was it. It was all but a black rock streaming and hissing ever so slightly. It was of good size, twice the size of her head. But she was more distressed over what the black rock from the sky had caused. Nearly all the land that was fenced in was sunken into a crater. It would take weeks, perhaps months to fill it in. That wasn't counting what they would fill it in with.

Malon put the thought of the land damage from her mind at the moment, and favored to run back to the farmhouse and tell her father what happened instead. Surely something like this, utterly fantastic, was worth telling the Queen? Perhaps she would have an idea on what to do.

Cecil could breath a sigh of relief. The night shift of watching the walls from the parapet was almost over. The sun was already creeping in the east. Once Captain Holt came and relieved him of duty, he was going straight to the barracks, take off his armor, and have nice long, deserved slumber. Of course it was sleeping on the job that had 'granted' him the night watch. Holt was a very strict commanding officer.

What was he thinking, joining the army? Low wages, long hours, and uncomfortable conditions. That was all he could look forward too. The conditions were become even more unfavorable if war was declared, which it probably wouldn't. Hyrule was secluded from the rest of the world. And monsters had vanished from the land altogether. Which may have made Cecil's job easier, but it was still boring.

He was still young in the count of years, not yet grown in full strength or height. With no beard growing, brown unkempt hair and pair of brown eyes. If anything, everyone still referred to him as a teenager. Even though he had past his teen years over five years ago.

"Cecil! Look alive!" muttered a guard next to him. "Here comes hell-borne Holt!"

Cecil glanced frantically. Indeed, there was large captain, making his way up the stairs to the parapet. The low-ranked solider quickly snapped at attention and made himself look presentable in the best way he could.

Captain Phineas Holt was not a man to be taken lightly. He was tall, tall and large. With a great black beard and a baldhead, he usually strided among the troops during the course of a day decked out in full armor. How he had the time no one knew, one thing all the troops did know, was not Holt was impeccably strict. He wielded a gigantic sword on his back, usually threatening unruly men to a duel and beating with the giant's blade. Most of them shut up after that. However, that wasn't the only form of punishment. Usually it varied from cooking the rations for the week to scrubbing every inch of the parapet with nothing but a small brush.

However today Captain Holt was not in full battle armor, only a light chain mail, a long, wide-sleeved shirt and pants, with a blue cape tied around his neck. He had forgone his monster of a sword, for a smaller, ceremonial long sword. Cecil and the other men on the parapet sighed in relief. This could only mean one thing: the monthly meetings of court and kingdom in the castle with the other military advisors and other members of the Queen's council. Holt would be in good spirits today, for the Queen would often let him sample the vast wine stores in the castle. Today was going to be easy-going.

"It's a fair morning men! Why the long faces?" Captain Holt laughed.

The troops groaned. Captain Holt as peppy was tiring on the nerves were bad jokes and puns.

"Well, you pulled in a great night. The usual boys were sure thankful for a night off. Be a dear and goof off again for them eh?" The joyful Captain clapped Cecil and the solider next to him on the backs. "Well Cecil, Lawrence, let's hope you've learned to not to screw off on duty? That goes for the rest of you too you know!"

More groans from the troops. They were cut short by the replacement troops for the morning climbing to the parapet.

"Well soldiers, dismissed. Your replacements have arrived. Good day." And the Captain was off, ushering the morning shift guards up the parapet, making sure everything was in order.

For Cecil and his dark-haired friend, Lawrence, they were only too glad to get away.

"Ugh," said Cecil, taking off his helm. "I cannot wait to get in bed."

"Aye," agreed Lawrence. "I could do with a spell myself."

They walked in silence back to their respective quarters. Cecil had his armor off in record time, stowing it in a trunk at the foot of his bed, and plopped down to sleep, relishing the silence of the early morning hours. A silence that shattered seconds later.

"Captain! Incoming!" a solider shouted.

"What is that thing?" the Captain's voice rang out. "Off the wall! Everyone off the-,"

A mighty explosion cut him off. Something whistled on overhead, over the garrison in front of Castle Town, and into the second wall.

"Here comes more!"

Cecil leaped out of bed, and ran out onto the garrison field. A large chunk of rock had been blasted out of the parapet. Whatever it was, it had landed over by the second wall near town. Cecil could see it smoking from the soldiers' quarters.

More came. Giant fireballs that arced high overhead, some smashed into the ground with terrifying force, others went on, on to hit high buildings within Castle Town and some went farther. It was pure chaos unclad soldiers scurried everywhere, fire sprouting up. It was difficult to make sense of it all.

Queen Zelda was backed against the throne room wall, surrounded by a ring of elite guards. Once the entire affair had started, she had been engulfed in a sea of guards. And of course, as usual, no one would tell her what was happening. Zelda crossed her arms and sighed. It was difficult being Hyrule's first female ruler.
All the meanwhile the great black stones, alit with flame and hell, continued to pummel the land below. Less then half-dozen of the shots had fallen, but already it had caused a great stir. One, higher then the rest flew past the walls, garrison and town, making its way unhindered to the castle. There it smashed and exploded into one of the high towers. The tower crumbled and stone and brick fell to the ground in a heap.
Cecil wasn't entirely sure when it stopped. Men were still yelling, fires needed to be put out. He joined the rest of the troops in a bucket line to put out the flames. He hardly noticed that the explosions and fireballs had ceased, let alone that there was no invading army. So what was going on? The answer, unfortunately for Cecil, was far away, old and withered, making his way down the slopes of the mountains and would not arrive for some time.