Red Chaos Mage- Hi, I'm Red Chaos Mage. I will be your host, and I welcome you to my first story. First and foremost, I am going to present the disclaimer. I do not own anything relating to Zelda, nor do I own the minor concepts and/or character names some of you will recognize from other games. I used them 'cuz they sounded good. Secondly, I'm going to let you know that Wind Waker's Link will not be making an appearance until next chapter. I think that's all the important matters… On with the show!
Chapter 1
Rude Awakenings
It began as a normal day in the peaceful town of Nidero. The sun crept over the mountains and temple hidden within them, as it did every morning. The youths of the village arose with its light, preparing for the long day ahead of them. On this day, however, one boy remained locked in the realm of sleep, despite the horrible dreams that invaded his mind.
"It's not working!"
"We can't give up now!"
"Lance! Look out!"
With a deafening crash, young Lance Aran slammed head first into the wooden floor of his room. The voices in his dream abruptly ceased as the impact jarred the boy awake. Groaning, he slowly rose from the floor and looked out the window. With a start, he realized what time it was. Hurriedly throwing on his tunic and strapping his wooden training sword to his belt, he yelled down the stairs. "Mo-o-o-o-o-m! Why didn't you wake me up?!"
"You're almost 18 now, dear. I would think you were old enough to get up with the sun on your own."
"But I'm gonna be late for training!" The following thump told Sandra Aran that her son had, again, slid down the railing of the stairwell.
"Lance, I thought I told you to stop using that railing like that!" Pushing a small bag of food in his hand, she hurried him out of the door. "If you're so worried about being late, why are you still here? Go on, get to class before Graham gets upset. Enjoy your breakfast, and be careful!" With that, she closed the door and proceeded to clean the kitchen.
It had been three months since Lance began honing his skills under the local swordsmaster Graham Baldwin. He had learned much under the old man's strict wing, but he knew all too well the price of arriving to class late. Unfortunately for him, Baldwin's hut lay on the far side of town, and with the sun rising higher into the morning sky, the townsfolk had begun to bustle in the streets. At first the crowds were manageable, but by the time he reached the main square, it was hopeless. "I'll never make it this way..." A mischievous smirk crept on his face as he spotted a ladder leaning against the wall of a nearby house. "There we go!"
Not wasting any time, he scaled the ladder and began jumping rooftop to rooftop. One of the villagers noticed, and yelled "Lance, what do you think you're doing, you troublemaker!"
"Oh, relax Faran," his wife scolded "It's not like he's breaking anything. The boy's probably late to Graham's."
"That old coot? That just makes it seem worse." Lance took a flying leap off the last roof, grabbed a nearby flagpole and flung himself toward the fountain. Not missing a beat, he thrust out his hand, did a neat forward flip off of the top, and landed right in front of Graham Baldwin's hut, a small cloud of dust rising around him. "Especially with the skills he's getting..."
"Oh, grow up, you worry-wart."
Panting, Lance opened the door. The coast seemed clear, so he made a break for his spot, hoping he would make it before Baldwin noticed he was late. Before he could get close enough, a polished steel blade was inches from his face. "You're late."
'Oh no...' Lance couldn't believe his bad luck. Baldwin had been right next to the door, fully aware of his arrival. There was no way he'd escape punishment now. "My sincerest apologies, master. I..."
"Save your breath, Aran. You will need it. I need not remind you of the cost of tardiness."
Vaguely aware of the muffled snickering of his classmates, Lance visibly paled. The cost of being late was to engage in a sword battle with Master Baldwin, one on one, with a minimum battle time of five minutes. "Yes sir..." The teacher used his favorite blade, said to have been crafted by the dwarves of Gohdan. The unlucky student facing the trial was allowed a small, wooden broomstick. Baldwin refused to back down until the five minutes had expired, even if the youth's 'weapon' was shattered long before. Lance was fully aware that this was often the case.
Experience also lent to his knowledge. Not long after he had first passed the basics of training, he had arrived late and faced this same punishment. His left hand still bore the mark left by the blade during the encounter, and Lance could not shake the feeling that he may soon bear another similar mark today. "Are you ready?"
Clutching the weak pole tighter, Lance steeled his nerves and nodded. "Let's go."
The words had not even escaped his lips before he was knocked to the side. Baldwin's side slash had taken him so off-guard, Lance barely registered that the attack took place. Quickly realizing that Baldwin was closing in upon him again, he rolled out of the way of the next swift overhead slash. The roll turned into an uppercut, which blocked the next swipe of Baldwin's blade with surprising ease. Bringing his weapon back into position, Lance watched closely for the next attack, which came in the form of a thrust. With a well-timed jump, he landed on the flat side of the blade and whacked Baldwin upside the head. This resulted in a yelp of surprise before the seasoned swordsman swung his blade upwards, taking Lance's balance with it. "Not bad, boy! You've improved since last time!"
Backflipping off of the blade, Lance brought his staff in front of him again to block the incoming swipe. "Thank you, sir!" The attack had left a considerable dent in the wooden stick, which worried Lance a great deal. 'This isn't good...' He thought in alarm, 'It hasn't even been a minute yet, has it?' A flash of silver snapped Lance out of his thoughts as the blade again came whipping towards him. This time, he leaped over it and took a swing at Baldwin in midair. The momentum of the attack brought him into a front flip, and he landed behind the older warrior. "Since you've seen my defensive skills, how about trying some of my offense!"
The quip came with a horizontal slash to the man's back, but unlike the aerial attack, Baldwin blocked the blow. Surprised that his master had the foresight to bring the sword over his shoulder like that, Lance withdrew slightly before charging again. Face to face once more, the battle raged on, the boy matching Baldwin almost move for move. Avoiding another overhead slice, Lance rolled to the side and returned with a quick blow to Baldwin's knees. "Ah ha ha! Good!" The old swordsman laughed as he rolled backwards onto his feet again. "Your skills are indeed quite impressive! Even so..." The warrior feinted left, then struck with an arcing slash to the right. The last of the wooden weapon's endurance gave out with Lance's final parry, the makeshift sword snapping cleanly in half. "...you are still but a boy!"
"Maybe..." Lance spun back, slashing with a half of the broomstick in each hand. Neither blow striking, the youth backflipped to a safer distance and, to Baldwin's surprise, threw one of the poles straight up. "But you can't blame me..." A quick, well-timed horizontal slash sent the airborne wood piece hurtling towards the elder swordsman. "For trying!"
Stunned, Baldwin knocked the stick out of the air easily. However, he realized too late that the move had merely been a ploy to distract him. During his momentary confusion, Lance had closed the gap between them and landed a clean blow on the swordsman's hand. The clang of the steel blade hitting the floor was virtually drowned out by the amazed gasps by the other students. No one had ever successfully disarmed the great Graham Baldwin.
Lance's victory was short lived, as he quickly found himself facedown on the floor, dazed by a blow he never saw coming. "Very well done, Aran. Your father would have been proud. However, you forget the most important rule in the art of self-defense. Even the unarmed can prove to be worthy adversaries, and you must never let down your guard." He turned and scowled at the others. "Let this be a lesson to all of you!" Sheathing his sword, he said to Lance quietly, "Perhaps this lesson will persuade you to come to class on time from now on. Now, join the others."
Dejectedly, Lance seated himself next to his longtime friend and rival, Hugh Connor. Always the cynic, the dark haired boy quipped "Nice trick, kid."
"Shut up, Hugh. I'd like to see you take him on. Why I bet..." His words were abruptly cut off by an explosion outside. "What the hell?!"
One of the townsfolk, whom Lance quickly recognized as Faran from earlier, burst through the door. Fear was clearly etched on his features, which alarmed the students greatly. "Graham! You have to help us! It's huge! It came from the Temple! It... oh..." Faran collapsed onto the floor in a faint. Chaos soon erupted in the room.
"SILENCE!!!" Baldwin's bellow quickly quieted the class. "This matter is important, so listen carefully. The lot of you are very skilled, but if what Faran fled from is what I think it is, you will do more harm than good if you all accompany me. Therefore, I shall be taking the top two students and ordering the rest of you to return home to protect your families. Lance!" The boy nodded quickly, eager to get some real action. "Hugh! You two will stay."
"As you command, Master Baldwin." Hugh said with a curt bow.
"The rest of you must go. Avoid the creature if you can, and get home as quickly as possible. Dismissed!" As the class dispersed, Graham took his two chosen by the shoulders. "You two. Come with me."
Hugh grinned slyly at Lance. "Hope you're not tired, pal."
"Who, me? Keep dreaming, it's showtime!"
Graham Baldwin led them to a small room in the back, in which hung an old tapestry inscribed with seven symbols circling what seemed to be a crystal. Turning to face them, it was clear that the old man was worried. "My sons, I fear that the creature from the Temple may be evidence that the temple's seal has been tampered with..."
The two looked at each other briefly, each very confused. "Seal? What seal?"
"About 5 millennia ago, there was a great war against an incredible evil power. It was sealed away in a sacred Forbidden Realm by a band of heroes, and built temples, like the one by our very town, to keep that seal intact... Such things are of little importance at this hour, show me your swords." The wooden blades they each draw were quickly thrown to the side by the annoyed teacher. "No, no, no. Those won't do. You need steel. Here." Opening a compartment hidden in the wall, he handed each young warrior a gleaming metal sword. "These are not as durable as Gohdan blades are, but they will serve your purposes for the time being."
Giving the weapon a test swipe, Lance couldn't help but grin at the lightweight feel of it. "Thank you sir." All three swords drawn, the group head outside to face the threat to their peaceful town.
They did not have to look far. Lumbering its way toward the Central Square was a large reptilian beast. As it spotted the trio, the creature roared and extended an imposing array of spikes on its back. The crazed lizard then charged headlong toward them, obviously bent on crushing the new prey. Hugh and Graham dashed to the sides to avoid it, but Lance just walked calmly toward the spiked lizard as if unaware of it rapidly closing in on him. "Lance, what are you doing?! Get out of the way!"
"Almost... just a little closer... Gotcha!" As the beast reared back to overtake him, Lance backflipped, kicked off of the wall of the building behind him and soared over the creature's head. Reaching down as he flew, the boy grabbed the single horn on the beast's head with his free hand and swung himself onto the surprised lizard's unprotected neck. Enraged by this new rider, the spiked lizard began to thrash wildly. So wildly that Lance had to use both arms to keep himself from being flung into the spikes on the beast's back. "A little help would be nice!"
Not hesitating, Hugh and Baldwin each went to attack the monster's side. Baldwin sliced along the left flank towards the tail, which proved to be a very bad idea. A powerful swipe from the reptile's armored tail sent the old swordsman into the dirt, unconscious. Hugh had more luck, choosing to go for the creature's legs. With the thrashing, he almost got trampled a few times, but his systematic slices quickly caused the rear right leg to collapse on itself. With a sickening thump, the thrashing ceased. "Lance! Finish it!"
"Say good night, scale face!" Spinning his sword so that the blade faced the ground, Lance thrust as hard as he could into the creature's skull. With a final, anguished cry, the Spiked Lizard fell to the dust, lifeless. "Well..." Lance said as he dismounted, "That wasn't so hard."
"You arrogant little..." Hugh was interrupted by Graham coming to. "I'll deal with you later."
Raising himself shakily to his feet, Graham Baldwin surveyed the boys' handiwork. "Well done, my sons... What?!" The body of the lizard began to glow white, wisps of pale red smoke rising from it.
Hugh could only gape at the sight. "How in the name of..."
"That's impossible!" Lance was completely dumbfounded. The Spiked Lizard's remains had completely vanished, blown away in the many small wisps. All that remained was the green blood stain where Lance's blow had struck.
The old swordsman was deathly pale. "So it is true..." he breathed, "The Seal is in danger..."
Lance and Hugh each turned to face their master. "Sir Graham, what exactly happened five millennia ago?"
Graham snapped out of his trance and said "Go back inside my hut and wait for me there. You will learn the events of the past in due time. I must confer with the Counsel immediately about this. I will not be long."
End Chapter 1
RCM- There. I hope you enjoyed the first installment. There's plenty more where that came from, so review and let me know if you want to see what happens next. Until we meet again, friends, farewell!
