Legacies
A Sequel to Crossing
of the Paths
By MMM/AJ
A/N: For this chunk, I will not comment on how long it took to make it! Oh wait, I just did! Damn! At any rate, there'll be a brief interlude at the beginning of this chunk before continuing on. Hope you enjoy!
Part II - Resurrection
Interlude
Entry 44700
Fate it seems, is always full of little surprises for me. Just as I prepared to move forward with my plan to personally attack the human colony responsible for Shakara's death, I received word from Anmor back in Dantun.
Rebellion! Of all things to pull me away from my revenge, the Dantunians have risen up against my puppets, the Iresians. How ironic that such an annoying turn of events like this could clue me in as to the final solution to my ultimate problem? One of my men working inside the Dantunian Council stumbled across a much sweeter target than the human colony, one that I plan on taking for myself. Though I'll regret missing out on killing each of those rebellious humans with my own hands, I can later relive it through the eyes of the Acolytes who accomplish it for me. As of now, I have a greater task ahead of me. My message to the people of Dantun and the surrounding countries must be unmistakable: rebellion is impossible.
But, at the same time, another thought strikes me. My quarry, who has stolen away with that most valuable golden triangle, must not be given any reason to flee where I believe him or her to be hiding. All the years I've spent trying to find him must not be wasted over a rash and careless action. If he is hiding in Dantun as my agent believes, then there must be a way of striking at the country without driving him out. If I were to smite the kingdom to ruin, he might flee and be lost for another forty years. No, I need to be a lot more subtle than usual; I need to think of a plan to make him feel secure. But how to reconcile it with my revenge against Dantun? This is a matter I must think on for some while. Perhaps the Time Medallion should provide me with an answer once more.
Chapter XIX - R13
Ruru was progressing much quicker on the mural than she anticipated. Sunlight that filtered through the cave from above lit her work during the day, and torchlight lit her work by night. Her hand danced across the cavern walls like a fluttering dove, and all of her years of practice came to fruition as she completed her work. Vivid dashes of orange and red slid side-by-side with somber streaks of blue and green. For the first time in years, Ruru suddenly felt happiness again, and not because of the possibility of victory in the future, but because she felt she had finally managed to pay tribute to her older sister's memory. As she finished painting the last few daubs of orange onto the Gerudo plains, she had felt something missing, so she decided to paint Kalana into the mural as well
At the farthest left portion of the mural, where the sun dipped into the horizon and set the orange of the Gerudo plains aflame, Ruru painted her elder sister standing on the crest of a hill and looking down at Hyrule. She painted the orange glow of the sun glinting off of the deadly edge of Kalana's heirloom scimitar, while at the same time glowing diffusely off of her figure like it always did in the early palace mornings. With the orange glows of the sun shimmering over all of Hyrule and Kalana standing and smiling down over it all, Ruru finally set down her brush with one great and heartfelt sigh.
The still air was abruptly filled with a muffled cry from above, and Ruru practically jumped out of her seat. The sound was more of a roar, and it certainly wasn't made by any human vocal cord. Then a chorus of battle cries from the Dead Lands above echoed through the hollow caves and Ruru's mind locked down in a panic.
Adrenaline pulsed through Ruru's veins and she drew her scimitar and stood to listen. More roars and yells made it diffusely through the stone. Ruru knew something was very wrong, the attack was not supposed to happen for another five or so days, but from what she could tell, it had just started above her. She could barely make out the clashing of weapons above her, and there was no doubt in her mind. She quickly ran over to the pool at the end of the cavern and began slapping her hands on the water as hard as she could.
After a few moments Onta emerged. "What's wrong?" he asked urgently.
"Listen!" Ruru said, and let the dull noise of battle above reach Onta's ears.
"What? Already?" Onta said, climbing up out of the water.
"It shouldn't be this early, the Bensorian dragons probably haven't even arrived yet. This cannot be good." Ruru said.
A cold, grim expression gripped Onta's face, and Ruru understood it perfectly. She knew her face reflected it too, this would certainly mean defeat and most likely death. The happiness she had felt earlier sank away, leaving nothing but a cold pit of fear and helplessness. She could tell it was exactly what Onta was feeling too.
"Is there anything we can do at all?" Onta asked.
"Just sit and be quiet. We might stand a chance of going undiscovered after the battle if Aquel refused to let the refugees into the caves as I requested. Most likely however, no matter what we do won't matter, Ares will win anyway." Ruru said.
Ruru sat back down on the stone of the cave floor. Her shaky hands dropped her scimitar, which now felt heavy and useless in her sweaty, clammy hands. She looked back up at her mural and frowned. Just as her eyes focused on it, an excruciating scream from a human throat rose above the general battle sounds. It drew out into a laborious wail of torturous pain, and was ended sharply by what Ruru knew to be a dragon's jaws.
Seemingly eternal were the minutes of battle sounds that followed, and Ruru felt sick as she sat there helpless to do anything and unable to know how badly the battle was faring. As she listened the human and dragon cries followed in quick succession. After a few more minutes, blood began to seep down through the caves above and to fall into Ruru's cavern. She felt it spatter her head and then roll down her face, a horrific rain of lifeblood that symbolized death's amusement park above. A trail of seeping blood ran down the cave walls and into Ruru's mural, falling through the still wet painted orange skies and across the portrayal of Kalana. It distorted Kalana's form and soon another trail ran down and smeared another portion of the Gerudo plains. It was a symbol that Ruru saw clearly and yet could not accept. The thought of her people's death was very clear now, but still too painful to accept.
Soon, the strangest thing began to happen. In between the cries of pain and death, Ruru heard human voices cheering victoriously. Though the battle still continued on its grisly course and more blood continued to seep into the cave, the victory cheers became louder and more frequent. Whether these cheers were Dantunian or Iresian, Ruru couldn't tell for sure, but they certainly sounded like the joyful cries of freed people. A new burst of dragon roars interrupted them, and then the sounds of battle became even louder as Ruru listened. But a few seconds later the cheers intensified even further, this time sounding like the utter glee of those who had thrown down their oppressors. Ruru would not let her own wishes cloud her views of reality however, and her eyes continued to remain fixed on the streaks of blood that defaced her work of art.
The sounds of battle began to quiet down now, the thumping of many foot moved off into the distance and the cheers and cries moved with them. Ruru felt an almost physical pain to be able to see what was happening, and for a moment things were nearly silent. Then, what sounded like some kind of demon roar shook the walls of the cavern and dislodged bits of stone from the cave ceiling. A deep rumbling reverberated through the stone following it, and then the loudest cheer of all tore through the air. It was as if one of the sides had finally achieved victory. Ruru's mind then began counting the minutes before she and Onta would be spotted and captured, and the little pit of cold helplessness grew into a large cloud of the finality of death. She sank to the ground, letting her eyes close on the small tears that had formed in them. She decided that it was here that she would await death, and that she would not move from that spot until it found her. She shrugged with a dark smile when she heard footsteps coming through the caves toward her, and she thanked the Goddesses above that they weren't going to force her to wait long for her death.
The footsteps ran up to Ruru and suddenly she felt arms grab around her and lift her up to spin her around through the air. She opened her eyes to see Aquel's face before her, flushed red and sweaty.
"I can't believe it! We did it!" He yelled joyously, holding her up in the air and spinning her around in circles like a groom spins his bride.
"Wha-wha-what?" Ruru stammered, unable to believe what she was hearing.
Aquel set her down carelessly but didn't drop her, and then began running in place with a purely joyous expression on his face.
"Oh you should have been there to see it, it was tremendous! The Iresians came upon us from the skies, and caught us off guard. But it was like bam! Boom! Pow! Sching! We kicked their tails and carved them up! It was like nothing I've ever seen before!"
"But..but how? This early?" Ruru said, still stuttering.
"If you have any doubt…" Isaac's voice said from around the corner, "Then behold!"
Isaac stepped into view dramatically, holding a severed head in each hand. One was the red topped head of Anmor Issyth of Iress, and the other the spiked head of Ares himself. Words could not describe the shock that ran through Ruru's mind and body. In an instant she went from despair and expecting death to utterly joyous.
"And if that's not enough either, then behold this!" Isaac said, and raised his right hand.
A glimmer of gold filled the half dark of the cave and Ruru's pulse jumped further when she saw two golden triangles in the back of Isaac's hand. Isaac grinned victoriously as the red blood from Ares' head dripped down across the shimmering Triforce pieces.
"I never doubted it." Isaac finished, his pride soaking every word.
"I…I…I don't know what to say!" Ruru said, her voice now breaking on the verge of crying for joy.
"There's no need to say anything! Follow me, we're going to the surface!" Aquel said, and grabbed Ruru by the shoulder.
For the first time in untold years, Ruru exited the cavern into full sunlight. The clear blue sky above was empty of the deadly dragons, and the plains below were a gruesome scene of true bloodbath. But standing amongst the dead were the victorious Dantunians, their silvery-green armor shining victoriously over the death at their feet. Among them were a few scattered deep blue dragons, their Bensorian riders in matching colored armor. All of them were raising their weapons high, chanting victory rites. When Aquel appeared, they crowded around him and engulfed him in their revelries. Ruru found the elation infectious, she raised her Scimitar high and cried "Victory" in Hylian.
Onta came up behind her and embraced her.
"We finally get to go home! He cried, and she found herself crying with him. It was the first time in her memory since hearing of the Iresians that she could be truly happy without a cloud of worry staining her mind.
Aquel lead Ruru out of the Dead Lands that day, and once again she felt the glowing warmth of the Triforce in her hands. The elemental gems twinkled with a new light when she held them in the open air, and she felt that she could breathe deeply and fully again like she hadn't in her cave. When they reached the green edges of the Dead Lands where the Grasslands began, she felt another joy enter her heart, now she could feel the stirring softness of long grass on her legs once more. Aquel lead her to a small, secluded hilltop castle, and inside he introduced her to Eumil Ayatta, the newly crowned Dantunian King. The meeting was concise and a little tense, but the regent was grateful to her for keeping the Triforce out of Ares' hands and he granted her one of the captured Iresian dragons to keep as her own. They agreed that she would use the dragon to fly back to Hyrule and bring word of their victory. Isaac and Aquel would ride below on horseback and follow her to Hyrule.
As the sun finally set over the now peaceful land of Dantun, Ruru came to the outer gates of the castle to meet up with Aquel and Isaac one more time before riding off. She also got a chance to meet the dragon she had been given. Like all of its kind, the Iresian Blood Dragon was smaller than the average sized dragon with a larger wingspan and red scales. It was sitting curled up at the castle gates, a look of futility and sadness in its majestic eyes.
"If the Iresians had given him a name, we don't know it." Isaac said, walking alongside Ruru as she approached the dragon.
Ruru patted the dragon on the back of his head. "So many of your brothers died today. I'm very sorry." She said.
The dragon looked at her for a moment, and then looked away. Its expression of sadness did not change.
Ruru held her right hand on the back of the Dragon's scaly head, and held the elemental gems in her other hands. She felt the warmth of the gems and of the dragon's blood flowing past her fingertips. She suddenly felt as though she could sense the dragon's thoughts, and she tried to make contact with him.
"Why are you so sad?" She asked.
"I'm sad for you." The dragon replied, its mind's voice filled with woe.
"What are you doing?" Isaac suddenly interrupted, putting a hand of Ruru's shoulder.
"I was seeing if I could communicate with the dragon." Ruru replied as if it were painfully obvious.
"I don't think you should." Isaac said, frowning.
"Why not?" Ruru asked confusedly.
"Well, this fellow may look placid on the inside, but you never know what thoughts of anger or destruction lurk in his head. He was trained by the Iresians to be a killing machine you know!" Isaac said scornfully.
"I know…It just feels like there's something more to him than that…" Ruru said.
Suddenly Aquel trotted up to them, holding the bridles of a horse in each hand. There was one for him and one for Isaac.
"Ready to go everyone?" He asked cheerfully.
"As I've ever been!" Isaac said. "I'll lead the way for you Aquel. You'd better be off Ruru, and be careful with that dragon!"
Ruru sighed and climbed onto the saddle on the dragon's back. "I'll see you in Hyrule!" Aquel shouted merrily, climbing onto his horse as Ruru's dragon took off.
The twilight skies were easy flying for Ruru, there was still no wind in the air ever since that morning. She soon felt bored and tried to make contact with the dragon's mind again.
"What's wrong?" She asked.
The dragon, appearing mindless now that he had a task, did not reply.
"Well, maybe it would help you if I took off this saddle." Rurur said, making sure to keep her grip strong as she unfastened the buckles.
The saddle fell away easily, carrying with it an Iresian spear and a supply sack. The dragon was flying much lighter now, but Ruru was having to wrap her arms around his neck to keep a steady grip on his smooth scales.
"Is that better, will you talk to me now?" Ruru asked persistently.
"What for? What is there to talk about?" The dragon's voice asked in her mind.
"Well you can start with why you're looking so gloomy! Did the Iresians really treat you badly?"
The dragon was utterly silent for a moment. Then it spoke once more. "They never spoke to me, not once, except to curse and reprimand me. Their message was clear enough in the blows of their flails."
"They hit you with flails?" Ruru asked, feeling outraged.
"Whenever I did something that they didn't want me to do. But that's the past, and what is done is done."
Ruru felt mortified, she remained silent for nearly twenty minutes as she clung to the back of the dragon's neck. When she looked in at it closely, she could see that there were patches of younger, brighter colored scales among the older, darker colored ones. This could only be caused by a complete and forceful removal of the old scales, by such a method as the crushing blow of a flail-like weapon. Obviously this dragon had since healed and grown the newer, brighter colored scales since then.
"What's your name?" Ruru asked.
"I don't have one." The dragon replied tersely.
Ruru thought for a moment. She pondered the idea of a name until she pulled the answer out of her mind. "I'm going to call you Nulive, after the name of the western province of Dantun where our forces were victorious." Ruru said.
The dragon grunted, not disapprovingly, but not necessarily approvingly either.
"Well Nulive, since you're my dragon now, I want to get to know you better! You're more than just a battle machine or a way of transportation to me, and I want to know how you feel on the inside!"
"There's not much to feel anymore. What passion I have ever felt was beaten out of me in my youth in Iress." Nulive replied coldly.
The rest of the flight they flew in the darkness of night. The temperature dropped rapidly and Ruru began to shiver as they soared through the empty skies. Another several hours passed before Ruru finally saw the twinkling of lights on the ground in the distance. She tried to look down and see the state of the land, but they were still too high up to make anything out.
"Can you star descending now please?" Ruru asked politely. "We're nearing my home now."
Nulive tucked his wings in and the both of them began to plummet
toward the earth like stones. Ruru knew that they were in no danger,
as long as Nulive pulled up in time. She had seen birds do this all
the time, diving and dipping through the skies as she had watched
them in her youth. That still didn't prevent her from feeling
frightened as they fell at increasingly high speeds towards the now
seemingly unfriendly ground below. Nulive pulled out of his dive
about a hundred feet away from the ground, and
Ruru had to dig
her shoes into his side to maintain her grip. She apologized to him
and looked down at her home country.
The changes to Hyrule were subtle, and Ruru almost didn't notice them at first. The forests were mostly intact, but there were several areas that had been logged. The farms and grasslands were also unharmed, but there were strange dark stripes in between them where the roads had been. Ruru squinted to try and see what they were, but couldn't tell in the dark. Ruru looked up and saw that Hyrule Castle still stood proudly in the distance, but it flew under the banner of Ares and sat in the shadow of an even larger fortress. The menacing fortress took Ruru's breath away as she looked at it. When she saw moonlight reflect off of its sleek form, she realized that it must be made of steel. She felt a pang of fear in her heart when she tried to imagine how it had been constructed, but she brushed it off, reminding herself of the heads of the overlords in Isaac's hands.
There were hundreds of lights on the sides of Death Mountain, and when Ruru looked closer she saw that the Mountain had been encased with an industrial city. Multiple plumes of smoke rose from the factories and clouds of smog clung to the peak. The ring of clouds that always spun around the crater at the mountaintop was huge, easily triple its normal size. Ruru remembered back to that old Goron folktale, that the ring cloud would always indicate whether there was something amiss in the mountain.
Ruru's heart was saddened when she saw the state of the Gerudo plains. All of their farms were going to weeds and the desert had already begun to reclaim the lands that the Gerudos had worked so hard to cultivate. The Palace was also falling into disrepair, just as Isaac had said. The geometric designs were fading and chipping off, and the roof was full of holes in several places. Two of the five spires had totally collapsed. The bridge over the massive gorge at the eastern border of Gerudo lands looked rickety and about to fall. The stable alongside the gorge was empty and run down. Not a single Gerudo could be seen in the shadowed plains.
Ruru landed Nulive outside the front gates of the Palace and then lead him into an empty grain silo out back. He fit perfectly inside and would probably not be found, since the silo had obviously not been entered in years. When Ruru entered the Palace itself she found the halls empty and dark, and a few Gerudos were sleeping in their rooms. Ruru was too tired at this point to look around for anyone she knew, so she went straight for her room in the highest tower. Her room was untouched, except for a single hole in the ceiling on the opposite side of the room from her bed. She watched the starry night sky through it until she fell asleep.
Chapter XX – J8
Jenna had to control her rapid breathing as she slipped through the dark corridors of Ares' base. The ninja gear she was wearing was now soaked through with sweat and it clung to her uncomfortably. Kalana was leading the way through the knighted passages.
Kalana lead them through the fortress unseen, avoiding the patrols and clinging to the shadows. The fact that she had been able to sneak in ahead and disable the security systems was allowing all nine of them to make it through the halls undetected.
The three bloody swords of Ares were emblazoned all over the steel walls of each corridor, and doubt was equally stamped on Jenna's heart and mind. But every time it felt like these feelings were about to overcome her, Jenna remembered Isaac and her fiery thirst for revenge would push them back.
Rounding a corner, Jenna's group came upon a door with the picture of a Venus Djinn painted on it, as well as the words "Authorized Personnel Only" written on it. Kalana punched a code onto the keypad and the door swished open, letting all of them inside.
Each of the Djinni were individually held in glowing energy sphere prisons of opposing energy signatures. The spheres were all stacked in rows on steel shelves, with each of the four element groups of Djinni having its own shelf. The little glass-like orbs shimmered in the dark as Jenna and her group pilfered them.
"Hurry up and set them to yourselves everyone!" Felix whispered urgently.
Jenna opened the capsules by pressing the single red button on the strip of metal that projected the energy field. The gathered up all eight of her old Mard Djinni and set them on her suit. She was used to having them stick to her normally thick clothes, so it was very weird to feel their sticky little feet through the ninja suit. She felt their elemental power surge through her being and battle lust began to fill her mind.
"Alright everyone, listen. When we enter Ares' sleep chamber, we will surround his bed as quietly as we can, and I'll take the Stone of Sages out of his hand. Then we shall strike his mortal form together with our most powerful attacks, got it?" Kalana whispered.
"Hold on a second," Piers quietly requested, "This seems weird to me."
"Now's not the time to be discussing! We need to move now!" Kalana urged.
"I don't care! Something's not right here. It just seems too convenient that you could know how to disable the base's defenses, how to navigate its halls unseen, and the entry codes for the rooms!"
Kalana looked at Piers with a deadly expression. Then, out of the blue, she drew her sword and lunged at him. Piers managed to draw his Excalibur sword in time to block the blow, but its impact was still felt upon the entire party's plans and hopes.
"I knew she was a spy!" Felix shouted angrily and ran at her with his Sol Blade.
Kalana twirled around and dove to the floor to dodge the blow, only to have Mia smash her leg with her Tungsten Mace.
"Don't kill her!" Jenna shouted insistently.
"Why not?" Garet yelled, "She's probably led us to our doom!"
Jenna swung her Masamune Sword, but fell short intentionally. Instead of rending Kalana's spine longwise, the tip of the sword sliced halfway through the metal collar around Kalana's neck, which then emitted a burst of light and sparks, as well as a loud crackling sound. Kalana suddenly screamed out in pain, collapsed to the floor, and began thrashing around in agony.
"Help me out here!" Jenna shouted, grabbing one side of the damaged collar and pulling.
Felix, Piers and Ivan all grabbed a hold so that there were two people on either side of the gash in the collar. It stubbornly held for three tugs before breaking apart with another crash and shower of sparks.
Kalana stopped thrashing and fell still, then sat up with an utterly bewildered look on her face. She uttered several words in a language that Jenna couldn't understand and looked at them fearfully. Jenna saw that there weren't any of Ares' minions pouring into the room, so she assumed that Kalana hadn't signaled for them. She removed the ninja mask and stepped up to Kalana.
Kalana began speaking rapidly in that same unrecognizable language and Jenna interrupted her, "Who are you?"
Kalana's face was suddenly painted with a confused look. "Kalana Qindalo, 31st Elder of the Gerudos…can you tell me where I am?" she asked.
"In one of Ares' fortresses on the southernmost tip of the Gondowan Continent. Don't you remember anything?" Jenna asked.
"No. I'm definitely not in Hyrule anymore…" Kalana said.
"Listen, we don't have time for this. If she doesn't remember anything, we're going to have to escape this fortress alone without any guidance and avoid the patrols!" Felix said pressingly.
"What about Ares and the Stone of Sages?" Jenna asked angrily, still craving her revenge.
"Listen, Kalana was obviously laying a trap for us, so there's no doubt that Ares is ready and waiting for us with a swarm of his cronies. And if we delay for two long, he might come looking for us!" Felix said.
"What do you mean by calling me a spy?" Kalana asked indignantly.
"Listen, we'll have to explain later. For now, you need to be quiet and follow us while we try to get out of here." Jenna said to Kalana calmly.
"Should we even be taking her with us? She might be leading us on again right now!" Garet said forcefully.
"We don't leave anyone behind who needs our help, Garet!" Mia said angrily.
"That's the same policy that got us in this position in the first place!" Garet almost yelled.
Felix grabbed Kalana's shoulder and stood in front of the door. "We're leaving now, all of us!" he said.
Jenna pulled the ninja mask back over her face just before Felix pushed the button to open the door. When she saw the outline of an Acolyte in the hall beyond, she darted out of view and into the shadows. The rest of her party managed to make it to the shadows before the Acolyte turned to look, but Kalana still stood there in front of the door, struck with fear. The Acolyte stood there and eyed Kalana for a moment, and then bowed its head respectfully and walked on. The door slid closed again and nobody moved or spoke for a few moments.
"How am I still alive?" Kalana whispered, her eyes open wide in terror.
Jenna put a finger to her lips to indicate that silence was necessary, then pointed to her forehead. Kalana reached up and felt the symbol on her own forehead and then jerked her hand back. Her face was suddenly twisted with revulsion.
They all waited for a couple more minutes before leaving the Djinn room to ensure that the Acolyte was far off. Felix lead them back through the dimly lit halls, retracing their steps as best he could. The winding passages formed a maze not easily navigated, and they had not marked their path in any way.
"One of them is coming! Everyone hide except Kalana!" Felix whispered urgently. Jenna and her company ducked around corners and into shadows. Jenna listened intently as the footsteps approached.
"Please find a different route, this one is being used." Kalana's voice said, trying to sound authoritative.
"Agent K, why are you not giving orders using standard telepathic frequency?" the acolyte's voice asked curiously.
"I…uh…um…am unable to speak telepathically at the moment…I hit my head." Kalana said, frantically ad-libbing.
"Then I will accompany you to medlab to have you examined." The Acolyte said simply.
"No!I…uh…am in the middle if an important assignment here! Top priority, straight from Ares himself you know!"
"State the mission codename please." The Acolyte requested.
"Uh…ummmm…" Kalana stammered.
"Agent K, where is your neck collar?" the Acolyte asked.
"It…well,"
"You have five seconds to respond." The Acolyte said, its voice now threatening.
Ivan jumped out of the shadows, his staff glowing purple with the energy of his Jupiter Djinn. The staff connected with the Acolyte's skull and completely crushed it, knocking it to the ground dead in an instant. Jenna swung around the corner with her Masamune Sword and cut through both of its necks at once, just to be sure. The red blood flowed freely across the floor.
The hallways lit up with red alarm lights and doors all around them swished open. Hundreds of Acolytes suddenly surrounded them in all 4 branching hallways. Jenna knew her death was at hand, so she decided to at least try to fulfill her revenge wish and rushed forward at a group of them to attack. She unleashed the power of the Mars Djinn called Cannon, which blasted apart the lead Acolyte's shield with a massive orb of flames. Ares had apparently cranked up each individual Djinn's power. Jenna didn't have time to think about it though, she ran forward and lopped off the Acolyte's head with the Masamune sword. The one standing behind it waved its hands however, and Jenna's senses went black.
A/N: The final two singular Jenna and Ruru chapters have come to a close! The next time we see these two fantastic characters will be from the points of view of Tanis' group, and the plotline convergence is nearly at hand! There are only a few more chunks left before Legacies comes to its unpredictable conclusion, so brace yourselves to withstand just a few more cliffhangers! XD
