Questline: The Power of One
Chapter 3.
The Wolves Den
I begin walking through the woods. The brush is thick and the trees are tall. I look down and notice there is no trail which means I'm good and lost. It's almost night time and a mysterious fog begins to blanket the woods.
As night begins to decend, the woods get darker. As I continue walking to find a way out, I see a bright light in the distance. I traverse the brush trying to reach the light. My clothes were getting caught on the branches an twigs as I push through the brush.
I reach a clearing where I though I saw the light, but it turned out to be the light of the moon.
I walk to the center of the clearing and began sitting on the grass, gazing at the cresent moon.
I start thinking to myself, "For a cresent moon, it sure is big and bright out tonight. It seems really unusual but I guess it's just like that in this weird place."
As I look at the moon I thought I saw it sparkle a bit. The feeling of being watched came back again. So I begin to stand up and when I'm up I speak out loud, "I know your there! I can feel your presence.
Suddenly I hear a voice that sounds like it's coming from all around me. The voice doesn't feel dangerous or threatening. It begins saying, " Come to me. Come find me."
I speak again asking, "Why do you want me to come and find you?"
The voice replies, "I have something for you."
I look around and remember I have one more question that I hope the presence can answer. I ask, "Did we know each other before I lost my memories?"
Thankfully the presence does answer with, "No..."
Then out of nowhere, I see a flash of light so bright that it blinds me. When my sight comes back, I find myself infront of a cave. I can feel the presence pushing me inside but when I look behind, I see nothing but woods.
I choose not to fight it and I begin walking into the cave. As I'm walking through this cave, I notice it's dimly lit with candles to which I find kind of weird.
I proceed down into the cave where hear a womans voice saying, "Your so close. Your almost there."
My walk turns into a jog as I try to reach the end of this cave but it only takes about twenty more feet when I finally do reach its end only to find nothing.
I begin kicking and pushing on the cave wall for a few seconds and right as I was about to call it quits, I hear the voice again but this time its coming from right behind me saying, "Thats all wrong. Don't you know anything about hidden pathways?"
I turn around to see a girl standing behind me. She's wearing what looks like an old red and white Victorian dress. Her hair is long and the color could be best described as redish brown and her eyes are blood red. She looks to be around eighteen to nineteen years old. She wore a fedora hat.
I walk up to her and ask, " Would you care to show me then?"
She smirks as she walks past me and begins to uncover a hole off to the side of the cave wall. As she turns back to me, I ask, "Isn't it hard to move in a dress like that in this cave?"
She continues to stand there and says, " It's annoying and difficult. Honestly I'd be rid of these clothes but your here."
"Valid point." I say. I continue to look around before walking over to the hole. As I approach the hole, I begin to get on all fours and start crawling through.
It's tight and narrow like it was dug by a dog but I managed to squeeze through and reach the other side.
It was a makeshift room in a cave. It wasn't a big room but it seemed as though it could fit about five people. There were a few candles lit and placed in all of the corners. There was a makeshift bed made of wheat or hay, maybe both.
I hear her breaching the hole behind me. I take a few steps ahead and then I turn around to look at her. After she manages to get out of the hole, she starts to cover it up.
I wait for her to finish and then ask, "So why did you bring me here?"
She looks at me puzzled and then says, "I didn't bring you here. Why would you think that?"
I put my hand on the back of my head and continue by saying, "Your voice is what led me to this cave and pushed me through it and just as I reached the end of the cave you showed up in person and showed me the hidden path."
She says, "Yeah I showed you that hole but I never brought you to this cave. Hell, I don't even know you, so why would I try to bring you here."
I then reply with, "Well if you don't know me and didn't bring me here, then why did you bother showing me the hole?"
She then asks, "I don't know? Is a girl not allowed to help or something?"
I take a few steps forward as I continue saying, "Well if I have no reason for being here then I guess I should leave."
She quickly replies with, "I wouldn't recommend leaving. The nights can drop to freezing temperatures."
She then continues by saying, "Honestly I'm suprised to see you out here at night. Why not atleast stay until it's daylight again. It's what I plan on doing. Unless you want to freeze."
What she said had me very curious. She knew about that hole a little to easily.
I ask her, "What do you mean your suprised to see me out here at night? These are the lost woods. I was out here looking for someone. But honestly. I should be asking you what your doing out here? You knew about that hole way to easily."
She replies, "I guess you got me. Honestly? I live here. I suggest we get some sleep."
I look around the room in amazment. I pick the most comfortable looking rock I can find and proceed to sit on it. She walks past me and flops onto the hay bed and lays down looking at the roof of the cave. I turn to look at her and say, "Well atleast remove the hat. Its got to be uncomfortable laying with it on."
She looks over to me while laying down and asks, "Whats with you and wanting to remove my clothing? Are you some kind of pervert or something?"
I smile as I look to her and in a sarcastic tone I say, "Yes, I'm a pervert for asking you to remove a single hat. Relax, I'm just trying to suggest a more comfortable way of sleeping."
"Whats going on? I, I feel strange." I say. I then look over to her and she begins looking back at me in concern.
"Are you okay?" she asks.
"I, I really don't know. But now that I, I look at you. Your really beautiful." I say as I try to look away from her.
Suddenly I turn around and she was standing behind me. She then says, "Wow you must have never been out camping alone at night with a girl before if your this friendly." She grabs me and pulls me up and begins turning me around to face her. I start holding her as I look her in the eyes and smile. She smiles back. I lean into her and whisper, "I asked you to remove the hat because I already know what your hiding under it."
She pulled her head back and looked at me in confusion.
I let go of her and then say," Your ears aren't something you need to hide from me. Neither is your tail you hide with that dress.
She steps back and grins as she says," So, you were faking your little spell. To think you know that much about me and we just met? I'm impressed. To know all of that, I take it you know who I am?"
I look at her and laugh as I say, "Not at all to be honest. The only thing I do know is that the last time I came to these woods, I fell unconsious. In the dream that followed, we met and you told me to come find you. So here I am."
She looks stunned as she says, "Wait. You found me based on some random dream? And you don't even know who I am?"
"Yeah that about sums it up." I laughed.
She looks at me and grins and begins to remove her hat as she says," My name is Holo. The Harvest Deity, but you may call me Holo The Wise Wolf. Impressed?"
I look at her with shock as I say, " I'm very impressed. But if your a deity, wouldn't that make you much older than me?"
She giggles as she then asks me, " Are you trying to say that I really look so young that you thought you were older? How sweet of you."
"I'm really suprised, you only look about eighteen or nineteen." I say
She continues with, "For that sweet comment, I will allow you to stay the night in my den but I must warn you not to try anything funny or else you will regret it." She then proceeds to remove the dress she had on to conceal her unusual feature and kicks it to the side.
"Trust me, you don't need to worry about that. I've got other issues on my mind right now." I tell her.
I look around one more time before I start to lay down, but right as my head touches rock and my eyes shut, Holo shouts, "What are you doing?"
"I'm getting ready to fall asleep like most normal humans do around this time of night." I say with a very sarcastic monotoned voice.
I open one eye and look over to her and she says, "Well most humans have beds that help preserve their body heat. Sleeping on that ground won't be good for you. You should sleep over here with me."
I close my eye as I say, "I'm sure I will live. I've slept through worse."
Suddenly I feel her pulling on my leg as though she were trying to drag me to the hay bed. I get up and say, "Fine, you win this time."
She looks at me as I walked past her and says, "I'm not gonna bite you."
After I lay down, I feel her lift my arm and place it over her as she lays infront of me facing away from me. I start to think about the situation and how if it wasn't for her I'd be sleeping outside in the grass or something. She's given me a place to to be so I'm not outside in the cold and even gave me her own bed for the night so I wouldn't freeze.
"Thank you Holo. I know I was being stubborn when you were only trying to help. I guess I still have alot to learn in life. I just want you to know that I appreciate you and your hospitality and I intend to repay you somehow." I tell her.
She doesn't say anything but instead pushes up closer to me. "Goodnight Holo." I say before shutting my eyes and soon falling asleep.
The next morning Holo wakes up and turns around to find me gone. She ignores the clothes she tossed to the side and begins crawling through the hole and soon after, walking outside the cave to see if I'm anywhere near. She looks in all directions and wonders where I could be. She then sits in the grass not knowing what to do now. After all I was the first company she had in years and when company just leaves without even saying goodbye, It kind of hurts no matter who or what you are. After all, she did open her home up to me.
She gets up after a few minutes and begins to walk back into the cave.
Just as she reaches the hole she hears someone behind her.
"Hey Holo. Sorry I got up and left like that. I went into town and..." I say but get stopped when she turns around and punches me to the floor.
She then stands over me and begins to explain, "Thats how you repay me? By just leaving me without even a goodbye or anything? Do you not know how hurt I was when I thought you had just left and you weren't coming back. I was hurt. Believe it or not we Deities do feel pain." She says as tears fall down here face.
I get up and look at her and then say to her," Holo I wasn't leaving you. As I was about to say earlier, I went back into town to get you something."
She looks over to me, tears still flowing down her face as I hand her a new modern dress and hat and say, "I want you to come with me back to town. I can introduce you to my friends and even the Princess of Hyrule. She's my friend as well. We can give you a comfortable place to sleep and plenty of food."
She continues to look to me and she says, "You? You want me... to meet... your friends?"
"Yes Holo. I now know why I was brought to you. This dream... This vision, whatever it was, was real. It led me to you for a reason and after what you did for me, I could never just up and leave you without trying to help and repay you." I tell her.
She looks at me and grins as she says, "Well it looks like your stuck with me then because there's no amount of effort you could do in your lifetime to repay me."
I smile as I say, "Thats fine with me. I got to atleast keep trying to repay you and I want you to come with me to town."
She starts putting the clothes I handed her on and soon after she gets dressed, we begin our walk to town.
She asked me, "Hey, since your stuck with me now, would you mind giving me your name?"
I look at her as we continue our walk and say, " Oh wow, I forgot I never told you my name! It's Aleks. I'm told I'm some sort of great hero from the past, but I have no memories of it. People everywhere keep saying it so I guess I'm just taking their word for it."
"Wow, I had no idea you had memory loss. You seem to be taking it well though." she said.
"Ha! You weren't there when the Princess first found me sleeping under a tree in the field on the other side of these woods two days ago. It was almost a full blown panic attack." I laughed.
Holo looks at me again and says, "So this Princess found you in a somewhat similar way I found you. Interesting. You must have a pretty bad habit of loosing track of where you are."
"So were you born in this town we're heading to? Or somewhere else?" Holo asked.
"You could say somewhere else. Somewhere far, far away. This Is my first time seeing this town, but to the people, its my second." I tell her.
Her eyes give off a confused look and she asks, "How far off are we talking? Is it a few days trip? A week? A month? How is you're home?"
I look up at the sky as I tell her, "I'm not sure you would believe me even if I told you."
She begins to look up with me as she says," Try me?"
My head tilts back down from looking at the sky and then I look to her and she looks to me as I say, "I believe I'm from another world."
She then says, "I believe you."
It wasn't long before we reached town and when we arrived, Holo was instantly in fascination, wanting to stop at every other shop and wanting me to take her to see the sights.
We spent the whole morning walking through town. Everyone we walked by kept telling us good morning and a few people were even asking me if Holo was my date to the Ball.
By now, everyone in town seemed to know who I was. I figured that word must have gotten out by Tabatha and Malon.
As it reached afternoon, Tabatha found us by the fountain in the center of town. She walked up to us and asked, "Aleks? Where were you all day? I came to your room this morning and you weren't there."
Holo pops out from behind me before I can answer Tabatha and says, "He was with me last night and all morning."
Tabatha then looks to Holo, confused and says, " My apologies miss, I don't believe we have met. My names Tabatha."
"Ohhhh I believe Aleks spoke of you last night while he was over at my place. He said alot of nice things about you.? Holo told Tabatha.
I quickly ask Tabatha to wait one minute as I pull Holo to the side and ask her," I didn't say alot of nice thing about her, I only said one thing nice about her. What are you doing?
Holo continues with, "I thought you liked her. So I'm helping you out here."
I look at Holo and say, "No I don't like Tabatha in that way. She's just a friend. I have no girl here I like and I have no girlfriend, So you really don't need to help me."
Holo's eyes widen as she asks, "What kind of hero doesn't want women all over him?"
"If I ever find myself needing that kind of company from a woman, I'll let you know so you can work your skills. Does that sound fair?" I ask her.
She grins as she says, "Okay but next time you need my skills, your going to have to pay for them."
Tabatha then interupts us by asking, "Aleks? Is everything okay?"
I look to Tabatha and say, "Everythings fine Tabatha, we are done with the private talk. So Hows the Princess?"
Tabatha smiles as she then says, "Busy as ever to be honest. But I noticed a more joyful side of her since you asked her to the Ball."
Holo then interupts by saying, "Aleks, You asked a Princess to dance with you? Nice going, not many humans have that kind of courage.
Tabatha then Interupts Holo stating, "Pardon me miss but I never even got your name. Are you a friend of Aleks?"
Holo replies to Tabatha with, " I guess you could say we are. Do to circumstances that I will let him tell you if he wants, he's pretty much stuck with me until I say he has repaid me in full. Think of me as his campanion from here on. Ohhh and my name is Holo."
Tabathas smiles as she says, " Thats wonderful." But I could somehow tell she was very confused.
I then look to Holo and say, " You can trust Tabatha with your secret. She's very trustworthy and a very good friend."
I look back to Tabatha and ask," Is there a room in the castle that is private that we can all go too."
Tabatha says, "Aye, your room Aleks."
I slap myself in the head as I say, "Thats right, I'm an Idiot for asking."
"Wait? Wheres Cecilia?" I ask.
Tabatha says, "I left her with Malon for a while. I was going to ask you if you could watch her since she seems to be quite fond of you Aleks. But I couldn't find you all morning so I had no choice but to ask Malon."
Holo then says, " Aleks has a girl named Cecilia that likes him?"
Tabatha says, "Little Cecilia is only five years old but I guess you could say she does like him as much as a little kid could. It's sometimes hard to take her away away from Aleks because she refuses to let go of him. Come tho think of it. Shes been attached to Aleks ever since he fought off that pack of Moblin by himself."
Holo then says, " Awwww, thats so cute. Like a wolf and a cub it found and adopted, cute!"
Tabatha smiles as she then replies with, "Thats actually a really great way to see it now that I think about it."
"Tabatha, Is there a spare room in the castle that we can lend Holo? She doesn't have a home in town and since she's sticking around, I won't let her sleep outside. If she does then your going to have to throw me outside as well." I plead.
Holo looks to me with a suprised look and says, "But you'll freeze outside Aleks. I don't want you to freeze to death because of me."
I look back to Holo and say, "Thats my call to make Holo. If your stuck outside then I refuse to let you stay outside alone reguardless of the cost. After all I do owe you. You were there for me when I was lost in the woods and now it's my turn to be there for if your stuck in the streets.
Tabatha then says, "Aleks there is a spare room next to yours that I'm sure the princess wouldn't mind lending to your friend here. Especially If she found you in the lost woods and took you in. If thats true then I see why you feel you owe her."
"Tabatha, thank you." I say
Tabatha smiles and says, "It's my pleasure Aleks."
We walk to the room and encounter the Princess on the way.
"Good afternoon Princess. How is the day treating you?" I ask her.
She looks at me and walks up as she says, "Ahhh Tabatha, Aleks. I'm doing good. Just getting ready for the Ball in a few days. Aleks I'm really glad you asked me but I'll ask you again. Are you sure there is no one else you want to go with?"
I place my hand on the back of my head and smile as I say, "Princess, your my friend and as a friend, I can't allow you to go alone. Unless you find some cute prince last second and really want to go with him, your stuck with me."
Zelda laughs as she shrugs her shoulders saying, "Well theres no cute prince anywhere nearby to go with so I guess I am stuck with you."
Holo pops out again as if out of nowhere and says, " Wow you two really are good and close friends. I can tell by the way you interact. Most Princesses aren't that friendly with a common man."
Zelda asks, "Is this a friend of yours Aleks?"
I look at the Princess and tell her, "It's a long story but the short version is yes, she's a friend I made yesterday. She helped me out big time. So I owe her and she's my new companion wherever I go. I trust her."
Tabatha jumps into the conversation and says, "Since she's Aleks's new friend and she doesn't have a home in town, I thought about giving her the room next to Aleks's room since she seems to follow him wherever he goes. That and Aleks said that if she has to sleep outside then so does he."
The princess then looks to Holo and says," Your in great company when your with him Miss..."
"Her name is Holo you majesty." Tabatha adds.
"Miss Holo, I just want you to know that Aleks is a great person, a great friend, and a great Hero. He faced off against one of our worlds greatest threats and I just don't want to ever see anyone use him or hurt him."
"Huh he never mention facing off against the worlds greatest threat when we met. But I promise thats not my intention your majesty."Holo says.
Zelda then says , "Aleks says he trust you so any friend of his is a friend of mine."
Zelda turns and nod to Tabatha and then says, Tabatha will show you to your room. Feel free to use it whenever you want."
Zelda finishes with saying, " Aleks, Holo, Tabatha, It was good seeing you three today."
And with that we make our way to the room and after we enter the room, Holo begins looking around everywhere in the room.
Tabatha then asks, "So what was it you wanted to tell me Aleks?"
I turn to Holo and nod as I say, " It's okay Holo, you can trust Tabatha. I told her about that dream."
Tabatha's eyes widen and asks, "You mean that dream about a bright girl with animal ears and a tail?"
"Yes that one!" I say.
Holo then says, "It's okay. I'll show her."
Holo then removes her hat and Tabatha covers her mouth in shock as she admires Holo's ears.
