Chapter 19: Battalion of Despair; Invasion and Destruction
Annex of the Far-Off Dominion Arc
Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda, this is just a Fanfiction.
Featured Music: "Ranked Amongst the World's Best" - The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass OST. Chapter Briefing.
"Song for Torment" - Fear & Hunger OST. Scene 1 (First Half).
"Hurry" - Final Fantasy X OST. Scene 2 (First Half).
"Great Red Spirit" - Dynasty Warriors V OST. Scene 2 (Second Half).
"Oppression (V2)" - Dynasty Warriors III OST. Scene 3 (First Half).
"Lu Bu's Theme (DW Yasu 'Mix)" - Dynasty Warriors Online OST. Scene 3 (Second Half).
"One is All, All is One" - Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood OST. Scene 4.
Having just barely lost the Palashian Premier, the national championship martial arts tournament manned by the Prima World Tour and just barely at that, Link licks his wounds and looks back on his similarly close losses in the grand finals of the Hylian Hyrax and the Palashian Premier. It is only after recovering, however, that his group of companions break the news to him that his former opponent Vassia will soon be joining the party of adventurers, and all over breakfast in Palashia palace at that.
It is a revelation that rocks the young Hylian hero's nerves to his core; an announcement that leaves him irritated and in full protest.
Unfortunately however, Impa explains to him the political ramifications of denying the Palashian princess access to their group, especially for their home country of Hyrule. On the contrary; the wise Sheikah postulates the possibility that it may indeed be good for their beautiful homeland that she is so focused on attaching herself to the brash and brazen youth. Although he does not like the situation he is essentially placed himself in, Link opts to maintain his attitude to a personal level in order to satiate the childish Vassia's needs and demands; a gesture of friendship with his close companion, the Hylian princess.
In finishing their breakfast at Palashia palace, the group say their goodbyes to the sociable Lavrentius Marino and his son, Lycidas Marino; former Palashian champion himself. While he and the ever-overconfident Link exchange their woes in not having been matched up in the Palashian Premier, they hope with great fervour and enthusiasm to encounter one another in the future. Lavrentius leaves his well-wishes for the group in their leader, Impa, and allows them safe passage to a rather cushy and lavish mode of travel; a steam-driven locomotive. Having never encountered such a massive mechanism in all of his life, Link remains rather surprised and intrigued.
Raynard, meanwhile, wastes little time in the behest of his mentor Scaverin through their pilgrimage to Kaiohdrahl; an oddly-hurried and rushed endeavour that the unsure Raynard could only speculate on until they at last arrived to their destination. In his Machiavellian machinations the former right-hand to Ganondorf himself soon finds himself within the grip of an intimidating tyrant indeed, the leader of a likewise feared band of mercenaries by the name of 'Templars of the Weeping Stars'.
These men, said to be former soldiers and law-breakers all across the continent, have all essentially formed a small army in their sheer horrifying numbers and all under the leadership of one man; Velkarez Grigovich. Once from the far-off land of Stralanavia and a former formidable soldier himself, Velkarez's charisma and influence have managed to near swallow the land whole; in their march through Aurelia, they already have managed to leave their marks across multiple cities in Stralanavia, Gylomecia and even far-off Draerith.
Although the mysterious Velkarez's motivations remain elusive, much like the near-maddened Scaverin, it is Raynard now that must remain true to his word in watching and waiting; in Scaverin's strange machinations, only the young Hylian himself can opt to save the near-psychotic sorcerer now. Having barely outlined any sense of a plan to the boy, Scaverin hopes to unearth the concept of 'torment', having already unearthed 'domination' in Palashia; his method seemingly a self-torturous endeavour commissioned unknowingly by the Templars themselves.
With little answers to Scaverin's insane manoeuvres, all Raynard can do... is watch and wait...
Scene 1
SLICE
"Hrngh..."
"You're a tough one, I'll give ya that..."
Scaverin grunted out in great physical torment, wincing as he dared to re-open his eyes in response to the sudden and swift slice sown across his bare torso; one of the many cuts and other such injuries wished upon him by the seemingly insane band of torturers that worked for the Templars of the Weeping Stars. Having revealed himself to the wanted mercenaries he taunted them with fake information; it wasn't much but it was enough to get them interested enough to kidnap him and simply torture him for it.
It was a conclusion that he had, of course, far foreseen coming.
CRACK
"Urgh..."
"'Ey watch it Hector; you'll fucking kill him," one of the many men watching in the background laughed, arms folded as he sat upon a chair, legs similarly crossed. "Man ain't been eatin' right; he's all skin and bones."
"That right...?" The first man, a much taller and barbarous one mouthed out quietly as he leaned his black-haired head toward the grunting and chained-up Scaverin. "You ain't been eatin' boy...?"
The grunting Scaverin opted not to respond to him, shutting his eyes as he pulled within his mental fortitude in order to withstand the horrendous torture.
"Y'know what Stralanavia's government's got for us back home but you ain't even eatin'?" Hector continued on, shaking his short black-haired head as he did in a half-humorous way. "You one strange guy!"
SMACK
"Argh..."
The second man, the only other man present within the deep chamber they rested under, chuckled on in a similar sadistic fashion. "You gone and pissed him off now," the nameless mercenary grinned on, tilting his brown-haired head as he spoke. "Playin' silent just annoys my man Hector."
CRACK
"Agh..."
I can't do this, the gasping Scaverin thought.
Even the great Ganondorf had limits.
These people, they aren't people...
"They're animals..." He whispered out.
"What was that...? Was that an insult...? Speak up boy."
The listening Scaverin's nerves near jumped and he held back another gasp, opting to shut his eyes again in a mixture of cowardice and anxiety.
"Open your eyes..."
Scaverin opted, once again, not to listen to the man.
"I said open your FUCKING EYES!"
CRACK
This time he did just that and gasped out agonisingly, his body sagging forward from the abrupt and sudden assault wrenched upon it. Although the former Hylian bishop had no hair with which to be grappled, the glaring Hector merely grabbed the sorcerer's bald head and rose it up to stare back in horror into the torturer's deep-brown eyes.
"Hmph...," the man began, tilting his ebony-haired head and turning his frown up at him as if in some form of disapproval. "What do you think Velkarez sees in this prick, Adam?"
The second man shrugged in a doubtful blend of disinterest and scepticism. "Hell if I know," he threw forward, uncaring and indifferent. "That guy's cut from a different cloth from you or me."
Hector snorted out in response lightly, a small smirk written across his scarred expression. "Ain't that the truth..."
CRACK
"Agh..."
Again Scaverin was forced to endure the man's blinding strength; a kind of primal-like power not unlike that of his former leader's. Hector knelt down on the poor Hylian's level and glared back at him, using his muscled right hand to finger up his sagging chin.
"Adam and I gonna break you boy...," Hector began again, eyes widened as he cast his hardened and firm frown into the deep recesses of Scaverin's horrified hazel. The former bishop found himself shaking in sheer growing fear and terror of what was inevitably to come. "And all before Velkarez even takes Kaiohdrahl..."
"Real nice day!"
"Yeah... I'm surprised it hasn't turned at all and that we made such good time in doing it."
Link let loose his small Kokiri-clothed body in an elongated stretch, grunting out as he re-lowered his small hands back into the daring and brightly-glaring sun high above them. He let the sounds of Barkner and Alwyn's conversation behind him fade into the late-morning air as he swept his eyes 'round the station they had docked in, presumably the end of their fairly short journey.
"All right, everyone accounted for?"
He turned his blonde-haired head in the direction of his mentor's call and, sure enough, there she stood overlooking them all; she towered over him and darted her fire-red eyes around the growing group as if in quick search, her mouth opened up and moving as if to count quietly to herself. Link briefly swung his straw-haired head behind him and rose an eyebrow at the sight; Barkner, Alwyn, Zelda and Malon all stood amongst the other leaving passengers. Impa and Link's eyes both narrowed in light suspicion and doubt.
"Someone's not...," the Sheikah began curiously, brow furrowing as she craned her neck 'round as if in search for the missing figure. "Where's-?"
"There you are darling."
"Gah!"
The blonde Hylian winced as he felt an aggressive arm link 'round his own, pulling him back into the gaggle of his companions only to reveal its owner as the ever-intrusive Vassia, dressed in her bright-white casual dress, frilly on the bottom and in its sleeves. A pair of long similarly white boots, emblazoned with small shades of red sat on her feet, going rather well with the hot-red ascot she wore resting in her collar.
"And where were you?" The violet-haired Palashian princess shot down at him in a similarly suspicious-eyed stare, gripping his arm with surprising freak-like strength. "I couldn't find you the entire train ride."
"There was a reason for that..." The frowning-faced Link muttered back out indignantly, turning his oceanic-eyed gaze from hers.
The watching Malon and Zelda found their smiles fairly quickly returning to them and, unlike the professional and respectful Zelda, the grinning-faced Malon let out a light snort of amusement. Angered by the obvious display of entertainment, Vassia leaned her curled-haired head toward the amused farm girl and narrowed her night-black eyes at her in scrutinisation.
"And what do you find so funny?" She hissed over, pursing her lips as she did. The watching Malon, perhaps imitating her close companion in her earlier escapades with, opted to merely mask her widening smirk with a brief shake of her long-haired head, lightly waving her left hand up as if to dissuade the young princess.
"No reason!"
"All right, that's fine then," the watching Impa at last spoke back up to break the stiff conversation between the two girls. "Looks as if everyone's present; let's move on out."
The frowning Link resisted a groan as he was inevitably carted off by the firm grip of the aggressive Palashian champion. As the young boy marched on down the stone steps of Old North station he couldn't help but compare the feel of all three girls he travelled with; the hardened and yet somehow soft touch of Vassia was an odd compare to the similarly aggressive yet even coarser texture of Malon's fingers in his hand.
Maybe it was because she came from a farm, he wondered silently.
It would make sense; just like I'm always fighting she's always workin'.
Sometimes he felt like the only girl present with them that actually felt like a traditional one was Zelda herself; crown princess to his home country. The way she walked, talked and even held his hand was all demure, delicate and decorous indeed; it was something he remembered quite fondly of her from his time with her in the ruined Hyrule from which he came.
She's not her though, he thought.
Is she?
He chanced a brief glance in her direction as he was pulled by the arm and double-took in surprise when he found her wearing something that wasn't her established royal pink-shaded dress. Instead she sported what seemed to be a simple enough-looking black top, complimented well with the blue-shaded trousers she wore below it. Her hair, normally spilled down the back of her, was instead pulled up into a basic but neat ponytail, not unlike his own.
He caught himself staring in wide-eyed surprise when she double-took in his own direction; as she marched alongside him, hands softly joined at her back, she let out a small smile as if in satisfaction before returning her gaze forward.
She looked pretty good considering, he thought.
But why'd she change her look?
She must have done it on the train.
"What's so interesting?"
The sound of Vassia's buzzing in his ear made him briefly lower his eyelids in weariness, the echo of her soprano drawing very quickly on his patience. He opened back up his mouth to retort to her sarcastically, his tenor sighing in light irritation as he did.
"Nothing dear."
–
2
The sounds of men, women and even children screaming, all mixed and in varying tones of war-cries and horror, at last began to fill the once-beautiful air of Clearwater Road; a revelation that left many within the relatively-calm members of the adventurers fairly off-balance. The frowning-faced Link grunted out as he wrenched his arm from the rough grip of the annoyed-looking Vassia before narrowing his eyes into the deep-blue sky high above him.
"Anyone else hear that?" He asked curiously, genuinely as he did. Numerous members all nodded alongside him, the odd murmur or two of agreement echoing out around him.
"It sounds pretty far off...," the similar-faced Barkner murmured out, rocky-bodied hands resting on his hips as he narrowed his eyes further down the road they marched upon. "But it doesn't sound good, whatever it is."
"It couldn't be... an attack," Zelda at last spoke up from the left side of the Goron, swinging her pony-tailed head 'round to cast her concerned frown on the unsure Impa behind them all. Following her action, Link furrowed his brow as he darted his oceanic eyes 'round to face the Sheikah. "Could it?"
"It definitely sounds like one," the firmly-frowning form of the formidable fighter claimed, fire-red eyes narrowing as she rose up her fingerless gloves to slip over her hands, as if to ready herself for combat. "It could be..."
"It's that thing Ray was talkin' about," Link broached in his own hardened frown, eyes briefly narrowing as he spoke. "Ain't it?"
Impa nodded in understanding and concurrence, glaring on in spite of the beautiful sunny weather overlooking the beaches on their right. "Everyone, tight formation together," she began speaking, her contralto commanding and vociferous enough to make the listening group stand to attention. "All those that can fight, come with me. Everyone else; stay here and wait for further orders."
The frowning Malon and Zelda very quickly found themselves out of options and they exchanged a doubtful look together, almost as if to convey it. The watching Impa double-took in their direction before shaking her silver-haired head down at them.
"Don't worry," the Sheikah began. "You'll get a chance to treat the wounded."
Although her answer didn't do much to temper the girls' expectations, they regardless found themselves watching on in light envy for the rest of the group and even the new member; the hard-tempered Vassia.
It didn't take the fast-advancing group long to reach the city's main gate and, when they did, they encountered what appeared to be a mass number of civilians and people running from it. Link, his Gilded Sword and Mirror Shield both drawn, stood in the formation Impa had requested next to the firmly-frowning Alwyn and watched on doubt and concern as one of the many fleeing former denizens rushed toward them; a woman. The young blonde Hylian grunted out in surprise as she crashed into him, grappling him by his small green-clothed shoulders, her eyes stained with what seemed to be tears.
"Y-You have to help!" She called out, her voice breaking and horrified. "M-My children are-"
"Easy..."
The hardened tone of Impa's narrow-eyed words and touch managed to make the woman gasp out as the Sheikah very slowly and carefully peeled her off the blinking Hylian, frowning firmly back in insensitive austerity.
"What's happened here?" She requested of the nameless woman, furrowing her brow forward as she folded her armoured arms ever in her classic pose. "Is there any way we can possibly help?"
"M-My children and the city; they've been attacked; it's horrible!"
"Do you know who's orchestrated the attack by any chance?" The frowning Alwyn questioned the frantic civilian.
"N-No we have no idea," she sniffed back, shaking her brown-haired head back at the Zoran. "I've heard some of the men call them 'Templers' or 'Templins' or..."
Link swung his suspicious-eyed frown to nod with the listening Impa and she nodded alongside with him.
"Templars." They both spoke simultaneously, fairly quickly recognising the name.
"Y-You know them?!" The woman exclaimed out, her head darting between the pair. "P-Please help us; they've already managed to overpower our military and-"
"Shhh!"
The woman blinked as she about-turned to face the owner of the deep bass and, sure enough, it was the smiling Barkner nodding back at her, lightly knocking his left palm on her shoulder comfortingly.
"Don't worry!" The happy-go-lucky Goron began. "We're here to help."
"Is that right Impa...?" Alwyn chanced over his shoulder in a quieter pitch of his light baritone, brow furrowing as he spoke quietly enough so that the rest couldn't hear them. "Are we really going to do this?"
Although the frowning Impa re-opened her mouth to respond, the former Zoran's question was answered not by her, but by the ever-grinning Link.
"Of course we're gonna do it!" The former Hero of Time boldly exclaimed, rising up his clenched-fisted shield arm into the air, casting a similarly heroic grin back at the wide-eyed woman as he lightly tilted his blonde-haired head to his right side. "We're the heroes that show up...," he began again before ending his sentence in a widening, grinning-faced chuckle. "But only at the last minute!"
"Oh thank you, thank you!"
The exuberant boy soon found his grin dissipating in favour of a half-embarrassed, half-surprised frown when the woman knelt down and crashed her slim form into his own; a simple but grateful hug that managed to make the formerly overconfident youth's grin turn zig-zag in unease. Barkner nodded alongside his close companion's wishes, drawing a shut-eyed smirk from the listening Alwyn and even a haughty-looking grin from the witnessing Vassia.
The briefly smirking form of Impa watched on in growing amusement of her own before she re-raised her newly-regained frown to face the open gate before her.
"All right," she began. "When we do this there's no turning back; be very careful going in here."
"Who's our enemy again?" Barkner questioned, turning his rock-like head 'round to raise an eyebrow at the wise Sheikah.
"The 'Templars of the Weeping Stars'," the likewise-expressed Vassia responded with, her posture straight and tall as she rested her right slim arm up on her lowered horizontally-placed left, her lightly-closed right palm hovering just below her right cheek. "They're a group of former military men from all over the continent; men that were either dishonourably discharged or deserted their duties and went AWOL," the well-informed Palashian princess claimed, ebony-shaded eyes shut as she spoke. "It's rather quite pathetic."
"AWOL?" Link parroted half-curiously as he eyed the older martial artist, drawing a satisfied-sounding chortle from her. She re-opened her mouth to give the boy a scathing reply no doubt but was beaten to the punchline.
"'Absent Without Leave'," the firmly-frowning Alwyn spoke up for him next to the Palashian champion, ever in his usual business-like baritone. "She's not wrong; I've heard stories of these men. They've been terrorising small cities and villages all over Aurelia in sickening pillages and ransacks. I imagine their numbers now have grown so much they think they can take Kaiohdrahl."
"Exactly my point," the glaring Impa concurred in a hardened frown of her own, nodding on as she re-opened her mouth to continue. "These men may essentially be bandits now but they're former military."
Barkner rose up another inquisitive eyebrow. "Meaning?"
"Meaning they're pragmatic and efficient, not careless and senseless," Impa replied, turning her ruby-red eyes 'round to face the Goron. "If they've laid an assault on Tiverpool City then we can safely assume that they've analysed the merits of such an attack," she posed forward. "Chances are very likely they'll succeed if no-one else intercepts."
"Good goddess...," Barkner hissed out in a wincing frown, shocked and terrified for the poor people living within; he turned his head 'round to shake it at the open gate and the few people screaming as they ran out in presumed fleeing. "So they're smart bandits. That's just great."
"They could be the livin' dead in there and I still wouldn't care," the smirking-faced Link shot back confidently, lowering his straw-haired head as he furrowed his brow toward the open gate ahead. "I reckon we can take 'em!"
"Well... I certainly can," the imperious Vassia huffed next to him, casting her superior-faced smirk down on the boy next to her. "But I'm not sure you could after that spanking I gave you."
"Hah!" The similarly-faced youth merely laughed back as he turned to face her. "Just watch me!"
"Okay that's enough chatter; time is of the essence," the ever disapproving Impa interrupted the conversation with, drawing simple obeying frowns from the pair of children. "It may be a better course of action just to have most of us roam and fight as we please," she began again. "But be careful...," she started again, narrowing her eyes as she briefly faced each member of the listening adventurers. "You all only have one life and these aren't simple mindless fiends; these are living breathing and intelligent men, minds set on killing. No-one here deserves to die."
The grinning Barkner nodded along with the Sheikah, concisely pumping a clenched fist into the air as he did. "You damn right boss!"
"All right then...," Impa began one last time, reaching down for one of her sheathed knives on her belt, eyes narrowing. "Then let's move out!"
It didn't take long for the ever-ebullient Link to hack and knock his way through the many yelling soldiers that surrounded the ransacked city of chaos around him; in great spite to his other comrades having stuck their weapons or even fists through their new soldier-like enemies, the former Kokiri opted instead to incapacitate his foes.
A notion he had grown rather quite skilled at.
It was only when he took the time to stand and admire his work he double-took at the sound of rapidly-pounding footsteps, only to find a fast-approaching pair of Templars rushing for him, sword and axe swinging through the air. Link flashed the pair a confident-faced grin before swiftly cartwheeling forward through their vertical slices, effectively slipping between them thanks to his small size.
The two men turned and the axe-brandishing brute yelled out as he tossed backward his axe, swinging noisily through the air. As the former Hero of Time landed he shot up his Mirror Shield and knocked the steel axe ricocheting high into the air.
CLANNNG-THWUCK-THWUCK-THWUCK-THWUCK
He grinned on as he leapt up in place to kick at the fast-descending steel axe, essentially sending it careering back toward its original owner; the nameless man gasped and side-stepped, barely avoiding a grisly fate. The sword-wielding Templar rose up his steel sword to rest horizontally across his raised up left arm and began to step toward the grinning-faced youth; Link swung his blonde-haired head 'round to face the man before cricking and cracking his neck both ways, almost as if to ready himself for the inevitable confrontation between them.
SWISH-SWISH
The Kokiri-clothed boy darted his head in and out of the two initial approaching swipes the man gave out; both high and horizontal. The nameless Templar continued his offensive in a third swing that saw him twisting as he advanced and at last Link chose to bring up his weapon to counter his enemy's.
CLANG-CLANG
FRRRK...!
The sound of their steel clashed noisily with one another in an inevitable down-turn; Link exchanged his overconfident smirk with the glaring scowl on the man's stubbly face ahead of him and widened his oceanic-eyed gaze when he caught the sight of the second Templar fast-advancing toward him. The axe-wielding Templar roared out in effort as he dove forward in a sudden and abrupt dive-kick that saw the wide-eyed Link darting his head to his immediate right in evasion; timed just right, the man grunted out as he landed and skid harmlessly across Tiverpool's bricked streets.
"Cheeky." The grinning Link called over his shoulder, his cheer ever following him.
"HYA!"
He blinked as he swung his head 'round and, surprised at the sight, could only raise an eyebrow up; the sword-wielding Templar gasped out suddenly mid-assault, his sword having seemingly recovered from Link's earlier defensive technique, and coughed out a short stream of blood. The boy's eyes were soon drawn to what seemed to be a long pointed blade poking out from behind the nameless man's stomach, also drawing out a sizeable amount of blood.
As he inevitably keeled over and collapsed the firmly-frowning owner of the blade, a rapier, at least revealed herself; the glaring Vassia herself rose up what appeared to be a small white cloth and wiped down at the long blade's top, frowning down at the fresh corpse she had left in her wake.
"Hmph...," she began haughtily. "Pathetic."
"Not bad," Link shot back, his grin re-growing on his face. Behind him, the dive-kicking Templar had at last recovered from his earlier assault and reached down to pick up his fallen steel axe; with it he advanced slowly toward the pair of children, drawing the wide-eyed Vassia's attention. Link, on the other hand, seemingly opted not to take notice. Vassia opened her mouth to warn the boy but he cut her off in one of his many close-mouthed smirks. "Now watch this."
"DIE!"
SWISH
"Heyt...!"
Surprising even the watching Palashian princess, Link at first darted his head to his right to avoid the incoming vertical assault before bending his back and reaching behind him; with an incredible level of athleticism and dexterity he essentially grappled at the axe-wielding man's whiffed limb before pulling him screaming overhead.
CRASSSSSH
"Gurgh...!"
A small cloud of smoke drew up between them, eliciting coughs from the shut-eyed Vassia nearby; when it quickly dissipated only the fallen and seemingly unconscious man lay in a broken heap next to his fast-dying comrade. Link brought up his two hands to rest on his hips and cast the watching Vassia a grin.
"Could you do that?"
"Well, no, I suppose not," the Palashian princess admitted in a light frown as she briefly examined his work before soon rising her night-black eyes to cast her own smirk back at the boy. "But then I'm fighting to kill," she clarified, bringing up her white cloth to rub at the blade she carried. "Not for fun."
"Hey it takes more skill to leave 'em alive than kill 'em y'know," the young Hylian batted back, ever in his grin. He sighed out melodramatically, shutting his eyes as he gave out a mock shrug. "But if you ain't got the skill then-"
"Please; there's a reason I'm the Palashian champion and you're the runner up," the young girl spat back as she smirked on, her mood seemingly unflappable, chortling as she shut her eyes and advanced to stand next to him. "After all..."
Link's grin was lost to him when she reminded him of the fact, his oceanic eyes wandering away in concise defeat.
She's got me there, he thought.
Maybe I can still beat her in the future though.
That's always a goal worth havin'.
–
3
"Gagh...!"
"Urgh!"
The sound of his companions' call of agony made the listening boy blink out of his thoughts and looked on further forward. Sure enough, he wasn't far ahead; a few yards before them the grunting Barkner was sent tumbling and sprawling across the ground beneath him, the assaulter standing tall and cast his tall armoured form above the Goron. The man, somehow in spite to having never met him, looked familiar to the watching and narrow-eyed Link; a seat of long brown hair came tumbling down his back, waves like the oceans of Great Bay the young adventurer once traversed. The scars across his face and the intimidating muscles told a story of former military duty; even the colours he wore, armour from Stralanavia itself.
Probably stolen along with the rest of his equipment.
"It's just like Ray said..." The watching Link whispered out, brow furrowing in thought to the young man's words from memory.
"What?" Vassia blinked cluelessly next to the boy. "Who?"
"U-Um, no-one," the nervous youth responded, shaking his head before quickly nodding it in the direction of his companions. "Come on!"
"What kind of warrior has no weapon?" The hard-frowning Templar began, his baritone a deep one at that as he cast his glare over the fallen Barkner. "Even those of the warrior races... Zorans, Deku and Gorons like yourself; you should at least have something."
Barkner grunted out in a mixture of effort and agony as he peeled himself roughly off the battlefield beneath him. "Why?" The man batted back in a similarly-amused grin, reaching up with his left rock-fist to wipe an ounce of blood trickling away at the side of his mouth. "I'm a Goron!" He added, nodding his head upward as he stood to attention as if to ready himself for combat a second time. "We're 'weapons unto ourselves'!"
"Because when your natural abilities inevitably fail you...," the firmly-frowning Templar called back, rising up his look of disapproval down on the man as his deep-green eyes narrowed. "You will have wished you brought something else to back you up..."
"Big words..."
The man, surprised, turned his long-haired head 'round in a quizzically-faced frown, joined by the wide-eyed Barkner and far-off Alwyn. The smirking Link strode toward his Goron companion, hefting the Gilded Sword up to rest across his small shoulders in a humorous lack of humility, leaning his blonde-haired head to the side as he cast his overconfident glare on the man before him.
"From a thief." He finished, one of his cerulean eyes narrowing as his grin lightly widened. The frowning form of Vassia walked over to join them, casting a half-disapproved look on the rude youth before re-facing the front.
"Is that so...?" The tall man began curiously, his frown softening a little as a chestnut eyebrow rose up. "And who, pray tell, are you?"
His ego having been subtly stroked, Link let loose a fairly light chuckle before lifting up the Gilded Sword and twisting it twice in the air. "Name's Link," he introduced himself with simply, lowering his weapon to hang at his side ever loyally. "Take it you're one of these Templar guys?"
"That's correct...," the seemingly ever-serious man nodded in response, his frown carrying him on. "I, Velkarez Grigovich, issue you a challenge; Hylian Link!"
Realising the man was clearly referring to his less-than-subtly pointed ears, the listening blonde near rose up his shield-arm to paw at them before tilting his head curiously at him in response.
What was his game?
"Link!"
The distressed call of the injured Alwyn a few steps from them made everyone in the small growing group all swing their heads 'round to face him, surprised and all. The Zoran stood in a pained state indeed; many cuts, bruises and other such injuries permeated around his blue-shaded body. He shook his pre-injured head-fin over at the blonde boy fervently, a desperate kind of resonance resting in his normally-calm baritone.
"Don't take the bait!" The former soldier called. "He's far too strong to take on by yourself!"
Link's brow furrowed in a mixture of pride and curiosity before eventually drifting back to rest on the newly-introduced Velkarez himself; the tall man huffed in the Zoran's direction before re-opening his mouth.
"You mean in a duel?" The young Hylian posed forward as if for clarification, straw-haired eyebrow rising on up as he did. "Like a one-on-one?"
Velkarez nodded firmly, his hardened frown still plastered ever on his likewise callous face. "Precisely," the former Stralanavian soldier confirmed. "A test of strength and skill... if you will."
"Yo I know this might hurt your ego pipsqueak but I happen to agree with Alwyn," the whispering Goron on the boy's left spoke, making him twitch in response. "We've just exchanged a few blows with this guy and Impa wasn't lyin'; even at a hundred percent we can't even dent through his defences, it's-"
"Yeah, but I ain't you or Al."
The boy's brusque and near-cutting retort made the Goron stop mid-sentence, surprised; he gasped and blinked back at the youth, genuinely hurt. "W-What do you-?"
"I'm gonna end this now," the former Hero of Time brashly claimed, lowering his blonde-haired head as he stared back into the hardened glare of his new enemy. "If this guy's the commander then the rest of his force'll go runnin' I bet."
"Hmph...," Velkarez huffed out, his frown slowly slipping into a half-impressed smirk. "That's correct. Even should our duel end in no death and I lose... you have my word that I will pull all my troops."
"I don't trust him," the listening Vassia spoke up incessantly from the Hylian's right, arms folded. "And what's more I don't trust you," the Palashian princess further affirmed, swinging her dissatisfaction on him. "You know I'm stronger than you are so just sub me in if you're not-"
"I am."
His hardened and ego-filled rejoinder, made even the bold violet-haired princess near take a step back; she watched him pace forward and crack his neck to both sides, lightly rolling his two arms 'round as if to restore the blood flow.
"I'm stronger than you are Vass," Link boldly claimed, eyes briefly glaring back into the deep-green holes of his enemy before swiftly hovering 'round to glower over into Vassia's surprised pair. "And I'm gonna prove it."
With that he twirled the Gilded Sword 'round his dominant left arm before carelessly tossing the Mirror Shield aside, clanging noisily against the pavement beneath them; an act of pride and even hubris after he noted his enemy had access to no shield of his own.
Velkarez watched on, his firm frown slowly slipping into an impressed and proud smirk as he nodded on in approving, before at last stepping forward to make good on his word. "Good man."
The aggressive youth didn't take long to get started; in an acrobatic twist through the air, he dove his small and slim form into a spiral of slashes that saw the narrow-eyed Velkarez bring up his silver spear in defence; a noisy and spark-infested clash that emanated, even throughout the battle cry-infested front-lines.
CLANNNG-SKRRRRRR
Link grunted out as the glaring-eyed Velkarez used his seemingly superior strength to push the wide-eyed boy backward from the blade-struggle, sending him stumbling a step back. In spite to his initial loss of footing, the former Hero of Time gambled an abrupt lunging and upward diagonal swing as he narrowed his sky-blue eyes forward; a sudden assault that the surprisingly-nimble Velkarez darted his body out of before replying with a swift stab of his silver spear.
SKRK-SKRRRR
Link's Gilded Sword and Velkarez's silver spear met in mid-air and the pair twisted their forms 'round one another as they advanced, looking almost as if they were dancing somehow. As they turned however, Velkarez widened his eyes as he used his free right elbow to swing 'round and swipe at the boy; Link grinned back in satisfaction as he rose up his own free right arm with which to parry the quick blow, before pulling him in and grunting out as he issued out another agile horizontal slice.
Thinking quickly, the narrow-eyed Velkarez back-dashed to safety by quickly knocking the grunting boy's leg with his own and rose up his spear with both hands this time; he narrowed both emerald eyes as he dove it down in a deadly vertical descent, eliciting the grinning Link to side-step in evasion. The small Hylian used the extremely small window he was gifted with by stepping forward and forcing his weapon horizontally up against the taller man's undefended neck; Velkarez's eyes widened and as the youth smirked back at him, seemingly in checkmate.
"Go pipsqueak go!"
"Finish him!"
The sounds of the ever-excited Barkner and Vassia made the listening Link's smirk grow even wider; as if that were possible. By the duel's age it had grown quite a number of neutral observers; all the original adventurer heroes and some of the Templars' soldiers themselves. The firmly-frowning Impa, joined surprisingly by the curious Zelda and Malon, also joined the group, managing to jolt even the near-unflappable Alwyn.
"What's this? Who's he duelling and why is no-one helping?" The frowning Sheikah demanded firmly and swiftly, ruby-red eyes darting between each watching member.
"His idea," Barkner edged a thumb in the direction of the grunting Velkarez. "The guy we've been trying to kill, not pipsqueak."
"And Link just took the bait?" Impa asked for clarification, her brow furrowing and eyes narrowing as she leaned down to the Goron's wincing level. Although he nodded, the similarly frowning and folded-armed Alwyn nodded in a likewise-expressed gesture, sighing lamentably as he did.
"Yep."
Vassia smirked on, her own eyes shut as she shrugged back at the Sheikah. "I did try to warn him," she began before re-opening her eyes and double-taking in the other girls' direction, her eyes soon widening in surprise as she recognised their presences. "Why are they here?!"
Although the ever-shy Zelda turned her eyes away from the hardened Vassia, the bold Malon smirked back her, opting to raise up one of her small hands in a mock-waving greeting.
"Too many soldiers were pouring out of Tiverpool," Impa simply answered with, frowning on before her fire-red eyes narrowed in quick realisation as she watched the many enemy soldiers watching the duel with them. "Thought it'd be safer taking them with us but... at this rate..."
The frowning Alwyn nodded along in quiet agreement, suddenly aware of their precarious positions.
In great spite to the grinning-faced Link's hold on his new enemy the Stralanavian regular huffed out as he pushed upwards and, with enough force, managed to send the gasping Hylian staggering a few micro-steps back. As he did, his Gilded Sword came crashing noisily to the ground, its silver-steel and gold shining in the sunlight. The glaring Velkarez swiped at the wide-eyed Link and he simply stepped backward with which to avoid the attack, briefly counting his blesses for doing so.
Gotta slow down, he thought to himself.
This guy's a lot stronger than he's lettin' on.
"But so am I."
In that near-arrogant thought, the brazen-nerved youth hung his right arm toward his fallen weapon and a blue-shaded tint took its palm; like magic, the large double-edged blade came flying and spinning toward him, hilt first. He snatched it out of the air and twirled the two-handed 'round his single right hand expertly, its silver-steel singing out beautifully as he did.
The watching Velkarez, a simple frown adorned on his face, upturned it into a half-amused smirk and let out a quiet chuckle, drawing a similar response from his likewise-quiet opponent. At last he moved however; as Velkarez advanced forward in a fast-descending double-handed downward stab, Link instead opted to step forward to meet him and slice diagonally upward at the silver spear.
CLANGGG-THWUCK-THWUCK-THWUCK
As they passed one another, their weapons came flying out of one another's grip; a revelation that made the watching Templar soldiers all scream out in approval, even as the grinning Link spun in place and snatched the Gilded Sword from the air with his left didn't take long to respond; he let out an entertained smirk as he stepped forward and swiped at the boy's weapon, their blades clashing noisily with one another in two swift encounters that saw them eventually back-dash in and out of each other's stabs and slices.
Feeling confident and his hubris growing with it, Link's own smirk grew as he lunged forward in a deft but predictable stabbing assault, eliciting the wide-eyed Templars' commander to quickly side-step it. He used his seemingly superior strength to overpower the surprise-eyed youth and grunted out as he slammed his elbow into the blonde's exposed sword-arm.
CRACCCK
Link let out a shocked yell of agony, his bones having suffered in the brutal and ruthless counter-attack. The former Kokiri acted quick however and gasped as he ducked his head down low, just narrowly avoiding the growling Velkarez's spinning spear-like swipe. The armoured man continued his relentless aggression by scowling deeply as he shot forward his silver spear in a deft stab, eliciting the gasping Link to dart his head back the way it came in further evasion.
"Impressive!"
Velkarez's laughing call emanated out from his excited baritone as he gripped the silver spear he carried with both hands and swung it 'round in a diagonal follow-up strike. The glaring Link bent his body to his far-left and, working acrobatically, he grunted out in effort as he leapt similarly diagonally upward in an incredible twisting flee, managing to avoid the otherwise fatal and calculative finish the man had seemingly planned for him.
"Don't overextend!" The brow-furrowed Impa called forward, eyes narrowing in scrutinisation as she spoke loudly, drawing a gasping and tired grunt from the frowning-faced boy. "He's looking for any possible opening in your offence!"
"She's right you know."
The gasping Link swung his surprise-eyed frown back on his similar-faced enemy, only to find him standing and glowering on lowly down at him as if he were disapproving of something in his smaller figure.
"There are many mistakes in your form and martial art...," the firmly-frowning Velkarez began in his thick Stralanavian accent, eyebrows growing closer together as he glared down at the youth. "I suppose if your education is anything to glean from... then Hyrule will be even less of a challenge than this pathetic backwater."
Almost as soon as the words were out of the man's mouth Link already knew he had made a fatal mistake; pure primal rage took over and he dashed forward, Gilded Sword in hand to attack with. The young Hylian dove his double-edged blade in a forward stab, eliciting the simple-faced Velkarez to side-step before rising up his silver spear, this time with his free left hand presumably with which to counter.
The former Hero of Time crossed up his free right arm and grappled the man's own left, surprising him into a short and small stalemate with one another, struggling to control their positions with as they did. Unfortunately for the youth, however, it is thanks to this particular positioning that the glaring-eyed Velkarez gained exactly what he needed.
Okizeme.
It wasn't much but it was enough; a simple low knee that, while challenging to take in any other man's body, was even firmer and fiercer in the young Link's eleven-year old body. He grunted and coughed out a tiny shred of blood as he was sent up a mere micro-yard into the air from the sheer strength with which the powerful commander carried. Sensing exactly what was happening, Impa's hardened eyes widened and she re-opened her mouth.
"NO!"
CRACCCCK-SQUELCH
"Ngh...!"
–
4
Time near completely froze for all the watching participants of the nearby engagement; all sounds bar the cries of battle silenced. Near-unable to believe the results of the duel Barkner, Alwyn, Vassia, Malon, Zelda and even Impa all widened their eyes before at last something broke the deafening silence; the mercenary soldiers under the Templars' command all roared out in echoing acclaim, rising up their steel weapons high into the air as they did.
It was only when one of the men stepped out of the watching group's way that the rest of them got a decent look at the reveal; the wide-eyed Link remained hunched over in a knelt position, shaking hands gripped at the brutally-placed blade protruding from his back.
In every practical sense, he had been killed.
"What a shame..."
The adventurers, their surprise suddenly shaken off by the deep baritone of their enemy, shot their eyes up to find him looking down on his endlessly-gasping opponent before re-opening his mouth as if to continue.
"I had thought you'd offer me more of a challenge than the rest of these... excuses for soldiers," Velkarez lamented again, his deep-green eyes briefly overlooking the rest of the ruined battlefield they wrought before gradually ending up back on the fallen Hylian beneath him. "But in the end... Hylians will always be Hylians."
SQUELCH-CRACK
TUMBLE
A gasp and pained grunt barely escaped the boy's mouth when the Stralanavian soldier dumped him off of his stained silver spear, sending him rolling and sprawling across the brick-stone ground. Although the watching Impa's frown deepened into a saddened one and knelt down, she was beaten to the punch rather early by the frantic Malon and Zelda, the two eager to reach his bloody and broken side.
"Damn it Link..." The Sheikah muttered out quietly to herself, eyes lightly glazing over as she watched the Kokiri-clothed youth shake violently; presumably a mixture of wound-induced shock and agony. It was when the angered Barkner cracked his rocky-bodied knuckles and made ready to leap forward after their enemy, that the frowning Sheikah widened her eyes and lunged over to grapple at his right arm to pull and prevent him from advancing; a wise decision that the grunting Alwyn backed by grappling the Goron's left side to add more weight to his rather powerful form.
"Ngh... don't...!" The former Zoran soldier hissed out in his ear. "He's... too strong...!"
"We can't just do nothing!" The Goron yelled out angrily, drawing the Templars' sudden and abrupt attention. Suddenly feeling very vulnerable indeed, Barkner's mood settled quite quickly and he widened his eyes, freezing in place as the rest of the group all swung their heads to face the glaring Velkarez.
"I claim victory this day," the glaring Velkarez began, his baritone low and commanding. The listening Impa's nerves tensed as she waited, paranoid that the watching soldiers' would inevitably charge toward them. "Out of respect for your fallen comrade's bravery my forces will abstain from pursuing you or your comrades," he claimed boldly, drawing understanding but disappointed looks from the eager men surrounding him. "But I advise you to oppose us no further; leave Kaiohdrahl to us."
"Hey, fu-"
"Barkner no...!" Alwyn hissed again in his growling companion's ear. "Just stay calm!" He whispered on, his ocean-teal eyes never leaving their firmly-watching enemies'. The hardened glare they all fixated the adventurers with was telling; a look each man shared that essentially revealed their thinly-veiled intentions of murder and desecration.
"I suggest you listen to your comrade sir Barkner," the glaring-eyed Velkarez warned firmly, eyes lightly narrowing as he spoke. "T'would be a shame to lose a Goron so gallant."
The listening Goron himself grunted out in a mixture of anger and frustration, his scowl twitching in response to the commander's ultimately debilitating words. The Templars, all similarly silent, took a few more seconds in watching the defeated group before at last turning as their commander did, presumably for the distant castle in Tiverpool's far-end.
It didn't take long for a kind of saddened, near awkward silence to descend hard on the group as they watched the remaining Templars presumably mobilise their forces by leaving to rejoin their allies. Almost as if to add to the lugubrious mood that fell upon the heroes a slow and sudden rainfall began, a few drops at first that eventually led to a full-on downpour.
"W-What...," the watching Vassia began, eyes widened as the rain began to dampen down the curls of her violet-haired head. "What just... happened?"
"The Templars of the Weeping Stars...," the firmly-frowning form of Alwyn started as he slowly stood to his feet, a hateful scowl growing strong on his normally-calm expression. "Have just made at least one fatal enemy."
"Make that two!" Barkner called out alongside the Zoran, a similar scowl of anger on his face.
"Make it three."
Surprised by her words, the group swung their heads 'round to find the glaring-eyed Zelda herself reaching back, as if to tie her long head of blonde hair into a tameable mass.
"I'm going to pay that man back in full for everything he's done to him," the young princess spoke out, an unusually bold quality of courage in her soprano. "If no-one else will... then I will."
"We can't!" Impa exclaimed out, a mixture of urgency and concern in her contralto. "If Alwyn, Barkner or even Link couldn't find a way through this man's fists then-"
"NO Impa!"
The Sheikah, shocked by the fiery impatience and surprising resolve in her voice, could only widen her eyes in a similarly dazed frown. Zelda turned her sky-blue glare back on the older woman, tears stinging firmly in her eyes as she did. Impa, at last, opted to give into the youth's demands and lowered her eyes down to the fallen and bloody Link's silent body, laying in the quietly-crying Malon's grip.
"We're going to die if we do this," the wise woman spoke back, her tone quietened to match the hard drops of rain that scattered on Tiverpool city's streets. "You know that... don't you?"
Zelda nodded. "I don't care," she merely threw over her shoulder, shaking her newly-gained pony-tailed head. "He'd do the same for me."
"Can't agree more," the glaring Barkner nodded along in his own firm frown. "I'm gonna fucking murder that swine," he growled out. "Or at least die tryin'."
"I've already lived over forty years," Alwyn spoke up quietly in his own lighter baritone, eyes narrowing into the castle in the distance. "I've lived long enough."
Having received no answer from the standing Vassia and the sitting Malon, Impa swung her silver-haired head down to eye them curiously, eyebrow rising up. The Palashian princess double-took in their leader's direction before wincing as she clocked the bloody corpse that was once her grand finals opponent.
"I-I-" she began doubtfully, shaking her damp-haired head as if unsure. "I think I want to help. I feel like it's... my fault."
Impa shook her head back at the youth, a softened variant to her usual frown as if to dissuade the girl's self-torture before she at last turned her head down to face the quietly-weeping Malon next to her right leg.
"Malon," she began, pulling the surprised farm girl's eyes up to face her. "Find a place to hide. Stay safe," she nodded down at her, a small smile growing back on her face. "Forgive us... we may not be coming back."
"W-Wha-? B-But-?"
"We got no more time!" Barkner called loudly over his shoulder, glaring on impatiently as he did. "The longer we take to attack him the bigger his chances are of killing us!"
"Agreed." Impa sighed out, nodding along with the Goron before she stepped forward, eliciting the frowning-faced Zelda to reach up with her small hands; like magic, a light but powerful Aegir filled her form and completely engrossed her.
As it lifted, a new blue-shaded jumpsuit and a white ragged top decorated with the Sheikah's telltale eye symbol. A round of bandages sat upon her wrists and even her right forefinger; seemingly another fashion design of the Sheikah. Her long blonde hair came down in one tumbling braid, the rest hidden beneath a simple white scarf under her neck and a similarly haggard white turban resting atop her head. Her eyes, once a beautiful sky-blue, sat now a blazing fire-red; just like her mentor and teacher's.
It was a look that, while slightly different to how the fallen Link would have remembered, was virtually identical; a smaller form of Sheik stood before them all.
"W-Wait!" The worried Malon called out from the ground. "W-What do I do about-?"
"I'm sorry Malon."
The clueless farm girl could only swing her damp-haired head 'round to find the frowning-faced Sheik staring back at her, a kind of sad look in her crimson eye.
"I couldn't stop it from happening to him," she murmured out, kneeling down on street level to lower her right hand. She reached it out and softly grazed the shut-eyed bleeding boy's cheek, her eyes lowering from his as she re-faced the girl gripping his fallen form. "This is my fault. Not yours and not Vassia's."
Already having been crying, the frowning Malon could only blink back at her in a likewise bout of bafflement, unable to find the words with which to respond.
"All right... come on," Impa nodded forward, reaching back for one of the many knives she kept on her belt. "Maybe we can catch up with their forces before they reach Tiverpool Castle."
The watching Malon could only quiver her lip as she watched the rest of her group run off toward the far-off acropolis ahead, the rain coming down on her firmly. Not even she, however, managed to take note of the dimly-glowing aura on the back of the deceased boy's left hand.