Chapter 6: Braving The Storm
The confrontation with Fireblight was uneventful after that. And soon after, while Zelda made her way to Gerudo town under Daruk's protection, Teba and I were in the air. We flew for quite a bit in silence. There was indeed something on my mind, but I wasn't sure how to say it or if he would understand.
"I could have sworn that the entire idea of me coming along with you on this flight was so we could talk." Teba said.
I opened my beak, and tried to speak, but no sound came out. I tried again, same result. For the first time in my life when I actually wanted to speak, I was finding myself mute. I sighed in defeat.
"It's alright, take all the time you need, I'll still be here to listen."
I inhaled deeply then sighed.
"You don't know what it's like."
Teba was shocked that my voice had returned so quickly and turned to look at me.
"You don't know what it's like to have this burden, especially if you feel like you're not bearing it properly. It's my responsibility to protect Hyrule and yet the Champions still died, and the Calamity still happened. And if I don't succeed this time, the Champions will die again. You can't possibly understand that."
Teba flew in silence for a bit after I said that. Finally, he spoke.
"The weight of duty is the blessing and curse that comes with being a warrior. My own duty may not come close to yours, but I understand to a better degree than you think I do, Link. It often falls to me to make sure that my village and family are safe. I'm not perfect at it, and while I've been told I can be a bit brash, it falls on me to protect the people in the village that can't protect themselves, even if it means leaving my family for a time. I know that's not exactly your problem, but I hoped it helped you understand that I have a slight understanding what you're going through. It was really brave of you to admit this to me Link, and if you feel troubled know that you can always talk to me. For now, Vah Naboris awaits. I'll meet you back in Rito village with Revali and Daruk! Good Luck Link!"
With a quick thumbs up, he banked off course, flying in an entirely different direction. I was about to follow him before I noticed I was already above Gerudo Town, taking a deep breath to try and alleviate my own emotional burden, I began my slow dive toward into my landing.
My second encounter with Thunderblight was surprisingly nothing to write home about. But Urbosa, after it was over, being who she was, had a few thoughts on her "Little bird's" new feathered appearance, which made me smile. The smile readily returned when we got back to Rito Village, as when we walked off the quick travel pad, we found the other Champions including Revali (though he was looking a lot more tired than usual) waiting for us.
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"Well now, there's a vure I haven't seen for a century." Urbosa Said.
Nice to see she hadn't changed, but then again, why would she?
"Welcome back little guy!" Daruk said, running up to link and giving him one of his hard pats on the back, "Looks like you were able to tame old Vah Naboris, huh?!"
I faked a scowl as I crossed my wings.
"You took your sweet time," I said, "I was beginning to wonder if it would be another century till you arrived."
Link just smiled and wrapped his wings around me in a warm embrace which I readily returned, "I'm just happy you were here to greet me. How are you?" he said.
I was still trying to figure that out myself, I could feel… something in my body being slowly drained away, especially as Vah Medoh cried out in pain. And yet, I was still stable. Tired, yes, but stable, much more so than the rest of the champions who found themselves in a similar situation. I personally thought that it could be because of tthe… unique gift I got as a result of Ganon turning my body into his own personal puppet for a short period of time, but I had no idea for sure.
"Like I got ran over by a Lynel, but otherwise good."
"Then there's no time to lose."
Link instantly switched back to his more serious expression.
"There will be time for reunions later, right now we have one more divine beast to save."
He then turned to Zelda.
"Zelda, I know you want to come, but having all 3 triforce pieces in one place could be really dangerous at this point. Urbosa, I'm counting on you to keep her safe. Revali, Mipha, grab Teba and meet me at Revali's landing, we'll head off for Vah Medoh as soon as possible.
Vah Medoh shrieked in pain at that moment, I cried out as I felt a sensation like a weaker guardian blast.
Link turned back to the group with the determination and force of an army general.
"Go!"
With that we scattered.
We made our way to Vah Medoh's main control unit only to found Windblight not waiting for us. Rather, I suppose you could say it was someone worse as we saw a sadly all too familiar at this point pasty white being standing at Vah Medoh's main control unit. Link drew his sword and readied his shield, Mipha leveled her trident at him, and Teba and I readied arrows in our respective bows.
"I knew you were going to show up eventually, after taking the other three divine beasts. But I must say, you've done quite a lot to try and save these so-called champions. That's fine, I have contingencies, one way or another, my master will return. I imagine my words mean nothing to you though, so lets just cut to the chase, lets see you save your precious champion and so-called brother from this!"
With that, he outstretched his hand and Windblight appeared, however things took a turn for the worst as yet another cannon materialized on his arm, hitting me with another surge of pain as my energy seemed to drain faster, causing me to cry out as I fell to my knees.
"Revali!" Link cried.
Ghirahim sneered, "Feeling ok, Thief?! Allow me to remedy that." He materialized the rest of the blights amplifying the pain and draining feeling exponentially, ah who was I kidding it could be described as just pain at this point, now it was agony. My theory from earlier however was confirmed as the Triforce symbol on my hand as glowed like mad. I fought to hold onto consciousness as everyone's cries of worry were drowned by my own cries of torment, but eventually, even with the help of the Triforce of Power, I couldn't take it anymore and after what felt like an hour, (but I was told was about a minute), I lost myself to a never-ending black.
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"REVALI!" I cried.
I turned to Ghiriham with a Glare that could pierce a guardian's armor as he just laughed sinisterly in triumph before being cut off by Teba's bomb arrow. I took this as an opportunity to attack.
Fighting Ghirahim was hard enough, but now I had not one but 4 blights all trying to kill all 4 of us as Revali lay even more prone than last time. I tried to keep my emotions under control as I struck against the monsters that had caused so much pain to my brother and friends, no, my family. But slowly but surely, as always, I began to tire. I couldn't keep this up forever especially when I was trying to protect not only myself but also Revali, who couldn't even move let alone fight back. It seemed like this was a fight I would eventually lose, until I heard a familiar voice split the air accompanied by an unmistakable Golden Light.
"Link!"
The Blights all fell limp where they were as all their malice was drained from them. Ghirahim meanwhile suddenly had his limbs frozen, as if he were being bound with invisible chains.
I turned to see Zelda, Wing outstretched, with golden light pouring from it. I couldn't help but smile. I was quickly pulled back to the situation at hand when I heard Revali groan. I turned to see him shakily pushing himself back onto his feet.
"What happened?" he said.
"I'll explain later, but right now we need to move." I said gesturing with my sword toward the main control unit.
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I shook my head to clear it before making a beeline for the console, my feeling of having gotten trampled by a lynel about 5 times in a row would have to wait, we both had work to do.
"No!"
Right, almost forgot about "Demon Mc-crazy" I turned to see him seem to break out of some kind of Invisible restraints followed by a cry of pain from a familiar voice. I turned quickly to see where the voice had come from, it was Zelda! Now it was beginning to make sense. Realizing that the psycho she formerly had bound knew our plan, I continued to dash toward the main console hoping to make it before… whoops too late. I stopped in my tracks as he appeared in front of me. I reached for my feathered edge, only to be stopped when a small, red familiar Zora riding a small wave of water shoved him out of the way with her spear. I turned to see Mipha standing in front of him, holding him at spearpoint. I only saw her back and not her face, but judging by Ghirahim's reaction I was suddenly unsure if I wanted to see her face. Deciding it was not a good idea to wait around any longer, I once more ran to the control unit, not looking back as I finally got my wing on the console.
"No!" Ghirahim shouted.
But it was too late, I heard Link play the Ocarina, and as he did… what… what was this…? This power…? This wind? I could feel it flow, swooshing around up around me and, through me…? Yes, it was, lifting me in the air and holding me aloft as it did so. So this was it, this was my power, my gift as the Champion of Wind. As the song came to an end, I landed and turned around to see that the demon had knocked Mipha to the ground and was running towards me. My eyes narrowed.
"Get off my Divine Beast."
With an outstretched wing, I summoned a torrent of wind that bent around everyone except the so-called Demon Lord as he continued to resist, I continued to increase the wind until he was completely and utterly blown off his feet over the side of Vah Medoh, screaming as he fell. I smiled in satisfaction before running to Mipha.
"Are you all right?" I said.
Mipha nodded, "Yes, I am, thank you."
I tried to speak my next line but strangely it wouldn't come out, I took a deep breath.
"Thank you."
She nodded, knowing exactly what I was thanking her for.
"Well, you saved my life. I only thought it was fair to return the favor."
Teba, who to be honest I forgot was there amongst all the action then approached.
"Glad to see you in one piece, Master Revali."
I raised a wing,
"Just Revali is fine, Teba. And Thank you to you too, we couldn't have done this without you."
He nodded in acceptance before I turned to see Link walking toward Zelda. His expression looked stern, but his actual emotion was in fact hard to read as he approached her.
"I thought I told you not to come,"
Oh boy, here it comes. Or… maybe not? To my surprise, Link lunged forward catching the surprised Princess in a hug.
"But boy am I glad you came!"