Chapter 51: Dawn of the End; Fight in an Strange Land
Search for the Missing Mother Arc
Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda; this is just a Fan fiction.
Featured Music: "Ranked Amongst the World's Best" – The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass OST. Chapter Briefing.
"The Library" – Resident Evil II (1998) OST. Scene 1 (First Half).
"Fantasy" – Final Fantasy X OST. Scene 1 (Second Half).
"Secret Hope" – Resident Evil II (2019) OST. Scene 2 (First Half).
"Sons of Liberty Main Titles" – Metal Gear Solid II: Sons of Liberty OST. Scene 2 (Second Half).
"Kuatan Jungle" – Mortal Kombat X OST. Scene 3 (First Half).
"Live Evil (Alt Version)"; Scaverin's Theme (B) – Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles OST. Scene 3 (Second Half).
"Abandoned Ship" – Pokémon Omega Ruby/Alpha Sapphire OST. Scene 4 (First Half).
"In Search of Lost Time" – Resident Evil II (2019) OST. Scene 4 (Second Half).
In their explosive engagement to the Prima World Tour's 'Skirmish in Stralanavia', Link attempts to avenge his comrades' earlier defeats by participating in the grand finals and matching up with their conqueror; the mysterious and seemingly young Stralanavian girl, Veronika Fedoroa.
Their match was one like no other; an incredible clash that not only left an impression on the shocked Link but also his inner demon and mirrored second side… the aspect of the Triforce of Courage's chaos and Aegir; Kage Narumono. While it is a fight that ended fairly quickly, considering, it is one that stayed with Link for all time; following their amazing confrontation, and his incredibly-close loss to her, Veronika surprises both Kage and himself by managing to somehow find a way in intensifying the dying deal on Kage's demonic power, and all within the surprised Link's subconscious himself.
A feat that not even the well-versed and Aegir-intelligent Zelda is knowledgeable in quite yet.
As the group move on to their next destination and indeed the next destination of the Prima World Tour, the far-off country of Gylomecia, they soon encounter their next challenge; a suspiciously-placed foe in the form of what appears to be a giant squid of all things. A creature that their ship's captain, captain Reading refers to as, the 'Kraken'. The party of adventurers and heroes work together as one and, with their earlier success in similar encounters, find themselves victorious in protecting the ship of its crew, passengers and cargo with relative surprising ease.
Unfortunately for them however the group are soon set off course from their original travelling route following their fight with the sea-beast, leaving them in unknown waters and nary but a single island with which to catch their bearings. Not one to remain on the ship, Link and his companions volunteer to go off exploring and find out more about it, if only to put the rest of the crew and passengers' minds at ease.
It is when they board the island that soon discover it is seemingly abandoned; while investigating, they come upon a deep dank cave and encounter what seems to be a fallen dead body, a corpse itself. When Veronika makes the ill-fated decision in attempting to inspect the cadaver, and Link joins her, the pair of would-be children soon find themselves in a bad situation very quickly; the floor opens up beneath the corpse and it comes to life on reaction, leaving them both clawing at the ground to avoid falling down the deep descending pit below them.
In spite of their close companions attempting to assist them, Veronika and Link unfortunately drop down into the dark abyss below them, effectively separating them from their friends and the rest of their party. While they may be both the strongest members of such, they soon find themselves easy targets for their next foe; a strange red-haired woman dressed in a familiar and elusive black cloak, wielding paired scimitars. They make the correct assumption in that the fallen corpse earlier was laid by this woman as part of a trap for them and engage themselves in combat with her.
While Veronika is knocked out fairly quickly, thought to be dead, Link almost loses complete control and manages somehow to overwhelm the powerful, black-cloaked woman. This turn of the wheel doesn't last very long however, and the nameless aggressor swings the table on him by adapting to his change and overpowering him with her surprising skills. Veronika, surprisingly, manages to take both off guard; the young Stralanavian awakes, seemingly minorly injured, and impales the shocked redhead with her midnight-blue scarf shaped into a blade-like weapon.
The attack isn't much, at least to finish the woman off with, but it forces her to retreat, leaving Link and Veronika with which to like their recently-gained wounds…
Scene 1
"You failed?"
"Y-Yes, superior…"
The red-haired woman, having just recently lost her near-fatal engagement with the desperate Link and Veronika, now found herself in what seemed to be a large pristine-white room filled with oddly simple-shaped vertical throne-like chairs as high as a skyline, sitting on an eastern one. She kept her frowning-faced head held lowly, almost as if in shame and guilt, a forlorn look in her amber-shaded eye. The voice that spoke to her, an authoritative bass, knocked forcibly against the tall walls in which they resided in, marked only by a similarly deep-voiced sigh that followed after the initial sentence.
"There is very little room for error here, Ravim…," the bass spoke and, as it did, the red-haired woman re-rose her head up to address and face the voice's owner only to find a figure wearing a hooded cloak similar to her own seated high above her, its arms folded. "You do realise that, don't you." The voice's owner spoke, seemingly a man, his hardened gloved hands and arms folded as he did.
"I-I do but-"
"You've endangered our presence even further since Ellen and Kale's deaths…"
The second voice in the huge room interrupted the wide-eyed Ravim and she swung her amber-eyed shock on the owner of the contralto; another hooded and cloaked figure seated a few chairs away from the folded-armed man. The owner of the second voice, seemingly a woman, rested her slim right arm over her front in a horizontal fashion, sitting her left's elbow to sit atop it, hanging its black-gloved fingers just under her hooded head.
"And don't even get me started on Ellys' blunder in Termina either…"
The listening Ravim's frown twitched in response, opting to lower her amber-eyed gaze from the contralto's owner, choosing perhaps wisely not to respond to her.
Chances are pretty good I'd just dig a deeper hole for myself, she thought sagely.
"The Shakai are very quickly being seen as weak, Ravim…," the unknown man spoke up again, his arms still folded, and his bass spoken in a hardened disapproving tone. The listening Ravim's frown twitched as she listened, opting not even to raise her eyes to face the man above her. "You realise we can't even afford to be known?"
"Y-Yes, superior, I-"
"What are we to do now Dalton…?"
The older woman's voice, spoken with a mildly-irritated sigh, interrupted the blinking black-cloaked Ravim; she swung her crimson-haired head 'round to her right to find the hooded figure leaning her right backward-facing palm under her raised chin, seemingly facing what seemed to be their common leader. Ravim traced her stare and awaited the similarly sighing man's next words.
"Well we don't have much of a choice, do we Juannelle…?" The likewise hooded Dalton pointed out, his cowled head revolving 'round to face the woman addressing him on his left. "Especially what with those other intruders…"
"I can't believe they killed Siah so easily…"
"She's not the first to have fallen to these strange new types…," Dalton retorted in Juannelle's direction, tilting his ebony-cloaked head as he did. When he realised the respectfully-silent Ravim below him was still listening, he swerved his head 'round to face her and opened up his mouth behind his hood to address her. "Ravim."
"Yes… superior?"
"You will gain what documents you can in the time we have left and meet us both at the back of the island," he began, arms still folded. "All scrolls related to our lord must be secured."
"Y-Yes, of course…," she bowed forward in understanding before re-raising up her fiery-haired head to face the man above her again. "W-What about… the woman and…?"
The listening Dalton exchanged an unsure look with the similarly unreadable Juannelle next to him and, as a half a second passed between them both, the two shared a similar shake of their heads before the man swung 'round to re-face the operative below him.
"Leave them," he began, shaking his head a second time. "Even if they are discovered, the woman was left bleeding and the boy won't survive on his own."
"Even if he does, no-one will take what he says seriously…," Juannelle offered into the conversation with, shaking her head similarly as she leant her right cheek against her raised right palm, the elbow resting on the throne-like chair's armrest. "There's no need to concern ourselves with them any further."
"All right…," Dalton began again, unfolding his black-gloved arms and placing them on his own armrests, nodding his cloaked head down at the woman. "You have your orders, yes? Don't disappoint us again."
Ravim bowed one final time, amber eyes shut as she listened to the mysterious pair above her vanish into thin air itself, their only reminder of existence being a small plume of smoke. "Yes… superiors…"
"Thank you…"
Link couldn't help but blink and near-crease his curious-eyed frown in listening to Veronika's words of gratefulness, finding difficulty in placing their foundation. Having just removed their enemy's two paired scimitars from his body, and with surprising effectiveness in not only cleaning and closing his wounds but healing them with her mysterious 'Soul Power', Veronika managed to not only slow but stop the bleeding entirely.
Link had half-expected to have either bought the dagger completely during their fated engagement with their cryptic aggressor or at least have been forgotten about and left to die down in the unknown darkness in which they now inhabited.
Not to say his companions would forget about him.
Just that finding him in this particular place would be extremely difficult.
"For what…?" He rebounded back unsurely, eyebrow piquing up in genuine curiosity as he did, a small grin gracing his complexion as he did. "It was you that saved me." Link clarified for the listening young Stralanavian as she knelt next to him, hanging her two hovering hands over him, their small palms lit up with her Aegir streaming through their similarly small fingers as they gave off a light and pleasant hum.
"F-For… fighting for me…," she spoke again in her thick Stralanavian accent, drawing out an inquisitive frowning turn to his earlier light grin, blinking to mix. She lowered her raven-haired head from his, almost as if in embarrassment, casting her eye-shadowed gaze to the darkened ground beneath them both. "You called me… a 'friend'."
He blinked for the third time and went through his memory banks as quickly as he could.
Oh yeah, he thought.
I did.
"Well… y'are a friend though," he shot back, tilting his blonde-haired head at her as he lay his body back, propping it up with the backs of his small hands behind him as he did. "Ya joined us in Stralanavia didn'tcha? So you're a friend!" He clarified; his oceanic eyes briefly shut as he flashed her one of his ever-trademark happy-go-lucky grins. "Besides, you helped out Bark and Al when ya didn't have to," he added, his grin soon settling into an easy-eyed smile. "I think we can trust ya."
Veronika rose up her frown to face her new companion's smile only to re-lower her light-brown eyes again, in what seemed to be a light form of shame. "No… no you can't."
Link's own smile fell from his face as he blinked again in response. "Say what?"
The silky-haired Stralanavian shot up her eyes to face his and frowned back at him. "I've not been… truthful with you. With any of you."
His blonde-haired eyebrow shot up in curiosity. "What do ya mean?"
"What that woman said… it was true," she broached the topic with, shaking her head as if in disapproval with herself. "Well… most of it."
Acting on the young girl's choice to be open, Link leaned up off of the backs of his palms and sat up to face the kneeling youth, placing his hands on his recently-crossed legs, motioning for her to continue.
"I… am just like you," she began cryptically, eyes lowering from his in shame. "I am not the age I appear."
Perhaps not entirely surprised, Link's frown upturned into a neutral one, his eyebrow piquing up as he did, opting to remain respectfully silent to allow her to advance on in her story.
"Though I receive my appearance through my 'Soul Power'…," she clarified, speaking softly as she very tentatively re-rose her light-brown eyes to face his. When he never changed his own light expression, she re-lowered her eyes before re-rising them again to face him, calming her nerves a little further as she did. "I look like this because I've used its Aegir to seal forces within me."
"'Forces'…?" Link parroted curiously, shooting up an eyebrow as he did.
"Um… how you would say…," she began again, lowering her eyes as if in thought for the modern Hylian expression. "'Evil'…"? Veronika spoke again, lightly rising up her light-brown eyes again to face him. "Aspects of chaos and demonic energy such as Kage Narumono."
He nodded, this time in soft understanding.
"I'm… so sorry I wasn't truthful with you," she apologised, a meaningful tone to her mezzo-soprano as she bowed her head forward as if in Hylian custom. Link couldn't help but draw up a lightly-amused grin as he watched her. "I… I feel terrible and I-"
As badly as he felt for doing it, the listening Link burst out laughing, leaning back in his seated position as he did. Perhaps feeling even further embarrassed the frowning-faced Veronika rose up her reddened cheeks and faced him with a zig-zag-like turn to her face as she re-opened her mouth to voice her shock.
"W-Why are you laughing?"
He lowered his head back down to face her again and chuckled, shaking his blonde-haired head back at her as he did, opting to reach forward with one of his small, calloused hands to rest over one of Veronika's; taking special care to lay his fingers over the demonic-like one.
She's probably not lying, he thought.
A lot of what she's saying adds up.
"'Cause you're worryin' for nothin'," he shot back, his smile soon elongating into an amused grin as he shook his head softly at her. "I know in yer heart you ain't a bad person, trust me, I know," Link laughed lightly in his throat, his grin carrying him on. Perhaps instinctively infectious, the watching Veronika found her frown slowly switching up into a soft-faced smile of her own. "You've already saved me a few times anyhow," he grinned again, lightly pulling his hand back to place them behind his form again, as if to prop himself up. "So I doubt there's anythin' to-"
His words were soon interrupted, not by the young woman's words before him, but by her silent-voiced stare and quick-laden movement; he blinked and held back a gasp as she caught his left hand before he could retreat it back behind him, pulling it closer and softly toward her. In great spite to the fearsome claws her own left hand took, he couldn't help but find it a soft and demure touch, comparable even to Zelda's.
Link found himself staring down at his fingers in her careful and silky grip, his cheeks soon taking another reddened turn when she added her right hand to his left to join all three, re-rising her light-brown-eyed gaze to mix with his.
I don't like where this is going, the watching Link thought to himself.
I'm already into Zel and Malon and Vass still seems to want somethin' with me.
This is just gonna make things more complicated.
"U-Um… listen… V-Veroni-"
"Shhh…"
His frown soon turned crossed and zig-zag, abashed and flustered as she leaned closer and pulled him in. Soon realising what she wanted with him he couldn't find the power or even the will to push her away from him, opting instead to lower his eyes from her closed ones, almost as if it would cancel out the guilt he felt when she leant her lips into his and pressed them together.
2
"'The Forgotten Haven'."
Part of Raynard's hardened frown upturned into an unsure scrunch, eyebrow piqued up to convey his curiosity and doubt.
"The what?" He bounced back over to the similarly hardened frown atop his mentor's face; the bald-headed, robe-adorned Scaverin on his far-left. Standing next to him, he seemed to be admiring what appeared to be cave murals and drawings; almost prehistoric-like in nature.
"I said… 'the Forgotten Haven'," the former Hylian bishop clarified his earlier-spoken sentence with, his brow furrowing back at the younger Hylian boy ahead before soon re-turning his head to face the wall before him again. "I wasn't completely sure that this was the place, but…"
"What place…?" Raynard began softly and curiously, standing up from his earlier squatting position over some clues of his own to pace over toward the robe-wearing Hylian.
"You see this mark, here…?" Scaverin began again, rising up one of his gloved fingers to point directly at what seemed to be a vaguely-familiar drawing; three triangle pieces hanging suspended in the air, drawn with a glowing gold.
The black-haired boy nodded in acknowledgement. "Yeah."
"This proves my theory." He continued on elaborating, his hazel-shaded eyes shooting between the trio of triangles and the crude drawing above it, depicting what seemed to be a deified figure above even the triangles themselves. Whether it was a man, or a woman was up for debate, given the shoddy art of the original artist but one marker was laid there well and truly in spite of the rest of the drawing.
The figure's incredibly-huge mane of lock-like blonde hair, as long as the figure's very back itself and depicted having floated up as if it were either caught in an updraft or as if it were alive itself.
"W-What… theory?" Raynard murmured out curiously, tearing his eyes from the oddly-enrapturing amateurish drawings before him to re-face his mentor on his left.
"That this place is where they are hiding my young boy…" The man chuckled this time, a kind of satisfied little chuckle atop the knowing little smirk he wore so well as he turned his body 'round to march around the boy.
"Um… 'they'?" Raynard chose to question, propping up another raven-shaded eyebrow the summoner's way as he revolved his head to match the man's marching direction.
"The 'Himitsu Shakai', I believe they're calling themselves now…" Scaverin spoke over his shoulder in his light smirk before soon re-facing the front and continuing his march forward through the darkened caves they waded through together. Raynard followed on in quiet understanding as he opened up his own mouth in light reply.
"'Himitsu Shakai'…," he murmured out curiously, chestnut-brown eyes briefly lowering before soon darting back up in realisation. "Secret… Society…?"
"Precisely," Scaverin spoke in confirmation for the boy's unsure translation, speaking over his shoulder again as he did. "These are the people of a former group… a tribe of maddened psychotics that once tried to depose the very Sainted Three themselves…"
Raynard's darkened eyebrows both shot up in sudden realisation, holding back a shocked gasp as he did. "So then-?"
"Yes…," the former aide to Ganondorf began again, dropping his smirk this time to cast his frown back on the boy behind him. "Some of these people may be descendants of your ancestors…"
Raynard lowered his spiky-haired head in surprised thought and awe, a mix of consternation and genuine interest shooting up his spine and his brain.
These guys may have some relation to my parents, he thought, a strange kind of excitement burning in his chest.
So why are we fighting them…?
"Joining these fanatics is out of the question I'm afraid, young Raynard…"
Scaverin's words, somehow having read his very mind, managed to make the boy lightly grunt out of his thoughts and shoot his head up to face the back of the bald-headed man's next sentence.
"They care little for family and ancestry I'm afraid…," he began again, shaking his wisely-spoken head as he did. "Their goal… is the re-awakening of a dead relic."
"A… 'dead relic'…?" The curious young Hylian parroted out curiously, furrowing his own brow as he listened intently.
"Yes…," Scaverin started ominously, a similarly foreboding quality adorning his normally business-like baritone. "A name as old as the history books themselves… Alphanion, 'the Absolute'."
"Alphanion, 'the Absolute'…," Raynard repeated again, briefly turning his eyes away from the forward-facing summoner at his right. "I know that name."
"Yes you'll have run across it during what bible studies we may have taught you in the Hylianis back home," Scaverin nodded in acknowledgement and understanding as the pair of Hylians stepped through the door to the next staircase, leading further down the far-off unknown dungeons of the Forgotten Haven. "Said to be a man capable of bending all aspects of the holy triangle to his will… not just one or even two like your little friend from time's end."
Raynard's curious-edged frown soon took an angered turn as his mentor's words reminded him of his former companion Link; a strange mixture of wistful longing for his fallen friendship and barely-contained rage bubbled within him.
What's wrong with me, he thought.
I'm supposed to hate him for choosing the wrong side.
So why do I feel like it's me that's on the wrong side?
"Make no mistake, young Raynard…," Scaverin began again, deftly yanking the blinking boy out of his reverie as if lassoing in a wayward sheep. "It is far too late to be having doubts…" The summoner warned wisely, tilting his bald-headed frown at the black-haired boy beneath him to his left.
"I know… Scaverin-sensei," Raynard nodded understandingly, his unsure frown still written across his young complexion, his chestnut eyes briefly facing the ground beneath him. "I guess I still just…"
"Do not fret my boy…," the older man began again, this time correcting his concerned frown into a half-faced smirk, picking up the pace down the steps they walked as he did. "You'll get another chance at snuffing that pathetic little traitor out…"
The listening Raynard, opting not to show his earlier-concerned mentor his troubled-faced frown, chose to lag behind just a pair of steps in order to put some valuable distance between them both before eventually shaking his spiky-haired head and following the determined summoner down the darkness.
"You will go no further."
Raynard's raven-haired head snapped up from his earlier deep-seated reverie, shocked and startled at the third voice's interruption; it was only when the pair of Hylians had somehow managed to descend so far down the unknown dungeon, that they reached what seemed to be some kind of a disused dock. Indeed, even as they approached by descending down the last of the stone staircase, they found a dilapidated bridge leading up to the green-like infested water below it… and a ship to match the battered and crumbling deck around it.
Standing directly on the bridge's end, and the ship's very docking entrance itself, was a hooded figure much the same as the last, casting a hardened glare on the pair with folded arms to match. The watching Scaverin narrowed his hazel-coloured eyes firmly at the figure before him, soon working out the connection.
"Ahhh… you must be another of them… I imagine…?" The summoner opted to greet this time, very slowly and deliberately marching on up the broken bridge before him. Raynard followed closely behind, his hardened glare focused and fixated on his firm-faced foe forward, fingers twitching carefully for the steel halberd that sat so well on his back.
The cloaked figure before them, seemingly a woman judging by the mezzo-soprano she addressed them with earlier, merely opted not to respond vocally at all; choosing instead to keep her slim, black-gloved arms folded as she stood directly ahead of the pair, effectively blocking their progress from advancing any further. While the watching Raynard could only glare and glower back, it was the wide-eyed Scaverin that seemed to realise something about the figure before them both, his dark-brown eyebrows shooting up in shock, his blind eyes behind the bandana he wore widening as he did.
"What is it, Scaverin-sensei…?" Raynard mouthed over quietly, his chestnut-brown eyes never leaving their new foe.
"This one…," the robed summoner of the dead began knowingly, his brow furrowing forward firmly and ferociously, a kind of hungry grin forming on his lips. "Is already dead…"
This time the listening Raynard couldn't help but widen his dark-brown irises back at the man, opting to swing them 'round to briefly eye him before darting back to face the foe ahead.
He can't be serious surely, he thought to himself worriedly.
"But he's done this before in bringing people back from the dead… he knows what their Aegir feels like…"
His almost paranoid ponderings carrying him on, Raynard held back gulping down a load of nervously-gained saliva before reaching back for his steel halberd, readying himself for perhaps yet another inevitable fight.
"All I need…"
Scaverin's words, bringing Raynard out of his third reverie, could only make both the hooded figure and the black-haired youth himself briefly eye him carefully, on her front and his left respectively; the robed summer pulled both chunky hands into the confines of the bishop-like robes he wore before, very soon, blades of dark-blue Aegir itself began to form and poke out of the robes, sharp and dangerous.
"Is to get close…," he began, a knowing little smirk dancing across his complexion. "And once I do…"
Raynard couldn't help but flinch when he felt Scaverin pull back his right Aegir blade, his confident if, dangerous smirk carrying him on.
"Your medical history…," he started one last time, his smirk contorting into a menacing black look that suit him fairly well. He opened his mouth up to finish his sentence and begin his inevitable offensive, licking at his lips ravenously, rising up his opened left palm to face and point at the hooded figure, his head tilting to the side in his knowing smirk as he did. "Shall be mine."
3
WHHHIIIINNNEEE…
DROOOOOOOOOOM
"What the fuck…?!"
Raynard's wide-eyed gasp, audible only to himself, echoed out within the throes of his mind as he brought up both slim arms to block the incredible force that threatened to knock him off his very feet; an incredible wave of Aegir and magic-like energy shot out from Scaverin's outstretched open-fingered left palm, firing forward at the folded-armed figure fiercely in a firm-eyed explosion of fire and eruption. The watching hooded figure, seemingly having moved with incredible speed before the huge sphere of Aegir even made it her way, had managed to disappear completely from the pair's line of sight; leaving merely the ruined destructed deck of the already-dilapidated ship she stood in front of.
The watching Raynard could only widen his chestnut-shaded eyes in sheer shock at the incredible level of physical and magical prowess that his mentor displayed; while he knew he was strong, miles stronger even than he was as the last Van Garrick, this was truly something else.
A discovery on par with those they witnessed in Stralanavia's mount Klimormansk.
In great spite to Scaverin's essential eye-blindness, he snapped his bald head 'round to his top-left and, somehow floating suspended high in the sky was their opponent, pulling a pair of black-gloved fingers back to attack with; pulsating with similarly destructive Aegir. Scaverin's brow shot up in realisation and he grunted out as he back-dashed through the air suddenly and quickly, eliciting the gasping Raynard to follow suite.
VWOOSH…
KERRRASSSSSHHH-CRUMBLECRUMBLE…
The sound of a world-shattering eruption rent the air and the very ground itself as the nameless woman's wave of magical energy tore apart the already-weakened bridge her enemies once stood on, prompting the meat of it to start descending down hopelessly into the green-shaded sea below it.
"That's more like it…" The watching Scaverin chuckled malevolently, having skidded backward in a safe landing behind him back to the surface on which they previously marched. Again the woman above them attempted to throw a second wave of destruction and Aegir, primed directly for the standing Scaverin and he cast his smirk up to watch it before rising up his arm, presumably to defend himself with.
"N-No, wait!" Raynard called out, reaching for his mentor in desperation. "SCAVERIN-SENSEI!"
"Hmph…!"
SMACK
VWEEEEE…
DROOOOM-KERRRASSSHHH
In an incredible manoeuvre, the narrow-eyed Scaverin somehow managed to backhand the very wave of Aegir itself, sending it careering and veering off away up into the cave above them, bringing down quite a bit of debris and rubble in response. Raynard watched on, shocked and near-reverent in nature at the amazing display before him; in spite of the seemingly-powerful beam of magical energy, the only wound Scaverin seemed to sport now was a mere slight burn mark on his right backhand.
Perhaps acting on instinct, the firmly-floating form of their flying foe soon vanished from their very eyes, drawing out a worried gasp from the watching Raynard.
"W-Where-?!"
Scaverin, however, was ahead of his younger student, opting to snap his head 'round very abruptly to his previously-undefended rear and swerve his body to his right in evasion, just barely avoiding the hooded woman's lunging punching strike. The fleet-footed summoner merely retaliated with an odd spinning manoeuvre that saw him twisting in mid-air, barely lifted off the ground before he somehow passed through the gasping cloaked woman's form, ending up behind her.
When he reached her rear, Scaverin swung his body back in a snapping slashing strike with the humming Aegir blade hidden within the confines of his left and right sleeves, grunting out with brow-furrowed effort as he did.
SLLLICCCE
"ARGH!"
Time slowed down for the pair; Scaverin in his hung mid-air scowl and the wide-eyed woman having been sent so far suddenly forward suspended into the air herself that her hood fell, soon revealing her face and hair. She sported what seemed to be a spiky-haired head of light, turquoise-shaded hair and a surprising pair of multi-coloured eyes; one dull-red and the other a near colourless-blue. Unlike those of her seeming comrades however, her skin appeared dull grey and cracked, her very eyes themselves appearing near-grey itself.
She looks just like a corpse, the wide-eyed Raynard thought to himself in shock.
Bringing the watching young Hylian out of his reverie for the fourth time, Scaverin followed up his earlier counter-attack by leaping up toward her suspended form and issuing out a quick roundhouse kick in the air. Time soon returned to its normal flow and the shocked cloaked corpse widened its dead-like eyes before forcing its body ahead in a sudden and abrupt jerk forward to avoid the assault, swinging her own scowl 'round to face Scaverin's.
As she landed on the ground, small shoes crunching against the hardened rock-like ground below her, the nameless cadaver back-dashed through the air defensively, both fists clenched at her sides as she did, eyes focused firmly on her foe forward. Scaverin gave immediate pursuit, his own form far too fast for her; she issued out a shocked little gasp, head darting to her rear only to find him behind her grunting out as he slammed a stabbing kick into her back.
SMACK
"Rgh…!"
The growl that escaped her cracked lips followed her on, even as she slammed both black-gloved hands into the ground, angrily raking up stone and debris in her wake as she did. As she at long last recovered her positioning somewhat, she growled a second time as she swung her body 'round in a swift diagonal kick of her own; retaliatory and full of hate. She widened both cracked eyes however when she clocked mere air itself ahead, indicating the super-fast Scaverin having evaded her attack somehow. She snapped her ebony-cloaked head up to the sky, gracing it with her angered and cracked-faced scowl before vaulting her feet off of the ground in immediate pursuit.
Almost as promptly as she closed the distance between them both did the narrow-eyed corpse slam a superfast series of strikes and slice-like punches, all enhanced by Aegir into the similar-focused Scaverin above her; he countered with his own series of quick shooting fists and blocking arms of his own, near lightning-fast in speed. The silent Raynard, still standing in sheer disbelief below them both, could only watch on in abject silence and shock at the incredible strength and speed with which his mentor managed to move at.
Until now, he had always thought of himself as the stronger one between the pair, in spite of their professional relationship together.
The sight before him, however, spoke volumes of their differences; it made the watching Raynard's fingers very slowly clench into frustrated little fists.
If I had this kind of power at the Hylian Hyrax or back in Stralanavia, I would have easily killed Link instead of just tying with him again, he thought to himself wistfully and discontentedly.
In amidst their incredibly-quick blows, the narrow-eyed woman below Scaverin shot up one of her free arms to grapple at the furrow-browed summoner; he responded with a crude, if, effective free fist of his own directed at her already-cracked and lightly-marred face.
SMACK
VWEEEE…
Before she could even reach the ground below her, sailing fast downward, the narrow-eyed Scaverin's form flew underneath her in utilising his own Aegir; soon re-appearing in a careful-laden skid behind her, kicking up dust, smoke and small rocks behind and ahead. He grunted out in effort as he swung his right sleeve diagonally at her as she fast-approached him, successfully catching her in a brutal slicing manoeuvre and sending her into a pained tailspin for a follow-up; he narrowed his two defunct eyes a second time since pursuing and grunted out again as he slammed a savage roundhouse into her, sending the nameless cadaver sailing back the very way she came. This time the angered turquoise-haired woman recovered in mid-air and, as she did, she cast her bleeding-faced scowl down on the fast-flying form of her frowning-faced foe below, all her limbs splayed out to far ends of herself as if in defence.
As suddenly as he reached her did he somehow pass through her; a shocking fact that startled the watching woman suspended in mid-air. She could only widen both her multi-coloured eyes, darting around her surroundings in swift desperate search for her vanished foe; before she could respond however, he re-appeared and directly in front of her.
SLAM
"Gurgh…!"
Further blood, still stored within her seemingly-deceased body, fell from her chin as she was struck very suddenly by the abruptly-re-appeared form of Scaverin, having slammed a fist ferociously into her face, sending her tailspinning roughly high and up into the stalactite-covered ceiling above them all. Rather surprising not just his ebony-cloaked foe, but his comrade Raynard himself, Scaverin opted instead to drop back down to the ground, landing in a quick but graceful click of his Hylian sandals, his once-hazel shaded eyes hidden behind the bandana he wore cast up in watching.
"S-Scaverin-sensei… what are you-?"
"Shhh…"
Opting instead to cast his hardened business-like frown upward in watching his flying-rolling foe, Scaverin slowly and deliberately rose up his left opened palm to point it directly at the ceiling high above them all. The quiet Raynard furrowed his own brow in scrutiny and, attempting to work out just what his mentor what doing, soon narrowed both eyes and quickly darted his black-haired head between them both in diagonal fashions.
RRRRUMBLE-RUMBLE…
The very ground and caves above them themselves began to vibrate violently; a revelation that left the watching Raynard wide-eyed and gasping. He managed to keep hold of his positioning and cast his eyes skyward to see the source of the earthquake, only to gasp in sheer shock and awe, taking a step back when he at last clocked the origin. High above them all, and clearly primed in rapid-preparation for the high-flying form of their unnamed foe, the powerful rock stalactites began to come to life themselves; an incredible sight that left the watching Raynard speechless.
The rock-like stalactites soon responded to Scaverin's high-climbing Aegir and, as it did, so too did the very room itself bend to his will; an unnerving sight that wouldn't quite look out of place as a fever dream itself, like reality changing before them all. The stalactites came rushing down to meet the scrunch-eyed cadaver below them before finally brutally and savagely stabbing her successfully and satisfyingly, immediately stopping her flight and leaving her suspended in mid-air with a wide-eyed gasp. The remaining blood left within her fallen, dead body soon dripped down her chin as she just hung there, wide-eyed and shocked.
Standing directly below her, Scaverin at long last lowered his open-palmed left hand and, like magic, the stalactites let go of her form, allowing her to drop down lifelessly and pathetically back down to planet earth.
VWEEE…
CRASSSSH
Destruction, dust and debris flew up in her wake as she landed viciously into the ground below her, leaving her unable to move temporarily. While it wasn't much for a seemingly-summoned corpse, it was enough for the frowning-faced Scaverin to finish the fight with; he cast his newly-gained smirk, satisfied and content before soon exchanging his look with the shocked-faced Raynard.
"And that's how you do it, my young apprentice."
Raynard was left in an incredulous-faced expression, unable to bring up any words in response as he merely watched his blind mentor turn his bald-headed face 'round to begin marching toward his fallen foe, presumably to finish her off.
4
"So…," Raynard began again, this time in a half-frustrated sigh escaping his lips as the pair walked what remained of the already-rickety bridge leading to the similarly dilapidated sea-ship before them both. "Have you finally gotten this… 'judgement' thing you mentioned?" He propped for the older Hylian on his right, eyebrow risen as he did.
Scaverin opted to turn his own blind-faced head 'round to look down at the black-haired boy on his right, his small and pointed ears still working fairly well for him. "Not quite dear boy…," the summoner stated in a suave little smirk, a satisfied expression written across his exterior as he re-turned his head 'round to face the front in their boarding of the broken-down ship before them both. "If I am correct in my analysis… then there is one last thing to be done here before we can leave."
Raynard couldn't help but furrow his brow back at his mentor; over the course of the coming months in the time he spent with the much older man, a strange little voice inside of him began to doubt him and he had mixed feelings about it all.
While the former bishop of Hyrule had managed to save him from a grisly fate, and even opted to take him in not only as a student but as some kind of twisted heir, there was also the less-than-reputable and honestly questionable methods with which he achieved his oddly-religious goals.
Summoning the gigantic feral Wolfos in Palashia (that also managed to kill off a small number of people into the bargain), endangering not just his own life but the lives of the countless hundreds within the walls of Kaiohdrahl during Velkarez's seize attempt and even blinding himself during their stint through Stralanavia's Klimormansk Mountain; having accessed forgotten secrets within the Cube of Insight and the similarly ancient city hidden within it, the city of Dragowald.
He's dangerous, Raynard surmised quietly and silently to himself, chestnut eyes very briefly wandering in his direction, his spiky-haired head still focused forward in an attempt not to draw any unwanted attention from his normally-harsh mentor.
It may only be a matter of time before he ends up killing himself in this weird quest of his, or maybe even me into the bargain.
"Ah… here we are."
His words managed to bring him out of his reverie for the fifth time and Raynard blinked forward when he realised Scaverin was attempting to breach the insides of the abandoned ship before them.
"After you… my young apprentice." He spoke, casting his oddly-malevolent grin on the youth below him, holding open the creaking broken door ahead. Raynard narrowed a single hard-brown eye in scrutiny at the man before soon realising he meant no real ill will by it.
It's simply how he carried himself.
When the two entered the worryingly-rocking boat, they cast their suspicious eyes 'round each area of the ruined barge, as if looking for any hiding stowaways or enemies related to the mysterious group they were pursuing earlier. Oddly enough, however, it seemed fairly quiet on surface level.
"So what's… in here that we need to-?"
"All good things in time, dear boy…," Scaverin began again in light interruption, his confident smirk ever plastered on his face as he began marching through the ruined ship before them both. "In time."
Raynard gave the older man an unsure frown on his face before opting to follow him wordlessly, his nerves on full alert for any concerning surprises waiting for them. It wasn't until they both began to reach what appeared to be the brig of the ship that Raynard soon realised what they were looking for. He stood up on his tip-toes to get a better look into the bars through the small cell within, blinking lightly as he did before soon widening his chestnut-brown eyes in shock at the sight within.
A brown-haired woman, her ragged clothes and body a mess, sat in a corner holding what appeared to be a similarly dirty-laden small boy in her grip, casting her own fearful look back at the eyes through the bars before her.
"What the…?" Raynard murmured out, taking a couple steps back from the brig in sheer shock. "What's going…?"
"Yes…," Scaverin nodded in narrow-eyed realisation of his own, his bald head leant to the side as he cast his own look of hardened determination on the near-silent woman and child in the cell ahead. "This is the Himitsu Shakai's doing…," he began, a little chuckle soon spicing his lips and his words. "Their… modus operandi…," he finished, this time in a knowing little toothy-faced smirk before he reached down with his sleeved right hand. His fingers within began to bleed the same light-blue shaded Aegir and, like magic, he entered it within in small concentrations into the lock before him. Reacting to it, the lock mechanism inside soon gave out a very audible click, before leaving the chuckling summoner a now openable door. "Now…," he began again, creaking open the door before them both in a slow and deliberate manner, drawing out worried whimpers from the pair of Aurelians within the small cell ahead. "Now we reach the end…"
A part of Raynard's concerns soon reached their climax when he darted his eyes between the two, worried and anxiety-driven, he stepped in after the summoner to open up his mouth and address the older man.
"S-Scaverin-sensei…"
The older man, seemingly unable to hear the younger Hylian behind him, merely continued his malevolent march toward the two before him.
"Scaverin-sensei!"
The robed bishop opted not to listen, casting his menacing little smirk down on the woman before rising up his pulsating Aegir-filled right sleeve above her. In response she opened up her mouth and screamed; a reaction that drew out crying and similar shouts from the small boy in her grip. She tossed the boy aside, almost as if to protect him from the inevitably-incoming assault.
Raynard's eyes widened and he reached forward an open-palmed hand forward helplessly. "SCAVERIN-SENSEI!"
WHOOSH…
SQUELCH
In an instant, the poor woman's cries were quelled just as quickly as the precise Aegir blade reached her skin and pierced it successfully, leaving her wide-eyed and gasping; blood inevitably drew from her lower stomach, staining the summoner's right sleeve quite badly and even his smirking-faced expression as he glared down at her. A few uncomfortable seconds passed before she eventually dropped her head down in ominous signature, her arms similarly dropping to match.
RRRRRRIPPP…
The sound of his Aegir blade echoed out sickeningly as he pulled it slowly and deliberately from her recently-fallen corpse, lightly swinging it diagonally as if to rid it of the blood that gathered on it.
"Now…," he began madly. "Now we're finished here…" He chuckled.
Raynard couldn't help but watch on wide-eyed shock.
He knew the man had killed in cold blood before, but actually witnessing it with his own eyes was something else completely.
When the robed summoner slowly double-took in the whimpering boy's direction on his far-right, he narrowed his eyes and dropped his smirk before soon glowering back, a worrying look in his eye. Raynard soon noticed it and narrowed his own, darting between the pair and began to reach back for his steel halberd when he noticed Scaverin start to march toward the cornered little Aurelian.
This time Raynard opted to move, his nerves returned to him, and stood in between the pair, leaning his ebony-haired head back at his mentor as he shook it dismissively. Scaverin widened his defunct eyes behind the blindfold he wore, genuinely shocked at the signature of Aegir he saw between himself and his new target.
"What… are you doing boy…?" He began warningly, tilting his own head as he did. "This is a witness…"
"I can't," Raynard simply spoke, shaking his head again as he did. "I can't let you do this too, Scaverin-sensei."
"What is this…?" Scaverin murmured out disbelievingly, raising up his head in genuine shock and awe. "You're getting in my way…? Mine…?!"
"It's too much Scaverin-sensei… come on," Raynard tried again, this time with a softer frown adorned on his face, a near-pleading look in his eye as he did. "He's just a kid… look at him."
The listening Scaverin furrowed his brow at his student below him contemplatively before swinging his eyes down on the boy below them. Sure enough, just as Raynard had said, the poor boy cowered in the corner, head held under his two small, raised hands as if to protect himself with, shaking horribly from the fear. The watching Scaverin merely turned his hardened frown away from the scene, as if disgusted somehow before clicking his tongue to match.
"Fine…," he began before briefly re-turning his head to face the young boy below them again, this time with a much softer frown adorned on his face. "But he still is a witness, you know Raynard…"
Raynard's furrowed brow upturned into a curious-faced frown, and he blinked back at his wise if, unstable mentor. "Then… what do you suggest?"
Opting to act instead of speak, Scaverin chose to push past the grunting Van Garrick, soon standing over the whimpering, shaking boy. He knelt down on the boy's own level and rose up his left rough-fingered palm to hover over his small form, drawing out a worried gasp from the watching Raynard. Scaverin merely rose his free right hand up in a soft open-fingered palm, vertically facing the youth with as if to dissuade him from interrupting.
He chose, as before, to watch.
It took a few seconds but, as they passed, the boy whimpering below the scowling Scaverin very quickly stopped whimpering; he blinked and rose up his eyes to face the hatefully-glowering Scaverin watching from above.
"W-Who… what's… where's mom…?"
Raynard's eyebrows lifted up in realisation to the boy's sudden loss in memory and Scaverin's seeming technique. He winced however, when he soon also realised that, with his mother's body in the room, the boy would merely be without answers and go into an immediate grieving process.
He lowered his hardened-brown eyes and his frown twitched in sympathy for the boy.
I know how that feels, he thought.
"Come."
Scaverin's call made the frowning Van Garrick raise up his eyes out of his pondering before he briefly re-eyed the blinking boy ahead of him. He about-turned hesitantly to follow, tearing his head away from the plight of the poor boy now behind him.
"I will let this slide given your young age… and your history…"
Scaverin's words again managed to make the frowning Raynard shoot up his risen-eyebrow frown, surprised. The robed summoner half-turned his blindfold-covered head to furrow his brow back at the black-haired Van Garrick, a kind of warning look to his expression.
"But if you interfere with my strategies again… I won't hesitate to put you down as well. Are we clear?"
Raynard's frown, perhaps growing weakened and frustrated, twitched just once as he lowered his eyes away from his mentor's and he nodded.
"Yes… Scaverin-sensei."
Satisfied, Scaverin turned his head back 'round to his front as he marched along out the outside of the ship's brig, reaching the stairs to the upper deck.
On the way as he followed his older mentor, Raynard couldn't help but fixate on past events, his recent concerns now having grown stronger after having witnessed the brutal murder of the innocent woman behind them both.
An inner wound that would grow and fester ever further over the coming months.
It didn't take long for the ever-determined adventurers of Impa's group to soon locate their two missing heroes; Link and Veronika and, when they did, they shared their information on their recently-fought fight with the mysterious and elusive Gerudo-like assassin sent to kill them both… or at least kill one of them.
A chilling fact that managed to worry not just the usually-unflappable Impa, but some of the more concerned members such as Zelda, Malon and even the likes of Alwyn and Barkner. It was soon made all the stranger and more contrary to their inner anxieties however, when the recently-conjoined party dove further deep down the descent of the dank dungeon, only to find its insides near-barren and containing the occasional black-cloaked corpse.
The ever-wise Alwyn and Impa comment on the previously-held theory that there may be an intruder into the unknown dungeon… besides themselves of course.
When the group soon made their final approach into the last depths of the abyss below them, finding themselves in what looked to be an untended dock for a ship now filled with recent signs of destruction and a fight having freshly occurred by those same signs.
"Yeah…," the narrow-eyed Alwyn astutely observed, pulling himself up from his knelt position over the near-broken bridge leading to the similarly dilapidated ship on its right. "Someone definitely fought here recently."
"In looking back upstairs…," the ever-talkative Vassia began, sauntering forward the join the folded-armed Zoran on his left; he briefly turned his head 'round to eye her next to and below him, his injured head-fin lightly swinging with him. "T'would certainly seem as though our enemies here have gotten attacked themselves…," the Palashian princess claimed, a knowing and confident smirk on her face as she did. "I wonder who it could have been…?"
"Especially considerin' they're so strong too…," Barkner nodded in grim-faced agreement with her from the back, his own chunky Goron arms folded in response. "I mean do you guys remember that fight they put up in Kaiohdrahl…?"
"On the beach?" Link posited to his close companion on his right, nodding his green-hat head up at him with a tiny grin on his face. "Yeah I remember. Chick was a damn nutjob."
"Powerful nutjobs though…," Malon muttered out in a disapproving little glance his way on his left, reaching out to grapple at his exposed left arm. He couldn't help but double-take in her direction before rolling his oceanic eyes when he realised her intentions. "You shouldn't take so many chances."
He knew why she was being so touchy and clingy with her hands.
Having just returned from his brief stint alone with Veronika, he imagined she was feeling somewhat insecure and worried about him.
Might as well just let her do her thing and let it pass, he thought considerately.
"In any case, I imagine most of their forces have gone from the area, with how quiet things are." Impa spoke up wisely from the back, armoured hand on her hip as she did.
Zelda turned her curious-eyed frown up on her guardian on her upper-right, hands joined softly at her centre, her small ponytail of blonde hair bouncing lightly as she did. "Does that mean we're pressing on Impa?"
SLAP-CRACK
The sound of Barkner's knuckles hitting pure rock-fist echoed out around them, commanding attention to the light grin on his face. "I sure hope so…," he began in his grin. "It's been easy pickin's so far!" He finished in a light-voiced chuckle, drawing out a similarly amused smirk from the listening Link next to him. Impa rolled her eyes in response but returned to the objective at hand, as always.
"Yes… but we stay tight, as before," she began, nodding her head forward. "Come on."
When the group, very carefully marched on into the abandoned and decaying ship before them all, they soon found it as broken and in dire need of repair as the rest of its ominous and eerie-looking boardwalk before it.
"That fight we think happened out there…," Alwyn began again, slowly shaking his head as he descended down the brig's narrow staircase, his companions spread out two at a time side-by-side up and down the passageway. "I don't think it was just limited to outside."
"How do you mean?" Zelda spoke up from behind and above the astute Zoran, marching on down carefully next to the similarly-frowning Link on her right.
"I mean…"
His words trailed off as the frowning-faced Barkner led the charge forward, reaching his chunky Goron arm to push the ajar-hardwood door open before them both.
CREEEEAAAAKKK…
The sound of a small boy whimpering and crying quietly to himself echoed out within; a haunting finality to the struggle of their exploration of the far-off island.
"That…" Alwyn at last finished his trailed off sentence with, shaking his head dismissively and disappointedly at the scene before him.
"Good goddess…" The watching Barkner could only gasp at the scene before him.
The nameless small boy, seemingly having not noticed the new presences behind him, stayed hunched in a bloodied corner with a fallen woman's corpse in his similarly small arms; a horrifying sight. Barkner turned his wise head 'round to eye Alwyn on his left and shook it dismissively; Alwyn took the silent words spoken by his close friend and turned on his heel to face the group of children behind him.
"Go back upstairs."
His sudden request, genuinely surprising to the watching Zelda, Link, Vassia and Malon ahead, could only make them all widen their eyes and exchange looks together before soon murmuring.
"B-But why?"
"Unacceptable!"
"Alwyn!"
Only the listening Link opted to cast the Zoran with a knowing-eyed frown of his own, briefly darting them in the bloody cell's direction. Alwyn gave him only the faintest of nods; it was essentially a silent gesture for him.
"I know you can handle this but they can't. Take them back up to Impa and Veronika."
He's probably right, the quiet young Hylian thought, lowering his oceanic-eyed gaze from the wise Zoran's.
"What do you think mon amour?"
Vassia's ever-inquisitive little tone turning him back to the real world made him swing his frown on her and he merely shook his blonde-curtained head back at her.
"Al and Bark's right," he responded with before turning on his boot's heel, presumably to march back upstairs. "Come on guys."
Malon shot him an insulted look, tilting her fire-haired head at him. "Aw come on! We can so handle what's in there!"
"For once I'm in agreement with the farm rat…" Vassia muttered out, drawing a humorously-annoyed glance from the young girl next to her in response. Link held back a smile, if only in respect to the seemingly-recently deceased woman behind them all before his eyebrows rose up in recognition as he felt the right side of his weathered Kokiri tunic being pulled. He turned his head 'round only to find the frowning-faced Zelda facing him, a kind of thoughtful-laced look to her calm ocean blue.
She said nothing to him vocally, yet somehow spoke to him merely through her eyes; an impressive feat given their short length of time together. He nodded slowly, carefully and gravely; a saddened frown matching Alwyn's that made the similar-eyed Zelda slowly eye the hidden cell on her left before she nodded at long last and turned to face the two girls behind her.
"I agree," the Hylian princess nodded on as she joined her hands ever-softly at her centre, a kind of business-like frown now adorned on her face. "We should give Sir Barkner and Sir Alwyn some space to work."
"What a gyp…" Malon sighed, about-turning, a kind of disappointed look in her eye.
"Well… I suppose it is for the better," Vassia agreed surprisingly with a lightly-smiling shut-eyed shrug, re-opening her mouth to further spice her words with her well-known candour. "I imagine that cell is absolutely filthy."
While even Malon issued out a fairly naïve chuckle to match Vassia's likewise ignorant disposition, the Palashian princess' ill-chosen words managed to make the listening Link and Zelda wince simultaneously before exchanging one last look together and then giving their companions behind them a final glance; satisfied, they turned and dredged their little Hylian legs up the staircase after their companions.
