Chapter Five
Hateno Village had never looked nicer than it had before in the aftermath of Ganon's defeat. It was still mostly a small village, but the place had changed. Most of the buildings in town had been improved upon and many of them were bigger than they ever were before.
Even Dal Kaebora, the mayor of Hateno, had opened up his own restaurant recently and named it "Kaebora's Restaurant" after both himself and the long-forgotten owl known as Kaebora Gaebora.
Link made sure that he looked decent for his dinner date with Zelda. He went straight to an attire-changing department and put on a dinner suit, once he'd gotten changed and had combed his hair, Link looked at himself in the mirror and left the building.
Link headed down towards the fancy restaurant located next to town hall where he found Zelda waiting for him. The princess looked amazing tonight, she was wearing green sandals, a tiara and a sleeveless black dress. She'd even made sure to tie her hair back in a bun.
Initially, Link thought Zelda was glowing in the moonlight when, in actuality, it was the light of the Blood Moon that was shining on Zelda. Zelda greeted the hero with a hug and he followed her towards their table. The two sat down together and waited for the restaurant's manager to come by.
It didn't take long for Mayor Kaebora himself to show up, wearing a simple restaurant manager's suit. "Good evening, you two." The mayor said, "How may we be of service?" He handed Link a menu which he used to select the food that he and Zelda wanted.
"Milk, burger and salmon for both of us." The hero replied after studying the menu.
"Would you care for some Lon-Lon Fries with that?"
"That sounds yummy." Zelda said happily.
Kaebora headed off to get the ordered food and soon returned, carrying two plates for Zelda and Link with their ordered foods. As for Link and Zelda's drinks, they were taken care of by a Rito waiter named Hass. "Here you go." Kaebora said happily.
Hass and Kaebora walked off, leaving Link to be alone with his princess. However, the brief encounter with Hass left an impression on Link. For a few straight minutes, he began to wonder; Was Hass related to Kass the traveling musician?
It had been a week since Link last saw his old musical friend. The last time he'd seen Kass, the hero had been visiting Rito Chief Grubba to check on him. Right as Link was leaving, he bumped right into the accordion-playing humanoid big bird.
Link and Kass talked for a while and all was fine until the musical Rito suddenly started singing an ominous song that foretold an ominous clash with an ancient enemy back from the grave. By coincidence, the encounter happened on the same day Link had another nightmare about Demise.
"Are you ok, Link?" The sound of Zelda's voice woke up Link from his trance and he remembered that he was in a restaurant with his girlfriend. The princess had taken a bite of her delicious salmon. But funnily enough, Link hadn't eaten yet.
"Oh, sorry, princess." Link scratched the back of his head and apologized. He helped himself to his meal, deciding to start with some French fries first. However, he failed to notice a few small black spots on one of the fries.
As soon as Link popped the French fry in his mouth, his eyes widened and his mouth began smoking. The Lon-Lon Fries had spice! Acting quickly, Link picked up his glass of milk and took a drink. Just like that, his mouth no longer burned.
"I'm glad you're ok." Zelda said with a dreamy smile after she'd finished chewing on a piece of her burger and salmon.
An hour and a half later, after eating their very nourishing meal, Link and Zelda left the village and headed out to an open, grassy field where they planned on stargazing together. Along the way, Link couldn't help but notice that the warm night air started to feel cold.
He also could sense an ominous feeling in the air. It was one that felt as though something dark and terrible was about to take place. Zelda seemed to be ignoring the cold chill in the night air, even as goose bumps began to pop up on her arms and legs.
"Um, Zelda?" Link asked, unable to stand the ominous breeze anymore, "Can you feel that villainous chill in the air? It's as if something dark is descending over us? I feel cold."
Zelda stopped in her tracks and so did Link. She was frowning and shivering at the same time, her teeth were also chattering. The princess crossed her arms and began quivering as the goose bumps appearing on her skin became more visible.
"Y-Y-You're right. I c-c-can sense s-s-something." She said; her Triforce mark on the back of her left hand was glowing. Zelda and Link looked to the sky and saw that the stars seemed to be glowing more strongly than they should be.
Then they saw it up above, the humongous Blood Moon with an angry race, rising higher and higher into the sky while surrounded by Calamity Ganon Malice. "Oh dear!" Zelda said breathlessly, "It seems we've once again underestimated Ganon's powers!"
In the first few days after Ganon's defeat, good old Hino wasn't surprised that the Demon King's forces were still terrorizing Hyrule and the Blood Moon event was still occasionally happening. If Hino knew one thing, it was to always expect Blood Moon Night.
Of course, he still was a geek and would go crazy whenever the phenomenon occurred. Tonight was the night Hino went crazy again. In the first minutes after the Blood Moon appeared, Hino noticed that it had gotten larger since the last time it appeared.
As the clock hit 11:30, the night air became very cold while smoky ashes and red sparks covered the world. Hino smiled wickedly and his excitement bubbled. "OH YEAH!" He yelled, "BRING ON THE BLOOD MOON!"
Hino took off running across the field. Then he turned right and passed the stable before taking another right and ran towards the dirt trail. Then Hino turned right again and ran back to his starting position. Before long, he was running in circles and laughing crazily.
Dueling Peaks Stable owner Trusde Stead was sound asleep in the stable and was dreaming of cats playing with sheep when he heard someone laughing and woke up. "Wutz gowing awn?" Trusde muttered, still half-asleep.
Climbing out of bed, the ranch owner pulled on a robe and headed outside to see what was the matter. When Trusde saw the ghostly ash and smoke rising into the air, he gasped in horror.
"LOOK TO THE SKY, YOU FOOLS!" That troublemaker Hino yelled as he ran past Trusde, "THE BAD MOON RISES AGAIN!" The ranch owner's heart was pounding. Every time Hino's Blood Moon craze happened, it made Trusde uneasy.
Despite being unnerved, the bearded ranchman still looked to the sky. When he saw the Blood Moon, Trusde put a hand over his mouth as he took in the horrific sight of the angry-looking Blood Moon with gleaming mad eyes and bared sharp teeth.
Very soon, the clock began to chime 11:49, and the dark night began to change. The sky glowed blood red and dark-red clouds rolled in. Thunder rumbled and lightning struck a nearby tree, causing it to go up in flames and burn to ash.
Knowing that this wasn't going to bode well, Trusde headed back to bed to brace himself all while Hino kept running around and going crazier than he ever had before. By 11:52, as midnight drew closer, the Blood Moon's dark power was starting to intensify.
As a side effect, Hino could hear loud explosions and howls echoing in his ears. While he was distracted by the sounds, blood red lightning struck him on the spot. KA BOOM! The man erupted in flames and fell, it was pain beyond pain.
The last thing Hino could feel was himself falling into darkness. His life was coming to an end and nobody would ever know of the Blood Moon Maniac. In fact, nobody EVER saw what happened to Hino...
