Ibis' body felt incredibly light as he floated in an endless void. He wasn't sure how he got there, but the darkness felt comforting, so he didn't mind it.
The peace was interrupted by a flash of light. The shining rays didn't hurt his eyes, even as he stared at their point of origin. If anything, he felt annoyed at the sudden interruption of his peaceful drifting.
A door took shape from the rays of light, planting itself firmly before him. Something was calling out at him from within, beckoning for his presence.
He tentatively tried to open the door, only for it to easily swing open when his fingers brushed against the doorknob.
Partially floating, and partially walking, Ibis made his way inside the door. Beyond said door was a massive circular room, more doors lining the walls. Any material possible, and detail possible, any sort of door that Ibis could imagine was there: metallic doors wider than he was tall, tiny rotten doors, imposing marble gates, and unassuming little passages.
He knew they were there, and could somehow perceive them all, but… they were not present in a way that Ibis could fully understand. But they were there, and that was enough of a start.
Picking one of the many doors he attempted to reach it, to touch it. Somehow it kept escaping his touch, always being just a few inches away from where he grasped. His irritation began to rise, but as such a close distance he noticed another detail he'd previously overlooked.
Torches. Small braziers were attached on top of each door. Most of them were either unlit or burning with a black flame. All, except for the golden door he'd entered from. A bright yellow light, almost white in its intensity, shone above the door. It didn't hurt to look at in the slightest, though.
His eyes swept over the room again, trying to find any other white flames… if those could be called flames.
There was one more, to his surprise. Smaller than the golden entrance's own light, a softer white light shone over a sturdy oaken door. Its design reminded Ibis of a tree's bark, with a few leaves poking their way out of the doorframe to boot.
This time, he could touch the door. His palm felt the rough texture of the bark, a faint thrum echoing from inside.
Something stopped him from opening the door, though. It felt as heavy as lead as he tried to push it, only managing to strain himself to near exhaustion.
Then, the door shifted. Just barely. It wasn't enough to even peek inside the room… but it was enough for something else.
A beat rang out from within the room. It was faint, so very faint that his ears could barely pick up on it, but it was present. And it filled his very core with an energy unlike anything before.
He marveled at what he'd just discovered, eyes unfocused as he listened to the beating.
Then, the pressure fell over him. Waves of exhaustion washed over his body and mind. The light dimmed, and he found himself growing drowsy.
###
With a start, Ibis found himself back in his bed. "Was that all a dream?" he wondered.
His body didn't feel any different from what he could feel, so… maybe. But on the other hand, it all felt too vivid to be just a dream.
Regardless of the truth, though, Ibis had other things to worry about: it wouldn't do for him to sleep in on the first day. Thus, with a heave, he pulled himself out of bed before he could decide to get back to sleep.
The movements had disturbed the other room's occupant, rousing Vidofnir from its slumber. The golden bird shook itself awake, ruffling its otherwise-unblemished feathers. Peeking out from the makeshift nest it had built on the desk, Vidofnir quickly zeroed in on Ibis currently getting ready to leave the room, his hand hovering over the door's handle.
The two exchanged a silent look.
"Is that my cloak?" He asked, looking at the bundle of cloth under the bird and then back at the wall, where no cloaks could be found. Ibis' jaw locked up, and the man had to take several deep breaths to avoid giving in to the urge to strangle the bird.
A few moments later Ibis realized that he still had to do something before… whatever it was he was supposed to do to help around the academy.
"...I need to go tell Gaepora about you," he groaned, already dreading the exchange.
A weight settled on Ibis' shoulder, and he glanced up to see Vidofnir perched there. The man glowered at the bird, who gleefully ignored him, puffing out its chest instead.
With a resigned sigh, Ibis made his way outside, hoping that there wouldn't be too many people around.
"So, what you are telling me right now, is that you somehow… crushed a rock."
"Yes."
"And it disappeared in a flash of light."
"Indeed."
"And suddenly, this bird was on your bed?"
"That's exactly what I said, sir."
Gaepora leaned back into his seat, nursing his third cup of tea. He said nothing for a long while, content to take a sip from time to time.
"...Sir?"
Gaepora lifted a hand to stop Ibis from saying any more, going to take another sip. Once the cup was empty, he calmly placed it on the table and looked at Ibis.
"I would like you to do me a favor, Ibis," the old man said with an inscrutable expression.
Ibis nodded, waiting for the headmaster to continue.
"I would like for you to write down a report at the end of your day. Any noteworthy development, confusing events, the like. Please have them on my desk right after sunset."
Ibis tilted his head a bit, unsure of what to make of the request. "I… will try? Though I must ask why."
Gaepora leveled an unamused gaze at Ibis. "Because if you intend to spring these absurd stories on me regularly, I would like some time to digest the information first."
The academy was a surprisingly calm place, all things considered: the students were… well, teenagers and young adults, so Ibis couldn't blame their rowdiness. That would've been quite hypocritical out of him.
Most of what Ibis ended up doing over the day amounted to menial jobs such as cleaning the classrooms between lessons, fetching materials or tools for the instructors or students, and so on.
The sun was setting by then, and Ibis was just about done with his last task for the day: namely, putting away the last practice dummies in the training hall.
Ibis huffed as he dragged the dummy to the side of the hall, where he'd placed all the other ones. They weren't incredibly heavy, but after running around to and fro the whole day he was quite tired.
In the meantime, Vidofnir was perched on a wooden beam near the ceiling, waiting for his summoner to be done with the pointless – in its opinion – task. Truthfully, the whole day had been full of tasks for his summoner that should've been well below his station.
"Would you mind not glaring at me that hard?" Ibis yelled up at him. "What did I even do?"
And of course, there was also that detail: for some reason, his summoner couldn't properly communicate with Vidofnir, which irked him to no end. How did such an incompetent mage manage to summon him, let alone bind him as his familiar at the same time? There had been no contest, whether of might or wit, to give Vidofnir a chance to judge this aspiring summoner.
While the human believed that Vidofnir held some sort of grudge against him, that was not the truth: the bird was irritated at its own situation first and foremost. If only they could properly communicate, then maybe some light could be shed.
The doors of the hall creaked, and Vidofnir hurried to leave the building alongside Ibis: it wouldn't do for a familiar to stray too far from their summoner, willingly bound or otherwise.
Shadows greeted the duo as they made their way outside. The sun had long since set, giving place to the night sky. While Ibis kept walking towards the academy, Vidofnir kept his eyes and ears peeled for anything out of place.
"Never go outside after dark, and if you do then go back inside as quickly as possible: the nights are dangerous," the old man called Gaepora had warned them. Ibis seemed to believe the man's words, and therefore so would Vidofnir.
The first sign of trouble came with the sound of bats, significantly louder than he'd ever heard them before. Ibis turned towards the source of the sounds, while Vidofnir prepared himself to take off from his summoner's shoulder.
A small group of bat-like creatures approached them. They were larger than any normal bat either Vidofnir or Ibis were aware of, their eyes much more prominent and their skin an unsettling shade of purple.
Before the first of the bats could get any closer, Vidofnir gave a sharp beat of his wings in the bat's direction. A burst of wind shot out from the tips of his wings, striking the bat dead-center and throwing it into a wall.
While the other bats paused their charge in confusion, the eagle-like bird shot off. He grabbed one of the bats with his talons, easily tearing apart the smaller beast. Instead of the crunch of bones he'd expected, though, it burst into a plume of violet smoke.
Taken aback at the lack of a corpse in his talons, Vidofnir found himself blindsided by the remaining two bats. One latched onto his back, and the other went for his summoner. A sharp pain came from his back, and he realized that the oversized bat was biting him.
Ibis rolled away from the charging bat, narrowly dodging it. He had no idea how to deal with the assault: the bat wasn't that big, barely half the size of Vidofnir, but still large enough to be a danger.
An idea came to Ibis' mind as the bat came for another sweep. He grabbed some dirt off the ground, and when the animal came close enough he threw the dirt into its massive eyes.
The bat – which Ibis recognized from one of the lectures as a keese – gave a screech and banked to the side, shaking its head as it tried to dislodge the dirt. The pain and confusion were enough for the bat to not pay attention to its surroundings, resulting in a broom smacking it to the ground.
Once the keese was dead – after a few more smacks – Ibis turned to see how Vidofnir was doing. He paused at the sight.
Vidofnir was banking left and right, making loops and barrel rolls as he tried to dislodge the last keese off of his back. The bat was stubborn, refusing to give even an inch as its fangs remained stuck in the eagle's flesh.
Pushing through the pain, Vidofnir tried to come up with a plan. "My magic isn't good enough for better techniques yet. It's not letting go. Fly into a wall? It will hurt, but might work."
With that, he angled towards one of the buildings. The keese upon his back gave a muffled screech, realizing what he was about to do.
At the last second, the keese let go of Vidofnir's back, letting the bird careen off on his own. It was only through sheer luck that he managed to turn around fast enough to avoid crashing into the wall.
Vidofnir returned his attention to the last keese, ready to end that last pest… only for there to not be any left. Instead, his summoner stood in the spot where the keese had been, the last wisps of smoke disappearing from around the broom he was holding.
"Well then," Ibis began, putting the broom he'd picked up back where it came from. "I think we should get moving. Think you can move around?" He asked, glancing at Vidofnir's wound in thinly-veiled concern.
The wind elemental gave a short chirp reminiscent of a laugh, easily spreading his wings and landing on his summoner's shoulder. The pain was already fading away, and soo also the wounds would be gone.
As they finally reached the academy, Vidofnir had to admit: while his summoner was still leagues below the skill level he would've liked… he was acceptable.
That night, Ibis had the same exact dream as the night before: the void, the sudden light, the screens… it all was there. The only difference was that now the bark-like door was just the tiniest bit more open. It still wouldn't budge, though.
As nothing else had changed, Ibis simply chose to wait for morning to arrive.
The light filtering in from the window was surprisingly dim. A quick glance outside revealed that Ibis had woken up right at dawn.
It would be at least a few hours before it would be time for breakfast to be prepared, so without anything better to do, Ibis made his way to the training hall once more. Captain Eagus seemed to need help more than the other instructors, so Ibis doubted that he would mind an early visit.
VIdofnir had remained blissfully unaware, still sleeping in his makeshift nest, but Ibis didn't feel it would be necessary to bring the surprisingly vicious bird with him: the light was out, so it was probably safe.
Nothing jumped out at Ibis when he made his way through the academy's courtyard, so his guess was probably right. When he approached the hall, though, some sounds garnered his attention.
Paying more attention, it sounded like someone was already in the hall, whacking something repeatedly.
"Probably the captain getting some early training in?" Ibis wondered. "Or one of the older students?" With a shrug, he pushed the doors open. He wasn't exactly forbidden from going anywhere in particular, beyond private rooms for obvious reason.
One of Ibis' red eyebrows rose up a tad as he spotted a familiar mop of blonde hair in the middle of the hall. Standing before a battered training dummy, was none other than Link.
The elfin girl's ice-blue gaze snapped from her wooden opponent over to him, her grip on the practice sword tightening for a moment. She took a deep breath once she recognized the new arrival, her stance relaxing a bit.
"Hi there!" Ibis easily waved, the girl returning it after a moment of hesitation.
"I honestly expected to find Captain Eagus here… but this is a nice surprise too," the young man continued. "Getting some training in before breakfast?"
Link lightly shook her head, her gaze roaming around the room, sometimes flicking to Ibis before leaving just as quickly. "Didn't sleep," she muttered. "Got antsy."
Ibis wasn't Link's friend, and he was aware of that. They were acquaintances at best. But Ibis found Zelda to be likable enough, and Link was the one who tried to help him first. Thus, he felt justified in being worried for the young woman.
"Are you feeling well, Link?"
The audible concern in Ibis' tone surprised the young knight. It wasn't uncommon for Hylians to skip sleeping a night or two, there were no adverse effects to sleeping only every few days for them… beyond the mental fatigue, but she didn't think he was referring to that.
She nodded, her fingers beginning to absentmindedly fiddle with the sword's grip. She considered ending the conversation there, to go back to her training, but Ibis beat her to the punch.
"If you're certain, then I won't push the issue," Ibis relented, holding his hands up in a surrendering gesture. "There's still some time left before breakfast if you want to continue…"
She nodded again, with a bit more strength behind it.
Satisfied with the nonverbal answer, Ibis backed away, although he didn't leave. "Would you mind if I remained to watch?" He asked with a sheepish grin. "I don't really know the first thing about swords, but I do find myself a bit curious."
To her surprise, Link didn't find herself too adverse too the idea. A small part of her even enjoyed the thought of showing off a little.
As Link continued her training session, Ibis tried to keep track of her movements. If monsters roamed Skyloft, he didn't expect them to be just a few oversized bats, and therefore he should learn to defend himself.
After a while, Ibis picked up another sword, trying to go through the same motions he saw from Link. The result was… poor, even he could clearly see it.
Link took notice of his attempts, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye a few times. She seemed to lose her patience as she abandoned all pretense of training, striding towards him and grabbing his arms and legs with surprising strength, jerking his body around until his stance looked acceptable to her.
Thus, they ended up spending several hours with Link trying to teach Ibis the basics of swordplay.
Throughout the impromptu lesson, Ibis noted the radical shift in Link's attitude. She was still very silent, only giving out the barest of peeps, but she didn't seem to shy away from him anymore. He could only imagine that now that the young woman was in her element, she found herself more at ease around him.
By the time their lesson was over, Ibis' body burned like mad, even in spots he wasn't aware existed until then. He had a hard time breathing, his lungs greedily sucking in as much air as they could.
Meanwhile, Link barely appeared to be winded at all.
"...So," He began amidst his panting, "could we… do this again… at some point?"
Link, who had been getting ready to leave, froze mid-step. Ibis kept an eye on her as she failed to respond for several minutes.
In the end, Link muttered something that sounded vaguely similar to "Tomorrow," and rushed out of the building, leaving behind a bewildered Ibis.
Big Thanks to my patrons for the support: whod99, Cameron the Shang Bear, and Wiggy.
Also, if you noticed that I stopped adding Gamer elements: yes, I decided to retcon that stuff. Most changes are small, so if you don't want to reread you can just know that the big changes begin from here.
