WHEW! Let me tell you guys, band camp can take a lot out of you. After all, that's where I've been for the past week. (Drumline FTW) Anyway, you guys probably don't care about that. You care about the wall of text beneath this. (Don't worry, I still love all of you)
Chapter 17
The Emerald Grave
Walking down the stairs revealed by the colossal gravestone's movements, Link couldn't help but cough. The dust kicked up was more than enough to blind him, causing his eye to water.
"Ugh..." said Link as he wiped the dust from his eyes. "This is going to be a long day, I can feel it..."
"Long day or not," said Marze, "you have a job to do, so be brave and do it. There are worlds counting on you."
"Yeah yeah," said Link as he reached the first room. It was an expansive room lined wall to wall with expensive-looking features that looked like they belonged in a mansion. Link even thought that the area itself looked like a mansion...
"This isn't too bad of a place..." he said as he looked around. "If it weren't for the fact that this was a grave, I wouldn't mind having a house like this."
He kept looking around, seeing a multitude of chandeliers, paintings, and expensive torches. It was surprisingly well-lit despite being underground.
"Well, we'd better get started," said Link as he drew his sword. If the grave said he needed to prove his worth against the dead, then it seemed like he'd be forced to fight the dead. Not exactly his favorite thing to do in the world, but hey. More practice with his new sword!
Looking around, he saw that this was just a central lobby, several rooms branching off from here, yet only one was unlocked, meaning he found where he was going first. Heading through the door, Link gave the room a quick once-over to see what he had to work with. Surprisingly enough, he saw that the chandelier in this room was unlit, though the room was still well enough lit to see without much trouble. There were two doors, and one was barred heavily. Despite the fine craftsmanship that the Antares Edge had, he mildly doubted that he could just cut through the bars.
"Another crossroad, huh?" said Link as he walked towards the open door. "There was one in Skyview Temple, but there was only the one. So far there's been two here..."
Link sighed as he opened the door, entering this new room. Looking around, he saw several lanterns swaying in the breeze, but then a thought came to him.
"There's no breeze in a grave."
Quickly pulling out his shield he lowered into a defensing stance as one of the lanterns smashed into his shield, bouncing harmlessly off of the clean metal surface. He turned and braced himself as another hit his shield, his offenders finally showing themselves.
"Poes," said Link as he gritted his teeth.
Poes are, quite frankly, the ghosts of the undead cursed to roam the world even in the afterlife, clad in tattered cloaks and brandishing nothing but a single lantern, the evil golden eyes leering at him from under the hoods they wore. Though Poes themselves are rather weak, most people fall victim to them due tho their abilities to faze through walls, turn invisible and intangible, and strike with their flaming lanterns. The lanterns themselves were said to house the souls of the apparitions, though no one has been able to prove that theory yet.
"Strike when visible!" Link shouted as he cut at one, though his sword passed through the specter as it turned invisible and retreated. The typically revert to their untouchable state when stared at for too long.
"Defend when not!" he said as the lantern of the one attacked bashed against it, bouncing off one again. Even when the Poes themselves are intangible, their lanterns must be corporeal such to deal damage, lest they pass straight through their targets without doing anything. As the beast returned to his sight, he cut again, though he didn't send it back to the grave. Evidently, Poes were stronger than most things he had fought thus far, requiring more than a single hit to defeat. Slashing again, the specter faded into the wall, letting one of the other Poes take its place. He was hit across the back by another flaming lantern, though his armor kept him from bet lit ablaze. Turning around, he cut air once again as the Poe turned invisible.
Link raised his shield again as he waited for the Poe to regain its tangibility, though he was hit in the back by the other Poe. Gritting his teeth, he pulled off a powerful spin attack that killed the Poe behind him and severely wounded the one in front of him, leaving it open to a final attack that killed it as well. Looking around, he saw that there were still two more Poes that needed to be dealt with. Closing his eyes such not to cause them to turn intangible again, he started swinging, feeling several blows land, one of which on him, knocking him back. Opening his eyes again, he saw that only one Poe remained, and it only had one arm thanks to Link. Smiling, he cut again, the Poe too focused on its missing limb to notice Link staring at it to turn invisible, the Poe's lantern falling to the ground, shattering on impact. Its fire spread, though it was purple in color, somehow possessing a creepy smile.
"What in Hylia's name...?" Link asked himself as he looked at the fire, which seemed to follow his movements, now making a sound not unlike snickering.
"Grave robber, huh?" the fire asked, laughing at Link. "Shame. You could have done a lot more with that much skill."
"Okay, now it's talking, why is it talking?" Link asked, beginning to question his mental stability. Last time he checked, fire was: A) Not supposed to be purple, B) not supposed to smile at you as you walk around the room, and C) NOT SUPPOSED TO TALK TO YOU.
"Sheesh, you rob a grave and don't even bother to learn about the place. How dense can you be?" the fire asked, Link still staring at it in both horror and curiosity.
"Marze, do you hear the fire talking?" Link asked, still shocked at what was happening.
"Yeah, and it sounds pretty annoyed," Marze replied, rolling his eyes.
"...Uh, hello? Are you even listening to me?!" the fire asked, beginning to grow annoyed.
"Yeah, I'm done," said Link as he set Marze down next to the fire. "Marze, you see what it has to say, I'm just not going to deal with this. I'll be in the other room when you're done."
And with that, Link looked at the fire once more before shivering and leaving the room, whispering, "Why does this happen to me?"
"So, you're the soul of that Poe he just fought, correct?" Marze asked, unfazed by the fire being capable of speech.
"Yes! Oh my Hylia, thank you! That guy in red was such an idiot. All he did was ask 'why the fire was talking.' You seem to be more intelligent at least," the fire responded.
"Don't mind Link, he's just not used to change. Then again, his sister was kidnapped, so there's that too," Marze said nonchalantly.
"His sister gets kidnapped and he spends his time robbing graves instead of trying to save her? What kind of brother does that!" the fire shouted, getting angry. Evidently, it didn't like Link very much at this point.
"It's because his sister's been kidnapped that he's here, and he's not grave robbing. The ones who kidnapped his sister are very dangerous, too dangerous for him to face as he is. He needs to be stronger in order to save her," Marze explained, the fire 'blinking' in surprise.
"How strong are they if this guy needs to ste- 'Aquire power' from the Emerald Grave?" the fire asked, genuinely intrigued.
"Well," said Marze in thought, "the most powerful armies from my world failed to even faze the six strongest of them. And since then, they've only gotten stronger. Link's going to need all of the help he can get if he wants his sister back."
"Well, I guess that makes sense..." the fire agreed. "My name's Cyrus, by the way."
"Cyrus..." said Marze in thought. He knew that name from somewhere. "Wait... Wait! You were one of the gravestones from earlier!" he shouted, remembering the graves they had to move. "'He who Fell to Darkness,' right?"
"Yep, that's me," Cyrus said, 'nodding.' "I'd always had problems sleeping. One night I just bit it. At least I went without pain. Still wasn't fun though."
"So, what about the other three Poes?" Marze asked. Were they Dolan's wife, the King of Shadows, and the Master of Blades?
"Just servants that worked for Dolan. I'm not sure what happened to his wife, but the King of Shadows and Master of Blades... They're another story," Cyrus lamented, his fiery form turning blue for a moment in sorrow.
"What happened to them?" Marze asked.
"They were both cursed. Each one is to forever guard Dolan's fortune until finally someone worthy comes to claim it. They are now undead guardians of the Emerald Grave," revealed Cyrus.
"My word..." said Marze in amazement. "That's quite some devotion..."
"Yep. They had always been the two strongest men Dolan had employed, and his most trustworthy. They had voluntarily taken the curse, becoming his strongest warriors not only in life, but even in death," Cyrus concluded, regaining his purple color.
"Well..." said Marze as he let the information sink in, "thanks for sharing what you know. I'll be on my way now. Take care with... Whatever it is that you'll do now."
Cyrus sighed and dissipated, his fire sinking into the floor. Marze flew over to the door and knocked on it in order to call Link's attention.
"Is the fire done talking?" Link asked, not opening the door, Marze sighing in return.
"Yes, it's done talking," Marze replied. "And his name was Cyrus, just so you know."
"I don't care what his name was," said Link as he opened the door, satisfied that there were no more talking flames in the room, "fire shouldn't talk to people. Bokoblins don't, and they're still sentient."
"Yeah, whatever," said Marze as he landed on Link's shoulder. "Anyway, you're going to have to be more careful. Remember the King of Shadows and Master of Blades?"
"Yeah, why? Are they going to turn into fire and talk to me too?" Link asked.
"Nope," Marze replied. "You're going to have to fight them. They've been cursed to forever guard the Emerald Grave, or at least until someone can truly claim Dolan's riches. Likely, they've been granted power much like the Queen Gohma and that giant bug."
"Okay, it's really been bugging me on what to call that thing. It honestly seemed like a giant fiery Moldorm so... Scaldorm?" Link said.
"What's a Moldorm?" Marze asked.
"They're like giant insects, not unlike centipedes," Link explained.
"Ah," said Marze in understanding. He at least knew what centipedes were, so he could make the connection. "So, how are we going to get any further? All the doors are locked, and we don't have any keys."
"I believe I can help with that," said a familiar voice.
"Hylia damn it," said Link as he saw that the source of the voice was from the fire, which Marze had figured out was named Cyrus.
"Cyrus?" Marze asked.
"I realized that this chandelier was unlit, so a few of my friends and I decided that we'd help you out," Cyrus said, he creepy fire smile disturbing Link once again.
Floating up to the chandelier, Cyrus was joined by three more flames, the souls of the other three Poes, and the four together lit the object completely, opening up the other door that had been barred.
"Just a word of warning; Don't underestimate the two warriors of the undead. This place is filled with those who did," Cyrus finished.
"Didn't plan on it... Fire guy," Link said as he entered the now-open room as fast as he could to avoid having to keep talking to fire much longer. This next room was empty aside from a single chest, which Link quickly found contained both a key and a map. Why a grave would have a map was beyond him...
"Well, looks like we can get further into the grave now," Link said as he held up the key. Passing back through the room with Cyrus in it, he passed back through to the lobby, heading to the locked door from earlier. Unlocking it, he entered the room, taking a quick look around. It was a circular room with stairs that led both up and down, though the stairs going up were barred off by a large metal grating.
"Going down," said Link as he made his way to the stairs. thankfully, they weren't anywhere near as far a descent as the stairs from the Goron Mines. After less than a minute of walking he reached the bottom, and it led to another circular room, though this one was larger than the one above. The staircase above him locked when he fully entered the room, and it was only then that he realized where he was standing.
"It's like a tomb," he said as he looked around, seeing what looked like caskets lining the walls. Getting closer to inspect one, he was startled when the front fell off, revealing the mummified corpse within.
"What did you do?" Marze asked as he looked at Link in annoyance.
"Hey, you know I didn't touch anything!" he said, taking a deep breath after his outburst, regretting that as he covered his mouth and nose. "Oh Hylia, that smells bad!"
"Well, yeah," said Marze as he covered his own nose. "I'd imagine a rotting corpse would smell like that."
"Whew, let's get this covered back up," he said as he reached down to lift up the stone covering, though it didn't budge. Despite it being made of what looked like marble, Link still should have been strong enough to lift it back up. After all, he had been strong enough to beat Royal Gohmas and 'Scaldorm.'
He was coining that name, mind you.
Trying to lift again, he was startled when he heard a loud 'thump' on the lid of the casket, and looked up to see that the corpse had fallen out, for some reason a sword falling out as well.
"Oh Hylia, I messed up," he said in worry as he begrudgingly grabbed the corpse, lifting it back into the grave, though he stopped dead in his tracks when he felt a hand grab his shoulder.
Marze was on his other shoulder.
Turning very slowly to the body he was moving, he was surprised to see that the body was looking back at him was piercing red eyes.
"Oh, Dark Realm no," he said as he pushed the beast away, leaping back a good ten feet to get away from the monster known as a Redead, terrifyingly powerful mummies that did more than simply rejected death, but fed upon life.
"I knew I wasn't going to like this," he said as he drew his sword and shield, settling into his combat pose.
The Redead slowly rose to its feet, grabbing the sword to its side before lumbering after him, dragging its colossal blade in the ground next to it as it slowly made its way towards Link.
"Well, go kill it!" said Marze as he took to the air. He wasn't really afraid of the monster, but he was afraid of what that sword could do to him if he were caught in the middle of this fight. "I mean, it's slow! You'd be in and out before it even knew what happened!"
"Yeah, no," said Link as he decided that his sword wouldn't be the best idea right now, instead grabbing his bow. "Redeads are some of the most dangerous enemies you'll ever see, way worse than Poes. What you just told me to do has gotten hundreds of poor souls killed. No, ranged combat is my best bet."
Link drew an arrow, aiming right into the eye socket of the Redead, slowing it for a moment and throwing its head back before it made eye contact with Link again, continuing its approach, Link taking a few more steps back.
"So, not using my bow then," said Link as he put it away, opting now for his ax. "I still don't want to get close to it though so..."
After saying that, he looked at his ax, rearing back as he aimed at the Redead, throwing the Gerudo weapon as hard as he could at the beast, lopping off its sword arm and embedding itself in the wall. The Redead merely looked at its new wound for a moment before screaming, Link falling to the ground as he clenched his ears in both pain and fear. Marze even fell to the ground behind him as the beast screamed.
"What... I-Is this?!" Marze shouted as the beast grew closer to Link.
"R-Redeads can... Scream in s-such a way that they... Immobilize their... P-Prey!" he shouted as he looked up to see that the Redead was upon him, the creature having grabbed its sword with its other arm before slamming it down on Link, its screaming replaced by demonic moaning.
Link rolled to the side as the Redead swung again, its sword becoming stuck in the ground. Quickly wrenching his ax from the wall, Link went on the offensive, hitting the beast across the back as hard as he could, the sickening sound of bones cracking as the Redead fell with a loud thump, though it continued to moan, using its remaining arm to try and crawl towards Link, having to abandon its weapon. Link gritted his teeth and raised his ax again, splitting the beasts head as he brought it down, once again accompanied by the disgusting sound of bones breaking. Link lifted his ax back up, sighing in relief as the Redead stopped moving. He placed his ax back on his back, though he was confused when the gate didn't open back up.
"Why isn't it opening?" he asked himself as he looked around, what he saw disheartening him instantly.
During his fight with the Redead, he hadn't noticed that five more had come out of their graves, each one inching towards him, swords at the ready to render Link nothing more but another one of them. He was about to back away to give himself more time, but he was stopped by something grabbing his ankle. He reluctantly looked down to the Redead he had just killed...
Or so he thought.
The Redead was still plenty undead, and it had a good hold of Link's ankle, somehow still being able to function with its brains spilled over the floor. Quickly grabbing his ax, he cut the arm off, though it continued to squeeze his leg with its iron grip. Thinking fast, he beheaded the Redead, though it still stared at him with its undying eyes.
"Why won't you die?!" he shouted in fear as he kicked the head away. Surprisingly enough, this drew the other Redeads' attention drawing them to the fallen head of their comrade. But what happened next was when Link got even more scared. They all kneeled down around the head... and began eating it, leaving nothing left but the arrow he had sent through its eye.
"They don't care what they eat..." Link said in horror as he pressed against the wall, having no where to run, "so long as it was flesh once."
Looking down to the hand that still clung to his ankle, he grabbed an arrow and quickly went to work at sawing off the thumb of the dismembered Redead, quickly throwing it at another Redead, which clumsily caught it and did the same thing it had just done to the head; consumed it.
"Hylia help me," he said as he looked down at the corpse in front of him, still twitching even without its head to tell it what to do. "Oh, no! Not anymore, you monster!" he shouted as he snapped his fingers at the beast, setting it ablaze with Sparks. He noticed how the other five Redeads were taken back by the golden blaze, and visibly tried to avoid it, backing away.
"Afraid of fire, huh?" Link said as he lifted his ax over his shoulder, slowly approaching a Redead, which creepily reached out to him, mouth open wide as if Link would willingly feed himself to it. "Then let's burn!"
Snapping his fingers, he lit the Redead ablaze with Sparks, catch the arm of another Redead, which responded quickly and tore its own arm off, dropping it as it back away from the burning creature. When the flames finished doing their job, the Redead was revealed to now be nothing more than a skeleton, which fell to the ground, smoking.
"Oh," said Link as he flexed his hand and stared menacingly at the remaining Redeads, "Oh yeah."
Closing in on the other four monstrosities he was trapped with, he went to work roasting them, his Starfire somehow finishing them all off in one go. Knowing that, he made short work of three of them, though when he got to the last on and he snapped, he got nothing more than what the spell was named after; Sparks.
"Oh Hylia damn it," muttered Link as he leapt back and away from the Redead before him. "Why isn't it working?"
"You're out of magic," said Marze, who was sitting on the highest part of the stairs still accessible. "Since you never use it too often, you don't have enough magic to use it for prolonged periods."
"Great," said Link as he grabbed his ax, readying it at the Redead before him. "I'll just deal with this the knightly way, then."
And with that, he hurled his ax at the monster, embedding the heavy blade in its head. The additional weight dragged its head to the ground, preventing it from moving anymore. Link took the chance to get in close with his sword, and by that I mean he beheaded the Redead, though of course he knew that it wasn't done yet, so of course he did the natural thing; literally cut the beast limb from limb. If it could move without a head, then he had to make it so that it just couldn't move. Of course, the torso still twitched and the head still moaned at him as he loomed over it.
"They must have worked for Dolan too," said Link as he kicked the Redead's body into a pile. "Goddesses, this man is cruel, even in the afterlife, forcing his servants to protect his grave like this."
Snapping his fingers a few times, he was satisfied that he was getting medium sized flames again. And with that, he lit the final Redead ablaze, the grating above him opening, as well as the sound of the grating in the room above.
"All right, Marze, let's get going," said Link as he grabbed his ax and put it back in his pouch, getting back out his sword and shield as he went back up the stairs and past the room he was in earlier, getting to a small room with a door leading to another circular room, but thankfully this one wasn't full of caskets. Instead, in the center was what looked like a large suit of silver and gold armor with a multitude of ruby accents. As he took a step forward, the door behind him was barred.
Link sighed. This better not be more Redeads.
Upon the sound of the door slamming shut, Link noticed something odd. The suit of armor seemed to rattle for a second before the rubies lit up. Link sighed as he drew his sword and began walking towards the suit of armor, the suit only then turning to him.
The suit was absolutely colossal with, standing at maybe 10 feet tall, and it likely bore equally formidable weight. The suit itself wielded a huge ruby broadsword with a silver and gold handle that matched the similarly designed armor.
"Another challenger," The suit said, red eyes visible from within the helmet it wore peeking through the visor. "The first in a long time."
Link stepped forward. "I'm Link Valion. I guess I'm the challenger."
"Link Valion..." the suit said, nodding. "I accept your challenge. Come at me, for I am your first true obstacle in this Emerald Grave, the Ruby Master of Blades!"
It's about time I got a chapter 17 out for this one, huh? Well, it happens! (Seriously though, you have like zero downtime during band camp. Any fellow bandies will understand) So yeah, get ready for the first rite of challenge Link has to face next chapter; the Ruby Master of Blades. (Fun titles, yay!) Anyway, I hope you guys enjoyed, and sorry again for the wait.
OniHelix out!