Chapter 21: Rockvale; Abandoned and Decayed
Ruins of the Forgotten Ones Arc
Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda, this is just a Fanfiction.
Featured Music: "Puzzling Truth" - Fire Emblem IX: Path of Radiance OST. Chapter Briefing.
"Stone Tower" - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time OST. Scene 1 (First Half).
"Ocean Palace" - Chrono Trigger OST. Scene 1 (Second Half).
"Laboratory" - Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes OST. Scene 2 (First Half).
"Soldier VS. Ghost" - Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes OST. Scene 2 (Second Half).
"Mantis' Hymn" - Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes OST. Scene 3.
In one of his great and many achievements, the Hero of Time and his guardian fairy companion manage to overcome the obstructions held back for them in Ikana canyon; from assisting the fallen Sharp, helping a nearby family and then infiltrating Ikana Castle via the underground sewer, the two heroes have successfully pulled over the sombre clouds of darkness enveloping Ikana.
By duelling with the last remaining men still stationed within the kingdom, the deceased Igos and his two vassals, Link learns many things about the society in which he and Tatl are pursuing with bloody-minded determination.
A group of men and women that, just as the Happy Mask Salesman suggested, appeared to throw all notions of worship away for the Sainted Three. Having surfaced from the deep recesses of 'Stone Tower' these men and women had a society with which they impressed the Ikanian people with; something that Igos Du Ikana himself personally attests to.
"They had technology far outstripping our own, intelligent beyond means and could even seem to predict the future."
Igos Du Ikana calls them the 'Întuneric Visători'; a bastardised form of Ancient Hylian loosely translated to 'Dark Dreamers'. These men and women knew no bounds in their depraved perversity of the Sainted Three's power of Aegir and Quintessence; something that was at long last made manifest in the mysterious and elusive powers of the Fused Shadow and Majora's Mask itself.
After putting Igos, Wren and Alphonse to rest at long last, Ikana's former king makes the decision to bestow upon the heroes a soldier with no heart; "one who will not falter in the Forgotten Ones' darkness." A melody that will save its user in the horrors that they offer.
King Igos Du Ikana at last fulfils his purpose in remaining tied to the Light World; by choosing to gift Link with the Elegy of Emptiness, he hopes to leave the rest to the great legacy that the Hero of Time himself can offer his fallen country.
'Niylahn'. 'Akuma' and the Dark Interlopers themselves; the self-proclaimed 'Dark Dreamers'... Link and Tatl hope with great fervour to find some kind of connection between all those names and more...
All within the horrific and mysterious remains of Rockvale...
Scene 1
FRRRR...
RUMBLE-RUMBLE...
KERASH
The sound of far off fires, boulders rolling and wreckage crashing into walls echoed on down to the standing narrow-eyed Hero of Time. Ever floating dutifully next to him, Tatl turned her gaze skyward as well as if to trace his firm-faced glare; far and even higher above them was the bizarre and uniquely-constructed walls of Stone Tower.
Or, as Igos Du Ikana himself called it, 'Rockvale'.
"Hey... over there..."
Link swung his blonde-haired head 'round to watch her hover slowly across the platforms left for them to hop across; three large blocks of the same material seemingly found in the canyon. He made sure the sloppily-put-together ponytail he constructed earlier was still safe before following behind her quietly. As he at last hopped onto the next surface, as dark-brown in shade as the entrance, he furrowed his brow at the discovery his guardian fairy had seemingly made.
Symbols of a strange and fey nature appeared to be drawn around the wall ahead of them, almost near demanding their attention.
"What is...?" Link began doubtfully, cerulean-shaded eyes narrowing as he leaned his head closer to the wall ahead of them. "It... looks..."
"Like a boy, doesn't it."
Tatl's words, spoken as more of a statement than a question, resonated quite well with the drawing; Link nodded as he briefly eyed her before returning his attention to it.
"Whoever it is they're young..." The similarly young boy murmured out, turning his eyes to the drawing's right. Next to it was a symbol that he and Tatl needed no introduction to and drawn just as primally as the illustrations surrounding it.
Majora's Mask.
"L-Link..."
"I... I see it..."
His eyes, just as Tatl's, were fixed on the drawing; an illustration of Termina's suffering and, in extension, their own.
As they tore their gaze from its own however, they found on its right a joining of the two; as boy and mask joined together, they were drawn as such.
What does this mean, the narrow-eyed Link thought.
Is the boy supposed to be Skull Kid?
They couldn't have known about-
"No... they could have...," he argued with himself in another firm-eyed narrowed frown. "Igos said they could see into the future..."
"I know what you're thinking."
Tatl managed to yank him directly out of his deep-thought, making him blink as he turned up to cast his frown up at her.
"And I think you're wrong," the little guardian fairy claimed. Link couldn't help but rise up a straw-haired eyebrow in response. "I think that this might be who Majora was."
The listening Link's eyebrows both rose up this time and his oceanic-eyed gaze widened to match his surprise.
Of course, he thought in slow-growing agreement.
"You mean that mask's possessed already by someone... don't you?" He batted back in a hard-eyed frown.
She nodded. "For years. Maybe even for eons. It's impossible to say."
Link's frown remained steadfast, even as he turned back to radiate pity for the boy depicted in the drawings before him. "Poor bastard..."
Tatl winced in response, perhaps unused to her partner's use of crude language within a private space.
"Come on."
His call echoed out over his shoulder as he stepped around to the large orange-shaded switch. Pulling out the Ocarina of Time he placed it to his lips and played the last gift that Ikana's king bestowed to him; the Elegy of Emptiness.
Just as within the glare of Igos Du Ikana's throne room, a small statue very slowly materialised around the youth's form, cloaking him and eventually re-imagining itself after its caster. As Link stepped forward to give the statue some room it finally began to solidify; an oddly bizarre kind of statue representation of himself.
"I bet you love it."
Receiving an odd kind of comment over his shoulder, Link could only rise up an eyebrow in Tatl's direction behind him as he turned to face her.
"Uh?"
"A statue that looks like you," the little guardian fairy elaborated on, a grin in the tone of her soprano. "I bet you love it." She reiterated, having explained herself. As she slowly hovered up into the sky, presumably to reach the next platform above them, Link followed suite by pulling out his Hookshot and aiming for the black post hanging up.
CLICK-CHUKCHUKCHUKCHUK
Even as he climbed up to the post's top the former Kokiri lit a fuse within one of his fingers; a feat he had become known for, before pulling out a simple bomb. As he drew the tiny flame across the bomb's unlit fuse it began to fizzle almost immediately and his grin soon lowered when he tossed the bomb absent-mindedly to his immediate right.
FISSSSSS...
DROOM
BOOM
In a small series of explosions, beget by the bomb once tossed, the Beamos statue standing on guard next to them blew apart as a result leaving the area fairly he hopped down from the post he was perched on, Link soon landed upon the hard surface of one of Stone Tower's many switches.
CLICK
RUMBLE-RUMBLE-RUMBLE...
As the sounds of multiple platforms moving around in conjunction with the switches' movement, Link reached back for the Zora Mask that Mikau had gifted him to ready the Ocarina for another melody.
"Yeah...," he answered as the light overtook his small Hylian body, soon crafting it into a tall and muscular Zoran as before. "I guess I do." He finished, tossing his grin over his shoulder to exchange it with the rolling-eyed Tatl.
NIGHT OF THE SECOND DAY
-36 Hours Remain-
Having managed to move around the platforms to cross Rockvale's oddly-constructed pathway, the two heroes at last found their much-required destination; Stone Tower Temple itself. The inside was no more less odd and monster-infested than the outside however; a fact reflected in the two Dragonflies and the Bombchu mouse jogging in the centre platform.
Ahead from that platform appeared to be a locked door, tied to a huge overlooking building that was made in such a way that resembled Majora's Mask. Two eyes appeared to be staring down at him from it, one of them an obvious eyeball switch, and two horns jutting out from the building's sides.
Link couldn't help but stare back at it, cerulean eyes narrowed in suspicion.
"Come on Link," Tatl murmured out urgently. "Faster we do this, faster we're out."
"Yeah..."
He reached back for the Hero's Bow and nocked an arrow before firing it forward.
FWIP
CLICK
Just as with many before it, a big brown chest materialised; obviously a Stray Fairy, the young Hero of Time thought to himself. He turned his pathway toward the left open door presumably to look for a small key before rising up his right hand. As the Dragonfly hovering overhead slowly began to close in he narrowed his oceanic-eyed gaze before clicking his raised fingers.
CLICK
FRRRR...
SCREECH
In a showing of flaming agony the poor Dragonfly let out one final scream of pain as it was sent into a twisting and swirling end, caked in fire and Aegir. Link didn't even wait for his fallen foe to reach the ground before he opened up the door ahead of him in a vertical slam.
DROOM...
As he stepped through into the next chamber, seemingly a long one with many cubicle-style rooms, the young Hylian very quickly found symbols etched onto the walls next to him disturbingly similar to the ones on Stone Tower's walls. On them appeared to be the same boy that the two had discovered drawn across Rockvale's walls and the dreaded mask that they had been pursuing; Majora's Mask.
"There he is again..." Link mused aloud, eyes narrowing a second time since he entered Rockvale Temple, glaring on at the mask's drawing's eyes with the same suspicion and glare he did earlier.
"No, Link, look...," Tatl began, very slowly and carefully hovering her bulbous body forward as if to get a better examination herself. "It's a different boy."
The youth's eyebrows rose up, halfway surprised and all as he re-examined the drawing. Sure enough, she was right; having recognised the Skull Kid's telltale straw hat and forest-like clothing Link easily found the differences in this particular drawing. Although seemingly executed by the same artist an unremarkable and simple figure of a boy appeared to be etched, his small white hands reaching up as if for something.
It was only when Link realised Majora's Mask's drawing was etched overhead, almost as if judging the boy for reaching out toward it.
"So it ain't the Skull Kid...," Link murmured out, pulling his head softly back from his assessment. He swivelled his straw-haired head 'round to Tatl, as if for further information. "So then who is it?"
"I don't know...," Tatl replied, a similarly delicate tone entering her soprano as she softly and slowly shook her head in response. "Maybe... maybe it's Majora's Mask's first host."
The listening Link couldn't help but furrow his brow, surprised, before he quickly swung his oceanic-eyed gaze back on the drawing as if to ascertain her assumption.
"It would make sense... that these people would choose children to do this with," the little guardian fairy spoke quietly, a notable tone of hesitancy in her voice. "With all we know about them..."
"Bastards...," Link hissed out, left eye scrunching up in an unhealthy mixture of distaste and disgust. "Is there no limit to what they've done?"
"Hey... look..."
Again she managed to make him blink out of his words; at first he gave her a brief frown before soon turning in the direction she was looking at. Just as she seemingly implied there was a second drawing situated to the right of the first.
And this one far more interesting than the last.
As Link marched slowly and deliberately toward it he scrunched one of his eyes up in scrutiny as it slowly became more apparent what he was examining; the drawing of what appeared to be a man stood on one knee, both arms to his sides and palms open as if he were drawing Aegir somehow. What was notable about this one, however, were the odd choices in colour for his form; one side was in white and another in black.
A blood-red aura appeared to cover his body; something that the watching young Hero of Time could easily identify with.
The power of the Shinzui-et-Sanmiitai.
"Who...?" Tatl murmured out over his shoulder, eyes narrowing curiously.
Marked next to the man's illustration appeared to be second mask but this particular one was one the two heroes had not encountered.
And yet as the frowning Link stared back into its bright-white eyes he couldn't help but recognise it somehow; the face drawn before him appeared to resemble a man's, young in seeming age with face-paint etched across his face in different parts all round. Four horizontal streaks of blood-red paint ran under his ghost-like eyes, while a half-diamond-shaped streak of dark-blue paint appeared to be drawn down from his fringe, joining together just above the eyes.
The most disquieting discovery of this man's face however wasn't the paint upon his face; it was the long silver-shaded cap resting upon his curtain-haired head.
"L-Link it-" Tatl stammered out, eyes widening in similar shock. "He... looks like you...!"
"I s-" the listening youth began, his left eye twitching in a mix of flabbergasted shock and bewilderment. "I see it..."
His wincing-eyed whisper was a culmination of realisation that hit him even harder than the spooked out Tatl; having examined the man's drawn face, even in a crude state, it resembled himself somewhat strongly.
More specifically his adult self he remembered from his adventures across Hyrule.
What does this mean, he thought worriedly. His 11 year old heart and mind raced in a maelstrom of emotion as he stared back into the bright-white deadlights of the man's etched face. Even his similarly silver hair, though different in colour, appeared to be in a curtained fashion similar to his own.
Aside from older tones to his face, presumably due to age and hair colour, the man's face was essentially a copy of the wide-eyed Link's.
Suddenly the narrow-eyed Hero of Time was reminded of his darkened second side; the Triforce of Courage's manifestation of its chaotic Aegir.
Kage Narumono.
Rather chillingly, he recalled the name that his old war comrade Sheik used to give him; 'Dark Link'.
It was a memory that, somehow, became all the more relevant.
Could Kage have some kind of connection to this, he wondered silently, his eyes narrowing in scrutiny.
And those names that, that Garo said to us... what were they again?
"The ancient power of the Shinzui... and of the Niylahns rests before you. Oh fallen Akuma..."
"What are you thinking about?"
Tatl's sudden prodding made the hard-thinking youth blink out of it before he double-took in her direction, surprised.
"H-Huh?" He merely stammered in his incredulous o-shaped frown. She groaned and rolled her eyes; a growing sign of her inward frustrations.
"Don't leave me here in the dark!" She insisted, annoyed. "Tell me what's going on in that thick head of yours."
"O-Oh...," he managed out in a light wince, lowering his cerulean-shaded gaze as he spoke. "I'm just...," the youth began again, turning his ponytail-haired head 'round to fixate his quizzical gaze upon the seemingly pre-historic illustrations, before eventually shaking his head almost as if dissuaded from even continuing. "Shocked... I guess..."
"Can say that again...," the little guardian fairy agreed in a low-voiced murmur, swivelling her body 'round to trace his hard-eyed gaze. "I mean how are we supposed to-"
"Tatl..."
This time it was Tatl's turn to register her surprise; as her partner interrupted her speech she turned again to face him, curious and all.
"Yeah?"
"What if...," he began, glaring forward as he spoke. "What if 'Akuma' means... 'devil'?"
His sudden accusation and subject change managed to bring a surprised frown to the listening little pixie; in response she could only raise an eyebrow behind the light she carried so well on her form.
"You can speak that language...?"
"No," he answered, shaking his straw-haired head in response, eyes fixated on the eerily similar face drawn before him. "It's a feeling," he admitted, eyes narrowing back into the deadlights of the man's bright-white eyes. "Remember what that Garo called me?"
Tatl blinked, as if she were pulling from her memory as quickly as she could in order to answer. It was only when she realised what he was suggesting that her eyes widened in surprise behind her dimly-held yellow light.
"Y-Yeah! B-But then... that can only mean..."
Link nodded slowly, a grave frown adorned on his young face before gradually hovering his eyes to rest on the disturbingly similar likeness drawn on the wall.
"When we first came through that edge in the forest that led into this continent...," he began again, glaring forward. "And we met all those people that looked so familiar..."
Tatl listened on in respectful silence, having recognised where exactly he was going with his elaboration.
"I guess I just thought we'd never encounter a parallel entity of myself in Termina...," the young Hero of Time mused out aloud before chuckling half-heartedly, a side of his mouth upturning into an unamused smirk. "Well... besides Kage anyway," he claimed. "But what if he's it, Tatl?" The boy asked, briefly eyeing her before returning his sight to the face-painted warrior's etched countenance. "What if... what if the Termina me... was part of the forgotten ones?" He continued to postulate, gesturing from his small standing stature to the shockingly-accurate face that he recognised so well on the wall before him. "W-What if I was... was a mur-"
"No!"
He couldn't help but gasp, legitimately surprised by the anger in her soprano that he swung his blonde-haired head 'round to face her, his ponytail whipping in the wind as he did.
"I... I don't know you all that well...," she admitted, this time in a weaker tone of voice. "Even less than your 'Zelda'... or your 'Navi'..."
His own frown shifted to a softer one as she spoke, a kind of vulnerability in her tone that rarely, if ever, was present at all.
"But you're not a murderer!" She exclaimed, lowering her form to hover in his line of sight, her voice full of an unmistakeable passion that left the listening youth transfixed. "Y-You've done so much for these people that I refuse to believe any of this!"
"But... Tatl... the Happy Mask Man... he was-"
"I know! He's right about everything he says; I know..." She finished in a frustrated sigh, turning away in her lightly-held hover as if to gain some space to think.
Their hotly-held debate, echoing within a chamber none have walked in centuries, left a hollow hole within the listening Link's chest.
It was so easy to be negative; having known the feeling in his battle across time with Zelda.
But it felt nice, he thought, listening to Tatl, once a bitter enemy, fiercely contend his self-accusations.
She's not as hard as she thinks, he joked silently, a small grin growing on his complexion.
"Even if we're talking about an alternate reality of yourself... no," Tatl shook her head as she faced the direction they once came in before, eventually, swivelling her body back 'round to face his once more. "You're too good a person to be a murderer. I refuse to believe you were a Dark Interloper."
Link's initially amused grin very slowly shifted into a slightly-soft smile that grew in time. In great spite to her usual quick aptitude Tatl appeared to be dense in the face of her partner's renewed adoration for her; something he made manifest by extending his small and calloused hands out to his sides, as if for a simple friendly hug.
She only realised when she saw the glassy look in his oceanic eyes what the gesture meant to him.
And to her.
Although she near balked at the idea of lowering her guard in front of him she turned her eyes away from his as she very carefully hovered forward to join him. Sure enough he wrapped his comparatively larger arms 'round her very small frame and gently at that, shutting his cerulean-shaded eyes as he did.
Shades of what appeared to be tears poked out from beneath them.
When he re-opened his mouth to voice his gratitude, his normally resolute tenor broke in places to indicate his own vulnerability.
Something she silently revelled in sharing with him.
"Thank you so much... Tatl."
–
2
CHIK-CHIK... CHIK-CHIK...
The sound, and direct appearance, of two small rocks descending skyward managed to make the adventuring heroes rise their heads up in a similarly eye-narrowed glare. In the new room that they occupied, seemingly a rather spacious circular battle arena, a similarly scowling enemy stared back at them from a perch in the arena's open circular top. Seemingly male in figure he was dressed in what appeared to be a purple robe; elegant but reminiscent of the Garo shinobi that Link had encountered previously.
Even the golden-shaded helmet he wore appeared to indicate his elevation in station; something the watching Link quickly took note of.
This guy'll be tough, he thought.
NYEH-HEH-HEH-HEH-HEH...
The man's voice, though a simple baritone, carried its echo well; even the deep reverb of his voice poked potential stabs at his heightened strength.
It was something even the confident Hero of Time found himself unsure in.
As the nameless Garo dropped down from the platform above to join the two small stones that fell in his wake, he landed in a rather graceful front-flip. As he drew his right hand off of the ground beneath him to stand back to his curved-shoe feet, seemingly frowning beneath the gaudy helmet he wore.
"Akuma...," the Garo at last broke the frigid silence between them; a surprising greeting in and of itself. "Here you are... at last."
Link's left eye twitched as he opened his mouth to respond. "'Akuma'...," he began lowly, glaring forward as he did. "That's the second time someone's called me that in this god-forsaken country."
The nameless Garo Master opted merely to remain in respectful silence, seemingly also frowning as he listened on dutifully.
"And by your people, of all of 'em...," he continued, eyes narrowing again as he leaned his head to the side, his exposed ponytail of hair hanging down with him as he did. "Why are you calling me Akuma? Who the hell are you?"
The Garo Master rose up his left finger forward to point directly at the youth in an accusing fashion before he re-opened his own mouth to elaborate.
"That shadow that stalks under you...," the ninja-clothed man muttered out distastefully, a tone of antipathy flavouring his sentence. "That is your link to the name... 'Akuma'."
Link's eyes widened, both in alarm and slow realisation; as the powerful moonlight above them shone down upon their forms and cast his own shadow, he found himself staring down at it.
Sure enough, he saw a foreign form in place of what should have been himself but one he recognised all the same; a snarling monster's as if from some kind of story book. He knew exactly what it symbolised.
Kage Narumono.
"Whether you give in to its influence today, tomorrow or far into the future... it matters not," the Garo Master shook his golden-helmeted head once; the catalyst to lowering his thin robed arm. "There is nothing you can do... to stop the forgotten ones' resurrection."
"'Resurrection'...," Link parroted, brow furrowing in puzzlement and anxiousness. "B-But they... the goddesses... didn't they-?"
SHHHING...
The sound of steel being removed from a rough scabbard echoed out from beneath the Garo Master's robes, making the listening Link's hairs on the back of his neck stand on end from the sheer strain in which their conversation took.
"They will return... Hero of Time...," the man nodded twice in response as he rose up his curved sword to glare directly at him. A bright Aegir aura of fire encircled the blade as he did; something Link took quick notice of. "Make no mistake...," he continued. "Even in the Shinzui-et-Sanmiitai's 'path to heaven'... you have never stood a chance," the man finished out in a hard-eyed hiss. "Not against the forbidden powers... of the forgotten ones."
"Link... don't listen to him..."
"What do you mean?" The curious young Hylian batted back, taking a daring step forward as he did, eager to learn more. "Path to heaven?"
Truth be told the name rung a bell; he seemed to recall the fiery Kage Narumono mentioning something or other about it during his duel with the nameless young woman in Ikana's well.
"Hmph..."
SHHHING...
The sound a second sword, caked in flame as the first before it, reverberated across the walls of their arena.
"We have always met here; don't you see?" The Garo Master posed forward, glaring on as he spoke. "The Wheel of Fate demands it."
"Wheel of Fate..." Link recited thoughtfully, his memory pulling up scraps of information that king Igos Du Ikana taught him.
"You saw them... didn't you?"
The man's question managed to make him blink his oceanic-eyed gaze in response, curious and quizzical.
"The drawings...," the Garo shinobi sighed as he pulled back his weapons, shining a fiery crimson in the deep moonlight cast upon him. "They are of you."
"No!"
Tatl's abrupt interjection caused the wide-eyed Link to swivel his horrified frown on her, desperate for any source of relief.
"I know him!" The guardian fairy vehemently denied the shinobi. "He could never be one of you!"
"Believe what you wish...," the Garo stated, his baritone lowering as he spoke. "But you... you are the Hero of Time; not even you can deny time and space's undeniable effects to yourself... or to anyone else, for that matter."
Unable to find the words with which to reply, Link could only twitch his frown into a half-annoyed scowl as he reached back for his trusty Gilded Sword and Mirror Shield.
"Come...," the narrow-eyed shinobi began. "Let us begin your double helix..."
The Last Garo
Yoshiyuki Miyazaki
CLANG-CLANGCLANG-FRRR
The sound and fierceness of the Garo Master's fire-infused swords left a painful ringing in the young boy's small and pointed ears as he swatted them away, sparks of his enemy's flames darting off in all directions as he did. In response, as the Garo Master reeled back to recover, he very quickly turned his recovery into an assault in and of itself; by swinging his robed form in a spin he spun on as he approached his foe, curved swords flaming.
"Link!"
This time the young Hylian opted to block via his new and trusty Mirror Shield; a much easier option that saw him batting off the normally respectable assault quite easily.
CLINK-FRR...
The nameless shinobi's flaming steel was knocked away rather harmlessly considering its dangerous entity; something that he made present with a glaring of his eyes. As he began to glide around the battle arena, his curved shoes barely touching the ground beneath him, he widened his eyes and there it was; the not-so-subtle tell.
Not even needing his guardian fairy to warn him Link merely took a step backwards in his hardened frown; as in on reaction, the wide-eyed Yoshiyuki descended back down from the sky he had previously leapt into, both fiery swords swinging in a savage and ruthless cross-cut. Quickly realising he had been duped however, he attempted to turn his body 'round to face his inevitable foe but it was far too late.
SMACK
"Gurgh...!"
The Garo Master let out a surprised grunt of pain as he was sent off his feet by his leaping foe's elbow strike directed at his back. The quick young Hylian followed up by widening his own cerulean eyes as he spun his body in a super-fast twist, aided by his own fiery-feel Gilded Sword.
"HEYT!"
FRRRR-SLICESLICE-SLICE
Yoshiyuki held back his pained yell as he was sent spinning forward from the sheer intensity of the counter-attack, righting his body mid-flight. As he landed in a deft skid, drawing up small stones and dust in his wake, he grunted once as he shot off to his side to almost immediately disappear from the common eye in evasion.
"Link, the side!"
Tatl's abrupt and hurried yell was just enough time Link needed to pivot his ponytail-haired head 'round to swing up his Mirror Shield in defence.
CLANGGGG-FRRRR...
"Hmph...!"
Having re-appeared through his superspeed, Yoshiyuki growled in annoyance as his weapons were knocked back by the intense strength the Mirror Shield held; something he held himself with much distaste.
A quality reinforced by the second charge he made.
"Yagh!"
KATAAANNNG-FRRRR...
This time instead of simply stumbling back in recovery, the Garo Master's swords retained their position long enough for their master to lean forward. Even while standing in a blocking position, the watching Link could only furrow his brow in a firm-eyed frown, unable to work the man's machinations out.
It was only when he realised he was aiming for his Mirror Shield, however, that his oceanic eyes widened in alarm.
"Hya!"
In a deft acrobatic flip-kick he managed to successfully double-boot the shield with enough force that it was sent spinning from the young boy's grip.
FWIP
CLANG-KUT-KUT-KUTKUTKUTKUT...
As it slowly rolled in its landing, as if a simple coin, the wide-eyed Link very quickly realised he was defenceless.
"No...," he thought, eyes narrowing as he watched the glaring-faced Yoshiyuki recover from his earlier assault into a gliding sprint forward. "I still have this."
Rising up the Gilded Sword, this time with both arms, he stepped forward to meet the assassin's challenge. The Garo Master chose to straighten out his glide, almost as if some kind of warrior's compliment to the title-holding youth he duelled with.
CLANG-CLANG
In a low sweeping slice Link brought the Gilded Sword swinging up to meet Yoshiyuki's initial diagonal-down cut, before pressing on his assault by attempting the robed man's opposing side in a similar slicing strike. Seemingly not expecting the level of strength that the narrow-eyed Hero of Time channelled, both through his own physical merit and augmented via his use of Aegir, the Garo Master's defences were opened up and he was sent stumbling backward a few steps.
Link twisted 'round in an uncharacteristically graceful spin as he brought down the Gilded Sword in a savage diagonal slice, this time penetrating the wide-eyed Yoshiyuki's defences.
SQUELCH
"Hrngh...!"
He pressed his momentum further by using the very weapon he commanded to push up off the ground and send himself flying toward his ninja-clothed opponent; the Garo Master, still reeling from his earlier-gained injury, could only gasp as he swung his golden-helmeted head 'round in widened eyes.
"TOWAH!"
In an acrobatic turn of his own, Link managed to turn himself in an arrow made of flesh and bone; as he shot forward from his earlier position, he slammed his boot hard and firm into the Garo Master's open chest. The two came crashing down to the ground and came viciously dragging Yoshiyuki's body brutally against the field beneath them, drawing up rocks and wreckage in their wake.
DRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR
FWIP
The narrow-eyed Link finished his dive-kick assault by kicking the grunting man's helmet in a recovering flip, guiding his backward flight via his Aegir. As he landed, eyes watching carefully, he took both arms off of his weapon, opting to hold it horizontally to his left. He relaxed his positioning to stand upright once more as his opponent did, lightly cricking and cracking his blonde head to each side as he did, eyes focused and fixed on his injured foe.
"Impressive... truly... impressive..."
Yoshiyuki's baritone knocked off against the walls with enough force that made the watching Link tilt his head to the side, his ponytail hanging with him. As the shinobi slowly turned his tattered-robed body 'round to face his younger adversary, he began to march very slowly and deliberately forward as he sheathed one of his swords. Using his freed-up hand to presumably channel Aegir with, he rose up his hand and only outstretched his thumb, forefinger and index finger.
"But I wonder...," the Garo Master began again, eyes narrowing with suspicion behind the golden-shaded headpiece he wore so well. "Is it the Shinzui's power...? Or yours...?"
As his eyes widened in response the sudden crease the air received as a result of his Aegir-control, Link darted his own eyes around in distressed search for the source of his enemy's next assault.
"Link no, beneath you!"
Even with his partner's warning however, the youth was snared and rather surprisingly easily too.
CRUNCH-CRUNCH
SNATCH-SNATCH
In a savage burst from the ground below him, four hardwood plumes of unknown origin shot up from below and managed to make successful contact with the boy's exposed arms and legs. Even as confident as he was earlier in the engagement, Link's eyebrows lifted up in a mixture of sheer horror and shock; turning only to dart his head in his enemy's direction when he felt him fast-approaching.
"No!"
As the Garo Master closed in for what looked to be the final kill and came within a close enough range Link's eyes shot wide-open and, as they did, so too did an abrupt surge of Aegir erupt from his body. First manifest within his very limbs themselves as controlled auras of flame, they easily burnt out the extended hardwood plumes before the second phenomenon made manifest; a literal shield of fire-style Aegir that absolutely halted the swift ninja's superfast march resolutely and unquestionably.
CLAAAANG-KATAAANG-TANG-FRRRR...
Although the dark-clothed shinobi's saw the shield of magical force manifest in time to assault it with, it didn't seem to factor in; the sound of his comparatively fiery-infused steel mashed heavily with the staunch resistance the bulwark that Link erected to protect his previously vulnerable form with.
"Ah...!"
As Yoshiyuki stumbled backward as a result of the sheer shock-wave his opponent offered, Link pressed his counter-assault. As he recovered from his earlier defensive manoeuvre he returned an offensive one in kind; gripping the Gilded Sword tightly within both arms he charged its powerful gold and silver folds with as much burning Quintessence as he could manage, before eventually lowering his near-floating position.
In a blinking flash he was off like an actual light; a bright burst of meaty crimson was his vigil. When the transfixed Tatl re-opened her eyes she saw a mildly different sight to her sight; the narrow-eyed Link stood in a leaning position far from his wide-eyed and halted opponent. He held the Gilded Sword this time with a single hand, held back the way and with his left arm, his right clenched into a fist at his side.
Meanwhile, a flash of brightly-held fire materialised across Yoshiyuki's chest, his two robed arms and legs splayed out in all ends; the final sign of defeat. At last time returned to its normal flow and the shock-expressed Garo Master slowly fell down to his knees in an agonised gasp, his form at last fallen to his Hylian adversary's.
–
3
"T-To think... that the Wheel of Fate could have predicted... this outcome..." The dying, bloodied man gurgled out, coughing in agony as he did, using one of his not-so-flaming swords to hoist himself on a single knee.
His patience at last burnt out; a fact that reflected in the newly-gained scowl he displayed on his youthful countenance.
"What the hell is the 'Wheel of Fate'?! And what do you mean?!"
"Heh-heh... heh-heh-heh...," the near-gasping and coughing Yoshiyuki managed out, blood staining the outside of his golden-shaded helmet, coming out in tiny droplets as if tiny snakes; a dire sign indeed. "If only you knew...," he spoke, the grin in his baritone swinging his head slowly from side-to-side, as if in some blithely-held amusement. "You and I... Hero of Time... Akuma... you must understand..."
This time the hovering Tatl opted to stay silent, half-way in decision to watch and gain information.
"Our presence here... in Rockvale's forgotten wreckage... it doesn't alter history... you and I meet here and fight to the death because we have always met here... and fought to the death," he finished out in a low-chuckling spit of his mirthless smirking tone of voice. "History... is irredeemable..."
"I don't...," Link began, his face creasing in firm-eyed confusion, shaking his straw-haired head as he did. "I don't understand; what are you-?"
"Drop a stone... into a rushing river and the current simply courses around it... almost as if the obstruction were never there to begin with," the Garo Master laughed out, his right hand beginning to shake violently from the sheer exertion of keeping his weight. "You and I... Hero of Time..."
Link quipped a curious eyebrow skyward in response. "Yeah...?"
"We... we are pebbles...," the shinobi explained very briefly, his raggedy laughter soon coming out in short and haggard breaths, the staccato an unpleasant accompaniment to the raspy-gravelly hacks that escaped his mouth. "And have even less hope of disrupting the space-time continuum..."
Unable to piece together the Garo man's seemingly maddened notions of philosophy, Link could only shake his head a third time in a frustrated combination of perplexity and bewilderment.
"However... seeing as how you have treated the last Garo with an honourable end... I shall take my final bow by opening my heart and revealing my eldritch wisdom. Only by spilling the blood of the ancients with the purifying 'Sagilux', will you be able to lift the scourge blighted upon the land of Ikana."
Link's sky-blue eyes widened, his morale very quickly rising.
At last, he thought; a word I actually recognise.
'Sagilux'.
It was a word previously spoken to him by Zelda herself of the time in which he had come from. Ancient Hylian, loosely translated as:
'Arrow of Light's Justice'.
"Belief or disbelief rests with you; die I shall, leaving no corpse..."
As Yoshiyuki began to finish his words, out came a spherical black explosive device; just as the watching heroes half-expected, it was a bomb. The youth narrowed his eyes and pushed the ground with his boots to skid backward in recovery and to a relatively safe distance, arms rose up as if to help shield himself further from the inevitable blast.
BOOM
Somehow, the Garo Master's haunting finish echoed out on out, even as his body vanished with no trace.
"That... is the law of the Garo."