The wind whipped through Link's hair, the mere feeling enough to shake his dour mood. The air wasn't stagnant like in the castle or filtered like in the forest. Here, the empty plain let the wind build to the point that, even with the clear sky, it could throw a careless rider off their steed. He wondered how it'd feel if his hair was longer. Maybe I should let it grow, he thought to himself. He'd have to come back to that idea later.
"Remember everyone," Graves called back from the front of the group. "While it's unlikely, we need to be prepared to to fight at a moments notice. Bokoblins have been attacking travellers inconsistently over the past few years, so be aware."
Eshie cleared her throat. "If you don't mind me asking, shouldn't we be able to escape them with our horses?"
"Yes." Graves nodded. "Provided they don't have horses themselves."
Eshie blinked. "They can ride horses?"
"Unfortunately, yes. And, surprisingly, they're actually decent."
Oulson cursed. "Of course they are."
"Relax. They're usually in small groups, and they'll bolt at the first sign of proper resistance."
Aram nodded. He'd had personal experience fighting them in the past couple of years as part of his training. "They're absolute cowards. They'll gang up on you, but like the captain said, they'll turn tail and run as soon as their numbers start to thin."
"Unless they're being directed." Link added. "And just because that hasn't happened in seven years doesn't mean it can't happen again." Captain Graves grunted in agreement.
"You mean the siege with the Demon Swordsman?" Aram shuddered at the memory. "You think that bastard will come back."
Link shrugged. "Not exactly what I meant but…" He paused a moment. "Yeah, I think he's still out there."
A shadow came into view on the horizon, and the group went quiet. They all knew what was coming, a grim reminder of the siege. As Lon Lon ranch came into view, they all watched silently, as if they were expecting monsters to still be living there, waiting to ambush them. Link, however, kept his eyes forward. He knew what he'd see if he looked. He'd already searched through there long ago, more times than he cared to admit. Epona, however, still looked.
"I know girl." He patted her neck. "Nothing we can do now."
"Dins sake…" Eshie muttered once they had passed the ruined ranch. "Think there's anything still hiding in there?"
Graves shook his head. "No. All monsters were forced out years ago, though a couple may have returned over the years. It's still hard to properly gauge their numbers, not when they're in so many small groups."
Diddy pursed his lips. "Well, at least that makes it easy to take care of them, right?"
"I suppose." Graves conceded. "Better a disorganised enemy than an organised one. Which is why you…" He trailed off, wait for the others to answer.
"Always go for the leader." Aram commented.
"Correct. But another answer is to use shock tactics, to take control away from the leader. Instil panic, chaos, and so on." He pressed his heels into his steed. "Now come on, we shouldn't dawdle. By nightfall I want our camp to be close enough to Lake Hylia that we can empty our canteens and fill them back up in the morning."
The pace of the group picked up from there, and it wasn't long before what had once been Lon Lon Ranch was little more than a dark shape behind them. It was only then that Link looked.
By the time they had stopped for the day, the sun only had a few minutes left in the sky. Under the Captains instruction, everyone got to work assembling the campsite, with Eshie and Aram setting up the tarp, Oulson tying up the horses, Diddy unpacking the meal and Link setting up the fire. Link had dug a nice little pit with the kindling resting underneath the wood, however he was struggling to actually get it lit. After fumbling around with the Captains flint and knife for a few minutes, the combination of the fading light, the simplicity of the task and his own growing frustration, Link decided to grab an arrow and, when no one was looking, jabbed it into the kindling, channeling magic through the arrow and setting the tip ablaze, before quickly withdrawing it before anyone saw what he did and, after inspecting it for any damage, returned it to his quiver and handed the captains items back to their owner. Before long, the entire group was huddled around the flame, wait for their meal.
"Damnit." Diddy grunted as he placed the lid back on the pot. "I don't think I want to sit down."
Graves smirked, inching closer to the fire. "Is there a problem?"
"Yeah." He groaned. "My ass bloody hurts!"
"All our asses hurt." Oulson snarked. "We've all been planted on our horses for hours. You're not special here."
"Yeah?" Diddy stood up gingerly. "What about Link? He doesn't seem to have any problems."
"Oh no." Link grinned. "I'm just good at hiding it. I've been dragging myself across the ground when your not looking."
"Come on. Even the captain is taking it worse than you?"
Graves frowned. "Excuse me?"
"Seriously," Diddy continued. "sometimes I wonder if you're even human."
Link raised an eyebrow and tilted his head. "Oi. That's harsh."
Aram walked up and gave Diddy a push from behind. "Lay off. No need to call names." He sniffed the air. "Besides, shouldn't you be focused on our dinner?"
That managed to distract Diddy long enough for the conversation to wonder elsewhere, and when the pot did come off the fire, the conversation completely ended, replaced by the sounds of cutlery scraping against bowls, and afterward they were all too tired to continue, and slowly, painfully, made their way to the tarp.
"I'll take first watch." Eshie said with a stretch. "You guys get some sleep. I'll wake Aram up in a few hours."
Link gave a tired wave. "Hey, I can take watch."
"After complaining earlier?" Eshie snorted. "Nah, you need to lie down. Besides, you made a nice fire, I want to enjoy it."
Link thought about objecting, but he was admittedly to tired to argue, and feebly made his way to his bedroll, and after climbing in and getting comfy, promptly blacked out.
In his dream, he was wearing green again.
He wondered how long it had been since he'd worn this tunic. Time was always confusing, he found. The thought seemed to amuse him.
"We've had our fair share of messes when it come to time, haven't we Link?" Navi said in his ear.
He smiled and agreed with her. That was also strange. He could swear he hadn't seen her in just as long, but that didn't seem to matter. He already decided time was a mess not worth focusing on, certainly not while here.
Here.
Where is here? He thought, his smile turning to a frown. He couldn't place just quite where he was. And why was he so confused? He wasn't usually like this. He shook his head, trying to clear away the fog.
"You seem lost."
The voice came from behind him. He turned to see a wall of darkness looming over him. He felt his sword arm ready to swing, but he had no sword. Of course he didn't. He was beginning to get annoyed at all this madness.
Slowly, the darkness shrunk, slowly taking the shape of something close to human. Hunched over with blood red light spilling out of it's smile, it seemed far to familiar with him.
"We're not done yet, young man." It said. "Much business to attend to. "I hope you put up a better fight this time."
Link didn't care who this thing was. If it wanted a fight, it would get one. He flung a fist at the creature, that exploded into shadows, covering him, enveloping him, until-
When Link woke up, the first thing he noticed was that he was drooling. He frowned, still half asleep, as he sat up with a groan. The memory of his dream was still fresh in his mind, but he didn't seem to be startled in the slightest. In fact, he was as groggy as he usually was. Strange, he thought. It had certainly seemed like a nightmare, at least as he remembered it, but it didn't seem his mind agreed. "Weird." He muttered.
"Oh good." Link turned to see Oulson looking down at him. "I was just about to wake you. It's your watch. When you're done, wake Diddy. He'll take watch till dawn."
Link yawned. "Yeah. Got it." Oulson didn't wait any longer, immediately collapsing onto his bedroll.
Slowly, he got up and shifted to his new position besides the now smaller fire. As he threw another piece of wood onto the flames, he thought about his dream once more. He didn't like it. He knew dreams could have power, act as windows into the future. Whatever that demonic thing was, he hoped it was just something he had dreamed up. It was better than the alternative.
He gazed upwards into the nights sky. The stars were countless and stunning. He tried to look for shaped within them, but to no avail. They were too vast, just like that thing. No escaping it. No fighting it.
Yet.
Today is the 20th anniversary of Majora's mask being released in Japan. I thought it'd be fitting to release today, so I hiked my socks up and got to writing. Honestly, it was easier to do before this whole pandemic thing. The whole stay at home thing only really got put into effect right after my birthday, so while I got to go out for dinner, I couldn't go bowling with my family.
Doing uni at home is much more annoying than doing it at uni. I don't know, just more focused.
Lot's is going on otherwise. Insomnia is a bitch, choking on food overnight is a bitch, all that is a bitch. Except for me finally getting a job. That's awesome. The fear of getting fired is less so.
Anyway, I'll try to work on this more in the future, but with uni getting this intense it's going to be hard. Just a heads up. Hope the wait was worth it.