Sorry this is so late! I know I was supposed to update weeks ago, but I went on vacation for 11 days with no internet. I literally just got back, like, two days ago, but luckily I had this chapter mostly written already. As a bonus and apology, there is a short omake at the bottom! It's really short, though... only 188 words... Anyway, next chapter: MEMORIES! I'M SO EXCITED!
Anyway, HUGE THANKS to Nerdwen, CrimsonsArt, ultima-owner, alemery, and Kerriss for reviewing!
To Nerdwen: Princess Bride! I love that movie! Wesley actually reminds me a lot of one of the kids I know at school. And, yeah, we creative people have imaginative (and somewhat gory) minds. XD
To CrimsonsArt: It's okay, you don't suck! Even if the review is only one word, I still like it.
To Kerriss: Aw, I'm flattered. :)
Disclaimer: Don't own, see previous 19 chapters.
"The power of the Gorons is amazing," Link said as we witnessed one just plow right through several feet of solid rock like it was nothing.
"That it is," Vaati agreed as the four of us stood back at a safe distance from flying bits of stone. "That it is."
I ducked as a chunk of rock flew over my head. "Dangerous, too. Makes me glad they're on our side. If they'd held a grudge when we defeated their guardian of the bow and arrows, or when we shot one of their elders in the forehead, we'd be in trouble."
"Yeah, let's just be thankful that they're pretty forgiving," Dark agreed.
A second later, Darbus had finished tunneling, and turned towards us with a serious expression on his face. "There is a hidden village up ahead, little humans. The elders call it a forgotten place. This scent that has been burning in my nostrils… it is the scent of evil. There is one powerful creature I have seen about… but under that beast are many minions who attack and plunder like a pack of hyenas.
"There are 30... No... At most, 20 of them ahead… They are probably just a small band of survivors... Ragged remnants who have settled, leaderless, into this village. If that is all there are, little humans, then you four alone are more than enough for them. But you will have to defeat them ALL to save that girl's benefactor. Before you go, I will tell you the secret to besting them: destroy them all before they spot you! Got it, little humans?"
I grinned, ignoring his "little humans" comments. Kill them without being seen? We had this one in the bag.
"Got it," Link replied.
"Oh, this'll be fun," Dark said. His small fangs glinted in the dim light, and his eyes flashed with a vaguely sinister red glow.
"Twenty? Then that's five each," Vaati determined quickly. Then he smirked. "Say… What if we made it a contest? Whoever can kill their five monsters first wins. Wanna give it a shot?"
Dark and I exchanged looks. "Sure."
Link, on the other hand, shook his head. "Nah, I'm good," he said. "I don't think I could compete with you guys at all when it comes to speed."
"Probably not," Vaati agreed. "You're sitting this one out, then?"
The blond-haired hylian nodded. I shrugged. "Alright, then."
We moved aside so Darbus could leave, then headed down the tunnel. It soon opened up to reveal a large hollow, one that seemed to have been carved out of the mountain itself. Within it was, for lack of a better term, a ghost town. Seriously. I swear there were even tumbleweeds blowing past. Looking up, I could see an old signpost that swayed slightly in the breeze. Several bulblins were visible walking on the deserted street, and I could see a few perched up on rooftops.
All three of us grinned. This was going to be fun.
"So, who won?" Link asked once we'd regrouped in one of the abandoned houses. Vaati grinned.
"I did," he said. "It was easy because I could get a bunch of them all at once, just as long as they were in my line of sight."
I pouted. "Not fair," I complained. "You had an advantage."
The Wind Mage raised one eyebrow. "And since when have I played fair?"
"True," Dark conceded.
Just then, we were interrupted by the sounds of a door opening. Immediately all four of us fell silent, hands reaching for weapons as we exited the deserted building. However, instead of another monster, we were met with the sight of a wrinkled old woman.
I blinked in confusion. "Okaaay," I said slowly. "What's a little old lady doing here?"
Vaati frowned. "Wait… is she the one who helped Illia?"
The old lady looked around. "The howls of the beasts... They've faded into silence…" Her face was hopeful, and then she looked over and saw us. "Wait, are you… The saviors! It's you, the saviors! Please, please forgive me… for not opening up the door. My name is Impaz. I'm the last resident of this poor village. My name comes from the great one who built this village so long ago…"
Dark raised an eyebrow. "Impaz… that name sounds familiar," he mused quietly to himself.
Impaz continued talking. "This village was once the secret home of a proud tribe who served the royal family… But it fell into decline, and became infested with dangerous beasts. It's become an awful place… Excuse me for asking, but are your names… Link, Dark, Shadow, Vaati?"
We nodded. How had she known that? And I didn't miss the way her eyes narrowed slightly when she said the names of my brothers and I. Why us, and not when she'd addressed Link? I couldn't recall ever meeting her before, so it was unlikely that she was one of our former victims.
"Ah! I knew it… So then, you saved that nice girl? ...How lovely. When she was here, she would often cheer me up by saying that you would come to help. That sweet girl... She worried about this old woman even as I helped her to escape from here… By royal order, I can't leave this place until a certain person arrives… No matter what terrible fate is visited upon it…"
The four of us exchanged looks. Royal order? Well, this was getting weirder and weirder.
"Oh, but listen to me blather on! I have a favor to ask: would you help me return this to her? I think she always kept it close to her heart, but even so, she didn't hesitate to part with it in order to protect me… I believe in my heart that it's kept me safe all this time… So please... I ask that you return it to that girl. That dear girl deserves her charm back… And tell her that this old biddy was very grateful."
Impaz handed Link a horseshoe-shaped charm that looked almost like a weird curved flute, judging by the holes. I wondered if it worked like horse grass, so Link could call Epona anytime he wanted. It seemed like the type of thing Illia would make. Link nodded, thanked her, and the old woman smiled before turning and going back into her house.
The four of us looked at each other. "Well," Link said, "I guess that means we're going back to Kakariko."
Ilia turned the charm over in her hands, rubbing her fingers against the white wood. "I... I knew you once… Yes... This feels so familiar... The scent of hay… Long ago... When we were young, you and I… You were always there... You were always beside me…"
She looked up and met Link's eyes. "Link. This gift was meant for you. It was something I wanted to give you before you left on your journey. Please, Link, take it. You don't need to worry about me any longer. Whenever you return... I'll be waiting for you.
"Link... Do you remember what I was saying about the rod of the heavens? Well, actually... It was about the messenger to the heavens who held the rod… The nice woman who saved me told me about it… Apparently, in this woman's village, they've guarded something for the heavenly messenger for generations, so they await him.
"But they can't give this item away until the messenger arrives with the rod… That's why the lady couldn't leave her village, you see… Say, Link... Do you have any idea who this messenger to the heavens might be? Or even what the rod is?"
I could almost see Vaati's mind working as he connected the dots. Meanwhile, Link and Ilia were catching up and having a nice reunion, so the three of us moved outside to give them some privacy.
Rod… heavens… messenger…
The Dominion Rod.
Well, it looked like we'd be heading back to the Hidden Village very soon.
Impaz's house was, in a word, cluttered. There seemed to be a ridiculous number of cats all over the village and her home was no exception. Shelves of knickknacks lined the walls, ranging from spools of thread to a wagon wheel. Vaati was enamored with the kittens, though Dark and I weren't so excited. Canine versu s feline, I suppose. Now, if it had been puppies instead...
My attention was then diverted as Link pulled out the Dominion Rod and showed it to Impaz, who gasped in surprise.
"Hey!" she exclaimed, "That rod… Is that the Dominion Rod? Ahh... Could it really be? Are you the messenger to the heavens?! Among the legends of my clan, there is a story from the time when the Oocca still maintained contact with the royal family."
I snorted quietly. The Oocca had once been in contact with the Royal Family? Now that was a weird thought. I had a mental image of the queen sitting on her throne, looking very fancy and official while a group of Oocca chattered at her feet. Heh, that must've been a sight to see.
Impaz continued her montage enthusiastically. "Yes, it said that a mysterious rod was handed down from the people of the sky, and it was called the Dominion Rod… The rod was only to be carried by the messenger to the heavens when the royal family needed to communicate with the Oocca.
"From generation to generation, my ancestors have guarded the book that, by royal decree, was to be given to the messenger to the heavens. This is that book. Please, take it. This book is written in the ancient language of Sky Writing."
She handed Link a thick, leather-bound book seemingly pulled out of nowhere. It looked extremely old, and my mind automatically calculated how much it would go for on the Black Market. Probably a lot if we passed it off as a one-of-a-kind antique.
"I am so glad I stayed in this village... If I had not met that young girl, what would have become of me? Meeting that girl must have been ordained by the gods, so that I could be here today to pass on this knowledge… Yes, I was meant to pass on that ancient book from the heavens to you… Please, take care of yourself."
Vaati plucked the book out of Link's hands and examined it carefully. "This language…" he murmured softly. "It's familiar… and for some reason, I can read it."
Dark looked at him incredulously. "You can read it? Really?" he asked doubtfully. "Did you not hear her when she said it was written in Sky Writing?"
I peered over my purple-haired brother's shoulder. "No, he's right," I said. "I mean, I can't read it, but I can recognize some of the words and phrases. Like this one here." I pointed to a word in the middle of a page. "This one means 'rebirth', I think."
Vaati looked at me. "How did you know that?" he asked in surprise.
I shrugged. "No idea. Same way you just know how to read it, I guess."
"Hmm." Vaati narrowed his eyes, but went back to the book. Within seconds he was completely immersed in his reading, flicking through pages with a single-minded determination that I knew meant he wouldn't surface for a long while. Dark chuckled, while Link looked slightly confused.
He waved his hand in front of Vaati's face, frowning when it was completely ignored. "Vaati? Hello?"
I snorted with laughter. "Don't bother," I told him. "He's tuned everything out by now. Only way to reach him is through food, a threat, or forcibly taking the book away."
Impaz looked amused. "Not quite what I had expected," she muttered to herself.
Dark looked at her and raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean by that?" he asked her. She looked startled, like she hadn't intended for us to hear.
"Nothing," she replied quickly. Too quickly. She was hiding something, but what? She looked between Dark, Vaati, and I. "It was nothing."
I narrowed my eyes and felt the Wolf inside me bristle slightly. She's lying.
Dark felt the same way. "You know something. About us," he announced. "You've been giving us funny looks ever since we've met, but only the three of us." He gestured to himself, Vaati, and I. "Not Link. You know something about the three of us. What is it?"
Impaz flinched, then sighed. Her age seemed more pronounced now, and her thin frame sagged slightly. She looked between us, then sighed again.
"You're right," she said. "I do know something. But," she glanced at Link. "could you step outside for a moment? This… this is a matter between us and the Goddesses."
My eyebrows arched up. The Goddesses? What did they have to do with this?
Link nodded and graciously stepped out, closing the door behind him. Vaati closed the book and tucked it away in one of his many pockets, red eyes focused intently on the old woman in front of us.
Impaz sighed again and looked up. It looked like she was feeling every second of her (most likely) 60-plus years. "Dark, Shadow, Vaati," she said. "To be honest, I knew your names even before I ever met you. I can't say much," she added before we could open our mouths and ask. "But you should know- the Goddesses have sent you three back to this kingdom for a reason. A second chance, one that you all deserve."
Vaati was about to question her, but before he could she held up a hand and forestalled him.
"Again, I cannot say very much. But," she turned and pulled out an old map. "I have a feeling that after you complete the next stage in your journey… you will need this." She handed Dark the map. "Most of my tribe now resides in the mountains, far away from civilization, even farther north than the Yeti. When you have been fully reborn, you should seek them out. You'll know what I mean when the time comes." She smiled, face crinkling. "I have faith in your three. You are all much stronger than you think."
Link sighed and flopped down the grass. "Six owl statues, hidden all over the kingdom. Thank the Goddesses for Midna's warping, eh?"
Vaati nodded. We had reactivated the Dominion Rod in Renado's basement, with the help of Shad, who was only too eager to get his hands on the Ancient Sky Book. Apparently he could read it as well, from notes left by his father.
I lay flat on my back and put my hands behind my head as I stared up at the clear blue sky. It was so nice and warm, I could feel my eyelids drooping as I felt the urge to just curl up and take a nice long nap…
"...Shadow? Shadow? Hey, wake up!"
I grumbled as Vaati started poking me the moment my eyes closed. "What?" I all but snarled.
"Hey. We should get going. Something about what that old woman said… I think we need to get to those characters as fast as possible," he said.
I groaned and batted his hand away. "Tired now. Sleep," I mumbled before closing my eyes again.
For a few minutes, I dozed contentedly. Then, my eyes snapped open in surprise as I was suddenly and forcibly transformed as Midna warped us to Goddesses-knew-where. "Hey!" I yelped indignantly as I dissolved into black squares of twilight. "You could have warned me, y'know!"
Dark was about to reply, but before we could everything went black- and then we were suddenly no longer there, but somewhere completely different. I sighed.
Looked like the search was on.
"So… what are we doing here again?" I asked. Vaati rolled his eyes.
"Link' gonna go visit his werewolf-spirit-ghost teacher," he replied. "Y'know, the one-eyed freaky one."
I shuddered slightly. After we'd had that strange talk a while back, that strange golden wolf kind of freaked me out. Link seemed fine with it, though. And he'd wanted to come see it after we'd found all six owl statues.
"I think he's kind of creepy, to be honest," Dark muttered. "And it's weird how he seems to just know stuff about us that not even we know. Like that old woman in the Hidden Village. Wait- do you think he's a messenger from the Goddesses, or something?"
Vaati shrugged as Link caught sight of the Golden Wolf and moved towards him. We hung back, watching as the wolf once more leapt at him- and vanished. Again, Link fell to the ground, limp, and I absentmindedly chucked a small bomb at a bulblin who tried to investigate.
"If not a messenger, then a teacher, since he keeps giving Link all those new sword moves and everything," the Wind Mage speculated. "He's definitely involved with the Goddesses somehow, but… what I don't understand is what they have to do with us."
I nodded slowly. Vaati bisected a deku baba into four pieces after it tried to bite his arm off. Dark was teasing a helmasaur, baiting it so that it would charge and then turning insubstantial so that it passed right through. The creature would then look around in confusion, turn around, see him, and repeat the process. It was actually quite entertaining.
Not long after, Link finally woke up from whatever spiritual plane-thingy he went to with the Golden Wolf. He looked a little sad for some reason, but quickly brightened up after demonstrating his new special attack- the Great Spin. It was cool, even if it only worked when he was at full health. But every power had its drawbacks, so we weren't too surprised.
"Nice," I said with a fanged grin. "Now, let's go back to Kakariko."
As it turned out, hidden in a large cavern beneath the village was, of all things, a giant. Cannon.
What.
Of all the things I'd expected to find (a slumbering monster, another dungeon, maybe some sort of treasure) a cannon hadn't been one of them.
Midna warped it to Lake Hylia, where we got Fyer to fix it for 300 rupees. It was a scam, but before we could haggle Link just forked over the money like it was no big deal. When we asked him about it later, he just shrugged and pointed out that we were actually somewhat rich now after collected all the loot from dungeons and defeated monsters. And we were pretty much the old man's only source of income; so it wasn't a big deal to pay the full price.
I grumbled slightly about the blond being too nice, but by then Fyer was already banging around with his hammer and wrench so it was too late anyway. Then it hit me- we had money. As in, extra money that we didn't need.
And wasn't that a mind-blowing thought.
Despite this realization, though, nothing really changed. Life continued, and we spent the few days it took Fyer to fix up the cannon relaxing, training, and fixing the holes in our clothes. Because in the long run, it didn't actually matter that much. It wasn't like we could just walk into Castle Town and buy stuff anyway, all our supplies were now either sent via mailman or purchased in Kakariko. We were still running off all over the kingdom with Link, and next we were actually going to shoot ourselves out of a cannon.
As I relaxed on the banks, I wondered, when had our lives gotten so weird? Less than two years ago we were just street kids, but now… here we are, adventuring across the kingdom with quest from the frikin' Goddesses themselves, along with the Goddess's chosen hero. And we aren't even good guys ourselves!
To be honest, though, I knew exactly when our lives had changed. The moment Twilight had fallen on Castle Town, our lives had been irreversibly altered. We had been transformed, literally. Then we'd met Link, and there had been no turning back.
My mind wandered to the words of Impaz and the Golden Wolf. It seemed that the Goddesses, for whatever reason, had decided to take an interest in us as well. And our "dark pasts"... what did that mean? We knew our pasts- street urchins born and bred, raised in the dark alleyways of Castle Town. We lied and cheated and stole, and we were proud of it. No mystery.
Yet… a strange feeling told me that there was something more. Something that none of us knew, but impact us in a big way.
And I just knew that we'd find out that "something" upon reaching the Sky.
OMAKE: LAZY DAY
"Nnnngh…"
I flopped down and stared up at the sky. "I don't wanna do anything…" I groaned lazily. "Too tired. Just wanna sleep." One burst of magic later, I was in my wolf form and laying on my side on the grass. A fly buzzed around my ear, and I sneezed as dust tickled my nose.
Vaati snorted, reaching down and flicking my paw. "Lazy bum."
I rolled my eyes. "Yeah, like you don't want to do the same thing," I retorted. "I know you. You'd be happy to sleep the day away."
Dark let out a huff of laughter. "That's definitely true. Ah, I don't wanna move either."
"Really guys?" Link asked in an exasperated tone when he walked over and saw all three of us, splayed out across the grass in our beast forms. "Really?"
"What?" I opened one eye and stared lazily. "We're tired. We're full. And it's warm. Therefore, we sleep."
Link looked down at us for a second, then sighed. "Oh, fine," she grumbled.
Several minutes later, three wolves and one panther were lying sprawled on the grass, dozing contentedly. Life was good.
