A/N: I own nothing except a copy of this great game.
Impa arose that morning to the sounds to screams.
Startled, she reached for a dagger, knowing that she did not have time to grab her Biggoron Knife that rested atop her mantle. Instead, she raced down the halls towards the source of the cries: the princess' bedroom.
She burst through the doors, to see the princess thrashing about in bed.
"Zelda!" Impa shouted, racing towards her nightmare-striken leader. She grabbed Zelda by the shoulders, pinning her to so that she did not injure herself in her night terrors. "Zelda, wake up! It is only a dream! You're only dreaming!"
Zelda's eyes snapped open, and she let out a gasp as if coming up from being submerged in ice water. She coughed once, her breathing slowly returning to normal. Impa, recognizing that the princess was okay, relaxed and stepped away from the bed.
Her breathing now slowed and calm, Zelda blinked once and turned to look towards her trusted friend and advisor. Her voice was slightly shaky, but she spoke nonetheless.
"Impa…the same nightmare keeps haunting me…" Zelda said. Impa raised an eyebrow.
"What is this nightmare that troubles you so?" She asked. She leaned against the stone wall of the princess' chamber, now in full-on conciliatory mode. Zelda sighed.
"I stand in the great Hyrulian Fields, my harp in hand. It is a beautiful day out, and the smells from the flowers tell me that it is spring. The sun shines and there isn't a cloud in the sky. Someone the birds sing. And all is well." Zelda began. Her expression turned fearful. "And then…I see it. A…wall of darkness advances towards me from the horizon, swallowing all in its path and even blotting out the sun. It is a tidal wave of darkness that I cannot fathom, and so I run. I drop my harp, and it is swallowed whole. I run as fast as I can, but each and every time I am too slow and the darkness consumes me…at least, it would if that was not the precise moment that I wake up." She turned to Impa. "Whatever could it mean?"
"An omen, perhaps," Impa offered. "Of dark times ahead for Hyrule." Zelda did not seem particularly happy to hear this news, clutching her chest as if to quell a rapidly beating heart.
"…Dark times?" She asked. Impa sighed, and looked outside through the stained glass window and towards the great courtyard below.
"If that is indeed true, we must locate…him…" She said. As she said this, she glanced towards a locked chest in the corner of the room. The Royal Family's crest was emblazoned upon the lock, as well as the symbol of the legendary Triforce. But it was what was inside the chest that was the most important: the clothing to be worn by the emergent hero of this era. "We must find the reborn spirit of the Hero."
They were interrupted by the sound of pounding footsteps. There was a knocking on the door, and in burst Lord Grantham along with two members of the Royal Guard.
"What on earth is going on?" Grantham asked. "I heard screaming from the princess' bedroom!" He looked quite worried, and rather pale at that. Impa smiled.
"My aren't you a fast riser, Lord Grantham." She said. "I believe that the trouble has passed."
"Yes, Impa is right." Zelda said with a smile. "I was simply having a bad dream." Lord Grantham looked relieved, and nodded.
"Good. I was afraid that it was far worse. Er…should I excuse you two?" He asked. "I don't wish to intrude on the princess if she is not yet ready for the day." Zelda smiled.
"You may stay, Elijah. I feel this is a matter that you should be privy to." She said. Lord Grantham nodded. He turned to the two Royal Guards behind him.
"Thank you for the assist. You two are dismissed." He said.
"Sire." The two Guardsmen intoned in unison. Like automatons, they marched away back to their original post. Lord Grantham watched them go, and then turned towards the princess and Impa.
"Now then. What is it that you think is so important that I should know?" He asked.
Zelda turned to look at Impa, who sensed her implied question.
"He is deserving to know." She said. Zelda nodded, and then turned towards Lord Grantham.
"Elijah, are you familiar with the legends of the Reincarnate Trio*?"
…
"By the Goddesses." Elijah managed to say, as Zelda finished her tale of the history of the Triforce. "I had no idea that this myth was anything more than that: a myth." He stared at Zelda in renewed awe. "Then…does that make you…?" Zelda giggled and shrugged.
"Yes and no." She said. "I carry the essence of the Goddess of Wisdom within me, and I am marked to be Her champion should the time come. But at the end of the day I am my own person, and am free to live my destiny in any manner I see fit." She held out her hand, and Elijah and Impa watched in awe as a small golden triangle emerged from her skin and hovered daintily over her palm. "And I am always reminded of my responsibility when I see this." Elijah, having never seen the physical manifestation of the Triforce before in any capacity, could only stare in wonder.
"Beautiful." He managed to say. "Beyond anything I've ever seen." He turned towards Impa. "Ishaka was looking for you. Said he wanted to show you how the training of the recruits is going." Impa rolled her eyes.
"Of course he does. He just wants me to watch him choke out another Twilight Wolf and add to my debt." She said. Grantham smirked.
"You can take it up with him, if it bothers you so much." He said. Zelda rolled her eyes.
"That's enough banter, you two. I do need to get dressed, after all. And relax, Impa, I will accompany you and Lord Tiberius on your patrol." She gestured to the door. "Do you mind?"
Both Impa and Lord Grantham politely excused themselves, and shut the door behind them.
"Do you think that you should tell him?" Lord Grantham asked.
"Who?" Impa asked. Grantham folded his arms across his chest.
"Ishaka. I feel that if you've entrusted me with the story of the Reincarnate Trio, then it might be best to let him know as well." He said. Impa sighed.
"Lord Grantham, I-"
"Call me Elijah. You might not hold rank of nobility but you are most definitely my equal." The Lord Treasurer interrupted gently. Impa nodded, recognizing the sincerity of his actions.
"Fair enough. Elijah, I do not know if he is completely trustworthy yet." She said. "He's been here for about a month, and while the integration the Ravagers have had with the Hyrulian forces has been quite admirable, I do not know if he should be made privy to every rumor and story that we discuss."
"And why is that?" Elijah asked. He seemed confused by her reluctance. "He doesn't strike me as the type to betray you for the sake of betrayal. And is this a story that really needs to be kept away from him? If you are looking for the hero, consider this: he might be one of our soldiers or even a trainee who doesn't know it yet. Ishaka spends all of his days interacting with soldiers, both ours and Ravagers. Wouldn't he be the best man to shed some light on this search?"
…
"Well, y'all all frettin' fer nothin'. Y'ain't gonna find th' Hero in this bunch."
Impa, Zelda, and Ishaka were walking along the battlements of Hyrule castle, staring into the training courtyard below them. In the courtyard, countless Hyrulian soldiers and Ravagers were practicing tools of the trade. There were spear attacks and defenses, close-quarter combat brawls, and archery challenges in the corner safely away from the rest of the action. To an untrained eye, this looked like a relatively well-trained and functional army. Which made Ishaka's assessment seem strange.
"What makes you say that?" Zelda asked. Ishaka shrugged.
"They be fine, yer highness. But they ain't great. There's a diff'rence. Yeh can fin' good sold'rs like dand'lions inna field. But a hero?" He chuckled, that same "hee-hee-hee" sound Impa had heard the first time they'd met. "S'like findin' a five hunnert rupee inna barrel. No point in lookin'." Impa agreed with his logic.
"Perhaps we would be better suited looking amongst the higher-level soldiers." Impa said. "What do you think, Princess?" She turned, but Zelda wasn't there. "Zelda?"
The princess had walked forward a ways, and was leaning over the battlements to watch the action below. There was a circle of trainees, Ravager and Hyrulian alike, which had gathered around two individuals in the center. One was a burly-looking Ravager, covered in tattoos and ragged leather armor. The other was not.
For one thing, though he wore the chainmail and colors of the Hyrulian army, he did not wear a helmet. Even from a distance, his hair was strikingly blonde if not golden. He had blue eyes. He looked like the sort that stepped off the pages of one of those classic fairy tales, of a prince slaying a dragon to save the princess. He wasn't particularly big and was rather skinny in truth, but there was an air of confidence in his stance that spoke of years experience and poise.
"Pshaw. Tha's th' kinda thing I be talkin' 'bout." Ishaka said. "That skinny little guy tryna take on Shiva? Gonna need ta scrape 'im offa th' concrete when this is done."
Impa nodded in agreement, but Zelda continued to stare at the blonde man beneath them.
With a roar, Shiva charged, brandishing a worn and weathered wooden club. He lifted it up and over his head, and brought it down like an axe. The young man raised his wooden shield high, perfectly catching the club. There was a loud crack as wood connected with wood, but the scrawny-looking Hyrulian stood his ground. Frustrated, Shiva tried a low-leg sweep. The blonde jumped over the low-sweep, and thrust his shield-arm forward. The wooden tool caught Shiva right in the chest, knocking the air out of his lungs. As the Ravager staggered back to regain control of his senses, the young man rushed forward, and swung his wooden sword as if he were trying to cut a tree. Shiva was unconscious before he even hit the ground.
There was a smattering of cheering from the crowd, mostly from the impressed Ravagers, as the young man twirled his sword in a sort of dignified victory pose. Some of the other Hyrulians were clapping as well, though it was clear that they were jealous of this little man that had beaten down Shiva before they had a chance to enact revenge for their own bruises and blackened eyes.
Impa chuckled a little bit, impressed with the display. It was a good thing that Ishaka was not smoking, because the way his lips were slightly agape would've meant that his pipe would fall straight out of his mouth. And Zelda was transfixed.
She stared at the boy, who seemed about her age, right as he looked upwards. They made eye contact. Something passed between them, something intangible. And the princess stared at this boy below her, where he was jarred back into duty by a Ravager clapping him on the back in congratulations, and knew that there was something special about him.
Impa noticed this, and smirked. She then turned to Ishaka, who still seemed shocked. Her smirk only widened when the Ravager captain made eye contact. His eyes narrowed slightly.
"He's still skinny."
The trio was interrupted by the breathless entrance of an exhausted Hyrulian soldier. He knelt before them.
"Your highness!" He gasped. "A horde of monsters is marching toward Hyrule Castle!"
Zelda's reaction was as swift as it was sound.
"Impa, prepare the troops for battle!" She said. Impa nodded, and marched off. Ishaka drew his dual knives, and let out a whistle. It pierced through the air, and every Ravager below in the training yard looked up towards the sight. Even the Hyrulian trainees looked up.
"Enemies at th' gates, boys n' girls!" He howled. "What we do?"
"RAVAGE!" They all barked in reply. The Ravagers left their training posts, grabbed what weapons and armor that was available, and swarmed out of the training grounds and towards the Hyrulian fields. Ishaka nodded, whistled again, and raced down the battlement after Impa.
Meanwhile, the trainees gazed up on the battlements, noticing the princess for the first time.
"Whoa, isn't that the princess?" One of them asked.
"What's she wasting her time with us for?" Another one asked. The blonde-haired man realized who it was that had stared at him like that, and his eyes widened in shock. He glanced up at her again.
The princess made eye contact with him again, and it seemed that she had a slight smile on her face as she did so. But she turned away almost as soon as she did, and walked down the battlements and to the sounds of battle.
…
Impa and Zelda stood at the front of the Hyrulian force, gazing towards the dark shadow that advanced upon their castle and home. Lord Tiberius was astride his faithful horse, and gazed upon the advancing tide with a steely face. He had objected quite passionately to the idea of Zelda being at the forefront of the army, but the princess made it clear that she led by example, and not behind the might of others.
Ishaka was next to them as well, though his Ravagers were not in the Hyrulian line. He had ordered them to take cover across the fields, and wait for the signal. In the meantime, they lay hidden. He watched as the horde passed through the fields, and held his breath that they would not stumble on one of his many pockets of Ravagers camoflagued into the grassy hills.
He narrowed his eyes. Something in the horde stood out.
"What do you see?" Zelda asked, noticing his expression darken. Ishaka drew his knives, and twirled the one in his left hand.
"I see their gen'rals. A war'ior clad in red an' fire. An'…somethin' else. Looks like a Poe 'r some such."
"I see them now, too." Lord Tiberius said. "I do not recognize the Poe creature, but it seems powerful in dark magic. Something about it just radiates evil."
"It all radiates evil." Zelda said. Impa turned to the Lord of War.
"Do we meet them in the fields?" She asked. Lord Tiberius nodded.
"Hyrulians!" He roared at the top of his lungs. "ADVANCE!"
There was a roar of approval from the men behind him, and the glittering army of light marched across the fields to meet their foe.
…
The young trainee was restless. He paced back and forth in the keep, trying not to pay attention to the other trainees that were clearly not invested in what was sure to be a war outside their door.
"So…I guess we just wait to hear what happened?" One of them asked. Another nodded. And proceeded to make small talk. The blonde man had had enough. He opened a nearby door, an action that caused the small group of trainees to turn in its direction. When he emerged, he was wearing a Hyrulian shield and a white sword, along with bulked up chainmail. One of the trainees looked at him in shock.
"Hey, Link!" He said. "What d'you think you're doing with that sword?!"
Link stared at the trainees with a glare that silenced even their greatest protests. He drew the sword, letting it gleam in the sunlight. And he raced out the door to his destiny.
…
It was chaos. Link raced out the drawbridge to see that a squadron of Bulblins were marching towards the gate, intending to take advantage of the madness around them in order to sneak inside the guarded walls. Well, that was not about to happen on his watch.
Link charged them with a yell, surprising the nasty creatures. Before any of them could react, Link had sliced forward, removing the heads of two Bulblins with one fell sweep. He blocked a spear thrust with his shield, and gutted the unlucky creature with a thrust of his own. He smacked the head of another Bulblin with a swing of his shield arm, and chased the last remaining Bulblin before stabbing it in the back.
He stared over the bodiers strewn around him, realizing that he had just killed for the first time. Perhaps later he would come to regret the ease with which it had come, but now was not that time. Now was the time to help save his kingdom.
He raced through the battlefield, looking for any face of leadership with which to rendezvous. He got atop a hill that gave him a reasonable view of the battlefield, and noticed that fighting had broken out across multiple locations and featured multiple pockets of Hyrulians and forces of darkness.
He heard a war cry, and turned around to see a Moblin captain rushing towards him. Link's eyes widened in shock, but he knew that his reflexes were not quick enough to completely save himself. He braced himself against his shield. The Moblin smacked him to the ground, and Link felt an explosion of pain as he landed hard against the dirt. He instantly reacted to the Moblin attempting to impale him with a spear, and rolled away as the creature slammed its weapon point-first into the ground. The being roared in annoyance at its stuck weapon, and desperately tried to pull it free. Link picked up his sword, and ran forward to finish the beast off.
He had barely taken a step when a blade burst through the chest of the creature, killing it instantly. There was a grunt as the blade was yanked back, and the Moblin fell lifelessly to the ground. Standing in its place, already covered in blood of both Bulblin and Moblin, was Ishaka. He turned his head in confusion upon seeing Link.
"Trainee? Ain't y'all s'pposed ta be in th' keep?" He asked. Link was about to reply, but saw another Moblin approaching Ishaka from behind. Acting instinctively, Link threw his sword at the being. It landed point forward, hitting the creature in the chest. As it fell to the ground, Ishaka turned to look at it, and then at Link. He smiled.
"Hmm…maybe y'all ain't so bad yerself." He mused. He yanked the sword out of the dead Moblin, and tossed it to Link. "Maybe y'all can be useful. Need to meet up wit' Impa. Lotta Bulblins and Moblins in the way. Think yeh can keep up?" He asked.
Link nodded.
The Ravager captain raced ahead, taking care to slice up anything that came too close. Link was not too far behind, ducking away from a Bulblin spear strike and slashing it through the chest. The duo hacked and slashed their way up a little further through the fields, as the reached the outside of one of the outer keeps* in the fields.
Impa and a few Hyrulian soldiers were doing their best to match up with a Moblin-led wave of Bulblins, though in reality it was the Sheikah that was carrying the majority of the weight. She weaved her massive Biggoron Knife like a maestro conducting an orchestra, albeit in her case the symphony was of violence and slain creatures.
She impaled one of the Moblins as Ishaka and Link ran up beside her, and with a roar yanked her Knife back out and decapitated another creature in a singular motion. She looked back over towards Ishaka.
"Where are all of these creatures of darkness coming from?" She asked. Ishaka ducked under a charging Bulblin, using its momentum to flip it over his back and into the air. Link took this chance to skewer it on the way down.
"Beats me. Jes' gotta keep pushin'!" Ishaka grunted. Impa snarled, batting aside a Moblin spear before going on the offensive herself.
"Things would be going so much smoother if your Ravagers' ambush had gone as you said it would!" She said.
"I ain't no miracle worker, Sheikah!" Ishaka snapped back, opting to backhand a charging Bulblin with the flat edge of his knife. "'M 'xactly runnin' wit' infinite reserves now, am I?"
"Not the point!" Impa shouted. She was about to take on another foe, when Link barreled past her and slashed him up. From there, he continued to work through a charging group of Bulblins, allowing some of the nearby pinned Hyrulians to regroup with their leader.
"A new recruit?" Impa asked. Ishaka laughed.
"Found 'im outside th' gates!" He said. "Can I keep 'im? He's good!"
Link was working like a thresher on another advancing group of Bulblins. It was enough to make Impa stop and watch.
"Who is this soldier, anyway?" She asked.
"Dunno!" Ishaka said. "Never thought ta' ask!"
Impa rolled her eyes.
…
This was no good.
She raced away from the sounds of battle, only to see that there were more creatures wherever she turned. It was becoming desperate. She ducked away from an errant spear, and let out a panicked cry.
"Help!" She cried. "I'm too little to fight monsters!"
She ducked and weaved through the battlefield, desperately trying to find someone to partner with. It was then that she saw him. A young man with blonde hair, hacking his way through the masses of Bulblins. He looked nice.
Eh, begger fairies couldn't be choosers.
"Hey you!" She shouted, flying towards the boy as fast as her wings could carry her.
…
Link barely had time to react to the sound before he turned to feel a small pocket of light crash into him. There was a strangely warm feeling in his chest, and before he knew it he heard a voice in his head.
"Thanks! I'm Proxi. And who are you?"
He looked up to see a little blue ball of light with wings floating in front of his face. Through the glow, he could juuuust barely make out the sight of a humanoid form. That was about it though. He shrugged, figuring that if she was technically linked to him* she could just read his mind to get the info she wanted.
Which she did.
"Link, huh? Unusual name! What's it mean? Where are you from? Hey…nice sword!"
Well she was certainly talkative.
Link tried to block it out as he cut through another group of Bulblins, instead choosing to let this information emerge to the forefront of his mind so that the fairy could see for herself. This was not lost on the fairy Proxi.
"Man of few words, huh? That's okay – I'll come along and do the talking!"
.
While this was going on, Princess Zelda and her Royal Guard pushed back against the Bulblin forces that threatened to pin them inside a keep.
"Hold your ground everyone!" She commanded, her voice carrying across the battlefield. "We are the only ones who can protect Hyrule!"
Proxi heard this.
"Princess, hold on!" She shouted, though truthfully it didn't carry far. "Link is on the way!"
Zelda paused, her mind temporarily thrown from the sounds and horrors of battle. She'd heard a word, a name, that had cut through the mess like a crystalline arrow.
Link…
She felt a stirring deep wthin her heart. It was him. It had to be him.
She was interrupted from her musing when one of her Royal Guardsmen decapitated a charging Moblin that looked to skewer the Princess.
"Your highness, be careful!" Sir Gawain shouted. "We cannot lose you in this fight!"
Zelda shook herself, and continued defending her homeland.
…
Elsewhere, a floating bulbous creature of indeterminate origin and very determinate foulness let out a shrill cackle.
"Hiya ha ha!" It spat. "Keep attacking!"
…
"The abandoned keep is in danger of falling!" Impa shouted, glancing to the north. "We cannot lose it and be cut off from relieving the Princess and her detachment!" She turned to Link.
"You! Move forward with a squad and secure a foothold! Ishaka and I will reinforce you. GO!"
Link nodded, and gestured to five of the closest Hyrulians he could find. They followed behind him as the young man raced for the abandoned fort.
It was completely deserted. None of the forces of darkness were within the keep, and for it to be so quiet in the wake of the chaos around it was incredibly unnerving.
"Where is the enemy?" One of the soldiers asked. "I don't see-"
He never finished the sentence.
There was an inhuman roar, and a blur of red light and intense heat raced past Link, the force of its rush knocking him to the ground. He looked up in time to see that red blur almost instantly dispatch the five soldiers he'd taken with him, each in a disturbingly quick fashion. The red blur then leapt over Link's head, landing on the ground in front of him. It was a man, standing at close to six foot eight inches tall, in blazing red dragonscale armor and carrying a spear wreathed in flame. His helmet, bearing the horns of a slain Dragon, obscured much of his face, barely allowing Link to see his black and soulless eyes.
Volga twirled his spear like a baton, and slammed it into the ground with a roar.
"If you are ready to join your ancestors, then I accept your challenge!" Volga roared. He charged towards Link with near inhuman speed. Link tried to roll out of the way, but Volga swept his feet out from under him with a scooping motion of his spear. The young man crashed hard to the ground, and barely avoiding being impaled by the subsequent spear stab. Link kipped up, and threw a wild sword strike towards Volga's shoulder.
The Dragon Warrior calmly blocked it, with almost a disdainful look on his face. So he did with each and every sword strike Link tried, his expression growing increasingly bored.
"BAH!" He shouted, while at the same time clotheslining Link to the ground. "You bore me, boy!" He growled, and Link watched in horror as his arm changed into a scaled Dragon's claw, wreathed in flames. "Get out of my way, boy."
Like a horse lazily swatting its tail at an irksome fly, Volga backhanded Link across the keep courtyard. Link crashed to the ground, moaning in pain.
"Come on Link, get up!" Proxi wailed in his head. "It can't end like this!"
Link, his head throbbing in pain with what he assumed was a concussion, looked blearily up towards Volga. Only now two bodies stood in between him and the Dragon Warrior, their weapons trained defensively towards the hot-blooded knight of darkness.
"That's quite enough." Impa said coldly. Ishaka snarled, a smirk curling on his lip and a crazed gleam in his eye.
"Why don't y'all pick on some'un yer own size, sharkey." He growled.
Volga simply snorted.
"How noble. Enjoy your shared grave."
He stepped back, taking a deep breath. His chest started to glow.
"Oh no…" Impa muttered realizing what was to come. She instinctively rushed to cover Link, assuming a maternal stance over the fallen young man. Ishaka's eyes widened, but he never stood down. If this was his end, he'd go down standing up.
Link watched Volga roar, and saw a stream of fire erupt from the man's mouth. He didn't know what it was, but something deep inside him seemed to catch fire as well. He barely knew these two that were willing to give their lives in a doomed attempt to save him, but he wouldn't go to his grave without letting them know he recognized their sacrifice.
He leapt up to his feet. He braced himself for impact.
And somewhere deep inside him, he felt the light awaken within him.
There was a terrific flash. The fire was snuffed out, as if it had never existed. Volga stared in shock and awe, as he took in the sight before him. Link stood in front of Ishaka and Impa now, brandishing his shield and sword in a defensive position. His clothing was completely repaired, and his cuts and scrapes and bruises were mended. Even the concussion had disappeared, as if he'd never had it. A golden sphere of light surrounded the trio like a protective aura. But all eyes were on Link's left hand.
It was glowing with the light of the Goddesses, and Link could not describe the warmth that he felt from it. It was a lightning bolt that ignited his soul, raising his skin into a myriad of goosebumps. And he saw as a small golden triangle emerged from nowhere, and gently melted into the back of his hand. And the symbol of the Triforce graced him with all its power.
Impa stared in wonder.
"Could…could you be…?" Was all she could say.
Volga scowled.
"BAH! I grow bored!" He snarled. "You haven't beaten me. You've merely hidden behind your shields, human and…otherwise." There was a roar, and he disappeared in a flash of smoke and fire. Not a second too soon, as Ishaka had leapt forward and slashed through the air where the Dragon Knight's head had been.
"COME BACK 'ERE, YAH LILLY-LIVER'D COWARD!" Ishaka roared, spittle flying from his lip. "WE. AIN'T. DONE!" He turned around in frustration, watching as Link helped Impa to her feet. "Great. We lost 'im!"
"That does not matter now." Impa said. "We must save the princess!"
"Fer sure." Ishaka agreed.
The trio exited the keep, and rejoined the fray.
…
From the outskirts of the battle, the wizard watched with disdain.
"Is Volga slacking off again?" It growled. "Fine! Send out the next unit!"
.
Ishaka, Impa, and Link emerged from the keep to see a group of Ravagers clearing a path towards the center of the battlefield.
"Hail, brother!" The leader of the Ravager group, a scruffy-looking craol, called. "We are pushing towards the keep the Princess is trapped in, but need some cover as we light a fuse to destroy the boulders in the way!" He pointed to a rock slide ahead of them. "The princess is beyond that wall!"
"Y'all all git them bombs placed!" Ishaka barked. He turned to his two companions. "Sheikah! Skinny-bones! Les' even th' odds, savvy?" He asked.
Impa and Link grinned, and nodded in unison.
The forces of darkness, having grown comfortable slowly overwhelming the forces of good through sheer numerical superiority, were in for the surprise of their life as this terrible trio thrashed through their tenuous position. Ishaka and his Ravagers formed a protective semi-circle around the bombmakers laying the fuses in front of the rock formation, while Impa and Link tag-teamed and defeated the Lizalfos captain that led this portion of the dark forces.
"The fuse, she is lit!" Boomed the Ravager engineer in a husky accent. "Fire in zee hole!" He raced away, and barely ducked to cover as the bombs ignited. There was a terrific boom, and the rock slide had been blown into little pebbles. The opening revealed a new keep to take hold of, as well as a group of disheveled Bulblins disoriented from the blast behind it.
"Take 'em!" Ishaka roared.
His Ravagers leapt through the breach, and lived up to their name as they cleared out the remaining forces between them and the Princess.
…
They reached the princess to the outside of the eastern keep. She and her dozen Royal Guardsmen were holding ground, though it was clear that the Royal Guardsmen were in desperate need of support. From behind their protective shield wall, Zelda kept the enemy back with a steady volley of lethally-accurate arrows.
"Princess!" Impa barked as the reinforcements regrouped with the ruler of Hyrule. "Thank goodness! I fear I'd never have reached you if not for a brave trainee!" She said.
To her left, Ishaka decapitated two Bulblins with one swing, and then stared at the Sheikah warrior indignantly.
"Ah-hem!" He grunted. Impa looked at him and rolled her eyes.
"And the help of Ishaka and his Ravagers of course. Really, Ishaka, what do you want? A cookie?" She asked. Ishaka pretended to look thoughtful.
"Hmm…that t'would be deligtf'l…" He chuckled. Zelda sighed in exasperation.
"You two can continue your banter later because as I am sure you can see it is not necessarily the best time because I do not know if you have noticed but these creatures are threatening the peace of my kingdom and they happen to have the audacity to do this ON MY BIRTHDAY!" She fired an arrow that nailed a Moblin in the head, and also hit the Bulblin behind him for the rare double-kill. Impa shrugged.
"Fair enough, Princess. Where is Lord Tiberius?"
"I do not know!" Zelda said. "He went to the Great Fairy Fountain to summon some help, but I got cut off from him and do not know his status!"
"T'would be an awf'lly desp'rate time fer him ta summon th' Great Fairy!" Ishaka yelled. "I dunno if that be jes' me, though."
"Thank you Ishaka for stating the obvious!" Impa barked. "Someone needs to lead a group to Lord Tiberius! I will stay with the Princess."
Before Link could react, Proxi made her presence known.
"Hey! Link here can lead some of the Ravagers to the fountain! That way, there's cover for the Princess to make it there to summon the Great Fairy!"
Zelda stopped, mostly to glance towards the one called Link. Impa and Ishaka looked at the fairy, and then at each other.
"Well…damn…" Ishaka said.
"That's…that's not a bad idea." Impa said. She turned to the Princess. "Can you make it to the fountain and summon the fairy?"
"Of course!" Zelda said. "Give me a little bit of cover and I will do the rest!" She turned to Link. "You will protect me of course, right?" She looked him in the eye.
"Hey Link, look! It's the princess!" She whispered in his ear. He fought the urge to blush and instead nodded dumbly. Both Ishaka and Impa saw this interaction, and filed it away for later. Zelda smiled.
"Great. Lead the way, Link!" She turned to the Royal Guardsmen. "Stay behind him, he'll give you some support." Ishaka turned to his men.
"Ravagers! Split! Half wit' th' Princess, half wit' me an' Sheikah! MOVE!"
"AH-OOH!" Was the response. They split perfectly evenly, and Link led the charge towards the Great Fairy fountain. Ishaka turned towards the advancing horde of Bulblins, and then turned towards Impa. He smirked.
"Twenty says I top yeh." He smirked. Impa smirked back.
"Have it ready."
They led the charge.
…
Lord Tiberius had seen bad things, but this was shaping up to be one of the worst. His horse had been shot out from under him, and he was sure that he had sprained something in the fall. Despite the shooting pain in his ankle, he managed to rally together an assault on the Great Fairy Fountain. But now, the tables had turned as a counterattack from Moblin-led forces had pinned his force on the steps of the fountain, pinned between an advancing force and a stone wall erected precisely to keep unwanted guests out of the fountain. And they were slowly losing numbers. And he was not sure how many more injuries he would be able to shrug off.
"Stand fast!" He barked to his slowly dwindling number of soldiers. "Unity! Survival! Brotherhood to the end!" He barked, echoing the mantra of the Hyrulian infantry that he had once been rejected from for his sickly nature. He would be damned if he went quietly.
And then, like a gift from the Goddesses, he saw a wave of Ravagers led by the Princess spill over the hills towards them. They smashed into the forces of darkness like a tidal wave, and soon they had broken through to reunite the beleaguered Lord of War with his regent.
Zelda raced towards him, helping steady him on his feet. He was not a pretty sight. Battered, bloodied, bruised, and generally a pale and gaunt mess, Lord Justinian looked half in the grave.
"Justinian!" She wailed. "Are you alright?"
"M'fine." He mumbled, as the adrenaline began to seep away and the pain of his wounds began to catch up with him. "Just blow the damn doors, and summon the damned fairy!"
Zelda turned to Link and a Ravager leader, and smiled.
"He's fine." The Ravager leader whistled, and a Goron in Ravager garb lumbered forward with a payload of explosives.
"Fire in the hoooooollleee!" The Goron bellowed as soon as the fuse was lit. There was a terrific boom, and the entrance to the Great Fairy's fountain was revealed.
No sooner had it been done, did a Hyrulian soldier cry out in pain, as an arrow struck him in the back of the neck. Zelda glanced towards the hills that they had come from, and paled.
"Archers! Get inside!" She yelled. The forces of light raced inside the fountain, taking care to protect the regent of Hyrule. Zelda felt Lord Tiberius grab her and toss her safely outside of the range of the Bulblins. She heard him grunt, and it sounded like he was telling her to move. She took that advice and raced within.
…
Another Moblin fell to her blade.
"Twenty-five!" Impa barked. She turned to Ishaka. "What is that, fifteen?"
"S'not a sprint, Sheikah!" Ishaka grunted as he chopped up a duo of Moblins. "Is-a-marathon!"
…
The Ravagers and Hyrulians gathered around the magic circle of the Great Fairy Fountain, and took the time to catch their breath. Zelda was panting, and turned towards Lord Tiberius.
"Thank you, Justinian. They nearly got me." She glanced at him. He was hunched over in pain, and then collapsed to the ground. "Justinian!" She cried.
Three arrows had pierced the chest area of the Hyrulian Lord of War, and his breathing was ragged and labored. A smattering of soldiers gathered around him, but he waved them off.
"GO." He rasped. "Summon…th' Fairy…" He gasped. Zelda, fighting back tears, nodded and ran towards the magic circle and began chanting the summoning incantation. Link was about to follow, when he heard Justinian's voice. "You…come…clos'r…" He wheezed.
Link knelt before the fallen Lord, and was shocked when Justinian grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and yanked him in close.
"I know…who you…are…" Justinian's voice was barely above a whisper. "You're…th' hero…." His breathing was even more labored. He darted his eyes towards the princess, and then gazed at Link with steely eyes that were rapidly dulling. "Pr'tect 'er…wit'…y'r…life…'n'erstan'?" He had mere moments left. Link grasped his hand tightly, and nodded. Tiberius smiled weakly, blood trickling from his mouth.
"Guh-good…" He whispered. "Good…."
His breathing stopped, and he gazed up towards the intricate and ancient designs on the ceiling with eyes that could no longer see.
A/N: Requiscat in pace.
HYRULIAN CODEX
Reincarnate Trio – Across the ages, the stories of the Triforce are well-told and well-recorded in the annals of Hyrulian history. What is perhaps less well-known (at least by the masses, anyway) is the theory that it is not the Triforce alone that is eternal. Rather, there is a story and legend that for each piece of the Triforce there has been assigned a soul. These souls reincarnate through the ages, to represent the purest elements of each separate piece of the Triforce: Wisdom, Courage, and Power. The stories are passed along verbatim by the Royal Family to each generation, while some of the nobility are made privy to the inner details. For everyone else, there is little knowledge of the reincarnation aspect of the legend of the Triforce: rather, they simply recognize the rising of a Hero to lead them to peace or at the very least stand as a beacon against the ever-present threats of the dark. The "nitty-gritty" details of the story fade and warp over time, and it is not surprising for even the most knowledgable historical scholars to fail to recognize the reincarnation aspect of the legend.
Keeps – The days of massive fields of battle uninterrupted by natural and man-made boundaries have gone the way of the legends, as even the densest of military commanders recognizes the reality of maintaining footholds across the battlefields. "Keep" is a colloquial term for any fortifiable position on a battlefield that can be reinforced and used to funnel out soldiers to outposts in the middle of the battlefield chaos.
Fairy Companionship – Fairies are strange little creatures. They are said to only emerge in the presence of one pure of heart (important corollary: that heart does not have to be purely good. Just…pure.), and will "link" themselves (if they choose to) that individual like a tether to the mortal plane. Scholars and biologists and even mystics are uncertain as to what this process entails or even how it works, but it seems to be a completely symbiotic relationship. The fairy serves as a council and friend for the one that it links to, and the linkee gets to brag about having a special tether to the realm of magic. It is important to note that there is a peculiar direct correlation between the inherent personality of the linkee and the attitude of the fairy. Good people bring out the best in their fairies. Bad people bring out the worst. Thankfully, most fairies are too afraid of the dark to see what it would bring them if they partnered with it.