9579 words for this chapter…. A little long but HEY, Means you guys get to read more. I hope you enjoy the chapter and leave a nice review when you finish. Sorry it took so long; procrastination is all I have to say. So without farther waiting, let the chapter begin!
Chapter 20
Mischief
The rest of my night after waking up to Link having a nightmare was hell. It consisted of the last time I saw Happy on the floor screaming under whatever magic Dean had put on him and Dean whispering in my ear as I watched my dad die. I bolted to a sitting position breathing heavily and scared half to death. Link wasn't in the room as the sun glared in it and I was glad he wasn't. I grabbed the holophone and called my dad. I wanted to make sure my dream was just that, a dream. I knew Happy was gone, but my dad was still alive, at least I hoped he was. He picked up and relief filled me as I flopped back down on the pillow. Dad looked at me and demanded to know what was going on.
After telling my dad of what happened over the last few days, I told him I had to get ready to go. Things needed to get done and we didn't have time to waste. He didn't like my sudden leave, but he nodded and hung up the holophone. I got out of bed and got dressed out of my pajamas. I checked around the room to make sure there wasn't anything that was misplaced out of our gear. There wasn't anything left around so I headed out the door and down the stairs. I got to the lobby to find the shaman in the kitchen whistling to himself, but other than that there wasn't anyone else in the inn. I didn't want to bother the man that had kept us fed over the last two days, so I went outside to find Link myself.
The sun blinded me for a moment as its heat warmed my skin, which was the exact opposite to how I was feeling. Epona and Hero were grazing on the grass and didn't pay any attention to me as I looked around the town. The Gorons were back and were spread about the village, but there wasn't a single sign of the hero in green. I sat on the step of the inn guessing he probably went on a walk when the sounds of armor and horses came to my ears. I looked to the southern entrance and found Jason, Delilah, and Shad being followed by five Hyrule soldiers without their helmets on, all of them were on horses. I got up from my spot and met them half way.
"Hey!" Delilah called out happily, "How it going?"
I couldn't bring a smile to my face or an answer as the dream appeared in my head again.
The girl frowned. "Did you get the medallion?"
"Yes we got it."
"Where's the Twilight Hero?"
"I have no idea."
"Did you guys get into some sort of fight?"
"You're nosey." I scoffed. "No, we didn't get into a fight and no it has nothing to do with him for my foul mood."
"Then what happened? Maybe if you tell us we can find Link." Jason suggested. "His horse is here meaning he didn't go very far."
I took a breather and told them about the last twenty four hours and a bit with the beginning of Happy showing up to the end of the Death Mountain incident. I didn't bother mention anything that had to do with after leaving the grave site, the nightmare, or Dean's proposal. It was rather short and abbreviated so it only took a few minutes.
"That poor thing! This Dean guy is going to pay for attacking such an innocent baby." Delilah pledged loudly. The soldiers behind her all nodded, though they were a little pale.
"Did you check the graveyard?" Jason sighed toning down Delilah's drama fest.
"No, I didn't," I responded feeling like an idiot.
Jason turned to the soldiers. "Go take a rest; we won't be leaving for a while."
The men looked so happy and they showed it as they ran towards the inn pulling out their wallets. The horses watched the men run into the building. The Epona and Hero snorted shaking their fur and continued their grazing.
"They need a lot of work." Delilah stated with an eyebrow raised.
Shad shifted his weight drawing my attention to him. "I'll also be in the inn. I need to get my notes all together in an orderly fashion."
"Good luck."
I turned away from the scholar and headed towards the graveyard. Delilah and Jason followed behind me. When we got there I stopped them as I noticed Link and Zelda were having a conversation by Happy's and Volvagia's gravestone. I placed a finger on my lips as I turned to the two behind me. Delilah looked over my shoulder and had a surprised look on her face. The conversation seemed pretty deep, but I couldn't hear anything. We turned and left Link and Zelda to their conversation.
I sat at a table in the inn with Delilah, Jason and Shad in silence. Shad was mumbling to himself with his papers spread out across the table. Jason was playing with a knife while Delilah tried to create conversation without much success. The door opened and Link walked into the building. He looked ready to go to the next fight with determination. He joined us at the table and looked at Jason and Delilah.
"How was your adventure?" He asked them breaking the awkward tension I didn't notice was being admitted. The soldiers turned away from our table and enjoyed their beverages and food on their own.
"What's the best way to put it?" Delilah started trying to figure out what to say.
I was really glad she didn't ask about the chat in the graveyard, but I wasn't sure why. Maybe it was because I also wanted to know how the trip was.
"Bloody hell is what it was." Jason answered as Renado placed some food down in front of each of us along with some drinks in places that weren't covered in papers. "That devil is the most annoying think I have ever met and I went to grade seven."
"You went to a normal school?" I asked.
"Yes."
"So Skull kid is up to his tricks again?" Link asked before an argument bloomed.
"The little bastard had us running around in circles chasing us with giant puppets." Delilah growled in annoyance.
"Oh please do tell how you managed." I grinned feeling a little better.
"Well it started after you left to the castle." Jason explained.
00000
Jason stood there looking at the fire of burning corpses. He wasn't pleased about the whole thing. It disgusted him. The skeletons moving around, he was perfectly fine with, but the corpses. That was a different story. Shooting them from a far was what he had intended on, but when they got back up again and that one touched him. His skin crawled at the memory. If it was possibly, he would be burning his own brain as the memory of the rotting flesh was forever in there. There was a reason why he like fighting from far away, not only was he good at it, but because of the sight of anything that was in the sense gory. His ideas could get gruesome, but as long as he didn't have to see it let alone commit any acts with the thoughts, he was perfectly fine with it.
"We should head out in the morning when everyone has had a good rest." Shad said in the quiet crackling of the hot fire. "We can look at our route before we head out to the Scared Grove."
"What's so special about the grove?" Delilah asked looking away from the fire at the same time Jason had.
"Well, it's a place that is sacred." Jason replied.
"So you have heard of it?"
"No, I'm not even from this country. How come you never heard of it?"
"Because I was doing normal girl things, you know, like keeping a boyfriend happy and hanging around with the girls. Subjects about far away fantasy places don't pop up in gossip."
"Link went to the Sacred Grove." Shad told her. "That's how we found out its existence."
"That was years ago, I didn't care about adult gossip, relationships were the thing, who was going out with who, who was cheating on who, you know that sort of thing."
"Isn't that adult gossip?" Jason asked.
"It is, only when you a teenager, it's all about seeing who is trying to destroy who."
"You girls are awful." Shad exclaimed.
"That's not that bad, back where I come from, they destroy other girls' lives by giving them eating disorders and other assorted awful things." Jason stated.
"That's even worse!"
"At least we aren't beating the crap out of each other." Delilah said looking at her nails. "We need to look pretty and proper, unlike you men who are just brutish and walk around filthy smelling like you were rolling around in a cow's pen."
"That's not true."
"Well, maybe not for you Shad, you're a nerd. But for Jason, talk to me after we walk around a bit in the Sacred Grove and you've ruffed up one of the soldiers."
Jason was about to retort when Shad interrupted. "Come, I have something I want to discuss about our trip in the Sacred Grove."
They followed him into town and back into Telma's Bar. There were a few soldiers sitting and having a drink as they went passed them and into the back. Shad pointed them to sit. Jason took a look over at Delilah and shrugged as he sat. Whatever was in the Sacred Grove must have been important if he didn't want to head out that moment or explain it on the way. Shad placed a map onto the table of what Jason guessed was Hyrule.
"This square in the middle is Castle Town, which is where we are now. It won't take very long to get to northern part of the Faron Woods and to the entrance of the Sacred Grove as there are little bridges we put up so we weren't trying to kill ourselves to get to it."
"So it's by the Forest Temple." Jason concluded.
"Yes, hiding there in plain sight to be honest, but there is a reason no one goes over there."
"And what would that reason be? Are there bigger spiders in that part of the forest?" Delilah questioned cleaning her blade Jason hadn't notice she took out.
"There are no spiders in that part of the forest. Skull kid lives in those woods."
"What's a Skull Kid?" Jason asked.
"Skull Kids are children who got lost in the Lost Woods when it existed. There are only a few ever recorded but only one lives in the Sacred Grove now. This one is a very interesting Skull Kid as well, a trickster who likes to play very cruel games according to Link."
"I can think of a few cruel games." Delilah whispered in Jason's ear. He squirmed uncomfortably. "What does it matter what kind of games he plays, all we need to do is get to the ruins of the Temple of Time right?"
"Yes that is true, but Skull Kid controls the Sacred Grove and so in order to get through it alive, you have to play is twisted games. Though, every time I was there, he didn't show up and the path was rather simple. I almost want to say Link has terrible luck."
"Well what kind of games does he play if he did show up? I'm pretty good at video games myself." Jason asked trying to get an idea on how to play out the situation when it came.
"Well, he played an awful game of Hide and Seek with Link and sent puppets after him."
"Sounds like my cup of tea."
"When we get to the ruins it will be my cup of tea and then we can look around and find any clues to why the Light Medallion showed up in the Forest Temple and where the Sealed Grounds could be."
"Sounds like a good plan." A familiar female voice commented. Jason looked up to see Queen Zelda with five soldiers behind her. "I'm glad I caught you before you headed off."
"Your highness," Shad stood up and bowed in half. "We weren't leaving until tomorrow so you didn't have to rush yourself."
"No need to bow Shad." Zelda told him as she turned to Delilah. "And how are you Delilah? I have not spoken to you in while."
"No you haven't and you have missed out on the juicy gossip, too bad I didn't hear about mine before I walked into that mess." Delilah replied happily which quickly turned sour. "Still can't believe he was cheating on me."
"I'm sorry to hear about that, I'm sure there are other men worth more than he could ever try to be."
"Like the one you have eyes for? I've heard some of those rumors as well."
Zelda rolled her eyes. "We can discuss these rumors another time. Right now, I wished to give some soldiers that need a bit of field experience to Jason as their captain."
"Are you sure that's wise?" Jason asked her. "Hyrule Castle was almost directly attacked this morning by the undead."
"It is fine; I have gathered the retired knights to train the knights and soldiers now and the braver soldiers are doing patrols and guard duty. The journey should be good for these soldiers and as a talented knight yourself; you can show them the direction they should take so they can teach the other soldiers here."
Jason nodded. "I accept them under my training then."
The queen left leaving the five knights in front of him. They looked at him with confusion and annoyance at least that's what he guessed from their body language. They had their helmets on.
"Get ready for a trip into the forest tomorrow. After that we are heading to Kakariko Village the day after. I'm not sure what to expect from it, but there was probably going to be few monsters on the way so prepare yourself."
"And why should we listen to a kid? We know what to do; we've been doing this for years." One of the soldiers said and the others nodded in agreement.
"Good, then I shouldn't have any babies crying to go back to their mothers on the way." Jason snapped at soldier. "Meet here tomorrow at sunrise; if you're late then you get to carry any of Shad's books and other supplies he requires. If you are all late, I'm sure I can think of other things we can bring along that you each will be in charge of."
"And what if you're late?" Another soldier added.
"I won't be."
"And why is that, kid?"
"Because I've been in this gig a lot longer then you have."
00000
Jason was sitting in the tavern waiting for the soldiers to come before they headed out. Shad was beside him with a stack of books and scrolls as he tried to fit them in his bag. The scholar was mumbling in several different languages as he separated the books and scrolls out putting more than half of them back on the shelf. A sudden tapping started as Shad walked back and Jason turned to it to find Delilah hitting the table with the butt of her blade.
"What are you doing?" Jason asked her as the tapping was getting annoying.
"Waiting for the rest of our team to show up."
"By tapping the table?"
"Yup." Delilah replied. There was silence as she continued to tap the table. "Would you like me to stop?"
"No, no. Do whatever you want to past the time."
She stopped placing the blade back in the sheath. "You're such a gentleman. Wish my ex was like that, but no he had to go sleep around."
"Seems like an ass."
"I would have to say a donkey has less of an attitude then what he carried around. Oh well, I think I found someone better."
"Who?"
Delilah didn't get a chance to answer as five tired looking soldiers came in to the tavern. None of them were wearing their helmets so Jason could see all of their faces. He still didn't have a clue on what their names were so he guessed it was a better time than any to get to know them and place faces.
The tallest had dark brown skin with a clean shave and his hair reminded him of a musician, somewhat long in a ponytail, dark brown and messy with the same color eyes.
"What's your name?" Jason asked him. The man looked too tired to even argue, all of them looked that way which he was glad for.
"Isaac."
He nodded keeping the name glued in his brain. He turned to a pair of soldiers who had similar features, short blond hair, big green eyes and not even a hint that they grew facial hair. The only difference between them was one had a scar on his cheek. "And what are your names?"
"Cailean," The blond with no scar said. "And this is my twin Benedict."
"Cool." He turned to the next one who was the fourth soldier who had a scruffy red beard and light brown hair with blue eyes, he was a the broadest of the five soldiers.
"Michael."
"Alright and you are?" Jason turned to the last soldier who had a black goatee and medium length black hair and hazel eyes.
"Esben."
"Great, now I know who all of you are, and you managed all to be on time. I'm presuming you all have a horse somewhere nearby because we are leaving now."
"Are you serious? We just got here." Isaac complained.
"Very serious, Hyrule is in dangerous of several enemies. We can't sit around wasting time drinking tea." Jason stated firmly turning to Shad. "Are you set?"
"Yes, I think so. I have everything for the forest and the ruined temple and stuff for the next location were Link and Electra might want to head to."
"Great, let's get the hell outta here." Delilah breathed as she stood up and marched out with the five soldiers looking at her lower half as she went.
"She's coming with us?" Michael asked.
"That's right." Jason told him though he wasn't impressed at their chivalry.
The five men went out door to what he guessed where their horses were so fast that Jason's mind couldn't tell if they ran or teleported away.
The eight of them travelled at a medium pace across Hyrule Field towards the forest he was in two days for before. He wondered what was in store for them. It couldn't be much. It was just a trip into a forest and then into a place where a trolling kid was waiting for them if he showed up. Yes, what could possibly go wrong? If anything, it wasn't going to be worst then jumping into a pool of disgusting purple, supposedly poisonous, liquid. Right?
He pulled out his Ziploc bag with his book and pens inside and opened it. It wasn't the first time he had written something while riding a horse in a dangerous field. He wrote down about the last few days where he had completely forgotten to write about of his adventure while he listened for the screams of the soldiers about a monster coming towards them. He only knew that they screamed when a Kargaroc started following them as they left the castle. To say he wasn't pleased at the way they reacted was an understatement. They were men who were trained to protect the citizens of Hyrule and here they were almost wetting themselves at a giant bird. He would have expected that from Shad as he was a scholar, but the guy sat there quietly riding ahead without a care in the world. Delilah killed it quickly and then proceeded to scold the soldiers for being "a bunch of winy bitches".
There weren't any screams from then on as he wrote. When he finished they were at the end of Hyrule field and were along the walls between the field and the Faron Province. The high cliffs surrounded both sides of them as they walked in two. He was beside Delilah who threw him a smile and went back to observing the area in curiosity.
"Never been here before?" He asked her.
"Never really left Castle Town sadly. Should have gone on a trip or something throughout the country, but I guess that it's a good thing I didn't." Delilah answered in awe at the cliffs.
"Why is that?"
"Because then I probably wouldn't have signed up on this trip. If I knew what we were heading into then I would have probably stayed back at Telma's bar for my own safety. But to hell with safety, adventure is the best way to live."
"New motto?"
"Possibly, though I already have one."
Jason tilted his head in confusion. "And what would that be."
"Don't let go of a good kisser, especially if it's his first time."
Jason felt himself turn red as he turned away from her. "Why didn't I see that coming?"
They rode deeper into the high cliff path and finally entered the entrance of the Faron Province and came across a man with an afro sitting by a cauldron over a fire. He waved as they went by and Shad waved back. They came to the entrance of the forest of the woods and dismounted. Jason looked over his many weapons to make sure they were still in place. He pulled his crossbow off his back and did a dry shot to make sure it was still working perfectly. He didn't know what to expect in the deeper part of Faron Woods, but he didn't want to take any chances. That's how people got killed.
He let Shad go first into the woods as he knew where he was going to the entrance of the Sacred Grove. The scholar walked them to the forest temple when Jason noticed a small bridge, if he could call it that, leaving the land mass to another smaller land mass near the temple's base. The bridge was a foot and a half across wide and only two ropes to have as handrails, he couldn't see what was below holding the bridge's platform together.
"We have to cross that?" Benedict asked as he looked at the gorge below. "This place doesn't even look like it has a bottom where you can collect a body if one of us falls."
"Yes we have to cross it and yes I believe there is a bottom." Shad answered fixing his bag's position. "It's not windy today so we won't have to deal with things swinging at us."
"Like what exactly?" Jason questioned.
"Fallen logs that are stuck in vines, twisting bridges, even the bridge is not the safest on a windy day."
"Can't imagine why," Delilah rolled her eyes sarcastically.
They walked across the bridge one at a time between land masses. Jason didn't give the soldiers any scolding as they complained as they walked. The bridge would have never succeeded in getting approved back in his world even if the inspector was paid well. They walked without incident which came to a surprise to him as they took a breather at the entrance of the Sacred Grove. It wasn't the most comfortable thing Jason had ever done, but unfortunately knew they had to go back again.
"What are the odds of the Skull Kid appearing?" Jason asked Shad.
"I would have to say really low. We are in a group like I was each time I've come here. He would probably only want to torture us if there wasn't a group of people." The scholar replied as he pulled out a map.
"That's comforting." Delilah stated. "The last thing I want to do is play is hide and seek."
"If we are quick then we can make it back to castle town before night fall and then head over to Kakariko Village to meet up with the others."
The soldiers sighed loudly, but Jason couldn't tell what it was about.
Shad went into the entrance of the Sacred Grove. They followed him and they came into a circular room with huge trees that were the same as the rest of the woods. The ground was flat and green but really soft under Jason's boots making him think it might have been moss. There were torches on either side of the doorway that were already lit, which made him uneasy.
"Hey are these torches supposed to be lit?" Esben questioned matching Jason's thoughts.
"Y-yes, they are always on." Shad said not sounding sure as he opened a tiny notebook from his bag and started going through the pages.
Delilah walked passed Jason towards a large stone by a tree that had a triangle that was separated into three with the center of it being a hole in the stone. Delilah bent down and seemed to be listening to the stone. He walked over to her and bent down next to her.
"What are you doing?"
"Shh, listen, there is a tiny wind and this stone is making noise."
"Yeah, right." Jason rolled his eyes, but tried to listen anyway. There was a strange noise coming from it which sounded like a song, but Jason didn't recognize it. "What song is that?"
"Um, I know it, but I can't think of it at the moment. Give me a second." Delilah said as she stood up and started to wander around.
"Does anyone else notice that there isn't anywhere to go from here?" Michael asked out loud as he was wandering the wall.
"There should be, it should be right… there." Shad said pointing in a direction.
Jason looked at where he was pointing but there was only a giant tree stump with the rings facing towards them.
"Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm telling you it should be right there, I have this whole place marked on my map. The entrance was right there."
Michael knocked on the tree stump loud enough for them to hear. "I don't think this tree has moved since it fell here and then was covered in dirt over the years I would have to say thousands of years. But hey, I'm not a geek, I could be wrong."
"I'm not a geek, I'm a scholar!"
"Same thing."
Jason was going to make the two of them stop their bickering when Delilah shouted, "Right!"
"Right what?" All of them asked at the same time.
"The song from that stone, I knew I recognized it."
"The stone was making music?" Cailean asked.
"Yes, now shut up so I can match the rhythm." Delilah ordered as she walked back to the stone and knelt in front of it.
"You are going to sing?"
"No, I'm going to hum. I'm not the best singing in the world so there is no point on doing something like that."
"Isaac and Michael, see if there are any fake walls in this room. Cailean and Benedict, help Shad with his notes, this forest could have changed due to the Leviathan. Esben, you're on lookout for any monsters." Jason told the five soldiers what to do.
They muttered and sighed in annoyance as they went to their duties. Jason went over to Delilah and stood behind her as she was listening to the stone.
"Look at you ordering those soldiers around. It's rather sexy to show the alpha male in you."
"What song is it anyway?" He asked her changing the subject.
"It's the queen's lullaby. Her parents would sing it to her before she went to bed and when we were younger, she had a habit of just humming it when she wanted noise. So I remembered it over the years."
"You and Zelda go back a long way, huh?"
"Not too far back, just when she snuck out of the palace as a rebel child. We got along well, still do, which is nice because friendships between girls don't last most of the time."
He nodded, though she couldn't see him as she started humming the strange tune. It was not like anything he had heard before and it was rather pretty. But he didn't say anything as she stood up. The atmosphere suddenly changed as the wind died dramatically. Suddenly the tree in front of the log rustled and dropped some sort of demon thing. It wasn't like anything he had seen before and he had seen some weird things. It had a something like a straw hat on and a strange looking grin on its pale white face. Its red eyes starred around not blinking like it was actually a mask. He was rather short and held a trumpet in his right hand. Or at least that's what he guessed it was; it had four bells. He had a lantern in the other hand. Its clothes were created out of many different colored and sized leaves with a large green one that looked like a cape.
Esben walked up to it which it swiped him with the lantern as it backed away slightly. "Captain, would this little guy be considered a monster? He looks like a lost kid."
"I don't know, Shad?" Jason shook his head and turned to Shad.
The scholar was in his books with a book in his hand and a book in Cailean's and Benedict's hands. He didn't pay any attention to him.
"Yo, geek, who is this guy?!" Michael shouted causing Shad to jump.
"I'm not a geek! And what are you talking about?"
"The little guy with the mask." Jason stated pointing at the little guy who was now quickly bugging Esben by going in his blind spot when Esben tried to keep an eye on him.
Shad paled about three shades from his already pale skin. "That would explain the tree in the way."
The kid brought the trumpet to his lips and blew. It made a really funny noise as leaves appeared from the bells and then it ran to the tree trunk as it disappeared from its spot in the wall.
"See told you, the tree wasn't supposed to be there." Shad said cockily as he put his books into his bag. Jason wasn't expecting that tone from the scholar. "Now the game begins."
"Men, prepare yourself." Jason ordered as he pulled out his crossbow and attached his autoloader to it.
About ten, grey, tall looking mannequin puppets appeared from the sky and music was playing throughout the Sacred Grove.
"AHHHHH! What the hell are these things?!" Isaac shouted trying to get his sword out of his sheath.
"Puppets, Isaac and Esben protect Shad if any puppets get close. The rest of you destroy the puppets as they appear." Jason ordered the soldiers.
"What about me?" Delilah asked in a suggestive tone towards him.
"Delilah, you have a keen sense on where music is coming from, we need you to navigate were the Skull Kid is." Shad responded. "The Skull Kid is making this music with his trumpet and we have to hit him with something before he will let us go to the next area."
Delilah sighed. "Alright."
"I guess I'll sharp shoot it out of his hiding place then." Jason muttered to himself as he slipped his crossbow away just to pull out some stars.
The three soldiers that he had asked to fight the puppets ran away from them. Three of the puppets chased after them like the soldiers were play toys on a string. Three of them picked a single target which happened to be Benedict. Jason waited before throwing his stars at them to see what Benedict would do. The soldier pulled his sword out but it was shaking in his hand. The other two soldiers had also pulled out their swords, but didn't move closer than ten feet from the three puppets. The puppets lunged for an attack.
Jason threw the stars at two of the three puppets that were surrounding Benedict directly in the heads. The puppets went down and exploded out of existence. Benedict managed to take out the last one that was in front of him and nodded his thanks. Michael and Cailean were taking out two more while Delilah was flying through three of the puppets. Her sword was in her sheath when she stopped and the puppets fell to the ground behind her exploding. Jason looked around looking for the last two when he sudden felt like something was behind him. He only took a glance at the grey wood when he took out his dagger and slashed them down without hesitation. The knife went through them with easy and they exploded before they hit the floor.
"Let's go, he's someplace in the next room." Delilah said pointing at the doorway where the skull kid ran off.
He nodded as he walked over to his stars on the ground. He bent down and picked them up placing them back in their spots. The eight of them went through the tunnel of wood and into the next room where there were several trees and a little pond on the other side of the room with two land masses in front of two different tree trunks. The floor was green again and the music of the forest quieted down when they had all entered. Puppets appeared again causing Jason to retaliate when one appeared right in front of him. The puppet didn't last long as it exploded when Jason turned to another one. The soldiers were doing a good job at being soldiers now that they were on an adrenaline rush. They were fighting the puppets without screaming and running away, like he noticed the first time around. He watched them as he took out another one and looked at their sword tactics which were impressive. He let the rest of the puppets to the three soldiers as Delilah walked over to him.
"Did you say some sort of speech in the log when we went through that I should be worried about?"
He laughed. "No, this is just them acting like soldiers. They don't want to die which their adrenaline kicks in making them not as skittish as cats."
"Oh thank the goddesses. Alright, so the sound is coming from the next room to our right." Delilah pointed to a log tunnel that the green path followed.
Jason turned to the three soldiers as they destroyed the last of the puppets. He didn't say anything to them just a quick eye contact towards them as he led the team through the next log tunnel. Shad was still buried in the map to notice the commotion, but was checking off the rooms with a writing utensil as we went into the next room. There were two trees in the rectangular room with a rock cliff to the right. The music was much louder in the room. Skull kid was standing on the rocks slightly dancing as he spotted them. He blew his trumpet and twenty puppets came from the sky surrounding the eight of them.
The next room was blocked off so Jason guessed this was the time to shoot the little bastard. He took off his readied crossbow off his back and aimed. Suddenly, a puppet got in the way and he shot it instead. It went down, but Skull Kid was gone from the rock by the time it got out of his way.
There was a child's chuckle over the sound of the music and the moving puppets as they were hammered down by swords. He turned towards it and found Skull Kid in the tree above him. The sunlight glared down onto his eyes and shot blindly to where he heard the chuckle. There was a scream of rage as Skull Kid fell to the ground in front of them. The puppets died as soon as the demon hit the ground. Five out of the eight of them surrounded him, four with swords and himself with a crossbow. Skull kid stood himself up and laughed again before blowing his horn and teleporting away as the entrance opened for them. The music died to a soft hum in the room. They went into the next room where the music was a little louder. The room wasn't a shape that Jason could think of, it was partially circular but at the same time it was almost like a square. Half of it was covered in the lush green flooring and the other half was covered in water with high cliffs on the other end. Puppets appeared again blocking their way.
00000
"What kind of place is this?" Cailean asked as they entered the same room they were in at the beginning, only on the other side on a tiny land mass.
"A place where children used to get lost and they became Skull Kids." Shad replied.
They were all getting tired and Shad had pointed it out in the last room they were in, they were going in circles. They were all wet from jumping into the tiny ponds trying to kill the puppets or trying to get out of each other's way from killing one another. Several arguments broke out between them all and everyone had switched places with being Shad's guards. With each room it was becoming harder and harder to keep Jason's leadership with the other five soldiers. He could tell that they weren't only angry, but getting hungry and as well as tired. He himself was exhausted, he wasn't put through this much insanity for hours on end since his training days to become a Templar, but even then, that seemed like a picnic. Even Delilah was starting to get annoyed with their bickering and which she proposed that the one to stop their arguing the longest and have the most kills would get some attention from her. Jason had no idea what that meant, but as long as the soldiers were not bitching and complaining, he was perfectly fine with it. Though, he was a little worried about her wellbeing.
Skull kid had only appeared a second time where Jason shot it in the face at close range in pure annoyance. The demon didn't even see it coming. They were pretty damaged from all the puppets; he had lost count at one hundred thirty six. And that was in the room that had the nice cliffs in the water. They had all started a game of who killed the most puppets. So far, all of them combined weren't enough to keep up with Delilah's score. Though, Jason was in second fifty kills away from hers. He sighed as more puppets appeared. That's when the false sense of peace broke.
"This is fucking bullshit; I didn't sign up for this!" Isaac snapped. "We aren't far from the entrance of this damn place, I'm going home!"
"You could if there wasn't a fucking tree in the god damn way you moron." Esben retorted. "You whiny baby."
"Baby? Who the hell are you calling a baby; you were crying two rooms ago because you hit yourself with your own blade which caused a loud noise in your helmet!"
"Yea, so what, at least I am seeing this fucking mission through you leech."
"Shut up you morons there are puppets that need to be destroyed so we can continue." Michael intervened.
"Then kill them yourself, your score is the lowest making you the slacker out of all of us."
"That's because the red heads kept stealing my kills."
"Stealing, last we checked we were saving your hind!" Cailean shouted in rage.
"Yea, we have the highest among the five of us because none of you can man the fuck up. You all have bitched and complained about this whole thing and when there was a fight, you were shaking in fear at a bunch of stupid puppets!" Benedict added.
"You have been soldiers longer then we have, so stay out of this you soulless red heads."
"WHAT THE FUCK YOU JUST SAY?!" The twins hollered at the same time drowning out the forest music all together. They drew their swords and pointed it at one another.
Jason had just noticed their actions when he killed the last puppet for the time being. He turned his full attention to them and his tone showed that he meant business. "And this is why none of you are proper soldiers that can protect Hyrule and her glory. You are all little worms that the old Knights had trained in vain. If you can't cooperate and work together like a team then you will never succeed in protecting your home, your families if you have one. To be a soldier, hell to be a knight, you have to have the courage and the will to continue even if it's your dying breath if it's important to fight for.
"This little shithole we are in now is important enough to place our lives on the line. Hyrule is endanger of an ancient evil that has come back to try and bring back the very thing that drove this world's people to the skies thousands upon thousands of years ago. Electra and Link are right now by themselves working their asses off in Death Mountain to stop a second evil that could destroy Hyrule. Together we are supposed to be answering questions about not only this world but my own world to keep the two worlds from total destruction. How in bloody hell do you think your families will react if they saw you walk through your front doors in shame because you couldn't defeat a bunch of little puppets summoned by a kid who is just defending his territory and playing a little game? How do you think the people of Hyrule will react to know that because of some scared shitless soldiers ran away and their whole world was going to be destroyed because they couldn't put on their big boy shoes and protect them?
"You are paid by the people for the people's protection and yet what I saw yesterday and today was fucking pathetic. I have seen children four and five years old protect their family from thieves who broke into their homes. They know what is happening and they know that the people who are intruding have weapons that can kill before they even knew what happened but yet they have more guts than full grown men who are trained!" Jason took a breath to settle his nerves. "You can either back out now, destroying two worlds' chances of survival or you can stay and say that you helped stopped two apocalypses at once because you were a brave mother fucker that fucked the bad guys up so bad that the two worlds won't see another evil like it again."
There was silence between the eight people for about a minute while the soldiers were thinking over what he had pretty much shouted at them in rage. Then, Delilah whistled like she was solely impressed and put her face near his ear. "I have to say, that was impressive. I never heard such a thing in my life, maybe you can share me something like with me that tonight, only in a sexier tone under covers."
"Glad to know that you are in that kind of mood after I just snapped." He whispered back as puppets fell again. "Didn't you just break up with your boyfriend?"
"What can I say; you're a hot piece of meat." She said as she went after four of the fifteen puppets. "And that makes two hundred ninety-four."
"Sweet mother of Christ, I didn't even think there were that many." Jason sighed as he sent a silent prayer to God above; though he guessed it was going to one of the goddesses of the world he was in. He took out his daggers and slashed at each of the puppets that were near him, a total of six of them. They went down in a domino reaction which he found amusing.
Suddenly he heard a battle cry come from all five soldiers as they charged at a different puppet taking them out with fury. He was surprised that they had done it without their blades shaking.
"Let's get the hell out of this stupid place so we can get to saving worlds," Michael stated for the five soldiers, "Captain."
Jason grinned like a fool and pointed to the opened trunk tunnel. They jumped into the small, but rather deeper pond and waded to the other small land mass. He led his team into the next room where there were two trees along the soft green ground. A bridge of rock that seemed to connect to the other room that they were in before the outburst took place. There were three rocks that led up to the Lion King rock and the music seemed to be coming from the top of the rock, but he couldn't see the tormentor. Puppets flew down and landed in front of them, about thirty of them in total. Both entrances were closed and the only wait out of the room was through the Lion King rock.
"Jason, you go and get the shrimp. We got this." Esben told him.
But Jason hesitated as he killed two of the puppets. "Are you sure?"
"Yea, they all go poof when you shoot the little prick, so do us a favor and shove a bolt up his ass." Isaac replied killing another puppet. "Trust us, if you want to work as a team, then we also have to have trust, right?
"Right," Jason answered and left the soldiers, Shad and Delilah to the puppets. He placed his crossbow on his back and jumped onto the first stone. He quickly climbed the second rock and then climbed on to the large stone. He stood up and saw Skull Kidd blowing his trumpet paying full attention to his team below. He took his crossbow and shot the little demon. He wasn't going to shove a bolt up the bastard's ass; he had to use it later. The puppets died like the little bitches they were and Skull Kid threw a temper tantrum before teleporting away. Neither log opened up on either end of the rectangular room. He looked forward and saw the next room parallel to the one he was in. He walked forward and looked into the other room. The log that had blocked the way before was gone and the two other entrances were sealed. He moved away from the edge and walked back into the room where his team was. He looked down at them as they looked up for orders. "We have to use this rock to get to the other room, the other log in the room disappeared."
"That means we are done playing his hide and seek game." Shad announced. The soldiers cheered. "But now it's time for the final showdown."
They stopped cheering.
"Final showdown?" Delilah asked.
"Yes, when we get into that room, Skull Kid will be summoning puppets and by the amounts he has been sending our way, it might be in the hundreds until we shoot him three times."
"Sounds like a blast." Jason growled in annoyance as he picked up his bolt off the ground. He was really hungry and just wanted to place down camp. It was getting dark so they were probably going to have to camp in the ruins.
The team made it up to him on the rock and they crossed it to the other room that was significantly empty. They jumped down from the rock and walked into the final room. It was empty and round except for a round stone surrounded by two eclipsed stones that edged the middle stone. Skull Kid was on the center stone and before it could blow his horn, Jason shot him in the face three times. The look that Skull Kid gave was absolutely priceless. His jaw was dropped as he pulled out the three bolts and started to count them.
"Way to kill the party of infinite puppets." Delilah commented. "Was not expecting that."
"I'm always unpredictable." Jason remarked as Skull Kid threw the bolts to the ground. He started saying something in another language that Jason could only guess at with the hand gestures that he also didn't recognize, but saw Shad flinching with each one. When Skull Kid had finished shouting and ranting and carrying on, he teleported away from the room.
"Do I even want to know what he was going on about?"
"Just that you made him mad." Shad answered and then changed the subject. "Ah, look the entrance to the ruins."
They started walking to them as Jason's stomach growled loudly. "Okay, it's just about nightfall so let's camp in the ruins for the night and then head out at sunrise. I'm sure Skull Kid won't be bugging us on the way out after our demonstration."
Everyone visibly sighed in relief as they went into the ruins. They came to a ledge where a strange stone door was carved. Ancient stone was beneath Jason's feet as his steps echoed to empty and quiet area. There was another room that connected to the ruins which he presumed was more ruins. Shad look a look from his papers and gasped. Jason raised an eyebrow as he watched the scholar run down the block steps and into the other room.
"We'll set up camp down there. Michael do you want to stay with Shad just in case something comes by?"
"Sure." The soldier replied and went after the scholar to the other room.
They placed down their things and the twins went to find firewood. Camp was all set up as night set in. The fire glowed bright and was comforting in the cooling air. There were four tents in total that surrounded the fire: one for Delilah, one for Shad and two for Jason and the soldiers. The soldiers were taking rounds with Shad as the scholar wouldn't come back to the camp. Jason had brought him some food when they finally found it. Shad was going throughout the room with a torch, but Jason couldn't make any details of the room except for the wall Shad was looking at. He gave him the food trying to make conversation, but Shad didn't hear him as he mumbled in frustration looking at his notes. Jason left him and Isaac to the room and went back to the camp.
All of the soldiers were asleep at midnight except for Esben when the soldier and Shad came back from the other part of the ruin. Jason was on guard duty and watched in amusement at Shad stumbling around trying to get into his tent before falling asleep just inside the door. Jason and Esben put him into his tent a bit more and closed the door after leaving.
"Did he find what he was looking for?"
"No, but I practically had to drag him back before he collapsed." Esben yawned. "I didn't feel like carrying the geek."
"I got ya." Jason sighed as he stared at the fire that crackled innocently.
"Hey, you guys got room for one more around the fire?" Delilah asked poking her head out of her tent.
"Of course."
Delilah sat down beside Jason. "Today was a fun day huh?"
Esben laughed. "I guess it was an interesting day, not what I would call fun though."
"Hmm, you're right. We need to go someplace where it is actually fun while completing these little quests. If Shad finally finds what he is looking for then maybe we can know how fun our next quest will be."
"As long as we aren't dealing with spoiled brats, I think it will be fun." Esben replied with another yawn. He stretched as he stood. "Well I'm going to bed, see you in the morning."
"Good night." Jason and Delilah said together as the soldier retreated into his tent.
"Now it's just you and me." Delilah whispered in Jason's ear.
"That's all who can stay up I guess."
"What do you want to do?"
"Nothing rash."
Delilah pouted. "But think of all the things that we could do."
"I would, but I'm not going to. You are moving a little fast don't you think?"
"Maybe," Delilah sighed. "But all I want to do is get my ex out of my head."
"So that's why you have been flirting with me all this time?"
"No, I wasn't lying when I said you were a hot piece of meat. Just…"
"You want to prove that you can be your own person without him."
"Exactly."
There was silence between the two of them as the fired crackled.
"Well, I'm going to bed, and so should you." Delilah stated as she got up from her seat.
"Alright, sweet dreams." Jason said as he watched her go into her tent. He stood up and placed some dirt over the fire to keep it contained and went into his tent.
The next morning, he woke up to Shad shouting excitedly from his tent. Jason groaned in annoyance as he sat and put on his shirt. He came out of the tent leaving the two other groggy soldiers to get up on their own. The sun wasn't even in the sky as it was still a black-blue color. The sounds of rustling papers and turning pages came from the scholar's tent and he shouted in a different language in excitement. The soldiers and Delilah appeared from the tents looking towards Jason. He shrugged at them as he turned back to the tent. Suddenly, the scholar appeared from the tent with a paper in hand and no shoes on as he ran to the other room. They followed him to the other room and found a pedestal where a sword obviously sat before it was removed. But that wasn't what was so fascinating. Shad went to one of the stones in the floor that happened to be the only broken one and pulled it out of its resting place. He turned it over and started laughing in glee. "I can't believe I missed this yesterday, this is what we were looking for. We found it." And then he looked in the hole. "And we also might have found an entrance to something else as well."
00000
"After Shad's amazing discovery, we packed up and rode all the way here to tell you what happened." Jason said as I tried to gather all the information from the long story.
"So what happened in the ruins that were so important that you had to come now? You could have come later?" Link asked.
"I got pregnant with Jason's child." Delilah's stated without hesitation.
My eyes grew wide as I turned to Jason. "You did what?"
"I did what?!" Jason exclaimed. "When?!"
"Don't have a cow, I was being sarcastic. Nothing like that happened." Delilah rolled her eyes. "What we did find though was a clue to where the Sealed Grounds might be and where the Forest Medallion might be, but we have to the head up to the Zora's Domain to find out the entrance to get to where the Forest Medallion is and the second clue to where the Sealed Grounds are. According to the picture found under the stone it said that there was an ancient entrance that led to the old Lost Woods where the Kokiri lived and played in."
"What's in the Zora's Domain that could be an entrance?" Link questioned. "I've been there hundreds of times; I've never noticed anything out of the ordinary there.
"Ancient water ways as well as the second piece to this," Shad said pulling out a tablet with a picture of caverns and water flowing through it, it looked like the Zora's Domain. "I believe it's a four piece puzzle that has been scattered throughout the ages. This picture shows the Zora's Domain. So the next piece should be there."
"What happens when you put all the pieces together?" I asked him.
"Hopefully, it will reveal the location of the Sealed Grounds."
"So where do we go next?"
"The lakebed temple or otherwise known back in the day of the Medallions, the Water Temple."
"Thank you whatever deities are out there that they had changed that temple over the years." I exclaimed happily.
"Why's that?" Delilah asked.
"Because we would have been royally screwed for a few days, it's the most confusing temple ever created that made people quit playing the game until they got help."
Delilah raised an eyebrow at the word game, but didn't question me.
"The place is still a mouse maze." Link said placing his head on the table. "That place is a nightmare of nightmares."
"Not only that." Shad stated as he ate food off of his plate. "Electra won't be able to get down there without some sort of way to breathe underwater so you may be on your own."
Yeah, 22 pages and we are complete, hope you liked it and will
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