Well, what do you know? Another timely update! A nice long one too, longer than any other chapter unless I am horribly mistaken.
Something important to know, there are parts near the middle/end that explain some events of Radiant Dawn, so if you haven't played pretty much all the way through the game, there may be some spoilers for you. Just a warning, you need not listen to me.
Also, mixed in with the RD stuff is a bit of a look into the events that happened before this particular story takes place, so you get some insight pertaining to why things are happening.
Anyway, enough of my talk, read the nice chapter and enjoy!
Chapter 13: The End
They had lost count of the time they had been here; had it been only a few days, or several weeks?
Not that it really mattered; they would wait here in the blinding sun and scorching sand until they came, they would stay until the cave was filled with the people whose lives would end there so they would pose no threat to the safety of their land.
Sealth—the man that none of them had trusted not even a year prior—had led them here, and they trusted him with their lives for the first time in years. The few Hyrulean soldiers that remained took turns looking through the Hawkeye Mask—a mask that allowed the user to see with the accuracy and precision of a hawk—for anything coming in through the caves.
When the invaders came, they would be ready.
Stefan had never really been fond of cramp, dark spaces. If he felt the need, Stefan could have perhaps 'blamed' his minor claustrophobia on the fact that he had spent most of his life outdoors in nice, big open areas. Not that walking for hours on end through the gradually narrowing caves truly perturbed the Branded; it just brought a feeling of very mild discomfort.
Though that feeling had been becoming more intense with each step, and Stefan had tried numerous times to tell himself that it was merely the stone walls coming closer and closer, appearing ready to snap closed and crush him at any moment that was making him uneasy. It was almost like almost like something to tell him some important secret, but for unfathomable reason, he couldn't hear anything more than a low hum.
Stefan smiled inwardly; he wasn't really hearing voices, it just seemed like that was the best way to describe the odd feeling of helplessness—no, not that even, it was almost like a strange mix of fear, pain, frustration, confusion, hunger… The rainbow swordsman smiled again, none of these things really described the feeling; he was more or less listing the first words that came to mind. It didn't matter if Stefan could put his… unease into words anyway, as the rather vexing feeling would continue to make him nervous whether he knew its name or not.
Stefan closed his eyes and took a slow breath. It was rather annoying actually, always feeling unsettled and edgy. It had been many years since his emotions plagued him so… Yes, so very many years ago…
"Hey, you alright?"
Stefan's little bubble of reminiscence was popped gently by a sudden voice next to him. The swordmaster of the desert blinked a few times and shook his head to chase away the remnants of the memory clinging to him like a broken spider's web. Zihark waited patiently, not a stranger to his friend's frequent flashbacks.
"Yes, I'm just a bit… nervous." Stefan laughed at some unspoken joke.
"You? nervous?" Zihark laughed too, "About what?"
Stefan waved his hand dismissively, "Nothing that grants any real concern."
Zihark took a few quick steps in front of Stefan, "Oh, now I'm really curious."
"Truly, it is nothing that you need to worry about."
"So you get to worry and I don't," Zihark crossed his arms, "Come on, let me join the party!"
Stefan sighed in defeat and stopped walking, "Very well, then." He rested his hand on the stone wall to his left, "This," he patted the unyielding rock, "is what makes me nervous."
"That?" Zihark pointed to the cave wall, "You're scared of rocks?"
"No, not the rocks," Stefan smiled a bit and shook his head, "It's how close they are." His smirk turned to a slight frown as Stefan pushed himself from the side of the cave and continued walking.
"How is that any different?"
"Stefan sighed, "It wouldn't matter if it was stone, wood, feathers—"
"Women?"
Stefan turned to scowl at Zihark for a moment before shaking his head and quickening his pace.
"Oh, you know I was joking!" Zihark jogged to catch up to the Branded, "So you're claustrophobic or what?"
"I wouldn't go quite as far as to call it claustrophobia, but yes, I prefer open places to ones that are ready to crush every bone in my body."
Zihark laughed, "You know, I think Janaff's right when he says you're an odd one,"
The rainbow swordsman ignored the comment, but slowed his pace a bit.
"Hm," Zihark paused, "I think that I'm going to look for some food. You want to come?"
Stefan shook his head, "No, not at the moment. I'll meet you there, however."
Zihark shrugged and fell back, headed towards whoever was unfortunate to be the one with the burden of carrying the food.
For the first time in a few hours, Stefan took the time to look around the cave. It was not very wide—five or six meters at the most—but still broad enough for the caravan to bring their wagons and horses inside with them. It was much like marching when outdoors, only rather than the supplies running near the back, they were spread out through the entire length of the cave that the army occupied.
Some rode in the wagons, driving the horses, while most walked alone or in small groups, talking in the dim blue light fluttering about. Stefan smiled as one of the thousands of sources of illumination drifted by him, its color undulating between a powder blue to a deep shade of teal. The fairies floated lazily up and down, their delicate wings flapping silently as they did. Stefan, Mia and Link had gone to get these little wonders of nature.
It had been a remarkably beautiful place, a sort of place that one would never fathom finding in the desert, it was like an oasis, but further to the extreme—a green, lush speck of rain-forest nestled between two heaving sand dunes.
Inside, strange orbs of glowing light sailed through the air where one dared to look, moving with eerie grace and purpose as they wound gently around the thick leafy trees surrounding them. In the exact—or Stefan assumed it to be the exact—center of the forest lay a large crystal clear spring, perfectly round and still as glass.
Link had walked into the pool motioning for Mia and Stefan to stay behind, even his movements hardly disturbing the calm waters. He removed one of his gauntlets—his right one, if Stefan remembered—and held up his hand, palm facing him, towards the center of the spring.
A small girl's silvery laughter echoed through the trees, coming from every possible place, every imaginable angle. There had been a flash of light, and it dimmed to one thick beam, stretching from the source of the water in the center of the pond all the way to the endless sky above.
The stream of white light narrowed into near non-existence, looking like a thick string. The laughter reverberated through the clearing again—a soft ringing sound, it had been—before the bright whiteness had shattered in a shower of glittery light shards.
And then, she had been there, materializing from nowhere, floating gracefully high above the water. She appeared to be young, no more than six or seven years old, Stefan had guessed, with a small dress and bare feet. The thing that was odder than the fact she was floating was her overall appearance—head to toe, her hair, dress, skin, eyes—she was a strange reflective blue. The girl shimmered in the light, her strange, flat metallic eyes shining a bit more than the rest of her.
"Young hero," her mouth did not move, but her liquid voice came from everywhere, just like her laugh, "What brings you to a place so far from your home?" she cocked her head.
Link had gone down on one knee in a sort of half bow, and the still rather surprised Stefan and Mia had followed suit. "Your Majesty, please forgive my reluctance to share my tale, but I have a favor to ask." Link said, even his voice echoing, but not nearly as extreme as the Queen of Fairies'.
The girl's laughter rang through the pond like bells, "Child, there is no need to be so formal. All three of you may relax yourselves. "She waved a hand towards the two trueblades standing outside of the pool, "Please, do not be afraid, come closer."
Mia and Stefan had taken several reluctant steps forward before a sudden breath of pleasantly cool wind pushed them the rest of the way into the dry water.
"There, isn't that more comfy?" There was a smile in the queen's voice; "Now then," she suddenly disappeared, popping up in front of the three with another silent explosion of light, "What is this boon you must ask of me?"
"Your Majesty—" Link started, but the Fairy Queen cut him off by pressing her small fingers to his lips.
"No, no, none of this 'Majesty' nonsense. I do not get many visitors, you see, and everyone back home is always saying 'Your Majesty', or 'My Queen'—it's no fun at all. Why not call me…" She took her hand back and had patted her chin thoughtfully, "Hm, what's a good name? Ah, you shall call me Annie. I've always been fond of that name…"
Link hesitated before slowly continuing, "Annie," The Fairy Queen clapped her hands, "I would like to ask if I—we," He gestured towards Mia and Stefan beside him, "may use some of your… subjects to light our way through the caves to the east."
'Annie' cocked her head again, her solid blue eyes sparkling, "Is that really all?"
Link nodded.
"Oh!" She laughed, "I was expecting something a bit more… big, I s'pose you would call it. The few people who do come here always ask for eternal life or the magic power to do something or other." The Fairy Queen giggled again, "Of course you may, child! It will be no problem!"
She floated back a few paces and spread her hands. With another brush of light, a small, dark marionette appeared in her tiny hands. Stefan didn't get a very good look at the puppet, but it didn't seem to have the right number of arms…
"Hey, Stefan!"
For the second time in only a few minutes, Zihark was pulling the Branded swordmaster out of his reverie with his sudden voice in the dark closeness of the cave. Stefan would have jumped, but he was far past being surprised by such trivial things as an abrupt call in faint blue light.
"Here," Zihark tossed a bright red apple in the desert swordsman general direction. Stefan caught it and examined it briefly, "I picked this up for you while I was talking to Oscar."
Stefan smiled and bit into the plump fruit hungrily; he hadn't eaten since yesterday, though time was hard to tell when you're inside a dark cave with nothing but mythical beasts to light your way. The light was bright enough, however, to see one of the various wagons speckled through the cave coming up in front of the two swordsmen.
With their pace faster than that of the two horses pulling the cart, Zihark and Stefan soon came to realize that the wooden wagon contained their other third, Mia, sitting next to the wash-up Hylian, Link, who was driving the two ponies pulling the rolling structure.
The two were sitting silently, with Mia watching the fairies float about and Link's eyes far away, looking in the general direction of the horses in front of him.
"Oh," Mia shook her head and turned in her seat to face her two friends, "Where've you two been?
"Around." Zihark answered, biting his apple again.
"Mmm," Mia went back to watching the fairies.
"There's something I've been wanting to ask you," Link murmured, his voice breaking the brief silence as his eyes watched the horses' paths in front of him carefully, "Do you think you could tell me what Zelgius did before he came to Hyrule?"
The three swordmasters stiffened simultaneously and were silent for nearly a minute before Mia spoke, "We don't really…" she glanced over at Stefan, "talk about that anymore."
"Well," Link backpedalled, "If you don't want to, I won't—"
Mia shook her head, "No, no it may help things. I'm not sure how, but better safe than sorry."
Stefan looked at Mia out of the corner of his eye; a small fairy fluttering near him flashed a deep red before whizzing off down the cave. The two swordmasters glared at each other for a moment before Stefan sighed and fell behind the still moving wagon, Zihark paused, but after a bit followed the Branded.
"They're going to be mad at me," Mia sighed and closed her eyes.
"If it's going to cause problems, don't—"
Mia cut him off again with a smile, "Naw, they'll live. 'Sides, it's a pretty good story.
"First thing, you need to know more about Tellius," Mia started, "First, there's Crimea; that's where most of us are from. It's in the northern part of the continent," Mia drew an invisible map in front of her, trying to recall the locations in her mind, "Then there's Daein; that's where Zihark, Micaiah and all hers' are from, to the northwest. Begnion is in the middle, and I think only Stefan is from there…"
She paused for a moment before continuing, "But it's the biggest place in all of Tellius, and they usually have the most power over everyone, and it has Serenes Forest, where Rafael used to live with Reyson and Leanne before…"
She trailed off again, "Anyway, Gallia is south of Crimea, and west of Begnion, and is where most of the Cat, Tiger and Lion Laguz live. And south of them is Goldoa, where the dragons live. Not very many people have been there, though I have, and I can't say it's a place I would want to spend more time than I needed."
"Then there's Kilvas and Phoenicis, the two islands where the Ravens and Crows live, respectively. Their kings, Tibarn and Naesala don't really have the closest relationship in the world, but they do well enough, I think that's all of the places." She paused again to wonder, "Well, everything's more complicated than that, but I think that will do for now."
"So, a few years ago, Daein and Crimea were in a war, one that was supposedly going to have involved the entire continent, but Ike and most of us stopped that without even trying. That's when Zihark, Stefan and I met."
Mia smiled at memories that only she could see, her voice far away, "Anyway," she shook her head slightly, "after the Mad King's War was over, everyone went their own ways for a bit, but about three years later and after a Daein civil war—and almost a Crimean one too—anotherwar started; this time between the two races of Beorc and Laguz." Mia stopped again, "You know what those are, right?"
After Link nodded, the violet swordmaster continued, "Well, almost all of the Laguz tribes had made an alliance, and Begnion and Daein kind of made one too, but not really. But this is about the time where Zelgius comes in.
"Zelgius used to be one of the most loved men in Begnion, a brave general that everyone thought would always protect them. A few years ago, he led the Begnion army during the Laguz-Beorc war. He didn't really want to, he was always fond of Laguz—more than most beorc were, at least." Mia shook her head, "Anyway, he really didn't want to be fighting the Laguz to begin with, so the first time he got the chance, he completely refused to fight them anymore. Of course there was more than that, stuff involving something called a blood pact and Daein, but that'll take too long to explain.
"He was really the one who ended the war; the Begnion senators wanted to keep fighting until there were no more Laguz left on the continent, but the Empress Sanaki came back not very long after Zelgius stopped fighting and put a stop to that right away.
"Of course, the senators didn't like that much, so they were doing whatever they could to get Zelgius to keep fighting. They had spies go out and find out anything they could to use to blackmail him. Of course, they found exactly what they needed—the senators learned that Zelgius was Branded."
She glanced over at Link, and noticing his unknowing expression, explained, "Oh, when a Laguz and a Beorc have a baby, they're sometimes born with a mark somewhere on them , called a Brand. Supposedly, a Branded child was a crime against our Goddess, Ashera, and were hated, shunned and—most of the time—killed.
"But Zelgius, Micaiah, Soren and Stefan are all Branded, and it has brought them all things they didn't deserve…" She paused again, "Anyway, the senators found out what Zelgius was, and they gave him a fortnight to restart fight the Laguz left before they would reveal his secret to everyone.
"But, of course, the greedy senators didn't pay their spies enough to keep such dark secrets hidden, so the information leaked out before Zelgius could make his decision. It was barely three days after the public found out that their long-time hero was a Branded," She winced, "before they had driven them out of the country. Everywhere else had learned too, so everywhere he went, Zelgius met the scorn that he had joined the military to avoid everywhere he went.
"Now after that, I don't know a lot for sure, but the thing I've heard the most is that he went crazy and took some of those disgusting Feral drugs trying to kill himself. I'm not sure if that's really true, but I do know that he ended up in the village where Branded live without really having to worry about anything in the Begnion's Grann desert.
"He lived there for not even a year before…" Mia sighed and wrung her hands, "Before he decided to take revenge on those who had spited not only him, but all the Branded that had ever been before him. He had somehow gotten an army of Branded big enough to start a war.
"We didn't… we didn't know until later that not all of them wantedto fight, that Zelgius had forced most of them to…" Mia paused and took a breath, "Like—like Stefan. He didn't want to fight, he was happy with the small colony that they had in the desert, and he didn't want to do anything to change the fragile peace they had worked so hard to create…"
Mia laughed darkly, "But Zelgius wasn't about to let such a great soldier go when he had a cause to fight for. He took Stefan, and any other Branded that didn't join him voluntarily and gave them… he gave them Feral drugs—wicked serums that are usually saved only for the poor Laguz unlucky enough to be caught—they warp their perception of reality, destroys their self-control. All they want to do is fight and fight until they can't anymore." Mia shook her head, "Feral Laguz are the most horrifying things I've ever seen… But when I saw Stefan that day, fighting like I had never seen any human fight before…"
Mia shuddered and closed her eyes, "But we were able to bring him back to the way he was, so none of that matters anymore." Her green eyes opened again, "In the end, Zelgius and all his Branded lost the war, and he and the few that had joined them on their own were exiled from Tellius and most of the… Feral ones were brought back to the way they were before, but I heard that Zelgius had taken a few with him." She nodded with a sigh, "Yup, that's it."
Link was silent for a moment before he spoke, "I guess that after he was forced to leave, he went to Hyrule."
Mia nodded, but before she could say anything, Volug materialized in the dim light.
"Oh, hey Volug," Mia said half-heartedly, "What're you doing?"
"The end of the caves are close." The wolf growled, "Ike ask me to tell others."
With a half nod towards Link, Volug continued walking past the wagon silently, slipping back into the darkness.
"Ooh," Mia seemed back to her normal self for the time being, "That means we're almost there! What is Hyrule like?"
Link laughed lightly, "It has a lot of different places. Other than the Gerudo Desert you'll see first, there're many forests, plains and a volcano."
Sealth and Zelgius stood in the sun as they had been doing for far too long, in the Hylian's opinion. Though it wasn't like he had a choice of any other place; it was either out in the sun and the heat where he could see the caves, or inside one of the few temporary structures they had built, where it was cooler, but also impossible to see the deep hole darkening the mountains.
Out of the corner of his eye, the Hylian general noticed a single soldier coming towards him, the Hawkeye in hand.
"Sir, they're here." The man handed Sealth the bird-like mask when he reached the general.
Zelgius looked over with a look of surprise—he was not expecting for there to actually be something coming from the caves.
The Hylian commander looked through the hawk's eyes for a brief moment; that's all he needed to see the dark shapes silhouetted against the dim, blue light coming from what seemed like nowhere. "Clear the area men, it's time the end this," Sealth couldn't help but smile as he gave the order and motioned to an archer standing next to him, "Get ready, and fire on my mark."
The sniper nodded and lit the small bundle of dripping fabric on his nocked arrow's head and drew the string back, silently aiming for his target just inside the mouth of the cave.
"Would you mind if I took a look?" Zelgius asked, reaching for the strange item.
Sealth nodded and handed the Hawkeye mask to the other man. Zelgius peered through the eyepieces as the two Hylians before him and he instantly felt his vision grow sharper. As he focused in on the dark mouth of the cave, Zelgius decided that this was how the Hawks of his homeland always saw, always being able to focus in on whatever they wanted, no matter how far away it was.
Sealth turned to the cave, his mouth twitching into a smile that would be ever-present in a short time, "Four"
"And there's a huge lake, with the largest bridge ever built still stretching across it."
"A big bridge?" Mia cocked her head and thought for a moment—the only big bridge she knew of didn't hold her fondest memories. She shuddered slightly.
Link nodded, "You can look out over most of Hyrule from it."
Three.
"Oh, I can't wait to see it!" Mia jumped a little bit, "What about towns? Are there many villages?"
"Only two or three major ones." Link laughed, "The capital of Castle Town, the small village of Kakariko, and my home town, Ordon. Then there are the homes of the other races, the Gorons and the Zoras."
"Ooh, what are those?" Mia clasped her hands together.
Two.
"The Gorons live on Death Mountain—the biggest volcano for miles—and are plump, rocky beings who tend to have egos bigger than they are," He laughed, "And the Zoras live at the source of the River Hylia, in northern Hyrule. They're also rather big, with fins and fish tails coming out of the back of their heads," Link waved his hat behind him like a fish swimming through water and laughed again.
"Will we get to see them before we go back?" Mia's interest was only slightly diverted as a small swarm of fairies fluttered past.
One.
Link nodded, more serious this time, "I want to speak to Ralis and Darbus—the leaders of the two tribes—and… explain some things to them."
"How far from the exit do you think we are?" Mia murmured excitedly, scooting back and forth in her seat.
"Oh, we're close; I can already smell the sand." Link tapped his nose knowingly.
Mia sniffed the air and scrunched her nose, "I only smell horses…"
"Fire." Sealth waved his hand with his single word, emphasizing his command.
The archer released the bowstring, and the fiery arrow whizzed towards its target.
In the few moments between Mia finishing her sentence to the time Link laughed at her impatience, there was a complete and total silence. The thick glass-like quiet wrapped around everyone and everything, as if attempting to protect them from what was coming, its numb nothingness filling the cave with its cool tendrils of strangely loving quiescence. It could have lasted hours, days even—but in reality, the silence lasted for only a relative twinkling.
First came a flash of red flame, the light quickly blooming into a dark bouquet of fire and smoke, the searing heat not enough to penetrate the calm layers of silence. Then, not even a split second after the sudden conflagration began, the entire length of the cavern shuddered—whether it was shaking with fear, rage or pain, none would know, but the rocks groaned, already knowing what was coming next.
The stentorian roar began at the mouth of the cave, rushing back as the explosion ran through the rocks, screeching loudly as it went, easily obliterating the sturdy quiet, shaking every stone loose, and knocking huge boulders from the ceiling, from the floor, from the walls. The cave imploded around everyone inside, each crack of the rocks echoing through the inside of the mountain like dry laughter, sneering at the fates of the ones below.
Outside, the mountain trembled, loose sand shaking free from its dusty surface as it suddenly dropped down, a plume of debris rising into the air silently as the mountain lost several dozen feet of elevation. Silence took everything back from the calamity, snatching it like a small child does a stolen toy, stretching around all of the shattered rocks, broken stones, resting sand, looking for any sign that something had survived, desperate to have protected at least one life…
A loud cheering from outside the cracked mountain forced the silence to retreat disdainfully, eyeing the roaring men on the hot desert sand and the dreadful din dancing within them, scoffing at quiet's failed attempts playing savior. The loudness jeered at the silence as it hissed and retreated, the battle lost, the cave destroyed and peace obliterated.