Hello again, this is your captain speaking, sorry about the delay in posting. This chapter was hard to write due to the fact that it was from a woman's point of view, lucky I had someone help me out here so I hopefully did alright. Anyway please R&R and tell me what yah think.
Chapter 4: The Eye of Din
2 weeks prior…
Minda laid next to Link while they looked up at the night sky. They had been waiting for Fyer to finish working on the Sky Cannon. During that time Link had shown Minda the constellations that littered that night sky over Hruyle Lake. Fyer had told them at the cannon would be finished by tomorrow morning, so this was their last day before departure. The last few days had been wonderful for Minda; instead of having to battle monsters, explore dangerous lost temples, and travel all across Hruyle. She got to spent everyday just relaxing and enjoying her time with Link. Minda knew that this wouldn't and couldn't last, so she savored every minute of it she could. She turned to look at Link; his handsome features highlighted by the moonlight could make just about any woman look away in embarrassment. "He has been through so much", Minda thought sadly, "Yet never once have I heard him complain about his hardships, or berate the goddesses for choosing him instead of someone else." Link turned and looked at Minda, he had a puzzled look, "Why are you staring at me?". Minda turned away quickly so that Link would not see the blush that was quickly engulfing her face. "Please" Minda said, recovering quickly, "You are so full of yourself sometimes".
Minda floated up into the air and hovered over the ground in the Indian sitting position with her arms crossed over her chest. She had expected Link to come up with some sarcastic remark or witty comeback, but the only thing she heard was laughter.
This had infuriated Minda, she spun around to give Link a piece of her mind when all of her anger disappeared as quickly as it had come. Link had sat up and was looking at her with a playful smile across his lips. "He was only teasing", Minda realized, "Hmhp", she pouted but floated and sat down on his lap. This had made Link chuckle, but he patted Minda's head and continued to look up at the sky.
Minda blushed but she leaned back into his chest and stared up at the night sky with him.
"So…" Link begun, "tomorrow we get shot up into the sky by a cannon, and hope that we happen to land onto the city of the Sky People." Link shook his head in slight disbelieve. Minda laughed at the comment, he was right. Their life kept getting more complex everyday, there was a good chance that cannon would not even work or they would be shot into the wrong direction and end up falling to a very gruesome death.
Minda sighed, "Link…", she paused , looking for the right words. The Hero looked down at the small imp like form that was nuzzled against his chest. He raised an eyebrow, "What is it?", he asked.
Minda looked up at him and stared in his blue orbs, everytime she glazed into his eyes, she always lost herself in them. The color was a deep ocean blue and Minda felt like she had swept away in its current. "Minda, you here?" Link looked at her with a somewhat puzzled but amused expression. Minda glared at him for a second then soften up and quietly replied, "Why?"
Link stared at her, with now a truly confused expression, "Why what?" he asked. Minda sighed and float up so that they were face to face, "Why are you doing this for me? Why are you putting yourself in danger for….'something' like me." A trace of venom could be detected when she said "something", but Link did not inquire about it.
Minda watched him carefully, he slightly tilted his head upward and looked towards the sky, thinking about how best to answer the princess's question.
The Hero turned back towards her and begun his response, "When we first met Minda I didn't know a thing about you, I felt that you were just using me for your own gain." Minda turned away in shame knowing how true that had been at the time. "But, I figured if I helped you I could return to normal…but as time went on, things became different…." He paused, "I don't know how to really describe it, I know that we have a connection…no a bond that ties us together. Nobody else knows what it's like to become something that we disgust, or the trials that we have faced."
Link sighed and looked away; Minda stared at him wondering what was going through the Triforce wielder's head. Link turned back to her and smiled, which make Minda's heart flutter and head cloudy. "The shorten version of what I was going to say is that you're my friend, and I always stand by my friends no matter what.
Minda blushed and smiled wide, she turned her head away in embarrassment. Link laughed and pulled the red floating imp in for hug which caused her face become an even deeper shade of red. "Link…thank you" Minda buried her head into his chest and fell asleep, the Hero smiled and fell back onto the grass and and knocked out.
Minda slowly awoke, hoping that she would be waking up in the arms of her Link, but alas it was not meant to be. Minda realized that she was lying in her soft, but utterly too empty bed. Minda desperately wanted to feel Link's touch, his gentle yet firm and strong hands. The way his eyes lit up when he laughed and smiled; how he would put his life on the line to protect someone he cared about without a second's thought.
Minda sighed regretfully, she knew that Light and Twilight were never meant to mix, but that thought could not still the pain and heartache in her chest whenever she thought about "her" Hero clad in green.
Minda tossed and turned in her sleek and comfortable mattress, but no matter how many times she tried The Twilight Princess could not find a comfortable position. So, she had resigned herself to merely lie on her bed and stare up at the canopy that levitated over her. Minda contemplated her predicament that she was currently in.
On one hand, part of herself wanted to resign her power has Princess and search the lands of Twilight for a portal that would take her to the Realm of Light so that she could reunite with Link. The other side of her knew that she could not forsake her people and her duties to the Kingdom just to comb the lands for a portal that most likely did not exist.
The Princess groaned in frustration at the dilemma and rose from her bed and slipped on dark blue nightgown, embroider with gold lace trimmings. The gown hugged the curves of her body as she gracefully walked to the balcony adjacent to her royal sleeping chamber.
Minda stepped onto the balcony and felt the cold night air the Twilight realm offered and she accepted it gratefully. It had a soothing effect on her body and was able to calm her down. Stepping onto the balcony was almost like an escape from her duties and the politics that encompassed castle life. She reveled in the feeling for it would only last a short while, before the rest of the castle awoke to begin the day.
The Twilight sky always entranced The Princess; she always relished the beauty of the Twilight, but in recent times it had become dull, even to her. Minda leaned against the railing on the balcony and looked over her Kingdom. It had only been 3 months since Zant was overthrown, but it was already starting to flourish once more. Though, rebuilding an entire society from scratch was a daunting prospect, but Minda knew that her people were and still are incredibly resilient; she knew in her heart that her Kingdom could be rebuilt. But, she couldn't say the same about her heart, the lost of Link from her life was devastating to her, but she had to cope without him.
A light knock on the door woke The Princess from her stupor. Minda turned around and saw her personal maid, Viralia, enter the room. She was not has pretty has Minda, but she made up for that with her bubbly personality, which no matter the occasion, seemed infectious to all those around her.
She wore the traditionally dress of all the personal handmaids to the current ruler of the Twili, a black dress laced with a navy blue trimming, it was a simple dress but stitched into the dress was a beautiful golden design of the royal seal. The seal was composed of the Triforce in the middle, while behind it, a wolf's head howled to the golden moon above it.
Though, until recently Minda had only though thought that was just a symbol of the legendary beast only spoken about in legends, until she met The Hero of Twilight….and fell inlove with him. But there was another part to the design that constantly eluded Minda. It was an eye, which stood inside the Triforce; The Princess couldn't figure out why that eye was there and what it could possible mean.
The only thing that came to mind was that it was a warning, that the goddesses were always watching the Twilight Realm. Minda believed that idea until recently, after she met with Link though, her perception of the world change. Though she did still not believe that they were the benevolent beings that the Hylians thought them to be; she knew that the goddesses were not devoid of compassion for the Realm of Light or Twilight.
"Milady", Viralia spoke in a high-pitched tone, Minda looked at her handmaiden and smiled, "Ahh, good morning Viralia, I trust that you slept well?" Viralia curtsied and replied, "Yes I did Milady, Do you wish for your morning bath to be prepared at this moment, or shall I wait?" Minda walked back into her room and shut the balcony doors behind her, "No, I would like it now, please and thank you Viralia." Viralia bowed and headed into the bathroom on the left side of the chamber.
Minda massage her head, already anticipating the oncoming migrate that was going to undoubtedly come later in the day. She walked over towards her desk and sat down, the top of her desk was in shambles; papers of all kind littered it, completely obscuring any view of desk's top. "So much work still needs to be completed, I feel has if I don't have enough time in the day to even solve one issue." Minda sighed in exasperation has she begun to shift through the mess that was her desk.
A few minutes passed by and Viralia came out, "Your bath is ready, Milday" Viralia bowed. "Thank you Viralia", Minda got up from her desk walked over towards the bathroom and put a hand on Viralia's shoulder. The maid quickly glanced up at The Princess and smiled, "Yes, Milady". Minda looked at her, "Viralia would you mind if I asked your opinion on a matter of great importance to me." The handmaiden looked at Minda nervously and nodded "Of course, Milady, what is your question?"
Minda turned away and looked at the ceiling, "Viralia, your husband, Turgan, you love him don't you, nevermind don't answer that, of course you do...let's say you were in my position of power and due to certain circumstances you had to choose between Turgan, or your duties to the crown. Who would you choose and why?"
Minda turned back around and looked right into Viralia eyes, the handmaiden shirked from the intensity of her glaze. "I'm not sure which I would choose either Milday…" Minda sighed with frustration, but Viralia quickly added, "But, I would say that you should follow your heart, let it choose what you truly desire."
Minda smiled at Viralia, "Thank you for your opinion Viralia, though I only wish it was that easy." Viralia nodded sadly, as if she felt the same pain that Minda felt.
Minda sighed and nodded at her, "I'm going to take my bath now, please have my daywear ready when I exit." Viralia nodded, curtsied, and went about cleaning and organizing Minda's royal quarters.
5 Hours Later…
"The outlaying villages cannot afford to wait any longer for food and supplies! We need to ship atleast five to ten caravans worth of grains, meats, clothing and soldiers just to keep them from starving, freezing and being eaten from the roaming band of monsters that have littered the countryside ever since Zant's rein!" One of the advisors was having a shouting match with another.
Minda had seen and heard all this before, the Royal Advisory Council, her group of personal advisors; whom she always consulted with before presenting any propositions before the Court of Twilight. This was a boring but a necessary task; so that it would seem as if The Princess was not overstepping her power, by completely ignoring the advice of council.
Head Advisor Oiran, and Minda personal friend and guardian stood up and hushed the other two men. "Yes, we are all well aware of the villager's plight, and we are currently trying to get them the aid they most certainly need, but we ourselves are low supplies and money required for such restoration project." Oiran walked to the middle the room, now being clearly visible by everyone in the chamber.
"But even so we are trying our best to distribute the supplies that we currently have with the outlying villages. Unfortunately, our efforts have been greatly ineffective due a rebel group named Origin." This information caused quite stir among the other advisors, though Minda at heard about such a group but it was in passing whispers around her castle. "Oiran…" The princess began to say as she rose from her chair "I have only heard rumors about such a group, most of which had been proved to be false, I assume that you have evidence to back up your prior statement."
Oiran nodded, "Of course Princess", He removed a small black orb from his robe and set it on the ground. "This was created only recently, right before Zant's Rebellion, combining our magic with the Zolo crystal, which all of you know allow us use to record mental images onto the crystal, creating what we call a picture." Oiran paused for breathe, "This can record and save not only just mental images, but allows the user to store whole memories so that he can watch them over."
Most of the advisors gasped in shock and delight, but Minda nodded thoughtfully. Her father had mentioned that such a device was being constructed two years ago before his death. Minda at first didn't believe him until he showed her the prototype model of the first one. The images were very poor in quality and she couldn't make out any details, but she could see forms of Twili moving around from the orb that projected them.
Oiran smiled in delight at the advisor's expressions, "Yes, it is impressive, this particular orb was found on the body a scout, who was exploring the Jurlain region. Most of you may find this too be slightly disturbing, Princess with your approval I shall begin the recording." Minda nodded, and Oiran activated the Zolo orb with the activation spellword.
The sphere lit up in a bright blue color and temporarily blinded those in the room. When they could see again, the orb was projecting an image upward that was about four feet tall by four feet wide. At first the image was completely black but then it started to morph, Minda could soon make the outline of trees and fires burning and then image cleared up and Minda and the rest of the council could see what appeared to a camp of Twili inside a dense forest. While the quality had greatly improved the image was slightly distorted due to its length and width.
"It was pure luck" Oiran explained, "That this scout had come across the band of rebels for they were hidden deep inside the forests of Jurlain. Though, misfortunate fell on the scout when he was discovered and mortally wounded. Luckily he had managed to reach the village of Kilain and give this orb to the Twili representative stationed there before he died from his injuries."
Oiran bowed in his head in respect for the fallen scout, as did Minda and the rest of the council. Oiran then back away from hologram has it progressed through the memory. The memory played through the scout's eyes as he observed the hidden camp, carefully watching the movements of four Twili especially. Minda scrutinized the four figures aswell; noting that two were females and the other two males.
The first one was a female with red-fire hair, that cascading down her back all the way to the ground; Minda was genially surpised at this for she herself, was the only other red-haired Twili she had seen. The armor that the Twili was wearing was also a bright red color, her breastplate curved her body and the lower portion of her body was covered by black leggings with a pair of dark boots. The next one that Minda moved her gaze to was a male to the right of the flame-haired female. His hair was a dark black like most Twili's were, and unlike the rest of the three he wore no sort of armor or clothing on his upper body, except for the two gold-plated gauntlets that covered his hands. The most disturbing part that Minda noticed was that weapon that was on his back, it appeared to be a staff, but the ends of the staff formed into what looked like bony-fingers. Minda mentally shivered at the sight of the weapon, for to her it felt…unnatural, like it had at evil aura about it that she could feel even from were she was. The next one was another female; she also had dark black hair like the male before her, but it was half the lengths of the red-haired woman. She wore a royal blue shirt with golden sleeves; chainmail was embroidered into the shirt giving her some added protection. She had a quiver of arrows that hung on her back but she had no bow to accompany those arrows, Minda found that detail slightly foreboding, after seeing the staff, The Princess knew that those arrows were special in someway.
Minda knew when she turned to look at the last one that he was the leader of the group for the others lined up infront of them with their hands behind their backs. He paced back and forth infront of them contemplating what Minda assumed to be his next move. Unlike his other comrades, He was dressed in a long flowing robe, with many exotic designs, the color of the robe was midnight blue, and the trimming was gold. The robe completely covered his entire body except for his arm, in which the sleeve had been removed, but what covered his was something else entirely. His bicep was just like any other Twili's but what was on his forearm was a giant eye that spanned the length of the forearm. Nobody in chamber knew what to make of the eye, for none there ever encounter such an unnatural abomination. "How is that even possible…", one of the advisors managed to spur out.
The man stopped moving and turned to look right into the trees where the scout lay hidden. He smiled and looked at the shirtless Twili, who nodded. Before the scout realized what was happening the shirtless Twili had already traversed the distance between him and the scout. The scout tried to escape but the other Twili was too fast, before he could launch him from the tree and run away, the other had already removed his staff from his back and jumped up at the tree. The bony fingers grabbed the tree branch and using their master's momentum from the jump managed to swing from the branch and send him soaring completely vertical into the sky behind and above the shocked Twili scout.
They watched in horror from the scout's perceptive as the man raised his staff into the air and hurled it at the Twili. The staff pierced through his right breast and the sheer force of the impact sent the Twili flying towards the other three. The staff impaled itself into the ground trapping the scout with it. The shirtless man landed on the tree branch, then with cat-like agility and speed vaulted from the branch, landed, and sped towards the mortally wounded scout.
The other three watched him has he removed his staff from the scout's body. An ear-jarring scream exploded through the chamber from the recording, and everybody inside the chamber winced and tore their gaze away from the recording in shock and horror. Only Minda had the perseverance to watch through that part. When the screaming finally stopped the only sound in the chamber was the coughing and crying of the scout.
The shirtless Twili picked up the Twili and dragged him over to his comrades would regarded the spectacle with blank expressions. When the two reached the others the man dumped the dying man onto ground and rejoined his fellow warriors. Suddenly the scout was levitated into a standing position. When he was fully erect, the blooded Twili was staring into the face of Twili with the arm-eye. A grimace look appeared across his face as he looked the scout over, "My, my", he began; his voice rich and smooth but with a hint of malice, "It looks like we have been discovered". He chuckled to himself at his own joke and turned around to face the Twili with the staff.
"Well done Quell, your skills have greatly improved, though I much rather have you not mortally wound those I said only to capture and bring to me." Quell shrugged as if to say, "Hey, atleast he is still alive." The other male sighed and turned back around to the barely breathing scout. "I'm deciding whether or not to let you live, hmm…rather tough choice considering you are a scout for the Royal Twili Army." He paused thoughtfully and looked up towards the sky.
'Alexica my dear, what do you think, should we let him live or kill him?" The red-haired female, or Alexica, did not response at first as she walked over towards the scout. She stopped infront of him and frowned, looking somewhat upset at the condition the scout was in. She began, "In my opinion I find unnecessary killing distasteful but, it appears to me that we could send a message to the to our dear monarch. But that is merely my humble opinion, the decision is yours alone Gaust." Gaust turned and smiled at her, his expression softening "Your opinion is always welcomed my sweet Alexica." Alexica merely scoffed at his remark, but a faint blush covered her cheeks as she looked away.
Gaust turned back and looked at the scout and smiled, "I decided to let you live…only so that you could bring back a message to Princess Minda. Tell her that the winds of change are approaching, that a new ruler who has been blessed by the Shadow Goddess will take the throne and carve a new glorious path for Twili is coming." Gaust put a hand across the wound on the scout's chest and begun to mend it, though he did not completely heal the Twili the wound stopped bleeding profusely and had been closed half-way.
He dropped the Twili to the ground, who barely managed to land on his feet. The scout looked up toward the eye-armed Twili, who smiled and begun to laugh hysterically up towards the sky. The royal scout did the only thing he could do, he ran, he ran as fast as his legs could take it, the horrible laughter plagued the backround…and with that the recording ended, unfortunately the laughter had been etched into everyone's mind…
I'm so sorry for not updating in such a long time, I know that you all hate me by no, I'm so very sorry for that and another cliffhanger. This would have just been way too long for just one chapter. I already reached the max amount of pages for each chapter (8). So, please R&R and tell me what you think.