Chapter 5: The Quest Begins
Ralph had enjoyed his two free nights at the inn, and considering he spent money on food, he had about enough rupees to pay for two more nights. His past few days in Kakariko he spent questioning the soldier at Death Mountain trail about the Gorons, and other things in Hyrule. "Do you understand it now kid?" The guard asked annoyed. "I think so. If I'm not mistaken the Hylians tried to take the mountain from the Gorons in order to mine for materials, but the Gorons proved too strong and defeated the Hylians. The Gorons, angered by the invasion of their mountain led a march on Central Hyrule, but where devastated by the Hylian's catapults. Correct?" "That's about right." The guard replied. Ralph began to ponder. "Gorons… Hylians… Hyrule… Will I ever see Tenno County again?" He thought to himself. He didn't have much back home, but it was still home. He didn't mind drifting around Hyrule, in fact he sort of enjoyed it. But some things are irreplaceable, like his two friends, Kiko and Ron. "Kiko is probably worried sick about me." He thought to himself. A smile draped across his face as he began to reminisce the priceless moments he'd had with his two best friends. His thoughts where interrupted when he felt a jolt, followed by a radiating pain in his head. Ralph fell over on his side, fading in and out of consciousness.
Ralph's sight shifted back and forth from sight and darkness, but he could make out the soldier fighting back an agile warrior wielding a dagger. His vision faded, and when it came back the soldier was still fighting, but his helmet had been knocked off, and his breast plate was laid on the ground, each strap sliced in half. Ralph's vision faded once more, but this time when it returned there was no trace of the warrior with the dagger. The guard lied on his back next to Ralph, a mist of red spraying from his throat. The town's people gathered around and helped Ralph to his feet. "Who would've thought someone would murder gatekeeper Giriko in cold blood." One villager said. "You!" " Blonde child!" "What happened here?" yelled a few villagers. Ralph hesitated to answer, he was still pretty shaken up after watching Giriko die. Ralph had never witnessed the death of another person first hand before. He spoke finally. "The last thing I remember is… I was talking to him, and someone hit me from my blind spot. After that I faintly remember watching him battle a man with a dagger, but that's all." There was a long silence before Anju suddenly broke it. "I believe him!" She cried aloud. By the looks of things, so did everyone else. There were murmurs in the crowd, "So that's who that strange visitor was." One villager said to another. "Look! The gate to Death Mountain is open!" Cried Muttoh. Panic quickly ensued the village, "This could start another civil war!" People shouted. Ralph could tell this was a big deal. The man who had slain Giriko was acting as a spark to ignite an entire country, and Ralph was not going to stand idly by as it happened.
A few hours passed and Ralph had made up his mind. He was going to travel up the Death Mountain trail and see if he could stop the dagger wielding killer from enraging the Goron people. The villagers of Kakariko lent Ralph some leather armor for his journey up the mountain, though they all saw him as a child, they hoped he would be able to convince the Gorons out of a civil war as an adult human could be considered a threat. They wished him luck on his journey, for Ralph was possibly the last hope in preventing another civil war. He was ready to take the trail, equipped with weak leather armor, a gourd of water, and his nunchuks, he set out up the mountain base leaving the village that had shown him hospitality behind. After about an hour up the mountain, he stopped to catch his breath and sip some water. The trail had gone from a dusty brown colored slope to a sharp grey rocky surface in the time he'd been hiking, so he decided to take another short rest on a flatter part of the mountain. He was being mindful to conserve his water when heard a scratching sound coming from the wall above him. Ralph dived out of the way just before a bright red, four legged armored creature with sharp spines for feet and one bulging eye dropped down onto where he was resting. The creature pounced at Ralph, but not before he could kick his long legs in front of him, safely sliding under the creatures spire like feet. He noticed one thing straight away, the creature could not turn very quickly, so he ran in a circle around the spider-like beast and bashed its eye with his nunchuks whenever it tried to target him. After four cleanly landed strikes, the beast's eye fell out of its socket and exploded at Ralph's feet. The creature oozed slime from it now exposed socket before its legs crumpled up and it died. Just when Ralph thought he could rest, the scratching sound started again. Up on the ridge were more of those four legged creatures, Ralph sprinted back to the trail until he could no longer hear the scratching coming from the ridge. He caught his breathe for a moment and continued hiking up the mountain.
The sun was setting over the mountain, and the trail was becoming harder to see. A dark sky with the grey contrast of the mountain trail loomed, and Ralph just hoped he would be somewhere hospitable soon. As he kept on his path something caught his ear, and out of the corner of his eye he could see a figure near the left wall. When he got closer to it, he realized it was a man trapped under a cluster of boulders. The haircut confirmed it, this was the dagger wielding murderer who planned on igniting a war between the Hylians and Gorons. Ralph approached him carefully, his mouth leaking a puddle of blood. "Hey kid…" He coughed, "Didn't think I'd be seeing you up here." Ralph was confused. "What happened to you?" He asked. "Landslide… I was caught right under it. I think it might've crushed my rib cage." The man replied. Ralph looked at the guy trapped beneath the boulders, he almost felt sorry for him. Ralph remembered his purpose for being there in the first place and his sense of curiosity seemed to come in handy. "Why are you traveling up Death Mountain!? Why do you want to start another war between the Hylians and the Gorons? What are you trying to accomplish!?" Ralph was enraged, every time he asked the man under the boulders a question, the images of Giriko flowed back into his mind. "… Why? Why did you kill ?" There was a long silence, only broken every now and then by the gurgling blood filled coughs of the man under the rocks. "Well kid, lemme ask you this. Do you have anything you believe in?" Ralph was too lazy to think, "I'm the one asking the questions!" Ralph said, voice breaking as he tried to sound intimidating. He knew it wasn't working, this man was a well-trained killer and he was just an angry kid. (In everyone else's eyes at least) The man coughed some more, his voice becoming wheezy. "Alright kid, my point is… My father's… father suffered greatly during the Goron/Hylian war. Vengeance was my father's sole purpose in raising me. I can only call myself his son when I devote my life to the justice my forefathers deserve. The Gorons… must pay!" Ralph almost wanted to cry. "Such a sorry existence don't you think? You wasted your whole life trying to be what you think your forefathers wanted of you and look where you are now." The man gurgled a laugh, blood was slowly filling his lungs. "Well, I'm not gonna make it. I planned to give this to the man who defeated me in combat, but you'll have to do. Come here… accept my last dying wish." Ralph didn't buy it, but he figured the guy was too weak to harm him. He crawled closer to the landslide. That's when he noticed the one arm that wasn't trapped under the boulder. Before he could react, a curved dagger pierced his abdomen. He felt a sensation like electric butterflies in his stomach, he blanked out, and when he awoke, a bright aura-like glow was fading around him. The wound on his stomach closed as he looked down at it. "Sorry about that kid, didn't mean to scare you." The man trapped under the rocks said. "What the hell did you do to me?!" Ralph asked, nervousness in his voice. "I gave you my gift… It's the gift from the Great Fairy of The Combat Arts. This gift has granted me the power to deflect attacks from the heaviest of weapons… use it wisely." The man laughed as life faded from his body. "Those ears suit you kid." His neck went limp, and his eyes closed, leaving Ralph alone and confused on the dark mountain trail. Even though Ralph considered the man his enemy, he would've rather had company instead of being alone on the dark and dangerous mountain trail. He walked away from the corpse under the rubble and continued on his journey, he scratched his head before jumping in shock. "What the hell is going on with my ears!" He said to himself aloud. His ears where pointy like a Hylians. They would still be considered small, but that's not what worried him. He kept hiking while wondering what the hell was going on with his ears. It served as a good distraction from the creepiness of the dark trail. The night was quiet as Ralph walked all alone up the ever steepening trail.