OH MAI! ANOTHER EARLY CHAPTER?! WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH ME?! So I probably will go back to doing once a week updates. Official days being Saturdays of course. Depending on how fast I loose these chapters you might get early updates. You see, I have this nasty habit then when I do write chapters out, I can't let them wait because it drives me nuts and I always think I'll forget about them. D: So always assume chapters will come out on Saturdays, but be pleasantly surprised when they don't. XD
Legend of Zelda 4 Life: Yay! I'm glad I made it creepy. I'm kind of obsessed with creepy. 8D And to answer your review from Chap 16, yes, those are who the necromancers are. What can I say, they're my favorites. XD
Sere: Yessssss, Vaati reference. He may not be in the story, but hell he will have at least that ONE reference in the story! XD
Vega flinched every time Link snored. He could understand the mortal expression of "sawing logs" now. He didn't quite understand why in the forest, in the few days that Link was human there, there was no snoring. Perhaps it had to do with the level of comfort? If that was the case then he certainly wished that the bedding consisted only of a forest floor then. He was hoping to get at least a little sleep before he made his escape attempt but this, added to the fact that sleeping at night was still difficult for him, made it virtually impossible. He was irritated, but he was just glad he could still sense Zelda being calm enough in her sleep - restless sleep which was probably his fault, but all that mattered was that she remain asleep.
Carefully, he slipped out of his bed and quietly put on his boots. He glanced back ever so slightly just to make sure that Link was still snoring away. The page was still undisturbed so he slid off the bed, wincing slightly at the creak the floorboards made. The page kept up his horrible snoring so Vega continued by walking slowly to the door. The star paused and then turned around a bit and took some rupees from Link pouch, then resumed his way back to the door. He let out a silent sigh of relief, turned the handle of the door and pushed it open.
"Where are you going?" Link asked groggily.
The star froze and then turned slowly. "I'm going to get a glass of water." He said blankly.
The page's eyes were half closed and groggy, saying he was still mostly asleep. It took him a few seconds to register the words before he said, "Oh… okay…" And then he fell back onto his pillow and continued to snore the night away.
This time, the star didn't silence his sigh. He left the room and closed the door, feeling strangely guilty for lying to Link like that. He caught himself and shuddered with a grimace. Damn that girl… he thought.
Still feeling slightly disturbed, he put up his hood and stuffed his hair back inside of it again. He walked quietly past Zelda's room and then sped up. Making it to the counter, where a different worker was now standing, a man, he gave him a red rupee and said, "I came here with two others: a kid with a collar and a girl in blue robes. If either asks about me, you didn't see me."
The man eagerly nodded and pocketed the rupee. Satisfied, Vega walked out of the inn. All he had to do now was find a skilled wizard or some such. He walked away from the inn, just to be careful, before pausing and closing his eyes. He let his sense wander.
There were quite a few masses of magical energy around. He ignored the uncontrolled massive magic-focus at the inn, for that was Zelda. There was another feeling of magic at the castle, two to be exact, but he didn't like them. The first was weaker, and seriously would not do. The second sent shivers down his spine. It was extremely powerful, that was true, but it was just so damned unsettling he refused to get anywhere near it. Something about it just frightened him to no end. And the more he lingered on that sense, the more he felt like throwing up. That second one was just… just pure evil… He could sense the malice like it was right in front of him. He quickly tore his senses away from it and desperately sought others.
There were several others throughout the area, and he was glad to find them. They were extremely weak, but anything was better than sensing that other presence…
Then his senses sent him a slap in the face. Two, two, senses of great magic. They weren't as powerful as the evil magic from before, but reasonably powerful and, unlike Zelda, controlled. But something about these senses also sent shivers up his spine. They weren't evil… but something about this kind of magic seemed perverse. But right now they were his only hope for potentially being one soul again. He honed in on the creepy senses and twitched his nose in irritation. It was such an unfamiliar magic that he could only place the general area but not the exact place, not that he would know that, either, since the town was so unfamiliar to him.
Well, wherever it was, it was somewhere to the east, perhaps on the outskirts of the town.
Vega frowned.
He really wished he had a map or something.
"Now why's a man wandering around while wearing a hood in the middle of the night?"
The voice was feminine and purring. He glanced back, more wondering who he was going glare at than curiosity. The star ended up being slightly startled at what he saw. He had noticed early on in his arrival onto the earth that most of the population of Hyrule was fair-skinned and light eyed. This woman on the other hand was much different. She was bronze-skinned with an angular yet still feminine face. Her hair was also a flaming red and her eyes were a dark gold that seemed to gleam just like a cat's. She also wore a cloak of a different pattern than he'd seen normal Hylians wear… a desert pattern perhaps? He couldn't help but note a strange angle inside of the cloak, no doubt a blade.
"So?" She asked again, "Are you going to answer or not?" She didn't sound threatening but she did seem genuinely interested.
He mulled it over for a moment and studied the woman again, this time with his senses. The hooded star frowned. She seemed to have little to no magic in her, but there was magic around her… of the evil variety that made him want to empty his bowels. "I don't particularly care to answer."
"You wound me, stranger." She replied with mock sorrow. "But perhaps you would tell me what you're doing out this late at night?"
"I would ask you the same."
She laughed; it was a lovely laugh that was truly amused. "A clever, mysterious man. Fine, I'll leave your business alone." The stranger told him. She then turned and began to walk off.
"Then why even speak to me in the first place?" He asked curiously.
She paused and glanced back at him. "You seemed interesting is all. Anything else you'd like to ask?"
"Well, since you've asked…" he started, "What's the place furthest east of this town?"
She gave him a small smile. "You make yourself more mysterious, stranger. That's the graveyard."
Vega nodded. "Thank you."
The woman inclined her head back and then continued on her way.
The star wasn't sure whether or not to be disturbed by the fact that the strange and creepy magic was at a graveyard. Nonetheless, he didn't really have any choice. If those two people could right the wrong that the stupid little witch had thrown upon them, he'd take it.
He followed the signs through the maze of a Town. He had no idea one place could cramp so many buildings together. The smell told him otherwise, but he tried to block it out for the most part. That creature from the forest had breath far more foul so there was no reason to be disgusted by the smell. After all, compared to the last town he'd been in, this place was absolutely pristine with its lack of above ground sewage. He wondered how they maintained sewage tunnels beneath the ground and aqueducts… he just wished that people actually through all their waste into the sewage pipes provided.
As the buildings thinned and became more spaced apart, Vega began to feel the chilly magic of the two people he had sensed. At that point, he abandoned using the signs as his guides and went straight to his senses.
It wasn't long before he found creaky, half-open, black metal gates. He sidled through the gates, as to avoid opening them anymore and causing them to squeak. As soon as he was past he looked of the magic casters he sought.
The graveyard was larger than Vega thought, but then again there was a sizeable Town just ten steps away. There were great stone tablets jutting out of the ground everywhere out of very green grass. Well, the grass did have reasonably good fertilizer. Near some of the stones were dying flowers from those who had come to see lost loved ones earlier during the day, others had lanterns sitting by the tablets, and a small amount of the graves in sight were fresh with the dirt still up in small mounds. And then there were the very old graves, where the tablets before them had faded and names and inscriptions could not be read. All the way towards the back was a separately gated section, no doubt where the royalty were commemorated (for royalty was cremated, from what he had heard) and the nobility was buried. As far as the star could see, he saw no magic casters.
But he certainly felt them and he did put two and two together. The silvertop had to wonder how wise it was to put his fate in the hands of necromancers…
He shuddered, feeling the icy chill of their magic near him. Glancing to the side, he finally saw them. Two tall figures of similar height in sandy cloaks. They were facing him.
Vega pushed back any second thoughts he had and stepped up. He opened his mouth to speak but the slightly taller of the two raised a hand in a "stop" gesture.
"I see what is wrong with you, denizen of the sky." Said the slightly taller of the two.
His own hood was still up. The star did not want to know how the necromancer knew what he was. "Can you fix it?"
They remained silent for a moment and the first one spoke again. "Not completely. To fully undo it would require the presence of your current other half. Even then I do not think I could fully undo it."
He frowned. That wasn't good. He couldn't do that, that was for sure. "What can you do, then?"
"Weaken the bond, untie some of the knots. That's all. It might unravel given time but it is doubtful."
Suppressing a grumble, the star then began to give a thought as to why this necromancer seemed to be so happy to help. "What do you want in return?"
"Nothing really. Two souls should not be bonded together. We may be necromancers but that does not make all of us evil. I've seen bonded souls – dead bonded souls. It is not something that is… enjoyable… to see or deal with."
"No rest for the wicked." Vega commented, "How will I know you won't bind my currently dog's dinner of a soul to your will."
"I swear on my magic as a wizard and necromancer not to do so."
A nudge from the master necromancer to the apprentice necromancer and the apprentice said, "Same here…"
"So you will help?" Vega asked
The hood of the master necromancer twitched lightly in a nod. "But be warned: it will be painful."
"I won't whinge about it so long as you can get at least some of my problem sorted." Replied Vega plainly.
"Very well."
Zelda awoke to a great pain inside of her. It was piercing, blinding, absolutely terrible pain. She screamed and flailed in her bed, feeling tears sting at her eyes. She fell off of the bed, but the pain surging through her was so great she hadn't felt it. She scratched at her face and convulsed violently. Why was she in so much pain? And why wouldn't it stop? She heard someone yelling, but she wasn't sure if it was herself or someone else. All she felt was pain, such unbearable pain… It was as if something was being torn from the deepest recesses of her mind and body. Pain that made her just want to end it all…
And then it stopped.
She kept screaming for a moment after the pain stopped before running out of breath. She crawled onto all fours and anted heavily as she stared at the wooden floor.
"Zelda!" Link cried, kneeling down by her. He made a move as if to help her but he hesitated, as if he was afraid she'd bite. "Zelda, are… are you okay?"
The witch kept her gaze on the floor for a moment, still wondering about the strange, unbearable pain she had suffered from just a few moments earlier. For some reason, she felt terribly alone… but not quite. A thought crossed her mind. "Where's Vega?"
The page looked at her with a puzzled expression and then it dawned on him as well. They both scrambled up and ran to the other room. Vega was gone.
"He… He left…" Zelda said in barely a whisper. "Something must've happened to him…"
"Is he dead?" Link asked.
"No… if he was then I would be dead too… But he was in such terrible pain…"
"Crap, I should've known…" Link muttered. "He was wearing his boots and all…"
The witch looked at the page strangely. "What?" Link relayed the story to her from earlier that night and she remained quiet, with a pensive look on her face. After a moment she cried, "That idiot! He's going to get himself killed or worse! We need to find him, put on your boots!"
She rushed back to her own room and grabbed her own pair of boots, slipping them on quickly and sloppily. Link came rushing in a few minutes later.
"How will we know where to go?" He asked, hoping she wouldn't turn him back into a wolf.
Perhaps guessing that thought Zelda said, "I might be able to track him by our soul."
She closed her eyes and concentrated. She frowned.
"What is it?"
"Something… Well… it's not wrong… it's more as it should be actually…" Said the witch in a slightly confused tone. "We're still connected… but not as much as before. It's as if we've become more separate again, but are still one soul-" Her eyes shot open and a look of shock and horror came upon her expression. "He's escaped…"
"Huh?"
She looked at him, expression remaining the same. "He's escaped. He's weakened our bond so he can get further away from me… So I'll have a hard time being able to track him…"
Link cursed. Loudly. "We were so close!"
"We have to find him before he leaves!" She said. She shut her eyes again and concentrated. "East! I don't know where exactly but he's in the eastern part of town!"
They rushed out of the inn, Link taking his sword and shield just in case. Zelda felt very confused since she still couldn't focus completely on Vega. It was true she wanted to be two separate souls again… but she never realized how important the binding spell was until that moment. The gravity of how much they needed Vega was resurfacing and they needed to find him… but the weakening of their bond was troubling her. He was planning to leave but how far could he go from her exactly? And how did he weaken the bond? To say she was getting frustrated at the moment was an understatement.
Link, however, paused for a moment and looked back.
"What are you stopping for?!" The witch asked him angrily.
The page cocked his head at the person they had just run past. He seemed so familiar… He was a ranger, but his hair was short and dark. "Nothing… I just could've sworn that guy was Vega for a moment… Let's go!" And they both continued off on their search.
The ranger they had passed turned a bit, smiling at the two that had run past. Amazing what a haircut and little appearance changing magic could do. Vega twirled his significantly shorter, now blackened hair in his fingers. He couldn't say he was crazy about the haircut, but anything to get away from those idiots. The best part was, appearance changing magic was such a simple task that most magicians couldn't even sense it unless they actually took the time to look for it.
The disguised star chuckled to himself and then went back onto his way. So happy was he, he jumped up and clapped his boots together while in the air.
"Well, well, the man's got his hood down."
It was the desert woman before, he cat-like eyes gleaming at him. This time he smiled when he saw her.
"Miss, it seems to have occurred to me that you are Gerudo." Vega told her.
She gave him an enigmatic smile. "Yes… what of it?" While she didn't look it, her tone of voice seemed slightly threatening.
"Oh, it's nothing against your race, lady. I was just wondering… would you be going back to your desert any time soon?" He asked, putting all his respect and manners into that sentence.
The woman forked an eyebrow. "Perhaps… if you are hoping to join me, the Gerudo do not look nicely on men."
"You don't realize how much I need to get out of here." Vega said, changing his tone from polite to flat.
Her eyes glittered and she smiled again. "You might useful then… Fine then, stranger." She walked up to him and held out her hand. "My name's Nabooru."
He took her hand and they shook. "Rigel." Said the star. Giving his real name wouldn't be the best of ideas.
"Traveling by night is best for the Gerudo. We're not exactly welcome here… You wouldn't mind leaving now, would you?"
"The sooner the better." Answered the star.
"Then let's be off, Rigel."
I CUT OFF HIS HAIR!!! I'm very upset about that. I really liked Vega's hair. Fun fact that no one probably cares about but Rigel was the name he used throughout most of his original story.