VOLUME II: The Revenge Of The Forsaken
)) Chapter 5: The Melancholy In The Darkness ((
Towards Ikana Valley, Termina Field 9:30pm, First Day
Despite his sense of hurry towards the goal given by the Giants, Ankoku could not help but remain in awe at admiring Termina's fields at night. They looked quite different from the Surface he had the honor to walk on that very afternoon, having a grass of a slightly darker hue and seeming mostly encircled by mountains. In his moment of mesmerism, he was nearly trampled over a slim figure running like crazy, yelling something about the Skyloftian being in the way of his schedule. Luckily, Dodo saved his owner's life by tugging him away with his beak, causing him to yelp a bit as he fell on his back. Luckily after all the time he had ended up hurting himself while catching Keaton, he had learnt to ignore the pain, so he quickly dusted himself.
"Bravo,my Dodo, bravo", Ankoku complimented the Loftwing which was rolling his eyes at the side, yet both of them got quickly distracted when they saw the entrance towards what seemed to be a barren valley, a place which looked as cold as the stone it was made of… and yet this was not what had made the youth's eyes widen in surprise and his hands uncontrollably sweat: there seemed to be a giant, immense tower over there, a building which seemed to be even dwarfing the Giants, or the whole Clock Town itself. It was by far the biggest and most imposing building he had ever seen. Not even the huge temples he had glimpsed through the pictures of his books could hold a candle onto it.
'Is this' – Ankoku wondered, getting more nervous for some reason he could not point out, a sensation shared by his steed – 'a stronghold to last through the ages or … something worse? It does not even seem to be built by human hands'
"… Ikana Valley?", he wondered aloud seeing this new land. An answer was given as the shadows moved out of a sign with an arrow where was the confirmation he had taken the correct path. At first confused due to the unnatural shape of the shadows, Ankoku shook his head and decided to continue his journey towards the mysterious land and the giant building at its end.
After a few steps, he could not help but feel chills crawling on his back, making his knees shake and fall on the ground, Dodo immediately rushing after him. As the Skyloftian's mind struggled to take back the control of his body, he figured out what was happening. This behavior was not caused by anxiety, it was sorcery. As he finally triumphed over the enchantment, both heand Dodo turned at an hollow sound of clapping from a small creature, not over four feet and a half in height, barely covered by a black shirt with short sleeves and dark short pants, a black and (weirdly enough) pink-striped hat which hid the upper part of his face. Add the clawed hands which were resting upon a belt with what seemed to be strapped a sheathed sword in, the pitch back skin of a weird consistence and the occasional flares of a blue colored aura through his body, and Ankoku could immediately figure it was a demon what was standing atop that cliff.
"Took you a while to get back on your feet after a low level spell", he sardonically spat with an echoing voice and flashing a smile full of sharp fangs, making Ankoku widen his eyes in surprise.
"Not a word to say?" – the imp continued as he looked amused – "or has the spell muted you?"
"Actually, I do have quite a few question to ask" – Ankoku interjected all of sudden, letting words flowing due to the panic surging through his body – "first of all, please, do allow me to present myself . My name is Ankoku Yami, son of Kage Yami and Shini Goroshi, from Skyloft, who has somehow ended up due to a series of misadventures ended up here on Ikana Valley. With whom do I have the honor to speak to exactly?"
At this the imp did not react, using all the willpower possible not to blink, yet inwardly wished his new interlocutor would have rather been mute. He glanced first at both a sides, then his crimson eyes got right back staring at the young boy, then at his Loftwing, and got a wicked idea.
"Just the messenger of the Garos" - the imp stated, knowing the kid would have frowned at such statement, giving him enough time to take his ocarina – "and I was tasked to deliver you an important message, Sky Child"
Ankoku looked up more curious, remembering what Tingle and the Giants had told him of the Garos, and he could not help but feel wary of what the curious individual was saying. It was as if a sensation coming from the darkest corner of his mind twas telling him to get out of there immediately. Alas, Ankoku was still unharmed, with the exception of the Deku Stick he had picked up back at Faron's Woods, he was not prepared for a serious fight in case.
"I would love to, but alas, I have little time and bigger matters bid me to hurry. Might we try for another time?", the Skyloftian answered as an excuse to avoid to linger for too long with the mysterious individual and to get away with Dodo, but as he spoke, the imp had already started playing a slow and melancholic melody which would have fit in a funeral.
Before the youngling could leave, he saw a faint glow behind the imp, from where something faded in, as if invoked: a weird statue of a dark grey color, similar to a distorted and deformed version of its invoker, with longer and thinner limbs, a bulkier physique and a misshapen face with blank eyes and even worse, such nightmarish figure was quickly followed by two other copies.
The imp concluded this arcane magic, which ancient beings could recognize as the long time forgotten Elegy of Emptiness, generating strings of darkness which got attached to the statues, making them move like puppets as dark energy flew through them.
The Skyloftian, understanding what kind of trap he had fallen on, ignored his survival instincts and cried at his Loftwing in fear: "Run Dodo, run"
Before the child of Hylia's could escape, the puppets had surrounded him and one with a sneak attack pinned him to the ground. The Loftwing, afraid, was about to panic and escape once more, but his flight was immediately interrupted by four Garos, hooded figures hopping out of the sands and quickly wrapping ropes around his legs, quickly subjugating him and holding him by several vital zones with their blades, their blank glowing eyes piercing through the bird's stare with their dark intents.
The imp smirked at this, flashing his sharp teeth again. The puppets were doing a good job in holding the Skyloftian back, beating him as he was down, and soon they were likely to finish the job with him soon. For the Loftwing, he had other projects: it was rare to find the birds so closely tied to the Goddess in a world like Termina. Finding one was a bless, as the imp's own steed, his Helmaroc Queen, had always a soft spot for snacking on them… of course, not without playing with them first. Seeing his job to deal with the possible intruder was done, he turned his back at Ankoku, showing he had tied to his back a crescent moon shaped slab of a weird sleek metal and used a magic to quickly fade into darkness, soon followed by the hooded warriors who, making a small vortex, sank into the ground of the Valley taking Dodo with them.
Ankoku in shock tried to call back his Loftwing in fear, but as soon he opened his mouth, one of the puppets stomped his face further on the ground, the other two pinning their wrist with their feet, their deformed grins somehow widening.
They were not just ganging up on him. No, they were outright torturing him for their master's glee, to the point of ignoring any possible outside inference. And yet, no matter how uneven was the fight, Ankoku seemed to refuse to quit struggling. No matter how many kicks, scratches, he was not going to let them have it their way quickly. And such determination paid off, as all of sudden, the three puppet froze solid, held for a split second by magical forced which contrasted the imp, enough for Ankoku to slip out of their grasp and try to fight back. One jumped on him but the Skyloftian, using the teaching he was given by the class Academy, quickly flipped him over, damaging it as it crashed on the rocky ground. The young man smirked at discovering his opponents' lack of resilience, yet did not expect all of sudden an almost inhuman grunt and a figure to jump to destroy the puppets barehanded in an apparent brute rage. Even Aria was surprised, intrigued by the presence she quickly recognized.
It was incredibly quick and swift, but the first thing the grey-skinned giant did was to crush with his large armored boot one of the animated statues and then catch the other by the shoulder and rip it apart with his hands.
As he turned at Sky Child, facing him with his visage covered by the typical Ikanian helmet, he was met by a scared whimper of: "Please, we can negotiate"
The hulking grey skinned individual, adjusting his clothing and drapes of armors he could wear despite his immense size, looked down at him, nodded and spoke in a perfectly gentle and civil tone, which was a clear sign of being a more than honored captain for the Ikana Army: "Sure enough, little one"
This only confused more the Skyloftian which said: "Uh… that's it?"
The towering humanoid shrugged and nodded, answering: "Of course. I have no reason to fight against an innocent victim of the Garo Regime"
At this, the shorter boy tilted his head as he repeated the two last words puzzlingly: "Garo… Regime?"
"'Course" – the Ikanian Captain stated lifting the least broken puppet, his voice breaking into disgust – "I can recognize the stench of those cowards from everywhere. I, Captain Keeta of the Ikanian Army, have sworn loyalty to my King to take down them all"
Ankoku smiled at seeing the giant was on his side and bowed down politely greeting him: "My humblest greetings, noble Captain Keeta, my name is Ankoku Yami, son of Kage Yami and Shini Goroshi from Skyloft…"
As the officer looked at him confused by the excessive etiquette, Ankoku got up and pointed out: "… a land afar from this one. I am honored to cross path with you. Alas, we are fellow of misadventure, for, as you saw, have fallen victim under the atrocities of the Garo Regime, who have just kidnapped a dear friend of mine"
Captain Keeta nodded empathically at the Sky Child's misfortune, patting his shoulder with an hand nearly as big has the Hylian's chest, and looked at the giant tower far in the Ikana Valley: "I hate to break bad news, but I fear it's too late for your friend"
At this the dark haired youth yelped in fear and quipped back, rubbing his neck in embarrassment and getting a bit nervous about the news and his interlocutor's attitude: "Please, sir, do not say such. I am quite sure there must be a way out for him"
"Listen boy" – the Ikanan cut the idealistic boy off – "if he were really kidnapped by Garos, then he was brought there, to the Great Stone Tower"
From the way Keeta spoke of that place, it seemed as if he thought of that building as an impenetrable stronghold. And to Ikanians, it was true. No matter how many assaults Igos du Ikana had directed, he had always failed to break in the fortress. Only Garos came back alive from that place… and very little came back at all.
Ankoku looked at the place and naively said: "I suppose then…. That I should go there to get my steed back?"
Keeta sighed at such statement, thinking to himself the child was simply too clueless to know what kind of foolishness he had spoken about, but decided to further discuss with him just in case. He had been lucky to have found a Garo target alive and looked at the now unmoving statues, not leaking anymore dark magic.
"Have you met the creator of those puppets?", the officer asked the Skyloftian curiously playing a bit with the puppet before throwing it away and making it crash to pieces. Of course, he knew already of the imp, but he wished to have more information from an outsider, hoping he had somehow slipped something about the Garos' plan.
"Of course I spotted the imp who refers as himself as messenger of the Garos. He tried to lull me in a fake sense of security and then he sent out a mass attack. It was weird. He seemed to have both a sword and a moon-shaped shield on his back, yet he did not bother to use them himself…", the Wind Child explained, only to be silenced by the Captain's booming voice.
"HE HAD WHAT?", the giant roared in rage stepping his foot so hard the ground around it cracked , realizing what the messenger had been up to all those days he had spend lurking around Ikana royal palace. In case Igos or other Ikanans knew what had happened, it would spread panic all over the Valley
Stunned by the sudden reaction of the previously gently individual, Ankoku repeated the sentence: "A sword and a …"
"… Moon… shaped Shield" – the Ikanan growled clenching his fist at realizing it was the heirloom of Ikanan royal family, the Moon Steel, his aura so enraged he made his interlocutor back a bit in surprise –"Blasted trickster. That Fang Boy went too far in his mockery!"
Ankoku blinked at this, a bit afraid of crossing the stare of the furious officer. Yet, if the giant were right, the Sky Child had rush immediately to save his Loftwing. He could not allow his first and only companion since he was seven to disappear into nothingness.
The young man clenched his fist, attempting to formulate a plan. He would have rushed at the moment to the Great Stone Tower, but there was something which refrained him: he had no weapon. What if he met other of those puppets, those hodded figures… or worse? Rubbing his neck and temples, gaining a curious look from Keeta, Ankoku formed a small plan in his mind, emphasized by a big grin.
"Forgive me for such boldness, Lord Captain Keeta of the Ikanan Army" – Ankoku said in a gentle bow – "I do understand that, for some reason, that shield does hold some kind of value to you. We both have a score to settle with the Garos. We might join forces to infiltrate through their stronghold"
Keeta snarled a bit at what he saw as a vain attempt of flattery and manipulation, although he realized that the young man had a point in his naïve babble, so he spoke the truth.
"Alas, young man" – the giant finally spoke with a serious and more distant voice – "my duty as a captain holds me back to take any kind of initiative about the Garo Regime unless I am ordered otherwise by my King, Igos du Ikana the First"
Although, as he realized placing his his on his squared chin in a thinking position, the boy could come in handy somehow. Maybe he was really that eager to help, and he really wanted to make the Garos pay for their ploy with that imp.
"… However, as you are not an Ikanan, I suppose you are outside my King's jurisdiction. I could give you a few things, if you want to reach that place so badly", the Captain finished resuming his gentler tone, making Ankoku cheer at knowing there was still hope of survival for Dodo
"It's dangerous to go alone" – Keeta continued taking something on his belt and handing it to the younger Hylian – "take this"
Ankoku made a broad smile as he got the Grappling Hook constituted by fine steel and a long rope. He quickly rolled the rope around his shoulder and bowed in a sign of gratitude. Of course, Keeta, not fully trusting the boy yet, was not going to give him any other tools: acting fool or not, Ankoku might have still been another Garo spy or even a pawn to their plans, he could not exclude such.
"I am deeply grateful for such. I will do my best to …", the young man beamed in happiness, only to realize that he still had to …
"… break through the defenses of the Great Stone Tower" - he concluded in shock, only to turn at the Captain and assure him he had everything under control bowing his head – "I will formulate quickly a plan, worry not"
The larger Ikanan, realizing the bluff, rolled his eyes and decided to take his leave by answering him: "I wish you good luck in attempting to reach your friend, Ankoku Yami. You will need it lots of it. Sorry for leaving you here, but I have to go back to the King"
The young boy lifted his head with a grin, he had formulated a plan, remembering he had been given a further task aside from exploring the Valley. It was hazardous, but there were lives on the lines, so he could not hesitate
"Forgive me for further pestering you, Captain Keeta, might I ask a last question?" - Ankoku brightly asked with a smile, continuing as soon as the officer nodded to dismiss him as soon as possible – "do you know where is the condo of the Map Maker Tingle?"
Tingle's House, Outskirts Ikana Valley, Termina Field 10:30pm, First Day
Thanks to the information of the kind officer who had parted ways with him, possibly to report to his sovereign, Ankoku had swiftly reached Tingle's house, remembering that the Map Maker had told him of his wife. Maybe, telling her what was going on, she could have given him some other objects. He knew that was impolite calling at this time, but his friend's survival had priority over etiquette.
When the door opened before, much to his surprise and widened eeys, what he found was a stunning looking tall short haired blonde, her hot pink dressing being only an hat reminiscent to her husband and a measly bikini. Ankoku blinked in surprise: how could that man… marry such a stunning woman? Swallowing his saliva, he stared speaking at the beauty.
"Is that you Mrs. … Pinkle?", the Skyloftian , hiding with both hands his blush, shyly asked at the woman who kindly nodded at him, answering at him in an incredibly sultry voice
"Yes?", she quipped, a bit surpirsed of being called in such time of the night.
"Well, Mrs. Pinkle, I have come here on your husband's behalf" – Ankoku answered showing her Tingle's pen and map – "He asked me to paint a map for him… of the area further the Ikana Valley"
As he pointed at the Stone Tower, the woman blinked in disbelief at knowing her beloved had asked someone else to make maps, so tapping her foot suspicious, asked the innocent buy: "Sure enough, but first… may I ask you two questions?"
Seeing Ankoku nodded, Pinkle made a luring smile, and speaking in her attractive voice, asked him: "First of all, how much has my beloved Tingle paid you and… has he said anything else to you?"
Ankoku, not seeing the mistrust in the woman's eyes, cheerfully answered, knowing the answers to both: "Tingle paid me nothing and he told me something to wish me good luck… what was it… oh yes"
Making a spin around a foot, he yelled out Tingle's magical words and made a dance to resemble the Map Maker's style: "Tingle, Tingle! Kooloo-Limpah! ...These are the magic words that Tingle created himself. Don't steal them!"
Sweat dropping at the excessive accuracy of the Skyloftian, and worried a bit about her quirks, Pinkle now fully believed the weirdly childish boy, although she didn't buy something yet.
"Excuse me then, where did you last see my beloved?", she asked him concerned. When Ankoku pointed at the west, she narrowed her eyes.
"Western Termina… the Great Bay … Now way he is going to look at those Pirates again" - she poisonously hissed cracking her knuckles, then turned at Ankoku and with a smile, now that he had fully gained his trust, continuing – "Thanks for having told me such, young man, you can use my hubby's balloon bag if you want to make this map. Good luck"
The youth smiled cheerfully as he got the Balloon Bag, knowing he had to treasure it to be sure to get as high as that towering stronghold, while Pinkle answered, still cracking her knuckles: "Now, if you don't mind… I am out to give my love a small talk about talking to Pirates… Barkle, let's go"
At her clapping, an immensely cute puppy, weirdly enough dressed up exactly like its owner Tingle, came out yipping joyfully at its master's wife, jumping at her to be taken in her arms and snuggle her. Ankoku was so surprised at its cuteness he dropped the bag and was about to reached out with his attempt in an attempt to pet it, and he could go as far to swear that his shadow had actually made contact with Barkle's.
However, the puppy's loyalty quickly reminded him of Dodo and his duty to rescue him, and quickly regained control of himself, picked the bag back and wore it on his shoulder.
"Good luck Mrs. Pinkle with finding your husband" – he told her with a bow – "Might the Goddess wish you the best"
The woman nodded and went away after closing the door with a key and waved an hand at the young man before disappearing in a rush. Amused by the quirks of what was the Map Maker's family, Ankoku rushed towards the tower which was his objective, read to get Dodo back with all means necessary, hoping that, once he trained enough with the grappling hook, everything would go smooth. How many more trials had to face before getting back at home?
'There I go… Garo Regime, prepare to face the determination of a child of Hylia's'
Surrounding of the Great Stone Tower, Termina Field 11:30pm, First Day
No matter how many times Ankoku had chances to look at the Great Stone Tower, no matter how much he had heard of its fame, yet getting closer and closer, the building really was immense, to the point he doubted that even the Giants could outsize it. The more he looked at the place, , the greater was the fear he could feel running his down his spine, almost freezing him. As if the immensity of that stronghold wasn't enough, even more unsettling was the way sometimes lights seemed to appear and disappear into the darkness of the surrounding place. Sometimes it was the glow of the eyes of a Garo, which still seemed quite dangerous in itself… but weirder was the occasional seeming flicker of lanterns, sometimes even looking to stay in mid hair. What could it be? The dread of the unknown was popping out in Ankoku's mind and the time of that seemingly cursed sky in the dark of the night meant that now there was not even a faint light from the star to guide him. He felt for a second alone and almost felt like a pat from... his shadow? No, he had no time to speculate over his panic-induced delirium.
Could an army manage to siege that place. Could a God triumph over its forces? The Sky Child could barely see his childhood hero winning, and even then not without a struggle. Swallowing some saliva and coming to his senses once more, he enacted his plan, and strapping the bag and activating the balloon, he elevated himself as much as possible to reach that place, hoping that, with the favor of the dark, the ninja would have not noticed him. Bolding nearing on the place using his hands to somehow 'swim' through air, he was relatively quickly found out and all he could see was a black dagger with a unique look and a weird circle at the end of the hilt which nearly hit the balloon, making the young man panicking and sped up. Luckily, as the second blade came up and successfully popped the ballon, Ankoku managed to latch on the edges of one of the protuberances jutting out of the walls of the Great Stone Tower.
Struggling to keep his cool, he waited for the Garo who had likely tried to kill him to stop his attacks, a thing which happened a few seconds later.
'Luckily, he must have thought I have died at the fall. Might not last for long', he thought as he took out his grappling hook and swinging it towards one of the upper ledges of the fortress. He got a stroke of luck as he realized he had grabbed something and pulled.
Much to his surprise, he discovered that he had accidentally roped and pulled down a Garo sentinel, likely the very one who had thrown him the daggers, he could not say for sure. Seeing his foe who had silently fallen in unconsciousness, in a spur of the weird moment, Ankoku glanced around to avoid being seen out of embarrassment as it could be seen by his cheeks reddening, forgetting he was risking his life to save his Loftwing for a fraction of a second
'Fie' – Ankoku swore in his mind, not noticing that a lantern had temporarily flashed at his side – 'how many are the odds to botch such a throw and grab a Garo by the ankle? Well, useless to drabble over such. Let's get back on the track'
Seeing what seemed to be an unlit bomb out of the ninja's clothing, Ankoku took it hoping it could come in handy later, and threw again the grappling hook, succeeding to latch and climb up the walls of the fortress on his first try.
Unknowingly to him, while he was reaching the upper area of the place, Aria in her shadow form ripped some pieces of clothing off the stunned sentinel, hoping she could create a mask or something similar Ankoku could use to better hide among those ninjas. With those bright colored clothing, after all, he easily stood out among the black hoods typical of the Garo garbs. She was not afraid yet, as she knew what that place was capable of, yet the child of Hylia's was clearly inexperienced and needed every possible kind of help.
So it was no coincidence that Ankoku found a Garo hood as he reached up the upper floor. Seizing the opportunity, he nodded it hoping he would have had not drawn any kind of suspicions among those deathly foes.
'Might I thank the Goddesses for such gift' he thought sitting down in the shadows, trying to gather up some energies he had worn out during the inevitable and unexpected length of his journey to the Surface and this new godless land called Termina. As he saw once more that flash of lantern, fear gave him a rush of adrenaline as he hid better, seeing soon the light disappear in the nothing, still with no idea though of what could possibly be. Alas, he had no time to ponder such: his focus was a more urgent matter.
Drawing a tensed sigh and rubbing the neck still without his loved scarf, he decided to venture further in the place, still looking for any clues about Dodo's whereabouts. He had hoped he would have heard some random squawking while climbing up the place, but no avail in such.
He knew he had to rush quickly, but was stopped as again those flickers of light appeared before him, finally giving an outline of a pair of ghastly figures which were holding them. But worse was coming. He could hear it.
The music… was filling the hall he was walking through. The elegy which the mysterious imp, whose only name Ankoku knew was 'Fang Boy', had played that first time they had met and that now, if Ankoku was not quick enough to fight back, would have been, along the sinister cackles echoing from afar, the music of his funeral.
SMALL TRIVIA: At first Ankoku was supposed to meet Igos du Ikana and Captain Keeta looking for the Moon Steel instead of 'Fang Boy', which would have been the first figure Ankoku would meet in the Stone Tower. But as I saw a bit weird that Dodo could walk across the Ikana Royal Palace, I decided to change the events the way you see.
DISCLAIMER:
The hystory of Zelda, Skyloft, Hyrule and Termina, alongside its characters and setting, just like its spin-offs are (c) Nintendo
Aria is (c) LuvIsAThing
The Moon Steel is (c) Kitoma Foxx
Ankoku Yami and the story are all (c) Xantospoc
Thanks you all for having read this fic, read and review please. See ya for the next chapter :)