K'ger: Well, I have to say that this chapter was a little harder to write than the others. I had a lot of trial and error with descriptions and such.
And omigosh! Never, ever let someone tell you that being good doesn't pay!
My dad just bought me a Wii U! The subject had come up because I was making plans to breed my rabbits a couple of times so that I could make enough cash to buy it. Well, he beat me to it, and kept saying that its a reward for "being a good kid". It is so totally awesome! I can't wait to get Hyrule Warriors!
Anyway, enough about me. I hope everyone enjoys this chapter, and really, this story all together, because I had the greatest plot idea! This story is gonna be EPIC if I pull it off right!
Watch Him Bleed
Hours past the mountain village, Link was led into the main room of what was called, "The Mountain Smithy."
It was a ramshackle house on the outside, with peeling gray paint on the walls and a decrepit porch, and the small stairs creaked precariously beneath his feet as he was drug inside.
The inside was not much better. Closest to him, there was a bench and a small table used for holding incidental items, and not much further ahead, a counter blocked the way, access to the rest of the room only available by ways of a squeaky, poorly hinged door.
It was dark in the room, there weren't any windows to let in any natural light. The only source was a huge hearth, inside which a fire burned, hungrily eating away at the wood that it was supplied with. He was quickly pushed through the door, into the opposite side of the room, and gasped as he bumped into something. He looked up, and found himself staring into the eyes of the largest man he had ever seen.
The man was easily larger than Ganondorf had ever been, excluding his demon form, with gray, cracking skin like granite, and black, soul-less eyes. Around his massive waist, the only clothing he wore was a thick leather belt, and tattered blue pants, frayed on the edges and ripped in several places.
"Puny man." The brute grunted, turning away and throwing another piece of wood on the fire, leaving him to stand there, unsure of what he was supposed to do. In the middle of the room, a huge black anvil stood, with a hammer, tongs and a handful of nails resting on top. Beside a tall stack of firewood, another door led further into the building, a sturdy iron lock preventing him from possible exploration. So he was stuck with the brute.
"Puny man work bellows." The brute grumped, pointing at the large, accordion-like device with a fat finger. He reluctantly walked over, and grasped the top end of the bellows with both hands, pushing down and stoking the fire.
The door to the outside opened again, and the man called Zepora entered, coming over to the counter and slamming a fist down on the hard wood surface.
"Gepora! No!" he growled, apparently indicating the brute of a man. "That one's not here to take the workload off of you, you giant blundering buffoon! He's here to help me with the project!"
The brute looked at Zepora with a blank expression.
"Project?"
"Oh for the love of-! Gepora-! You know what project!" Zepora yowled, coming through the door and startling Link when he grabbed him by the wrist.
"You're coming with me, boy." He reached into the pocket of his thin jacket, and produced a heavy bronze key, shoving it into the lock on the door and forcing it open. He shouldered his way through the door and dragged Link with him.
As he came into the next room, the sight before him was impossible to comprehend. He wrenched his wrist from the slightly smaller man's grip, and stood, frozen.
The room they had entered was huge, the ceilings were so high up it was almost hard to see them, and the hard stone floors stretched out before him, reminding him somewhat of the throne room at Hyrule Castle. Flickering torches illuminated the room, hanging in brackets that lined the walls. But it was what stood in the middle of the room that had startled him so.
It was a giant sculpture, or so he thought. Cast out of metal, and held together by metalworking and massive rivets, nuts and bolts. It was a bull. A giant metal bull, with horns that appeared almost to be made out of blades, like those of a sword, tips glinting wildly in the flickering torchlight.
Zepora strode out toward the sculpture, passing underneath the massive thing without a moments' hesitation. On the other side of the room, he could now see an open door, beyond which he could see the grassy field upon which the smithy stood. He followed the smaller man up to the statue, and stopped, craning his head back to look up at the metal bull's massive head.
"Boy! Come on! You're not here to stand and stare! Get over here!" He snapped, motioning angrily for him to come over to the door.
With an annoyed roll of his eyes, Link passed underneath the metal bull and coming to a stop a few feet away from the open door. The wagon had been parked there, just outside the door, the two old horses standing tiredly, still hitched.
"Get over here and help me unload this wagon boy!" Zepora commanded, pulling a large piece of metal from the wagon and dragging it into the building. "And once we're done, unhitch the horses and stable them."
He reached up, grabbing another piece of metal.
"Yeah, yeah, I hear you." He muttered, wincing as the metal hit the ground and sent a jarring tremor through his body. A smirk crossed his lips for the first time in days when the smaller man jerked his head around and shot him a warning glance.
Close to an hour, and several deep cuts later, a massive pile of bent, banged-up and rusting metal had amassed, piling up near the metal bull's hooves. He took a deep, tired breath, stretching his arms high above his head. His left shoulder made a quiet popping sound as the air that had started to gather in the joint was forced out, and accompanied a painful jerk in his tendons.
"Boy! Quit dawdling and go stable the horses! We aren't paying to the stand around!" Zepora commanded from the pile of metal, pulling out a smaller piece from the pile with one hand, and pointing out the door toward the horses with the other.
You aren't paying me at all. He corrected silently.
Just as he trudged out the door, Mistress Eshana passed him, striding toward Zepora with a purposeful glint in her otherwise soul-less sliver eyes. When she was near to him, she stopped, and looked up at the giant bull statue with an admiring stare.
"Is it almost done?" She asked, tone low and flat. Zepora gave a slight, confidant tilt to his head, a lopsided grin tugging at one corner of his mouth.
"Yes, Mistress. Should be ready tonight, provided the damn thing doesn't glitch up like last time." He answered, staring up at the bull with a devilish smile. Mistress Eshana laughed, the sound of it dripping with a mixture of excitement and pleasure and devious anticipation as she turned on her heel, whipping around and sauntering back out of the building…
The full moon was high in the sky when an upstairs window of the smithy swung shakily out into the chilly night air. Charise leaned out of the window, peering out at the field that spread out around the house.
A thin dusting of frost coated the emerald grass, giving it a lighter hue, and the full moon's light made the ice sparkle like the brightest diamonds.
Taking a breath, she turned around, and leaned out the window backwards, reaching up and grabbing the edge of the roof. She picked her feet up off the floor, and swung them up, bending her legs so that she was crouching on the windowsill.
She adjusted her grip on the roof, and then pulled, dragging herself up and scrabbling onto the roof. She walked across the roof, padding silently over the shingles until she reached the opposite side.
There, she sat down near the edge, bringing her knees up and wrapping her arms around them, hugging them close to her chest as she stared aimlessly out into the dark, navy blue night. The stars shone brightly in the sky, like crystals in a bed of blue velvet.
An intense, stinging ache slowly worked into her chest, gripping her heart and sending painful tremors through her whole body as if a knife had stabbed her through the chest. She let go of her knees, and fell back, lying flat on the roof. She panted lightly as the pain slowly began to wane, as quickly as it had come, and as she gripped the shingles beneath her, it became nothing more than a shuddering memory, just like all the other times.
As she lay there, eyes closed, and nearing sleep, a strange sound caught her attention. She sat up slowly, careful not to move too quickly or else risk another spasm, and crawled toward the edge. Gripping the edge of the roof firmly, she leaned over, and peered underneath, into her Aunt's workroom.
She had never been allowed inside the room, nor allowed even a glimpse of what lay inside, but tonight the giant doors had been opened, and she was given a clear view of the room.
She nearly lost her grip when her eyes came to focus, the bright torchlight temporarily blinding her. Her Aunt and the weird little man were standing at the hooves of an enormous metal statue of a bull. It was gargantuan, probably close to three stories tall at the massive humped shoulders.
Her Aunt and the man were talking, she could see that, but she was too far away to hear anything. Their backs were to her too, making it impossible to read their lips.
The strange little man reached toward the statue, and fiddled with something near the rounded joint on the closest leg.
Nothing happened, nothing changed, and her Aunt did not seem happy about that. The man turned, looking over his shoulder with a sheepish grin, and shrugged to her Aunt.
She lost interest, and pulled back onto the roof. What her Aunt could possibly want with a giant statue was beyond her, but she was growing tired. The tight fingers of sleep were grabbing at her mind, and pulling her down like a led weight.
Her eyelids grew heavy as she laid down flat on her stomach, intent on at least taking a nap, if not sleeping the whole night there. It was then that an eardrum shattering roar ripped from inside her Aunt's workroom.
Seconds later, two sword-like horns crashed through the roof, only inches from where Charise was laying. She scrambled to her feet as the head of the giant bull statue followed, and after she had retreated to the side of the roof her bedroom was, she turned, and looked at the bull.
The once silver metal that had been its eyes now glowed malevolent red, like two flames in the dark. Steam wafted from between the metal sheets that composed its body, and light, metallic clicking and grinding sounds came from beyond.
She stood across from the monstrous contraption, frozen with fear as the thing looked in her direction. She couldn't tell if it could see her or not.
Moments later, the bull pulled back, dropping to all fours again inside the building.
There was another strange sound from inside the building, and then the bull exited, charging out into the field, toward the mountain village and sending shockwaves through the ground like a continuous earthquake…
She circled around the boy, bare feet barely making a sound on the hard stone floors, taking in every inch of his frame. Her magic had changed him somewhat, aging him to a suitable size. Thirteen it seemed, if her guess was correct, body somewhat gangly, but still compact enough for the plans she had for him.
His mop of red hair had spiked out slightly, giving him a rough appearance, as though he had already been through a fair deal, and his eyes, once amber in color, had drained, and paled, until his irises resembled nothing more than two pools of melted butter.
"Majora, you've got your prize, now I want my payment." The shadow woman growled, leaning, arms crossed, against the farthest wall of the darkened chamber. Her blood-colored eyes narrow and tired.
The woman turned her head, greenish-yellow eyes coming to rest on the shadow woman. Her upper lip curled, revealing the pointed teeth that lay beyond in a wolf-like snarl.
"Fine," she spat, sauntering away from the boy that stood in the light of the single torch that burned. "What is it you desire so badly, Lorelei?"
The shadow woman pushed her shoulder off of the wall, standing her ground as the demon-like Majora came at her. Majora strolled around Lorelei, curling around her like a snake would wind around a mouse, squeezing it to its slow and painful death.
"I want power."
Majora continued in her circling motion, her face twitching subtly toward interest.
"Power…you want power," she hissed, testing the way the words rolled off of her tongue. "What kind of power do you seek?"
Lorelei watched her as she swung around behind her again and again, head never moving, only her eyes followed the demon-like woman. She remained silent, not answering Majora's question.
The demoness waited, also in silence, the only sound that came from the chamber now was the gentle padding of bare feet on the floor. And for the first time, Majora stopped circling, stopped directly in front of Lorelei, and locked eyes with the shadow.
To anyone other than the two women, it would have seemed like nothing more than Majora waiting for an answer, but in all hidden truths, a mental war was being waged. Subtly, Lorelei began to sweat as her arguments were ruthlessly laid to waste, and within seconds, she had lost.
"I want bring back the dead." She uttered in a low, murmuring tone. Majora's head tipped slightly to one side, green-rimmed eyes narrowing to mere slits. Seconds later, a brutal, half-crazed laugh erupted from her throat, forcing her head back.
"So, you wish to resurrect the dead. Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but even I, the great Majora, cannot bestow that kind of power."
A cruel look crossed Lorelei's face.
"Oh? I thought it was you who told me you were the most powerful being to walk the earth." She said venomously, smirking when Majora's expression twitched again, this time in annoyance.
"There are still the gods, unfortunately," Majora muttered, a different, strangely reminiscent look coming to pull at her features. "It is not impossible, I suppose. There was once a great deity that walked the earth, and this deity could bring back those who he judged had died unjustly. He was called a Fierce Deity. But one day, he came to call upon my land, and I yet prevailed to mortally injure him."
The demoness sauntered back toward the boy, running her slender fingers over his shoulders.
"To preserve his powers, he decided to shed his divinity, and disappeared without a trace. It was said that his soul would lie in wait, until a human worthy of his power would come along, and that then his powers would be passed on to said human."
Majora turned, and gave Lorelei an evil look.
"That human is currently in the northern mountains. If you wish to bring back the dead, then you must kill the man, and infuse your blood with his."
Lorelei looked toward to farthest corner of the chamber.
"Chesed!" She called, giving a beckoning motion with her hand. In an instant, the younger male strode out of the shadows, and bowed his head as he approached.
"Go the northern mountains, find him, lead him into the mists. And bring him to me," she leaned in close to him, licking her lips, eyes burning. "Alive. I want to see him bleed…"