Chapter 19: Deku Mask.

Romani dismounted from the bizarre white and black horse. She headed towards the Southern Swamp, but stopped short. A massive tree had erupted from the center of the swamp and stretched up high into the sky. She stared at it, an uneasy feeling washing over her. As she headed closer, Zak's words rang in her head.

Zak stood in the doorway of the barn, leaning against the doorframe. Cremia and Romani stared at him, worried that he might fall over. His eyes, yellow and bloodshot, darted back and forth between them. Overcome with a fit of coughing, Zak hacked and sputtered. He spat out black liquid and fell to a knee. Romani rushed over to his side.

"I..." he said weakly, "I have to... get them..."

Romani lifted him up by putting his left arm over her shoulders. Likewise, Cremia grabbed him by the other arm, and they led him into the ranch house. Once inside, the two of them set him down in a dining room chair. He hacked up more black liquid, motioning to get out of the chair. Cremia stopped him with a firm hand.

"We'll take care of this," she said sternly. Romani nodded, unable to keep the concern for Zak from showing on her face.

He shook his head, "No, you don't understand. The monsters that are coming next, they are more powerful than anything we have faced so far."

"Okay," Romani sighed, "What are we talking about, here? How bad could they be?"

Zak swallowed, "The first one to make an appearance should be the Deku monster. I don't know what form it will take, but it'll be coming out of Woodfall."

Cremia eyed him suspiciously, "How could you possibly know this?"

He sighed, "It's complicated. What you need to know is, I know what's coming."

Romani grabbed her bow and slingshot, "I'm going ahead. I'll be back if there isn't anything in the swamp, alright?"

Zak nodded, "Alright. If you don't think you can handle it, don't fight it. I won't stay cursed for too long. Be careful, Romani."

Romani dodged through the mass of biting purple monsters, narrowly avoiding getting chewed up by the carnivorous plants. She fired a few arrows, killing a handful of them in between her and the swamp's entrance. As soon as they fell, replacement plants started to grow. Cursing, she leaped over them, their teeth missing her leg by mere centimeters. She landed hard, rolling across the sticky mud. Romani gasped in surprise. The roots of the tree had blanketed the swamp floor, and they wiggled and twitched violently underfoot. As she notched another arrow, countless large pink flowers blossomed. They fired out Deku nuts at her, which collided in the air, erupting in a blinding flash. Romani covered her eyes, her ears ringing from the explosion. Blindly she fired a few arrows, but they bounced off of the ground harmlessly. She shook her head as her vision returned. The purple Deku Babas surrounded her once more.

Cremia slammed her hand down on the table, rousing Zak from his sleep. "Wake up, kid! My little sister is out there, you know. Fighting your fight."

He yawned, his yellow eyes twitching in their sockets, "I'm aware of that. I didn't expect to be cursed, you know. It's not like I can wipe it away by playing a song."

She sat down in a huff, "Yeah, I realize that. But I'm really worried about her. What if she gets taken capture by that weird purple tunic person again?"

Zak shook his head, "Don't worry about that. There's no way he'll try that again."

She arched an eyebrow, confused, "You sound quite confident about that. Why won't he do it? He succeeded once before."

"He did it because he thought I wouldn't do what I did," Zak explained, "The mastermind behind all of this is a planner, not a brute."

Cremia sighed, "I'll trust your word on that. You clearly know what you're up against. By the way, how is it that you know so much about this?"

"I'm a highly trained warrior from Hyrule," Zak said, "My father was taken by the mastermind while he was sleeping one night, and my mentor sent me here to save him. The problem is, he had ventured into this land before, when he was a child."

"Your father, or your mentor?"

"My mentor. While he was here, he saved the world from evil with the help of several masks," Zak swallowed again, rubbing his tired eyes, "There was something he hadn't counted on while he was here, though. The masks that he collected had all come into contact with the evil he had vanquished, and slowly became corrupted. That corruption was accelerated when the mastermind entered the land of Termina and found all of my mentor's masks. The mastermind intends on using the evil masks to conquer Hyrule."

Cremia scratched her head, "Wow. Why didn't your mentor come back here and deal with it himself?"

Zak scratched the corner of his right eye, "He's far too busy dealing with an emerging threat in Hyrule. In fact, no one of significant strength could be spared to help the land of Termina. I was trained by the Kokiri, the Goron, the Zora, and the Ger- uh, the Hylians as a sign of unity. Due to my father's influence, I was the first of many trained in this fashion."

Cremia whistled, "Sounds like your father is quite something."

Zak nodded, "The purple tunic wearing imposter is a fraction of my father's true strength."

"Speaking of, what's your father's role in all of this?" she asked.

He narrowed his eyes, "I have no idea."

Romani dodged to the left, avoiding the chomping Deku Babas. As she aimed an arrow, she realized that she hadn't the slightest clue as to where to hit. All she could see was a gigantic tree. Out of the pink flowers, Deku heads, made completely of lifeless wood, popped out. They fired large seeds at her. Romani jumped back and forth in an attempt to dodge, but several collided with her, knocking her off of her feet. She gasped, the wind knocked out of her. The tree's roots wrapped around her, and she felt herself falling through completely darkness. Several images of Dekus flew past her as she fell. She held her breath.

Romani landed in a patch of thorny brambles. Yelping in pain, she managed to wrench herself out of the brush. Two huge masses crept around her. In the dim light, she could faintly make out two vines, each easily bigger than her home, covered in large spikes. They reared up, ready to strike. She pulled out her bow and notched an arrow, still unsure where to aim. The tiniest shimmer of light shined through part of the ceiling. Instinctively, she aimed and fired just as the vines lurched at her.

The vines twitched and convulsed, and the tree roots surrounding her ripped open, revealing the target that she hit; a single twisted Deku face. The tree erupted in an explosion of cherry blossoms, all of which spiraling away in the swamp's wind. The Deku's face fell onto the swamp floor at Romani's feet. She sang out Zak's Song, and it split in two. A ghostly Deku scrub drifted up, constructed in pure light.

"Thank you, sweet girl," it said joyfully. It turned into a shimmering ball of white light and faded away. Romani put away her bow and turned around. Daku stared back at her from the Southern Swamp's entrance, his white eyes unable to hide his rage.