Disclaimer: The Legend of Zelda series do not, repeat, not belong to me. They rightfully belong to Miyamoto. (May he continue to make excellent games for the rest of his days.) What does belong to me are Cleo, Finn, Syrilla and Okam (sorta).
Chapter 11
Cleo couldn't believe what she was overhearing. That couldn't be Glacia, surely. What had just happened that would cause her to turn her back on her own fiance so suddenly?
"But dearest!" Defross sobbed. "What about all the times we spent together? What have I done for you to hate me so?!"
Glacia let out a cruel laugh. There was something familiar about it to Cleo. "You stupid fool. I only pretended to love you. You're really nothing to me. Nothing!"
Cleo had heard enough. "How DARE YOU!" she spat, marching forward. "Just who do you think you are, taking advantage of poor Defross?!"
Glacia looked at her and gave an equally familiar wicked smirk. "Well it was fun."
Cleo's hands clenched into tight fists, shaking in rage. "It was sick! You have no right to treat him like this!"
"Cleo, calm yourself," Jack whispered. "I sense some kind of deception."
At that, she suddenly realized the truth, why Glacia was acting this way. Cleo drew her sword. "I know it's you Veran! You let Glacia go or-"
"Or what, you'll attack little ol' me? Surely you realize that if you harm me, you'll harm the blushing bride to be."
"Her name is not Shirley!" Jack corrected.
"What are your demands?" Cleo asked in a low growl.
"Nothing. There is no demand nor will there be any negotiation. Face it, there's nothing you can do to stop me. Now if you will excuse me, I have an essence to collect." The Veran possessed Glacia began walking past Cleo when Defross got up and grabbed her arm.
"Glacia, please tell me it's you! Please, snap out of it!"
"You're never to see her again!" she knocked him to the floor and then left.
"We can't let her reach it!" Cleo declared.
"We will have to try and beat her to it," Jack agreed.
They were about to walk out the door when Defross spoke up. "Wait..." he wiped away his tears. "It really isn't Glacia, is it?"
"It is... but she's not herself. Veran is controlling her."
"Please, can't you save her?"
Cleo gave him a brave smile. "Of course I can. Don't worry, I'll bring her back." Then she and Jack left the house.
"Can you... really?" Jack questioned.
"I don't know. But what else can I say to him."
"...I understand."
They raced to the base of Prisms Peak. The moment they approached, a blizzard came out of nowhere. They tried to push themselves forward but were blown back. There seemed to be some mysterious force preventing them from climbing. Jack pointed out a trail of glowing trees, widely spaced out, leading up the mountain. Cleo trudged back up the base and clung onto the nearest tree (Jack apparently clung onto Cleo). As soon as the wind died down a bit, she hurried to the next tree before it picked up again. After the tedious climb, they reached a cave.
Upon entering the icy interior of the mountain, the first obstacle they came across were giant falling icicles. Dodging them was very difficult on the slippery ice and she had too many close calls. Then she got trapped by a ring of icicles that were too hard to destroy with a regular sword swing. She used the Salamander spin to break them. They soon encountered ice insects she had to fight throughout. At first, the place looked like any other ice cave, but further in, they found out why it was called Prisms Peak: The ice all around them was in many different colors of the rainbow and each of the torches were also a different color. Some paths were blocked by various colored ice, and they couldn't get through. They came across a sliding block puzzle with three different blocks and buttons, and a few immovable rocks. Cleo pushed the blocks around, trying to get them to land on their appropriate colored buttons. After some trial and error, she got a key to unlock the next room and then gained a new rune. The Rune of Iris gave her the ability to throw her sword like a boomerang and absorb whatever color it hit (from the torches). She learned that the colored ice melted from the fire of the opposite color (such as red ice melts in blue fire). After removing enough ice to progress forward, she faced one last puzzle with six crystals that flashed individually in a certain order. After watching and memorizing carefully, she hit them in the correct order, and each set got longer and longer. After messing up a few times, she finally got it and gained the big key. She unlocked the last doorway and was outside again.
It was colder than before and the harsh wind was biting her face. They found themselves in a deep wide hollow surrounded by ice spires and a few torches. They seemed to be at the top of the peak. As Cleo walked across the snow, she felt a tremor underneath her feet. The ground started giving way and she jumped back as a hole formed. There were myriad sounds of hard tapping on ice and a sudden burst of snow shot out along with a snake-like body attached to an eyeless, pincered head. It made a hideous trilling noise as orbs on its exoskeleton flashed in different colors.
Arctic Chromatic Centipede:
Reinorbaz
Cleo started backing up and jumped out of the way before it dived at her. The monster burrowed into the ground again. Jack made a quick note that it relied on vibrations to target its victims. Cleo ran around in hopes of coaxing it out. It popped out and dive bombed her again then got stuck. But Cleo's swings couldn't damage it. The orbs must be emitting a shield. Cleo quickly looked at the different torches and used Iris to gather up the flames and hit one of the orbs in one throw. Sharing the same color as the flames, the orb got burned and popped. Reinorbaz made a trill of pain before burrowing again. Its head came up expectantly and grabbed Cleo in its pincers, then tossed her like a rag doll. Cleo barely rolled out of the way as a beam shot out if its mouth. She waited for it to get stuck again in one of its diving attacks and used Iris on the orbs, which started flashing new colors to counter her attacks. The colors flashed faster as more orbs were destroyed, so timing it got more difficult. Mini reinorbaz joined the fight and were quickly eliminated. Finally, a large white orb formed on its tail and Cleo chased it down and slashed away.
After it exploded, the rest of the body followed suit until only the head was left.
Then the sky lit with a rainbowy glow, shimmering above. It twisted and turned about into a spiral and a flash ignited. It appeared to have taken a physical form of a rare multi-colored metal in the shape of a frozen, swirling wind and floated down gently onto the snow. Cleo approached it when a dark plasma ball shot out of nowhere. She spun around to face Glacia.
"The essence is mine!" Then she shot more plasma balls at her. Cleo tried to dodge them, but was hit when she misstepped.
She was paralyzed. "No... NO!"
"You should have left while you had the chance. I'll deal with you shortly." Glacia went right by her to pick up the Essence of Light. "Now for the others." She turned back to Cleo. "They're what anchors you to this shadow realm without suffering the consequences for entering it. You'll be joining your friend soon."
"Jack... what do I do?"
"I-I do not know!" Jack couldn't do anything. He had managed to protect her once, but he didn't remember how he did it, he just reacted. Think Jack, think! he told himself.
Just when he was sure they were out of luck, someone jumped in unexpectedly. "Belay it ya wench!" It was Scervo.
"Just who are you?!" Glacia scoffed.
"I'd be the last thing ya'll ever lay eyes on!" He drew his sword. "Ya listen and listen good, Cleo'd be me target and mine alone!"
She tsked. "Out of my way idiot!" Glacia shot plasma balls at him and was caught by surprise that he deflected them with his electric sword. Her stunned moment made her vulnerable and he went on the offence. She was electrocuted and fell to the ground.
Cleo could suddenly move again, but she wasn't relieved. Glacia was hurt and Cleo knew she was in danger. "Stop!" But Scervo ignored her, worse, he wasn't done. He was about to finish her. "NO!" She charged at him and struck him in the side, causing him to stagger. He fought back, but Cleo was ready. She hit hard at his blade with every swing, completely ignoring the painful jolts and forcing herself to keep moving with her strikes. His sword finally broke in half and he fell. He stared in disbelief at the new strength she suddenly possessed. "You will NOT kill her!"
"Cleo, look!" Jack called out. Dark vapor seeped out of Glacia and flew away with an enraged cry. "It would seem Glacia can no longer be controlled by Veran now that she is unconscious. She is free now."
"Good!" She looked back at Scervo who was starting to get up. "You better leave right now! I'm not in the mood!"
"Ye ungrateful-! I just saved yer hide and this is how ya thank me?"
That was the final straw. "YOU TRIED TO KILL AN INNOCENT WOMAN RIGHT BEFORE HER WEDDING JUST BECAUSE SHE WAS IN THE WAY!" she hollered at him. "YOU DON'T CARE IF HER FIANCE NEVER SEES HER AGAIN! NOT ONCE DID YOU GIVE A DAMN ABOUT ANYONE!"
Unexpectedly, there was a small sign of bitter shock and hurt in Scervo's eyes, Cleo noticed. There was an intense silence as the robot pirate stared hard at her in rageful defiance. "Ya don't know what ya're on about..." His hand flew to his chest, it appeared to be clutching something in his coat. "Ya wouldn't have the gall ter throw judgment... if ya knew what I been through... what I lost."
Cleo's anger was ebbing away. "It still doesn't give you an excuse to hurt people."
Another silence, then. "Ya wouldn't understand, ye be but a child." He turned around and walked away. "I would like ter finish our skirmish, but not today. After ya deliver the Snyorgan to her fiancee, we will meet at the Thunder Beacon Tower. There be no way around it, I know ya'll be going there for the essence. That is where we will settle the score."
After he had gone, Glacia began to stir. Cleo and Jack finally turned their attention to her. She woke up and looked surprised and scared. "W-what happened? Where am I?" She looked around her. "Where's Defross? We were supposed to dance!"
"It's okay, you'll see him tonight. The nightmare's over."
"It-it did feel like I was going through a nightmare... Huh? What's this?!" She just then realized she had the Essence of Light. "I don't who you are, but perhaps you need this..." She handed it over to Cleo.
She got the Aurora Stream. The colors of the wind pour into the image and brings beauty to them!