Author's Notes:
While I stick very closely to the HTTYD movie/TV show lore, I take liberties with the LoZ elements. Please read with an open mind, as if this were a new game.
New chapters on Wednesdays. The whole thing, 30 chapters plus Prologue, is written and will be posted!
A red feather crinkled in the meager flame. In a moment, a burst of fire consumed the feather, casting a purple hue in the dimly lit room before returning to its miserly existence. The Witch dropped three small bones in the fire. They screamed and sizzled, and the fire flared red as blood.
The light fell on Ganon's enormous back as he studied a brittle parchment. It looked even more fragile in his gloved hands.
"The bracer could not be removed," the bass voice repeated.
"That is what I was told," Kogah answered. Though it was only the three of them in this chamber, between the Desert King's oppressive presence and the Witch's unnatural skittering, the space felt cramped.
Everything was coming to a head. The miraculous return of the princess and the mysterious appearance of this bracer. It couldn't be a coincidence. Kogah had spared Sheika— Yiga lives a few more days by digging through the Hyrule archives for the parchment Ganon now held. Being a history and legends expert was once again proving useful. He cringed. Useful for whom?
Kogah had come to terms with his decision that terrible day. The day Link should have defeated Ganon. Instead of victory, the Hyrule army was decimated. How Ganon had managed to steal a piece of the Triforce, which could only be granted to a Hylian, was beyond him. He suspected the Witch had something to do with it.
In the wake of the battle, with Master Jin butchered before his eyes, the Desert King approached Kogah with an offer: "Kneel, and choose life." Kogah looked around at the rest of the Shiekah, all of them corpses or captured. He scanned for Impa but didn't find her. Don't be dead. Don't be dead. He looked into the terrified eyes of his brothers and sisters in arms. Yes, they had sworn to protect the royal family, to uphold the Kingdom of the goddesses. But they had already failed on the first account. And the goddesses? Castle Hyrule was in flames and overrun with enemies, the armies of Hyrule scattered, his beloved master slain. Not even the Hero of Legend, the prophesied champion of the goddesses, could stop Ganon. If Hylia was watching, she clearly didn't care.
The Desert King had spoken again. "You can save the rest of them." That was his mission now. To save as many as possible.
For the common folk, that meant keeping them in fear, threatening violence so appalling they wouldn't dream of rising up and throwing their lives away on bulblin blades. He knew better than most the futility of standing against Ganon.
For the Yiga, that meant doing whatever Ganon required of him, from decoding the secrets of Hylian relics to following through on those gruesome threats.
For the one he loved most ... What could he do for her? She knew his reputation, what he had done. After their meeting in Coccolan Forest, he knew she would never listen to him.
And that would get her killed.
The light from the Witch's fire reflected off Kogah's pale mask, and the inverted Sheikah eye seemed to blink with every element cast in and consumed. This was an elaborate ritual, the costliest he'd seen in his three years of service. He shuddered as a soul evaporated in the flames with an agonizing shriek. Whose soul was that?
He glanced at the articles waiting to be added to the fire, and his thoughts returned to the boy.
"Why bother with this outsider?" Kogah asked.
Ganon continued to study the parchment as he spoke. "I allowed one to escape last time and that has turned into three. I will not make the same mistake again."
"I don't think he's anything to worry about," Kogah said. "He is young and weak."
"And yet, he escaped you." The Desert King set the parchment on the table, the ancient sketch of the boy's bracer barely visible in the dim light. Rolling his massive shoulders back, he towered a foot above the Yiga. Kogah stiffened as Ganon paced around him. "It is only because I need your expertise that you are still alive. But even the Yiga are not so indispensable as to be forgiven all."
Kogah's throat tightened. In his mind, he heard five masks clatter on the ground.
Ganon held up a clenched fist where the dull Triforce barely glowed through the black leather glove. "As long as he has that bracer, this is meaningless."
"My lord," the Witch croaked. Ganon turned toward the fire, and Kogah breathed a sigh of relief.
The Witch placed the final element in the center of the smoldering wreck: the boy's metal foot. Kogah watched as the spring coil sizzled. The metal slowly started to glow and disintegrate, as if eaten by acid. He had no idea what this ritual was for, but he knew the boy didn't deserve what was coming. He wanted to throw this whole twisted mess out the window and crush it with the strength of a goron in his prime.
A voice inside chided. You promised to save what's left of Hyrule. Don't throw it away now. He took a breath and looked away.
The Witch had drawn a wide circle with a stump of charred wood or what Kogah hoped was wood. She threw a handful of dust into the fire, and the flames roared to life. Kogah bounced backwards as the green flames leapt to the edges of the circle, reaching almost to the ceiling.
The Witch turned to Ganon with a bow. Her voice crackled like a smoldering fire. "Choose your words carefully. There is only enough for the ritual to work once."
Ganon narrowed his eyes, glaring through the flames at the crumbling metal. "Pray the boy is as weak as you claim," he said, "or by this time tomorrow, the Yiga Clan will suffer the same fate as the Sheikah."
And then, the Desert King stepped into the flames.
Author's Notes:
A shorter chapter, but don't worry; next week will make up for it!
Thanks to Ari Lewis and Luke for beta reading!