Legend of Remnant
Chapter 7: Memory of Courage
The moment he descended the stairs, Jaune Arc felt a sudden and inexplicable pang of deja vu, a strange sensation since none of this was familiar to him, at least not consciously. The mineshaft looking entrance went down under the hill, and the walls went from dirt, to old stone brick, cracked and covered in moss. As he continued, his footfalls echoed through the hall, but other than that he could hear no other sounds. It was quiet and still, as though not a living soul had set foot within the old structure for hundreds, if not thousands of years. In the distance, he could see an old stone door.
He approached it, and stood there, blinking. "...Okay. There's...no handle. Do I just...lift it up or something?" He reached a hand forward, touching the stone. There was a sudden small rumble, as though a hidden mechanism had activated, and the door began to move upward, spilling dirt and dust in its path. "That explains that…" Jaune looked on into the room ahead. It was a large open room, at least a good three stories in height. A set of wooden stairs went from the ground to the middle of the room, splitting off into two paths with more stone doors. He stepped forward into the room, and the soft rumble started up again, closing the door behind him.
"Automatic closing doors? This place is lit with torches, and yet there's self-closing stone doors. Hyrule must have been something else…"
"Indeed, it was." Link's voice sounded, and Jaune jumped in surprise. His head darted around to see where it had come from, and he found himself face to face with a glowing, green orb of light that was floating mere feet from his head.
"L-Link? What...what is that?"
"It's a simulacrum. I won't help you solve this directly, but I can at least offer advice to you while you traverse this dungeon." Link explained, the orb hovering up and down slowly.
"What are you supposed to even be?" Jaune asked curiously, extending a hand to try and touch the orb of light.
It zoomed away quicker than he could touch it, moving instead in front of him. "A fairy. Or at least, a representation of one."
"A...fairy? What?" Jaune was taken aback. "It doesn't look like any fairies I've seen."
"You've seen fairies before?" Link asked, sounding slightly surprised.
"Well, in fiction. Storybooks, shows, games, and the like. Never actually in the flesh." Jaune admitted.
"Well, then how do you know what a fairy actually looks like?"
"...got me there." Jaune turned back to the large room, and looked around some more. A glance upward towards the top of the room showed a few couple of ledges that were too high to get to normally, and from what he could tell, doors lay beyond them. Without having a way to get up high though, he couldn't access them. His gaze fell down to the lower set of doors, glancing at them once more. One of them was just another stone door like the one he'd just entered, and the other was the same, but chained up with a large metal lock. "Well, looks like there's really only one way I can go, at least for now."
"Keep an eye out," Link spoke up once more. "Even if a situation looks safe, in a scenario where you're not certain, danger can still present itself. First piece of advice is to always pay close attention to your surroundings. Look for things like shadows where there shouldn't be any. Areas in which an ambush can take place. You don't need to be paranoid, but paying attention to your surroundings can be the deciding factor between victory and defeat."
Jaune nodded. "Right. Keep an eye on my surroundings." His eyes scanned the room once more. Other than the old wooden beams that made up the stairs and platforms, and the moss covered stone walls, nothing looked out of the ordinary. The platform at the top of the stairs didn't have any places that looked like ambush-able spots, and the rest of the open room didn't seem to hold anything that he'd consider 'out of the ordinary.'
He strode up the stairs, the wood creaking under each step. Thankfully, despite the apparent age of the steps, they held Jaune's weight. He approached the stone door, touched it, and like before with a small rumble and a cloud of dislodged dirt and dust, it opened up. Jaune stepped inside, and the door closed behind him. The room was much smaller than the previous one; an open, empty room with another door to one end. That wasn't what held Jaune's attention. It was what stood between him and the door.
They stood at just slightly over half his height; a pack of what Jaune could only describe as 'imps.' They weren't Grimm, that much he could tell from simply looking at them. The weird creatures, a pack of about six of them, were lacking the black fur and white, bone like masks that all Grimm wore. These strange beasts instead were bipedal, with brown fur, small horns, and two rows of small, but razor sharp teeth. Some of them were even wielding what looked to be oversized forks, or comically small tridents. "What the-" Jaune murmured, more confused than afraid.
"Bokoblins. Alone, they're only a threat to the unwary or weak. In a pack-"
"They're a threat?"
"They're still only a threat to the unwary or weak. This should act as a very easy warm up for you. Just don't get too relaxed; you're still in combat." Link warned. As if on cue, the impish beasts gave a strange, high-pitched, almost comical cry, and began bouncing towards Jaune, brandishing their pitchforks.
Jaune, in turn, pulled the Master Sword from his back, and gave a couple of practice swings. The blade, as usual, felt right in his hands. It wasn't light, but it always felt like he was re-learning something he'd forgotten whenever he was wielding it. He rushed forward, holding the Master Sword to his side, and as he met the first couple of Bokoblins, swung his blade. With a flash of silver, one dropped dead, the razor sharp blade passing through the neck of the beast with little resistance. Another flash, and another Bokoblin dropped, and Jaune stepped back as four more of the beasts rushed him.
"Keep moving," Link advised, following close to Jaune. "Letting yourself get surrounded is a bad idea, regardless of how weak a foe is. Pack tactics is how weaker beasts can take down stronger ones, and while Bokoblins aren't the smartest, they can still overwhelm you if enough of them can surround you."
"Right," Jaune replied, already making his way around the pack. One of the Bokobins jabbed at him with it's pitchfork, but was intercepted with the shield of Crocea Mors. The Bokoblin, having put too much of its strength into the attack, was knocked off balance, but Jaune didn't have time to capitalize on its weakness, as another of its brethren was already moving in on him. It swiped the trident at him, but the beast's reach was rather small. Jaune was able to easily side step it, countering it and killing the beast with a single thrust through its oversized cranium. "Huh, you weren't kidding when you said these things weren't much of a threat. There's like...no resistance at all to the blade."
"Partially skill, partially weakness, and partially the fact that you're wielding the Blade of Evil's Bane." Link replied, his tone sounding distracted, or possibly bored. The situation must have been boring for the seasoned hero. Now that Jaune thought about it, he felt that seasoned might be a massive understatement. There was a veritable ocean of memories that Link was drawing from, that one day, Jaune himself would be privy to. He shook his head as another two Bokoblins rounded on him, bringing him back to the present.
Slash, slash, and two more Bokoblins dropped, their bodies hitting the ground. There was one thing they had in common with Grimm; shortly after they died, their bodies seemed to vanish into smoke, although these beasts became a strange, airy purple smoke as opposed to the Grimm's oily black smoke that seemed to stick to your clothes if you were too close. He glanced. There was one Bokoblin left. The impish creature didn't even seem to realize that its allies were dead, or if it did, it didn't seem to care. It just gave another strange chattering noise, and bounced at him. Jaune frowned, and avoided another small swipe, bringing his sword to bear. It too, joined its brethren, and perished into purple smoke.
Jaune paused. "Was...was that it?"
Link scoffed. "I told you. Bokoblins are weak. You have enough training under your belt where they shouldn't be much of a threat, save for extremely large numbers. Although, with age, their coloration can change, and they can become stronger. Golden ones would be more than enough to take you out as you are."
Jaune grimaced. "Please tell me you didn't put any of those in here."
The fairy simulacrum bounced up and down as though incensed at Jaune's suggestion. "Of course not. I'm not going to give you a test you can't pass."
"Glad to hear it." Jaune walked forward, and into the next room. The scenery was the same; stone walls covered in hanging moss, some vines hanging from the ceiling, and another door on the opposite end. The difference between it and the previous room was the lack of Bokoblins, and the existence of what looked to be multiple large stone squares nearly the height of Jaune. The door on the other end was also barred with large metal bars. "What…" Jaune started.
"A test of your mental abilities. A hero needs more than just a swift hand in combat, their mind must be sharp as well." Link finished.
"And you really think," Jaune continued, his countenance falling into an expression of annoyance. "That the best way to test that is through a block-pushing puzzle?"
Link seemed to pause in mid-flight, falling silent briefly. Then, "Oh, so you've encountered these before?"
Jaune ran a hand across his face. "Yeah. I have. In video games. This isn't really the best test of intelligence, if I'm being honest."
"Then you should have no issue with this then." Link stated.
Jaune sighed. "Alright…"
"I...hate...boxes…" Jaune breathed out, throwing his entire weight behind his pushing. As it turned out, he was right about the puzzle being easy to solve; he'd figured it out shortly after exploring the room. The real problem? Pushing the large stone cubes around was a lot harder than it seemed in video games. They were heavy, and having to push them around the stone floor wasn't easy at all. "This…huff...is not...puff...working my mind…" Jaune muttered, pushing the large block into an indentation on the floor.
"Well, in my defense, I didn't realize that people had turned tasks from the ancients into...entertainment." Link's tone sounded half amused, half annoyed.
"Tired...of...doing this bullshit…" Jaune grumbled, starting to push another block into its place. He paused, slumping against the cool, rough surface of the cube. "Why do the ancients always test people with block pushing puzzles?" His face screwed up. "Gah, it's so weird to remember this stuff. Well, remember is the wrong word. It's like getting fragments of memories inserted into my head. I remember doing block puzzles before in dungeons now, but not actually doing it…"
Link floated lazily before Jaune as he spoke. "I'm sure it must be strange. Don't think too much about it though. Eventually those memories will be second nature for you. Focus on what's here and now; when you've got time to yourself, you can sort through those memories then."
Jaune nodded. "Fair enough." He paused, then added, "Hey, Link?"
"Yes?"
"If this is happening in my head, how will this help me grow stronger? Like, yeah, I'm tired from pushing all these blocks around, but it isn't going to help me physically."
"Just keep going. You'll find out in time."
"Right…" Jaune sighed, took a deep breath, and continued pushing the large stone block. Like the previous one, he pushed it into a depression. As he did so, he heard a metallic noise, and noticed the door on the far end of the room had become unbarred. Simultaneously, he noticed a flash of green light, and glancing to the side, noticed that an old wooden and metal chest had appeared where there had been none previously. "Yep," Jaune replied, "Right on cue."
"Right on cue?"
"This is classic video game 101. Solve a puzzle, go to the next room, and get some sort of treasure. Usually either money," Jaune explained, approaching the small chest and kicking it open. "...or a key." He finished, reaching down and pulling out a rather sizable iron key. "Jeez. Didn't realize modern gaming actually took cues from actual dungeons."
"...what?"
"Never mind." Jaune made his way toward the door and pocketed the key. "Let's just say I'm feeling a lot more confident that I can actually pass this test…"
Jaune hadn't been kidding. The dungeon itself was a cakewalk for the young blond man, and for Link, it was almost nostalgic the way his trainee made his way through the crafted mines. Apparently there were more to those...video games than Link had originally thought. The dungeon itself was a mixture of many past ones. Bits and pieces from places like the Great Deku Tree, from Skyview Temple, from The Forest Manor, and others were combined to create the gauntlet. Jaune was able to pass the puzzles with ease, and combat hadn't been too terrible either. He'd taken a hit or two from a surprise Skulltula, and another from a Bokoblin's lucky poke, but other than that, he'd managed to defeat the foes that Link had brought to bear.
The real test, however, was coming up. Jaune had entered yet another large room, this one cylindrical in shape with a dome for a roof. It was crumbling, with sunlight shining in from the outside; a memory of the Forest Temple that had been the first test for the Hero of Twilight. Not an exact duplicate, but a close enough approximation. Given the enemy Jaune was about to face though, it made sense. As Jaune walked in, he found himself on a ledge overlooking the room, with a drop to the floor below. It was low enough to leap down without serious injury, but high enough that Jaune wouldn't be able to jump to grab the ledge.
"Well, doesn't this scream 'boss,'' Jaune murmured. He paused, and glanced at the floating fairy beside him. "Uh...Link? Are you still there?"
There was a sigh from Link's end, then, "Yes, I am. I'm just wondering if I really even needed to come in here with you. You seem to know everything before it even happens."
Jaune shrugged awkwardly. "Sorry?"
"Not your fault; times change." Link replied, tone sounding slightly wistful, as though reminiscing on days long past. "Regardless, you should keep going."
"Yeah, yeah," Jaune countered with a deep sigh. He lowered himself, and slid off of the ledge to the stone floor below. He hit the ground, flexing his knees to absorb the impact, and stood straight, surveilling the room. The room was empty, save only for a single pile of bones sitting right in the middle of the room. Glancing around, he could see no other doors out of the room aside from the one he'd entered in. Cautiously, he approached the pile of bones, walking slowly in case they jumped up and tried to attack him.
Nothing happened. He approached the bones, and reached out with the Master Sword, poking them. Nothing. He noticed, in the pile, a pair of old, rusted and chipped swords. Jaune frowned, poked the pile again, and when the pile failed to react, he let out a breath. "C'mon, I know this thing is gonna jump out at me...unless it's a trick!" Jaune finished, gaze snapping upwards at the ceiling to find…
...nothing. Just a canopy of green intertwined trees that composed a leafy roof with simulated sunlight peaking through between the branches. "Huh. Okay, that's weird."
"Something wrong?" Link asked.
"Well, that pile of bones isn't moving, and there's no giant arachnid jumping down at me from above, nothing. The heck kind of a dungeon room is this?!" Jaune complained, spreading his arms as he did so.
"You almost sound disappointed." Link shot back dryly.
"I'm more relieved if anything. I was expecting some sort of boss fight, but this just seems like an empty room." Jaune sighed and turned on his heel to face the door he'd come in from. "That's...going to be a pain. I don't think I could easily climb that." He looked up to the ledge where he dropped down from, grimacing. The only thing he could see was a wooden placard affixed to the top of the door frame, but other than that, nothing to differentiate it from any other door. Further, the platform just in front of the door had nothing hanging from it to allow him to climb back up. "Don't tell me I have to do some sort of super jump in order to get up there. I'm pretty sure that wasn't part of our training."
"No," Link replied in his usual bored manner, "That's for the next training session."
Jaune blanched, and slowly turned his head to affix the floating, glowing green ball of light with an expression of exasperation. "Seriously?!"
He was met with a hanging moment of silence, before Link finally replied, "...that was a joke."
"Comedy isn't one of your strong suits, is-" Jaune began, cutting his words off abruptly. His brow furrowed, and he strained his hearing to catch what he thought had been a strange clicking noise. "You hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"Sounds like some sort of clicking or clattering noise…" Jaune froze-
-and took a sudden step backwards, putting space between himself and Link as a chipped, rusted metal blade passed through the air where he'd been standing moments prior. "What the-?!" Jaune whipped his head to the side, trying to gauge the identity of his attacker.
"I should have known," Jaune groaned, finding himself face to skull with a humanoid skeleton. Said skeleton wasn't fully human though, even from Jaune's lackluster knowledge of biology. He knew that humans didn't have elongated skulls, didn't have horns, and most definitely didn't have four arms, each of them armed with a sword. They were rusty, chipped, and very old, but something in his gut told him that they were no less dangerous than a Huntsman's blade. Was it possible to get tetanus from an injury inflicted by a memory? He didn't intend to find out. "What the hell even is that?"
Jaune could hear the smirk in Link's voice as he spoke. "A Stalfos. An animated construct of bone, steel, and dark magic used to guard everything from ancient ruins to moldy crypts."
Without taking his eyes off of the shambling skeleton, Jaune retorted, "Wait, so it's actually a-an undead?!"
"In a manner of speaking. Less 'bound soul trapped and forced to attack the living,' and more, 'pile of bones moving about through magic.' Speaking of which…" Link trailed off, as almost as if on cue, the skeleton moved forward, brandishing two of the swords.
Jaune grimaced, and took a step back, mind racing. How did he even begin to fight this thing?! Flesh and blood was, at least in theory, easy enough; just stick the sharp and pointy bits into the enemy. A skeleton? Did he go for the head? The ribs? "D-don't suppose you're willing to let me know this creature's weakness?"
"Striking at its form and damaging the bones weakens the magic animating it. Don't worry about its lack of biological function when trying to kill it. Worry more about its ability to defend itself. Stalfos aren't sentient, but they're intelligent enough to act as swordsmen. You won't be able to beat this enemy without being careful."
Suddenly, the Stalfos lunged, and swung a blade down. The attack was telegraphed, thankfully, and Jaune had just enough time to bring his shield to bear, blocking the attack. The force of the strike travelled up his arm, the vibration enough to nearly make him drop his shield. It was strong. A blow from that creature would do far more than any little Bokoblin or giant spider had done. Jaune tried to retaliate, swinging the Master Sword in a swift, silver arc, but the Stalfos seemed to know it was coming, raising it's other arm in a hanging guard, causing the blade to collide with it with a loud clatter. "Oh, c'mon!"
"Jaune," Link spoke up, floating just out of sight to avoid being a distraction, "Focus. Don't let yourself get frustrated. You've got plenty of durability, and you know how to dodge. Let it attack you; get a feel for its combat style."
Jaune bit his lip, but nodded wordlessly, holding up his shield. The Stalfos swung again, but this time Jaune stepped to the side, letting the rusty sword pass by him. The other sword moved, and Jaune had just enough time to catch the swing with his shield once more. The room echoed with the clang of metal against metal, and Jaune winced at not just the sound, but the force behind the hit. Even as he was defending against the second blow, the first sword was already moving back, as if ready to strike. "Damn it, it's not leaving any openings!"
"Then make one."
Jaune stepped backwards, putting distance between himself and the Stalfos, letting it hit empty air, and keeping himself from yet another strike from its second blade. "How?!"
Link sighed, eliciting a twitch of annoyance from Jaune's eye. "You need to get better at reading your opponent. Consider this an exercise in that. Think, Jaune. Look at how it strikes. Look at where it's able to defend itself, and where it cannot."
Jaune gave a thin-lipped groan of frustration, but squared his shoulders, slowly beginning to circle the skeleton. Look at how it strikes. Jaune rushed in, and watched the Stalfos swing its sword downward. Jaune stepped backward, and watched as it began to swing the second sword in a horizontal arc. I can't hit this thing from the front. Hang on...this thing is kinda slow. Like, even I can see its attacks coming. Jaune stepped forward again, and elicited a diagonal swing from the Stalfos. This time, however, Jaune ducked under the sword, and moved forward, past the Stalfos. He turned, and swung the Master Sword at the skeleton's spine, and was rewarded with the feeling of the blade impacting bone. Dust and bone chips flew as the Master Sword carved through the spine and a few ribs, coming out the other side. "Ha! Take th-" Jaune began triumphantly.
Then, the Stalfos moved much faster than it had before, swinging its body around in a rapid circle, swinging its large rusty blade. Caught off guard, Jaune took it right to the stomach, the force of the blow actually picking him up and tossing him aside. He hit the ground, sliding back, and clutching his stomach with a hiss of pain. Thankfully, his aura had taken the brunt of the blow, but it was a painful one. "Focus, Jaune!" Link's voice echoed through the room, chastising.
Jaune glared up at the floating ball of emerald light. "How the hell was I supposed to know it was going to suddenly move like that?!"
"You would have been able to avoid or defend that if you were paying attention! Don't get caught up in minor victories!" Link snapped back.
Jaune's cheeks grew warm with embarrassment as he clambered to his feet. As annoying as it was, Link wasn't wrong. He had to keep his head in the game. He squared his shoulders as the ambulant pile of bones shuffled to and fro, the empty sockets of its skull focused on him. Jaune approached, haphazardly swinging at the Stalfos to elicit a response. Once more the skeleton swung, and once more, Jaune danced under and around the blade. He swung at its unprotected back, but this time he was prepared. As the Stalfos swiveled 180 on it's spine to swing at Jaune, he nimbly stepped back. The rusty sword met nothing but empty air, and for a moment, Jaune could almost feel a spark of frustration from the construct, although it was probably just his imagination. "Not this time!" Jaune rushed in again, thrusting his sword at the Stalfos' ribcage.
He was just a bit too slow; the Stalfos barely managed to bring another rusty sword to bear and parried the thrust. Jaune stepped back as its usual attack pattern began, sweeping under the blade to move to the Stalfos' back…
...only for the construct to turn its head 180 like an owl, followed by the rest of its body, and a second strike followed more swiftly than the first. Jaune let out a cry of surprise, and brought his shield up, letting it take the strike and once more leaving his arm numb as vibrations ran up it. "Oh c'mon!"
"Do you really think your opponents would be that foolish to fall for the same trick that many times in a row?" Link called out, staying a fair distance from the actual fight.
"It would be nice!" Jaune shouted back as the Stalfos continued its assault. Apparently getting struck twice had been enough to enrage it, if the bone construct even had emotions. Its swings were nearly twice as fast, and while Jaune could still dodge or block its attacks, it was getting a bit more difficult.
"If you can manage to actually convince an enemy to perform tactical suicide," Link mused, as though his student weren't currently in a life-or-death fight against a sword wielding skeleton, "then this world wouldn't need me, as I'm sure you could simply convince the darkness not to overshadow the land."
Jaune gritted his teeth as he dodged a rusty sword swing, then another, and another. The fourth consecutive hit he knew he couldn't move in time, letting his shield take it. He hissed in pain through clenched teeth. The Stalfos bore down on him, the force behind the blade so much more than he would have initially assumed from a walking pile of bones. "Yeah, haha, very funny, now help me out here!"
Link fell silent for a few moments, his simulacrum body simply floating up and down lazily, and Jaune wondered if he'd refuse, already desperately trying to formulate an idea how to defeat his foe. Then, Link spoke. "I probably should have had you focus on how to appropriately use your shield before this point, but that's on me. Jaune, disengage."
Biting back a choice comment on how that would be possible, Jaune glanced to the side. His back was near the wall of the dome, but his sides were completely open, and he took that opportunity. He dove to the side, the Stalfos bringing its blade down hard, with a wretched clanging noise. It passed the air where Jaune's head had been moments prior, and left a small furrow in the stone floor below. Jaune took the chance to half jog backwards, trying to put distance between himself and the skeleton. "Alright, that's as disengaged as I'm going to get; now what?"
Link took a breath, paused, and replied, "I'm going to need you to trust me."
"What?!" Jaune exclaimed, not taking his eyes off the now approaching Stalfos even for a moment.
"Listen; the spirit of the Hero is more than just a destiny. There's a power there. You and I, we're intrinsically tied to the river flow of time itself, and in moments of need, we can pull on it." Link explained calmly.
"And that means what?"
Another pause, then: "I want you to do something that's going to sound crazy. When the Stalfos tries to attack you, I want you to dodge at the last possible moment."
Jaune blinked, and briefly shot an incredulous look at the floating emerald light housing Link. "At the last possible moment?"
"Yes." Link confirmed. "We've been practicing dodging for a while now in your mind. You should have the timing down to a second nature now, and Stalfos aren't exactly the quickest enemies out there."
"And then what?" Jaune replied, bringing his shield up once again as the Stalfos drew even closer, readying its blades to continue its assault.
Link's voice once again took on a tone that had Jaune almost visualizing Link's wolfish grin. "Why spoil the surprise? You'll see for yourself. Now," his tone dropped back to being serious again. "Focus, Jaune. Keep an eye on your foe, don't let errant thoughts distract you, and wait for your moment."
Jaune swallowed, nodded, and stepped forward to meet the Stalfos. It wasted no time. Still in some sort of 'enraged' mode, it swung one blade, then the other. Jaune blocked again, and again, grimacing as he struggled to hold onto his shield. Sparks flew off of the shield and he felt himself once more being slowly pushed back under the strain of the attacks. Not yet...not yet...Again and again, blows fell like rain, and Jaune grit his teeth, holding desperately onto his shield as he waited for the right moment. His arm ached, and it was becoming increasingly harder to maintain a defense.
There! In between the third and fourth strike! Jaune squared his shoulders, mentally counting the hits. One...two...three- And with that, Jaune dropped his shield, watching as the rusty blade came straight for his head…
A/N: Yeah, I know, another long wait between chapters. Life's been a little more busy for me now that I've gone back to school. Plus, this chapter was not as easy to write as I was hoping. I mean, how does one make block pushing puzzles interesting to read? Trying to novelize a dungeon is a bit more difficult, since it's either repeated combat sessions, or dry descriptions of Jaune attempting to solve a puzzle for the umpteenth time. This is only the first one, and later dungeons will probably have more character development than straight up technical talk, but for now, this is a foray into unfamiliar writing territory. I'll try to get the next chapter out a little sooner, but no promises.
Signing off for now, this is LaughingLefou.