Content warning: chemical attack on civilians.
It was getting late. The sun was turning in for the day and most of the people were settling in for the night. Faria laid on her mattress under the eastern window, weaving her miniature tapestry of goats, trees and mountains together. Her two siblings were still studying their daily reading assignment, as best as they could.
"Try reading this sentence out loud," Dilan said as he pointed to some words in the book. It was a children's book that Ms. Tenei bought a few days ago on an errand to Kakariko.
"Once up-on a time ther-there lived toe… two far-far-farmers," Imi struggled but made progress.
The walls did little to keep out the evening chill. They were made of wood and tin sheets with some canvas tacked on to them. Naturally, they couldn't muffle the concerned voices of the parents.
"… what'll we do when there's no more iron in the mine? Day by day we're getting less," their father spoke in a worried tone. This wasn't the first time their parents had this conversation.
"If that happens - we move into the city. I'll be willing to go whoring if need be. But I don't want Imi and Faria in that business. I want something better for 'em, even if it's bein' a maid."
Faria didn't like to think of the possibility of her thirteen year old sister becoming a hooker. She could see in her head some creeps taking advantage of Imi's vulnerability. And Imi getting stuck in cycles of self harming behavior. She looked over towards her sister, Imi was barely paying attention to their parents conversation. Rather, she was focused on trying to get her homework done as best as she could get it.
Faria picked a piece of rust red yarn and wove it in. It would be a part of the mountain the goats would be standing on. She studied her little black goat at the top of her tapestry. It was standing on the mountain top looking skyward - but it still didn't look right to her. She had tried fixing it before, but it wasn't coming out like she had pictured in her head. She asked her dad and brother if it looked goat-y to them and they said it looked like one to them. So she decided to move on to the other areas. Since then she had made two other goats and a few trees.
Despite her best attempts, she couldn't get her mind off her parents' discussion. She had never lived outside her mountain village. So adapting to a new way of life would be hard. And as much as she yearned to leave her hometown and make a better life for herself, she wanted to do so on her own terms.
She had also heard that the city was a harsh place. So how would it treat her as an impoverished, barely educated, backwater country girl?
And prostitution? That was a risky profession, not to mention illegal in most of Hyrule. Pimps and sex workers were thrown in jail if they got caught. The law made no distinction between choice and force, as far as it was concerned if you engaged in prostitution you deserve to be locked up. And that was that. Not to mention the clients themselves, who could be crazy. It was the last thing Faria would want to be involved with.
But if it meant that the whole family would survive, should she do it?
No, Faria thought to herself, there's gotta be a better way.
Meanwhile, just outside the human settlement were a horde of demonic marauders. Their captain spied on the village from his vantage point, waiting for the ripe opportunity to strike. Lord Vaati gave them dozens of metal canisters filled with some kind of gas. "Decimate the village! The captain instructed his troops. He peered through his telescope, double checking the pathways to and through the village. As well as noting the humans who were outside; there were some humans drinking whiskey on their porches, others were walking to and from buildings, none were in the gardens. No one would see them coming up.
The captain faced his soldiers and reviewed the plan with them. "…be sure to keep your masks on tight and don't move until I give this signal." He flicked his fingers into an 'L' shape.
He waited until he was certain that the humans were distracted and gave the signal. They crept up through the farm, right up to the village gate. A darknut cracked open one of the cans and tossed it into the town.
The people stared at the hissing object in bewilderment, there was a yellow-greenish cloud oozing out of it.
"What's this?"
"Where'd it come from?"
The fog gave off a strange scent, somewhere between peppery and fruity. Anyone who breathed it in began to keel over and cough violently.
Some people held their breath as they picked up the cans to examine more closely. It didn't do them any good as their eyes began to swell and burn. And blisters appeared and ignited on their exposed flesh.
"Run! Get outta here! Poison!" They shrieked into the air, hoping anyone would heed their warning. Their desperate wailing grew silent within minutes.
Raul saw a pea green mist seeping through the cracks in the walls. "What the?" Curious, he waved his hand through the cloud. Immediately, his skin began to itch and sting. Withdrawing it he mumbled to himself, "What is this?" Only when he heard the muffled cries from outside did he realize the danger. But if he brought his family outside they would be exposed to the mystery cloud, in his mind the only option was to block the vapors from coming in and waiting it out.
"Is somethin' goin' on out there," Hola asked, her voice full of concern.
"There's green stuff coming in, I dunno what it is but I think it's dangerous! We need to find a way to prevent it from coming in."
Without a moment of hesitation, Hola responded, "Alright. Let's get some blankets 'n sheets and plug the cracks in." Hola ran to the bedroom, "Dilan, Imi, get some blankets and Faria, make sure all the windows and doors are shut tight!" The kids sprung to action, sealing the house up as best as they could.
In spite of their attempts, they only delayed the inevitable as gas soaked the fabrics. All they could do now was wait for the end.
Faria happened to be next to a window when she saw the chaos unfold. What she saw would most certainly kindle her nightmares. Her neighbors collapsed on the ground, vomiting and desperately trying to breathe. And one by one they began to die. Faria spotted Old Man Joe and Biras' little boy among them.
"Faria! Come away from there!" Her mother begged.
"Momma! There's people dying outside! Can't we let 'em in?"
Hola hesitated for a moment, then responded with a heavy heart, "There ain't nothing we can do for them. We'll let in that cloud if we do."
Faria watched the carnage in horror. She knew her mother was right, but… couldn't they at least try? Would they be responsible for people dying if they didn't help them?
Out from the screaming outside, there came a knock…knock…knock. Faria looked at her parents, her father was shaking his head. There was a knock again and then a weak, "please… let me in." At that point, Faria felt like she had no choice. She rushed to the door and opened it. Laying right at the doorstep was Keat. "Get in!" She said to him as she helped drag him in.
For the minute she was exposed to it, the green cloud began to burn her flesh. Even after she slammed the door, the stinging continued. To the point where little sores began to appear on her skin. She tried scrubbing them off with a wet rag, but to no avail.
Keat crawled up and slumped up against a chair, trying to catch his breath. His clothes were soaked in sweat along with dirt, and his exposed flesh was covered in angry red sores. He was coughing up a storm. When he wasn't coughing, he was heaving and huffing. And his eyes were a bright scarlet and tearing waterfalls. Faria immediately soaked a rag in water and laid it across his forehead. He might die if I don't get 'im something to drink. She thought to herself as she mixed a bit of whiskey and water in a wooden cup.
Raul observed Keat. His clothes might've took in some of that cloud. He's gonna need a fresh shirt, that'll prolly help with his symptoms. Raul rushed into the bedroom and grabbed a random shirt from the chest. "Here, Keat." He said as he handed the shirt to the kid. "You should change into this."
As he was pulling the shirt over his head, Imi blurted out, "How bad is it out there?! Do ya know what happened?"
Raul turned his head to his youngest child, "Imi! You need to give him a minute, he just went through a terrifying experience."
After a long time of coughing and puking, Keat finally spoke up. "It's really bad outside. I was walking home from the store when I heard something metal drop behind me. I checked to see what it was, and I saw a canister spewing out green gas. I tried to find out where it came from." Keat stopped to cough. "But more kept flying in. I tried to run away to a safe place, but I inhaled some of the gas. There was a burning sensation all over my body and my vision became blurry." He took a moment to catch his breath. "So I started to sprint to get inside faster. But then I felt a squeezing feeling in my chest, like a python crushing its prey. I fell to my knees, hacking saliva and mucus like crazy. I could barely see, but I could tell people around me were dying. I even saw one person vomit out what appeared to be blood. I tried to find the closest door inside, all while I can't breathe, I'm becoming numb, and my vision's getting worse. That's how I wound up here…"
Raul was speechless, all he could mutter was, "my gods."
Dilan, somewhat quietly, asked, "Who could be doing this and why?"
"I'm guessing it's the same forces that decimated my home city." Keat coughed a little spatter of blood into his elbow. "As for why they're doing it, I can't say for sure. They've been attacking towns and cities all over the country. But this is the first gas attack I've witnessed. Or even heard of for that matter."
"So, what do we do now?" Imi wondered.
Raul sighed in defeat, "Wait until the end, I suppose." He just could not see a way to survive this, he wished he could give her a better answer.
"Live to tell the tale," Keat interjected. Raul admired his optimism.
Everyone gathered in the center of the room. Raul and Hola were holding hands and praying. Imi was beginning to cry, while Faria wrapped her arm around her shoulder and Dilan tried to console her by reading to her. Keat was trying to formulate ways to escape in his head.
Then, out of nowhere, they heard heavy footsteps on their front porch. They looked up to see a monster, wearing a mask with large eyes and a big tube where the mouth should have been, was standing outside the window. It took a few steps back and smashed in the window with its club. Raul tried to apprehend it, but by the time he got to the window the beast had already gone to break more windows in. It wouldn't matter anyway, since the gas was now freely flowing in.
The poison cloud immediately began to roast their flesh. The ulcers on Faria spread further on her skin. In Keat's case his blisters began to bleed and leak plasma.
Raul felt his eyes sting, and flame up. His chest felt as though a giant grabbed a hold of him and was squeezing the life out of him.
Imi tried her hardest to gulp down some air but could only hack ferociously and vomit violently. Dilan's eyes were becoming frostbitten and his vision was clouding up. And Hola was fighting to stay conscious.
Time felt as though it had stood still while everyone wallowed in agonizing pain. Until, by the mercy of the gods, a wind came through and blew away the cloud of death. The miasma gradually dissipated inside the house. All the occupants were in a daze, barely comprehending the world around them. Raul used all the strength he had to push himself off the floor. Once he was able to stand on his feet, he wobbled over to the window. Are the monsters still there?
He almost fell back when he saw all the corpses of his friends and neighbors in the streets. It was incomprehensible! Questions flowed through Raul's mind like a hailstorm. Who did this and why?! What did they use?! Why did my family barely survive?!
Raul fell to his knees, overcome with anger and despair. He slammed his fist onto the floor and shouted out "MOTHERFUCKERS! HOW COULD THEY DO THIS?!"
His ears perked up at the sound of strained breathing and tapping on the floor. He turned behind him. Imi was laying on the floor, barely hanging on by a thread. His family needed him now more than ever. But, how could he help them? Surely everything had been drenched by the mysterious poison. Unless…
Raul dragged himself into the bedroom. If he could make it to the chest, he could grab some clean clothes. Then he could soak them in clean water and bring them back to everyone. Once everyone was healed they would either have to escape the town or see if there were any other survivors.
He gathered as many shirts and pants as he could fit into his arms. Balancing on his two feet, he wobbled his way to the kitchen. They usually kept a covered barrel full of clean water, perhaps it didn't catch any of the cloud. He had a try.
He knelt beside Imi. "This may sting," he warned his daughter as he dabbed wet cloth on her sores.
"Ow!" She yelped.
Keat was already up by this point. He and Dilan crouched under the window, scoping out for enemies. Keat's vision had functionally disappeared, all he could see was a blur of color. His hearing still worked miraculously well, however. He started hearing the steps of something very heavy. "Something's approaching."
"I see it. We all gotta hide!"
Hiding didn't do anything. The beast put his hand on the windowsill and leaped into the house. It could smell the fragile little humans huddled away somewhere in there…
The demon followed its nose and stepped into the bedroom to find all the occupants hiding underneath the window. "You all thought you could hide from me?!" It snarled at them. "Pathetic."
"WHO ARE YOU AND WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO US?!" Imi blared out, her snuff eyes welling with tears.
The monster pointed its club at her as it walked towards her, "Shut your damn pothole or I'll beat your face in." It bent over and snatched her leg, pulling her towards the door.
"No!" Imi screeched as she pounded on the monster's hand. "Lemme go!"
"Get your hands off my daughter!" Hola yelled, grabbing a sword from under her bed to fight.
The hellion sneered at her. "What do you think you're gonna do?"
Hola thrust the blade into its arm, drawing some blood. The beast barely reacted. Instead, it kicked Hola in her gut, sending her flying backward. "Pathetic," it spat at her. It turned its attention back to Imi and bound her hands with rope. Then it went to Hola and tied up her hands. Everyone was too horrified to utter a word.
I'm gonna need to get my pocket knife and hide it. Raul thought to himself as he inched towards his bed while the monster was carrying Imi and Hola out of the room. He grabbed the knife from under his bed and slipped it into his back pocket. He then took care to pull his shirt over it.
The beast eventually came for him. It and a few of its ilk carried him and everyone else to the town square. Memories triggered as they were carried past the corpses of their fellow townsfolk, from intimate weddings to drinking whiskey on the porch. Now lost forever.
Raul was unceremoniously tossed onto the town square. He immediately worked to get the knife out of his pocket and cut through his bindings. As he did, he kept a close eye on their captors. He overheard them talking about the effectiveness of something called chlorine and how many people were killed.
Once he freed himself, he set his sights on Hola. He whispered to her, "I'm cuttin' your ropes, then I'll get to the kids. I need you to take them and run. I'll need to stay and free as many as I can."
Hola nodded. Raul rapidly cut her out of her bondage and moved on to Dilan. As he was working on him, there was a static sound in the air. Eyes bounced all over, trying to find the source. Then in front of everyone, black dust began to swirl and coalesce into a tornado. Just as quickly as it appeared, a man as white as snow materialized from the void.
Who is he? Raul thought to himself as he kept cutting. He considered asking Keat, but then he remembered he could barely see. All he could do was focus and not get caught.
The pale man took a gulp of air and smirked. "It smells clean here."
The captain saluted his superior. "Lord Vaati, I have the report on the chlorine gas. Two thirds of the occupants were eradicated…"
Raul couldn't listen to the rest of it, he was so shocked at how many victims there were and how that information was being imparted. His hand shook and he started to slow down on Imi's ropes. He couldn't stop now though, he was so close to freeing his daughters. He had to keep going so they could escape.
He tuned out the outside world as best as he could while he sliced through Faria's bindings. Once he freed her, he tapped her shoulder. She rapidly turned to face her dad.
"Sneak out with mama and the others. Get as far away from here as you can and find a safe place to hide. You understand?" Raul whispered as calmly as he could, but the fear still leaked out of his voice.
"What 'bout you?" Faria's voice trembled with uncertainty. It dawned on her that she may never see her dad again.
He put his hand on her shoulder. "I'm staying to bust more people out. They're going to need help getting out of here and I can't just leave 'em here. So I need you to look after everyone, ok"
Faria didn't want to argue, so she nodded. She gave her dad a quick hug and then crawled away to join the rest of her family.
Immediately after, Raul sawed away at Keat's restraints. "How good can you see?"
"Not well, only a few feet in front of me," he responded quietly.
"You can escape with my family," Raul responded. "I don't know where your parents are, but you'll be safe with my kin." As he got to the last thread, he heard a shriek. He whirled to his right and saw to his horror one of the monsters had grabbed a hold of Faria by her wrist.
"What do we have here?" The man called Vaati cooly asked. He lifted up her chin with his finger. His touch sent chills down Faria's spine. And his gaze was so… perverted. She tried squirming to get away from both the man and monster.
"A runaway, what should I do with her, my lord?"
"Let her go!" Hola cut in with a venomous rage.
Vaati and the hellion both smirked. "Make me," the moblin goaded.
Hola punched and kicked it, to no avail. The brute slapped her so hard that she fell to the ground. It then turned its attention back to Faria. "I'm going to teach you a lesson -."
Suddenly, a rock got flung into its eye. Instinctively, it covered its eye and dropped Faria. The beast turned its attention to a boy with shaggy brown hair. "WHY YOU!"
Keat flung more rocks at the monster, this time around they landed on his arms and chest.
While the demon was lunging toward him, Hola grabbed him by the ankle, tripping him.
Keat took this as an opportunity to catch up with Faria and the others. "After them," Vaati ordered, sending a trio of his devilish soldiers after them.
The moblin got back on his hooves. "You BITCH," he screamed at Hola "You're gonna pay for that!" He brandished his club.
"Leave 'er alone!" Raul shouted out, rushing towards his wife.
"Stay out of it or I'll give it to you too!"
Meanwhile, the teens were running for their lives. Faria looked back to see if her mother was coming. She saw her father being pinned to the ground and the monster swinging a club at her mom. She took several steps back and with tears in her eyes kept running away. She couldn't do anything but try to survive and keep everyone safe.
It seemed as though fate had different plans. A lizard-man tackled her to the ground, Faria looked up to see her siblings and Keat being cornered by another lizalfos. "You're not getting away thisss time!"
Faria kicked and scratched back at him, all while it pinned her down on the ground. It had managed to rebind her hands with a long chord. It started to drag her back to the village, Faria only had a moment to come up with an escape plan.
She spotted a sharp stone on the ground. Her shoes had some holes by the toes, but were otherwise relatively intact. Faria scrunched her toes around the rock as they passed by. The lizalfos noticed her slowing down and tugged her forward. Then she seized her window of opportunity. She stomped on its tail, causing it to yelp in pain. Then she yanked at the leash, hard enough for the beast to stumble backwards. Before it could react, she managed to kick the daylights out of him. As the giant lizard lay incapacitated, Faria set herself free with the obsidian.
She looked around, it was already dark out. And her group was nowhere to be seen. They must've gone to Kakariko. She thought to herself as she kept running, I gotta find 'em and catch up.
With that, she ran into the darkness.
Author's note: I wanted this chapter to be scary in that the characters are up against a force they cannot fight or reason with and all it will do is kill them.
Chlorine gas was used in combat during WWI. During or immediately after being exposed to high concentrations of the gas, symptoms can include:
Blurred vision
Burning sensation in the nose, throat, lungs, and eyes
Coughing
Coughing up white to pink-tinged fluid that may be delayed by a few hours
Chest tightness
Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath (These may appear immediately if high concentrations are inhaled or they may be delayed if low concentrations are inhaled.)
Eye tearing
Frostbite if exposed to liquified chlorine
Nausea
Rapid and shallow breathing
Respiratory failure
Skin pain, redness, blisters
Vomiting
Wheezing
And depending on the concentration and length of exposure - death.
Chlorine gas is made when bleach and vinegar mix, so keep those as far apart as possible.
Same with ammonia for that matter, chloramine is made when bleach and ammonia mix. So, keep those far apart too.
