Hello folks, Chapter 86 is here, and it's time for Aviel's ceremony to awaken the Great Fairy! Will she pull it off, or was she right about not being the chosen one? Read and find out!
"Alright Aviel, keep it up! Step and shift! Step and shift!"
"Ack, okay! Slow down Nemisa!"
"No time for that, now spin and pivot!"
It was the morning of the second day of the festival, and Aviel was working on the moves that she was to perform at the ceremonial dance later that day. Nemisa was instructing her every literal step of the way. Aviel recalled Nemisa say how she learned her passion for dancing from a friend of hers back when she was a slave, but she was pretty sure that person didn't drill Nemisa this hard about it.
Meanwhile Link and Saria were both sitting some distance away and watching the practice, along with Mayor Nymnalo.
"The priestess is doing quite well, piou." Nymnalo said, "I can hardy wait for tonight when she awakens the Great Fairy!"
"Uh, just out of curiosity, what happens if Aviel can't pull it off?" Link asked a bit worriedly.
"Not to worry, if the priestess doesn't succeed we can postpone it until next year's festival." Nymnalo nodded with a chuckle, "We've waited many an era for this great day, what's one more year or two, piou?"
"That's a relief to hear." Saria whispered to Link.
"Yeah, that should relieve her of some pressure." Link whispered back.
"I wouldn't worry though, she's quite capable as she is." Nymnalo said, looking at Aviel dancing by Nemisa's command, "I have a feeling in my old bones that something great is going to happen this day."
They watched as Aviel started spinning in circles as she sang out the song in tune to the musicians. However, she was getting so much into the singing that she kept spinning. She was eventually spinning so fast that she wasn't looking where she was going and fell right into a nearby water canal.
Everyone paused as they saw Aviel's legs sticking up from the canal, before she scrambled around to get up and breathe.
"I'm okay!" Aviel called out from the water with a small flopping fish on top of her head.
"I really hope so Mr. Mayor..." Saria said sweatdropping.
As that was going on, Mr. Barrank was taking a morning stroll through the Rito's town. Accompanying him was his butler Tonashi as well as the butler's little sister Pecoli.
"You sure it's okay to go out to eat for breakfast like this, Mr. Barrank?" Pecoli asked, curious about why the self-important man was being so kind to the two of them for once.
"Kwaahahaha, but of course little one!" Barrank laughed, "We have plenty of reason to celebrate today, for it's the time of the Great Fairy's awakening!"
"Very good sir." Tonashi nodded, "And many thanks for allowing Pecoli to join us."
"Of course, how could I let this dear child be left out!" he boasted. As the other two went ahead, Barrank looked over to a duo of gossiping Rito women and grinned a little, "Top of the morning ladies!"
"O-Oh, hello there Mr. Barrank. My husband says you helped him out greatly last night with the festival stands. Um, thank you for that I guess?" the Rito woman said.
"Not a problem, just wanted to lend a wing to him!" Barrank said tipping his hat, "After all we have a lot to look forward to tonight!"
"Oh yes, the awakening of the Great Fairy!" nodded one of the Rito women, "Bless the priestess for doing this!"
"Yes... I just hope the poor priestess is capable of pulling it off..." Barrank muttered.
"What do you mean?" asked the lady curiously.
"Oh well... it's just... I sometimes wonder what her true connection could be with the Sky Guardian." Barrank spoke, "I haven't quite sensed much mystic power from her aside from those wings of hers..."
He glanced over at the woman and saw the curious look in her eyes, and grinned a bit.
"And then there's that company she's with... I've heard the Gerudo were supposed to be pretty notorious thieves and killers of the desert in the past." he muttered.
"Heavens, I never knew about that..." one of the Rito women spoke, "You don't think they'd try anything when we least expect it do you?"
"Now that you mention it, I could have shown I saw that little boy with the red shaggy hair they were with wandering out last night." the other woman said.
"Oh is that so? I sure hope he isn't up to something..." Barrank pondered, "I have a strange feeling about him..."
"What do you mean?" one of the women asked.
"Hey Mr. Barrank, hurry up!" called out Pecoli.
"...nothing, nothing at all. Forget I said anything." Barrank shrugged to the women, "You girls have a good day, may the Great Fairy bless us all!"
As Barrank went off on his way, he could tell the women were back to chatting about the dragon child and his connection to Aviel, and he snickered under his breath before going off to meet up with Tonashi and Pecoli.
"V! V!"
Korume was walking down the streets of Dhaijialoft, searching for V since that morning. She scowled in annoyance. She would fly on her broom but she was advised by Nymnalo not to startle the people of the town with her sorceress power.
"Ugh, just where are you, little salamander...?"
She was concerned with V's safety, as despite him being a powerful fire dragon to most people, to her and the others he was still an innocent little child. Perhaps she was developing maternal instincts within her knowing that someday she'd be the mother of Link's children in the future? She thought about how she teased Nemisa and her desire to be pregnant, then looked down at her slim stomach and gave it a rub, wondering just what that feeling will be like for herself when the time came...
She then heard someone talking in a backyard that was obscured by a tall stone fence near her. Checking to make sure no one was watching, she flew her broom up onto the top of the stone wall, laying on her stomach so as not to draw attention to herself, and peeked into the yard.
There was a large number of people all gathering around speaking to each other. They were all draped in strange silver cloaks, and they were wearing hoods with masks made out of gold metal. Korume took a close look at the masks in particular and saw they were designed like single giant gold eyes with red jeweled centers.
"It-it can't be... I know those masks..." Korume gasped silently, "I thought they had all been..."
Then she saw one more shocking sight, beside a particularly tall man wearing one of the silver cloaks, there was a familiar looking child with orange red hair. The man had his hand on V's shoulder and was speaking out to them all. V himself said nothing, but seemed a little uncertain about something.
"I need to warn Link and the mayor about this..." Korume said, as she turned to fly off, she found herself confronted by someone.
It was a young slim woman with short white hair done into twin buns on top. She had squinted topaz-colored eyes and bore a wide creepy grin, along with some triangle-shaped facial paint on her cheeks. She wore the same silver cloak as the ones in the yard, though she just wore it over her shoulders. Under it she was wearing a skin-tight black 'qipao' dress, matched with slim knee-high boots.
"Oooh, now what is this?" the woman spoke with a wide grin, "It seems that cute little desert mouse has wandered in on our meeting."
"What th-" Korume spoke, she was about to fight off the women, but then suddenly felt her body flip into the air by a strange sensation and fall to the ground of the backyard. She was about to get up when the woman leaped down and landed on her, "Grk!"
"Kyahahaha! Now don't you dare move, mouse..." spoke the woman, holding a pointed object against Korume's back, though the mystic wasn't quite sure what it was.
"Huh, Jianya? What do you have here?" spoke one of the hooded people, looking to the woman standing atop Korume, and he chuckled, "Ah yes, you're one of those Gerudo who just showed up here in town with the sky guardian priestess."
"Huh? Ms. Korume?" V exclaimed in surprise, only to be held back by the tall man.
"You better answer to him or I'll make it hurt!" the woman known as Jianya said, as Korume felt the pointy sensation press against her back.
"Release me, you vile woman..." Korume said, generating ice magic to blast Jianya off of her. She stood up and turned to the hooded people before her, "Those masks you all wear... just what are you all doing here? I thought you had been defeated in the land of Fargent all that time ago."
"So you know of us, do you?" spoke the man, pulling back his hood. He was a handsome older man with pale gray skin and long black hair, specifically he was the same man that had been at the Goron City when Link and the others were visiting Darunia. One thing Korume noted in particular about him was he wore a monocle over his left eye that reminded her of the design of a clock.
"As a mystic, I know your group from my studies into occult matters." Korume said narrowing her eyes coldly, "You're all from the Order of Reyahm."
The Order of Reyahm was an ancient religious cult from the early days of Hyrule's birth. It had been their goal to destroy the gods of Hyrule and replace them with new ones of their choosing. They had set up their base in the land of Fargent some time ago, but were defeated by the prince of that land, the same prince who recently married Princess Zelda.
"Huh, the bandits of the desert valley are better informed then I thought." spoke the man, "Despite what that accursed prince had done to our organization back then, it was just a minor setback from our great goals of world salvation."
"And just who are you then, their leader?" Korume asked, cautiously twitching her fingers to conjure ice in case they tried anything.
"No, I am Chaplain Iktiakh, merely a humble priest of the Reyahm Order." the man said with a bow, "We're here on important business with our friend here." he gestured to the man holding V.
The man was a tall and gruff looking individual with a purple mustache and beard, specifically the one who had been investigating an ice cavern in the mountains a couple days ago. He had one eye that was orange, while his other eye was a blank white.
"I don't care what you're trying to do, just release V before I gouge out your eyes." Korume said, creating a pair of ice spears.
"Heh, I can feel your magic. Despite your youth, you're quite a strong one." spoke the gruff man, "But the one you call 'V' isn't going anywhere, he's content to stay with us."
"What?" Korume spoke, "I don't believe that. V, come and let's go back to Link and Aviel."
But V just looked away with an uneasy look in his eyes, confusing her. After a moment of thought, she narrowed her eyes and decided to take action, firing off ice spikes at the gruff man to make him back off from V. The man rose up his own hand and a barrier made from a type of yellow energy appeared, blocking and shattering the ice.
"Uh oh." Korume said, realizing this man was the real deal.
She took her broom and was about to retreat and warn the others when she was suddenly flipped into the air by the strange sensation from before, causing her to fall off her broom and hit the ground. Before she could recover, Korume felt herself get restrained by the monks and someone snapping bands on her wrists. She tried to conjure her ice spears, but found the bands were holding her back.
"Magic-sealing bracelets... as a group seeking dangerous power it would be natural you'd have things like this..." Korume scowled, "I swear when I break free of these I'll make you all pay."
Iktiakh said nothing in response, but pulled out a statuette of a black dragon. He held it up to Korume, then after a moment he lowered it and frowned slightly.
"Hm, well you're not exactly material to become the ice deity we desire for our new future. But perhaps we can harness your power for the right person when the time comes." Iktiakh spoke with a smirk, "Keep her in confinement for now."
Before Korume was taken inside the building, she turned to V who was trying to look away, and narrowed her eyes at him. She wasn't positive what the Order was planning here, why V decided to side with these people, or just who that purple-bearded man was, but she knew they had to be stopped.
Even if it meant having to deal with the little salamander as well...
Later that day, Link was back in the mayor's estate, pacing back and forth in front of Aviel's room.
"Hmm, wonder where V went off too. Hopefully Korume found him." Link muttered, before calling out "You ready yet Aviel?"
"Just a sec Link! The girls are almost done dressing me!" Aviel called out. Shortly after that, the doors were opened by the servants, allowing Link to see his friend,
Aviel was now wearing a different outfit then before. Her normal spiky hair was now done up into small twin ponytails and wrapped in ribbons, the ends spreading out sort of like wings.
She wore a type of cloth that wrapped around her shoulders that resembled a line of white and blue feathers, and just under that was a light pink top that wrapped around her large breasts but still left them slightly exposed a bit underneath, and showed off her slim stomach. She wore her Roc's Wing sleeves on her forearms like usual.
Her waist was wrapped in a light blue silk strap that held on a light pink skirt with the bottom resembling long feathers that had light blue tips at the end. Sticking out from under the skirt her legs and feet were exposed, her feet themselves were in sandals that wrapped up around her shins.
Link also noticed she had some strange markings painted on her body in various places like her cheeks, her upper arms and her legs. He presumed they were some type of ceremonial markings of being the priestess and were there to help awaken the Great Fairy.
"There you are Priestess, good luck to you in your ceremony today!" the rito servant giggled. She and her fellow servant went off on their way, taking a moment to give Link a knowing wink on her way out.
With the two of them now alone, Aviel looked pretty embarrassed at how much Link was staring at her, and scratched her cheek timidly with a slight grin.
"H-Hey Link." Aviel said, "Uh, so how do I look?"
Link shook off his initial shock and nodded with a grin, "You look great Aviel, like a real priestess!"
"Y-Yeah..." Aviel nodded and gulped, "Guess we'll see about that..."
Link could understand her response considering her uncertainty, all he knew was he needed to fully support her in this. Nemisa and Saria then both came in and reacted to how Aviel looked as well.
"Wow, look at you! You're beautiful Aviel!" Saria said excitedly.
"Yes, and with the way you've been training, if the Great Fairy doesn't awaken to your performance then she's a fool." Nemisa said grinning.
"T-Thanks everyone." Aviel said blushing, feeling a bit uplifted from their encouragement.
As Link, Nemisa and Saria all went ahead, Aviel took a moment to look down at her Roc Wing's feathers, running a hand along them as she remembered her grandpa, before taking a breath and moving on to her duty...
The duty she hoped she could properly fulfill...
The group soon arrived at the entrance to the Sky Temple, where just about everyone in Dhaijialoft had arrived. The clouds were still gathering overhead, but no one paid them any mind as they were all too focused on the ceremony. Mayor Nymnalo was standing at the entrance without saying a word, while Aviel gulped nervously before she went up to stand before the people. Link, Nemisa and Saria all stood at the side to watch.
While the others had left their tools at the mayor's place, Aviel had brought her crossbow so that she could show it off to the Rito after the ceremony and demonstrate it's potential for them to use for their own lives. She hoped that even if she couldn't pull off the ceremony, that she could at least appeal to them in other ways.
Everyone waited as Mayor Nymnalo stood there, seemingly waiting for the right opportunity to start his speech...
The people continued to wait as he stood there, not saying a word, until a small bubble rose up from his beak, as they could hear a deep snoring.
Everyone faulted over in annoyance of the mayor falling asleep yet again. Aviel sighed out and just popped the bubble with her finger, snapping him awake.
"-and so people of Dhaijialoft, it is with our great priestess of the Sky Guardian that the ceremony shall be completed. The Great Fairy of Balance shall finally awaken to bring about her task that will bring our people and the world to prosperity, piou!" Nymnalo announced.
Aviel watched as many in the crowd cheered out loudly and enthusiastically, though she couldn't help but notice a significant number of them seemed to be much less vocal or even didn't bother cheering for some reason, some were even whispering among each other. It certainly didn't help her uncertainty.
She also saw among the crowd was Mr. Barrank, his butler Tonashi, and Pecoli, the latter of whom was riding on her brother's shoulders, the young bird girl was cheering out loudly and waving her wings for Aviel. Seeing the young bird gave her a little more confidence to speak up,
"T-Thank you all for your support, it is with this day that I will perform my duty here and awaken the Great Fairy." Aviel said bowing her head, "I vow to do my best and not let you down."
Among the cheering, she noticed some more murmuring from the Rito, but she couldn't quite make out what they were saying.
"Now come Priestess Aviel, its time to meet your destiny!" Nymnalo said, leading a somewhat reluctant Aviel up to the door of the Great Fairy.
Aviel stared up at the giant door, and the symbols of the Great Fairy decorating it. This would be the moment she had been dreading since she regained her memories...
'Can I really pull this off...? Can I really awaken the Great Fairy of Balance?' Aviel thought.
The musicians started up their instruments, and the Melody of Sky started to play. Aviel took a deep breath, and went to start dancing. Following the instructions of Nemisa over the past two days, she started moving her legs in rhythm to the music, moving her hips and swaying her arms. When the music got to just the right point, Aviel opened her lips and started to sing the Melody of Sky.
"Laaa-la-la... la-la-la, La-la..."
Link and everyone watched from outside the Wind Temple as Aviel danced elegantly and sung the melody on point. Nemisa couldn't help but mimic the dancing herself out of habit, while Saria was happily humming the music. As Pecoli sat on Tonashi's shoulders, she watched in awe at Aviel's performance, she couldn't be more excited to see the door open so she could congratulate the priestess afterwards.
"Laaa-la-la... la-la-la, La-la..."
Even Barrank was caught off guard by Aviel's performance. The way she moved, and the way she sang, it was clear she had put her all into this despite her believing to be a fake. The Rito nobleman felt a small nagging thought in the back of his mind in that moment, but shook it off so he could wait for the results, as his eyes focused on the Roc's Wings she wore in particular...
"Laaa-la-la... la-la-la, La-la la-lala-la la..."
Link meanwhile looked on at Aviel, marveling at how hard she was trying for the sake of everyone. Even if she didn't turn out to be the chosen priestess, he vowed to support her in whatever choice she made afterwards.
"Laaa-la-la... la-la-la, La-la..."
Aviel knew this was the moment of truth, soon the song would end, and she would perform the final notes of the Melody of Sky. She silently prayed to the Gerudo goddesses for their support, and for the Great Fairy herself to awaken.
"Laaa-la-la... la-la-la, La-la..."
The music started to wind down, and Aviel did a series of twirls, executed perfectly with each step. Most of the crowd stood in awe as Aviel soon completed the dance with a single poise, and sang out the last notes of the ceremony.
"La-lala-la LAAAAAAAAAAAAA!"
And with that, Aviel stood before the door, motionless as she waited for the answer to her question.
There was silence, no one even breathed in that moment, to see how the Great Fairy of Balance would respond to the Sky Guardian Priestess' performance...
...but nothing happened.
Nymnalo stared up at the door for what felt like an eternity, but was just a few minutes, before letting out a disappointed sigh, "It would seem... the Great Fairy has not heard the call."
"O-Oh..." Aviel spoke, lowering her head sadly.
"Don't concern yourself priestess," Nymnalo said, giving her a reassuring pat on the back, "You did splendidly, it's very likely the Great Fairy just isn't ready quite yet. There's always next year, piou."
"Y-Yeah..." Aviel said sadly, "Next year..."
The reality was that Aviel had no intention of returning, not now that she was certain of how much a fake she really was.
"Well then, let's go greet the people about this." Nymnalo said, "Don't worry, I'm sure they'll be understanding."
Aviel nodded weakly and walked out from the Sky Temple, and looked out at the crowd of Rito before her. They were all silent and watching, some seemed to look rather upset or annoyed, and she saw Pecoli was staring out at her with a look of confusion. Nymnalo decided to step forward and make an announcement to try and assure the people.
"Didn't work out?" Link whispered to Aviel.
"No, I was right after all..." the Gerudo girl sighed.
"Oh no," Saria said sadly, "I'm so sorry Aviel..."
"If it makes you feel any better, you danced and sang splendidly. Perhaps you could join me some night to perform at my nightclub in Gerudo Town?" Nemisa said smiling.
"Sure, thanks Nemisa..." Aviel said with a small smile.
"...and so, it would seem that the Great Fairy is not yet ready to awaken yet. Therefore, we shall have this year's festival resume as normal, and we shall await her awakening next year!" Nymnalo stated out to the crowd, "Thank you all for coming, and may the Great Fairy's future awakening be a prosperous one, piou!"
"...next year, huh? Yeah right!" said a member of the crowd, "Weren't you the one that said this was the promised year, Mayor?!"
"Yeah, all the words of the Sky Guardian and the prophecy said this year would be the Great Fairy's time of awakening!" said another.
"W-Well you see, we just had a minor setback and-" Nymnalo stammered, but the crowd started to shout out more.
"Then what I've heard is true, that girl isn't the chosen one after all!"
"She's an impostor!"
"Hey wait a minute, aren't you jumping to conclusions a little?" one Rito commented.
"Yeah, maybe the Great Fairy truly isn't ready yet...?" suggested another, but they were drowned out by the increasingly angry crowd.
"Or maybe the more sensible answer is that the priestess failed us!"
"Forget failed us, this was probably a con act from the beginning by her! She is a Gerudo after all!"
"I bet she came here to take advantage of our faith in the Sky Guardian!"
"I've heard tales of the Gerudo and their evil demon king Ganondorf!"
"I thought was something was suspicious about her!"
"Yeah, she probably wanted to awaken the Great Fairy's power and steal it for him!"
"The priestess is a fraud!"
Aviel was in stunned silence at the outrage, hanging her head down as tears started to form in her eyes.
"This is bad..." Link muttered, the Rito's accusations weren't too far off from what he had heard before from the people of Hyrule in the past about the Gerudo. He went ahead and attempted to speak out to them, "Wait, if you'd just let us explain-!"
"What's to explain, the truth is before us!" shouted a Rito, "You accursed land-dwellers are liars!"
"Hey, watch your pointed tongues!" Nemisa shouted to the crowd in anger, "If you knew how hard Aviel worked to please you ungrateful morons you'd-"
"She's nothing but a fraud!" shouted a Rito.
"FRAUD! FRAUD! FRAUD! FRAUD! FRAUD!" the crowd shouted out angerly, Aviel flinching every time she heard them shout.
"Big Bro, what's going on?" Pecoli asked as she looked around.
"Sorry Pecoli, but perhaps we should leave before this gets more ugly..." Tonashi said, backing out from the crowd for his little sister's sake despite her protests to stay for Aviel.
Meanwhile, Barrank had his arms folded and was snickering lightly to himself, 'Kwaahahaha... just as planned, spread a little gossip to stir up doubt in these fools' minds, and when her true colors are revealed they all turn against her.'
"Please," Aviel spoke softly as tears were falling down her face, "I didn't know before, I... just..."
"Link, we need to get Aviel out of here!" Saria said as he looked out to the angry mob forming.
"Yeah," Link nodded, "Mayor Nymnalo, can you get your guards to disperse the crowd?"
"I would, but..." Nymnalo sighed sadly, he gestured to the crowd to see his guards were also angrily raising their spears in protest, "It seems they too are revolting."
"Revolting is a good word for it." Nemisa said narrowing her eyes.
"Take the sacred Roc's Wings off those land-dweller arms of hers!" Barrank shouted, pointing out his cane, "They must have been stolen from the Roc by those thieving Gerudo!"
"Yeah, reclaim the wings for the Sky Guardian!" shouted a Rito, as the crowd charged forward at Aviel, Link, Nemisa and Saria.
"Please everyone, stop! Desist!" shouted Nymnalo, but his words went ignored.
Despite Link not having his sword and shield at that moment in time and Saria not having her Deku Staff, they along with Nemisa and all stepped out in front of Aviel to protect her. Unfortunately the sheer numbers of the crowd overwhelmed them and were knocked back, allowing the bird people to grab at Aviel in her emotional state, and they quickly yanked off the Roc's Wing sleeves.
"We got them Mr. Barrack!" shouted a Rito, holding up the sleeves.
"Hey, give those back!" Aviel shouted.
"Let go of her you bastards!" Link shouted, punching a Rito trying to restrain him away and then bashing one of the ones holding Aviel in place with his shoulder, while Nemisa flipped through the air and jump kicked the other.
"Back off you turkeys!" Nemisa shouted, punching away a guard.
"Hey, watch your language!" shouted a Rito to Nemisa, baffling her on how that was a possible offensive remark.
"Restrain the false priestess and throw her in the prisons!" shouted a Rito trying to grab at Aviel.
Link decked the Rito with a punch and yanked Aviel back, holding her protectively. Aviel buried her tear-stained face in Link's robe, feeling so helpless in that moment as the crowd continued to shout at her. As Link heard the yelling crowd he narrowed his eyes, getting more and more frustrated with them...
'Kwaahahaha!' Barrank grinned, rubbing his hands together, 'Now she'll be chased right out of town, I'll still keep my position as the town's protector, and I'll have the Roc's Wings for myself!'
He looked up to witness Aviel fleeing in fear, but instead he saw she was doing nothing but trembling and crying, holding onto Link for comfort. Barrank stared up at her in that state, and there was something bothering him about it for some reason...
One of the Rito guards ran up at Link and Aviel with a spear to capture them, but Link stopped them by grabbing the spear and flinging the guard away to the ground. This allowed Saria to snatch up the guard's spear for defense. It wasn't the Deku Staff, but it was designed close enough that she could wield it properly. One Rito lunged at them, but Saria used the blunt end of the spear to knock him away while Nemisa kicked another guard back.
"Damnit, this crowd's too big, and I don't have my tools." Link said, punching a villager away while looking around for an opening.
"Link, get Aviel out of here. We'll hold them off!" Nemisa said, punching and kicking away some of the Rito mob.
"You sure?" Link asked with concern.
"Don't worry about us Link, you know we can handle ourselves!" Saria said, using the spear she took from the guard to fight the mob off, being careful to use the blunt end so as not to cause any potentially lethal injuries.
"Okay, just be careful you two." Link nodded, as he took Aviel and hurried her along.
Meanwhile towards the back, a Rito who had taken the Roc's Wings from Aviel handed them to Barrank.
"Here you are Mr. Barrank, just as you asked. As the town wizard we think you'll do best to guard them for the real priestess!" said the Rito.
"Uh... very well... thank you." Barrank said, taking one last look off in the direction of where Link and Aviel ran, starting to feel a creeping sensation of guilt in the back of his mind... before he shook it off and went on his way back to his estate.
Link and Aviel hurried down the road through the town. Their best bet at that point was to get to the mayor's house where they could get Link's equipment and get Saria her Deku Staff before escaping out of town.
"Just where the hell are Korume and V?!" Link asked looking around, "Something's not right here!"
"Halt!" shouted a voice, as Link looked into the air, seeing some Rito guards flying at them with spears.
"Uh oh." Link said, they were about run, but they were stopped by some more villagers flying down from the sky.
"You forgot we Rito can fly, land-dwellers." spoke one of the mob members, "Now give up."
Aviel gulped nervously, she wanted to say something, but couldn't get out the words. Link wrapped his arm around Aviel and held her close.
"Enough of this, she did nothing wrong!" Link shouted out angerly to the Rito.
"She willingly deceived us and make a mockery of our faith in the Sky Guardian and the Great Fairy Goddess, that cannot go unpunished!" a Rito stated.
"Yeah, she must face trial for her deception!" said another.
"She should suffer!"
"I said shut up... all of you..." Link spoke, he lowered his head downwards, his hair falling over his eyes, as he was growing angrier with each horrible word the mob spoke about Aviel.
"Link... we should just try to escape another way." Aviel said, as she trying to pull him in another direction.
"Stop her at all costs!" shouted a Rito.
"Don't let her get away for taking advantage of us!"
"Death to the false priestess!" shouted another in the back.
As Aviel tried to pull him, Link came to a complete stop. He didn't move or say anything, Aviel looked up to him with worry, trying to tug on his arm to keep him going, but he stayed perfectly still.
"So is this your thanks to Aviel for everything she's done...?" Link spoke to the Rito in a low voice, "She put in all her effort to bring smiles to your faces... and yet all I hear is you damn birds calling for her death...?"
"Link...?" Aviel spoke.
"If you bastards don't back down right now..." Link muttered turning towards the mob, he then rose his head up, showing his eyes had turned a blank white and yelled out with absolute rage, "I WON'T GIVE YOU THE CHANCE TO!"
"Wha-? What's wrong with that guy?" a Rito exclaimed.
Aviel looked up and saw Link's angry stare, the gentle blue eyes that reminded her of the sky were replaced with blank and white rage. It worried her just as it had back when she first saw it during the caravan trip with Togau, back when they had been confronted by those rogue Hylian knights posing as bandits.
"Stop them!" shouted a Rito guard, two of them ran up brandishing their spears.
Before the guards could even come close to Aviel though, Link grabbed the spear of one of them and punched the bird right in the face, sending him flying back. Another came at him and Link skillfully dodged each swipe, before ramming into him with a shoulder bash. Before the guard could get up, Link jumped down and held him down. The Rito looked up in horror at the glare of rage in Link's eyes as the Hylian started punching him in the face.
"Link..." Aviel whispered, too shaken and afraid to speak up clearly.
The two more Rito came up from behind and started attacking Link, one guard thrust his spear and hit him right in the back, but Link didn't even seem to so much as flinch from it, and instead swung his fist out and punched him so hard he broke through the spear and into the face of the Rito. He then grabbed another Rito by his beak and swung him right into another.
"Wha-what's with this guy? He's dangerous!" a Rito cowered in fear.
"Link... why is this happening to you...?" Aviel whispered.
As more guards started trying to attack Link at once, he brought his fist up into the air. In that moment, Aviel could swear she saw a brief surge of energy coursing out from Link, before he shouted out and slammed his fist to the ground. The impact caused a huge shockwave of seismic energy that blasted all the Rito away, while the ground started to shake and rumble.
"What is this, an earthquake?!" shouted a Rito, "Here of all places?"
"This isn't a man, it's a demon!" screamed another Rito.
"Link..." Aviel spoke softly, before closing her eyes and shouting out loudly, "Link, please snap out of it!"
Upon hearing the faint sound of Aviel's voice, Link paused in his tracks and the rumbling stopped. His eyes started to slowly shift from the blank white to the gentle sky blue from before and he groaned out, clutching at his head.
"No... I can't let it..." Link muttered, "I won't let you take over...!"
"Link!"
He then felt a soft embrace, looking to see Aviel was hugging him tightly. Feeling his friend trying to comfort him, Link started to breathe more steadily and calm down.
"Link please, we gotta get outta here!" Aviel said pleadingly.
"Aviel..." Link whispered, "I'm sorry, I-"
Link was cut off however when he felt a sudden sharp pain. Some guards had came up from behind while he was recovering and aimed their blowdart pipes at the two, squeezing the octorok air sacs attached to the ends, and firing off darts right at Link which hit him in the legs.
"Grk!" Link flinched, as his legs started to quickly feel weak and he fell over.
"Oh no, Link what happened?" Aviel exclaimed trying to help him up.
"It's those paralyzing darts they use..." Link groaned, recalling the thief that the guards dealt with back when they were visiting the town, "I can't move my legs, they feel numb..."
"Surrender yourself false priestess!" shouted the guards, loading more darts into their pipes.
Aviel gulped, she wished she had her crossbow in this situation. But even if she did, she wasn't sure she wanted to hurt the Rito, even if they were attacking them like this...
"I just wanted to make everyone happy..." Aviel whispered, closing her eyes tightly as she held Link.
Before the mob could get to them though, another modest sized group of Rito showed up to block them off, which included ones like Mayor Nymnalo and the cucco woman Crissile.
"Huh? Mayor, what do you think you're doing?" shouted one the mob members in surprise.
"As the mayor of this village I won't allow you to hurt our priestess, piou." the mayor said angerly, ruffling his feathers, "Now stand down citizens!"
"You all lay one wing on her again and you'll have to answer to me!" Crissile shouted flexing her wings.
"Wanna gang up on this young lady? Then how about my goldfish gang up on you!" said a certain bald Rito holding some angry goldfish in bags that were thrashing around, waiting for a good fight.
"Priestess..." spoke one of the musicians who was performing the Melody of Sky earlier, now wielding her instrument like a blunt weapon, "Please flee this place, we'll hold them off as long as possible."
"Everyone..." Aviel said with tears in her eyes, "Even you Ms. Crissile? I couldn't do anything for your love charm... you weren't able to find your true love..."
"It's okay little one!" Crissile said smiling, "It may not have been as it was made for, but your effort alone gave me the courage to start man-hunting again! Now it's my turn to help you!"
"Ms. Aviel here, take your bow back!" Mayor Nymnalo said, tossing Aviel her crossbow, "Listen... I'm sorry for everything, my people and I have caused you a great burden of trouble. Please flee with your friend, and we'll do what's necessary to make up for all of this, piou."
"Mr. Mayor..." Aviel said with tears in her eyes, as she helped escort Link away. The mob rushed at the mayor and his comrades, who all stood ready to fend them off.
Aviel turned her head away and concentrated on running, doing what she could to carry off Link through the town to safety.
As Aviel carried Link, she could hear shouting and rioting all around the area as the Rito fought each other over the priestess, the once peaceful land of Dhaijialoft was falling into complete chaos.
"Oooh, I wish I had my Roc's Wings..." Aviel spoke, looking to her friend, "Link I'm sorry, this is all my fault..."
"Hey, don't say that, you were..." he paused, "Aviel, watch out!"
Aviel was confused by Link's response, looking down in surprise to see more darts had been plunged into his body, namely his arm and his back, looking as if they were paralyzing him even further.
"Oh no, Link!" Aviel exclaimed, looking behind her to see the mob had caught up with him.
"Surrender false priestess, now!" shouted a Rito guard within the mob.
Link groaned and gurgled as the darts were affecting him even worse then before. It felt like his whole body was starting to become numb.
Aviel gulped nervously, she could only hope that Nemisa and Saria were okay after they had defended her earlier. She was seriously beginning to think the best option would be to surrender herself in the hopes that they would at least let her friends go...
But then a loud roar went off, stopping everyone in their tracks.
"What... was that?" muttered a Rito.
"Hey look!"
Everyone looked up to see a large orange-red creature came flying down through the sky, letting out a mighty roar as it breathed fire down at the Rito, forcing them to back off.
"A dragon?!" exclaimed a Rito.
"By the Sky Guardian, it's really a dragon!" shouted another.
"Run for your lives!"
"It's V...?!" Aviel exclaimed.
The dragon roared out and breathed more fire down around them, destroying some of the decorations set up around the village and setting some of the trees on fire. The people panicked and ran around screaming for help.
"What's he doing?" Aviel exclaimed.
"I don't know. He's either helping us... or making it worse." Link groaned.
V then descended down to the ground, and in an eruption of flames, everyone saw him in his child form once again. There was a moment of near silence as V stared out at everyone, Link and Aviel in particular.
"V? What was that all about...?" Aviel spoke.
"...I-I'm sorry for this..." V simply said to them with a sad look in his eyes, before turning and running off, "I'm sorry!"
"V, wait!" Aviel shouted, but he was already long gone.
"That explains it! That child was a dragon all along!" a Rito shouted.
"He came with the false priestess, they must have been planning this from the start to destroy us and claim the Great Fairy's power, just like that evil dragon from ten years ago!" said another.
"Wait, no! That's not what it was!" Aviel shouted defensively.
"Kill them both!" shouted the mob, coming at the two of them.
It was then in that moment that Aviel had enough, she narrowed her eyes and quickly whipped out her crossbow, aiming it downwards and firing it at the ground. The arrow impacted inches away from the feet of one of the lead mob members, causing them to step back.
"Huh? W-What kind of weapon is that?" exclaimed one of the mob members.
"As King Link's bodyguard, I demand you all back off right now!" Aviel shouted angerly.
"Wha- king? Bodyguard...?" another one of the Rito spoke in confusion.
Some guards came up and tried firing blowdarts at the two, but Aviel quickly and accurately fired off more arrows from her crossbow. Her aim was so precise the arrows actually repelled the darts away harmlessly in midair, shocking everyone.
"I said back off!" Aviel shouted, holding Link closer to her.
While Aviel was holding back the mob, a small figure was rushing as fast as she could down the street towards the scene. It was Pecoli who had snuck away from her brother, and she was running to where she had seen the dragon a second ago.
"Priestess Aviel, please be safe!" Pecoli said desperately.
"Come on, she can't take all of us!" shouted a Rito, making the mob rile up more.
"Stay back..." Aviel spoke, holding her crossbow out as steady as she could, as tears were starting to form in her eyes, "Stay back or I'll shoot, I mean it!"
Some of the Rito in the mob saw the tears fall from Aviel's face, and started speaking to each other.
"Hey wait, maybe we really should back off..." suggested one of them, "Maybe this is just a big misunderstanding...?"
"Yeah, the poor thing is shaking in fear..." spoke another with concern.
"She should be afraid! She committed an unforgivable crime of using our sacred belief for deception!"
"Yeah, don't show weakness, or she'll kill us all!" shouted another Rito.
As the crowd started arguing with one another, one particular Rito man was aggravated enough by Aviel's deception, her angry friend's power, and the dragon attack. He quickly snatched a spear from a hesitant guard and rushed right at Aviel and Link with it, ready to pierce through them both.
"I've had it... Eeeerraaahh!" the Rito shouted with a war cry.
"Hey, someone stop him!" shouted another Rito frantically.
Aviel saw the Rito coming right at them with the spear and she held up her crossbow, her hand shaking as she did her best to aim right at him. Her finger went slowly around the trigger...
"DIE YOU IMPOSTER!" the Rito shouted in anger.
"Aviel wait! Let me, ugh..." Link groaned, but was unable to move, "You don't have to..."
"No, I do have to Link..." Aviel spoke.
Aviel's mind was flooded with memories about her adventure. Coming to the town of Dhaijialoft and having the people weirdly bow to her. The kindly Mayor Nymnalo who told her of what the Roc's Wings meant. The wonderful citizens praising her as she went down the street. The happy smiles on all their faces as she gave them her blessings. When she met sweet little Pecoli who took to her like a big sister. The fun festival night they had spent together. The training to learn the song and dance of the Sky Guardian. All the Rito who were depending on her to fulfill her role as the priestess...
Yet despite all that, there was only one person that mattered to her in that moment, the one laying against her, paralyzed and defenseless, the man she had collided into two years ago in Gerudo Canyon, the man who was the closest friend she had in her life, the man she had come to fall in love with...
And she had to do everything she could to protect Link.
"I'm a bodyguard."
And so Aviel fired an arrow from her crossbow, straight and true.
The Rito wielding the spear shouted out in pain, before falling to the ground with an arrow lodged right in his chest.
The crowd stood shocked for a brief moment in time, before they screamed out in terror.
"By the Great Fairy Goddess, she shot him!"
"Someone call for a doctor!"
"The priestess actually shot him?!"
After recovering from her initial shock, Aviel saw the Rito laying on the ground before her, and the other Rito desperately trying to help him. She then noticed a familiar face in the crowd, and looked with horror to see the small Rito child standing at the front of the mob, with wide horrified eyes. It was Pecoli, and she had just witnessed Aviel shooting the Rito man with her crossbow.
"A-Aviel... y-you..." Pecoli stammered.
"Oh no... he's dead! He's actually dead!" shouted out one of the Rito frantically.
Aviel flinched at those words, she hadn't deliberately tried to kill him, but her grip was shaky from how emotionally distraught she had been. It's not as if she hadn't killed other people before, but this wasn't just some monsters, bandits or slavers... these were people who had once put their trust into her, and she had vowed to protect and make happy...
"She's a monster, and a murderer!" shouted someone in the crowd.
"Hey, wait a minute, he attacked them first!" pointed out one Rito.
"Yeah she was just defending herself!" protested another.
"No, she's a threat! You saw that dragon she unleashed on us!" interjected another Rito, "She wants to kill all of us!"
"Yeah, forget a trial, she must be immediately executed for this!"
Aviel gulped, there was no way she could talk her way out of this now. She looked to see Pecoli still standing there, trembling at what had happened. Aviel saw her back up ever so slightly, showing the fear she felt, and telling Aviel exactly what the young Rito thought of her now...
The Gerudo girl didn't say a word, and went to escape with Link. But it wasn't long before the arguing mob realized she had ran away and pursued her.
Aviel soon came to a stop at the edge of town that was overlooking a large cliffside. One of the rivers flowing through the town had ended there, and there was a waterfall going down into the fog below. She stared down over the edge, but it was impossible to see just how far it was below.
The bodyguard checked her arrows; she only had six left, as well as two Bombling arrows. She had three extra quivers back at the mayor's place, but she couldn't possibly go for them with the mob pursuing them. She then heard some loud shouting and saw the mob had caught up with her and Link.
"End of the line you bitch." said one of the Rito at the front.
"We're going to make you pay for what you've done!" shouted another.
"Fraud!"
"Murderer!"
Aviel paused, looking down at the cliffside waterfall, then down to Link who was still paralyzed. By that point he couldn't even speak properly and was mumbling incoherently due to the huge amount of paralyzing dart serum within him. There was no one to help them, she couldn't fight off all these people by herself, and now that she took the life of one of the Rito, she figured not even surrendering would do them any good.
But no matter what, she knew she had to protect her king, and her friend.
Aviel held Link close to her, stepped back, and before anyone could stop her, she fell off the side of the cliff with him, shocking everyone.
"By the Sky Guardian, she actually jumped?" exclaimed a Rito.
"I'll go fly down and try to hep her!" said one, but was stopped by another.
"No need, she realized her sins, and took her own life, as well as that of her minion." said a Rito with a sneer, "Let's go back, and deal with those others now."
While a few members of the crowd were hesitant, they soon nodded and left back to the town.
All but one, who was looking over the side of the cliff, unable to see what happened to Aviel and Link due to the fog.
"Aviel..." whispered Pecoli, tears falling down her cheeks, as the only sound that could be heard at that point was the water flowing down into the mountainous area below...
And that ends this chapter. With everyone now separated, the town in chaos, and a mysterious new threat rising up, how will our heroes get out of this mess? Stay tuned as this arc continues!
I just want to say I apologize if this arc seems to be dragging on way too long. The story's going to finally start shifting towards the main plot after this arc, so bare with me.
As always, thank you all for your support. Leave a like, follow and comment at your choice!