Chapter 7: Viator
Kidnapping in Kaiohdrahl Arc
Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda; this is just a Fan Fiction
Featured Music: "Ranked Amongst the World's Best" – The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass OST. Chapter Briefing.
"Black Light" – Death Note OST. Scene 1 (Second Half).
"Enter EVE" – No Straight Roads OST. Scene 3 (Second Half).
"L'Oscurità dell'Ignoto " – Kingdom Hearts III OST. Scene 4 (First & Half).
"Heroic Goku Theme" – Dragonball Z Unreleased OST. Scene 4 (Second Half).
At long last the group of heroes find success.
In having taught Link a brand new form-change technique, the 'Loftwing King' form, she has essentially magnified the rest of the group's success rate by at least one hundred percent; a number fit for the great soldiers of Niylahn, ancient Hylians themselves. As they are sent out to Kaiohdrahl to meet with king Alabaster and Queen Ophelia, they soon learn that their new-born daughter – the princess Elise – has been abducted in the night and most presumably and likely, by an operative of the Himitsu Shakai.
Impa and the heroes meet with knight Shanaari, an old friend of the group from their previous adventure across Aurelia; a somewhat happy reunion under saddened circumstances that sees them all co-operating together under another common cause. With their history in also having met and become good friends with Kaiohdrahl's own royal family, the group agree to assist them in the search for their missing child as well as look for the parties responsible; presumably a member of the Shakai themselves.
As they press on through Clearwater Mountain and up the beautiful landscape they not only encounter traces of the Shakai but a close friend still out on his own assignment across Aurelia; former rival to Link and runner up at the martial arts world championship tournament, Raynard Van Garrick himself. Raynard reveals the bulk of his gathered intel over the past two years and the last prisoner he managed to rescue; a little guardian fairy, greatly resembling Link's old companion Navi, currently with no name. The ever-sensitive Zelda suggests that they christen the little guardian fairy with a name and they all agree on 'Sena'; a name that resonates well with her as she, perhaps instinctively, keeps her little person around the shocked Link.
In their meeting together, Raynard and Link perhaps inevitably choose to test their skills together in a fiery and brutal clash of fists and fire; a competition that ends in another victory for the former Hero of Time. He reveals his new form-change, the 'Loftwing King' arrangement; a switch to his normal style of fighting that vastly exceeds all others thus far. His general strength, speed, reaction time and even basic Aegir techniques are all massively enhanced, including his Aegir-control; in fact, so enhanced, that he manages to walk on the very air itself, much like the beautiful Loftwing birds of old.
In utilising nature's Aegir itself to achieve this construction, Link confronts the kidnapper of princess Elise one-on-one; a former friend and companion to the group, sky-blue haired and erstwhile lecturer at Clearwater Institute – Grier Sinclair. Shocked at the very fact, most of the group are almost unable to process the sight before them, leaving the former Hero of Time to lock fists and blade with the man. The fight itself is bloody and brutal but, with relative comfort, Link somehow is able to put down the once-fearsome reputation of the Himitsu Shakai; Grier however uses his superior control over the air and light speed to rush at princess Elise in the hopes of killing her, leaving the ever-scowling Raynard to step in and deal the killing blow. While laying on the ground, gasping for life and opting to mock the group, he chooses to divulge all he knows yet only to the one person who managed to overpower him.
It is in this action that he attempts, yet again, to kill the blonde youth however.
In great spite to the fact that Grier did go for the kill in the attempt, he also genuinely divulged the much-desired information; something that shocked the wide-eyed Hylian. After successfully rescuing the new-born princess Elise, the group with Shanaari, Sena and Raynard in tow, turn back down the mountain and head back down to Tiverpool Castle to meet and talk with Kaiohdrahl's worried parents…
Scene 1
Kaiohdrahl
Clearwater Mountainside
(Clearwater Gorge)
"Oh my goddesses… thank you… thank you all so much…"
The frowning-faced Impa nodded back at the gasping queen Ophelia and the shut-eyed king Alabaster as she handed the unharmed, sleeping princess Elise into the queen's grip and arms. King Alabaster raised up his eyes to face the loyal Sheikah servant before nodding back at her, grateful tears staining at his eyes as he did.
"Thank you… lady Impa…," he spoke in a hushed whisper of acknowledgement. "We owe you… and the 'Light Bringers'… a debt that can never be repaid…"
Impa shook her silvery-haired head back at the man, armoured arms respectfully held at her two sides as she did. "No…," she merely responded with. "If it wasn't for Link, or Sun Hui's teaching, there's no way the rest of us would have even matched up with the aggressor," she admitted, frowning on as she usually did. "These members of the Shakai are just… too powerful."
"Ey if it wasn't for you guys, Vicky and Ray in particular, I wouldn't have been able to save the kid," Link threw in haphazardly, chuckling well-naturedly as he rubbed the back of his blonde-haired head as if in light embarrassment. "It's me who owes you guys!"
"The fact is all of you were instrumental in saving this child's life," Shanaari spoke up as she joined the Kaiohdrahlian royal family, choosing to smile as she folded her own armoured arms at the group as a whole. In reaction the heroes all exchanged grateful looks of their own together, as if pleased. "We cannot thank you enough for your help. Without it, I fear the Kaiohdrahlian military force would not nearly have been enough to bring princess Elise back alive."
"Still though…,"
Raynard's unsure and almost negative tone, ever the objective one, brought the rest of the celebrating group back down to planet earth; he stood in a hardened-faced frown, arms folded as he usually liked to stand.
"The more I think about why they abducted the princess, the more I come to the same conclusion," he began again, revolving his spiky-haired head in the blinking Link and similarly-faced Zelda's direction. "They're provoking a reaction… and not from the royal family."
Shanaari, curious, could only turn her brown-haired head at the young man in a surprised fashion, furrowing her brow as she re-opened her mouth. "If not from us then from…?"
"I think he means from us," Zelda answered for the surviving member of the Van Garrick clan; he turned to face her in his ever-hardened scowl and nodded back at her in confirmation. "Link and I…"
The listening Link's own frown deepened and his own brow furrowed back at her as he faced his people's princess. "But why would they focus just on us?"
"It's the holy triangle… isn't it."
Alwyn's sudden yet quietened and calm words managed to make the group all turn in his direction, half-surprised. He stood ever in his own folded-armed frown, leaning his body to the side as he spoke.
"I only remember bits and pieces of it, but…," he began again, briefly lowering his teal-shaded eyes, as if reminiscing on the Hylianis and the bibles of old. "If I recall correctly, what the Shakai are looking for are to summon Alphanion, the Absolute back to this plane, this dimension… isn't that right?"
The name having been mentioned mere hours ago by their last foe, Grier Sinclair of the Shakai himself, managed to resonate with the listening group; they all exchanged looks together and nodded. Link in particular lowered his oceanic-shaded eyes in realisation and growing dread, having been warned of the name in the past.
"Where are you going with this…?" The usually quiet Veronika spoke up from the back, stepping forward to re-join them all as she frowned over at the former military Zoran.
"The last time that Alphanion was brought to this world, he managed to take all three holy triangle pieces, or so it's said in the text," he explained briefly, eyeing the young-looking Stralanavian to his left before soon re-facing the group as a whole again. "So the reason they want our princess and her man so badly… is because of their affinity to the triangle." He finished in his ever-objective frown, lowering his eyes as he did, drawing out a half-annoyed splutter from the listening Vassia and an irritated turn to the firmly-frowning Malon's face.
"Excuse me!" The fiery-haired farm girl called out, folding her own slim yet toned arms at the Zoran. "He's no-one's man…"
The listening Vassia upturned her half-annoyed frown into a slow and amused smirk, re-opening her mouth as she did. "Yet…"
In spite of the fact he was usually aggravated by such an exchange, the listening Raynard (along with others in the group) couldn't help but shut his eyes, lower his spiky-haired head and smirk in another classic huff.
A reaction that told the grateful Link that he had also perhaps been missing them.
"Hmph…"
"So that's what they're after then…," the curious Shanaari began again, casting her hardened frown forward as she re-folded her own armoured arms, tilting her brown-haired head at the group. "They want to bring back their god…"
"That's what it must have been these past years that we've encountered them," Impa responded with, tilting her own silver-haired head at the woman before her. "It would certainly link up with how dogged their pursuit of Link has been."
The listening Link's smile slowly dissolved down back into a concerned-faced smile, Impa's words soon reminding him of his brutal endeavours with the women of the Shakai that had been sent to bring him back with them, even in his second childhood seven years prior.
"So without the holy Triforce, this Alphanion guy just can't come back huh," Barkner spoke up curiously, placing a muscled rock-skinned arm across his hips as he did. "Good to know."
"But… why…?" Vassia asked inquisitively, furrowing her brow over at the frowning-faced Goron, shaking her violet-haired head as she did. "Why would he need something like that to come back to this existence?"
"The story goes that Alphanion, the Absolute was essentially banished to the gap between dimensions for his crimes against nature, and for needlessly murdering innocents in his crusade to overthrow the Sainted Three," Zelda replied, tilting her own blonde-haired head at her fellow princess. "This group that worship him… they may have existed as a previous organisation before this."
"Indeed…," Impa agreed with her royal princess, nodding firmly as she did. "The forbidden texts of the Hylianis called them 'the Forgotten Ones'."
Link's listening eyebrows rose and he snapped his head up, memories recalling his original adventures across Hyrule and Termina and of those who sought to either eliminate or kidnap him.
I'm shocked Zel wasn't targeted either, he thought to himself wisely, re-raising up his head to cast her a half-worried glance; something she noticed and double-took in his direction, half-surprised herself. As king Alabaster and queen Ophelia decided to leave the rest of the important meeting to their trusty right hand, knight Shanaari, the brown pony-tailed woman nodded in their direction, almost as if to silently throw them her agreement. She turned again this time to face the firmly-frowning Impa on her right, re-opening her mouth to respond and give voice to her next thoughts.
"It isn't the first time you've all dealt with them… is it?" She asked, unfolding her own arms to place one on her hip, briefly rotating her black-shaded eyes to face the group with. "I remember the last time you were all here…"
Memories of the last black-cloaked woman they met on Kaiohdrahl's beautiful beaches seven years prior; a woman with incredible near-godlike powers that pushed the group to extinction and the shocked Link into revealing the sleeping demonic-like powers of his own that once slept within him.
"It all adds up…," the similarly frowning-faced Alwyn spoke up with, casting his hardened expression forward as he re-raised it mid-thought, opening up his mouth as he did. "These people have been working toward this end for at least as long as you've started adventuring," the wise Zoran pointed out, turning his firmly-faced frown on the wide-eyed Link's, drawing out a look of realisation as he did. "Goddess only knows what else they've attempted in order to get what they want."
"It won't matter," Raynard answered the former military man with, casting his own accustomed scowl in the Zoran's area as he did. "We've all worked far too hard to just give up anyone here to their insane machinations."
The listening Link, his own morale slightly raising from the once-cold-hearted Raynard's words of camaraderie, could only rise up his frown into a slow smile as he did; casting it forward and at his scowling-eyed rival.
"Yeah…," he simply answered with, smiling. "He's right… if we work together, there's no-one that can stop us."
"Hell yeah!" The ever-excited Barkner called out with an enthusiastic fist through the air, shooting it forward to be bumped with by the smiling blonde. "And that goes for anyone that would even think of endangering a kid to further their plans!"
The listening Shanaari's own frown upturned into her own smile of appreciation; she nodded back at them all and faced the group as a whole, re-opening her mouth as she did. "We're all so lucky to have met you," she explained briefly, eyes lightly scanning them all, finding similar smirks and smiles in response. "Thank you all again… thank you all so much."
The listening Link shot his smile into another smirk; an old-time confident one that the group knew him and appreciated him for as he re-opened his own mouth to respond. "Hey, don't worry about it!" He merely shot back with, shrugging exaggeratedly back at her as he did. "It's just like I said when we first met you guys seven years ago," he began again, bringing down his muscled arms to rest on across his hips; an old habit that saw him through the years as he flashed his next toothy grin back at the woman before him. "We're the heroes… that only show up at the last minute!"
UNKNOWN LOCATION
"So… Grier has been killed…"
"Yes…," Ravim responded with, amber eyes lowered to match the hardened and saddened frown her face took as she did, her bright-blood red hair long and falling down her shoulders with her. "Single-handedly… apparently…"
The second woman the Gerudian spoke to, another Aurelian of Draerithian heritage, merely chuckled and shook her short-white head of hair as she folded her arms and faced the front of the castle's room they both stood in. She, like the Gerudo woman behind her, was also dressed firmly in the black cloak that the rest of the Himitsu Shakai were known very well for.
"Surely not by…?"
"One of our targets," Ravim responded with as Juannelle half-turned her body 'round to face her comrade, bright-white eyes narrowed as she did. "The Hero of Time."
"Kuh…,"
Juannelle's dismissive grunt made the listening Ravim furrow her brow back at the white-haired woman ahead of her, curious.
"Pathetic…," she muttered out, casting her scowl forward at the main door into one of the castle bedrooms they had snuck into. "And they said that Sinclair's strength was his ability to fool friend and foe alike…"
Ravim's amber eyes lowered a second time, a kind of saddened crease to her usually-pleasing exterior. "Now that he's gone, we've lost our aspect of enlightenment…," she began again lamentably. "What will we do without one now…?"
The listening Juannelle snorted, as if in a mixture of disgust and very mild amusement. "Even the likes of that asinine Hylian bishop that went AWOL two years ago at the martial arts world championship is a better aspect of enlightenment than fucking Sinclair," she spat out venomously, her scowl swiftly upturning into a light-eyed smirk. "Even Daphnes' brat would probably have more potential than he did, thinking about it."
Ravim's eyes, narrowing and angry, shot up to glare at the back of Juannelle's head. "He was still our comrade Juannelle."
"And a shit one at that…,"
Juannelle's hardened words, ever constantly irritated, carried her on as she slowly turned to face the firmly-frowning Ravim. She unfolded her cloaked arms to place one on her hip as she re-opened her mouth.
"If he just did his job correctly we'd already have two more pieces of that bastard triangle," she lamented, turning a half-annoyed frown 'round on the saddened-faced Ravim. "I don't know why they're fucking resisting… it won't even matter in the end once lord Dalton and Valquis get back in there."
Ravim merely lowered her amber-like eyes, a kind of hesitating look in them as she did. The watching Juannelle noticed and her frown took on a more irritated one, a kind of twist to her scowl that suited her usually-ill temperament.
"What? Not convinced?" She fired back angrily, drawing out a half-surprised look from the Gerudo woman; the crimson-haired woman shook her head in response fairly quickly, re-opening her mouth.
"N-No that's not…,"
"Or maybe…," Juannelle started again, her scowl dropping in favour of a realising-faced frown, her brow furrowing as she did. "Your resolve is starting to waver…"
"N-No!"
The listening white-haired woman tilted her head at the fire-haired Gerudian, curious. Ravim rose up her head defensively, her saddened frown soon switching to a half-insulted one.
"I joined because I was sick of the royal family's treatment of my people… and the fact their religion expressly forbids speaking of us," she explained briefly, narrowing her eyes back at the suspicious-faced woman before her. "I'm focused cleanly on our goals Juannelle, I promise you."
"Hmmm…," the listening Juannelle hummed out sceptically, re-folding her slim arms as she did. "Well… in any case…,"
Ravim settled her newly-hardened exterior into her earlier softer one, curiously frowning back at her in prompting and expectance.
"Have you heard of the latest…?"
Ravim upturned one of her fiery-red eyebrows. "The latest…?"
"We've finally sighted him… Torquatus."
The listening Gerudian woman's amber-shaded eyes widened in sheer shock at the sound of the mentioned man's name. "T-Truly? I thought he went missing after…?"
The firmly-frowning Juannelle nodded back at her, ever leant to the side. "For a while he was, yes," she answered, re-opening her mouth to continue. "But he and his little secretary have recently both been seen around the Kirkway Pacific."
"Have they resurfaced…?" Ravim questioned her curiously, tilting her own head as she did.
Juannelle shrugged back at her. "We're not sure," she responded. "But we know it has something to do with our own targets, given what happened last time."
"Seven years ago…" Ravim mouthed out quietly, eyes briefly lowering in thought.
"When the world nearly saw a rule by Torquatus and his maddened forces…," Juannelle chuckled maliciously, half-amused by the horrifying concept. "What a joke."
"What will we do about him…?"
Juannelle's smirk lowered a little as she turned her eyes back on the woman before her. "Nothing."
Ravim could only rise up both eyebrows in genuine surprise. "N-Nothing?"
"Why should we…? When that imbecile will sniff out our foes for us anyway?"
"Good point…" Ravim murmured out, nodding.
"Besides…," Juannelle started again, her smirk briefly lowering as she did. "We still need time to meet and reconvene after losing a member as we are…," she began, eyes narrowing in disgust. "Even if Sinclair was a pathetic waste."
"That said… I don't think we should underestimate Torquatus,"
Curious, the frowning-faced Juannelle turned her bizarre look on the red-haired woman, prompting her to continue.
"The man managed to raise an army, all with the assistance of only one person."
A corner of Juannelle's frown upturned into an amused smirk and she nodded her white-haired head up at the Gerudo. "Are you talking about the Gylomecian civil war…?"
Ravim simply nodded gravely.
Juannelle chuckled knowingly, re-opening her mouth as she did. "That was one hell of an opportunity he had…," she began in her chuckle, tilting her body to the side as she re-folded her arms again. "To have turned two opposing forces in working for him, and then to take the reigns when both sides are weakened is a fairly well-utilised strategy…," she explained briefly, turning her smirking-eyed look out to stare out the beautiful glass window to her left. "It's just a shame that group of misfits were there to stop him…"
"Still though," Ravim began in reply, stepping forward to join her at the window, eyes focused on her. "He managed to charm and bring out Akuma… he realised the ancient prophecy."
Juannelle snorted, another dismissive scowl returning to her stony-faced expression. "And?" She shot back. "Chances are likely, even if they did break out of Gylomecia with Akuma intact, he would have turned on Torquatus and his useless little secretary. It's how Akuma from the bible works, after all."
Realising she was referring to the Fierce Deity's affiliation to the Shinzui-et-Sanmiitai and its sheer obsession with fighting, Ravim could only nod in agreement.
She's not wrong, Ravim thought to herself.
"Either way, we should be fine in this instance to leave Torquatus to his pathetic plans once more," Juannelle spoke again in her usual little smirk. "We make him work for us again."
"Has lord Dalton expressly sanctioned this, or…?"
"We don't need lord Dalton's approval for every little action Ravim," Juannelle laughed, turning her smirk on the woman to her right. "And besides… if we both show some initiative… I'm sure we'll end up with a higher rank when God is resurrected."
Ravim nodded, an unsure kind of expression on her face.
"Come now," Juannelle began again in a light-eyed smile, turning for the doors. "We should join the others."
Ravim nodded a second time, doubt beginning to mar her usually-pleasing exterior.
"Yes…"
2
In having rescued princess Elise successfully and, much to even Impa and the rest of group's own surprise, managed to neutralise a member of the Himitsu Shakai themselves. With this news now finally bolstering their earlier-dwindling morale, they chose to move on and press forward to their next agreed location; Draerith. While Gylomecia was a location that they had all visited in the past (with dire consequences), the royal council of Aurelia send directions and clear instructions that they have received troubling reports and require aid immediately.
The royal family of Kaiohdrahl, extremely grateful for their child having been rescued without even a single mark on her, could only express this gratitude by offering them safe passage to one of their greatest ocean vessels, free of charge. In having assisted the group of heroes and having transferred Sena the guardian fairy to them, Raynard issues his blonde-haired rival and the rest of his companions a well-intended farewell before turning to leave to resume his own assignment; a journey of information gathering.
With Raynard having left their party, the group of adventurers turned their focus toward Draerith and the people in need there, as well as the sneaking suspicion of Himitsu Shakai operatives presumably the cause of the issues. After boarding the mid-sized ship, Link chose to take a well-earned rest by relaxing outside on deck, placing his arms to sit across the powerful hard-wood railing surrounding it. He cast his serene, shut-eyed frown out toward the rising sun, having woken up fairly early due to his usual sleeping issues.
A nightmare of past experiences in Gylomecia had begun to haunt him over the past couple of days; memories of his encounters with Kaius Torquatus, former warlord of Gylomecia. A massive broken-up battlefield of strewn body parts and stone of the Whiteblood Cardinal was similarly cluttered and lain all around the area. Standing in the centre of the destruction surrounding the area were three people; a man, a woman and what looked to be a child.
In the dream Link seemed to share with another close friend of his, it was he who stood in the dead heart of the two Gylomecians, two he remembered as Kaius himself and his loyal assistant Amalda. Dressed in what seemed to be silver-plated armour and even carrying a silver-tinted mane of curtained hair; a dreaded and eerily-familiar sight for the young blonde man.
"Why are you out here by yourself?"
His eyebrows rose in genuine surprise, swinging his green-hat head 'round, only to find the only other person that shared his dream; the ever-smiling princess Zelda herself. He couldn't help but chuckle lightly as he nodded his head upward at her in greeting; noting her new apparel, fit for the cold weather. She wore a fairly strong coat to keep the low temperature out, a long scarf wrapped around her neck to match the simple tall skirt sitting around her legs, similar boots resting around the soles of her feet.
"Just… thinkin' I guess," he answered simply with, chuckling again as he did, turning his head back 'round to face the great expanse of the sea before him, his smile soon dissolving back into a thoughtful-eyed frown. "I like the outside of this ship… it's kinda calming."
Zelda's own frown returned to her face as she stepped softly toward his right, icy-blue eyes fixated around him. "What about?"
Link's frown deepened into a hardened one, his eyelids lowering as his eyes did to match. "That dream you had, seven years ago… in Gylomecia."
At first the listening princess believed he was referring to the dream that united the two in their very first meeting; of Hyrule's fall to their mortal enemy. Then, as memories resurfaced of her nightmare in Gylomecia, just days before the civil war disaster, she soon realised what exactly he was talking about.
"I remember…," she murmured out quietly, turning her eyes away from his briefly to lower them at the hardwood deck beneath her. "I remember knocking on your door that night…"
He smiled as she spoke, a half-way entertaining memory returning to him. "That's right," he chortled. "I think I might have woken up Al when I went to open the door then," he added. Soon catching the look of guilt across her expression he shook his dirty-blonde head at her. "Wasn't your fault," the youth shot back, cracking a small grin. "Was more mine than anyone else's, trust me."
Zelda smiled wanly back at him; light-blonde head still lowered a little. "You always know the right thing to say…," she spoke, drawing out a light-eyed smile from him in response. "So what about this dream? Was it… the same one?"
His own smile dropped again as he thought of the nightmare they now shared; a second one. "Yeah…," he answered. "I think so. Me in the centre as…"
"The Fierce Deity…?"
He nodded.
"You avoided that future though, didn't you?" Zelda spoke again, this time with her smile briefly returning as she leant her head to the right side at him. He turned to eye her curiously, a kind of hardened frown on his own facial expression as he did, doubt strewn across the look on his face.
"Whether you give into its influence today, tomorrow or far into the future… it matters not…"
The words of Yoshiyuki Miyazaki, the Last Garo, echoed within his mind; a worrying portend of future events; a sheer focus of Kage Narumono's very name, translated from ancient Hylian as 'Shadow of What Will Be'. Thanks to their life-or-death connection obtained from an event in Gylomecia, the watching Zelda's smile soon dropped from her face, able to sense and even read his very inner private thoughts.
"There's no way you'll end up that way again Link," she reiterated, shaking her light-blonde head as she did, her ponytail shaking with it. "I promise you."
He lowered his oceanic eyes from her fiercer blue, unsure and dubious. "I dunno Zel," he began firmly enough in response, turning his eyed gaze back out to sea. "The way we're goin' here… it just feels like we're all retracin' our old steps seven years ago across Aurelia…," he started again, briefly shaking his head as he did. "It's almost like…"
"Like it was fated to happen?"
He shot her a half-smile, sheepish and tired, clearly having been up most of the night concerned over his inner anguish.
"Yeah." He simply answered her with a nod, eyes re-facing the beautiful Aurelian sea out before him. Before she even opened up her mouth to respond, he felt her step toward him and place her fingers softly within his, almost as if to bring his attention directly out of his inner wallowing; he couldn't help but double-take in her direction, eyes widened. She stood just below him, looking up at him in a simple soft-eyed frown, re-opening her mouth to speak to him.
"I won't let it happen to you…," Zelda spoke as delicately as the touch she had been known for in the watching Link's own mind; surprised, he could only blink back at her before she followed up by briefly shutting her cerulean eyes and leaning her head down into his front chest, nuzzling it affectionately. "I promise…"
He knew that when she spoke like this, everything that came out of her mouth she meant and meant fiercely in great spite to the soft way in which she liked to speak. Still though, Link couldn't help but fight back the urge to blush in embarrassment, taken off guard by her sudden move.
"Um… t-thanks Zel…"
Perhaps also influenced by the feelings they shared together, their very life-force itself, Zelda also found her cheeks taking a similar flush, the smile on her face telling a different story.
It's almost as if she knows how to stop me talking about this stuff, he thought to himself suspiciously, his earlier embarrassment soon switching to half-annoyed puzzlement as he lowered his eyebrow risen gaze below at her in his grip.
"What's happening out there…? I'm smelling lavender."
Zelda, surprised by the interruption, could only pull her head from Link's chest and her slim arms from his sides, eyes lightly widened only to find the light-blue guardian fairy Sena hovering out under the youth's beaten-up green tunic.
"Ah…," the little pixie murmured out, unsurprised. "I knew that couldn't be you…," she began again, turning her little blue body 'round to face the blinking Link. "You normally stink of sweat and grass."
The listening youth's brow furrowed in annoyance. "Hey!" He called out, drawing an amused giggle from the watching Zelda before them. "You've only just met me! Show some class, c'mon."
"It's not that bad…," the blonde princess spoke up, lowering her light-haired head as she did, playing with her fingers softly and staring down at them, almost as if she were about to say something ticklish again. "I like your scent."
The listening Link's frown turned zig-zag and he couldn't help but avert his eyes from hers, embarrassed reddened cheeks burning and pained.
Why'd you have to go and say that, he thought to himself lamentably.
"Why don't you live inside him then?"
Sena's sudden outburst caused the two listening Hylians' small pointed ears to draw a powerful hue of red to them both; while Link winced and turned his newly-annoyed look on the floating ball of blue to his right, it was the listening Zelda that cast a tiny smile at the hardwood deck below her, an odd look of satisfaction at the reaction she received.
"Link."
The group of three swung their heads 'round, embarrassment suddenly forgotten only to find the ever firmly-frowning Impa stepping toward them both, muscled arms folded.
"We may need you soon."
The listening Zelda and Link soon exchanged a worried glance with one another before turning back to face their shared mentor. "Why Impa-sensei?" Link fired back curiously, brow furrowing forward at her. "What's happened?"
"We've veered off course by the looks of things," the wise Sheikah pointed out, revolving her silver-haired head to eye the beautiful ocean-deep around her right. "I'm thinking of employing perhaps yourself and Veronika to get a load on our bearings once we hit land."
Link rose a blonde eyebrow curiously. "Are we gonna hit it soon or…?"
"Yes," the Sheikah responded with a nod, turning to face him as she did. "We're not sure where exactly it is, but…," she began again, stepping forward to walk by the pair of Hylians, walking toward the edge and front of the ship. She placed her muscled hands atop its hardwood railing, eyes narrowing forward as her two students stepped ahead to join her. "But I believe it's…," she spoke, nodding her silver-haired head forward as if to point it out. "Up there."
Link and Zelda craned their heads and squinted forward to see, only to raise both eyebrows up when a tiny spit of land finally began to come into view in amidst the far-off fog ahead of them; a worrying sight.
"I know what you're both thinking,"
The two concerned Hylians held back a wince as they re-raised their head to face Impa, the Sheikah herself swinging her head back down to eye the pair.
"And it may well be that place again," she began again, shaking her head. "But it may not either," she pointed out. "Just promise me you'll be careful out there if I send you out with Veronika."
The listening Link dropped his half-worried frown into a confident smirk, nodding his head upward as he re-opened his mouth. "You kiddin' me?" He shot back. "I was born careful!"
"Impa…,"
Interrupting both Impa herself and the blinking Link was the frowning Zelda, sweeping past him to stand below the frowning Sheikah. Small fingers delicately joined together; she spoke as softly as she carried herself.
"Please reconsider sending him out," she requested quietly, drawing out a half-surprised frown from the listening blonde behind her. "It's just a request… all I ask."
Impa rose an eyebrow at the young woman, curious. "He's a big boy… I'm sure he can handle himself."
"But it's most likely very dangerous on that island and-"
"And I'm sure he'll handle himself fine," Impa softly yet firmly interrupted the blonde princess, brow furrowing as she did. "Why the sudden concern? What's wrong?"
Zelda, disappointed in the results, could only lower her head in what seemed to be light dismay, eyes focused on the ground. "It's nothing…"
Link watched her in his own sad-laced frown, his heart going out to her before he regained his usual smile and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Zel,"
She blinked and turned her head to face his.
"It's just like Impa-sensei says," he reinforced in his ever-present smile. "I'll be fine," he grinned back this time. "I always am ain't I?"
She smiled a kind of sad, wan take on her usual expression as she rose up her left hand to rest delicately and softly on his, eyes lowered.
"Yeah…"
Link's grin soon lowered when he realised he couldn't seem to cheer her up.
Did she have another dream again, he wondered to himself.
"What's wrong with her…?"
"We'll be landing soon."
Impa's sudden interruption made the pair of Hylians raise up their heads in her direction, curious.
"So get ready for our next move." The Sheikah merely ordered, nodding her head at the two before turning, unfolding her arms and marching off back where she came from.
"Well…,"
The sound of Sena's little soprano voice made the fated pair turn in her area, watching the little ball of blue stare out at Impa's walk. Sena revolved her little blue body around to face the pair with as she finished her next sentence.
"That went well."
When the ship finally approached the familiar-looking island, it was still far too early to determine whether it was a location they'd all been before.
The concerns, however, were all-too-present.
Impa, in her usual tactile manner, chose to go ahead with her initial strategy in sending both Veronika and Link out in brief search through the island. When they explored the island itself, memories briefly returned to them of a similar entrance to a cave or cavern from their last visit to a far-off island; it didn't take the trio very long to locate the closest entrance, a small-looking thing that belied its true depths. Sena, in particular, seemed to recognise the nooks and crannies of the cavern that Veronika chose to enter, Link following behind her in slow-growing worry.
"I dunno if we should be goin' this far Vickie…,"
Link's concerned comment drew a curious look from both the frowning-faced Stralanavian woman ahead of him as well as the floating Sena. Veronika rose up a silky-black eyebrow at him wordlessly, prompting him into saying more, pulling a half-frustrated look from him in response.
"Didn't Impa-sensei tell us to report back when we got visual confirmation?"
Veronika's frown creased a little, as if she disagreed with him. "We haven't received any visual confirmation yet," she fired back, tilting her head innocently at him. "Are you worried about something…?"
He couldn't help but lower his oceanic eyes from her light-brown, a kind of concerned look forming on his dubious expression. "Well…"
"What's wrong?" Sena pushed him curiously, eyebrow risen behind her little blue body.
"I've been… worrying about this," he illustrated slowly and carefully, re-raising his eyes and his blonde-haired head to face the pair. "Last time we were here was bad enough, but…"
"What do you mean 'last time'?" Sena questioned him curiously, eyebrow risen behind her little blue body. "Have you both been here before?"
"We're not completely certain," Veronika answered her with a simple-faced frown, tilting her head in the guardian fairy's direction. "But it's looking as though it may just well be a place we visited seven years ago."
Further curious, Sena turned herself to face the Stralanavian woman. "And where was that?"
"An unknown stretch of land," Veronika responded, ever in her usual business-laced frown. "Referred only to as 'the Forgotten Haven'."
The listening Link lowered his oceanic eyes again, concerns riddling his inner conscience as the name she spoke recalled unpleasant memories, not just of his last visit to the Forgotten Haven but of his latest nightmare regarding the worrying issue he was discussing earlier with Zelda mere minutes ago.
"What happened at the Forgotten Haven?" Sena pressed again as she hovered slowly towards the frowning-faced Veronika, the Stralanavian woman swinging 'round to continue marching forward. Giving up in attempting to turn back, Link followed quietly behind, catching up with the pair and walking between the pair of women.
"Something we've tried hard to forget." Link simply answered with a hardened-faced frown of his own, cerulean eyes set forward as he did. Realising that the topic of conversation was seemingly very sensitive, Sena decided in her modest wisdom to simply drop it, opting instead to follow behind wordlessly.
"So… what do you guys think this is all about?"
Sena's separate question, different in nature, could only make the pair turn their heads in her direction.
"How d'you mean?" Link fired back; dirty-blonde eyebrow risen.
"I mean it's looking as though we were led around the fog of that ocean… and by some unknown factor as well," Sena responded with as she floated next to the frowning-faced Link. "Or at least that's how it's looking anyway."
Veronika lowered her light-brown eyes in her own frown, curious. "Just like last time…" She mouthed out quietly, pulling a similarly curious-eyed look from the listening Link.
She's right, he thought.
Chances are likely this is the Shakai's doing.
Or worse…
"I know what you're worried about…,"
He drew himself directly out of his inner concerns and re-raised his head to face the silky-haired woman before him, curious. She turned her head to face him and smiled a rare kind of smile; something she normally never deigned to wear on her facial expression.
"But you'll be fine," she spoke again, her mezzo-soprano and very tone itself reminding him of another friend's tendency to speak and manner of setting his mind at ease. "I'm here with you…"
Link couldn't help but raise up a small smile in response to Veronika's and a strangely comfortable kind of silence passed between the two as they stared back at one another, interrupted only by the little ball of blue in the air between them both; the frowning Sena exchanged her looks between each person, unable to put a proverbial finger on the atmosphere shared by the pair before finally realising it. Sena rolled her eyes behind the big blue orb-like form she carried, re-opening her mouth to comment.
"Oh please."
Feeling fairly embarrassed, Link re-rose his blonde-haired head before re-facing the half-smiling Veronika and soon addressing her.
"We really probably should get back to Impa-sensei," he reiterated, drawing another business-like frown from her. "I think she only wanted us to go so far."
"Y-Yes…" Veronika agreed, stammering unusually in her light shade of reddened embarrassment, smiling lightly as she stepped forward, silky-haired head held lowly as she re-joined him closely, marching together toward the darkened cave entrance. The watching Sena held herself back from commenting flippantly again, opting instead to shake her little blue body in disappointment, following with them. It was only when they approached the entrance that the trio soon found their way blocked; in a humorous moment, the wide-eyed Link gasped as he bumped into what seemed to be an invisible wall, drawing out a small giggle from the watching Sena. He turned to eye the guardian fairy in a miffed little expression as the curious Veronika, dropping her earlier embarrassment in favour of puzzlement, could only furrow her brow.
"Interesting…" She mouthed out as she stepped toward the invisible wall before her, pawing at it curiously as if she were in a science lecture.
"What the hell was that?!" Link called out, annoyed.
"It would appear…," Veronika began again, light-brown eyes narrowing as she spoke, turning slowly to face him. "Someone doesn't want us to leave…"
Realising they had been trapped in by something or someone hostile, Link could only raise up both dirty-blonde eyebrows in concern, surprised and all.
"But that's-"
"Is there any way we can break through it? The wall I mean?" Sena rudely interrupted the worried Link, flying forward into frame. Veronika eyed the guardian fairy before turning back to face the wall, eye narrowed before she shook her raven-haired head.
"No…," she answered. "It doesn't seem as though it's a kind of magic that I can counter, at any rate…"
Sena held back a sigh in her words. "So it looks as though our only option left…"
"Is to go further down." Link finally answered back, his own eyes narrowing in realisation. Both women turned to face him, nodding gravely. He lowered his eyes again, a kind of worried frown to his expression. "I don't like where this is going…"
3
UNKNOWN LOCATION
The Forgotten Haven
When the threesome of heroes stepped down into the next floor beneath them, a ruined backdrop sat before them all, giving them the impression of not only a run-down area but an abandoned one; it filled the watching Link with a certain level of unease, something that, oddly enough, even Veronika didn't seem to sense. With her level of insight as a fortune-teller and Sena's race as s guardian fairy, the unsure Link would have at least suspected them both to catch on to something concerning hiding down below somehow.
Maybe it's all in my head, he rationalised to himself quietly, shaking his head as he did.
"Um… Link…,"
He raised his eyebrows, pulled directly out of his pondering, surprised when he found the owner of the mezzo-soprano as the frowning-faced Veronika; having stopped marching, he also halted just behind her. Curious, he turned his blonde-haired head at her and rose another eyebrow upward.
"Uh?"
"I'm…," the Stralanavian woman began again, calmly and moderately turning her body 'round to face his, a kind of saddened expression written across her doll-like countenance. "I'm sorry, I…"
Link couldn't help but grow a little worried, his senses beginning to turn toward some form of unease. "W-What's wrong?" He chuckled out nervously.
"I thought it prudent to ignore the warnings I was receiving…,"
The listening Hylian's smile soon dropped in favour of a hardened-faced frown. "Warnings?"
Veronika nodded, at long last rising up her silky-haired head to face him. "Yes, I… when you told me we shouldn't be going far in here, I ignored it because of…"
Link's brow furrowed in growing suspicion, curious. "What are you tryin' to tell me Vickie?"
"She's trying to tell you that she's betrayed you… oh 'Akuma'."
Like a ton of bricks slamming on him, Link widened both oceanic eyes and, in growing horror, he slowly revolved himself around to face the owner of the powerful-sounding baritone that now addressed him. Standing behind all three of the adventurers were two shapes both dressed in cloaks similar to those of the Himitsu Shakai. The amygdala in Link's brain set off, beginning a chain reaction of sudden fear that left him paralysed when he began to realise who exactly the voice belonged to.
"Such a heartbreaking scene…," the man spoke, chuckling deeply as he stepped forward next to the slimmer figure on his left. "In the end… trust… is all that we have."
The listening Link's sky-blue eyes widened in sheer shock; in spite of the fact he was more than ready for it, he couldn't help but stare back at the figure before him in a mixture of trepidation and dread, the gears and cogs of his mind very quickly jumping back to his memories seven years prior in Gylomecia. The man that spoke decided, mid-sentence, to lower the hood he wore, revealing a face that the young blonde had not seen in nearly a decade.
The smirking-faced Kaius Torquatus, seven years later, stared back at him.
"K-Kaius…" Link gasped and stammered out, almost unable to believe his eyes.
"Indeed…," the Gylomecian man chuckled, raising up his abyss-black hair with the similar raise of his head; a look of smugness and contempt that fit well with the memories Link carried of him. "It's been a long time… my faithful little student…"
As he spoke, so too did the second figure bring down her hood, revealing her to be the firmly-frowning form of Amalda; secretary and right-hand woman to the maddened martial artist. As Link's eyes drew between them, he could see that they were both worse for wear appearance-wise; their hair was matted down with sweat and their faces covered in dirt. Seemingly having been on the run from their homeland, the rest of the Aurelia and even their former organisation, the Himitsu Shakai, took enough out of both of them over the past seven years.
Link about-turned to face the frowning Veronika behind him, catching a guilty expression written across her countenance. "How could you Vickie?" He called over, a disappointed look twisting his face. "I trusted you!"
While Sena at the very least hovered over to join Link, seemingly also feeling somewhat betrayed, Veronika chose to lower her light-brown eyes in what seemed to be regret.
"It is as I say, young grasshopper…,"
Link's frown twisted a little in disgust as Kaius' voice reached his small Hylian ears behind him; the youth half-turned his head 'round to meet him, dread filling his cerulean eyes.
"Trust… it is such a rare commodity these days… is it not?" Kaius batted over in his ever knowledgeable and smug-faced smirk.
"I don't want to hear anythin' from you…," Link growled back, shaking his head at the manipulative man before him. "Just stay back…"
"Why…? Are you frightened…?" Kaius began again, a knowing and chuckling smirk written across his expression. "Come now… trust me, as you once did… seven years ago…"
"Fuck that," the young Hylian crudely shot out with, shaking his head in response to the man before him, taking a step back as he did only to find the frowning-faced Veronika standing behind him. Soon discovering he and Sena were essentially surrounded, Link snapped his head around and, like a cornered animal, began to perspire in sheer growing fear. "I don't need anythin' you got anymore."
"Well… isn't that quite the surprise…," Kaius spoke a second time, his grin soon dropping in favour of a deep-faced frown of his own. "I can see and sense for the first time that you've left your powers of the holy triangle behind…"
Realising he was referring to Kage Narumono, demonic second side to himself, the listening Link's left eye twitched and he faced the man with a hardened expression on his face.
"How did you do that I wonder…?" The former Gylomecian warlord murmured out quietly, his frown slowly upturning into a tiny curious smirk. "You always had so much potential as heir to 'Akuma'…"
"Just… stay away from me…"
Kaius opted to ignore his former protégé's protests and pressed forward in a slow and deliberate march, raising up his cloaked arms together vertically, back-facing and palms opened up as he did. "I brought out the best in you, seven years ago…," he began again, a malevolent chuckle soon lacing his lips as it elongated into a malicious-looking toothy-faced smirk. "Let's see if we can't do that again…"
4
Turncoat Manipulator
Kaius Torquatus
SLAMMM
Link grunted out as he was sent flying from the suddenly appearing form of his old mentor Kaius, having slammed a single-fisted punch directly across his younger foe's face.
VWEEEE…
KERASSSSHHHH…
The smirking-faced Kaius was left exchanging his malicious look with the firmly-frowning Veronika, the only one left between the group; the Stralanavian woman turned her head ambivalently in the direction of her fallen comrade and seemingly former friend, eyes fixated on the rubble that accumulated above his head.
FRRRR…
DROOOOOOM
The boulders and rocks that covered him split apart fairly quickly, replaced only by the sheer strength of a floating figure's form before them all; the firmly-frowning form of Link stared back at the smirking Kaius, both fists clenched at his side. A powerful flame, not unlike that of the Shinzui itself circled 'round his toned figure, light yet poignant to match.
"That's it…," Kaius chuckled, re-raising his own form to stand back up fully, facing the blonde youth as he did. "Show me…," he began again, raising up one of his armoured fists into the air, as if for emphasis. "Show me your old strength Akuma! The strength of an ominous bible story!"
WHOOSH
In response, the narrow-eyed Link vanished from common eyesight; the watching Veronika, Sena and Amalda lost sight of him before, suddenly and without warning, he re-appeared in the wide-eyed Kaius' face, elbow smashing directly into his own raised one.
KRRRRRRRRRRR
Sheer sparks of a powerful flame and Aegir emitted between the two, the pair glaring at one another; Link in his scowl and Kaius in his open-mouthed grin. Kaius changed the very nature of the engagement however by laughing as he swung a rough haymaker with his one remaining hand. His blonde foe narrowed both eyes back at him before ducking suddenly to avoid the blow and swinging a counter-attack of his own; a swift-stabbing front punch that saw the smirking Kaius jerk his way out of the attack's radius, forcing the youth to follow up with a quick-spinning and tracking roundhouse kick.
As Link dove down to assault the man below him in mid-air, the grinning Kaius spun around mid-spin and swiped his right arm horizontally across the air. In revealing an Aegir knife drew across his forearm and like a blade itself, its extended range meant the wide-eyed Link was forced to abandon his dive kick, utilising his new form change's ability to fly away from the counter-attack. As he landed fairly gracefully back on the rocky ground below him, he turned his narrow-eyed frown up to match the laughing Kaius' glare, his former mentor rising up both arms as if to fire a projectile.
In expectance, the former Hero of Time shot his body to his sharp-right to avoid the incoming sphere of Aegir; the watching Veronika and Amalda grunted out from the sheer level of strength with which the man attempted to hit him with, blowing apart the ground at which it connected with.
DROOOOOOM
As he flew himself into the very smoke cloud that the explosion caused, he widened his oceanic eyes when he clocked other random smaller spheres of Aegir being thrown upward at him, presumably to continue the assault from earlier. The spheres, however, had less accuracy than the original; Link watched and, realisation slowly settled in.
He can't tell where I am, he thought to himself.
"Maybe he's not as strong as I thought."
Seemingly reading his very inner ponderings, the smirking-faced Kaius re-appeared high above him, having leapt up to toss another projectile, this one from his right hand and a fairly large one at that. In the sheer size and strength of it, while the wide-eyed Link managed to fly out of the way, it took some doing for the shocked Amalda and Veronika to jerk themselves in evasion, barely getting to safety in time before a second explosion rent the cavern walls.
CRASSHHHHHHH…
Opting to offer him little time at all in which to recover and in his inevitable fall back down to earth, the smirking Kaius brought down an axe-like vertical dive-kick. As he landed in correctly calling the wide-eyed Link's flight-path, the pair were almost immediately locked into a lightning-fast fist-fused fight, one that saw the open-faced Kaius laughing and finding a way through.
SMASSSHHH
"Urgh…!"
A single foreleg of Kaius' found its way into the wide-eyed Link's lower-right side-stomach, sending him sagging back up through the air, before the laughing Kaius slammed a single elbow directly into the young blonde's back.
SLAMMMM
VWEEE…
KERRRASSSSHHHHH
The sound of Link's helplessly-lifeless body knocked noisily against the very walls of the cavern themselves, spitting up a great number of dust, rocks and smoke in amidst the mindless destruction around them all. The smirking Kaius, seemingly satisfied in the chaos he caused, huffed out with a low-faced look before soon descending back down to earth. His cat-like yellow eyes fixated and focused on the watching Veronika before him, chuckling as he stepped forward, almost as if beginning to march on her to attack. She readied her arms and stumbled backward, surprised.
"W-What's… what are you…?"
"Just tying up one final loose end…," Kaius responded to her worried stammering, smirking on madly as he did, marching slowly and gradually toward her. "Before I move on to the rest of Aurelia…" He chuckled, the grin on his face elongating to match the malevolence prevalent upon his expression.
"But I…," Veronika began, light-brown eyes widening as she took some steps backward, intimidation radiating from her midnight-slim form. "I helped you… why would you-?"
"Come now Stralanavian woman…," the former Gylomecian warlord started, raising up his black-cloaked arms as if to shrug uncaringly back at her. "Even the likes of my beloved Amalda could easily see through your child-like ruse…," he explained briefly, using his left arm to gesture behind him.
The wide-eyed Veronika snapped them 'round to the firmly-frowning and glaring form of Amalda herself, standing some large space back from the whole fight, as if to spectate on her own terms.
"Did you really think that you and that pathetic Sheikah that leads you could fool me…?" He spoke again, taking his sweet special time in advancing, lowering his form and dropping his smirk in favour of a half-angered scowl, yellowed eyes narrowing back at her threateningly. "Hm…?" He fired over again, seemingly testing her. "No… this was a gift…," the man chuckled again, his grin soon returning to him. "A gift for us," he claimed, seemingly referring to Amalda standing far behind him and himself. "I would have paid a pretty rupee just to get a crack at the group that thwarted my attempt on Aurelia seven years ago… and now… thanks to you… I can…" He finished, this time in gritted teeth, a kind of half-angered, half-malicious grin resting across his face.
FWIP
His cat-like eyes widened in sheer shock before darting to his back, a presence suddenly and abruptly re-appearing behind him. The watching and wide-eyed Amalda and Veronika could barely give voice to the form that stood before them; Amalda in her simple wide-eyed shock and Veronika in her elated open-mouthed smile revealed it to be the narrow-eyed Link, blonde head held lowly as he kept his own light-yellowed eyes focused behind him. As time passed, very slowly and controlled between them both, the narrow-eyed Link glared forward back at the watching Amalda before he suddenly and abruptly swung a back-elbow directly into his foe's direction behind him.
WHOOSH
Moving quicker than even the carefully-standing Link could follow, Kaius very swiftly vanished from common sight, leaving behind a simple afterimage in his wake as he did. Link's own yellowed eyes shut slowly, almost as if he were utilising the very senses he gained in his new form-change, before suddenly widening them both and swinging 'round a projectile up at one of the walls far-off away from them all.
"HADOKEN!"
WHOOSH…
KERRRASSSHHHH…
The sound of his projectile clashed noisily with the wall of the cavern and, much as half-expected, the wall gave way to reveal the grinning Kaius' far-off figure before he swiftly vanished a second time in mid-air.
FWIP
WHOOSH
Link's eyes widened once more and he swung his body 'round to find the laughing Kaius hanging in the air behind him, seemingly having jumped from some other location, firing and tossing down a nameless purple-shaded projectile of his own at the young blonde.
CRK…
SKRRRRRRRRR
The sheer strength of the projectile, forcing him back, was enough to crash them both directly into the walls of the cavern behind the blonde, near-causing a collapse of the hollow they all fought in.
KRRRRR-DROOM…
As he disappeared within the deep expanse of the cavern's walls behind them all, the watching Veronika was left with the revelation of being left alone to fight for herself, having also been betrayed by Kaius. The Gylomecian man, as he dropped back down to earth to meet her, turned his smirk back on her as he re-opened his mouth.
"I apologise, milady…," he began again, his grin elongating a little. "Now… where were we…?"
WHOOSH…
The group of remaining four all exchanged looks, snapping their eyes around in search for the sudden interference, only to find what seemed to be a fire-shaded projectile rushing up from underground. The watching Kaius gasped, jerking his head out of the way of the burning shell, darting his eyes around in desperate search for his blonde-haired foe, only to widen both cat-like eyes at the sudden rush behind him.
SLAMMMMM
"Urgh…!"
The narrow-eyed Link re-appeared diagonally high above him, blasting a double-legged dive-kick into the Gylomecian's face, sending him veering and careering backward into the walls behind them all.
VWEEEE…
KERRRASSSSHHHHH
In the wake of the massive destruction that both left on the preciously-built cavern, giving way to a second explosion of smoke and debris, perhaps indicating the predictably-surviving form of Kaius, stepping out from the carnage behind him with a few scrapes and cuts across his already-dirtied face. He glared back at the frowning-faced Link and upturned his own scowl into a seemingly satisfied little grin; an expression he seemed to like wearing around the young blonde.
"You always were rough around the edges… weren't you grasshopper?" Kaius spoke out half-insultingly, upturning his grin and swinging his head upward at the young man as he did.
Feeling suitably aggrieved that his former mentor would even dare to chance on a nickname that an old friend of his loved to use for him, Link found his frown devolving into a hated scowl, re-opening his mouth to voice his grievance. "Don't call me that."
Kaius, realising he stepped on a sore spot, found his small grin growing as he began to march slowly forward, cracking his knuckles as he did. "Why…?" He began again, black eyebrow raising upward. "Is it something that hits your nerves I wonder? A former nickname perhaps…?"
Seemingly having already revealed too much, the limber Link's own frown twitched as he listened, frustration renting his expression; a look that the watching Kaius recognised and chuckled when he did.
"Ah-ha…," he grinned on out, eyes re-narrowing, the smirk on his face ever-growing. "You were, after all, my grasshopper before anyone's…"
Something inside the listening Link's senses snapped and he widened both eyes before suddenly rushing forward; like sheer air itself, he re-appeared before the shock-faced Kaius could react in his face with a brutal haymaker.
SLAMMMM
VWEEE…
Link took off after him, like a golden arrow fired from a ballista and in grabbing his flying foe, brought his spine down to meet his raised knee.
CRACKKKKK
"ARRRRGGGGH!"
SLAMMMM
As he fired a double-fisted burst of both hands, the grunting Kaius was sent spinning and wide-eyed straight back down to planet earth, drawing up smoke clouds and further debris.
DROOOOOOOOOOMMMM…
The watching Link, still somehow able to hang and hover in mid-air, kept a hardened bloody-faced scowl fixated down on his former mentor and determined enemy beneath him.
VVVVV…
CRASSSSSHHHHHH
Another cloud of smoke drew out from the impact area, sending shards of rock-like shrapnel in the scowling-faced Link's direction. As the smoke cleared from the perhaps inevitable re-appearance of the glaring Kaius, so too did the hard-faced grimace persevere on the Gylomecian's face as he shot it up from his standing position on the ground. He kept his eyes laser focused on the glaring Link's and, almost as if a silent challenge, he shot his body super-fast to his left; a reaction that saw the narrow-eyed Link following.
WHOOSH
Like magic, the pair re-appeared next to the cavern's walls, glaring up and down at one another respectively. A number of things went through the watching Kaius' thoughts; the current state of his former student's powers, now that he had hit eighteen years of age and of course how his own powers were compared to.
A worrying revelation began to sink in, like a boot stepping in an unexpectedly deep marshland.
It made the watching Kaius' spine tingle in unanticipated fear and, realising what it meant, the fear turned very quickly to anger.
"OhhhhhhhhHHHHHHH!"
VVVVV…
VROOSHVROOSHVROOSH
In immediate response came a sudden flurry of rapidly-charged Aegir-origin projectiles, filled with the same malice and silent rage he carried within him. As they all collided with the floating and hovering Link, so too did the inevitable fumes of Aegir emanate out from around the young blonde's form. When, finally the smoke all managed to clear, the wide-eyed Kaius got a good look at the results of his own strength.
The levitating Link remained in the same position, his form and figure unchanged completely.
"Is that the best you have…?"
His sudden query, a hard one, managed to make the listening Kaius' smirk return to him, bloody-faced and all.
"I expected more out of you…," Link began again, lowering his head down at him as he turned his scowl up into a small smirk of his own. "Kaius-sensei."
Kaius' own small smirk quickly dropped down in favour of a half-insulted frown, deep and pained, almost reminiscent of a scowl of his own. Memories of his manipulation of the blonde-haired boy seven years prior shot through his mind and he found himself wishing dearly for a situation like that one again.
There must be some way I can make him doubt himself again, he thought to himself.
"But how…?!" He pondered on, teeth grit silently behind his closed mouth as he stared back at the smirking, levitating Link. "If he's surpassed the need for the Shinzui… then…"
Link stared back down at the Gylomecian below him, former mentor and enemy.
"If it wasn't for me…,"
The sentence that came from Kaius' mouth was enough of a marker to make the listening Link briefly drop the small smirk present on his expression.
"Then you wouldn't have even reached the stage you're at!" He accused quickly and half-angrily, thrusting a finger up at the youth. "Without me…," he began again, lowering his muscled cloaked arm to flash a slow-growing smirk on his face. "You would have still been that pathetic boy… crying about the Shinzui…" He continued on, his smirk growing as he made a fairly obvious attempt at shaking his faith.
When he got a good look at the hardened look on Link's glaring expression high above him, Kaius soon realised that his former student was not only physically out of his reach, but emotionally.
No longer could he influence the boy with words of his presumed wisdom.
In place of vocally replying, the scowling-eyed Link opted to raise up one of his open-fingered palms and, like magic, an aura of powerful nature-energy visibly covered his figure and form. The watching Kaius' smirk very quickly dissolved back into a curious-eyed frown of his own, unsure and careful.
DROOOOM-VWOOSH
THWUCKTHWUCKTHWUCK-SKRRR
Like wagon wheels scraping against cobblestoned pavement came the sickening sound of screeching wheels through the air, as Kaius eventually managed to right himself by swerving his body backward, like a wave of water crashing against solid rock. He turned his head back in the direction of his floating foe as he landed to the ground, breaking up the rock and debris beneath his feet as he did, gasping painfully and continually.
"Incredible…," the breathless Kaius gasped through his mind. "He's so much stronger now than when he was under the influence of the Shinzui…"
The watching Link, his dominant left-fingered palm still opened up and pointing directly at the older man, turned his hardened-faced frown into a closed-mouthed smirk, obvious and telling; a look that almost seemed to suggest he was somehow able to read the Gylomecian's panicked thoughts.
"But how is that possible…?!" Kaius continued to ruminate on, a single yellow eye narrowing as if he were examining the possibilities. "If he's no longer relying on the holy triangle for his power, then…"
FWIP
Kaius widened both of his cat-like yellow eyes in shock; having witnessed his blonde-haired foe vanish from his very sight, he darted both in desperate sudden search for the youth.
VWOOSH
He swung his head 'round to his undefended left side but by then, it was far too late; only the sight of the aura-covered wide-eyed Link came barrelling toward him, fist held backward.
SMASSSSSHHHH-VWEEEEE
CRASSSSHHHHHH
"ARRRRGGGGGGHHHH!"
The sound of Kaius' deep baritone bellowing out in a mixture of sheer agony and rage bounded roughly and noisily against the walls of the cavern they all fought in, leaving the watching Amalda and Veronika to exchange a surprised look together; a look that suggested a second exchange upcoming between the two of them.
Left glaring at one another in their own looks, Kaius in his glower of hatred and Link in his own satisfied little grin present upon his expression, one eventually reacted and leapt at the opposing fighter with gusto in their belly.
VWOOSH
KR-KR-KR-KR-KR
The sound of their fists and legs clashing together roughly and fiercely echoed out across the plain of the dark cavern they fought in, sending out shockwaves of the strength and speed they both possessed.
KRRRRR-KERROWWWWWWWWW…
What sounded like a sheer thunderstorm itself was the incredible speed with which the gasping Kaius broke off the engagement, rushing back down to earth, cloaked in a blue-shaded Aegir aura. Above him, the firmly-frowning form of his Hylian opponent slowly and gradually levitated back down to meet him a few yards away, comparatively calmly and nonchalantly. As his Kokiri boots touched rocky ground, they made a quiet and small click, deep to the ears.
The watching Kaius, a number of panicked thoughts running through his mind and mostly of mistakes he had potentially made in leaving his former protégé alive, grit his teeth together and pulled up a watery-charged pair of fingers before widening both eyes and immediately thrusting them at the blonde-haired Hylian.
KWEEE
VWOOSH
In response to the sudden Aegir projectile, a movement that not even the watching Veronika and Amalda could follow, the narrow-eyed Link somehow was able to shift himself out of the incoming projectile's way; seemingly to vanish and reappearing just a few centimetres out of range of the projectile.
"Im-Impossible…," he mouthed out, shell-shocked at the sight before him. "How…?!" Kaius hissed out this time, his shocked and open-mouthed frown very quickly upturning into a grit-toothed scowl. "How could he evade at this range…?!"
Choosing instead to face the shocked and angered Kaius with a bloodied and bruise-faced scowl, Link merely opted to remain standing on the rocky ground across from his hot-tempered foe.
"NO!"
Kaius' sudden angered scream managed to make even the well-held Amalda shiver in place; a sign of things to come. The former Gylomecian warlord leapt up into the air and widened both cat-like eyes back at his foe before thrusting his two-fingered assault a second time; this time firing four shots rapidly and consecutively at the blonde youth. In response, the narrow-eyed Link shifted through the air first to his sharp-left, then his upper-right, to his centre and finally went into a ducking animation that saw his watching foe raging and screaming, his deep baritone knocking powerfully against the walls of his cavern.
"WHY?!" He screamed over at the glaring-faced Link. "I taught you everything you know!" He exclaimed again, his voice reverberating boldly across the walls.
A corner of Link's hardened scowl upturned into what seemed to be a satisfied-looking smirk present on his expression before he opened it up to respond. "I guess I don't need you anymore… Kaius."
The listening Kaius' cat-like yellow eyes widened and an unfamiliar sense of indignance shot up through his spine, almost as if he felt majorly insulted by the line he received. While it never seemed to mean much to him seven years prior, it definitely struck a nerve within him now; having been lacking the suffix of 'sensei' at the end of his name, a habit Link had picked up ever since he started his journey in Hyrule.
It suggested to the rapidly angering Kaius of a lack of respect.
His rage quickly reaching a boiling point, Kaius widened both amber-shaded eyes and shot forward in a swift air-dash that would make even a ballista's arrow jealous; Link's own smirk soon dropped as he fired forward in retaliation, their slim and muscular forms bouncing off one another in an unhealthy mixture of sheer strength and speed.
KSSHHH
KSSHHH
KSSHHH
As the pair knocked against each other, appearing as sheer dots to the watching Amalda and Veronika, unbeknownst to them the two were able to watch one another as if in slow motion; the wide-eyed and grit-toothed Kaius pulled back one of his clenched fists, allowing the glaring Link to pursue his Gylomecian foe in the air by pulling back his own fist, caked in nature's Aegir.
SLAMMMMM
"ARRRRRGGGGH!"
"HNGH!"
CRACCCCK
"Gurgh…!"
He followed up by pulling back his slim form and slamming a kneeing kick directly into the man's exposed lower gut, extracting a wide-eyed cough of sheer blood from the incredible strength with which Kaius was hit. Link pulled back both arms and, conjoining them together, burst them down simultaneously in a terrifying axe-like strike that sent the yelling warlord flying back down to earth.
VWEEEEE…
Kaius yelled out noisily as he caught his fall toward the ground with a quick somersaulting recovery and, as his blonde-haired foe fairly quickly reappeared directly in front of him and presumably to issue out a further assault, the poor Gylomecian widened both eyes a second time before lunging himself to his right sharply in evasion.
"Amalda… Amalda!"
As he ran, perhaps inevitably toward his wide-eyed partner and assistant, she showed for what seemed to be the very first time in front of Link and Veronika in seven years what surprise looked like on her face.
An unexpected sight to be sure.
Regardless, the blonde Gylomecian woman responded by stepping forward past the rushing and panicked Kaius, right palm raising upward as she narrowed both eyes at the fast-approaching and flying Link. As he approached and she rose up her arm to defend with, his movements were so blindingly fast that she couldn't respond in time; instead, she found herself suddenly struck by what felt like an abrupt backhand across the face.
SMACCCKKK
Amalda gasped and a sharp pain hastily shot through her cheeks and her face as she was sent barrelling and flying through the air.
VWEEEEEE…
KERRASSSHHHHHH
The sound of the cavern echoed out as further debris dropped down onto the fallen Amalda's form, caking and burying her under its threatening rocks and boulders. The watching Veronika, having brought up both her slim arms to mitigate the artificial wind that kicked up between them, could only observe in genuine shock and awe, sheerly speechless at the incredible level of strength her companion now displayed.
WHOOSH
It was only the sound of Link's sudden and abrupt movement that Kaius was able to catch, eyes widening and putting the brakes on as immediately and quickly as he could when the scowling-faced Hylian reappeared directly in front of him; he brought up his arms to defend but was too late to block the spinning roundhouse kick aimed for his face.
SMACCCCKK
VWEEEE…
Much like his partner Amalda, Kaius was sent reeling and flying back through the air, barely avoiding the dirt and rocky ground below him. Moving at what seemed to be inhuman speeds, the narrow-eyed Hero of Time reappeared again, this time behind the low-flying form of his foe, before swiftly issuing out a quick back-kick that sent the yelling Kaius high up into the air above them both. Link immediately gave chase, easily able to follow with help of his new Loftwing King powers, only to find the wide-eyed Kaius snapping his hatred-expressed scowl around behind him to face the blonde youth below and behind him.
Kaius widened both cat-like yellow eyes a third time and pulled both muscled and cloaked hands together, as if preparing a projectile response, before screaming out noisily, his deep baritone echoing powerfully against the walls of the cavern they both fought in.
CRASSSSSH-DROOOOOM
Link's own light-yellow eyes widened and, perhaps in surprise, found himself knocked back down where he came due to the strength of the invisible wall of Aegir that Kaius brought up with both opened-up palms. As he skid noisily and painfully across the rocky ground back below where he came, the gasping Kaius was left in his high-flying position, sharply drawing in his breath from the sheer expense of effort he gave out as he slowly dropped himself back down to earth.
GRRRR…
The sound of the ground rumbling lowly made the watching Kaius narrow both eyes forward and, as half-expected, the similarly-scowling Link eventually burst through the very earth below them both itself, spitting out rock and debris everywhere. As he rose back up to stand in premeeting the man, some large shards of rocks hanging around his form, Link cast the low-chuckling Kaius another scowl as he listened on.
5
"I didn't think I'd get rid of you that easily…," he began confidently, grinning as he spoke. "The little Hylian boy I once taught… everything I know to, all those years ago."
SPIT
Almost as if in insult, the firmly-scowling form of Link spat down at the ground in response, a large glob of blood staining the dark-brown ground below them all, forcing out a hardened glare and glower from the watching and listening Kaius. Realising he was receiving no response, Kaius' smirk very quickly dissolved in favour of a hardened scowl of his own before another small smile dotted his complexion.
"Are you still partaking in martial arts tournaments with that impressive power of yours…?" He questioned curiously, eyebrow rising upward as he did. Link, again, opted not to respond vocally, choosing to stare back eerily at the man. "T'would be a shame for the world to not even get a glimpse of this magnificent strength…," he chuckled again, his small smile growing to a wider smirk. "So it would be safe to say you still enjoy a challenge… yes?"
The listening Link's eye, a single one, narrowed back at the man interrogatively; again, he opted not to respond to him vocally.
"What if… I were to show you… my true strength…?"
The offer he left on the table made the listening Link's muscles tense in realisation to his intentions. Before even speaking a third time, Kaius reached up with his right opened-up palm and, like magic, the debris that housed the fallen Amalda reacted; as it rumbled quietly and trembled lightly, so too did a visible stream of Aegir come snaking out of it, directly aimed for the opened palm that Kaius kept forward.
Link soon realised what exactly he was doing and, as he did, opted merely to stay his hand, relaxing his stance and his expression back into a heated glare.
"Link!"
Having been called, the youth revolved his head around, only to find the wide-eyed Veronika, worried and concerned, desperate to end the exchange.
"Attack him…!" She hissed out anxiously. "He's vulnerable!"
The blonde youth issued her with a hardened glare before returning it to the trembling form of his once-mentor-turned-foe. "No."
Veronika's eyes widened a second time and she resisted taking a step back in sheer shock. "What?!"
He turned again to face her. "No." He reiterated this time, Loftwing-yellow eyes narrowed back at her.
"No?!"
"I'm going to make him suffer," he explained briefly, eyes narrowing a second time as they rounded again on their shared foe. "Like he made us suffer… all those years ago."
"Can't you see, that's exactly the kind of reaction he-"
DROOM
The sound of the power that emanated directly forth from the Gylomecian man was enough to make both heroes swing their faces 'round in his direction, the worried Veronika and uncaring Link facing him; Kaius stood now with a little more muscle, a massive aura of Aegir encapsulating his body as well as minor changes to his once deep night-black hair, now with small streaks of blonde hit through it almost as if he had somehow assimilated with the fallen Amalda.
"Is… is she…?" Veronika gasped out, horrified and in a widened eyed whisper.
"Sacrificed, yes…," the grinning-faced Kaius spoke up in response, a hardened echo to his baritone as he rose up his opened-up palm and closed its fingers together into a clenched fist. "To the greater good, I'm sure…"
As he finished his sentence, so too did he vanish from common sight; a revelation that left the watching Veronika and Link half-surprised.
VWOOSH…
CRACCCKKK
"Ngh…!"
Genuinely shocked by Kaius' sudden and abrupt raise in strength, Link widened his yellowed eyes as he was thrown staggering a few steps backward through the air, allowing the grinning-faced Kaius to follow up by moving to his blonde foe's back and pulling back his two palms; a hot white-energy filled both of his opened-up fingers, indicating a full-powered energy blast of Aegir.
WHOOSH…
The sound of the swift-footed Kaius moving at lightning-fast speeds made the watching Link widen both eyes before soon darting to his back, tracing his enemy's movement; as Kaius re-appeared behind the youth. The wide-eyed Gylomecian threw forward an Aegir-charged fist, quick and brutal, eliciting a similarly-fast response from his younger Hylian foe.
VWOOSH
KT
Having caught the man's very arm itself, he issued out a wide-eyed gasp, eliciting a further follow-up in the form of a savage back-facing headbutt.
SMASSSSHHH
"Argh…!"
As Kaius sagged backwards through the air, the narrow-eyed Link swung 'round and grabbed at the man's weakened arm, pulling a surprised and wide-eyed gasp from him in response.
WHOOSH… WHOOSH… WHOOSH..
Very gradually and slow to begin with, the youth began to twirl the Gylomecian man in mid-air, around and around he swung him with his incredible strength.
WHOOSH
In one final turn, Link widened both yellowed eyes of his own as he at long last tossed the former warlord back down toward earth below them. The watching Veronika widened her own light-brown eyes as she brought her slim arms to block against the sudden explosion of Aegir that came from their Gylomecian foe's palm; a technique he employed to soften his inevitable fall to the ground.
CRASSSSHHH-DROOOOOOM
Memories began to flow through his head as Link cast his own hardened look with the manipulatively-grinning Kaius.
"Often it is not the physically strongest opponent who wins…,"
Moving so quickly he opted not even to leave an after-image, Link's high-flying levitating form zipped toward the wide-eyed Kaius and he slammed a double-ended kick in the man's face, sending him yelling and rolling down across the rocky ground beneath him.
"But the strongest will!"
DROOOM
The sound of rubble crashing apart and flying across the dark cavernous area echoed out and, as Kaius returned back to a standing position from inside of it with a bloody-faced scowl now adorned on his expression, the glaring-eyed Link pulled back both arms presumably to prepare a technique. A beautiful-blue Aegir began to charge rapidly from between both opened-up palms; a variant and signature of the 'Hadoken' technique, filled with nature's energy.
"Shizen-no-HADOKEN!"
VWOOSH…
KERRRASSSHHHHHH-KRRRRRRRRR
The sound of a massive wave of beautiful-blue Aegir connected with the screaming form of Kaius' standing figure; managing to hold his ground against the incredibly-large technique, he began to attempt to push through the very wave of power. The Gylomecian, irked at having been zoned properly, somehow managed to inch his body out of the massive projectile's flight path and saw himself rushing at his wide-eyed enemy's undefended right side. Although Link caught him moving up to catch him in the air it was too late; the yelling Kaius slammed his body straight into his blonde foe's in what seemed to be a double-handed punching strike, firing himself like an arrow from a ballista.
KERRRRRASSSSHHHHH-KRRRRRRRRRR
The scowling-faced Kaius successfully slammed the grunting Link straight through the deep walls of the cavern they both fought in, debris and rocks flying everywhere around them both. Opting to end his attack, Kaius laughed as he slammed a fist through the rock ceiling above him, yet not before punctuated the finality of his assault with a final blast of Aegir, straight from one of his opened-up palms.
CRASSSSHHH-DROOOOOOM-RUMBLE-RUMBLE…
The smirk on Kaius' face only grew stronger and bolder as he landed back on safe ground, chuckling as he did.
"Was that truly the best that you had, little Hylian…?" He began half-jokingly, tilting his head in an insultingly-chosen expression. "After all your years of searching in an attempt to break away from me…," the former Gylomecian warlord smirked smugly, re-opening his mouth to speak as he did. "What a shame… especially now that he's left such a rare sight indeed…" The man spoke again, revolving his head around to speak to the shocked Veronika standing some distance away from him.
Veronika, realising he was either intending to attack or worse, widened her light-brown eyes back at him, instinctively taking a few steps back as she did.
"Ah… I remember you now…,"
Kaius' second opener, a sentence he spoke as he stepped slowly and gradually toward her, left a warning taste in the watching Veronika's mouth; the young-looking Stralanavian woman held back a gasp in her throat as she took a few anxiety-filled steps back away from his advancing march. She soon found herself with no more space with which to work however and widened her light-brown eyes again as she swung her head 'round, back clinging against the rocky wall behind her.
"The Stralanavian seal expert… yes…?" The Gylomecian terrorist smirked as he stepped forward, raising up his rough hand to cup her cheek; Veronika visibly flinched and turned her eyes and head from his, wincing as if disgusted. "I knew that when you agreed to my proposal you were only baiting… you and that problematic Sheikah of your little tribe…"
DROOOOOOM
WHOOSH…
The sound and rumble renting the ground around them made the pair widen both eyes and swing their heads 'round in the noise's direction, only to find a zipping figure rushing at them both; Kaius gasped and made ready to defend himself but even he was far too late for the sudden and abrupt assault that rent his cheeks with a violent rumble. The narrow-eyed Link, battered and bruised and still hanging strong in his 'Loftwing King' form, hung in mid-air, knee outstretched to strike the man's right cheek with, sending the Gylomecian staggering backward as he did. As Kaius was thrown a few yards back from the force of the hit, he recovered fairly quickly in a deft back-flip, skidding his ruined shoes against the ground as he drew breath in sharply and abruptly.
"Still as stubborn as ever I see…," the mercenary chuckled, reaching up to paw at the small bloodstain hanging across his lower right lip as he stood slowly back up to his feet. "Some things never change, eh…?"
Link opted to glare back at the man, a kind of unreadable hardened frown adorned on his battle-damaged exterior, tilting his blonde-haired head lightly at the man as he did.
"Hylians… you're animals, all of you,"
Kaius' words, so filled with hate, a similar hatred that Link recalled from another old foe he once fought with in Kaiohdrahl, filled the echoing air powerfully.
"You're all beasts," he began again, another malevolent chuckle in the sound of his words. "Pathetic, instinctively-driven cattle; predictable and obedient… under the correct circumstances of course…"
"I never understood why you called our race by such mindless names,"
Link's sudden response put the shock in the watching and now wide-eyed Kaius; he dropped his smirk in favour of a genuinely surprised frown, slowly down-turning into an angered one.
"All it does is expose what kind of fear you have of us… and how wilfully ignorant you want to be," the youth continued, briefly turning his head to eye the man with. "I used to look up to you… when you taught me, you were the only person I trusted… but now…," he began again, shaking his head. "You're truly one of the weakest people I've ever met."
The listening Kaius, his ego bruised and subsequently battered following the hardened comments from the boy who he once mentored, found himself screaming and recklessly rushing his younger opponent, fist held backward with which to assault him.
KERRRASSHHHHH-THUDDDDDDDD
Kaius' scowl dropped, almost as quickly as Link's perhaps inevitable counter-attack landed; a crouch-dashing gut-punch that saw the wide-eyed Kaius drop back down to his knees, all strength seemingly sapped from his entire body. His muscular arms went down to grasp at the wounded area he now carried, barely able to breathe as his knees crashed to the ground painfully.
"For the crimes you've committed against the people of Gylomecia, let alone your own comrades, I should kill you where you stand," Link spoke up a second time, his Loftwing-yellowed eyes narrowing threateningly down at the barely-breathing Kaius below him. "But that would be too easy…," he began again, eyes narrowing ever further, as if he were building up to something. "I'm satisfied now. Your ego has been ripped beyond recognition. It wasn't even another warlord that had to put you down… it was the boy you taught seven years ago… isn't that right?" He finished at long last, spicing his words with a knowing and knowledgeable smirk on his face, tilting it as he did.
Perhaps unable to vocally respond to him, the listening Kaius, his bloodied scowl threatening to split his face, could only turn his hatred-eyed glare up at the blonde youth, both arms gripped on his pained lower stomach.
"The next time you feel like unearthing your head from whatever hole you crawled into before, think about this," Link continued, his earlier smirk very quickly dissolving in favour of a hardened scowl. "Think about the shame you feel now, of losing this badly to someone you once taught, think about the damage to your reputation as it is now," he spoke, ending his sentence with a third. "Think about that devoted woman you killed… just to serve your own twisted ends."
With that the narrow-eyed Link turned and, powering down the nature's Aegir that surrounded him and dropping the transformation that wrapped itself 'round him, the former Kokiri began marching back toward the frowning-faced Veronika as well as the exit behind him. It was only when the wide-eyed Stralanavian woman rose up one of her index fingers to point forward that Link realised she was attempting to warn him; when he about-turned quickly to get a good look at the sight behind him, he couldn't help but widen his newly-returned blue-eyed gaze.
The bloodied and heavily-injured Kaius stared back at him in a satisfied-seeming smirk, using the last remains of his Aegir and power to form sharp magic knives at the edges of his calloused fingers, pointing them all at his open throat, knelt down as he tilted his head up to smirk at the pair.
Although Link felt a pang of regret and an instinctual need to save the man, something else inside of him held his actions back; the toothily-smirking faced Gylomecian finally rent the Aegir-knives directly and horizontally across his open neck, immediately drawing blood and staining them as well as his body and the ground beneath him.
SLICCCE
THUD
With little noise echoing out other than his body knocking agonisingly against the ground, Kaius finally dropped down onto the rocky and dusty floor beneath him, staining it further in his life-juices and the very signature of his final defeat.
Only the sound of dripping water and the odd small creature nearby echoed out around the two survivors, leaving them both speechless at the sight before them.
