CW The content towards the end of this chapter may be too graphic for some readers.
Opinions on chapter length? Most chapters will be closer to this one in length.
Chapter 4 - Twilight Falls
Isha wasn't sure how much time had passed in her dark, lonely bedroom. With no windows to track the sky and no clocks present in this ancient place, she was left to guess at the passage of time. Luda had refused to even let her go up to the sanctuary, even though the children had mentioned that was where they were staying.
Luda had lied to her. In all her years, Isha could not ever recall the woman lying to her. Having grown up together and only a few months between their ages, Luda and Isha were as close as sisters. They confided in one another, trusted one another… Isha felt that Luda was the only person in the village who even attempted to understand her.
Yet, she'd lied to her about going above ground.
This thought grated on Isha's nerves, as if a thorn stuck in her side, until she couldn't take the silence any more. Luda and monsters be damned, she was going up to the surface.
The hallways of the catacombs were illuminated by soft torchlight, but did little to give Isha guidance to the stairs. She sighed, gazing at the rows of separate hallways and doors that loomed ahead of her.
Well, I guess this is an adventure in itself, she thought dryly as she crept down the hallway, ears strained for voices or any sounds of movement.
She turned left, and was met with another looming hallway littered with passages and doors. Her ears twitched as she leaned forwards, focusing all her attention on the sounds around her. She could hear a deep rumbling in the ground, sounding far off - perhaps Death Mountain was trembling again, or maybe a generator was running somewhere. Aside from that, though, she heard nothing.
She spun on her heels to return the way she came, and bumped straight into Luda.
"Oh, Isha, you're-"
"Take me upstairs, Luda."
The smaller woman looked genuinely terrified of the look in Isha's eyes, but still held her ground. "Isha, I told-"
"The kids are staying in the sanctuary. Take me up there. I want to see."
"I can't-"
"You can, and you will," she growled, grabbing Luda's shoulder and gripping her tightly. "I don't know why you lied to me, and I don't care." She bared her teeth. "Take. Me. Up."
Luda, having never witnessed such a terrifying side from her longtime friend, could only turn and walk towards the stairs, defying the direction her father had given her to keep Isha quarantined until she'd fully healed.
She knew how her friend would react when she looked out upon what remained of their town. She only hoped that her father and Barnes would be strong enough to hold the woman back from going on a rampage.
Isha's heart pounded in her ears as Luda led her down winding corridor after winding corridor. She ran her hand along the cool stone walls. They had put her incredibly deep in the catacombs. Why?
Finally, they arrived before a grand stone staircase, carved of the same clay as the rest of the tunnels. Small alcoves within the walls held sconces that burned bright, illuminating the way up to the massive cellar doors. Luda turned to Isha once more.
"Go on, then," she stepped aside. "Go up."
Isha's feet could not carry her fast enough up the stairs. Her lungs screamed at the sudden exertion, her heart throbbing so hard that it reverberated through her skull, but she pushed herself forward, cursing the distance she had to cover.
Finally, she cleared the top step and shoved her way through the massive doors, bursting up from the ground onto the first floor of the sanctuary.
Renado and the Ordona children sat off to one side, his arms around all of them, holding them close as they stared in surprise at her sudden appearance. At the other end of the room, Barnes, the local bombs supplier, cursed Isha for startling all of them, especially after everything they'd endured.
"Everything you've endured?" she gave a humorless laugh and turned to Renado. "Why in the hell did you lock me down there and tell me it's too unsafe up here? Tell me what's going on, now."
The shaman sighed and pulled his arms from the children, standing and moving towards one of the bordered up windows. With a mighty grunt, he yanked down one of the boards, the nails holding it in place scattering across the floor.
He turned to her again, still holding the large chunk of wood. "Isha, Kakariko village was attacked the day after those boar riders passed through. Attacked by beasts we've never seen before. There was nothing we could have done to prepare-"
"Where's mom?" she snarled, eyes darting around the room, refusing to look outside out of spite. "Where is my mother?"
Renado weighed the dangerous tone she had against the consequences of lying to her further. He closed his eyes and sighed, gesturing to the now-opened window. "I truly do not know what happened to your mother. The last I knew, she was in her home. Take a look for yourself and see why we have not left to look."
Isha darted to the window, more words of anger dying in her throat as her eyes adjusted to the bright evening light. She beheld the destruction outside the sanctuary.
The window she looked out of faced the main thoroughfare, and she should have seen a row of shops ahead of her, standing in the shadow of the narrow cliffs of the canyon, lights ablaze as they tried to capture the attention of any evening passerby before they closed up for the night.
Instead, all she saw was a pile of rocks and splintered wood and rubble, as though one of Barne's bombs had gone off in the middle of town. Her heartbeat roared in her ears as she made the horrifying realization that she could not even make out which building would have been the general store…
Her hand cupped over her mouth, Isha staggered back, her wide eyes traveling back over to Renado. His eyes were filled with grief. "The whole town," he answered her unspoken question.
"S-s-survivors…" she stammered.
"The only ones accounted for are here, in the sanctuary," he replied. "We do not know what happened to everyone else, and it is too dangerous to go looking."
Isha's eyes darted to the door, her hand falling away to reveal her jaw now clenched in anger. "Where is it?" she demanded. "My bow, where did you hide it?"
"Isha, you cannot-"
"Do not tell me what I can and cannot do!" she cried. "You should have protected her with your life, if you care for her so much! Where you fail, I will not, now tell me where my bow is!"
Renado approached her, his steps heavy. "If you go out there, it will be suicide, and the efforts of everyone who made sure you made it here safely would be completely wasted." He glared down at her as they stood chest-to-chest, a battle of wills raging between their glares. The air in the sanctuary became stifling.
When he did not back down, she threw her hands up in frustration and turned away, shouting any curse she could think of.
"That is enough, Isha," he chastised her. "You're acting like a child."
The woman spat on the ground in response, biting back the urge to challenge him to fisticuffs for trying to play a father role to her once again.
"I don't know why you bother lying to her, should just let the woman know already," Barnes grumbled from his corner of the room, earning an exasperated look from Renado. The explosives dealer caught this look and slowly pulled his welding helmet over his face. "Ain't right to give her hope," he added in a much softer tone.
Isha's heart sank at his words. No, no, no. Her green eyes darted between those gathered in the sanctuary. At some point during their exchange, Luda had appeared from the catacombs below, and now stood in the center of the room, her face apologetic.
"She's gone, then," it was more of a statement than a question from the young woman. Renado nodded solemnly, holding her fiery gaze. She began to tremble, struggling to keep the pain from showing on her face. She needed to keep it together, there were children present, and they were clearly already terrified of her. She'd already made such a fool of herself, she was a grown woman, for goddess' sakes…
"They're all gone," Renado finally admitted from his spot guarding the front door. "Horrendous beasts like we've never seen before assaulted our town in the middle of the night, a day after you rescued the little ones. It was everything we could do to move you to safety and secure this place."
"But you couldn't be bothered to save the woman who loved you, who actually wanted you in her life, for some reason?" she spat back. "Just whoever you could grab that wouldn't risk your own neck, right? Just enough to seem like a good person."
"We had no warning, Isha. By the time we heard the commotion, they'd already begun tearing apart buildings and ending lives. You're lucky that we were able to move you as quickly as we did."
They would have used me as monster bait if it meant saving their own hides, she assumed. Her heart pounded, the irregular rhythm doing little to calm her growing sorrow. Just how many were truly gone, and how many were trapped in their shelter beneath the rubble, waiting for someone to find them and rescue them? Renado said they were all gone, but…
"Have you bothered looking yet?"
It was Barnes' turn to gesture to a window, the one he'd been standing by this whole time. "Take a look out there and then tell me if you think it's worth going out there."
Bracing herself, Isha took slow steps towards the window. This one faced out towards the Spirit's Forest as well as the town's southern entrance, and at first all she could make out were spiny trees and empty streets.
An enormous shape caught her eye, slithering through the trees with an unnatural speed that made the hair on the back of her neck stand on edge. She struggled to make out the exact shape of the creature, noting that it appeared to have four legs and a massive flat face. No, upon closer inspection, it appeared to have a large, black metal plate covering its face. She couldn't make out if the creature had fur, a mane, or if those were tentacles sprouting from its head, but everything about its jittery movements made her uneasy.
The creature burst from the treeline suddenly, chasing something unseen to those gathered in the sanctuary. Isha finally got a good luck at the beast and saw its grotesque charcoal skin to be covered in strange markings - perhaps tattoos of some kind? - with glowing red symbols on its chest.
The creature stopped and lifted itself on its back two legs, its head twitching as it appeared to look around. Unable to bear the sight of such a hideous creature anymore, Isha backed away from the window. Every bone in her body screamed at her to get out there, to kill these things and find her mother, but even from this distance she could feel their sheer power, and it terrified and humbled her.
A bloodcurdling screech rocked the building, and the Ordona children cowered in fear. Even Isha covered her ears. The scream was loud enough to wake the dead.
"It would be suicide to try to engage such creatures," Renado told her softly once the scream had faded, stepping to her side. "Believe me when I say that I would have done anything for your mother, but I knew that she would never forgive me if I left you to die in an effort to save her."
Isha wanted to argue further, wanted to fight and punch and scream at the leader who'd failed their village so horribly, but she found no words left within her. The mental image of her mother being confronted with such horrors just before meeting her end was almost too much to bear. And, she hated to admit it, she was just as terrified of that creature as the rest of them.
She slumped to a bench against the wall and curled her legs to her chest, staring at the floor. The Ordon children approached her, trying to reassure her that they would be saved. Their faith in some goat herder from their village was truly unshakeable, but she could not bring herself to even address their wild claims that he would rescue them, against all odds. After many silent minutes, they left her be.
At some point, Renado offered to escort her back to her room underground, but she refused to move. He repeated this action again a few minutes later, and she mumbled something about burying him six feet under if he suggested such things again. He later brought her a blanket and a pillow, and she was left to process the horrible news by herself.
It was here that she remained for an unknown amount of time - the permanent evening sky made tracking the hours impossible. Gods, I don't even know what to think about that.
She remained unmoving and silent while she listened to the children comfort one another and talk once again about their Link who they anticipated would show any moment and save the day. The one called Talo was recounting a tale about being lost in the woods, near some old temple. He was going on and on about how he remained calm through the whole thing, and Link saved the day, just as he'd prayed for, all while wielding a wooden sword.
Unable to bear their ceaseless optimism any further, Isha scoffed and spoke her first words since she'd sat down. "A sword against the monsters outside would be almost as foolish as fighting them bare-handed," she mumbled. "A spear or a halberd, perhaps. Arrows from a distance would also be quite effective." A pointed glance to Renado. "Then again, anything is better than absolutely nothing."
The children seemed to take offense to her doubt in their goat-herder-turned-swordsman. "We've seen him in action for ourselves," Talo had insisted. "He saved me from those monsters in the forest, and I know he'll save us from these monsters too."
Despite herself, Isha looked down into the hope-filled eyes of the kids. Her will to argue left her. Let them dream, she'd told herself. Let them find comfort in something, in our final hours.
And so, Isha fell silent once again, staring out the window. No, nobody would come for them. They would die, imprisoned within this holy sanctuary and trapped to deal with each other until their final breaths. Perhaps of starvation, perhaps the monsters would finally run down the sanctuary as they had all other buildings in the village.
Isha dared not think about her dreams of adventure and leaving the town. She dared not think about her mother, who was either scared and alone trapped in their shelter, or dead somewhere under a pile of rubble. She tried not to think about apologies left unsaid, their final words bitter and cold towards one another. She abandoned her ideals of rushing out and killing those monsters on her own, of protecting what remained of her home. She did not allow herself to share the hope that the young ones had in this strange rancher of theirs, either.
Instead, Isha watched for the beasts that had ruined her sleepy village and wept for everything she'd lost.
Hours or days passed, Isha did not bother to keep track in this twilit purgatory. The rescued children huddled beside a small stove, whispering quietly again about the man they expected to save them. Barnes was asleep in a chair by the front door, his soldering mask pulled down over his face. Renado and Luda were nowhere to be seen, likely somewhere below in the storerooms examining their remaining rations or discussing how to sacrifice her to the beasts. Whichever.
She moved to stretch, her attention caught by the sound of wood clattering against the floor. She jumped and realized that her bow had been returned to her, left leaning against her sleeping form.
She blinked and quickly picked it up, inspecting the carved handle for damage. It had some new scuffs and cuts, but was generally no worse for wear. Her quiver, pathetically low on arrows, was leaned against the wall beside her.
She tried not to think of the implications of it being returned to her so suddenly. Perhaps they assumed she had learned her lesson, and would remain indoors. Perhaps they wanted her to walk out to her death, leaving them with one less mouth to feed. Perhaps Renado had finally come to his senses, and agreed that something for protection was better than nothing.
She did not bother to question things either way and took up her weapon, heading for the exit. Barnes didn't so much as twitch when she walked by. Just as well, she thought to herself. Glad they've come around.
Isha was slow to exit the building, glancing at her surroundings several times before fully leaving the safety of the sanctuary. The air around her was hot, still, and quiet, a familiar and yet foreign atmosphere in her desolate village.
There were no signs of the dark monsters that had been patrolling the streets, and she could not hear their shuffling footsteps from anywhere nearby. She didn't trust the silence, though, and kept an arrow at the ready.
Now that she was outside, the gravity of the destruction around her was impossible to ignore. The cliffs themselves had not even been spared. Massive boulders had tumbled down into the canyon, crushing buildings that once looked to these very walls for shelter. Structures looked as though they'd suffered cannon-fire. The eerie quiet was punctured occasionally by the shifting of broken metal roof panels and quiet rumblings from the volcano high above them.
She tried not to look too closely at the dark stains that coated sections of the rubble, tried not to think about who lay beneath the destruction. A small part of her still clung to the hope that her mother, neighbors, friends, and students were all hidden in their shelters, terrified but alive.
Isha took a deep breath, the air thick with smoke and dust, and decided to head for the Spring first, as that was the last place she'd seen those terrible creatures. As she neared, she recalled that Eldin had warned her of the beasts just before her life took its drastic turn. The thought of his warning, spoke only to her and only in the last moments when she could do so little about it, lit a burning pyre of anger deep within her broken heart.
Useless, absolutely useless, she thought of the great bird spirit. So much for protecting the region. Four years of visits and not a word of warning of what was to come. You're probably the entire reason we were attacked in the first place.
She squared her shoulders and stood a bit taller, ignoring the soreness in her back. If Eldin had survived the assault, he had quite a lot to answer to, and Isha supposed that nobody else would bother to confront him.
You'd better be dead, she willed the Spirit to hear her thoughts. Because you deserve it after what you allowed to happen here.
Unbeknownst to Isha, she did not travel to the spring alone that day. Cursed to be unseen by the spirits trapped within the Twilight Realm, a gray-patterned wolf kept pace at her heels, his feral blue eyes scanning their surroundings for any threats to this injured stranger.
The imp riding upon his back stretched and sighed. "I'd complain about you getting side tracked yet again, but at least I get to bask in the Twilight for a while longer."
He huffed, rolling his eyes. He couldn't understand how Midna, his companion, could be so cold. They had overheard bits and pieces of the tragic conversation from outside the sanctuary, and it was clear to him that this woman was driving herself mad with grief. Though he had taken care of most of the threats within the village already, he worried that her desire for a fight would lead to her untimely end.
This woman - Isha, the children had called her - saved the village kids he cared so much for. He needed to thank her, needed her to know how much her bravery meant to him, and what it would mean to everyone's parents when he returned home.
He couldn't do that if she died before he finished restoring Eldin's light.
A broken chain still attached to his ankle rattled against the rocky ground, the only sound in this foreboding landscape. Isha, as every other soul he'd encountered in these zones, did not react to the sound, as unaware to it as she was to he and Midna.
They reached the other side of the forest without incident, though Isha did not relax one bit. Link, thanks to his heightened wolf senses, could tell there was no imminent danger. He sat down at the edge of the trees and watched her continue to the banks of the spring.
Her jade eyes scanned the cliff walls ahead, a frown tugging at her lips. "Dammit…" she mumbled as her eyes settled on some unknown spot across the way. With a final cursory look all around her, she sat down and placed the bow across her lap, her feet resting in the water. Her movements didn't make a single sound, which clearly unnerved her. Not even a splash from the water.
"What good are you, if you cannot protect us?" she shouted into the air, her voice hoarse but steady. "Are you nothing more than a petty light show?"
The wolf blinked, shocked to hear someone speak in such a way to a Light Spirit. He wondered if she was trying to provoke Eldin into taking her out himself.
Even more surprising to Isha, the Spirit responded to her call, appearing in a pathetically small version of the orb she saw on her sixteenth birthday. Isha shot to her feet.
Eldin spoke, his voice a shadow of the one she'd heard so long ago.
"You mistake me… For a god…" he rasped, light shimmering as he spoke.
"I mistake you for nothing," she growled back, gritting her teeth. "It's your job to watch over us, isn't it? Just like it was Ordona's job to watch over those kids? God help the Lanayru and Faron provinces, if you two are any indication."
"We spirits-"
"Oh, shove it," she cried above his weak voice. "You can make excuses for your entire immortal life, but they will not replace what we lost. The best thing you spirits could do for us is drop dead."
Even Midna was listening to the conversation with rapt attention, her eyes glowing. She leaned forward and pulled one of Link's ears back towards her. "I hate to say it, but I think the kids would have been safer with the monsters."
He shook himself loose and took a few steps back. He didn't disagree.
"We are all powerless… In the face of fate… But there is hope… A hero, chosen by the gods… He comes to save us…"
"I'm sick of hearing about heroes and being saved," she cried back. "Who's going to save the people who have already died? Where were the heroes when my father died? Where were the heroes when those kids were kidnapped from Ordona's doorstep? Where were the heroes when my village was torn to pieces while I slept? Where were the heroes when I needed them most?" Tears poured down her cheeks and her voice finally cracked.
"Tsk, tsk… You can't save everyone, Wolfy," Midna whispered, noticing Link's ears droop with every stinging question. She patted his side and continued, "But if we don't get a move on, this won't be the last village you find in this state."
He knew his companion was correct, though his pride was certainly shattered by the emotional outbursts of this broken woman. When he first saved the Light Spirit Faron from Twilight and was gifted the knowledge of his divine purpose, Link had been under the impression that he would be able to bring everyone a happy ending. After all, with a Goddess on his side, anything should have been possible.
His own ignorance made him sick, and he could not stand to watch the woman argue with Eldin any further. Where was he, indeed? Too weak to fight off the invaders at Ordon Spring. Too weak to handle his first transformation into a wolf in the Twilight Realm. Too slow for Midna, too slow for Ilia, too slow for this wailing woman and her decimated village.
Following Midna's direction, he turned and took off to locate the final tears of light, focusing his mind on the coming reunion between him and the village children he'd gone through so much to find.
No, he couldn't save everyone. But if he didn't try, who would?
Throat burning from tens of minutes of screaming at an immortal spirit, Isha finally returned back to the sanctuary, her mind clearing despite her exhaustion. Though her conversation with Eldin went nowhere, Isha had found the whole exchange strangely cathartic, and had found herself a new goal to look forward to.
I'll track down whoever controls these monsters. Anyone responsible for their appearance, I will hunt them down, and I will make sure they pay for every life they've taken or changed.
The monster activity had died down entirely, she'd observed on her walk out. If any survivors wanted a chance to escape, they would need to go soon. No telling when the creatures would return, or what they would bring with them. Now was the time to evacuate, to head to Castle Town where they would be protected by towering walls and trained soldiers who wouldn't dream of drinking on duty.
She would lead them, would protect the survivors on the journey to town, and gather any information she could about who was behind the monsters once there. A city that large and that central to the kingdom would certainly have valuable information on such cataclysmic happenings. Then, she would leave. She would set out in search of the bastard who terrorized her village, and cut them down.
She burst through the large front doors of the sanctuary to be greeted by the wide-eyed stares of the Ordona children.
She looked at them for the first time all day with a soft expression. "I'm sorry," Isha said to them. "I'm okay now, I promise. And we're all going to be okay."
Four relieved little faces met her gaze, and they finally left their spot by the stove to surround her.
"Did you find anyone while you were out there?"
"Did you see Link?"
"Where did the monsters go?"
Isha held up her hand to calm their questions. "No, I didn't find anyone," she replied sadly. "But it does appear that the monsters have gone. If we are going to escape, we need to get going immediately."
"Where do you plan to take them in your condition, Isha?" Renado's stern voice stopped any further questions from the kids. "You've slept for far longer than you've been awake. We have no horses or carriages left. Do you expect them all to walk that whole distance?"
Her eyes narrowed. "Do you expect to continue to allow the monsters to hold us all hostage here, dear village leader?"
"I know you hit your head, Isha, but you've been disturbingly irrational ever since you woke up," his voice remained calm. "I can not, in good faith, allow you to lead these children anywhere." Noticing her bow on her back, he continued. "I see Luda once again ignored my instructions."
She started to fire back a response, but their conversation was cut short as the entire room suddenly lit up with a bright light, temporarily blinding the inhabitants.
For the first time in days, the remaining residents of Kakariko finally experienced the bright noon sun once again. Luda, who had come up from the catacombs at the sound of Isha's homecoming, gasped with delight.
They could hardly make it to the windows fast enough, in utter disbelief at the sudden shift in atmosphere. The inexplicable never-ending evening had finally ended.
Isha's eyes darted south to the spring, wondering if any of this was Eldin's doing, or if their mysterious "legendary hero" had finally shown up to magically fix things.
For the moment, she couldn't care less which it was.
"Link!" Beth shouted from Isha's side, nearly jumping out of the narrow window. "Look at the trees, Link is here!"
Isha clasped her hands in front of her face. The kids were…actually right. Someone did come for them. She could barely wrap her mind around things, barely believe her eyes. A swordsman, clothed in a green tunic and hat, was making his way through the trees towards the sanctuary, his bright blue eyes fixated ahead as if he already knew where the children were housed. A lone figure in this decimated town.
Talo cleared the front door first, running as fast as his legs would carry him to the man he'd placed all his faith in. The swordsman's eyes lit up and he knelt down with widespread arms to meet the boy in a tight hug. Beth, hot on her friend's heels, flung herself at Link and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Colin, sweet boy that he was, struggled to carry the young Malo while attempting to run as well. Pulling herself together, Isha approached the pair and offered to carry Malo, earning a thankful smile from Colin before he dashed ahead to join the group hug.
As she drew near, the swordsman she'd heard so much about stood and turned to face her, children still clinging to his arms. He towered nearly half a foot above her, but was nonthreatening in the way he looked at her. His bright blue eyes were certainly his most striking feature, complimenting his soft features. It was no wonder the children held him in such high regard - he certainly looked like a man on a mission.
"Link, this is the person who saved us!" Colin exclaimed before Isha had a chance to introduce herself. She smiled sheepishly and passed Malo to the man before her.
"Gods above, I can't imagine what the monsters looked like," he said with a pointed glance at her bandaged head. "I don't know how to begin to thank you. These kids are my life," he added in a more serious tone.
Isha looked past him towards the forest. "You should save your thanks," she replied.
"Go…" Eldin's voice was ringing in her ears, as clear as the sun above, but nobody else so much as batted an eye. A message intended for her ears only.
All this time, and that's how you decide to send me off? she thought, biting her cheek.
"So, where's Ilia?" Link's innocent question pierced through her heart, and color drained from Isha's face. She dared not take her eyes off the treeline, dared not look at the other's expressions as they recalled the one still missing.
"Like I said, save your thanks. She's not here," Isha managed with a long exhale. "I still have to go find her. Actually, now that you've arrived, I could really use your help…"
"Anything I can do to repay you, just say it," his quick response startled Isha. She stumbled to recapture her train of thought.
"I- Um, yes, so, these kids can't stay here. We can't stay here. There's no telling when those monsters will be back, and we have nothing in the way of defense. Gods, I don't… I don't even know if we have anyone left to defend."
"Let me stop you there," he held up one of his hands. "I can assure you, those monsters won't be coming back here."
"We told you, Link would save us and take care of those monsters!" Talo cut in.
"And I told you, we don't currently have a way to transport them anywhere safely," came Renado's voice from behind them. Isha jumped and cursed at his appearance, having nearly forgotten their heated argument in all the confusion. "Unless you just so happen to have a horse and cart stashed somewhere nearby."
Link knew he didn't have to answer, and instead extended a hand to the dark-haired man. "I'm Link, of Ordon Village."
"I'm Renado, the shaman of this village," they shook hands. "You'll have to excuse us, we've been in hiding for quite a while now. I think we're all feeling a bit energetic. I assume we have you to thank for our sudden change of fortune."
The young man removed his cap and ran his fingers through his hair. "I wish I had arrived sooner."
An uncomfortable silence fell, and Isha realized that aside from their little group, not another soul stirred in the canyon. Even when she strained her ears, she could not detect any sign of shifting rock or moving rubble that would indicate others rising from their shelters.
A soft hand on her back alerted Isha to Luda's presence, and their eyes met as Isha's unspoken questions hung between them.
"It's just us," she whispered sadly, her usual steady voice faltering. She pulled Isha into a close hug. "Those who weren't killed were turned into more monsters. Nobody had any warning…"
Isha shifted away from the contact, her lips pulled tightly into a thin line and eyes clouding over with pain. Luda tried to grab on to her friend's shirt, tried to keep her rooted in place, but Isha forced her hands away. "Mom deserves a proper burial," she mumbled as she walked away.
"We should leave her to mourn in her own way," Renado said when he noticed the children move to follow her. "Come now, why don't we all go down to the lower springs and get away from this dreadful place."
As the children ran ahead, Luda hurrying after them to serve as a watchful eye, Renado and Link stood back to talk.
"I don't mean to add to your troubles, young man, but you mentioned that you are all from Ordon. I may have a need for one of the residents there. Your mayor, Bo, is a particularly close friend to the Goron tribe. They are normally our sworn protectors and excellent trade partners, but a few weeks before those monsters appeared, they sent word that they would be revoking their offer of protection in order to focus on the activity at Death Mountain. While I concede this is usually a very reasonable request - and I certainly do not want to lose my home to an eruption - the timing of everything seems incredibly suspicious."
"Do you think the village would have survived if Goron soldiers were still present?"
Renado could only shrug. "We certainly would have been better off than we were." His dark eyes traveled back to the destruction of the village, the sight of it making him sick. He sighed and continued on. "The fact that they did not so much as attempt to send reinforcements our way concerns me. After witnessing what these creatures can do to a Hylian settlement, I have begun to fear for our rocky neighbors."
"And you think the mayor of my hometown can help in some way?"
A smile graced the shaman's lips. "He's the only Hylian to have bested them in their sacred Sumo ritual fights. They may be too prideful to accept the help of anyone, but your Mayor might be able to get some information out of them. If they've witnessed the same destruction we have, I'd like to look into how we can help. If it is something my village did to offend them, I would like to rectify that immediately.
"I'm tired of sitting by," the man finished, his smile fading. "The Gorons have been friends of Kakariko for generations. To see such a peaceful and kind race suddenly turn their backs on us has been… difficult to stomach."
"You said that you're in need of a horse and cart to get the kids home anyways, right?" Link asked. "My village has two carts, either would be plenty large enough for all of them, plus us four adults-"
"Actually, there is another one of us," Renado cut him off. "He ran off as soon as the sunlight returned, but our local bombs supplier survived alongside us. He normally has better manners than this, but he believes the monsters may have attacked his storage building and prioritized checking on that."
"Oh," Link's eyes drifted upwards, recalling a particularly unfortunate situation with a rather explosive building that he'd been trapped in while still in his wolf form. "I'm sorry to hear."
"But yes, I don't like the idea of traveling unprotected. However, do not worry about us. I will not leave my village behind, even if I am the last alive. These good people deserve a peaceful resting place, and I will not turn my back on the Gorons. Luda would stay with me as well. As for Isha, I'd be surprised if she's even still in Kakariko by now. She's been trying to leave since she was old enough to walk."
Link recalled the words she'd mumbled as she'd hobbled away. He'd hoped to avoid getting involved in her tragedies. "She seemed to be having a hard time."
"Her mother, Eva, was all she had." Renado recounted with pity. "Her father died fighting monsters when she was but ten years old. He filled her mind with all sorts of stories of grandeur, twisting his violent memories of battle into stories of valiant battles and wild adventures, and it has clearly done a number on her." He shook his head. "She's incredibly bright, and the children loved her. We appointed her the town's schoolteacher as soon as she came of age. If she'd just pulled her head from the clouds, she would have been quite the respected member of our village, despite her father's violent deeds."
"You sound like you're not too fond of battle," Link commented.
"Kakariko has always been a town of peace, for as long as any of us could recall. With the Gorons at our sides, we had little to fear and no use for weapons or battles. Many of the elders felt it was the draw of strong warriors that lured monsters to the village in the first place. Those kargaroks disappeared after her father's death. Before her family moved here, we'd never had an issue with monsters breaching our gates. We were convinced that our ideals were correct."
Link let out a low whistle. "How do you feel about it now?"
"I find it hard to shake the beliefs I've held all my life," he confessed. "Before Isha's father arrived, we had never had issues with monsters coming close to our village. Though he has been gone, Isha never did let go of his teachings. We still raised a warrior, and the monsters came again."
"I won't disrespect you by hanging around longer than necessary, then," he replied, eager to drop the subject. In his position, with his Goddesses-given gifts, he most certainly was a magnet for such troubles. "I'll return home and let the families of these kids know that they're safe, and secure a cart, and I'll talk to Bo while I'm at it. There's just one thing I still need to find…"
Isha wiped her bloody hands on her shirt, wincing at the stinging scrapes left by jagged pieces of rubble. She stood where the living room of her childhood home once was, surrounded by piles of broken brick and shattered wooden beams. What was left of the walls of the house barely stood as tall as her shoulders, her only landmarks in this flattened building to guide her.
It had taken her all afternoon to clear debris from the kitchen enough to see that there was nothing of value left behind. Anything that had been in the house at the time of the monster attack had been ripped apart or pounded into the dirt, left in an unrecognizable state.
She intentionally avoided going towards any of the rooms towards the back of the house, where the bedrooms and the doors down to the cellar were once located. She would save them for last, when she was done clearing the rest of the home. She feared that what she would find under all the wreckage would destroy her.
Hoofbeats pounded in the distance, growing closer at an alarming rate. Isha dropped the brick she'd just lifted directly on to her bare feet, cursing as she did so. Despite the pain, she lunged for her bow and quiver just a few feet away from her, preparing herself for another difficult fight.
It was not a boar that rounded the corner, though. A massive brown horse with a glowing white mane galloped her direction, its rider leaning over its neck, scanning the wrecked buildings. The Ordonian swordsman's eyes met hers and he pulled on the reins to stop his mount.
Isha relaxed and lowered her weapon as he dismounted and approached her. "Do you need something?"
Link looked on towards the mess she stood in. "I wanted to let you know that I'll be returning home soon to get a wagon, and I wanted to thank you again before I left." He turned to her. "Put me to work, what can I help with?"
"There's nothing to help with," she replied softly. "But I'm glad you will be able to get those kids home. I can't imagine how their parents must feel."
"Are you looking for something in particular?" he ignored her, leaning down to pick up a few shards of a broken pot. "You saved their lives. At least let me do something."
She wanted to refuse, to tell this poor ranch hand to leave and return to his peaceful life and forget about the destruction that fell upon Kakariko. When she opened her mouth, however, she could not form the words, the idea of being left alone with her thoughts in the dark keeping her from chasing him off.
Link carefully made his way over the rubble, moving towards the center of the structure as if to get a better look. "I'll stay out of your way, I promise," he continued.
Isha's knees felt weak as he approached the hallway that separated her mother's bedroom from the cellar. He stopped exactly where she did not want him to and knelt down to start cleaning up.
"Stop it," she choked out, forcing herself to move. She grabbed his arm and was met with a look of surprise, though he did not fight as she pulled him back. "My mom… my mom is…" She's probably under there. She wanted to punch herself for being unable to say such a simple sentence.
The young man brushed her hand off his arm, but was gentle in doing so. "You shouldn't have to face these kinds of things alone, you know," he told her.
"Why?" she whispered. "What difference does it make to you? You don't even know me."
"I don't need to know you to see what happened here. You didn't need to know the little ones to jump to their rescue."
She snorted. "Nobody in their right mind could let such a thing happen to children, it's not the same." She looked again at the swordsman and swallowed her fears. "I… I think she would have headed to the cellar," she pointed a shaky finger towards the back wall of the structure, jagged and broken pieces of the second floor still hanging on to what remained of the wall.
Link carefully climbed over the wall that once separated the living room from the hallway and found a large beam still mostly in-tact. He lifted it with some effort, propping it upright. It barely met his shoulder. "Help me get this under the floor over here," he requested. "Don't need the rest of the place to cave in around us.
The idea of not having to think and instead just follow instructions brought Isha more relief than she'd expected. They moved at a steady pace, Link nearly forcing Isha to accept his gloves to cover her hands from further damage. They worked together to steady the crumbling wall, then started slowly removing debris.
He kept an eye on the young woman who swayed and shifted with exhaustion, expecting her to close her eyes and fall to the ground at any moment. He could see her fidgeting to keep herself active and alert, could see her ears twitch from beneath her peach-colored hair as she remained on high alert, even though he'd made sure the monsters would not be returning to this village.
Try as he might, he could not understand her actions. Every piece of debris she lifted was moved with arms trembling in fear of what lay underneath, yet she seemed to have a good idea of exactly where her mother would be found. Her pain gave her the courage to stand before a Light Spirit, weakened though Eldin had been, and curse him for not being good enough. Link was still half-worried that he'd wind up cursed as a side effect just for overhearing the whole exchange. Yet now, she looked like a deer staring down the shaft of an arrow.
His hands touched a brick that was dripping wet with a dark liquid, jolting him from his thoughts. The smell of iron and rot hit his nostrils, and he nearly retched.
At his feet, more blood-stained bricks glimmered in the rising moonlight. He could make out a mess of flaming orange hair tangled among the rocks.
The hero looked at Isha again. How is she going to handle this?
His eyes drifted over to Epona, the horse he'd destroyed an entire bulblin camp to rescue earlier that evening, who grazed peacefully at the base of a shattered tree. He hoped the horse would keep its calm demeanor if Isha felt the need to express her sorrows to the skies again. The mare had always been a bit skittish.
"Hey, there's… something over here," he finally said, pulling his cap from his head. "I don't know if-"
With nearly inhuman speed, Isha leapt over the remnants of her mother's home. Her sharp eyes found the bloody pile immediately, and she fell to her knees to start digging. "Come on, move your ass," she hissed up at him. "She may be suffocating, or scared, or trapped, or crushed, or-" her words ended with a sharp gasp, her hands freezing in the air and her body going rigid. Link could no longer stand so close.
Her mother's face - or what was left of it - was barely distinguishable in the shadows. The smell was horrendous - it had clearly been several days since the attack. She was missing most of the left side of her face, her jaw completely removed.
"Gods, please…" Isha's voice was thick with emotion. "I'm not ready."
Link wasn't either, he realized. He was not ready to face what awaited the entire world, should he fail his Gods-given task. He had quickly lost track of time, traveling between provinces of light and twilight, and he'd certainly not had a moment to really grasp what awaited the world should he fail or abandon his responsibilities.
He forced himself to Isha's side, reminding himself to breathe through his mouth and not look down. The young woman hunched over her mother's remains, trembling with silent sobs and soaked in blood. Crouched next to her, Link kept his eyes straight ahead as he laid a hand on her back and let her cry.
He felt that he failed her village spectacularly. He was no hero, not yet, not like she was to him and the children of his hometown. At least she managed to save lives.
"Why?" Isha breathed between sobs. "Why are you still here?"
Link realized she was talking to him. "Nobody should have to endure these things alone," he whispered.
Among the crying that followed, he barely heard her faint reply.
"Thank you."