Chapter 13
I had a bloody wretched dream that night...I was standing on a tall, rocky pillar when suddenly Death Mountain erupted with blind, mindless fury, sending a tsunami of lava towards me...Link...Namib...a heap of other innocent people in Goron City. I slammed my eyes shut in horror, expecting to be devoured by the murderous liquid...but no, it devoured everything EXCEPT the pillar I was standing on. No one to call to for help; no one to talk to; nothing...I was left completely and utterly alone by that cataclysm. After futilely calling out for survivors, I sat down on the pillar, held my head between my legs, and cried...my worst fear having been realized.
"Petra...brekky is almost ready..."
I awoke to see Namib sitting next to my bed, a smile on his face...I was not feeling nearly as damn positive.
"I'm not peckish in the slightest, Namib...give it to someone else..."
"Did ya have a bad dream overnight?"
"Just sod off, Namib...please..." There I was, deathly afraid of being alone and yet still trying to chase my only remaining friend away...
"Ya want some voltfruit before brekky?" I nodded and took one from him, eating it quickly before it ignited. Only once it had been devoured did I talk further.
"Seriously, how did you know voltfruit is my favourite, Namib?"
"Devyn told me ya were addicted to the stuff, so when I saw ya and thought, 'hey, she looks like Barclaya!' I made sure to pack voltfruit for our journey just in case. Guess I was right for once..."
"Cheers, Namib...I feel a bit better now." I climbed out of bed and walked to a nearby cooking pot, where the tour group had prepared some bird drumsticks...no clue what kind, but they weren't NEARLY as lush as what Link or even Namib makes. Very dry...
"Lady Barclaya?" Colpera called to me.
"...yes?" I answered reluctantly, realizing that the entire bloody tour group now realized that I am a Princess of Hyrule and intended to treat me accordingly.
"Would you like to come with us to Death Mountain, girlfriend?"
"...sure, why not." She then turned to Namib.
"And you, boyfriend?"
"No thanks, been up there many times. Just want to rest today."
"You sure, Namib?" He looked at me...he looked much MUCH more knackered than when he gave me voltfruit earlier that morning.
"I...I've had a lot on my mind overnight...after running into Link. It has left me all buggered...need to rest, process all those wild thoughts swarming through my mind."
"Alright..." With that we climbed a hill on the east side of Goron City and began our hike to Death Mountain. The trail looped around itself until it reached Stolock Bridge, a huge metal bridge directly above Goron City; we crossed it, taking care not to fall through the guardrails, until we reached some hot springs on the other side..."The world-renowned, refreshing Goron Hot Springs!", the trail marker read. It's amazing to think my sister used to spend so much time relaxing in these springs without ever telling me...father would never let me set foot in Eldin; he feared what would happen if he lost both daughters before they could fulfill their collective "destiny".
Stupid destiny...I shall defy it! I'm going to rise so far above it! Keeping Ganon asleep is not enough...I want to annihilate him so he never haunts even a single hyrulean ever again! So thought I as we passed the hot springs...
Eventually we reached the Bridge of Eldin, a large metal bridge crossing a moat of lava separating Death Mountain from the rest of Eldin. Someone was waiting for us, with his back turned away from us...
"Greetings, Your Highness..." I immediately knew who THAT was and promptly lost the plot.
"YOU!" I screamed between my clenched teeth, "YOU are that wanker who killed my father!" The wizard, dressed in a red robe and pointed hat with yellow edging, turned to face me...he had pale skin, yellow eyes, and grey hair, even though he did not look older than his 40's at oldest.
"I'm surprised that matters to you, Princess...for all life eventually shakes hands with death. What is the difference between those dead and those I am about to bury alive with this volcano?"
"Wait...WHAT?!" Suddenly the volcano began to shake violently...the wizard still seemed completely emotionless. By now the tour group was freaking out.
"I'm doing them a favor, ending their lives...ending the suffering they all face every second of those lives...if you dare to disagree about all those 'lives' downhill, Princess...come and beat some sense into me." With that he turned and ran across the Bridge of Eldin, with me in hot pursuit. He hurdled over one boulder after another, I followed, and eventually we stopped at a platform next to Death Mountain Marker Number 9, where I engaged the freak in a duel. He...he was a better duelist than I; we went back and forth for a few minutes until he knocked my sword out of my hand, causing it to plunge into the lava below. I was then held at sword point.
"I win...see? The lives of all those people downhill did not mean enough for you to beat me...now just die..." I knew what I now had no choice but to do.
"NEVER!" I used my magic and slammed the wizard against the volcano, disarming him and allowing me to regain my balance. He then tried to fry me with a direct stream of flame...I quickly absorbed that with a bubble of my magic. He seemed unperturbed by this reversal...that was making me LIVID.
"You cannot win, Princess...we Plague Witches have Ganon on our side. Our victory is inevitable..."
"You're going to lose either way, ya mental freak! Win and Ganon will annihilate you to make way for his vile new world! And I am not going to allow that!" I used my magic to telepathically slam the wizard into the ground several times, finally doing so hard enough that I could hear something break...I was horrified. I never realized until then how frighteningly powerful my magic really was...
"See, Princess? You really DON'T care about life...otherwise (OW) you would have been kinder...to mine...you're no hero..."
"You were trying to incinerate countless innocent people! You're a damn criminal, of course I am showing you no mercy!"
"You still cannot save those lives downhill..." With that the wizard staggered to his feet and caused Death Mountain to shake even more violently...I knew it was about to erupt. Thinking fast, I coated the wizard in a bubble of my magic, cutting him off from his...that terrifying shaking promptly stopped. With that Dreemer suddenly appeared, laughing.
"What power Barclaya has displayed,
and it has not left Ash dismayed!
Your potential grows yet, Princess,
and it shall give we Plague Witches success!"
"CUT IT OUT, CREEP!" I hissed between my teeth. Dreemer laughed.
"See you around,
if you are still above the ground!"
With that Ash and Dreemer disappeared and the tour group quickly approached. "Your Highness...you...you're a hero...you...you just saved us all..." Colpera spat out. Suddenly I began feeling very depressed...
"I'm no bloody hero...anyone would have done that..." I began to sulk back to Goron City, and eventually the tour group followed my lead. Ash's words were really bothering me...
What kind of person am I? Am...am I as worthless as Ash said? Is...is this why Linky abandoned me? Those feelings of worthlessness plagued me the whole trip home...as I tucked into the Rollin' Inn late at night...as Namib tried to extol my "heroism". It just felt like I was no heroine, no princess, no nothing...too merciless, too hot headed, to be such. I tucked into bed exhausted and depressed...
Chapter 14
"GET HER!"
My six older half brothers were after me again...they found me playing in a field by myself. This time they caught me...
"YOU STUPID GINGER GIRL!"
"YOU HAVE A DIFFERENT MUM! SINCE WHEN ARE YOU OUR SISTER?!"
"GIRLS STINK!"
"YOU'RE WORTHLESS!"
They beat me, pulled my hair, cursed me over and over again...even as an adult those memories are terrifying, as if those six brothers are still alive, seeking my injury. Eventually Devyn ran over and used his royal broadsword to send the miscreants running...but the damage had been done, by those six...THINGS that hated my guts. I...I still struggle to believe I have much worth; that is why I am so hard on people...just trying to hide my fears beneath a facade of mental aggression that makes me a lot like them.
"Did ya have a bad dream again, Petra?" It was Namib...I opened my tear-laden eyes to see him kneeling next to my bed. I still felt like crap from the day before, as well as my nightmare of my older brothers treating me like some subhuman slave...I just nodded.
"I have more voltfruit if ya would like it..." I took it without a word and devoured it, but this time it did little to improve my miserly feelings.
"Can I...can I sit next to ya? Maybe talk about it?" I did not know what I was thinking...but I agreed. He carefully climbed onto my bed and sat next to me.
"I...I feel bloody worthless, Namib. My...my brothers...except Devyn...they hated me...they beat me, treated me like a slave, said they did not want me...before he passed father spent years obsessively...obsessively training me to fulfill my 'destiny', as if that...that was all I was good for to him, as if that was all my elder sister Anastasia was good for to him. That Plague Witch yesterday...he...he didn't think I was worth much either...I...I don't know what...what the hell I'm getting at..."
"Ya don't have to. Just let it out as it comes...I am here for ya."
"...after...after how I have treated you...you still want to help me?" He nodded. I just had to embrace him in that moment...he gently took me around the shoulder, rubbed my shoulders...it was almost as if there wasn't that obnoxious flamebreaker armor between us.
"Namib, I...I'm sorry..."
"It's alright. Ya might be surprised to know that my mother gave me problems much like your father did...she groomed me to a dreadful path that ultimately I decided not to take. Maybe...together...we can forge a better destiny than what our parents intended."
"So...you...you're okay with me not wanting to fulfill my destiny?"
"Well, I expect ya to do SOMETHING about Ganon...but what that something is is your choice, and I will support ya every step of the way."
"Thank you, Namib...you cannot bloody imagine how this feels to me..." With that we got up and began packing for the return trip to the Toasty Tavern. We set off once the tour group was ready and reached the Tavern a couple hours into the afternoon...I was relieved to relinquish my flamebreaker armor. I wanted to travel farther, but Namib insisted we spend the night.
"They will still need bodyguards on the way down," he told me. "They're easy pickings for monsters without us."
"Alright," I replied, "I can spend another night here." We began settling in on the second floor, much like our last visit to the tavern. Bouldero cooked up various mushrooms and herbs for dinner (no meat this time), we ate our fill, and we retreated back to the second floor for shut eye. After everyone else fell asleep Namib began talking to me.
"Barclaya?"
"Yes?" I uttered amid a yawn.
"I know Link has probably long since shot through Zora's Domain...but something in my gut tells me that we should go there anyway. Just to check on them..."
"If Link was there, what could possibly have gone wrong?"
"I do not know...but I still want to visit."
"Do we HAVE to?!"
"..." I suddenly began feeling rather bad...after how Namib had helped me earlier in the day it would be the least I could do to simply change my itinerary for him.
"Alright...let's do it." I could almost feel him smiling...I passed out shortly thereafter.