As the rest of the party slept soundly, Aris was wide awake and hard at work. Little clinks sounded through the room as the head of his new crafting hammer tinkered with some new accessories he was making. Soon, however, he was finished. Four pieces of handmade jewelry sat on the table in front of him.
Aris smiled, pleased at his work. He took the accessories and silently crept towards his slumbering friends, lowering to their level to make sure the accessories would fit them.
He started with Raphtalia, taking the magic bangle he'd crafted for her and gingerly lifting her arm to compare the bangle's diameter to that of Raphtalia's wrist. It seemed like a perfect fit. Aris lowered Raphtalia's hand.
He approached Loretta next, comparing the thickness of her ankles to a pair of anklets. These, too, seemed a perfect fit.
It was Sora's turn. Aris reasoned that he likely didn't need to check the size of the chain he'd crafted for the Keyblade Wielder, as Sora already had one hanging in a parabola-like shape from his belt, somewhat like a wallet chain. He should be able to simply exchange that chain for this one, Aris thought.
Suddenly, a bit of rustling could be heard from Sora's jacket. Aris looked curiously, knowing it was too small to be a monster.
A strange-looking creature - somewhat resembling a bipedal cricket - sprang from Sora's clothes. The little cricket was dressed in a top hat and tuxedo. "Oh, you must the that Aris fellow Sora told me about," said the dapper cricket. "I don't believe we've met. The name's Jiminy. Jiminy Cricket."
"Er...no, we haven't," said a confused Aris. "I never knew Sora had a talking cricket in his coat."
Jiminy laughed. "I suppose you didn't. I don't come out much, seeing as I'm not really able to help Sora in combat, but I stick around with him so I can keep track of his adventures in my journal. I saw you fitting those little trinkets you made for everyone, so I thought I'd take a moment to introduce myself. After all, any friend of Sora's is a friend of mine - and that means I'll be writing a bit about you in my journal if you don't mind."
"I don't mind at all, Jiminy," said Aris.
"Good, good," said Jiminy. "I'll be taking my leave, then. Good night."
Jiminy disappeared into Sora's clothes.
Finally, Aris knelt down next to Filo, eyeing the hairpin he'd made for her.
Filo's eyes suddenly fluttered open. Aris hurriedly concealed the hairpin in his sleeve.
"Mm...papa?" Filo groaned groggily. "What's wrong...?"
"I'm merely checking on you, Filo," said Aris. "I had a bad feeling something had happened, but I suppose that was only a pang of anxiety." He gently patted her head. "You needn't worry. Now, back to sleep with you."
"Okay..." Filo yawned and dozed off in an instant.
Aris was helping his comrades pack up their camping equipment, loading it into Filo's wagon.
"Guys, look!" Sora pointed down the path nearby. "There's someone coming."
It was an older woman accompanied by a young boy. The woman had a large backpack and a walking stick. Both the woman and the boy with her looked downtrodden, as if something terrible had happened to them.
"You folks would do well to turn back now," the woman warned. "While you still can."
"Yeah," croaked the boy - her son. "If you keep going on this path, you'll die."
"What do you mean?" asked Aris. "We heard there was a village down this road."
"There is..." said the woman, "but...it isn't much of a village anymore. It's a graveyard now...almost all of it. The village was devastated by a plague...and even our wise elder was infected."
Aris and his friends loaded up onto Filo's wagon. "Then we definitely intend to go there," said Loretta. "Your people need help, so we're going to provide it."
The party set off down the path.
The woman, meanwhile, shook her head, disappointed. "Oh, you naive children...if only you knew..."
Filo's wagon trundled into a desolate village. The empty town square looked as though it had once been bustling with life.
Now, however, the entire village was a ghost town.
"Hey!" an old man's voice beckoned. "What brought you to this god-forsaken place?"
"The plague," replied Aris. "I brought medicine. My companions and I are willing to assist you however we can."
"Wait, that Filolial..." The old man gasped. "Is that the Heavenly Fowl!?" The gentleman suddenly had an uncharacteristic spring in his step as he ran down a nearby dirt path. "Doctor, doctor! The Savior is here! He and his friends are going to help us!"
Sora leaned out of the wagon, raising a confused eyebrow at Aris. "What was all that about?"
"It's...a long story."
The village doctor received Aris and the others with a warm, but desperate welcome. "May I ask, sir..." said the doctor, "are you really...him?"
"I wouldn't say I'm everything the rumors say I am," said Aris, "since I'm certainly no expert healer. But I have medicine, and lots of it. My friends and I will put it to use healing the infected here."
"That would be more than enough," said the doctor. "I can't make nearly enough medicine for everyone. The infected come in faster than I can make medicine to heal them."
Aris and company followed the doctor into the village hospital, where they were greeted by a nurse. "Oh, welcome back, doctor," said the nurse in an unusually cheery voice. "Are these people with you?"
"Yes," replied the doctor. "They've brought us medicine." He turned to Aris. "I...know you said nothing about money, but I will pay as much as I can for the medicine. At this point..." He sighed, "...it's the best thing we can do."
"You really need not pay a thing," said Aris. "Your people need help. So we're going to help them."
Aris started administering the medicine, using Potion Enhancement to increase its potency.
"Thank you so much, sir," the doctor said tearfully. "Here. You said you did not care for money, but we thought paying you for your trouble was the least we could do."
"Fifty silvers...plenty of money," said Aris. "You...really didn't need to pay me."
"We wanted to," said the nurse. "Thanks to you, we've...well, we've stopped the immediate problem."
"Wait," Loretta interjected, "the infected people were only the immediate problem?"
The doctor nodded. "Correct...if the corrupted mountain air keeps blowing into the village...more and more people will become sick."
"What about the mountain?" asked Sora. "Is something polluting the air?"
"Around a month ago," replied the doctor, "there was a titanic dragon nesting on the mountain. It was slain by the Sword Hero."
"I recall hearing rumors about that," said Aris. "But how is that connected to the plague?"
"After the Sword Hero slew the dragon," said the doctor, "our village became something of a tourist attraction for adventurers. They came to see the corpse of the dragon, as well as purchase supplies for their travels. That helped the economy greatly. But...one day, a particular adventurer collapsed out of nowhere, and more soon followed. The dragon's dead flesh had begun to rot, emitting some sort of poisonous gas into the air. The winds from the mountain have been blowing the gas down the slopes and into our village ever since."
"That would make sense," Loretta stated. "Meat rots when left out for too long. But...why didn't Ren remember that?"
"Haven't you tried getting rid of the body somehow?" asked Raphtalia.
"We can't," said the nurse. "The mountain is crawling with dangerous monsters. And...recently, we've seen some...really terrifying ones. They capture people, cloaking them in some sort of dark energy...and turn the captive person into one of their own."
Sora gasped. "The Heartless...!"
The nurse continued, "Because of that, the only ones who ever really dared to climb the mountain were the adventurers. But...with the plague, none of them dare to climb the mountain."
"Furthermore," said the doctor, "due to the dragon's poison, I believe the very ecology of the mountain has shifted. Given the consequences, the average adventurer wouldn't dare to even look at the corpse. And those that do approach it...well, they aren't typically above average in skill, but...in recklessness."
"Is the royal court aware of what's going on here?" asked Aris.
The doctor nodded. "They are. We were supposed to receive a delivery of medicine soon."
"But...they said the Heroes are too busy to help us, so...really, all we can do is wait and hope the plague doesn't wipe us all out."
What in Hylia's name would those so-called Heroes prioritize over saving a village from an epidemic like this? Loretta wondered.
"Cancel the request," said Aris. "Tell them you don't need it anymore. My friends and I will scale the mountain and clear away the dragon's remains."
"Wait!" interjected the doctor. "You don't mean to tell me you all are going to climb it yourselves! It's far too dangerous."
"You said that the average adventurer wouldn't dare go up the mountain," said Sora. "But we're not your average adventurers."
"Good thing we managed to grab these masks before we left," said Sora. "Otherwise, we'd probably be sick, too."
"If one of us does happen to get infected," Aris told everyone, "do your best to stay about two meters away from them."
"You know," said Raphtalia to Aris, "I'm kind of glad Filo refused to leave behind the wagon. We might have been able to travel much lighter without it, but it makes hauling the supplies much easier."
"I concur," said Aris. "But, even if we didn't need the wagon, I don't think I could ever bring myself to separate Filo from her most prized possession."
Suddenly, Filo slid to a halt, almost catapulting the occupants of the wagon. "Filo!" Raphtalia exclaimed. "What's going on!?"
Filo pointed with her wing. "Look!"
A swarm of Heartless had intercepted them.
Sora smirked. "Filo, keep going. I've got an idea."
"Okay...if you say so, Sora!"
Filo started running again.
Sora put both of his hands on the wagon.
Pinkish-purple energy shrouded Filo and the wagon. Filo's speed skyrocketed. She careened right through the horde of Heartless.
"What was that?" Raphtalia asked Sora as the energy dissipated. "I think I saw you use that stuff the night we met, when we were running from that boar. But I never got to ask what it was."
"I call it Flowmotion," said Sora. "It helps me reach places most people can't. Heh, I honestly didn't think I could use it on all of us plus Filo's wagon, but I guess it worked."
Aris and his party clambered up some rocks, tools resting on their shoulders. Before them lay the body of a massive reptilian beast - the dragon Ren had slain.
Raphtalia coughed. "Wow, the air here is terrible."
"Ditto," said Sora.
"If anyone feels sick, retreat," said Aris. He equipped a recently acquired shield, called the Chimera Viper Shield. It gave him notable resistance to poison.
Loretta groaned. "We likely should have eaten before coming here," she said. "This air isn't quite doing good things to my digestive tract. And looking at such a large, rotting corpse isn't helping, either."
"Guys?" Raphtalia interrupted, sounding very worried. "Is...Is it just me, or does anyone else smell...sulfur?"
A cloud of smoke burst in front of the dragon. A figure emerged from it.
Sora's eyes widened as he gasped.
The figure was tall, with an angular face and skin gray as stone. His hair was quite literally made of fire; blue flames burned atop his scalp. He wore a dark-colored robe held together by a skull-shaped pin.
"Hey, hi, how you doin'," he deadpanned. "Name's Hades. Lord of the dead? Ruler of the underworld? Some call me Pluto? Eh, eh? Ring any bells?"
Aris raised an eyebrow. "I...have no clue who you are."
Sora stepped forward, Keyblade in hand. "What are you doing here, Hades!? I thought my friends and I took you down when you took over Olympus!"
"Oh, good, at least someone knows who I am," Hades quipped. "Shame it had to be the little Key-brat. Hey, where's those two clowns that're always tailing you?"
"Don't you talk about Donald and Goofy like that!"
"Whoa, whoa, hey, touchy subject, I get it!" Hades lifted his hands, feigning backing off.
"You never answered Sora's question...whoever you are." Raphtalia narrowed her eyes at Hades. "What are you doing here?"
"Oh, me?" Hades laughed a little. "Just a job for an old friend of mine. I'm sure the little squirt with the Keyblade knows who I'm talking about."
Sora gritted his teeth. "Maleficent. You're working with her again."
"Ba-Ba-Ba-Bingo!" replied Hades. "Now, look, I'd love to stay and catch up, kid, but unlike the rest of those gods lounging on Mount Olympus, I've got a full-time gig back in the Underworld."
"Then go back there, mind your own business, and stay out of ours!" Sora shouted.
"Ah, but that's where the problem is," Hades countered. "See, my business right now is making sure you little nitwits can't do yours. And it's all gonna be thanks to my...unfortunately dead reptile friend here."
Hades lifted his hand, summoning a wisp of green energy. Aris gasped upon realizing what it was.
It was a soul.
Hades reared his hand, miming a throw. The soul hurtled from his hand and into the dragon's corpse.
Tremors shook the ground. The dragon's empty eye sockets glowed with green Soul Energy. Its focus was entirely on Aris and his party.
NEW CREATURE DISCOVERED (HOSTILE)
Undead Dragon King
Species: Zombified High Dragon
Habitat: Forsaken Mountains
DESC: "The gargantuan remains of a powerful dragon, refused death by Hades. Its rotting flesh emits noxious, sickening poison, but the bones beneath are brittle."
Hades started stepping back. "Now, again, I'd love to stay and watch, but I've got some important stuff to do back home. Toodle-loo!"
The Lord of the Dead retreated into a nearby cave, which seemed to be shrouded in greenish smoke.
BGM: Squirming Evil - Kingdom Hearts
"Loretta, Sora, follow him!" Aris called out.
"Right!" said Raphtalia. "We'll try to take down the dragon!"
"We're on it!" Sora and Loretta made a beeline for the cave into which Hades had retreated. This left Aris, Raphtalia, and Filo to deal with the zombified drake.
"I hate dragons!" Filo exploded into the air with a push of her legs. Her foot connected with the left side of the dragon's head.
The dragon inhaled. Clouds of noxious gas formed around its maw.
"Filo, get back!" Aris shouted. "Raphtalia, behind me!"
Both Filo and Raphtalia retreated behind Aris.
A greenish bubble of Soul Energy formed from Aris's right arm. A blast of toxic wind rocked the barrier. Not all of it was warded off. Raphtalia started coughing.
"We can't fight this thing!" Raphtalia strained, her voice hoarse. "It's...It's too strong! Hades, he-"
"I'm aware," Aris interjected. "We need to regroup, or we'll be finished."
"Not if I finish this dragon first!"
Filo charged without another word.
"No! Don't fight it alone!" Raphtalia exclaimed, pushing her vocal cords to their limit.
The zombie dragon struck Filo back with a swipe of its head.
"Filo! We need to go now!" Aris shouted at her.
Filo was too brave - or too reckless - to hear him.
The dragon opened its maw. Filo was imprisoned within its mouth.
It swallowed.
End BGM
"Filo!" Raphtalia cried.
The dragon did not care. It sent off another blast of noxious fumes.
Aris blocked them with his shield as Raphtalia cried.
He closed his eyes.
This isn't happening... he thought. It...can't be happening. I...I was only just beginning to have some semblance of a happy life in this world...and a kind party of friends to stand by my side, and...now it's all going to fall apart...
A foreign voice intruded upon his mind. DOST THOU SEEKETH POWER? it crooned.
N-No... Aris thought. Not power...strength. Strength to protect what matters. To avenge what matters.
AH...REVENGE, THEN, said the voice. I AM CERTAINLY CAPABLE OF HELPING THEE ACQUIRE THY VENGEANCE. SO...I SHALL HOUSE MY POWER WITHIN THEE...
Aris felt it engulfing him. White lightning crackled all over his body. This...This is for you, Filo...
His body began to transform. Gone was the Soul Energy in his prosthetic right arm, replaced by forking arcs of white lightning. His green clothes gave way to a pale blue chiton on his left shoulder, leaving the right side of his upper body exposed. His hair turned alabaster white. Red markings like a tiger's stripes appeared on his cheeks, and a blue v-shaped mark was on his forehead. He opened his eyes. His irises and pupils were gone. Aris's empty white eyes crackled with lightning.
The Master Sword disappeared from his back. A giant greatsword appeared in its place, having two blades crossed over like a double helix.
Raphtalia held her sword in a white-knuckled grip. "Y-You killed her...!" she strained. "I won't let you get away with this!"
Beside her, Aris got up. His blond hair billowed in the wind. He walked toward the dragon - slowly, with his head hung low.
"A-Aris!" Raphtalia cried. "No...!"
He didn't hear her. The dragon raised its front hand.
It slammed it down. Aris was crushed. A cloud of dust erupted from the impact site.
"No..." Raphtalia dropped her sword. She fell to her knees. "I...They're gone..."
She heard something. Electricity crackled in front of her.
Someone was stopping the dragon's hand. It was Aris...but it wasn't quite the Aris whom Raphtalia knew.
"YOU TOOK MY DAUGHTER FROM ME..." Aris seethed, his voice echoing with ethereal rage, "...SO I'M GOING TO TAKE EVERYTHING FROM YOU!"
An explosion of white lightning erupted from Aris's body, slamming the dragon into the mountain.
The dragon roared at him. It swung its tail.
Aris drew his massive helix-shaped greatsword. He swung it to his right, effortlessly severing the dragon's tail before it could hit him.
"SUCH FOLLY..." he sneered. "YOU TRULY ARE A MINDLESS BEAST. WHY HADES CHOSE TO RESURRECT YOU IS SOMETHING I WILL LIKELY NEVER UNDERSTAND. NOW...I'M GOING TO MAKE SURE YOU SUFFER...JUST AS YOU'VE MADE ME SUFFER."
The dragon was powerless to stop him as he charged, his greatsword ready to slice its undead body to ribbons. Aris leaped into the air.
He closed his eyes. Around him, all was darkness - an endless abyss.
From the abyss came a voice. A soft, warm, loving voice. "I...I want to help you."
It was Raphtalia. The same Raphtalia whom Aris had freed from slavery. The Raphtalia who had stood her ground in the face of fear and trauma. The Raphtalia who had fought alongside Aris in the previous Wave of Calamity.
And though Aris was unaware, this was the Raphtalia who loved him more than anything.
"I want to walk by your side," said Raphtalia, "down the path of a hero. Because..."
Aris spoke in unison with her. "...it's dangerous to go alone."
Aris snapped back to reality. His enraged form was gone. His body had returned to normality. "Oh, gods..." he said, his voice breaking. "What...What have I been doing...?"
A hand gripped his arm. Aris looked to his left.
It was Raphtalia. She had a few injuries on her body. They looked like burns - left from powerful lightning. It was as if she had been standing atop a tall metal building in the middle of a thunderstorm while holding her sword up high.
"Aris..." she croaked, her voice scratchier than a broken record. "Y-You're back...You're okay..."
Raphtalia's eyes closed. She fell limp on the ground.
Aris didn't let himself cry. He calmed his nerves and held out his hand. "As Shield Hero, source of thy power, I order thee...Decipher the laws of nature and heal my target! Fast Heal!"
Magic flickered from his hand onto Raphtalia's body. Nothing else happened.
"Come on...Fast Heal!"
Nothing still.
"No...not like this...!"
The dragon slowly lifted its head.
"Her death...Her blood is on my hands..." Aris began to sob.
The dragon thrust its hand to crush Aris.
White lightning erupted from his right arm. A new shield appeared, made of blue and green metal, with a front side resembling a screaming face. "YOU WILL NOT TAKE HER FROM ME!" Aris roared.
The lightning seared away the skin on the dragon's hand.
Aris was able to keep the lightning in check, stopping it from hurting Raphtalia.
I can't defeat the dragon without this...this power, Aris thought as his mind and heart raced. But I can't allow it to consume me...lest I lose control of myself and hurt those I...love.
He looked at Raphtalia as he finished that thought. Love? Why would I think that?
Aris found himself between a rock and a hard place.
The dragon's underbelly began to convulse. A large bulge formed on its body.
Suddenly, with a final, agonizing roar, the beast fell to the ground. The green glow left its eyes. It moved no more.
The white lightning dissipated. "What...What happened?" Aris breathed.
"A-Aris..."
He looked down to his left. Raphtalia's eyes were open.
"R-Raphtalia!" Aris dropped to her level, taking her into his arms without hesitation. He held her close, cradling her to his chest like his life depended on it. "Y-You're alive...I thought...I thought that I had..."
"I-I'm alive...thanks to your healing," Raphtalia strained. "And...it seems like you managed to defeat the dragon."
"But...Filo..." Tears began to form in Aris's eyes. "I...I lost my daughter before I had even come to terms with the fact that she was my daughter..."
"She would be proud..." said Raphtalia. "She wouldn't want you to cry. She'd...Filo would have wanted you to keep moving forward. I...I know I would...if it had been me. Either way...you defeated the dragon, so...her death is avenged now."
"But...I don't believe I killed it myself," Aris told her. "I...It just...dropped. And all I did to it before that was knock away its hand."
The bulge in the dragon's underbelly had moved to its side. The skin ruptured, bursting open with oozing pus. A ball of white feathers tumbled out.
It was Filo. But she was far from dead.
She shifted her weight and sat on her haunches, a pleased smile on her face. "Phew, I'm finally out!"
"F-Filo..." Raphtalia began to cry. "Y-You're alive!"
Aris said nothing. His tears finally released themselves as he ran to Filo, throwing his arms around her as he sobbed. "Y-You're alive...You're safe..."
"P-Papa..." Filo embraced Aris with her wings. "You know I wouldn't just do something like that without saying bye."
"I...I thought I had lost my daughter..." Aris tightened his hug.
"Y-Your...daughter?" said Filo. "You mean...me?"
Aris nodded.
Filo gasped happily. "So you really are my papa!"
Aris nodded again, smiling through his tears. "Yes, Filo...I'm your papa. I...I always have been...and I always will be."
Filo changed into her human form. She jumped towards Aris, who caught her and cradled her in his arms.
"I'm not going anywhere, papa," said Filo. "I'm always gonna be here for you. No matter what."
"And I'm going to do the same for you, Filo," Aris replied as his tears finally faded. "Because no father ever abandons his daughter."
Suddenly, a blast of rock shook the ground. Something had been sent flying out of the side of the mountain.
It was the body of a massive, muscular, three-headed black dog monster. Its size dwarfed the two-headed one that Aris and Raphtalia had faced in the mines so long ago.
Raphtalia gasped, shaking for a moment before she realized something. Then, she calmed down.
"What is it?" Aris asked her. "Is that..."
"No." Raphtalia shook her head. "It's not the one that...destroyed my village. But that one..." She pointed to the dead canine, "...that one's a lot bigger."
"Gee, ya think?"
Raphtalia gasped. Aris turned his head. Filo cheered.
Sora and Loretta had returned from their little excursion.
Within Sora's pocket, Jiminy was hard at work with a pencil and paper. "That's another one for the journal," he said to himself.
That's right, gamers, Fierce Deity Aris returns! Though he looks different this time. Basically, imagine a mix of Fierce Deity Link and Link's ancient clothes seen in Tears of the Kingdom. He also has a Fierce Deity Shield this time! The Fierce Deity Shield is basically just the Mirror Shield from Majora's Mask (the one with the screaming face) but made of blue and green metal.