Chapter 17: It Came from Malice Incarnate
Among the gigantic mob of darkness were muted shades of many colors, the brightest being laser bright red and teal eyes. Composed of many boar like creatures, they were charging towards the bridge.
"He's really returned..." Princess Zelda spoke worriedly. "The Incarnation of Malice itself..."
"What are those things down there, if they're not Heartless or robots?" I asked, wanting to know what we're up against.
"They are monsters created by a being of pure malice and hatred, who had been attacking Hyrule and its neighbors for millenia. Those beasts are the telltale sign that their master had returned."
I responded with, "So you guys are familiar with these things and have been dealing with them for a while. Good to know. Let's try not to waste time and make things worse for the people of this town... How do you normally deal with this situation?"
"Typically whenever the Incarnation of Malice returns to Hyrule, it is usually sealed away with the might of the legendary Master Sword, wielded only by the Hero of Hyrule," Her Highness explained, which, of course, led to me giving her a confused look.
"The Master Sword? The Hero of Hyrule?"
"They're keep components relating to a legend that has been passed down the generations throughout the history of Hyrule. According to the legend, it's said that whenever the Incarnation of Malice and the beasts summoned by it returns, they are to be countered and vanquished by a legendary hero using a legendary sword referred to as the Master Sword."
The Master Sword... sealing the darkness... like the Keyblade?
"Where is it now? The Master Sword?" Sora asked.
"It's been hidden away deep in the forest that protects it, so that no one unworthy can use it for their own selfishness."
"Then let's hope our special blades will work on those creatures for now," I stated.
"Hold on, Sly! This onslaught is part of the natural order of this world!" Bentley interjected. "You shouldn't interfere any further than you already have! It doesn't matter if there's people who already know, remember Arabia! It's better if less people know about other worlds!"
"Sly, we have to help!" Sora spoke over, countering Bentley's worries. "Heartless or not, they're still monster of darkness! And that's our other goal along with locating the Chaos Emeralds!"
"I don't think we can leave the people of this land alone, Bentley. If people get hurt because of what's going on, I don't want to think of what would happen..."
"I'm going to have to agree with Sly here, Bentley," I heard the king chime in. "As much as we do need to maintain the world order, I can't deny that these people are in clear need of our help from this Incarnation of Malice. Whatever that could be."
"But... But...!" Bentley stammered, clearly trying to come up with a logical excuse to go against this plan before finally giving a reluctant sigh. "Alright, I'll let things slide this time. You two just be careful. We don't know what those things are capable of doing in comparison to the robots and the Heartless!"
"We've got the okay, Sora," I told my companion.
"Alright. Let's get down there and fast!" With no time to lose, the two of us started running down the trail back to town in order to reach the battle.
"Good luck!" the princess called. We couldn't let her down, or this world.
SKSKSKSK
Okay, these things were a lot bigger when you get closer to them. Many of them wielded spiked clubs and bows. Some had spears, swords, and even bombs. Sora and I could see Link and Aaron in the fight, along with several more knights.
I told Sora, "I didn't expect those monsters to look like that... Ready to turn the tide before things get worse?"
"You know it, Sly!" Sora responded as he summonded his Keyblade. As I pulled out my cane, we both gave each other a nod as we charged towards to mob of monsters, catching the attention of Aaron and Link as we approached.
"Sora! And Sly!" Link shouted in surprise before parrying a blow from a pig-like monster using his sword. "You're partaking in this battle as well?"
"We couldn't possibly leave you guys hanging!" Sora said. "We might not know what exactly is going on around here and I know we only met recently, but there's no way we're not gonna fight by your side here!"
"Well, any help is higher odds of winning!" Aaron exclaimed before tossing a bomb at a devillish boar-like beast which exploded on impact.
We were immediately surrounded by the monsters, but they were a bit easier to fight unlike hte robots. Magic from Sora was being thrown around, Aaron's bombs went off every few seconds, and Link and I were doing our best not to get stabbed or smashed by the enemies' weapons while we were slashing and stabbing at them.
When it looked like we were finally making real progress in decreasing the numbers against, more monsters started spawning, some of them reptillian like and even digger than the boars.
"Hey, Sora! What do you do to remain calm at times like this? You've been through some high stress situations... and I'd say this is another one."
"Easy, Sly. Normally I just remind myself that my safety of my friends is more important than the protection of my own heart," Sora explains with a smile. "And that usually motivates me more to protect those that mean the most to me!"
"That's some a serious selflessness right there," I replied back, feeling a strong resolve of my own burning in my chest. "Then for the sake of our new friends here in Hyrule, let's not hold back on these guys!"
With that new determination, I actually felt like the fight had gotten easier, like my resolve to help had just been given a boost from morale. The enemies were falling around us like flies and a bug zapper (not that the people of this world would know what a bug zapper was). It actually looked like we were gonna be victorious today.
...
You've got you hate yourself when you jinx yourself. Looks like the biggest guy was saved for last. And this one made all the others look like piglets compared to how huge it was. It was spider like, with orange hair all over its backside and along the legs, with the rest of the body covered in black hairs with yellow markings all over it. The beast had a single eye, which was massive compared to the rest of the head and glowed a toxic green with a chilling ice blue in the center.
"It's the Spider Beast, Gohma!" Link shouted, raising his shield up.
Sora told me and the others involved in this battle, "That thing is going to be a challenge, but if we all work together, we can take it down! Ready to do this for Hyrule?"
"Of course," Link said with a nod before turning back to the spider-like monster. "Be sure to aim for its eye! That's Gohma's weakspot!"
"Aim for the eye, got it!" I responded. "We should also try to distract it somehow in order to get an oppotunity to let this big guy have it!"
"Precisely what I was thinking!" Aaron replied, having had the same thought as I did.
A different sort of bomb was in his hand, and he had that look of a mad scientist with a shiny new toy.
I could positively say that molotov cocktails were NOT a medieval weapon. But hey, he's the alchemist.
Aaron let loose the grenade straight at Gohma's legs, causing it to explode in a way that made Bentley's bomb darts look like poppers (those little noisemaking fireworks). Don't tell him I said that.
The beast shrieked in surprise, turning to the silver haired man. It didn't look like it took any damage from that bomb however. That eye must be the only place it's really vulnerable.
"Looks like it doesn't like fire either!" Sora said, and he quickly sent some fire magic at the opposite leg. Gohma stumbled for a moment before releasing a high pitched scream that shook the ground. At the ready, Link had taken out his bow and arrows, waiting for the moment to strike.
At the very moment that huge eye turned blood red, Link launched the arrow, right into the center. The creatures shrieked in pain this time, and its legs lost all support which brought it crashing to the ground. The monster twitched as if it was stunned.
"Now, while it's most vulnerable!" the knight ordered. I swung my cane, trying to do as much damage as I could before Gohma would wake up. I was only able to whack that eyeball several times before it moved to stand up again.
I couldn't get away fast enough. As soon as it was back on its feet, the spider-like monster tackled me hard, knocking me away. The pain shot up all throughout my body as I hit the dirt with a crash.
"Sly!" Sora called out.
After that, I struggled to get words out. "Can't...move... anyone... willing to help?"
"Don't worry, I'm coming right over!" Sora said as he quickly darted towards me with Link and Aaron staying behind to distract Gohma. As soon as he approached me, Sora then pointed his Keyblade towards me, shouting at the top of his lungs, "HEAL!"
As soon as he shouted out those words, I noticed my body obtaining a green glow to it and almost instantly, I felt my strength returning back to me and the pain I felt vanishing as if I hadn't experienced it in an instant. I looked up at Sora with a confused look to which he gave me a big grin.
"Nothing like a little healing magic to make the pain go away just like that!"
So that's what he did ealier during that robot storm. Sora sure was unlike anyone I had ever met, and that's saying something.
"You suppose I can learn a thing or two?" I asked. I doubted that I could be taught healing tricks, but it would be useful in the field if me or anyone in my gang got hurt.
"Another time, and only with patience."
"Get off of him!" we heard Aaron shout, bringing our attention back to the duo. The monstrosity had Link pinned under its hairy leg, and his sword and bow were several feet away from him. Aaron was preparing to light another molotov cocktail (where was that guy even pulling out all these bombs from?), but Gohma suddenly shot a glowing orange liquid from its mouth that knocked him down to the ground, and it hardened over him as he struggled to stand up with the mould keeping him from moving.
"Freeze!" Sora yelled, aiming his Keyblade at the spider. Spiky ice crystals formed and crashed into the monster, one managing to hit its eye. It shrieked and its whole body got frozen thanks to the spell. Link then tried to pull the leg off of his torso, protected by a chainmail underneath the tunic I assumed. I went in for the eye again, whacking several times until it started to break out of the ice. This time, I was able to get away before it could think of charging again.
But it barely moved at all. Gohma stayed in place, and it was staring down at Link like it was ready to bite his head off.
Sora said, "Link! Get away now! If you don't, your head could be a casualty, and I really don't want to see that."
"You don't have to tell me twice!" Link yelped as he quickly scrambled onto his feet before just barely dodge rolling out of the way of Gohma right when it was about to pounce on him again.
"Well, that was a close one," I sighed out of relief before straightening myself back up. "What's the plan to stunning this guy now?!"
"First of all, I could really use some assistance over here!" Aaron shouted as he tried to free himself from the orange mould he was stuck in.
"Sly, you're the fastest of us! Recover Link's things while I hold off this overgrown insect!" Sora ordered, taking a stance in front of Gohma.
"A spider is an arachnid, not an insect!" the alchemist yelled. Of course, why am I not surprised Aaron would correct that? "Now you can help me get out of this, Link!"
"You really are going to owe me double for this!" the knight yelled in frustration, rushing to Aaron.
I told Link and Sora, "On it! Don't blame me if anything's been destroyed in the chaos, but that's just a possibility..."
"Look, that doesn't matter!" Link shouted. "Just go and retrieve my things! At most, I'll need my sword so I can at least get Aaron out of that mould!"
"Just try to not to slice me trying to break my out of this stuff when you do!" Aaron yelled afterwards.
While Sora was busy taking care of Gohma, I made a complete dash for Link's stuff. From the corner of my eye, I could see Sora parrying incoming attacks from Gohma as well as attempting to get a few shots at the spider's eye with what seemed to be fire magic.
I reached Link's weapons and went to grab his sword. Sheesh, this thing's heavy! Even Salim's sword didn't weigh this much!
Regardless, I hurried to where Link was futilely trying to break that hardened goop with one of his arrows. The metal head couldn't even puncture the stuff, making me hope that a heavy sword could cut through it like a knife through butter.
But that was the very moment the spider monster turned its attention away from Sora and to the two residents of this world. I could see something green glowing from Link's pocket, which must've caught the eye of the beast. The monster completely turned around and started charging at the two with its jaws wide.
"Link, Aaron!" I yelled. Oh no, I wasn't going to make it in time to get Link his sword!
Something happened when Link turned around to see Gohma charging at him. In the very next second, the light coming from his pocket intesnified and shot a beam into the beast's eye. It screamed in agony, the pitch starting to hurt my ears, before it started to actually burn and disintegrate.
My Chaos Emerald started getting warm in my bag, and so I pulled it out. It was radiating a bright light as well, and I looked to Sora seeing the same thing with his.
"Guys, what's happening?!" Aaron shouted with panic.
"We don't know!" And the next thing we did know, the lights grew to a blinding light that caught all of us and continued until...
Everything just faded in the light...
End of First Hyrule Arc