The rush of falling through the air in a dark shaft of dense stone was nothing short of petrifying. Tears at the corners of Henry's eyes were driven off of his cheeks as the fatal descent he was in persisted. He was not sure how long he had been falling, but he knew that where there was a height to fall from, a bottom awaited him. Yet more than the feeling of falling down a ninety degree drop on a rollercoaster or the sheer darkness that had long since swallowed him whole was the inability to know when his death was going to happen.
'Please!' Henry pleaded in his mind. 'If I'm going to die like an idiot, at least let me know when! Don't torture me with uncertainty!'
There were other thoughts on his mind. He had overwhelming resentment towards the Skull Kid and his talking, glowing bug friends for obvious reasons. Then there was the resentment he felt towards the blue haired woman who somehow had gotten him stuck in the great forest in the first place. Even more painful was the regret that he had been tricked into being dragged away from the one place of comfort that he knew after his parents' demise.
What would become of the house he had inherited now that he was about to die? Would it be auctioned or bought off after an investigation discovers he had vanished into thin air? What of his own financial savings at the bank? Would anyone bother giving him a funeral without any remains to burn or bury?
For a moment, beyond the anger and terror, there was a depressing, yet comforting thought: would this be the moment Henry reunited with his parents, at least in the afterlife? 'I don't suppose they'd be very happy that I died to young, and so soon after they did.' He mused. 'I guess I'll hear it from them personally soon enough.'
"Mom." He whispered, barely audible beneath the rush of wind. "Dad. I'm sorry."
Before he could close his eyes and continue waiting for his demise, he could just make out a colorful shape down below him. Henry could not even begin to imagine what he was about to land on, for he dropped to the ground with a thud. Yet this landing was not even remotely fatal, much to his astonishment. He did not even feel any pain in his ribs or face from falling belly first onto the strange object on the ground.
Henry was still winded from the terror of falling for God knows how long, so he took the time to get to his feet as he observed the landing of which had spared him from a messy end. It was a giant, flat flower, one that was larger than any bloom he had ever seen. Its span from petal to petal was almost four feet wide, and the oval-shaped leaves which sprawled out beneath it were equally large. Yet the width of the flower was not its only extraordinary feature, for its height did not exceed more than three inches off of the ground. Altogether, the plant's surface area and unusual properties cushioned Henry's head and body from being damaged by the fall he had taken.
There were only four pink petals on this flower, and its stigma's opening, ringed with golden stamen, was almost as big as his head. He momentarily smelled a gentle fragrance from the bloom which reminded him faintly of strawberries. Before Henry could wonder at how such a plant could have saved his life, the snap of someone's fingers and a flash of light startled him. He shielded his eyes for a few seconds as they adjusted to the change in brightness on the far side of what revealed itself to be a room.
The area was completely surrounded by walls of rock, as was expected given Henry's arrival. The floor was very similar to that of the forest that he had first woke up in, primarily moss and short grasses. A shallow pool of clear water stood at the edge of the flower he stood upon. At the far side of the enclosed room stood stationary torches that glowed a bright orange.
Then Henry spotted the Skull Kid, and he was floored by what he saw.
He was not standing, but levitating in the air, his body dark with the background spotlights that came seemingly from nowhere. The imp's posture was relaxed, as if he lay on a soft, invisible cushion or futon. In the shadow of the imp's silhouette, the eyes of the disturbing mask on his face glowed, like the leer of a demon standing staring madly through the curtain of a growing inferno. Floating on either side of the Skull Kid were his fairy companions, their expressions as unreadable as the masked imp.
"He he he." The Skull Kid chuckled, apparently amused by Henry's shock. Then his joviality turned to scorn. "Ugh, what's with that stupid horse of yours? It doesn't listen to a word that's said to it..."
Henry did not respond, but he quickly found himself wondering what became of the horse he had briefly ridden.
"There's no point in me riding a thing like that," the Skull Kid continued, "so I did you a favor and got rid of it... Hee, hee..."
'Got rid of it?' Henry could not conceive of how a grown horse could be destroyed so completely, but the thought of his temporary animal companion being killed brought a fresh sadness to him. Short-lived or not, that horse had proven to be a docile and capable mount, and he quickly found himself mourning her loss. As he frown and the corners of his brow turned down in sadness, the Skull Kid appeared to find his dour mood confusing.
"Aww, boo hoo, Mr. Grown-Up. Why the sad face? I just thought I'd have a little fun with you..."
The Skull Kid's words rang like an insult to Henry. 'Fun? This goddamn brat steals my ocarina, kills an innocent horse I was riding, and he asks why I'm sad?!' He remembered that he was still armed with the sword he found, and he grabbed the hilt in his right hand, an idea of where he was going to put that sword in forming in his vengeful mindset.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" Henry roared, awkwardly unsheathing his weapon. "You psychotic little shit, you really need to be explained to on why you've made me upset?! I oughta take this sword and spear you though your creepy fucking face!"
The two fairies next to the Skull Kid trembled at the threat, with Tael nearly cowering behind the Skull Kid's form. Yet the Skull Kid remained calm, still floating with a contemptuous energy above the cave's floor.
"Oh, come now... Do you really think you can beat me as I am now?" The Skull Kid's voice became increasingly distorted, his tone becoming as grave and imposing as the boiling center of a volcano's throat. "Fool!"
His terrible cry was followed by the rattling shake of his head. The mask he wore buzzed with volts of a corrupting energy while waves of a strange light akin to a solar storm emitted from its edges. Immediately, a piercing agony filled Henry's being, starting from his temples and rapidly circulating down his body as if venom had entered every blood vessel and sinew of flesh. He clutched both of his hands tightly, threatening to somehow crush the handle of his sword in his grasp. Falling to his knees, he could not help but let out a more horrific shriek of pain than he had ever made in his life.
The torturous experience proved too much for Henry, and he swiftly lost consciousness, the mocking laugh and rattling of the Skull Kid echoing throughout his ears.
Rattle... rattle... rattle...
Rattle... rattle... rattle...
Henry found himself standing, his face marred with confusion and trepidation. The constant rattle of the mask was the only thing he heard. Its steady, taunting beat seemed to come from everywhere in the dark, featureless landscape he found himself in.
Rattle... rattle... shake shake
Rattle... rattle... shake shake
A second sound could not be heard: the shuffle of leaves. By itself, it was not a scary thing to hear. Then the gentle scrap of leaf against leaf grew louder, approaching him from an arc like the pincered arms of a scorpion. The shuffle suddenly became louder than the rattle of the imp's mask, and the source of the noise appeared from the darkness.
The leaves grew from the bodies of plant-like creatures. Their bodies, which were also their heads were pale green, round like dumplings, and had a stout, tube-shaped mouth that has no teeth to speak of. All of the beasts sported a conical crown of fiery orange leaves with a tuft at the top. They stood on stumpy feet which lacked any digits whatsoever, leaving them not much taller than Henry's stomach. Despite his height advantage, Henry quickly became terrified as he saw that he was faced with scores of the wretched animals as they flared up at him with hateful eyes that were the color of burning coals.
He let out a scream that could not be heard over the deafening cacophony of wooden rattles and leafy shuffling. Henry turned and ran as fast as he could, desperate for distance between himself and the nameless beasts that appeared to have no good intentions for him. His retreat was not easy, as the noise had now become painfully unbearable. He pressed his hands over his ears to stem the racket, yet the sounds permeated his flesh and bone as if they were not even there.
Then, over the rattles and shaking, the ground rumbled as the steps of a massive being approached him from behind. Henry dared to turn and see what was giving chase, witnessing a giant specimen of the plant monsters bearing down on him, its expression no less malicious than its assumedly average sized kin. Henry let out a cry of fright as its cavernous mouth seemed to swallow him up, and he dreamed no more.
The world came back into focus. Henry was somehow standing again, and the terrible pain afflicted upon him by the Skull Kid was gone. Yet all was not right, for Henry discovered that nearly all his gear, including his sword and most of his clothing was nowhere to be seen. He still had the few pouches on hand, but they seemed much smaller than before. Furthermore, the young man quickly realized that he was having to look up at an angle in order to meet eyes with the manic eyes of the imp's mask.
He was shorter. Almost comically so.
Confused and wary of what the brat had done to him, Henry looked down into the placid water of the pond in front of him. He then let out a warbling gasp, a result of the transfiguration that had been placed upon him.
He was one of them: the plant creatures from before, although there were key differences. Henry retained a torso, but it was barely bigger than one of his clenched fists, and the arms he now bore were now the same size as those belonging to a newborn baby. His body's coloration was brown as opposed to a sickly green, and the coif of seven, broad leaves which covered his head were a phthalo green so dark, it was nearly black. Instead of being naked, he had a brown kilt around his waist and little boots to cover his feet.
The fact that he was not indecent was of no comfort, for Henry found himself staring back at a pair of eyes that were the same color as the monsters in the nightmare he faced mere moments ago. They were not angry, but wide with shock and horror, and he could not help but let out another scream In misfortune. This scream was not human, but a warbling squeal that came from his new, non-human throat.
The Skull Kid cackled with glee at Henry's anguish. "Hee hee hee! Now that's a good look for you! Now you'll stay here looking like that forever!" His laughter was not interrupted as he levitated backwards, away from the panic-stricken former human. Tael soon followed behind.
Henry realized that his tormentor, the brat responsible for this abominable travesty, was getting away. Without thinking, he charged off of the flower and across the pond, stumbling a bit as he was unused to walking on stubby legs with a head like a cantaloupe. His pursuit was stopped by the pale fairy, who attacked from above, knocking into his head numerous times. Henry stumbled onto his back, staring up in bewilderment as the female fairy let out a growl which, combined with her furious wing beats, formed a buzz that filled the air.
Leaving behind the struggling plant creature and his fae assailant, the Skull Kid and Tael approached a rock wall standing between the two torches that stood opposite the pond. There was a semi-circular seam in the wall, betraying the presence of a stone door which camouflaged against the backdrop. The exit way opened noisily to show a cave-like hallway which the Skull Kid entered at a leisurely pace. The imp and Tael had just passed through the doorway when the purple fairy turned to look back, realizing his sister had not joined them.
"S-s... Sis!" His cry of alarm was followed by the deafening closure of the stone doorway, separating the two siblings.
The pale fairy stopped her glaring at Henry and she screamed in shock as she saw her brother and friend had left her behind. She raced to the doorway, hoping beyond hope that they would reopen the door and reunite with her. "Whoa! Whoa! Skull Kid, I'm still here!"
Surely, she thought, it was a momentary mistake. After a pause, the door remained shut. Now the fairy was desperate, slamming into the stony exit way a handful of times. "Tael, you can't leave without me!" Her efforts stopped as the pain of acting as a little battering ram proved too much. She slumped in midair, her voice filled with heartbreak.
"No... no no no no!" The fairy begged. Then she turned her attention back to the former human she had obstructed. "You!"
She rushed back to Henry as he was getting to his feet. "If I wasn't dealing with you. I wouldn't have gotten separated from my brother!"
Henry stared at her through his bright orange eyes, baffled at the fairy's complete inability to take responsibility for her actions. He did nothing except run after a being that had wronged him on multiple fronts, only for this stupid, entitled insect to get in his way and then whine about her separation from her sibling.
"Well, don't just sit there, Deku boy! Do something!" She ordered.
Henry had no idea of what a Deku was, but he did, indeed, do something. He jumped up on his tiny legs, swatting at the fairy with his little hands.
"Whoa! Hold on! Wait!" Suddenly, the fairy found herself reeling back, and she had to rise a few feet above Henry as he hoped in vain that one of his strikes would connect with the fairy's body.
"Fhhck hyoo!" Henry squeaked. He was unable to properly speak through his mouth, as it lacked the flexible lips and teeth necessary to form speech the way he was used to. "Hyoo stehhped meh frehm ghtthng thht fhhckn' breht!"
"Whoa! Timeout!" The fairy began pleading. "Let's just calm down and-"
"Fhhck hyoo!" Henry shrieked, though the effort made him briefly cough from straining his alien vocal chords.
For a few more minutes, he tried in vain to attack the fairy above him. She, in turn, simply hovered in the air, crossing her arms as she waited for the plant person to exhaust himself. Eventually, Henry's pitiful hopping and swatting slowed down, and his eyes, once burning with anger, became blurry with sticky tears that slowly trickled down his face. He dropped to his hands and knees, weeping and shaking from exertion as despair grew in his heart.
"Are you done?" The fairy asked rudely, not at all sympathetic.
"Fehck you..." Henry cursed again, getting a little more accustomed to his grim reality as a sad, little monster.
"Look, I know you don't like me, but could you just open that door for me?!"
Henry had enough energy to glare up at her request. "Hwhy?"
"You want to chase the Skull Kid, I want to get back to my brother! Regardless, I need your help to get out of this place and go after them!"
Henry simply leered venomously at her.
"Please! C'mon, a helpless little girl is asking you... So hurry up, Deku boy!"
That word came up again. '"Deku boy." Is that what I've become now?'
The fairy stared at the exit way again. "Oh Tael... I wonder if that child will be alright on his own?"
Henry realized that he had no means of getting immediate vengeance on the fairy above him. In any case, continuing to spend energy hoping to inflict any amount of damage on her would be a waste of time. 'Even if she is an asshole, and the friend of a magic asshole... she has a point. Just sitting here being sorry for myself won't help me. I need to find that... thing, and get him to turn me back to normal, or at least give me back my ocarina. I'll just have to run the risk of helping her in turn.'
He was overlooking the massive power differential between himself and the imp: an irony given the fact that he had been transformed into a small, ugly shrub beast by the power of the mask the latter possessed. Yet he was too determined to just up and abandon the one item he held dearly to his heart. Come hell or high water, he would retrieve the ocarina, even if he had to spend the rest of his life photosynthesizing in a forest.
Without a word of acknowledgment, Henry pattered his way over to the stone door, the fairy expectantly rushed ahead to the door, keeping a safe distance above him in case he tried to attack her again. "There should be a switch on the side you can pull. I'm not strong enough to do so." The fairy explained as her unexpected ally stood briefly puzzled by the closed aperture.
Looking left, then right, Henry found an oblong outcrop of rock that was similar in shape to the handle of a simple pole switch. It was located in the space between the right torch and the right edge of the doorway. It was a few inches taller than his head, so Henry had to retreat a short distance and come at the switch with a running jump.
By some fortune, Henry got the speed and jump height just right. His fingers just managed to grasp the stony pole with just enough strength to keep himself perched. From there, he had to awkwardly pull downward alongside the force of gravity. With a thick *chunk* the switch moved down, and Henry tumbled embarrassingly to the floor. In an instant, the door lifted up and after scrambling to his feet, he and the fairy passed through.
The hallway looked and felt strangely wooden, not made of stone. Furthermore, the corridor was flanked on either side by the painting of a grassy field, broken up by the stalks of red and yellow flowers. Henry ignored the fresco-like display and ran down the hallway and around the right hand turn it took.
"Hey! Wait for me! Don't leave me behind!" The fairy chased after him, stopping a few feet ahead of him as they reached the end of the hallway.
"So, uh... all of that stuff back there... with the ocarina... and the horse..."
Henry stared blankly.
"And the turning into a Deku Scrub... I um... apologize, so... so take me with you!"
Henry did not believe her apology to be sincere. It smacked of opportunism to garner favor now that her powerful friend in the Skull Kid was gone. The words "Deku Scrub" momentarily stuck in his mind, but her request was of particular concern.
The fairy dared to lean in a little closer, almost in a conspiratorial manner. "You wanna know about that Skull Kid who just ran off, right?"
Henry nodded warily.
"Well," explained the fairy, "I just so happen to have an idea of where he might be going. Take me with you and I'll help you out. Deal?"
Henry remained silent, his eyes skeptical.
"Please?" The question sounded almost like genuine desperation.
Deep down, Henry had little reason to trust the strange, little flying girl. On the other hand, he was trapped in a small, weak body with no idea of where he was or what to do beyond the goal of taking back his ocarina from the Skull Kid. She may not have been an ideal ally to have, but she was literally the only help he could get. Without her assistance, there was a likely chance that Henry would find himself lost, entrapped, starving, or even worse.
With a chirp-like sigh, he nodded.
"Good!" The fairy exclaimed, eager to move on from this point. "So then it's settled!"
"Now then," she continued, "I'll be your partner... or at least until we catch that Skull Kid... My name's Tatl. So uh, it's nice to meet you, or whatever."
Henry digested the introduction. "Thehtl..." He hissed.
"Umm, no." The fairy deadpanned. "It's Tatl. T, A, T, L. Tatl."
Henry breathed a moment and rethought his way of vocalizing. Flexing his mouth only increased the pitch of his words or mangled his vowels. The sounds of his new voice seemed to primary come from deeper inside him, like the throat, as opposed to the mouth. He spoke again. "Tat, *cough* ull."
Tatl sighed. "Tat. Ul. Tatl. It's not hard, Deku boy."
Henry briefly glared again. 'You try speaking in this body, Tinker bell...' With a gurgling clearing of his throat, or as close to it as he could manage, Henry spoke once more to try and get the pronunciation right. "Tatl."
"Wow, congratulations, the scrub can speak..." The fairy said sarcastically. "Now let's get a move on! Time's wasting!"
"W-wait!"
"Ugh. What?!" Tatl asked impatiently.
The inexperienced Deku Scrub pointed to himself. "Huhenry."
Tatl paused. "Your name is Huh-enry?"
Henry shook his head in frustration, though he knew he drew our the 'h' sound a bit too long. "Henry."
"Henry's your name?"
This time, he shook his head vigorously.
"Ahh. Good for you, I guess." Tatl said awkwardly.
Henry sighed again. At least he was gaining a better idea of how to communicate in this body of what was called a Deku Scrub.
"Now that we've got all of the introductions and stuff out of the way, can we stop messing around and get moving?"
"F-fine." Henry squeaked.
"If I figure something out, I'll give you a signal, like umm... this!" She gave off a rapid fire, two note tinkle that was hard to miss. "Pay attention to that, and I'll let you know what I've found and stuff. Hopefully you won't be needing my help for the most part."
Henry gave another curt nod. It appeared that everything had been resolved as far as their immediate relationship was concerned.
"Then let's get moving!" Tatl rose up a bit to scan the area. "First thing's first, we need to get across this gap to the other side to follow the Skull Kid."
Indeed, before them stood a large room, a sizable, though not fatal drop between the entryway and the exit way directly opposite it. In the midst of the small cliff that Henry stood on, another flower just like the one he had landed on pre-transformation stood. The bottom of the room's foundation looked to be roughly twelve feet below the place he was currently standing on, and it too had a few of the large flowers scattered about. If Henry failed to get across, it would be quite tedious to get back to where he stood given his stubby limbs and limited stature.
ti-ting!* Henry glanced up at Tatl's direction, remembering the "signal" they agreed to if she knew something he needed to hear. "Aha, so you can remember directions. Not bad, Deku boy. See that flower ahead of you?"
'How can I not?' Henry thought as he nodded.
"It's pretty obvious you aren't used to your new Deku body, but one kind of cool thing about Deku Scrubs is that they can use Deku Flowers to fly short distances."
Henry stared at Tatl as if she was on an acid trip. "Whut?"
"Look, I don't know how it works!" Tatl exclaimed. "It's something they can do, and they just stand on top of those flowers and kind of... dive in, I guess?"
Henry then stared at the Deku Flower. It was so low lying that its peak height only reached his waistline, and he was now a less than a third of his original height. How could even a creature as small as him "dive" into a flower like that?
"It sounds crazy, but the Deku dive into those flowers, and then after winding up or something like that, they can launch themselves into the sky and fly using smaller flower blooms. I think it's a kind of magic only they can wield or something."
Henry decided he did not like magic very much. As someone who understood mystical arts to be performative nonsense, he was not going to put his faith that his new, weak, form could be capable of such a feat.
"Can you just try!? Time is wasting! Try and get yourself into that flower and I guess... experiment until you can mimic that flying thing."
Henry sighed. "Hrrkay." He made a momentary promise to get better speaking as a Deku Scrub, then approached the Deku Flower.
It was even bigger at his new, Deku Scrub perspective. Henry likewise discovered that he was so lightweight, he could casually stand atop the flower's petals without even leaving an impression on them. They were as taut and stable as the canvas of a trampoline. The stigma of the flower actually looked big enough to fit his tiny body and limbs, though whether his head could fit afterwards was an unanswered question.
Tentatively, Henry placed one foot into the darkness of the stigma, and it found its center wet with nectar. Yet he was not disgusted by this. Whether it was a lack of clothing to be concerned with in terms of getting dirty or some passive, psychological aspect of being transfigured into a Deku Scrub, the moist, fragrant entrance to the flower was inviting, and strangely familiar. Henry relaxed some more as his torso slipped past the stigma's circular lid, and he found that although it would require some squeezing into, it would be perfectly fine to fit his whole body inside of the Deku Flower.
'Inside.' He thought. 'Just get inside to try the flying thing.' As if his thoughts commanded the flower, the chamber beneath the flower's external body snuggling grabbed his body and pulled him inside. He squeaked with surprise, but shortly calmed himself down as the front of his face and his tube-like mouth ointed up into the sky, just peaking above the bloom.
"Uhh, you okay there?" Tatl had seen everything from above the flower, and was momentarily worried if Henry had gotten stuck inside its inner workings.
"Y-yeh!" Henry called. From his position, he strangely felt at one with the Deku Flower. His fingers were touching a fibrous web of sorts, and he could genuinely feel the ground around him, like the trip lines of a trap door spider. The nectar seemed to absorb into his bark-like skin, and he felt refreshed and rejuvenated, the dryness of his throat subsiding over the course of a few seconds. The symbiotic relationship between Scrub and Flower could wait, however, as Henry wondered how he could get launched into the air as described by Tatl.
Without thinking, his boot like feet touched the bottom of the Deku Flower's style, and as if it were a hair triggered catapult, it launched Henry straight into the air in a puff of yellow pollen. He squawked in astonishment as his grabbed two stalks of pink flowers that he could not account for. Henry tensed up and let out warbles of fright as he was sent ten feet up into the air.
"Whoa!" Tatl exclaimed, having to juke in midair to avoid being hit by the Deku Scrub's rushing form. Then she saw that he gripped two flowers that began to twirl like windmills in a clockwise motion. "Hey, you did it! You're flying!"
"I ehm!?" Henry had tensed up in midair, but he quickly saw in his peripheral vision that the fairy was correct. As improbable as it sounded, he could gain the power of flight. His pause of triumph was short lived, for the rotating blooms began to loose momentum. "Wh-who-a-ah!" Henry dropped to the ground, luckily avoiding injury by landing on the very flower he had launched from. The flowers he once held fell to pieces, unable to be used again.
"Aww, that didn't last long." Tatl observed in disappointment. "Can you do it again?"
"I th-think s-sho." Henry muttered. He now knew what to expect, including the short-lived nature of the heli-flowers, as he now called them. More smoothly, he returned to the Deku Flower's soft, comfortable insides, then, with a plan in mind, Henry pushed his feet down onto the bottom of the internal cavity, and was launched into the air once more.
Although the rush of speed was still a bit of a shock, Henry kicked his feet forward, moving his body at a modest pace. His descent was negligible as he began the journey across the twenty foot wide gap between the prior platform and the one he needed to land on to follow after the Skull Kid. Henry was over halfway over the small chasm when the flowers began to lose their latent energy again.
"There they go again!" Tatl warned. "Hurry! Kick harder!"
Henry did just that with a high pitched grunt of effort. At last, just as the flowers' physical integrity collapsed, he landed on both of his feet, just over a foot away from the edge of the exit way's cliff.
"Phew." He breathed.
"Hey! You actually did it!" Tatl exclaimed, joining Henry at his height. "Finally, now let's get moving."
With a nod, Henry pattered over to the exit. The door was rectangular, and was made of wood with rows of iron rivets on each plank. It too had a switch like the larger, stone door they previously used, only it was a little closer to the ground and did not require as much effort to work. The unlikely partners were soon passing through the door to the next area.
This area was much more open, and somewhat darker in appearance. Although some measure of sunlight peaked through to make the key landmarks visible, it also highlighted that the places of safety were stony, moss covered islands in a sea that amounted to a dark, cavernous void. There were more pink Deku Flowers to use for locomotion, but this time, there was little margin for error.
If Henry failed, he would likely fall to his doom.
Tatl fluttered nervously. "Wow, um... it's a real shame that Deku Flowers aren't a permanent thing to use. Tael, the Skull Kid and I could fly over this place no problem. You're gonna have to-"
She noticed Henry glaring up at her.
"I'll just... stop talking. Just take your time with this one."
That was precisely what Henry had to do. He would dive and launch from one Deku Flower and fly to the next platform. The first and second islands were not too difficult, but the third one required Henry to slightly maneuver around a tree. He quickly became more comfortable with piloting himself, even learning how to turn by using his big round head as a kind of counter weight. The fourth flight was the most terrifying, as he had to pass between two large trees and strain the longevity of his heli-flowers to reach an oblong island near the hollow exit way.
Henry landed safely enough, though his little heart raced with fright. He had to take a break, breathing in and and as he quelled the panic inside him.
"Hey, c'mon!" Tatl called out, floating on the other side of the final chasm between Henry and the exit. "We're almost there! Come over to this tree and check it out!"
Henry finished his brief rest and took the final flight to join Tatl. He promptly noticed the tree she was talking about. It was a portly tree only a head taller than himself. It only had three branches, with the two lateral branches bearing no more than four leaves in totality. The top branch which stuck out above the crown had a distinctive pattern of three leaves. Yet Henry was haunted by the eerily expressive nature of the tree's trunk.
He saw a face, its eyes slanted in a mournful grimace, while its mouth was eerily similar to that of a Deku Scrub.
"It's strange, but the way you look right now sort of looks like this tree..." Tatl commented, her voice sober as opposed to bright and impatient. "It looks all dark and gloomy... almost like it could start crying any second now... How sad..."
Now that Henry had a good look at the little "tree," he noticed the uncanny similarity in appearance it had to him. Its small size, its mouth, the color of his bark to his own "skin," and the number of leaves they had were the same. Henry was staring into a depressing doppelgänger of his own, cursed body.
"We, the uh, Skull Kid and my brother and I, passed by this tree once before, but I never paid much attention to it." Tatl. "Do you think-" She stopped herself, feeling increasingly uncomfortable as she pondered the origins of this melancholic plant. "Never mind, let's just keep going."
Henry lingered, staring at the heartbroken tree for a few moments longer, before turning and heading through the passageway out of the room. He could not help but wonder if the tree mirrored his own situation. 'Another lost soul, cursed by some damned fate...' He thought.
At first, the passage Henry and Tatl went through was log-like, with smooth wood surrounding them. Then it transitioned to a more open space. It was almost as if they had traveled into a microcosm of a dense forest, Henry's feet trodding on a worn pathway while impenetrable tree lines flanked them on their left and right underneath a lush, impermeable canopy. But then things began to take a strange, literal turn.
The road and the surrounding woods seemed to corkscrew in a clockwise manner, and Henry worried that he had found himself in some enchanted trap or illusion.
"Keep going." Tatl assured him. "You're gonna be fine, Deku Boy."
Henry hesitantly continued onward, and was surprised so see himself stick to the dirt path even as he was certain that he was about to walk at a seventy degree angle. The world's axis seemed to twist in a stomach churning way as they traveled, and Henry was grateful he did not have a stomach with food to vomit up. They soon approached a perfectly square entryway made of large, pale bricks of masonry.
'Are we reaching civilization?' Henry thought. Only human hands could make such acts of infrastructure. The two partners passed through the massive doorway and found themselves in a dark, dank room that thundered with groaning wood, the splashing of water, and the gentle burbling of a swift current.
Then, two massive, steel doors closed behind them. Tatl and Henry turned sharply as their way back to where they came, including the vain hope of returning to the strange forest where Henry first appeared in, was closed off.
"That... wasn't there before..." Tatl said nervously.
"Tatl?" Henry asked squeakily. What else did she not know since first meeting him?
Tatl shivered briefly. "D-don't worry about it. We're almost to the surface."
A uncomfortable silence hung between them, but Henry decided to put a mental pin on the inquiry he had in mind.
The immediate area was quite moist, and almost cave-like, but it was entirely manmade, with mossy masonry as far as the eye could see. Some torches managed to keep the general area lit, though the amount of moisture put the oil soaked timber they burned to the test as far as staying ignited. Immediately to Henry's left, an abandoned, rusted gear as large as a dinner table sat, apparently a victim of wear and tear.
Ahead of the Deku Scrub and fairy, a large water wheel was dutifully being pushed by the currents of some underground river. Then, they saw a wooden walkway with handrails to the left of the water wheel. Henry and Tatl quickly made their way across, its slippery surface eventually giving way to drier timber as the two partners ascended the strange room.
Shortly, they reached a large, stony parlor, with angled support columns at each corner. A spinning, wooden column with metal plating to strengthen its structure spun counterclockwise as it rose high into the darkness towards some unseen mechanism. A copper green mural could just be seen by torchlight at the back, and opposite that was a series of steps leading to a pair of large, wooden doors.
"There it is!" Tatl exclaimed. Henry began climbing the stairs, just as eager to leave as she was.
"You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"
Henry stopped dead in his tracks, and Tatl twisted in midair to see whom the voice belonged to. She tinkled in fright as she recognized the person behind them.
It was a man with a pale complexion and pointed ears, standing mere feet away from the top of the walkway. His red hair was combed into a short, off center cut. His eyes were hard to see, for they were squinted tightly behind a smile that was both warm and unsettling. His clothing was quite expensive, with violet robes, matching pants that cut off inches above his ankles, a waistcoat with pearl buttons, fine, up pointed slippers, and cloth of gold for his cuff links and the robe's collar.
Upon his back was a large pack filled with supplies, but it also sported many masks. Some were human-like, others like animals or devils, and some had distinct patterns like craggy stone and leaves. Yet the weight of the pack, despite causing the stranger to stoop noticeably, did not appear to dampen his spirits.
Tatl hid behind Henry's back, barely peaking behind his right shoulder to observe the man. Eventually, Henry broke the silence. "H-Hello..."
"Hello indeed, my young friend!" The man replied, his voice sounding as hospitable as could be. "Would you care to have a talk? I think you'll find that I have some important things to say as well as offer."
"Henry, let's just go search for the Skull Kid." Tatl whispered. "I don't like this guy's smile. It's too happy..."
"L-let's jehst talk." He whispered back as best as he could. "Mehbe he knows something about the Skuhll Kid." Henry walked back down the stairs and joined the man, though he kept a small distance between himself and the stranger, just in case.
"I own the Happy Mask Shop." The man explained cheerfully. "I travel far and wide in search of masks. Then, during one of my travels, a very important mask was stolen from me by an imp in the woods."
Henry flinched. The phrase "important mask" brought back the awful experience of being on the receiving end of its power.
The mask connoisseur noticed the Deku Scrub's reaction, and nodded gravely. "No doubt you have an idea of what mask I speak of. For a while, I was at a loss as to what to do. And now, as fate would have it, I've found you."
"Me?" Asked Henry.
"Now don't think me rude," continued the smiling collector, "but I have been following you..."
Both Henry and Tatl were stunned by the admission. How could such a heavily encumbered man be able to follow their every step, especially given how the previous areas they passed through required flight in order to progress.
"Ho ho," the man laughed, "I may not look like it, but I have ways and means to make the same journey you two just made. But that is not so important, for I know of a way to return you to your former self."
Henry gasped. "R-really?! Y-you can chenge me behck!?"
The merchant chuckled warmly. "Indeed, young man! If you can get back the precious item that was stolen from you, I will return you to normal."
It was mildly shocking that the mask salesman knew of the Skull Kid's theft against him, but Henry was not so perturbed by that. What he wondered at was what means by which the man could restore him to his human form.
"In exchange..." The mask salesman continued. "All I ask is that you also get back my precious mask that the imp stole from me."
That caveat was hard to swallow. "Umm..." Henry shivered as he realized he would very likely have to face off against the Skull Kid and his apparent power in the body of a creature that could, at most, dive into and launch out of flowers.
"What?" The salesman's brow furrowed in what seemed like genuine confusion. "Is it not a simple task?"
"N-no!" Henry cried. "Whet can I do against the Skull Kid!? Whet if he turns me into dust or somethin'!?"
"I know it may seem daunting." The mask salesman spoke assuringly. "And yet, given how you've acquitted yourself given your change in form, you seem to have more cleverness and fortitude than even you believe you have."
"With such qualities," he concluded, "this should by no means be an impossible task."
Henry and Tatl both shared doubts, the latter shaking her head as she remained hidden behind the Deku Scrub's large head.
"Except..." The salesman's frown dipped ever so slightly. "The thing is, I'm a very busy fellow, and I must leave this place in three days.
"Imagine how grateful I would be if you could bring it back to me before my time here is up..."
Something about the way the merchant said that last line sent a cold wave through Henry's heart. It did not sound like a man inconvenienced by a breakneck schedule, it almost sounded like the request of a man facing his own death.
"But yes... You'll be fine." Said the merchant. "I see you are young, with courage and a good mind about you. I'm certain you'll find it right away."
Henry looked up pleadingly, not believing the compliments given his way.
"Well then, I am counting on you..." The merchant concluded. "You'd best be on your way. There's no telling where that imp is and what mischief he has been up to."
"O-okay..." Henry was not convinced of the success of his mission, but he would pursue the Skull Kid either way. He turned around and resumed his climb up the steps leading to the wooden doors. After some effort to push them aside, he slipped through, and was greeted by the dawn's light.
Yup! This is my latest project, and this time, I have a plan to get this sucker complete in a timely fashion. Who knows, it might give me some inspiration for other fanfics I have on this sight. I'm looking very forward to composing the journey of Majora's Mask through the eyes of an ordinary person who is dropped into Link's shoes at the beginning of the game.
As an aside, part of the reason I have this story as rated M is primarily because of scary/violent/explicit language bits. I'm not going to be excessive with these elements, but now you know. I have also given some thought to the possibility of sex scenes in the story. Again, if I decide to include them, it will be very infrequent, and I might just decide to publish them separately if people would prefer that material to be out of the story or relegated as "non-canon."
Please let me know if you would like sex scenes, are indifferent to the idea of their inclusion, or if you don't want them/publish them separately from the Mask Wearer story. Thank you very much for reading and I hope to see you guys next time.