Chapter 8: Dark

Darkness in Draerith Arc

Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda; this is just a Fan Fiction

Featured Music: "Neutiquam Erro" – Fire Emblem X: Radiant Dawn OST. Chapter Briefing.

"Black Tar" – Hotline Miami II: Wrong Number OST. Scene 1 (First Half).


With their ship running aground a second time in a seven year span, Impa and her group of heroes find themselves going through what feels like déjà vu; a feeling of nostalgia marred by displacement, shared by the hardened Veronika and Link, who are both chosen to investigate the goddess-forsaken island they have run aground on. When the two friends step ashore, they find it abandoned, much as to their expectations before very quickly running into a bigger surprise as they enter the Forgotten Haven.

An old foe and his assistant; Turncoat Manipulator Kaius Torquatus himself.

When last faced, Kaius was a former warlord of his home nation of Gylomecia, having somehow managed to manoeuvre his way into wrestling control away from the two quarrelling warlords at the time; an alarming situation made worse by his psychological manipulation of Link himself in an attempt to intensify the negative aspect of his Aegir and to induce the slow change of his powers to become the Fierce Deity. Thanks to Impa and Zelda however, his attempts were thwarted and he and his assistant Amalda went back into hiding for seven long years.

Until now.

While the fight itself initially begins in a fairly worrying situation for the poor Link, seemingly having been betrayed by Veronika in isolating him with his former mentor Kaius, Kaius himself soon reveals that he has seen through her and Impa's silent plot; a strategy shared only between the pair of women, having opted not to inform even the shocked Link or anyone else in their party of adventurers.

Regardless of Kaius' suspicions having been confirmed however, Link adapts fairly quickly to Kaius' style of fighting; one he recalled many years ago during his stint as his student. In surprising the two heroes however, not only does Kaius decide to sacrifice his devoted follower and assistant Amalda in a last ditch effort to kill the two, he opts to end the engagement by offing himself; a choice he makes when finally cornered by the superior skills of his former pupil. As he cuts his own neck with his powerful Aegir knife technique, Veronika and Link are left puzzled by his actions, even in having known a part of him seven years prior Link cannot help but wonder about the now-deceased man.

Thoughts of which he carries with him as the two heroes make the inevitable march back to the ship…


Scene 1

UNKNOWN LOCATION

BANG

A light thud of a small gavel echoed out, seemingly a meeting taking place, in what looked to be a well-maintained room indeed; the owner of the gavel, a man with simple short-brown hair and a long black trench coat in keeping with the rest of his seeming comrades seated all around him and the meeting table he also sat at.

"The tenth meeting of the order of the Himitsu Shakai… is now in session," the man began monotonously, frowning on in his usual manner as he did. "Juannelle, Ravim, Valquis and Norogumi… welcome and thank you all for making this meeting on such short notice."

"I don't even know why we still have these,"

The group of religious members swung their heads 'round to the source of the interruption; a young woman with short-ish white-hair of her own, two large and long strands poking up like antennas. The back of her white hair fell down to her shoulders; an unfashionable style to say the least but one she seemed to sport fairly well. She leant her head against her raised left gloved palm, resting it across it as she cast her bored-looking frown up and over at the similar-eyed Dalton leading the meeting.

"What's the point when we're all that's left?" She posed forward simply, a kind of bored and uninterested frown dotting her complexion. "No-one cares about the old man anymore."

The listening Dalton's own frown creased into a disapproving scowl, a look of sheer disappointment forming on his own expression. "I hope you're not being serious, Juannelle…"

She rolled her eyes and a tiny smirk took shape on her face, a little amused look about her mezzo-soprano tone. "Of course not lord Dalton…"

"In any case…,"

Valquis' deep-bass interruption caused the rest of the listening group to return their attention and their eyes back to the front of the table. The large Sheikah sat ever in his hardened-faced frown, re-opening it to speak further.

"Do we have full word on both our foes' movement into our old location? And what of Sir Sinclair? What should we do of the opening he has left in our forces?"

The listening Dalton let out a small sigh through his nose, eyes briefly shutting before re-opening them to face the large man on his right. "We can always recruit more members… if need be…"

"Grier Sinclair was not just an ally, lord Dalton…," the firmly-frowning form of Valquis spoke back in response, eyes narrowing lightly. "He was a friend… a family member…," he pointed out boldly, re-opening his mouth to continue. "Is this how we are all to be treated…? One of us falls and are replaced as quickly as the tide drops?"

"He's only being realistic Valquis," Juannelle smirked from her little corner of the table, leaning back in her chair uncaringly as she did. "Would you expect to wait for an invalid when your goal is at risk?"

The listening Sheikah turned his disapproving firm-faced frown over to her and, furrowing his brow at her, said nothing.

"No," she simply answered with, casting her smirk upwards as she folded her leather cloaked arms at him. "You wouldn't."

"Please, comrades…,"

The group of operatives swivelled their heads 'round to the blue-haired, crack-faced man casting a smile at them all. His baritone, so oddly welcoming and calm, broke the silence a second time and so easily as well; a revelation that saw even some of the more unflappable members on the table react in their own way.

"If we are all joined by the same goal within this room…," Norogumi finally spoke up, an oddly warm smile written about his expression. "Then please… show our comrade Valquis some respect, Juannelle…"

The listening woman's earlier smirk dissolved fairly quickly when Norogumi finished speaking; a kind of pensive and half-insulted look on her face. Although she looked as though she wanted to fire back a quick and sharp response, the firm look she double-took and received from the watching Dalton made her think twice; instead, she chose to roll her eyes and, folding her slim leather-cloaked arms, leaned further back in her chair as she did seemingly uncaringly.

"Good…," the exasperated Dalton sighed out, casting his frown forward as he re-joined his fingers and placed them on the table before him. "Now… should we move on to our first item of the agenda?"

The firmly-frowning form of Ravim rose up her eyebrows in her own display of irritation, holding back a sigh as she did. "Please…"

"Alright…," Dalton began, a pensive frown re-adorned on his face. "Then our next item on the agenda… is our subjects' encounter with former member Kaius Torquatus…," he spoke, casting his frown down on the sheets of paper below him, joining his cloaked fingers as he did. "At approximately eighteen-hundred hours yesterday night, our target made contact with Kaius Torquatus," Dalton explained briefly, reaching down to grip at the sheet of paper below. "After wandering back into our former headquarters… the Forgotten Haven."

"Why am I not surprised?" The ever-grinning Juannelle chuckled, re-opening her mouth as she did. "It was only a matter of time before that idiot was caught."

"Yes…," Dalton frowned back at her across the table. "Well… be that as it may and although we ourselves cast Torquatus out… we are down yet another member of the Himitsu Shakai."

While the listening Ravim and Valquis opted to display some respect by briefly shutting their eyes and lowering their heads, it was the ever-disrespectful Juannelle that chose to break the silence by throwing her white-haired head back and laughing uproariously.

"In what universe?!" She whooped, lowering her head back to face their leader. "That man was never my comrade… I don't see why anyone here should be upset at his death; it was a long time coming honestly."

"Regardless of your sentiments Norfleet, he was a comrade," Dalton responded firmly and with a brief narrow of his eyes as he did. "And still to some in this room."

Although the previously-noisy Juannelle rolled her eyes and even dropped her smirk, having lost any amusement in the situation and not having had her bait taken, it was the frowning-faced Ravim that spoke up in her friend's place.

"How did he die, lord Dalton…?" She asked pensively, a soft tone on her contralto.

"In a most gruesome fashion indeed…," he responded with a slow and deliberate shake of his head. "Unable to take down our target, he resorted first to assimilating his assistant Amalda within himself and then, finally when all odds failed, terminated himself."

"Oh damn."

Words from the shocked Juannelle, murmured out with a genuine wide-eyed surprise that left even the listening Norogumi, Ravim and Valquis taken aback.

"In his own way, while he was once our comrade…,"

The group turned to face the normally-quiet Norogumi, still surprised as they awaited his next words; he sat at the far-left end of the table, eyes shut in his light and eerie little smile as he re-opened his mouth to continue.

"He was also an animal." The wizened blue-haired, crack-faced man smiled back as he re-opened up his deep-yellow eyes to face the remaining group as a whole.

The listening Valquis narrowed his red-shaded eyes back at his comrade carefully, speaking back in curious response. "What do you mean by that, sir Norogumi?"

"I mean that Kaius was a man that was beyond saving… or even salvaging," Norogumi responded, turning his smiling-faced explanation on the large Sheikah to his right. "We're talking about a man that chose to turn on his brotherhood by killing our members, stealing their powers of Aegir and even attempting to plot a takeover of country through those very same tactics…,"

The listening group, realising he was correct, exchanged unsure and sheepish glances with one another, leading the blue-haired corpse to speak again.

"Those of us who knew him shall mourn him, of course…," he began again before shaking his deep-sea haired head, chuckling morosely. "But in the end he was never truly our real comrade."

"For once I agree with someone in here… hah!" The listening Juannelle laughed, throwing her short-white haired head back as she did. "A man that could only succeed by leeching off of and manipulating others… and a man that, when cornered, chose to kill himself… absolutely pathetic."

Her words, so remorseless and filled with uncaring hostility, were enough to leave a distasteful look in the listening and watching Valquis' mouth; he stared at her with narrowed eyes, a kind of disapproving and resenting look present in his Sheikah-red eyes.

The listening Dalton opted to exchange a curious look with the ever-smiling Norogumi, almost as if he were considering reprimanding Juannelle, before seemingly thinking twice over it and re-opening his mouth to speak. "In any case… with our former comrade cleared from the board… who is next?"

"I believe it's Müller, lord Dalton." The ever-frowning Valquis chose to speak up in response to his leader, turning his wild-brown haired head in his direction.

"Ahhh… unfortunate…," the similar-faced Dalton sighed out lightly, briefly lowering his head to eye the papers below him. He sifted through them quickly before soon coming across one below them all. On it was a pictograph of a man of large to medium build dressed fairly well in a red-shaded suit, almost as crimson as their victims' blood. "Müller's a man that will often take no prisoners…," he began again before re-rising his head and facing the group as a whole. "What's the situation like with him?"

"He's taken over Draerith… pretty convincingly too," the smirking-faced Juannelle spoke, eyes lightly shut as she lowered her head. "He's taken advantage of our plagues."

Norogumi raised an eyebrow, curious. "The three days darkness and restless crickets…?"

"Oh yes…," the woman responded, her smirk elongating as she turned very briefly to face the newly-frowning Norogumi. "He's managed to take over the country fairly quickly… he's a regular warlord now."

Seemingly genuinely surprised, the listening Norogumi rose both blue-shaded eyebrows and wandered his eyes from hers, tilting his head lightly as he did. "Huh…"

"I'm not surprised," the similarly frowning-faced Ravim spoke up. "Heinrich Muller was said to be one of the greatest martial artists of his generation."

"But to have taken Draerith so quickly…? And right under our noses?" Valquis began in response, taken aback by the sheer notion.

"We have been pre-occupied in dealing with our new friends of course…," Dalton weighed in, ever the objective one. "As well as finally resurrecting our lord… the one true God."

"So…?" Juannelle responded, a curious little half-smirk on her face as she raised her eyebrow at him.

"So I believe the best course of action in this instance…," Dalton began again, casting his hardened face forward toward the rest of the members around him. "Is to allow our enemies through to Draerith."

The frowning Juannelle hardened her own face, casting him a pair of narrowed eyes as she did. "But then they'd come face-to-face with-" she began again before widening her eyes in realisation and chuckling. "Oh you're not serious…"

Dalton simply nodded unequivocally, frowning as always. "I am," he claimed. "It is the best method visible not only to draw more time for our goal but to keep our foes from our position."

"I concur," the smiling Norogumi nodded from across the table. "I suggest we back lord Dalton's strategy."

"Agreed, I'm also in favour." The frowning Ravim nodded, casting her red-haired head around her comrades.

"Aye." The ever-frowning Valquis nodded similarly.

Juanelle rolled her bright-white eyes and smirked. "Oh… I suppose…," she sighed lightly, disappointed. "Though I was looking forward to greeting them myself…"

"With that, we all have an agreement," Dalton finally spoke up again, turning his head across the table as he did. "We will not interfere with the Light Bringers in the next coming days and watch how the Draerith struggle plays out. Agreed?"

The rest of the surrounding members nodded in their own way, opening up their mouths to respond similarly. "Agreed."


"Y'know… ya both could-a-warned me."

Link's half-insulted words left his closed-mouthed frown, icy-blue eyes shut, having dropped the Loftwing King form he once adopted to survive in his brutal clash with his former mentor in the Forgotten Haven. He left the abandoned and dingy old cave, joined by the ever-frowning Veronika, now stepping up on the diagonal wooden bridge back up on ship. The standing Impa, folded-armed and joined by most of their watching friends, watched the blonde youth with a rare small smile of her own; seemingly amused.

"Ah but then the ruse would not have worked, would it?" The Sheikah wisely batted back, silver eyebrow rising up as she did. "In this way… we all got out of the confrontation unscathed."

Link re-opened his eyes and turned a tilted and slightly-miffed raised eyebrow of his own up at her as he stepped up to join them all on ship, Veronika meekly and guiltily following after him.

"What do ya mean unscathed?" Link shot back, annoyed. "We both could-a-been killed!"

"I suppose…," Impa chose to ben lightly with a small shrug before raising her eyebrow again and elongating her smirk ever-so-slightly. "But you weren't, so it's fine."

The listening young Hylian's frown deepened into a comically-frustrated zig-zag-like one that threatened to injure his oldest mentor with the sheer look in his hardened blue eyes; a look that was not lost on the red-faced Veronika behind him.

"And what about you?" He accused half-angrily, turning his hardened frown on the sheepish-faced Veronika. "I genuinely thought you turned on me! On all of us!"

"She had to, mon amour,"

Link's half-insulted frown and his icy-blue eyes blinked as he about-turned to his left, only to find the similar-faced Vassia standing next to him, re-opening her mouth to continue.

"If she didn't, and you knew what we were all planning, there would have been a high chance that our initial enemies would have figured out our strategy… let alone those two scélérats."

Realising she was referring to Kaius and Amalda, Link could only drop the half-annoyed frown on his face, before soon swinging 'round to face the still-smiling Impa; she nodded back at him, almost having as if expected him to look at her. Link, half-surprised, could only turn his head to eye the diffident-faced Veronika, as if to confirm, and she nodded back at him as he did.

"It's true," the Stralanavian woman responded with, re-opening her mouth as she did. "It hurt to do what I did today… but I'd do it again, if I had to."

The listening Link's frown softened up into a wan smile and he lightly shook his blonde-haired head at her. "Well…," he began again, spicing his words with a light chuckle. "It could-a-been worse."

She couldn't help but smile back at him slowly and gradually.


2

"In the end… trust… is all that we have."

Link kept his eyes narrowed hard and firm on the ship's ceiling above him, his mind running through a series of turmoil and apprehension.

KNOCK-KNOCK…

His eyebrows lifted and his eyes widened up a little and he sat up from the bed he lay in, causing a small creak as he did, unhooking the hands and arms he used to prop his head up. Although he opted not to respond to the door it opened up anyway in a light similar grate, shy and diffident. It was only when a blonde-haired head poked its way through the doorway that Link's curious-faced frown switched to a relaxed and somewhat relieved smile.

"Is it… okay if I come in…?" The owner of the blonde-haired head asked, the timidly-frowning Zelda standing in the doorway. Link opted to smile back at her and shook his head before raising up one of his weathered hands; gesturing it toward him, he pulled her in silently and she dropped the frown on her face, morphing it into a similarly uncertain little smile of her own. As she stepped into the room, shutting the hard-oak door behind her in her usual soft and compassionate manner. "Thanks…" She spoke again, moving her slim arms and hands to join behind her back sheepishly, standing in the small entryway timidly.

Realising how anxious she seemed to be, he held back from rolling his eyes and stood up to his feet, nodding his head upward at her as he opened up his broad arms, presumably for some kind of embrace.

"I'm sorry I couldn't tell you…,"

Link lowered his blonde-haired head and held back from laughing as he felt her crash into him, shaking it a second time as he did, a smile slowly growing across his face.

"I felt so horrible when you were gone all that time… I started to think bad thoughts…"

"There was no need to feel bad Zel," Link chuckled, patting her softly across the back as if in an attempt to quell her anxieties. "I beat him anyway!" He chose to speak with a grin, pulling her back from his chest lightly as he did, tilting his straw-haired head down at her. The Hylian princess pulled her hands back from his body, joining them together in her usual demure fashion as she re-rose her head to face his.

"I know but…"

"Ya don't have-ta worry so much all the time," he smiled down at her again, raising up his roughened up hands to rest lightly across her shoulders. "It ain't like the old days when I first met you."

"I know…," she said again with a small sigh to her mezzo-soprano, lowering her eyes as she did. "But if something ever happened to you… or Veronika…"

His smile dissipated in favour of a half-surprised frown, his own sky-blue eyes wandering away from hers as he did. "Gotta admit she did take me by surprise then." He admitted.

"Impa didn't even tell me about it until you'd both already gone out there," Zelda claimed, re-opening her mouth to continue. "I wanted to go in after you but…"

Link double-took in her direction, surprised. "I'm glad you didn't then," he spoke back, eyebrows rising as he did. "Would have been dangerous as all hell."

Even the thought of Zelda in amidst the bloody battle the previous night would have sent chills through his spine, especially if by some possibility he had failed and Kaius was given a chance to turn his fist on her.

"I suppose…," she murmured out in understanding, lowering her head as she did, her own mind going back to the painful confrontation they suffered at the hands of Kaius himself. "I'm just glad you're all right."

He couldn't help but smile, nodding back at her. "Mm… me too."

His smile managed to infect her and she turned her light-blonde head up to face his, a kind of hopeful look in her dark-blue eyes. "I don't think we dock for another couple of hours…," she began again, smiling as she re-opened her mouth. "Do you want to spend it with me? I was thinking we could catch some sleep together."

"Sure…," he answered in his own light smile, nodding down at her. "Just gimme a bit and I'll come join you outside." He added and her own smile grew a little before she turned and left the room, hardwood door creaking as she shut it behind her. Link's smile dropped as she left and he turned briefly to face the window to his left; stepping toward it to get a better look. The young Hylian cast his look out into the wavy and lapping ocean out before him, an odd pang of regret stinging his senses.

The memories of his experience in Gylomecia and the Forgotten Haven mere hours ago made his hard-eyed stare soften into an oddly contritely-faced frown.


"Kind of you to join us."

Realising he had (intentionally) turned up late and perhaps made it far too obvious to the watching crowd in the under-cabin below for their meeting, the frowning Link held back a wince and upped his expression into a light but zig-zag like smile, nervous and worried. He rose up one of his arms to rest behind his blonde-haired head as always, chuckling sheepishly as he did.

"Yeah, sorry Impa-sensei…" He apologised lightly, blue eyes briefly shut. The youth felt the appreciative smile from the watching Zelda ahead of him, seated on the frowning-faced Impa's right at the end of the long table.

Mum's the word, he thought.

"Just take your seat," Impa waved him off with a disapproving frown, turning her silvery-haired head around her to look for everyone else all soon filling into the meeting room. "Everyone… please take your seat." She repeated, drawing down the hubbub of the room to draw their attention forward and to put the focus on the next matter of discussion.

As they all listened, each taking a seat adjacent to the other, Impa at long last turned her frown on the rest of them, a relieved look written across her face; like an oasis to the desert that was chaos receiving order, the silvery-haired Sheikah opened up her mouth to address them once more.

"Welcome, once again everyone… I'm glad to see all of you here looking well and uninjured…," she began with a slight sigh in the tone of her contralto. "Veronika, Link… how are you both feeling from yesterday's fight?"

The Stralanavian woman turned her head next to the youth she sat beside and gave him a hesitant little smile before swivelling her raven-haired head back to face Impa's.

"Mixed I suppose…?" She spoke similarly dubiously, her expression wincing a little as she did. "It's less physical wounds I carry than more… emotional ones… perhaps…?"

Impa nodded, turning her head to face her former student's. "And what about you Link? How do you feel?"

The question she laid out on the table led the frowning Link to nod in some sense of agreement.

"I'm fine, mostly," he responded with, raising his own frown to face hers. "A lot of what I was dealing with was just stuff I was dealin' with way back in Gylomecia."

"As much as I figured…," Impa sighed back, briefly lowering her eyes and blinking lightly as she did before soon resurfacing it forward. "In the end you both handled it very well, considering what could have happened…" The Sheikah stated wisely, joining her hands together as she looked back at the blonde-haired boy.

He nodded. "Yeah…," he admitted. "I know."

"So what happened to the guy? Did ya both beat him down senseless?" The grinning Barkner spoke up with a well-meaning lean forward. Veronika exchanged a knowing wince with the frowning-faced Link and they both turned to eye their close Goron friend, shaking their heads together in tandem. His grin fell and he re-opened his mouth. "W-What do you mean, what did I say?"

Opting to be blunt, the ever business-like Veronika spoke up for her friend on her right. "Kaius Torquatus found himself cornered when Link chose to torment him mid-fight, after adapting to his style of ruthless combat," the Stralanavian woman spoke in her usual pleasing mezzo-soprano. Although the listening Barkner began elongating his usual well-meaning grin in support, it was Veronika again that managed to quell it. "When Kaius found himself cornered, after killing his aide in a last ditch effort to kill us, he eventually chose to end his own life; a choice I don't imagine he opted for lightly."

The listening Barkner's smirk very quickly dissolved in favour of a genuinely shocked wide-eyed frown, re-opening his mouth as he did. "Wha-? … Really…?" He asked quietly, furrowing his brow back at the woman before him. "The same guy that took over Gylomecia with an iron fist…?"

Veronika and Link faced their close Goron friend and nodded back at him in assenting.

"But that… that doesn't make any sense…," he murmured out, lowering his boulder-brown eyes from theirs as if in thought. "Why would he…?"

"It makes perfect sense,"

The group swung their heads in the baritone's direction, the sitting Zoran next to Barkner, finding the man folded-armed and as business-like as ever.

"Why do you say that?" Veronika bounced back curiously, raising a raven-haired eyebrow as she did.

"Because no matter the situation, whenever that man felt cornered, he always had to win in some way," the wise Zoran stated, shaking his broken-fin head as he did. "Some people, in spite of everything you do for them, always choose their last option."

Link lowered his head out of a mixed sense of thought; some of regret and others of disdain.

He's right, he thought.

"Kaius was the kind of man that would resort to anything to win."

"In any case…," Impa began again, cutting into the conversation, presumably to give it some further direction. "Now that we've dealt with the Torquatus issue, we can focus on the far more important connection he shared with the Shakai… and of course the Shakai themselves."

The listening Malon rose up one of her eyebrows in genuine curiosity from her own seat, dubious. "I didn't even realise he was part of the Shakai."

"He's not," Zelda answered her from the top of the table with, casting her frown forward as she did. "Well… not anymore anyway." She began again with a light sigh, lowering her eyes briefly as she did.

"That's right," Impa added on with an assenting nod. "He was once an operative of the Himitsu Shakai."

"What'd he leave for?" Barkner threw in with a curious raise of his eyebrow, unsure.

"He didn't leave," Veronika answered for him across the table, frowning back at the Goron. "He was cast out."

"Ah… I heard of this," the ever-frowning Alwyn spoke up in an assenting nod, his slim blue arms folded as always. "He was thrown out of the Shakai because of his odd penchant for stealing others' Aegir essences, yes?"

As Link listened, he couldn't help but hold back a shudder; memories returning to his original meeting with Kaius in Gylomecia, having witnessed his incredible Aegir-control in motion and in person. A chilling memory indeed that he recalled when having been under the man's influence as his Fierce Deity.

"Good riddance," the snorting Malon commented on, arms folded at the table they all sat at. "He was a horrible man."

"In any case…," Impa began, nodding on as she cast her frown further forward. "Now that he and his aide Amalda have been eliminated, we can focus on pressing forward,"

"Where we headed next boss?" The curious Barkner requested, eyebrow rising up as he did.

"To the land of metaphors and moons…," the Sheikah began again, 'rounding her business-like look on the listening Goron. "To Draerith."

"Wait a minute…,"

The group revolved their unsure looks on the furrow-browed Link, prompting him to continue.

"I thought we were goin' to Gylomecia? What's the deal?" The blonde asked curiously.

"We've received reports while we've been on the sea from my father and the rest of the alliance," Zelda spoke up for him in her seat next to her loyal attendant, casting her own business-like frown at him as she did. "Apparently there's been sightings of the Shakai and another menace lurking there."

"Another menace…?" Alwyn parroted curiously, eyebrow rising up in his folded-armed seated stance as he did.

"Yes," Impa answered for him in her nod, joining her armoured fingers together in response. "Two plagues have been sighted and confirmed through those staying within Draerith."

The listening Vassia rose up her own indigo-shaded eyebrow, opening her mouth to respond as she did. "Such as?"

"I believe they're called the 'Restless Crickets' and the 'Three Days' Darkness'."

Impa's words oddly reminded him of his illuminated adventure across Termina a few years back; a fact that made him briefly blink and nod upwards, oceanic eyes lowering in thought.

"From what we understand it's a ghost country; no-one is allowed in or out."

Veronika rose her own raven-shaded eyebrow. "Why is that?"

"Because apparently there's been another third party involved in Draerith's takeover," Zelda explained briefly for her attendant on her left. "Apparently lord Qin has had his governmental building completely overtaken in an assault."

"Who would manage to even do that?" Malon spoke up uncertainly, tilting her crimson-haired head as she did. "Draerith has always been hard to crack isn't it?"

"We don't have much information on them yet but apparently they're a crime syndicate, known the world over for trafficking people, contraband and other such items," Impa answered concisely enough, frowning as always. "Their leader is said to be a fairly intelligent man of incredible strength… we're not sure why he's taken over Draerith, but…"

"But we're gonna oust him Impa-sensei… right?" The once-frowning Link slowly upturned his unsure look into a confident grin.

She only turned to eye him, her own frown revolving gradually into a smirk of her own.


3

"Here we are boys 'n girls… Draerith, or… what's left of it."

One of the sailors they were travelling with spoke up as he approached a small group of the heroes gaggled together at one of the ship's sides; the frowning-faced Link stood out, oceanic eyes scanning and washing over the darkened scope of what seemed to be the fast-approaching land that was Draerith.

"It's been over two years since we were all here last…," the similarly frowning Alwyn began, marching forward to join his younger Hylian companion, standing side-on as he kept his slim blue arms folded. "I still didn't think we'd find ourselves here again so soon…"

When they approached land and laid out a bridge with which to step onto, the group found themselves in what felt to be uncharted territory; indeed, even the area around them, once so familiar to them all, now had an air of foreboding and an oppressive aura surrounding it. As they stepped off to march around the docks, pure darkness permeated the once grand-looking country and, although they had arrived in the dead of night, something else seemed off about it entirely.

Something that the watching Link couldn't quite pinpoint.

"I can't believe this is the same place we were all at two years ago…," the frowning Malon spoke up softly, stepping out onto the darkened city's ground alongside her close companions. "It's so…"

The similar-faced Veronika opened up her mouth to give voice to her own thoughts, as if to finish her friend's sentence for her. "Ominous."

Malon nodded as she briefly faced the raven-haired Stralanavian, turning back around to eye the endless darkness around them. "Yeah…," she agreed. "Ominous."

"Just keep your wits about you everyone," Impa spoke up in response to the two when she stepped off the bridge next to the frowning Zelda on her left. "We've gotten word that the capital has been annexed by an opposing force."

A sudden memory of their earlier adventure came to mind in the wide-eyed Link's memory; when they made their approach into Kaiohdrahl and a group of incredibly powerful mercenaries invaded the land – the 'Templars of the Weeping Stars' and their leader. A man known only to those in despair; a rogue knight of Stralanavia that used to go by the name of Velkarez.

Link's brow furrowed down in gloomy thought as memories of his ill-begotten death and second chance flashed by; a fight so fierce and so desperate he had to rely on the ancient and forbidden powers of the Fierce Deity.

"Well… at least I don't have to rely on that anymore…"

"I hate that it's so dark here…," Malon spoke up, drawing the listening Link out of his inner thoughts as she rubbed the sides of her arms, seemingly feeling cold. "I wish I dressed better for this…"

Feeling somewhat responsible, oddly enough, Link held back a rolling-eyed frown and stepped closer to her before wrapping a single muscled arm 'round her right side; she gasped initially but slowly grew a small smile when her eyes clocked the young man on her right.

"Thanks…" She spoke softly with a slight smile on her face, eliciting a half-annoyed rolling-eyed frown from the watching Vassia. Able to understand on her own side, the watching Zelda, though a little jealous on her own, smiled over at them wanly, glad for her group's closeness.

"It looks as though Draerith is already going through two plagues as we speak…,"

The group turned to find the similarly soft voice belonging to the little ball of light hiding under Link's tunic; she hovered briefly out of his clothes, almost as if to begin speaking to them all collectively.

"Well… I see one of them anyway…"

Impa nodded in agreement with the would-be forest fairy. "Yes…," she began similarly. "'The Three-Days Darkness'…"

"And then the lord said to the Shakai…,"

The group turned again, this time the mezzo-soprano belonging to the Stralanavian woman, Veronika herself.

"'Stretch out your hand toward the sky so that darkness will spread over Aurelia — darkness that can be felt.' So Alphanion stretched out his hand toward the sky, and total darkness covered all Aurelia for three days. No one could see anyone else or leave his place for three days." She explained and spoke briefly, almost as if reading from a very passage in the holy Hylianis itself.

"And what the hell does that mean?" The frowning Barkner blurted out rudely, eyebrow risen upward as he stepped off the bridge from the ship behind them all to join them.

"It means that if we let this go on for much longer… Aurelia is finished." Alwyn replied for him, stepping up beside him to join the group as he did, slim blue arms ever folded in his usual business-like manner.

"Something I can definitely agree with," the listening Impa crooned out with an assenting nod. "All the more reason to press on and find out whether it's the Shakai that are behind this."

"I mean isn't it pretty obvious that it is Impa-sensei?" The frowning Link responded with, eyebrow risen upward as he turned briefly to look at her. "Only they been doin' this religious hooey."

"While that may be true, it's also true that a third party was detected here and reported on in our information letter." The ever-knowledgeable Zelda spoke up, arms joined at her centre in her usual demure fashion.

"Who would be this far out though?" Malon fired back curiously as she stepped in to re-join the group.

"It is… 'Trugbild'… I believe."

Veronika's words pulled the attention of everyone around her vicinity, drawing out a half-surprised frown from the listening Malon.

"Yes…," Impa answered simply, facing the young-looking Stralanavian as she did. "A man well known in the criminal underworld of Aurelia has brought his full criminal syndicate with him," the Sheikah began again as the group finally all joined together. She stood in the centre, turning to face them all as she did. "This man's name… is Heinrich Müller."

"I've heard of this name before…," Alwyn started from his own side, slim blue arms ever-folded. "The 'Heavenly King' of Trugbild… yeah?"

Impa nodded in the Zoran's direction. "Correct," she answered, re-opening her mouth to continue as she did. "Make no mistake; whatever you've all heard is probably accurate. This man is extremely dangerous and charismatic to boot. Chances are his forces run in the thousands."

Again the listening Link's memory went back to their dealings with Velkarez in Kaiohdrahl; a similar situation, he thought to himself.

"If you encounter this man… don't even think of approaching him alone," the Sheikah spoke again, drawing Link out of his inner thoughts. "He'll kill you just as soon as he looks at you, he's extremely dangerous."

"They say he's the leader of his own criminal organisation," Alwyn spoke up as the group slowly began to march forward through the quietened and darkened docks, slim blue arms ever-folded as he did. "And they say he's fairly brutal."

The listening Link's hard-eyed frown swung over to the far-off dark-infested city of Gylomecia; with the knowledge of its now-recent takeover by this warlord, he couldn't help but grow concern for it.

Another warlord, another day for Gylomecia, he thought; the place seemed to attract these types of people.

He let out a long and drawn out sigh, quiet and tired through his nose as he followed his companions through the dark.