Arc One: Grave Sites

Chapter 1: The Eyes of the Empire

Monday

10:05 AM

"Oh, wow!" Bleak said.

"What now?" Tetra asked with a sigh. She jumped when he quickly spun to face her, fluttering his wings.

"You know what they say! 'Twin-kle, twin-kle, knock on the clock! How many cycles can you stock?' Hey, hey Tetra, can you get a twinkle in your eyes like the ones up there? I saw it happen earlier. Your eyes went, bam! It was only for like a moment, though. Can you make it happen again?"

She stared down at him, dumbstruck. "...what the heck are you talking about?"

"Make your eyes sparkle again?" Bleak pleaded. "Pleaase?"

"Did your brain suddenly start eating itself or something?"

"Just look up silly, then you'll know!"

Incredulous, she did, and almost staggered to the ground in shock. Even her gasp was too afraid to come out.

The royal garden was covered by a giant dome of what seemed to be wood lattice; there was a strange, infinite vault of black hovering further high above. Numerous points of light were pelted about the dark sky, but Tetra didn't think they were stars. They twinkled like stars yet had vertical slivers of darkness within their origins, making their appearance hardly different from the slitted eye of a cat.

Most strangely of all, the sun was still present. It shone like an odd eclipse against the black sky, bright and perfect, the center point of the odd mingling of light and dark.

Frozen, Tetra gaped upwards and was unable to look away. Bleak bounced and spun in the air, crying, "Yeah, see? You see? Aren't the Ancestors beautiful today? When I was little fairy a long time ago—I'm a Bloomer, don't tease me, please—that was my reaction when I saw them the first time! Now I can look up without the existential terror."

Tetra only moved her mouth, speaking slowly as she continued to stare upwards. "Bleak...what exactly are those?"

"What do you mean? They can be whatever you want. I think a lot of people have their own beliefs about the Eyes of the Ancestors. I think they're fairies. Big fairies. They sort of look like us, right? Well, without the wings. They twinkle the same way, and I'm telling you that's what your eyes looked like earlier! Though, still...I think we might need to hurry it up for you, Ms. Tetra."

She snapped her head to him, feeling bones in her neck crack. "What, why?"

"There's a chance you might get chosen," Bleak said solemnly, lowering his wings a bit. "I wouldn't want that. And you don't look ready."

"Chose—for what?"

"I don't know."

"The heck you mean, you don't know?! Giant eyeballs popping up in the sky is normal here or something?"

Twitch.

She winced, feeling that little zap in her mind again. Bleak seemed to tilt his head.

"...wow. It...looks like this is your first time seeing them?" he said curiously. "I can't believe you haven't before, but yes. It's perfectly normal like everything else you know! You know?"

"Uh, not really. It's freaky and borderline unnatural. So those aren't stars?"

"What's a star?"

Tetra looked at him as if he were crazy on top of already being dense. "...hello? They're the things you see at night? There's like, a ton of them?"

"I don't see anything at night but the dark. That's because my eyelids are usually closed," Bleak said, laughing. His tone suggested he was genuine.

"Are you freaking kidding me?"

"No, not at all. I don't think I've ever seen a scar."

She groaned, wanting to give him several. "A star is—look, look! Look up! They're little bright balls of light, like those, except they don't have the black part in them. Heck, you can say the sun is a daytime star! But lookit, it's just up there chilling with the rest of them. So is it day or night right now?"

"It's still morning. Should be near or a little past ten. The clock tower normally would ring, but there's an event at the pavilion now. I still haven't ever seen a star. No one else has mentioned them, either. They sound pretty," Bleak said said. "Oh! Did you see them in a dream or something? That happens to me on occasion. I see things that aren't real when I sleep sometimes, too."

Tetra let her arms drop limply to her sides, completely speechless.

Bleak continued to drift on. "Well...it doesn't sound like those 'stars' move in your dreams. The Eyes do, though. Without a doubt...they come and whisk people from the earth."

"What?!"

"No one knows why or where people are taken when they ascend. They're never seen again, though. This has been happening since the very beginning..."

Tetra almost tripped over herself trying to catch up with him. "Wait, whoa, hold on! Like...like...that's, they take sacrifices or something?"

"That's how I've heard people talk about it. I wouldn't know who or what it'd be a sacrifice in the name of, though. A lot of people are afraid of being chosen, but then you have those who think it's the highest honor. It depends! Irregardless, no one knows when it's their time. And fate doesn't care. I heard there's usually a lot of pain and screaming when someone's chosen."

"Oh, unbelievable...there's nothing you could do about it?"

"Nope!"

Bleak rose higher in the air. His black aura briefly blotted out the sun, casting wispy shadows along the ground. "Not a single thing," he said kindly. "Doesn't matter if you're inside or outside, if you were just born or if you're seconds from a peaceful death in your sleep...if they chose you, it's bye-bye! So...earlier, I said we should hurry up, but that really wouldn't matter either. Forget I said that. The reality is that we have to hope they don't come get you!"

He spirited off, gliding much swifter than he had been doing yet. Tetra stood in shock for a few moments before she chased after him, suddenly not wanting to be separated from one of the only souls she'd met in this strange place. Now as they traveled she would impulsively glance up at the sky, unable to shake the chill off her skin.

The Eyes seemed to be on her now, or hopefully that was her imagination…

As Tetra learned, the source of the large dome encasing the garden came from its origin point, where a monolith of a tree was ingrained.

It was often rumored throughout the fairy tenders of the garden that it was hundreds of years old, oft thought to have been the first tree planted within the realm.

Its trunk was dozens of yards in mere radius alone, armored thickly with leathery, ashen bark. Branches born from this tree numbered in the thousands; the smallest of them were like great logs, several times thicker than a man's torso and weighing in the low hundreds. Its foliage sprouted without end and with mysterious seamlessness, creating a magnificent canopy that kept part of the Hearthian Gardens in perpetual shadow. Likewise, this was where the species of plant and flowers that needed less sunlight could quietly flourish.

Around the highest peak of the tree's crown was where special branches had been artificially grown to erupt straight up, as if they were to continue growing all the way to the heavens. Over time, thanks to human and fairy augmentation, these branches would be magically woven within and to each other, creating a distinct criss-cross pattern that steadily formed a barrier of protection. Eventually, the lattice-like patterns would terminate back into the ground, where they stuck and held firm like the ancient roots of the tree they had been born from.

In front of the garden's tree was a relatively minute sight and easily missable in the gloom. It was a round, tiny wishing pond, small enough to where an adult could step across it easily or a child could jump from one side to the other. Sitting in between it and the Tree of the Garden was where the largest flower in the realm grew, nestled in the midst of a Moon Flower field.

"Very nice, isn't it? So big," Bleak said, looking up at the Tree as they passed through the shady clearing. "Very interesting what fairy magic and human tact can do to compliment nature. Would you believe that tree is also giant mausoleum?"

"No…never would've guessed."

"Nice joke! I'm sure all the old kings and queens knotted up in that old bark appreciate it too. See the giant flower there? It's a Fairy Flower!"

Tetra stopped abruptly, studying the Fairy Flower's large yawning petals and the giant bud she could have easily curled up on. She thought something was missing but couldn't place what it was.

Bleak gasped. He jittered violently like a bell without its tongue, crying, "Hey-whoa-whoa-whoa-whoa! Wait a second! She's opened her petals!"

"What's wrong with that?"

"Well! The Fairy Flower is way different from other flowers...its bud stays closed during its adolescence, but once it reaches a mature age..."

Tetra pinched her temple. Oh, Nayru, here he goes again...

"...which of course, this one has, it opens its petals for the first time. They'll remain open for only seven hours until the bud shuts again," Bleak said breathlessly. "From that point and for the rest of its life as currently observed, it will open its petals after every four years for the same amount of time. Open for seven hours, then closed for four more years. I'm not sure how long she's had her petals open, but I know for a fact it hasn't been four years yet. That's..."

"What, weird?"

"...no," Bleak said thoughtfully. "It scares me for some reason...someone or something really phenomenal must have disturbed her sleep..."

Tetra was now gazing around restlessly, feeling as though someone was watching them. Bleak copied her.

"Yeah...Flitly isn't around. She's its caretaker around the clock. Very hard worker. She probably flew off in a panic to tell someone the Fairy Flower had bloomed..." Bleak hefted a breath, glancing skywards. "Wow...what a morning. First the unscheduled rain, then the execution, the Eyes appear, and NOW the Fairy Flower..."

He chuckled nervously. "Feels like the end of the empire, doesn't it?"

Empire...? Tetra thought.

She had seen the word used sparingly in the old scribes and talk of Old Hyrule, but hadn't too often thought about the meaning of the word. She certainly never expected to hear it in any other context.

Hyrule was a kingdom…sometimes the writings likened it to an empire, the definition of which is...what, a kingdom of kingdoms? Yeah. I guess the word could've applied to Hyrule in a sort of sense with how diverse it was. But King Grandpa never called it an empire…I don't think. Just a kingdom. Is there a real difference between them both?

As they began moving again, Tetra looked over one last time. The Fairy Flower was still drooping lightly in the gloom, surrounded by the cheerful blooms of the Moon Flowers. It looked ill, and out of place to her...like it was homesick.

"...is she—it going to be alright?" she asked.

Bleak hummed, looking at the ground as he drifted along soundlessly. "Eh…oh, nothing we can do. It's Mother's flower. She'll have to look into it herself. I don't think she'll be happy with whoever messed with it. Unless it was herself. Ha! Maybe it was her! I told you...weeeeird. My friend told me all girls were, but I think he's generalizing."

Tetra snorted. "T'uh! He sounds educated."

"Hey, you're a girl!" Bleak announced suddenly. "I didn't really notice until now. I did, but I didn't. Does that make sense? What about your Link?"

"What about him?"

"Is he a girl too? Oh wait, no. Sorry. Sometimes my mouth goes faster than what I can think. Hey, you know what? You were both together. A boy and a girl."

"Yeah. So?"

"What were you both doing?"

"None of your bussiness!"

"Are you friends? Like, OOOH, best friends?"

"Uh, yeah? Why?"

Bleak couldn't hold back his mirth, twitching his wings.

"Uh huh, Link tends to do plenty of giggling himself," Tetra said, eyeing the fairy through narrowed eyes. "What's so funny?"

"Not you. I just think it's nice to have a best friend like that."

"It's not something to laugh at."

"I'm not being mean! I'm happy for you two."

Tetra huffed. She was having trouble deciding if he was just that tactless, or if he was discreetly trying to mess with her at times. "Well, okay, then," she said. "Thanks...I guess."

"Sure thing. Look, more flowers!"

"Ha! Right," Tetra uttered, folding her arms behind her head. "More. Only north, south, east and west of us. Which ones are you even talking about?"

She immediately slammed her hands to her mouth. It was too late.

Bleak took the invitation and darted ahead, beginning to hover around a dark-colored arrangement.

"These! They're black dahlias. Magically bred and reproduced by the Robust Horticulturists of Verdania. Ah! Someone's been mean...one of these black dahlias has been cut in half. Poor thing. Plants and flowers have feelings too, you know. Oh! Did you ever know that the national tree is a cherry blossom? They're very pretty. Like you. They grow all over the place. And the cherry tree—there's a difference, see, is grown in abundance on this side of the empire, all thanks to Coker Acres. Honestly, that place is like another city in itself! A city of trees, I mean. I once went over there with my friend Woodpecker and we…"

Tetra pulled at her eyelids, wishing she were in the ground. Patience. She had to have it.

...but it was talk, talk, and more talk.

At least now they were at the foot of the castle. Tetra was muttering to herself, cursing her situation and feeling quite wound up as they approached the doors.

"…on the second night of the murders. Did you say something, Ms. Tetra?"

"No, nothing, Mako."

She took the gilded handles but no matter how hard she pulled, the doors wouldn't budge an inch.

"What's a Mako?" Bleak asked, hovering up along the doors. "Is that a type of fish you saw while sailing? Oh—he's one of your friends."

"...uh, sorta. Wait...wait!" Tetra finally snapped to attention, looking up at him in amazement. "How did you know his name?"

"You just called me it."

"I did?"

"Yup."

"Oh," She blinked, then shook her head. "Well—don't call me Miss. That's the only reason I messed up."

Before she could try the doors again, Bleak hovered right in front of her face. "Your friends call you Miss?"

"Ugh, yes...they're sorta like friends but not, okay?"

"Does Link call you Miss?"

"Only when he knows I'm pissed at him!" Tetra yelled. "Just know that YOU'RE not allowed to do it! Now move, you're in the way!"

He drifted off to the side. She assaulted the door handles with no luck.

"...I called you that before and you didn't say anything," Bleak said coyly.

"I wasn't paying attention! Just stop. We're not cool like that."

His wings drooped. Tetra ignored him and turned away, officially out of patience. A bronze plaque posted on the castle wall caught her eye and she went over to read it.

"Look here, proud citizen of the Hearthian Kingdom!" Bleak exclaimed suddenly. Without looking at the plaque he fluttered up and about, reciting its words. "You are standing in the grounds of the Sacred Gardens, originally built in honor of Hearthstone's first king and officially recognized by the High Ruler as being one of the empire's greatest treasures…"

Seething, Tetra looked around for anything that could give her an escape from this torture. Nearby were a series of flag poles, which were close enough to the walls of the castle where the Tree's branches terminated.

Bleak was still talking, oblivious to all else. Tetra crept over to the nearest flag pole to start climbing it, only to flinch into hesitation. The Eyes of the Ancestors were still leering down towards the earth. She started ascending steadily, watching where she put her hands instead of the sky. The edge of the walls came closer and she made a successful leap, pulling herself atop them and easily slipping through the lattice dome.

A labyrinth laid before her. The castle battlements were arranged into an elaborate series of stone paths, ridges, and bridges, creating an expansive network for foot travel. Tetra was genuinely impressed with the idea.

"Amazing, right?" Bleak asked. He'd appeared out of nowhere. "As you can see, the Hearthian Castle had wonderful architects. There are roads leading from the edges of Hearthstone's streets that trail all the way up to the battlements and right to certain wings of the castle. It's empty now, but you'll usually see nobles in their carriages rolling along up here."

Tetra grumbled to herself, stomping a bit as she walked. "And what's special about that?"

"Nothing, really! Anyway, these roads can get a little funny, so I can lead you down the quickest way."

"Aren't you late for work or whatever?"

"I am! I can still show you to the street, though. If...you want."

She heard the downturn in his voice and held in a groan. "Alright...just, don't slow up, okay? Every time you start talking you do."

"I do?"

"YES. Blatantly."

"Oh. I didn't know. Sorry. It takes me a while to notice things."

"It's...fine. Really." Tetra said stiffly, glancing to the side. "I mean it's hardly any more annoying than..."

She trailed off in horror, then reversed quickly and peered over the edge of the road. Playing peek-a-boo with a pair of grinning skulls hadn't been on her bucket list, that's for sure.