You can understand why Briar is cursing out her mother; you're feeling the urge to swear yourself. It's just that with Briar's creativity, there isn't much you could say on the subject that hasn't already been said, and less that would register over the growing howl of the vortex overhead. Besides, you have more important things to save your breath for. Reaching across your body, you cup one hand behind Briar and gently reposition her from your currently unsafe shoulder to the more stable confines of your shirt pocket. Then you cast a cantrip that should allow for intelligible two-way communication, even in this noise.
"I have to say, Briar, your Mom isn't making a good first impression."
"It's called being an overbearing bitch!"
You sigh, and take a moment to hunker down against the pull of the wind as you recast the minor spell. "Am I right in guessing that she won't give up easily - or even at all - if I try to run us out of here?"
"Yeah, you are," Briar admits grimly. "Got a Plan B?"
"I thought I'd fly us down that thing's throat," you answer, casting the spell for the third time and indicating the vortex with a shift of your head. "Bit more dignified than just standing around waiting to be sucked up, and maybe it'll make a point to her."
"I wouldn't bet on that, but what the hell. Give it a shot."
Rather than recast the cantrip, you cast a spell of flight. As this is your first real attempt at getting aerial, you take a moment to test your "wings" - which do not manifest as such, but rather as a reddish glow about your feet and a colorless, translucent membrane of force all about your body - directing the force of the spell against the pull of the vortex just hard enough to hold your position. You succeed, and also learn that while you could stay where you are for some time yet, escape via flight was not very likely; you'd have been moving out at a walk, a jog at best, giving Navi plenty of time to take measures to catch you. As it happens...
"Planning to run away, are we?" the Great Fairy notes. "Not a bad response to danger, although you have to realize, it's not going to work."
"I have to do no such thing," you retort, not really caring whether or not she hears you, "and that's not my plan anyway."
You reverse the thrust of your magic, and fly straight at the heart of the portal - not quite able to repress the urge, born of a short decade's worth of comics and movies, to assume a "Superman" flight pose, fists extended before you. Your flight is far from graceful, but that's fine; between its size and its vaccuum-like pull, there's no way you can miss the gate.
Gained Flight (Magical) F
"Eh?" Navi squawks. "What are you-"
"I may not be able to stop you from playing whatever games you have in mind, lady," you say, sparing a moment to regret the missed opportunity to analyze this high-level display of Summoning Magic. "But like hell I'll just let you jerk me and your daughter around like puppets for your own amusement. If we're doing this, it'll be on our terms, not yours!"
Gained Cool D
A split-second before you cross the event horizon, you feel the back of your hand warm, and see it glow faintly.
Then you're inside the gate - through it - and after a moment of severe disorientation, somewhere else entirely. Somewhere much quieter and calmer than the wind-torn dusty field you just left behind. The dissonance just adds to your confusion, and you spend a moment struggling with your flight spell, not wanting to crash into any of the scenery.
And there's quite a lot of scenery to choose from. Tall trees bearing innumerable broad leaves, low-lying grassy hills, sparkling pools as clear as glass, sharp rock faces - and scattered through them, strange creatures that you've not seen in this lifetime, some of which you don't even recognize from Ganondorf's memories. That cloaked and hooded figure with the lantern and no legs drifting slowly across the clearing below is pretty obviously a Poe, but the looming, steel-masked figure standing still as a statue not too far from it is completely alien. Points of witchfire flicker amidst the underbrush, hinting at more of the wandering spirits, and you can see at least one more of the unmoving masked creatures. In addition, there are a number of animal shapes scattered about: crow-like birds perched in the trees; a few deer that seem to be grazing; and there, something that might be a fox. While these are familiar, you cannot consider them normal: their hides are either pitch black, stark white, or some blend of the two, adorned with complex pictogram-like markings in red, black, and white; and their more dangerous extremities glitter like sharpened metal. Not too far off in the distance, you can see three small domed structures, all apparently equidistant from your current position - which, as it happens, is at the center of a pale pillar of golden light, originating from a runic circle carved into the turf about fifteen feet below you.
One other thing you notice about this place is that everything in it seems to glow very faintly green. Not enough to override the other colors, just enough to let its presence be known.
"Briar," Navi says then, her voice still coming from empty space. "Does your friend always go charging into unknown situations like that?"
"Does it matter?" Briar snaps back. "If I say no, you won't send us back, and if I say yes, you'll probably boot Alex out and say he failed, so why the hell should I say anything?"
"Because, contrary to some rumors, I am neither telepathic nor postcognitive," Navi answers, "and I would appreciate an answer, young sprite."
"Yeah, and I would have appreciated not taking an unplanned trip to another dimension. Looks like we're both going to be disappointed."
"Really, now, is this any way to talk to your mother?"
"When she's just kidnapped my friend and partner? This is me being POLITE!"
Hoo, boy.
Yeah, it's probably better that you not get involved in this little family argument just yet. Instead, you take advantage of your elevated vantage point to conduct a more detailed examination of the odd world around you.
You're pretty sure this isn't Faerie. Briar never mentioned that her home plane glowed like this, or that it housed such odd-looking animals, but she did explain that undead such as the Poes - or vampires - generally aren't tolerated there, except in some of the nastier locales. This place doesn't qualify as "nasty" by human standards, never mind fey ones. A bit on the spooky side, yes, what with the luminosity and the ghosts and how unearthly quiet everything is, but not that bad otherwise.
From where you're standing - or rather, floating - it's about a quarter-mile to any of the three domes. The one in the middle is basically directly ahead of you, over a hill and through the woods and across a shallow stream; for lack of a more prominent geographical feature or a sun to use as a reference point, you decide to call that direction "north." In which case, the other two domes lie roughly to your northeast and northwest. Craning your neck around so as not to disturb Briar, you spot a fairly large pond to your southeast, and a half-ring of standing stones more or less directly south. Aside from that, it's mostly trees. As you noted, it's eerily quiet, and when you take a surreptitious sniff of the air, you smell what is best summed up as "forest in summer."
Having learned all you think your mundane senses can tell you at this range, you start opening up your esoteric senses to get the mystical measure of this place. You immediately get a shock as you realize that your reserves of mana and ki have both been topped off - you're strongly tempted to cast a spell to investigate how that happened, but you restrain yourself for the moment. You're in no hurry, so it's better to start small, with the special senses that you don't have to expend so much time and energy to use, and see what they can tell you before you commit to a more involved working of magic.
As it happens, Mage Sense returns a strong impression of Earth, weaker Fire, Wind, and Water, and only faint hints of Lightning and Thunder; Ice is entirely absent. Almost as powerful as the elemental presence of Earth are those of Abjuration, Augmentation, and Conjuration, the latter of which hints that this isn't a naturally-occuring location. Necromancy is also present, which comes as no surprise, given the Poes. The energy involved is powerful but not overwhelming, so you feel it safe to move on to Mage Sight - but when you do, you are somewhat disappointed to discover that the power that went into creating this place was wielded at such a high level of skill that you can't make sense of it. Similarly, while there are active spells in play - particularly around those looming masked figures, something to do with Abjuration and Divination - the weave of the mana is too fine and complex for you to follow.
Gained Mage Sight C
Foiled on the magical front, you switch over to ki, but only for a moment. The feelings you get back from your Ki Sense are just plain creepy, implying that nothing here except for you and the fairies is alive - but with the exception of the Poes, neither are they undead. Rather, they're all dead. Spirits. You take a quick look around with your Ki Sight, and confirm that none of the local creatures that you can see has a life-force to be read. Instead, you give your Spiritual Sense a go. That works slightly better, though your lesser skill with the technique means all you can pick up is a blur of spectral energy. When you bring up the visual counterpart of the skill, it's a bit clearer, enough to tell you that while the Poes and the smaller animals are nothing to worry about, some of the larger animals might be dangerous - and you absolutely do NOT want to mess with one of those sleeping sentinels.
Gained Spiritual Sight E (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Finally, you check for demonic corruption. The presence of the floating undead gave you some concerns, but you're not terribly surprised when Navi's little false world proves to be completely clean of infernal influence.
Gained Corruption Sense E (Plus)
Having learned all you feel your passive senses can tell you, you move on to a Spell of Divination. Investigating the world can wait a bit longer; you want to know what gave you the free recharge!
"-hardly think I deserve a YAAAH!" You flinch and almost lose the spell in shock at the sudden startled shriek from Navi.
"What?! Mom?!"
"Young man!" Navi continues, glaring at you with a mix of annoyance and embarrassment - and you realize with renewed amazement that you can SEE her. The Great Fairy looks quite a bit like a twenty-something version of her daughter - or maybe it's the other way around - though she has golden hair and emerald eyes to Briar's strawberry-blonde and blue-green. Navi wears a sleeveless white gown of an elegantly simplistic style, trimmed in bright green and belted with thin gold wire, rather more elaborate than the handful of outfits you've seen Briar wear. Her wings are somewhat smaller in proportion to the rest of her body than her daughter's are, and her aura is pale blue - very restrained, as it happens. "Do. You. Mind?"
Oh. OH. Oh, good grief.
Blushing, you hastily cancel the spell. "Sorry, ma'am. Um... I was trying to find out... I mean, I just noticed that my magic was restored, and I was curious-"
"Alex," Briar cuts in. "Did you just SCAN my MOM?"
"It wasn't intentional!" you reply quickly, still a bit warm-faced. Not only did you just cast one of the most powerful Divination spells at your command on a close relative of a friend - which is both a major invasion of privacy AND about as rude a way of telling someone that you don't trust them as can be imagined - but you got caught at it. "I was just trying to find out who or what had topped off my reserves. The spell pointed at you, ma'am." You pause, and you awkwardly add, "Thank you for that, by the way."
"...you're welcome, then."
Briar sighs. "For future reference, Alex? I don't care if you go around analyzing complete strangers down to their blood type, favorite color, and most recent meal - unless one of them catches you at it, like Beryl did - but NO scanning my family without permission. 'Kay?"
"Okay, okay. Like I said, it was an accident. And I think it was a fairly reasonable one. I mean, look at this place!" You gesture at the otherworldly forest. "It's completely unknown territory that just so happens to be on another plane, and it's full of spirits, most of which I don't recognize and some of which seem pretty strong on closer inspection. Add to that something messing with my mana, which is arguably my strongest defense - can you really blame me for wanting some answers?"
"I'd be a hypocrite if I did," Briar admits, before turning to the sensor. "Well, Mom?"
"Fine, fine. From the top, then." You hear her clearing her throat. "You are standing in a recreation of a place known as 'the Silent Realm,' a testing ground from Hyrule's ancient past. I don't know all that much about it, myself - it disappeared long before I was born - but I heard from some of the elder matrons that it was used to test the worth of a hero in those days. Since I needed a proving ground for you, Alexander, and calling up a few bored spirits looking for something to do to pass eternity is a lot easier than wrangling the living, I went with this."
"...you made all this, in the time we crossed over from Earth?" you ask, stunned. This pocket dimension looks like it's several miles across! And she just... whistled it up?
"It's less impressive than you might think," Navi answers. "I fiddled with Time a bit in the portal. The trip only took you a moment, but gave me a few days to set all this up. Oh, and before you start worrying, Time is moving faster in here than it is back on Earth. Pass or fail, I'll put you back where I found you, no more than a couple of minutes after you left."
That's a small relief, at least - though the fact that Navi can play with Time on that scale is intimidating in its own right.
"Heroic trials, huh?" Briar says. "So, what, Alex is supposed to retrieve a treasure, slay a monster, or do something else recklessly brave?"
"Those are all options," Navi says. "I've hidden three items in this place that, when assembled, will end the trial. I've also recruited a spirit of some potency that, if defeated, will hand over another item that can be used to end the trial all on its own. And there is an exit portal that, if you can find and go through it - well, you get the idea. Which route you take is entirely up to you. Before you get started, though, some ground rules."
"The trial only begins when you leave this circle. Any skills or equipment you currently have or can find here are free game, but you should be advised that some magic may work differently than you're used to. Furthermore, if one of those Poes catches you in the light of its lantern, it will raise an alarm that wakes up the Guardians - those masked figures - who will chase you relentlessly until they catch you or you find and use one of these." An image of a glowing red stone appears in the air before you. "Call it a Spirit Stone. Break one and it will cancel the alarm and reset all of the Guardians. You can also end the alarm by defeating a Guardian, but that's much easier said than done. Guardians can also be challenged when they're not hunting you; if you defeat one, it'll be removed from the trial entirely. Oh, yes, and don't touch the water or do anything else that makes too much noise. That will also trigger the alarm."
"Do you have any questions, Alexander?"
"Are there any other rules?" you ask. "Any... little technicalities? Like, is there a time limit for the test? Or, or to how long I can stay in this circle? And is there a special procedure for challenging the Guardians?"
"Actually, there is a time limit. I had to make some sacrifices when I made this place in order to get the size right, so it'll only last for a day or so. Probably should have mentioned that," Navi muses. "Anyway, you're free to stay in the circle as long as you want, although if you're thinking of using magic to check the place out, well, first, points for thinking ahead, and second, any spell that crosses the circle will count as you choosing to start the trial." You hear a faint rustle and a whispery chime, as of clothes and fairy wings being briefly lifted by a shrug. "Sorry, but I have to make it an actual challenge, or it doesn't really count."
...you're not sure how to feel about that, honestly.
"As for the Guardians," Navi continues, "just walking up to one and saying 'I challenge you' or something to that effect is fine. Attacking them also counts, and some other spells might wake them up - I'm not going to tell you which ones, of course."
"Of course."
"Oh, and if you're worried about the noise of combat raising the alarm, don't - at least not in the challenges. They're one-on-one, and the other spirits won't interfere. Same goes for the local boss, if you decide to fight it."
That's something, at least. The idea of trying to fight some huge spirit - your mind conjures up an image of a super-sized Poe wielding an outsized, jagged scythe - while being pursued by the Guardians was not a pleasant one to contemplate.
"If that's everything," Navi says then, "you're free to start. Good luck!"
Your sense of her presence fades - or maybe diffuses is a better term. You are quite certain that Navi is still watching you, she's just not using that scrying spell to do so. Most likely this pocket plane of hers is set up to provide a constant flow of information.
"So, Alex," Briar says then.
"First thing's first," you reply to Briar. "I need to know what effect this place has on my abilities. Sit tight, Briar, this may take a while."
"Gotcha. Try not to break the circle though, okay?"
You glance at the nearest Guardian. "Believe me, that concern is foremost on my mind."
It takes you half an hour to run through basic cantrips from all your schools of magic, minor effects that you take every effort to keep confied to the circle. You're soon able to confirm what your previous scans suggested; aside from Earth Elementalism, all of the elemental magics are impeded by this place to some extent. Fire, Water, and Wind are only slightly weakened, Lightning and Thunder more so, while Ice is significantly penalized - given how your skill in that school is less than impressive to start with, it's only slightly better than useless to you here. More general elemental effects such as Force don't appear hindered. You didn't notice it earlier, but Navi's "Silent Realm" also seems to impede Summoning magic, possibly as a measure to keep you from punching a hole in its outer boundary and just going straight home. The rest of your magical skills don't seem to be affected.
That settled, you take another fifteen minutes to test what few spiritual skills you've managed to develop, followed by a rigorous review of your ki abilities. Everything seems to be in order here, although you have to admit, that isn't saying much on the spiritual front.
Gained Spiritual Control E (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Spiritual Sense E (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
"Okay," you say at last. "I think I've got that part down."
"What's next?"
"Defensive and support spells, I think."
You're interested in effects that give solid, long-term protection for limited expense. Mage Armor is a no-brainer, and you could also stand to enchant your clothes, giving the fabric a defensive value closer to leather - it'll be a bit expensive, given that the Spell of Magic Vestments is meant to be cast with divine aid, but it'd be another layer of protection between you and the nasty things lurking here. You consider the Spell of Stoneskin, which would make your flesh more or less impervious to physical harm, but sadly, you're fresh out of diamond dust, and a workaround is beyond your current skills. The Spell of Protection From Arrows doesn't seem necessary in this situation, when none of your prospective opponents have shown signs of using bows, guns, or other relatively mundane projectiles - and if the Poes or Guardians break out laser eyes or spectral flames, the spell wouldn't help you anyway. Since your previous flight spell has long since given out and you may be here for a while, you decide that casting a Spell of Overland Flight would be good. You won't be able to move as fast, but it'll last for your entire stay here, and it will help to shore up your currently-abysmal skills in the air. Finally, you debate the merits of a Spell of Darkvision.
Briar gives you an odd look. "Is there something wrong with your eyes, Alex?"
"Huh? No, why do you ask?"
"It seems kind of weird that you'd go for a spell that lets you see in the dark when you're in a world where literally everything is glowing, that's all."
You consider that, and look around again. Yeah, even in the places under the trees where the shadows are deepest, it's a long way from the kind of absolute darkness darkvision is meant to aid with. "Alright, how about a Spell of Low-Light vision instead?"
"That sounds a bit more useful," the fairy agrees.
Aside from that, you feel a need to arm yourself. You still have that short club of volcanic rock you picked up in Hawaii tucked into a dimensional pocket, but as you pull it out now and compare it to some of your opposition - namely, the nearest looming Guardian, who is standing with its hands folded across the butt of a jagged club-mace-sword-axe thing longer than you are tall - you really don't feel reassured. For that matter, even some of the animals look like they'd have reach and sheer durability over your makeshift weapon. You need something more than a lump of rock, and you feel that a sword would be your best bet. Unfortunately, your conjuration and transmutation skills don't seem remotely up to the task, not unless you want to keep re-casting the spell every ten minutes or so. Maybe you could try to summon something...?
Leaving that for the moment, you get down to casting your other spells. Since you've got plenty of time, you decide to take the ritual approach, in order to save as much of your mana as possible. You also figure that you might as well ham it up a little, and let THE POWER OF THE GREAT BOAR SPIRIT move through you once more.
"Let me be cloaked in unseen armor, as though by the skin of the mighty boar! Let it hinder me not, even as it turns aside the claws and blades of my foes!"
Briar facepalms.
"Let shadows deceive not my eyes! Where the boar stalks the underbrush, I too, shall venture without fear!"
Briar groans.
"Grant unto my garments the toughness of the boar's hide! Humble cloth, be as a coat of spiny bristles, warding me from harm!"
Briar gawps at you.
Figuring out how to word a spell of flight to invoke a land-bound creature is a challenge, but, "Permit me to traverse the land with the speed of the boar's fearless charge! Let no barrier slow me, nor uneven terrain!" seems to work.
It also makes Briar bang her head against your magically-shielded shoulder. "Enough with the boar, already!" she cries out.
"Indeed," you reply, still caught up in the moment. "For THE GREAT BOAR SPIRIT is not a patient creature, and we have tarried- ow, Briar, that's my ear! Ow, ow, ow! Okay, okay, I'm done! Really!"
Gained Wind Elementalism E (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Words of Power D
You pause to check your reserves. You're currently at more than 87% for mana, and 95% for ki. Overland Flight and Magic Vestment are not cheap, even with rituals to draw on ambient mana to cut down the cost. Ah, well, it's better than if you'd cast everything directly, and it only took you about fifteen minutes, all told.
Now, the weapon question. Your current club just isn't going to cut it, and you've already decided that trying to transmute the glass-like obsidian into a sword or conjuring a replacement from the ether isn't likely to be helpful. Even with a ritual casting, you have your doubts that you could create something that would endure for more than an hour, or have the qualities you're looking for - chief among them, the ability to not get blown to pieces if you have to parry a Guardian's weapons. That leaves trying to summon something.
Thinking on it, you would feel more comfortable if you were armed with something a bit more advanced than a rock.
"Briar, would you object if I took a few minutes to summon myself a sword?"
"...that depends on two things," the fairy replies. "First of all, are you sure you can use a sword without hurting yourself?"
"I'm sure that I have a better chance of not hurting myself while fighting with a sword than I do with most other weapons," you reply carefully. "And ki skills and magic enhancement aside, I'm also sure that I'd rather not try to block an attack from one of those Guardians using my bare hands."
Briar looks at the nearest Guardian, and its oversized weapon. "...I can see how that might be an issue," she admits. "But why not just avoid them, then?"
"Because even with magic, I'm not that good at sneaking around yet, and the way my luck runs, I'll probably end up having to fight at least one of those things no matter what I do in this place."
"Fair point. Alright, that leaves my second concern." Briar flies down and looks you in the eye. "Are you going to start acting like a lunatic again?"
"Maybe a little?" you offer.
Briar scowls.
"Look, we both know my Conjuration and Transformation skills aren't up to making weapons, and this place screws with Summoning magic. Not hugely, but enough that I'd feel safer getting all the extra boosts I can. That means a ritual, and preferably, one with feeling."
The fairy pinches the bridge of her nose, and sighs. "Gah. Fine. Be all logical and... stuff."
Having secured Briar's... reluctant agreement... you take a moment to consider how to word this ritual. You're having a bit of trouble thinking of a way to associate "sword" with "boar," and to be honest, you're considering leaving out THE GREAT BOAR SPIRIT entirely this time, as much for that reason as for a peace offering to Briar. Invoking Din's assistance is an option, and one that would doubtlessly go over better with Briar. You're unsure how her mother will take it, though - or how she's already taken your invocation of THE GREAT BOAR SPIRIT, come to think of it. You're drawing a bit of a blank when it comes to other figures that you might call on to lend you a blade. You can think of a dozen movie, TV, and video game characters that use swords, but you have serious doubts as to how effective calling on one of them would be, and your knowledge of actual legendary swordsmen is kind of slim. Mostly it begins and ends with the Knights of the Round Table, and you can't imagine that you qualify to wield Excalibur. That pretty much leaves just sending out a general call for a sword, and hoping you get lucky.
You're definitely tempted to call on Din. You have her favor, and she's already backed you up once when you were up against a foe out of your league and needed help. That said, you're hesitant. Relying on Power alone is the way that Ganondorf did things, and - quite aside from not wanting to walk in his footsteps too closely, lest your thoughts and deeds come to mirror his - you've seen how that approach worked out: a ruined country; monstrous slaves instead of friends and allies; the Hero's uprising; shattered armies; holy sword in the brain (or the heart); and then either death or a long time-out in the Sacred Realm. Over and over again, down three separate paths in the currents of Time, the cycle repeated itself.
If there's any lesson to be taken away from this, it's that Power alone is not enough, just as Wisdom alone was never enough to protect Hyrule - just as Courage alone was not enough to save Navi's partner. By the same token, Wisdom and Courage together could overcome Power, and when Power, Wisdom, and Courage were united, well - then you got miracles.
So if you're going to do this, you might as well go for a miracle. Just a little one.
With that in mind, you kneel at the center of the circle, call up your elemental magic, and begin.
"I have sought Power," you intone formally, releasing a jet of tightly-contained Fire that burns an equilateral triangle into the ground before you. Its topmost point just touches the inner edge of the circle. "To defend my self, my family, my friends, and my world from the evil that surrounds them, I have worked to build my might." With a thought, you bring the flames low, and use Earth to compress the ash and blackened husks of the remaining grass into a single line that marks the border of the triangle. "My presence commands respect among my peers and my elders. My fists have faced the strongest among this world's future warriors, and seized victory. My magic has triumphed over those that sought my life and the lives of my friends." With pure magic, you create a blazing ruby emblem at the heart of the triangle. "By my efforts and Din's blessing, I have become Powerful."
You can sense Briar wordlessly flying to the edge of the circle, giving you as much room as she can without triggering the trial.
"I have sought Wisdom," you continue, using Water to flood another triangular section of grass, below and to the left of the first. In a flash, the liquid freezes solid. "To defend my self, my family, my friends, and my world, I have both studied and experienced much." Most of the ice melts away, taking the grass trapped within along with it; what remains neatly delinates the outer edges of the triangle, and covers a spot at its center. "I have learned to recognize common creatures that would do me harm, and how to evade or combat them. I have sought and received tutelage in numerous subjects from those more experienced than myself. I have made contact with those that might be my allies, and tried to earn their trust with truth and mutual aid." Within the small shard of ice, a second glyph takes form, shining with azure light. "By my efforts and Nayru's blessing, I have become Wise."
There is a noise from Briar that makes you think she really, really wants to say something, and is biting her tongue so as not to ruin the ritual.
Gained Water Elementalism F (Plus)
"I have sought Courage," you say next, calling on Life to enrich the grass within a third triangle, directly to the right of the second. It rapidly fills with verdant overgrowth. "To defend my self, my family, my friends, and my world, I have dared to face the darkness." Calling on Wind, you fashion invisible blades and trim the edges of the patch of grass, marking the border of the final triangle. "I have faced the kin of giants and the spawn of demons, and I have slain agents of evil. I have reached out to others, daring ridicule and rejection, to warn them of the perils around them. I have helped to save lives that would otherwise have been lost." In the middle of the final triangle, an impossible flower blooms in the form of a third sign, its emerald hue not too different from the ambient glow of Navi's Silent Realm. "By my efforts and Farore's blessing, I have become Courageous."
You're... not entirely sure where all this is coming from. It doesn't feel like Ganondorf, and yet, there is something familiar about the... prayer?... something that makes you think it, or a practice not too dissimilar to it, exists or existed in Hyrule.
Gained Hyrulean Theology E
"Today, I face a trial to prove my Power, Wisdom, and Courage, and I find myself in need of a weapon. And so I ask you, O Golden Goddesses, to guide me as I call for a weapon suited to my self and my needs. Let it be a blade of power, to cleave evil asunder without fail. Let it be a blade of wisdom, to rightly judge what must be slain, and what can be spared. Let it be a blade of courage, to never waver in the tasks set before it. Let it be a blade that reflects the hand, the will, and the heart that wield it. Let it be a blade worthy of a hero, and let me be worthy of it."
And you cast the spell, concluding by holding forth your right hand over the representation of the Triforce of Power, as if to grasp the hilt of a blade.
The Triforce symbol on the back of your hand suddenly BLAZES with golden light, an instant before the three divine sigils below you turn similarly incandescent, red, blue, and green blending together into dazzling gold. Squeezing your eyes firmly shut and ducking your head, you pull your arm back to shield your face against the glare-
-and smack yourself in the head with something hard. Fortunately there isn't too much force involved, so you merely have a bruise rather than a cracked skull. eyes still shut, you reach up with your other hand and gingerly explore the item you're now grasping with your right hand. It definitely feels like a sword, and it even seems to have been delivered in a sheath.
How about that? It actually worked.
Gained Din's Favor E (Plus)
Gained Farore's Favor F
Gained Nayru's Favor F
Gained Summoning C (Plus)
The golden radiance cuts out a moment later, but as it does so, you hear a single musical note, like a great bell being rung or a gong being struck - exactly once. When you crack one eye open to take a look, you find that the circular "safe zone" has vanished. Evidently it couldn't stand up to the power you called on - or maybe you accidentally swung your shiny new weapon through it when you were staggering around blind.
Either way, the trial appears to have started.
Blinking hard to get rid of the spots and tears messing up your vision after that divine flash, you look around for your partner.
"Briar? Wher-" You break off as a familiar weight lands hard on your shoulder.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" Briar says. "I wasn't expecting them to answer like that, I panicked-"
"Talk later, Briar!" you interrupt. "Right now, just stay quiet, hold on tight, and watch my back!"
And with that, you head for the nearest cluster of trees that doesn't have a looming Guardian, a patrolling Poe, or one of those weird animals nearby. You do your best to move at speed without sacrificing too much stealth, knowing that there's no point in trying to hide amidst the short grass, but also little benefit to be gained from running all out and leaving a trail of bent blades, indented turf, and snapped twigs. Not to mention that if you're going too fast, you might not be able to stop in time if you cross paths with something dangerous.
The trees grow rapidly closer, but as you move, you can't help but notice that your shadow is starting to stretch out in front of you - meaning a light source of some kind is moving up behind you. You can hear a faint jangling, as of bells - or perhaps chains, such as bind the restless dead in so many tales.
"Alex," Briar says tightly, "Poe on our six, coming up fast."
...not good. On the plus side, the continued immobility of the Guardians - you glance at the nearest specimen to confirm that it hasn't moved - implies that your spectral pursuer hasn't seen you and sounded the alarm. Yet.
Between one stride and the next, it occurs to you to wonder why you are still mucking about on the ground when you have a spell of flight active - one that will not only get you airborne, but provide some much-needed guidance. Thinking on it, you decide it must be that you're simply not used to having the ability to fly as an option, whereas your feet have always been there for you when you needed them.
Well, no offense to your trusty lower limbs, but in this particular instance, you feel that something more than running away is called for.
And so, on your next step, your right foot leaves the ground and doesn't come back down. It's followed a moment later, and rather awkwardly, by your left foot, and thereafter you're simply soaring along on the wings of magic. Rather than take to the skies where every monster and its cousin that looks up could see you, you decide to keep within a few inches of the ground, skimming just above the tallest grass and flowers. It'll also help if something goes wrong and you end up taking a spill - less distance to fall equals somewhat less damage. You hope, anyway.
Gained Flight (Magical) F (Plus)
"How are we doing, Briar?" you call back.
"Spooky's starting to fall behind," she replies. And sure enough, the bell-like jangle of the Poe's chains or lantern adornments has already grown too faint for you to hear; more tellingly, your shadow is shrinking and starting to fall more directly beneath you.
A few seconds later, you reach the treeline. You have to slow down a bit to avoid any collisions or branch-related whippings, but it doesn't matter; the Poe that was after you appears to have lost interest and gone back to its routine patrol. They're like that, you recall: short attention span; limited awareness of their surroundings; and heads more full of ectoplasm and mischief than any real brain.
Gained Stealth D
Pursuit averted for the time being, you stop in mid-air and check your surroundings. You've flown about fifteen feet into a pocket of trees that is, at a quick estimate, roughly forty feet wide and sixty feet thick - and thirty feet tall, just to be thorough. You came in through one of the "long" sides, so you've got another twenty-five feet or so ahead of you before you're back out in the open. Visibility is slightly reduced in here, more because of the visual obstacle imposed by the trees than a lack of light - that ghostly green glow is everywhere - but as far as you can see, you and Briar are the only non-vegetable entities here.
It occurs to you that this would be a good time to check your sword. On the other hand, Briar was trying to apologize for something back there. And don't you have a map to make of this pocket realm?
Which will you do FIRST?
While you do want to examine your shiny new sword at some point, you're a bit more immediately concerned with Briar, and why she felt the need to apologize to you before you made a break from your no-longer-safe starting area. You take a moment to look around, and - seeing no Poes or animals - decide that it's safe to take a minute to talk.
Gained Protective D (Plus) (Plus)
"Alright then, Briar," you say. "It's later. What were you saying?"
She sighs. "I kind of flew through Mom's little circle of protection when the Goddesses answered your prayer the way they did. I didn't mean to, but there was so much power there, so suddenly, I just... I had to get away."
For a time, you say nothing, staring at the once-more unblemished back of your right hand.
"Deities are scary, aren't they?" you finally muse aloud. "Even the ones that like us. Maybe even especially the ones that like us."
"...yeah. They can be."
"I think that's part of why they have all the rules about being hands-off and acting in 'mysterious ways' and through lesser agents and such," you continue. "They may be omnipotent and omniscient and whatever the word for 'all-courageous' is, or close enough to appear that way from our point of view - but us? We're none of those things. We're mortal. Limited. And we can only take so much exposure to unlimited Power, Wisdom, or Courage before we start freaking out. Or worse."
"Yeah, well, you didn't freak out when they went all exploding golden aura on you."
"You must have missed the part where I was struck blind and flailed around wildly enough to hit myself in the head with my shiny new implement of stabbiness," you retort dryly, holding up the still-sheathed sword for emphasis.
"Alright, I did miss that." You hear her murmur, "Hopefully Mom recorded it on whatever spell or item she's using to observe us..."
"What was that?"
"I said, fortunately it was just your head, and nothing critical."
"You are such a liar! What will your mother say about you fibbing to your partner?"
Briar shrugs. "'You're much too obvious, dear. If you're going to tell someone a lie, don't let them know.'"
...okay, for a second there, she sounded exactly like a tiny version of her mother. Creepy. Still, at least Briar sounds like she's feeling better.
Gained King of Women D (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
"Alright, strange fairy parenting techniques aside... any advice on where we should go from here?"
"Hmmm. Well-"
Somewhere down the "length" of the glade, something amidst the trees goes *snap.* Briar immediately stops talking and spins about to face the direction from which the sound came, and at the same time, your head turns sharply in the same direction.
Moving quickly, you extend one hand beneath Briar, palm-up, and then - turning your eyes to the canopy - will your flight spell to carry you almost straight up. You don't move all that fast, really, but you didn't have that great a distance to go, either, and you have to concentrate on the spell so that you don't end up banging your head on a particularly sturdy branch or making a huge racket by blowing right through the eaves. Spotting a fair-sized opening amidst the leaves and twigs, you slip yourself inside the green-tinted shadow and then come to a complete stop, standing on twenty feet of empty air. Balanced as neatly on your upturned hand as you are on empty space, Briar dims her aura as far as she can, to the point where even your eyes almost lose the faint red in the background luminescence.
Gained Flight (Magical) F (Plus) (Plus)
The whole procedure takes about three seconds, and in that time, the only sounds you make are a brief, fairy-sized gasp of surprise, the muted rush of air moving over and past your ascending form, and a certain rustling in the greenery. After you've settled in, there is only silence - and as above, so below. Nothing is moving on the ground that you can see, but you don't allow yourself to relax. Something had to make that sound.
Half a minute goes by, then a full minute. As the second minute mark marches steadily closer, you begin to wonder if the source of the noise has moved on, or if it is, like yourself, hiding somewhere nearby.
Figuring there's a better-than-average chance that you're being stalked, you opt to stay put and keep quiet. Furthermore, you start suppressing your presence, reining in your ki and spiritual energy, and dampening your magical signature as much as you can without compromising your flight spell.
Gained Ki Concealment E (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Mana Concealment E (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Mana Control D (Plus)
Gained Spiritual Concealment E (Plus)
Once you have your power in check, you try scanning the area with your passive senses. You don't learn much that you didn't already know: the Silent Realm is magically and spiritually potent, but lacking in ki. Even the tree that you're hiding in isn't actually alive, though it's not a magical construct, either; it has the correct spiritual signature for a relatively young tree, so it's kind of like the ghost of a tree, only more solid. If that makes sense.
Gained Mage Sense D (Plus) (Plus)
Gained Spiritual Sight D
Another two minutes of silence and stillness go by, and you're just about ready to give up and move on when you finally notice movement below you. As you watch, a mostly-black shape that resembles a rabbit creeps out from the underbrush, nose and whiskers twitching. Slowly, cautiously, almost nervously, the spirit-beast advances, looking around the glade at least once for every small hop-step. If not for the entity's glowing red eyes and steely-glinting incisors, you'd be tempted to call it "cute"; even the white, quasi-runic patterns in its fur are more uniquely flavorful than eldritch.
From the way its furry little head cranes around, ears twitching this way and that, the spirit-bunny doesn't appear to know where you are, though its behavior suggests that it suspects you're still in the area - unless it really IS a rabbit, and is just keeping a lookout for predators. Speaking of predators...
Moving slowly so as to make as little noise as possible, you draw your shiny new sword from its scabbard and give it an inspection. The weapon resembles a Western hand-and-a-half or "bastard" sword, although its size is proportionate to your own, making it rather smaller and lighter than a typical example of such a blade - maybe three-quarters the length and half the weight. There are no elaborate traceries along the blade or ornamentations on the hilt, but the latter is made of a shiny yellow metal that visually resembles gold, but which you suspect is far too light - and hard - to be such. The double-edged blade is white-tinted steel that looks very sharp, the arms of the crosspiece are short and level, and there is a clear, colorless stone about the size of your thumbnail set into either side of the guard, just below the blade.
All in all, it seems like a well-made weapon, remarkable only for being child-sized. A closer inspection via Mage Sight reveals a minor enhancement for improved sharpness and accuracy - nothing special, just the sort of augmentation found in any generic "magic sword." It is absolutely clean of corruption - no surprise there - and while it possesses no ki of its own, the weapon seems to be absorbing some of the trace amounts of ki that are still slipping past your effort at suppression. You don't feel any sort of malignancy in the process; from a certain perspective, the sword is helping you by further concealing your presence. A quick shift back to Mage Sight proves that it's doing something similar here, and when you switch over to Spiritual Sight, you see an equivalent phenomenon at work. The sword also radiates a faint sense of Goodness, one that's barely apparent to your senses, and probably nowhere near strong enough to harm a vampire or other demon.
Gained Blessed Sword
Below you, the spirit-rabbit has just gone rigidly still, its eyes wide.
When you realize that the rabbit has done a "freeze," you do the same, wondering frantically if it's detected you. Could it have heard you drawing your sword, despite your caution? Is it close enough to smell you? Is it sensitive enough to pick up your summoned blade's faint energy-absorbing power at work? That last thought tempts you to put the weapon away, but really, if you have been found out, you'd feel much better having the sword out and in hand. And if you haven't been detected, then why risk the noise sheathing the blade would make?
You remain still amidst the branches, waiting.
After a long moment, the bunny twitches its nose, flicks its ears, blinks its dark red eyes, and finally hops away. You watch it go until it's vanished behind some of the trees, and then wait a little longer for it to put some more distance between the two of you. Only then do you let the gravity of this place draw you down from your arboreal hiding place.
"Alex?" Briar murmurs.
"Shhh," you respond. Using your sword, you indicate the patch of open sky above this little clearing, and begin to fly in that direction. Briar follows quickly, and the two of you slip through the gap in the branches and above the canopy with only a faint rustle of greenery. Here you stop once again, standing on empty air, and take a long look around. Your current vantage point doesn't really show you anything you didn't already see when you scoped the Silent Realm out while Briar and Navi were having their little family quarrel, but that's fine; you weren't planning to rely on your eyes alone.
Putting your sword away, you call up your magic and weave a high-end spell of Divination. Ideally, you'd form a link with the land and "ask" it to reveal its shape, the location of important structures, and the positions of its roaming denizens, creating a mental map that updated in real time. Unfortunately, such a creation would require a level of familiarity with the Silent Realm that you simply don't have, and can't expect to acquire in the single day that you have to finish this quest. What you can do is to send out scouts.
A dozen translucent spheres pop into existence around you, hovering at the level of your head in a loose ring just a few feet across. Each of the tiny objects is a mere inch thick, colorless, and non-reflective; you can see them well enough at this close range, but you know that they'll be very difficult to see from any kind of real distance.
How do you wish to deploy your Prying Eyes?
While it would take less than an hour for your Prying Eyes to gather enough information to assemble a fair map of the Silent Realm, you decide that doubling up the time in exchange for a more detailed map - hopefully one that shows you where all the silent Guardians, lantern-bearing Poes, and major concentrations of other creatures are to be found - is a good bargain.
You issue your commands to your spell-crafted probes accordingly: "Move outwards, following a zig-zag path to your range limit, then return along an inverted path. Avoid the light of the Poes' lanterns."
The crystalline Eyes flicker at you as they process the order. Under different circumstances, you'd have serious doubts about trusting a spell-construct to follow such simplistic orders. Fortunately, Prying Eyes are created with partial copies of the caster's own knowledge - enough so that they understand what you mean by "zig-zag path" or "inverted path," or what Poes and lanterns are.
As one, the Eyes flash clear and then fly off in a neatly synchronized pattern. You're able to observe a few of them moving just as you directly, heading "left" and "outward" from their starting position for a short distance, then cutting back to the "right" for a greater distance, followed by a shift to "left" again - and then you lose sight of them altogether.
"They're going to be at that for a while, aren't they?" Briar guesses.
"Yeah. I figure forty minutes out, forty minutes back, plus the time it takes for me to absorb whatever they learn."
"So, what? Are we just going to sit in the trees and meditate for the next hour and a half?"
"That's always an option, but I was thinking of getting in some practice with this." You tap the hilt of your new, albeit temporary sword. "You know, rather than waiting until my life is potentially on the line."
"...I can't say I disapprove of that," Briar admits. "Although if you're seen..."
"I think an amped-up invisibility spell can cover that, as long as I don't hit anything," you reply. "Can you manage a Spell of Seeing the Unseen for, say, half an hour? So you can spot me?"
"Che. Who do you think I am, Magic Boy?"
From her teasing tone, you decide to take that as a yes, and get to work. The normal Spell of Invisibility only lasts a handful of minutes, but by pumping some additional mana into the casting, you're able to extend the time tenfold. You could keep it up the entire time it takes for your Prying Eyes to finish their work and return, but you do have some other things planned. In any case, once you have the spell up and running and are sure that it isn't being compromised in any way by your sword's low-end magic-absorption, you let yourself sink back to the ground beneath the trees and get to work familiarizing yourself with the handling of your Goddesses-given weapon.
As its looks suggest, the Blessed Sword is a well-made weapon, heavy enough to deliver real force with a blow, but not so massive that it threatens to pull you off balance. Your skills with swords in general and this style of sword in particular are too undeveloped for you to wield the blade single-handedly without a serious loss of control, but this is your failing, not the weapon's; once you have both hands on the grip, it responds beautifully. You can feel some of the sword's inherent enchantments pulsing whenever you swing the weapon, and you recognize them as attempts to subtly correct your aim. Without a clear target, the magic can't do much, but it's nice to know that it's there and will provide that little bit extra accuracy and bite, should you need it.
Briar steps in then, using a simple variation on a common fairy illusion to create motes of light that only you and the dim, semi-sentience of your weapon can perceive. Now with actual targets to go after, your sword begins responding more naturally and eagerly. It doesn't drastically alter the course or force you've invested in a swing - if you would have missed the target before, you'll still miss it now - but the slight nudge is enough to turn a near-miss into a hit, and a hit into something that might strike a weak point.
You can't help but feel that there is another plus to wielding this particular weapon, in that it's rather different from the ones Ganondorf favored at your age. Not that he wasn't trained in the uses of such a weapon, but cruciform blades were always more of a Hylian thing, as opposed to the Gerudo's favored scimitars. And this one doesn't look a thing like the shining Sword of the Sages.
Gained Sword Training E
Gained Weapon Defense F (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
You even take a moment to try out swinging your sword in mid-air... but that ends pretty badly, with you flying ass over teakettle through three full rotations before you manage to get yourself under control, feeling desperately grateful for your persistent Spell of Invisibility. Not that it stops Briar from giggling madly. Perhaps because of that embarrassing failure, you decide to forego experimenting with the classic Hylian Sword Beam technique - well, that and the fact that from what you recall, the technique is very flashy even when it's done correctly. Not something you really want to experiment with under these conditions.
Feeling a pleasant burn of exertion in your muscles from your workout, you sheathe your sword, resume your place above the canopy, and let your invisibility lapse as you focus on controlling your breathing. It's been about thirty minutes at this point. Your questionably-friendly neighborhood rabbit didn't reappear, and you saw no other creatures wandering the little grove in that time. You've no way of knowing if that's normal for this place or these spirits, so naturally, you ask Briar.
"Beats me," the fairy admits with a shrug. "About the only things in here I recognize are the Poes and the trees. I have no idea where Mom dug up those 'Guardian' guys, and as for the animals... well, I'd need to look at some of the others close-up before I was willing to hazard any guesses, but that rabbit? The pattern on its back looked a lot like one of the characters of Old Hylian writing."
You blink. "What did it say?"
"It was the number five."
"...okay," you reply in bemusement. You're really not sure what to make of that, and as Briar said, you'd probably need to track down a few other animals and see what their hides have to say for themselves before it'll start making sense. That's not really an option that the moment, however, as your Prying Eyes are starting to get close to their range limit; if you go zipping around trying to hunt the animals, you'll break the limit for at least some of your constructs, and lose them entirely. As it stands, you've been rather fortunate, not having received even one of the mental alerts that accompanies the destruction of one of the fragile little probes. That and the lack of an alarm going up suggests that nothing has seen them.
With your options a bit curtailed, you decide to settle in and meditate for the remaining fifty minutes.
Gained Meditation D
When you come out of the trance, you find that your mana level is just a bit over 77%, while your ki is at 98%. Additionally, your Prying Eyes have returned and are hovering patiently around you once more, waiting to have their information absorbed. You crane your head about and are pleased to see that all of them have returned intact. Looks like you chose a good plan.
Gained Tactics D
Reaching out, you grasp the first of the Eyes, shut your own, and will the construct to empty its contents into your mind. It does so at once, dissipating with a crystalline chime as eighty minutes' worth of overland flight begin filling your consciousness in fast-forward. You see the terrain, you see the trees, you see several Guardians and Poes, and something that... oh dear, that looks like a pack of wolves. Might want to stay away from that area. The whole process takes about eight seconds - for that Eye - and gives you a decent idea of what the lay of the land is out to a mile away in that direction. You do not delay in repeating the process with the next Eye, and then the third, the fourth...
It takes most of two minutes for you to completely absorb the information your little spies gathered, and you spend another ten sorting it out. The Eyes widened their flight paths as they moved outward, so you have a pretty good idea of what the bulk of Navi's Silent Realm looks like, as well as the significant looking sites and how to get to them.
You decide to head for the northwestern dome, following the roundabout route. It's only lightly-patrolled compared to some of the other potential paths, there are plenty of places for you to take cover... and it has one other quality to recommend it.
"And what wound that be?" Briar asks, holding to her accustomed place as you sneak along the most westerly route, hovering just a few inches off the ground.
"Promise you won't freak out?" you answer.
The fairy remains quiet for a long moment, and then sighs. "You're going to pick a fight with one of the Guardians, aren't you."
It isn't even a question.
"I need to know how dangerous they are," you say, trying to put your concern into words. "All the other routes seem to be better-patrolled than this one, and even with this flight spell, I'm not that great in the air - not good enough to outfly half a dozen Poes and maybe a hundred birds coming at me from all directions. I'm also not sure if I can sneak around this place the entire time without getting spotted, and on top of that, my little scouting run only turned up two things that might be Spirit Stones, both of which are in hard to reach places." One of the red glows that your Prying Eyes spotted is amidst all those birds to the northeast, while the other is hidden in the shadow of the standing stones - across the wide open space of the Silent Realm's little grassland and past the pack of spirit-wolves. 'Hard to reach' is putting it mildly.
"So you're going to hunt down the most powerful things in this place instead?"
"More like I want to see if that's a viable option," you correct. "Or if it's even possible for me to fight more than one of them at a time, if they wake up. And if the answer to either of those questions turns out to be 'no,' I at least want to have some idea of how fast I need to fly to be able to keep away from the Guardians."
You both fall silent then, as the chain-jangling lantern glow of one of the Poes draws near. You avoid the spirit by letting yourself "fall" off the side of the elevated path that it appears to be following and then flying along below it, out of its line of sight but with a perfectly clear view of its location. The spectral glow of its lantern soon falls out of sight, disappearing behind a hill and some trees.
Not too long after that, you come to a stop.
This Guardian stands alone near the center of a miniature plateau that is very approximately circular in shape. At a glance, you'd say it's about fifty feet across, with a large, irregularly-shaped bite missing from the west side - say, about twenty feet long and fifteen deep at its widest, although in places it's quite a bit less. Aside from that, the terrain is pretty even and uncluttered. A couple of low bushes scattered about, a large boulder at the east side and a tall pile of smaller stones adjacent to it - and one ancient-looking tree, just south of the gap. No water to worry about, thankfully, but not much that'll be helpful in a fight, either.
"Are you sure about this, Alex?" Briar asks, casting a nervous glance at the looming masked figure.
"...not entirely," you admit, giving the silent Guardian a wary look of your own. "But when has that ever stopped me before?"
"Heh." The fairy lets out a breath. "Okay. What's the plan?"
Good question.
You begin by reading yourself for combat. First, a bit of pale Necromancy to artificially reinforce your vital energies and physical form; then, some Augmentation to more directly enhance your physical strength, speed, and durability; and then an additional layer of support, via Ki Enhancement.
Gained Augmentation C
Holding some additional ki in reserve in case you need to move fast, you draw your sword, take a final preparatory breath, and then cast a slightly unusual space-time warping spell upon the ground beneath the Guardian's feet.
Instantly, the three eye-holes in the Guardian's shiny metallic mask flash with pale red light as its head jerks up from its bowed pose of menacing immobility, jangling the triangular chimes that dangle off the spikes protruding from the sides of its head. In the same moment, you hear a muted crackle as a wall of golden energy springs into being around the mini-plateau, a series of curving, translucent panels anchored every ten feet or so by pillar-like spires of mana - all of which have just manifested from out of nowhere.
These displays are somewhat overridden in your awareness by the rather amusing sight of the Guardian tumbling hindquarters first down the dimensional "pit" you have just caused to be. Long arms lash out, one holding the silent sentinel's outsized mace-sword, but neither the massive weapon nor the metallic fingers behind it come anywhere near you; the Guardian plummets into the hole with an eerie soundlessness, broken a moment later by the clang of metal-upon-metal. Hovering over to the edge of the pit, you find that the Guardian has managed to avoid braining itself with its weapon by bringing the heavy implement down lengthwise across its torso. Noisy, but no more than cosmetically damaging as far as you can tell.
As the Guardian untangles itself and finds its footing at the bottom of the thirty-foot hole in space-time, you take the opportunity to get in a clean shot with a Ki Blast.
Gained Ki Blast E
Your attack takes the Guardian between and slightly above its two uppermost eyes, knocking its head back at a slight angle. It's a clean strike, but unfortunately, the entity just returns its head to its usual position and looks around at its confinement. Raising its weapon with both hands, the Guardian takes a swing at one of the walls of the pit. Since it's made up of a dimensional distortion rather than solid matter, the strike has no real effect, and it leaves the Guardian open to your next attack, which consists of two near-coherent rays of intense flame. These have a more obvious effect on the Guardian than your Ki Blast did, burning away part of its black-and-gold mantle and causing the brilliant but remarkably spindly armor beneath to heat up considerably - mostly red, although you can see some orange at the center.
The Guardian still makes no sound, but it does appear to have registered that attack, spinning around and raising its weapon in a defensive- wait, no, it's doing something else. The mace is glowing- oh, hell.
You invoke your Body Flicker just in time to escape the beam of energy that comes screaming up from the pit. It would appear that the Guardians know how to use the Hylian Sword Beam technique - except that the "beam" is about two feet across. Defensive spells or no, you do NOT want to get hit by that.
A quick check on your spellcraft informs you that your Create Pit spell has used up about half of its charge, and has another twenty-five seconds or so before it gives out and returns the Guardian to ground level.
You briefly consider flooding the pit with acid or fire, but decide that either option would require a little more mana than you're willing to spend just now - to say nothing of the danger such substances might pose to you, if they're still present when your pit spell gives out and relocates its contents to the surface. Instead, you opt for a more conservative approach involving a gout of acid to whatever part of the Guardian happens to present itself.
Of course, to get this spell off, you need to get the Guardian in your line of sight, which would necessarily involve you being in its. Rather than take the risk of being smacked by another supersized Sword Beam, you draw on your kung fu wizardry and manifest a Doppleganger of yourself near the far side of the pit, while your real body moves closer to the edge on the wings of your flight spell, already chanting the words of your chosen spell.
Your caution pays dividends almost immediately; your copy has been in existence all of three seconds when the Guardian lets fly with another huge burst of mystical power, erasing your duplicate from existence. While it's somewhat terrifying to see "yourself" wiped out in one shot like that, you take great comfort in the fact that it wasn't actually you, and also that the Guardian appears not to be able to tell the difference. Or perhaps it simply doesn't care.
Either way, you get a clear line of fire, and let fly with the Acid Arrow when the Guardian's still-glowing back is once again turned.
Gained Earth Affinity E (Plus) (E)
Gained Earth Elementalism D (E (Plus) (Plus) (Plus))
It's a clean hit, toxic green semiliquid spattering across the Guardian's back with an evil-sounding hiss. Once again, the Guardian makes no outcry of pain even as it swings around, weapon raised to confront the source of the attack - but you're already falling back from the pit and moving to the next phase of your plan. There is a rather large rock near at hand, and the idea of dropping it on the Guardian appeals to you considerably. Casting a Spell of Telekinesis, you grab hold of the stone and pull...
...and pull...
...oh, come on. How heavy can this thing be? You can lift a good two hundred pounds like this, so why-
Sighing, you give up on the excessively big rock and telekinetically "grab" some of the smaller ones from the pile next to it. You've just got a good-sized load of ammunition when you feel your pit spell give out, and see the Guardian's form begin to rise from the ground.
Wow. That acid attack did the big guy NO favors at all. One of his horns is sagging and visibly pitted where some of the corrosive liquid splattered on it, and the entity's left shoulder is pretty much gone, the arm below it hanging uselessly - and also revealing a patch of eerie, translucent flesh that does not appear entirely solid, let alone alive. The right arm, meanwhile, remains intact and functional, and is raising the mace.
Not wanting to give the Guardian time to charge up another ranged attack, you discharge the remaining force of your Spell of Telekinesis in a single burst. This causes the baker's dozen of rocks that you were levitating to fire at the armored entity something like a shotgun blast - not as fast, to be sure, but a couple hundred pounds of flying stone doesn't need to be traveling all that fast to be dangerous. The Guardian responds to the attack by swinging its massive weapon with alarming speed, half-parrying your makeshift projectile attack and half smashing the incoming rocks out of the air with a broad, sweeping blow. It doesn't get everything, but those stones that survive the brutal counter and fly on to dent the giant's armor all do so along the right side of its body. That seems... significant.
Regardless, you're already into your follow-up. While the Guardian was distracted dealing with the spray of stones, you Body Flickered out of its line of sight, moving around to its right side and as far behind it as you could manage.
Gained Body Flicker D (Plus)
From this angle, you've got a clear view of the damage your Acid Arrow did to the Guardian's armor. There is a large piece across the upper left side that is simply gone, leaving most of that shoulder exposed; the edges of the gaping hole are visibly soft and sagging, which is a weird thing to see metal doing. As for the Guardian itself, what you can see of its translucent body appears annoyingly intact - there are some dark spots that look like burns, hinting that the magical acid wasn't totally ineffective, but the damage is far less than what the armor sustained. Whether that's because your attack spent most of its power against the armor or because the Guardian's true spectral form just isn't overly inconvenienced by the stuff is open to question. Though that doesn't explain why its left arm is just dangling like that...
Regardless, the level of damage to the armor encourages you to follow through on your chosen plan of action. You cast a second Acid Arrow, aiming for your enemy's intact arm in the hopes of crippling its offensive abilities, but curse as the Guardian turns just as you're letting the spell fly; either it heard you chanting, or it's learned to watch its back. You don't miss, per se, but a good part of the acid spatters away from the Guardian's heavy pauldron and splashes uselessly on the grassy turf. What's left to cling, hissing, to the armor doesn't seem like enough to wear it down, at least not all at once.
That leaves you to face the Guardian, which has foregone powering up its weapon in favor of charging and striking at you the old-fashioned way.
For the briefest instant, you actually consider trying to parry a weapon that is as big as you are. Then your brain says, "Nnnnope!" to that idea, and you find yourself kicking into high gear as the mace comes down with an earth-rending thunk. When the world stops blurring around you a moment later, you're standing off to one side of the Guardian - the side that was, from your previous perspective, to the right, or from the Guardian's point of view, the left. You're also far enough away from the creature to be out of reach of its mace, which the armored specter tears free of the turf and swings around in a move to cover its most wounded side. The wind of the weapon's passage *whooshes* over and past you, but it's not like it came within less than two feet of your head, right? And the spray of earth and small pulverized stones doesn't even hurt.
Then the Guardian's long left arm, the one that you thought was dangling uselessly after being ravaged by acid, reaches out and smacks you in the face.
The ectoplasmic son of an infernal bitch was faking it. How smart are these things?
Although being punched in the head by a metal gauntlet is no joyride, the Guardian wasn't well-balanced when it hit you, and so couldn't get its full strength behind the blow. It still HURTS, but it's more like the time Ayane kicked you in the head than something less-survivable - and this time, you have magic and ki both enhancing your resilience prior to impact, so a blow that would normally have left you momentarily dazed just takes a quick shake of the head to throw off.
Gained Endurance E
Gained Pain Threshold F (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
This is a good thing, because the Guardian is turning to confront you, and has foregone the lame duck routine to raise its weapon above its head with both hands. The mace is already glowing in the opening phase of a Sword Beam, and in that building light, you can see that the acid you hit the Guardian's right shoulder with has stopped sizzling. There's been some damage, enough to make you suspect that a good strong blow would shatter what armor still covers that joint. On the other hand - literally, in fact - if you were going to attack the Guardian, why not go for the limb that's already exposed, and do it actual harm? Or you could once again get the heck out of Dodge before that beam of destruction arrives.
You really want to disrupt that powering-up attack, and the obvious way to do it is to go for one of the Guardian's weakened arms - arms that happen to be almost nine feet off the ground, and reaching another five or six feet into the air. Even with your new sword, that's rather out of your reach, unless you're willing to overextend yourself in some way - mundane leaping, a Body Flicker, or outright flying. And you find that you're not.
But you still wish to attack your foe and, hopefully, break its focus. So you gather your strength and charge forward, dumping an excess of mana into your weapon. You've seen Link do something like this a hundred times in your dreams, you've seen the Guardian do it twice now, and if an untrained forest boy and a puffed-up ghost can do it, it can't be that difficult...
Out of the corner of your eye, you can see the blade of the Blessed Sword glowing the same poisonous shade of green as your previous acid spells. The sight makes you grin fiercely as you close in on your enemy.
Gained Spell Combat F
Gained Spellstrike F
The Guardian sees you coming, of course, and has enough time to bring its shining mace down - although rather than the massive overhanded strike it was gearing up for, the specter shifts its grip and brings its weapon almost straight down, trying to smash you in the head with the butt.
The good news is that this attack causes the Sword Beam to gutter out, rather than discharging.
The better news is that you're able to see the Guardian's counter-stroke coming in time to alter your path to avoid getting your skull cracked - and arguably the best news is that you're still able to get your attack off, striking at the Guardian's right leg with sword and spell in the same motion as you run past it. There is a brilliant flare of toxic green energy at moment of impact, accompanied by a distinct sizzle as the edge of your shining sword sinks through suddenly-melting armor to slices what lies beneath. The Guardian recoils violently, and you can hear it come crashing down behind you as your charge carries you onward. Skidding to a stop, you whirl to find the creature on its right hand and knee, terribly off-balance. Its left arm still grips its mace, and it has wrenched its helmed head around so that its upper right eye can glare balefully at you over its acid-ravaged right shoulder.
Gained Evasion E (Plus)
Gained Weapon Defense E
"It's down, Alex!" Briar calls out - and you notice with some surprise that she's hovering over your opponent. "Hit it HARD!"
Honestly, that sounds like a very good idea. A quick check of your reserves shows that your reserves are at... good grief, 59% mana already? And a bit more than 79% ki remaining.
Fighting the Guardian has been educational, but it's also proven to be rather more expensive than you'd have liked - and only partly because the creature is one of the stronger opponents you've faced off with. The real problem is that you've gotten caught up in trying to defeat the armor, rather than the creature that's wearing it. Punching one good-sized hole through the defense would have been enough, if you'd followed up with something that attacked the Guardian's spectral form directly - and wouldn't you know it? From your current position, you're just a couple of steps away from having a perfect line-of-fire to that acid-ravaged gap in the back of the Guardian's armor.
As you take those steps, you invoke a spell of Necromancy, calling up a type of energy that is partly physical, partly spiritual, and partly other in the nature, and which in even its smallest application tends to have a similar effect on the walking dead as fire. Only with less greasy, foul-smelling smoke. And what you're forming now is not the smallest application, but something several degrees more potent.
Sensing danger, the Guardian lurches, trying to turn its exposed back away from you. You simply speed up to keep the target in sight until you're able to complete your spell. At the final utterance, a ray of pale white energy erupts from your extended fingertip, flashing across the torn-up field to strike the Guardian's exposed shoulder. Even with the warrior's clumsy attempts at evasion, it's a clean hit, causing the Guardian's entire body to go rigid as an eerie radiance pours from every seam and hole in its armor.
Gained Necromancy E (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
As the unearthly light fades, the Guardian's armor groans and settles in on itself, billowing clouds and faint streams of grey smoke now rising from within. It looks limp and, if not dead, then at least disabled - yet you recall how the warrior sucker-punched you with its "crippled" arm. More to the point, the barriers that went up when you started this challenge haven't gone down.
"Is it dead?" Briar asks.
Wary of further trickery on the Guardian's part, you bring up your extranormal senses. Almost immediately, you're able to determine that the Guardian is not quite defeated. It's extremely weak, though; except for a "bright spot" in the helmet, you're picking up only the barest level of spiritual energy from the rest of the armor, so little in fact that you have serious doubts of the Guardian's ability to even move. The specter's essence does not seem to be getting any weaker, but neither is it getting any stronger, at least as far as you can determine.
Gained Spiritual Sense D
Magically, things are a bit more interesting. Now that you're paying attention to it, you can tell that the barrier around your little arena isn't just limited to the encircling wall of golden light that your ordinary eyes can see; even without pulling up Mage-Sight, you can sense a tall dome of magic arching overhead, laced with enough Abjuration and Necromancy - of the "no life shall pass" variety, as opposed to the "kill everything that tries to cross" school of thought - that you doubt you'd be able to punch through or slip out via dimensional hijinx. The barrier is also clearly linked to the Guardian, in a way that tells you it's not going to go down until the warrior-spirit does.
Gained Mage Sense D (Plus) (Plus) (Plus)
"It's mostly dead," you reply to Briar.
"But not all dead?" she guesses.
"No. Give me a minute."
Since you're not likely to be in any danger, you decide to try one more experiment. Magically dealing with this guy was more expensive than you cared for, and while your ki-based support skills worked out well enough, your one direct ki attack was... underwhelming. While you feel pretty confident that just walking over and stabbing the Guardian with your Blessed Sword would end this fight, there is one other line of attack that you might as well have a go at.
First, you call up your ki. It responds readily enough.
Then, you focus on your spiritual sensitivity. That, too, heeds your will without issue.
Now comes the tricky part.
Slowly and with great care, you try to isolate that part of your life-force that arises entirely from your soul, without the physical influence of your body. After your encounter with the Kurosaki family, it's fairly easily to identify, but the next step, siphoning some of your spiritual energy off without letting it mix with your physical energy, proves remarkably difficult. You end up forming a "mold" of sorts out of your ki, and filling the interior with mostly-pure spiritual power. Just looking at the ball of light you're now holding between your palms, you're absolutely certain that it isn't what a spiritual attack is supposed to look like at all, but you can't see how you'd do much better without an hour or more of meditation and focus - and you don't feel remotely interested in wasting that much time.
Gained Ki Control C
Gained Spiritual Control D
Gained Spiritual Power E (Plus)
Turning your palms towards the Guardian, you let the cobbled-together "spiritual" attack fly, once again aiming for the breached section of armor. The hole is a bit smaller, now that the Guardian has slumped down on itself, but it's also stopped moving, and you score a clean hit.
The result is unexpected. The faint pressure of the Guardian's drops slightly, there is a high-pitched screech of rage and pain, and its horned helmet takes off like a rocket, zipping around the arena on a billowing trail of something that isn't smoke, howling madly all the while. Behind it, the rest of the armor collapses to the earth with a remarkably quiet clatter and thump; you're too busy dodging the flying head to pay much attention.
Abruptly, the helmet comes to a halt in mid-air, three eyes facing you and glaring in unmistakeable anger. You hear a squeaky, whispery voice gibber something unintelligible at you at high speed, followed by - to your eternal disbelief - a huge tongue shooting out from within the helm in a classic raspberry.
Even as you scowl, you notice that the possessed helm is just within reach of your sword. Suddenly smiling, you adjust your grip on your sword and stab it upwards, into the open bottom of the armored headpiece.
Gained Sword Training E (Plus)
There is a very satisfying "Urk!" from the Guardian right before all sense of its presence vanishes.
Then the helmet falls out of the air, nearly braining you on its way to the ground.
Following that, there is another of those great sounds like a ringing gong, as the golden barrier comes down.
"Okay," Briar says. "What the hell was that about?"
"Don't know, don't care," you tell her. Idly, you glance inside the helm, but you aren't surprised to find it completely empty. Your eyes stray to the pile of armor, and you wonder if you have time to go through it, or if you should instead get on with your quest before one of the Poes that patrols this area shows up.
You decide that you can spare a moment to check what's left of the Guardian's armor. Sheathing your sword for the time being, you pick up the specter's empty helm - which proves to be every bit as heavy as it looks - and move over to investigate the pile of metal plates.
"Alex?" Briar asks, following in your wake.
"This'll just take a sec, Briar," you assure her, setting the helmet down next to the rest of the armor, and giving the whole set a quick once-over.
It's as unimpressive as a giant, previously-spectrally-animated suit of armor can get. No visibly glowing pieces, no obvious auras of spiritual or magical energy - at least not beyond the lingering necromantic taint built up over Goddesses only know how many centuries of posession and/or occupation by the Guardian's spirit - and certainly nothing that stands out and says "loot me!" to your Gerudo-informed sensibilities. And the suit as a whole is just too damn big for you to stuff in your dimensional pocket, not to mention that all the acid damage you did to it makes the central pieces pretty much useless except as scrap.
As far as taking trophies or potential reagents goes, you figure you have three choices. Option One is to take the gauntlets. They're undamaged, and reasonably representative of the Guardian's capabilities - it even punched you with one of them, so you've got a sympathetic connection going there. Option Two is to take the helmet. It's damaged, which brings down its value a bit, and it's got more mass than both of those steel mitts put together, so it'll be a bit harder to pocket, but it's also arguably the most significant piece of the suit - the center of consciousness, the part where the Guardian's essence withdrew when it was wounded, and the place where it died. All very good reasons to choose it. Option Three is to take the mace. It's easily the most visually-impressive piece, not to mention a formidable weapon in its own right; you're just worried that you might not be able to fit it in your dimensional pocket, which would mean you'd either have to dump more of your mana into keeping the thing hidden everyday, or find some other place to tuck it away back in Sunnydale - and not only would exposing the Guardian's necromantically-imbued primary weapon to the Hellmouth quickly degrade its value as a reagent for non-evil purposes, it would be just ASKING for some demon or more actively evil spirit to come along and claim the thing.
You suppose you could try to take two or more of the items, but then you'd DEFINITELY need to expand your storage pocket or look into alternate arrangements.