As the blinding golden glow from his circle containing a Triforce symbol fades and smoke from the Servant summoning cleared, there sat the most dangerous native to Hyrule. With a sharp intake of breath, a slightly wide-eyed Alex took an instinctive step back. The other witnesses to his summoning attempt had very different reactions.
The most noticable were Briar's slowly rising giggles. Navi's grim visage at witnessing the summoning of such a dangerous being was a sharp contrast.
Altria's amused smile spoke volumes without a word, while Ambrose was far from impressed, "You know we weren't just fishing for dinner here, boy." lent the fairy's laughter a slightly manic edge.
Briar finally manages words, even interspersed with laughter. "G*hehe*gotta*HAHAHA*b-b-be *HEHEHE* BERSERKER!*AHAHAHA*" The effort to speak seems to have driven her over the edge into genuinely rolling on the floor gasping for air.
Alex had never truly understood until this moment the urge for a proper villainous cackle. He settled for a vicious grin at the thought that down that path was madness, and a certain someone who had never dared weaponize, or even antagonize his new Servant. "She's right. I've got this in the bag. May not even have to do anything."
Golden Cucco, Humble Scourge of the Contemptuous
Berserker
Ginta: Oh Great Kami, please lend me your power and Blessing. For Great Justice and in defiance of Evil.
Kami: Huh, is that someone preying to me? Yeah, it is. What do they want then ... hmm, Smite Evil and Protect the Righteous? Let's have a look, see if it's worthy ... okay, not in Japan ... wait, it's not coming from Earth at all? Where the hell is this prayer coming from? Let's try ... here we go, the Fey Realm? Who would call Me from ... oh, it's one of my Monks from Japan, what's he doing ... WOAH! Okay, cool, a Mythic Quest to another world, save an innocent and cure a sick Kitsune, aiding a Champion of some sort, giant demon spiders, demonic stone constructs and ... ghost Romans? This is fucking awesome! I haven't got a prayer like this in ever! Hell yeah I'm fulfilling this prayer!
Ginta: Thank you Great Kami for granting me your power ... a lot of power ... woah, this prayer never got results like this before! THANK YOU KAMI, I'M GONNA SMITE A BITCH!
Kami: I've got to tell the other Kami about this. They'll be soo jealous!
Omake: Alex's life must seem very busy and impressive to other people.
It was the night before Alex's familiar ritual with Briar. Thanks to a generous offer from the Drakes, Alex was spending a few days at Altria's home. And because the adults wanted to plan things out for the coming Dracula tomorrow, the Shuzens had come over as well. Now, Alex, Altria, and Kahlua sat at a small table finishing up a light lunch and talking over recent events and Ambrose forced into babysitting duty because the other adults were tired of him.
"So," stated Kahlua, "things have been busy for me since my birthday. After you managed to defeat me, Alex, my training has been stepped up considerably. My parents decided that thing with the necromancer was too much, but the idea was sound so they hired one and now I've been spending a few days a week running through the caves again, though with considerably fewer undead to account for the lack of backup. And less instant death traps. What about you two?"
"I've been working on my unarmed combat a bit, "Altria replied. "I'm not quite as good without a sword as I should be in case I ever get seperated from my weapon. I've been working on that Sword Beam Alex taught me too; I keep getting fire for some reason. And Ambrose has been summoning magic-using monsters for me to fight; most tend to be fairly powerful with magic and physical combat, though generally not fantastic at either." With an aside glance at Alex, she states "I'm sure I have no idea what sort of opponent he might be preparing me to face. Perhaps in four years or so. At the next World's Martial Arts Tournament."
"Alex?" Kahlua questioned. "What have you been up to? You mentioned you were grounded or something for a while, what happened since then?"
"Um, well..." Alex hesitated. "First, I went to speak to some priests about an insane Nine-tailed fox." "Wait, what?" "Yeah, she kidnapped a girl almost a year ago, we wanted to track her down. Anyway, then we decided it'd be best if we could make her not insane anymore. So I got in contact with Briar's mom who's a Great Fairy and she mentioned there was this mirror-"
"Wait, you just casually got in contact with a kind of being most people consider to be on the level of a minor deity?" Altria questioned in surprise.
"Yeah, they're not exaggerating about that power either. Anyway, she told me about a mirror that could get the Fox's madness out of her so we could kill it, then she agreed to teleport me and a couple priests off to another plane to go get it. It was in this secret base of an ancient civilization filled with demon spiders and malfunctioning golems, was not fun getting through all that. Then we found some ghosts I made friends with, turns out the people who owned the base are pretty cool so we became friends and we teamed up to clear the place out."
"O-Okay."
"Then we managed to get to the mirror, I had a really hard fight against a shadow copy of a legendary hero from another world possessed by some evil ghost thing-" "WHAT!?" "- yeah, it was pretty hard, but I managed to win with lots of magic. Then after I won we got the mirror and we decided to come back one more time, because the base was cool and I wanted to see if I could keep it. So I got a map to a Gate that should lead to it if it's still working and the other side was working, but I couldn't find it in one say so I started thinking it'd be easier to just learn to teleport across planes myself. Brair's mom brought us back one time and let me watch the Gate spell she used so I'm making progress with that. Should be able to manage it in a week, I'm thinking. Maybe two if I take it easy after this ritual."
"Oh, and apparently something is going on that makes it really hard for gods to get in contact with their followers on this plane, so we brought a bunch of priests and Kami with us when we went back the last time. Once I've got Gate down, I'm thinking I might make that a regular thing. Anyway, when we got back there was this Twigjack Fae thing spying on us, and, well, one thing lead to another, and now I rule over that territory."
"Don't know if I count as a 'Lord of the Fae" or not, since I'm not actually a Fae of any sort myself. Brair's mom says I might be able to count by proxy after I finalize my bond with Briar, but I don't really get that. Anyway, I guess I've got a special, heavily warded magic base in another plane, the only entrance to it is in the middle of my new territory in Faerie. Do you think either of your parents have any advice on how to rule a... too small for kingdom at this point. Province, maybe? Oh, and once I've got either Gate or Plane Shift down we've got ourselves the best clubhouse ever."
Over the (lack of) sounds of the two girls being stunned into silence, Ambrose could be heard muttering to himself and drinking: "Oh, now the boy is some kind of Fae Lord too. Of course he is, why didn't I expect that? I just bet he's going to manage to get back that sword and sheath to give to the girl too, at this rate, then he'll tell her to take over his new little kingdom. He starts going on about building himself a house under a lake, I swear I'm out. I'm not going through that whole mess a second time. I'm not dealing with the Lad of the Lake again."
XANDER QUEST FOURTH BIRTHDAY OMAKE SPECIAL, PART ONE
DIN, FARORE, AND NAYRU
The entity was an enormous caricature of the most common mortal form, a bipedal mass of flame, molten stone, and incandescent FURY. Fifty feet tall if it was an inch, the colossus's smouldering strides shook the ground and left a trail of molten footprints bubbling and smoking in its wake as it advanced through the silvery mists, which evaporated in a vast radius around it.
"FA-RO-RE!" the burning behemoth boomed, in a voice of thunder.
Hands linked behind her head, the Goddess of Courage tilted back slightly, squinted up at the Face of Doom, and asked, "Yes, dear sister?"
"WHAT. THE. HELL?!" the Goddess of Power demanded.
"Which Hell?" Farore inquired.
"DON'T GET SMART WITH ME, PIPSQUEAK," Din warned, rocky arms folding across her chest with a cataclysmic crash. "YOU KNOW VERY WELL WHAT I MEAN."
"...Dark Link?"
"DARK LINK."
The green-clad goddess sighed, and lowered her arms.
"I don't know, okay? The last person to even HOLD the Mirror of Shadow was the old Sage in the Great Palace, and he swears up and down that there weren't any shenanigans when Link faced the Test. He aimed the Mirror at Link; Dark Link emerged; and the rightful heir of the Triforce proved his Courage in epic battle, after which what was left of the shadow was reabsorbed by the Mirror."
Din's titanic avatar considered that for a moment. "NOTHING ELSE?"
"Nothing." Farore frowned. "What are you getting all apocalyptic with me for, anyway? Your boy won, so no harm done, right?"
"WINNING IS GOOD," Din agreed. "FIGHTING AN EMBODIMENT OF EVIL AND PURGING IT FROM THE WORLD IS ALSO GOOD. FIGHTING AN EMBODIMENT OF *LINK'S* EVIL, RIDDEN BY THAT NEVER-SUFFICIENTLY-DAMNED CURSE OF *FUCKING DEMISE*" - flame and molten rock erupted from the titan-form at this - "AND USING A FEW TRICKS *WE* NEVER SAW FROM IT BEFORE? NOT. SO. GOOD."
"...yeah, I get where you're coming from," Farore nodded. "Kind of would have preferred it myself, if Babyback Bacon had grabbed his pals and cast Anywhere But Here as soon as he saw what he was up against, but with the way that old fortress is warded..." She trailed off with a shrug.
Din rumbled annoyed agreement. "NO IDEAS ABOUT HOW THE SHADOW OR THE MIRROR GOT THIS FAR FROM HYRULE, THEN?"
"The old gnome put the Mirror back in its shrine when he was done with it," Farore said. "Cleaned up the bodies, reset the traps, locked the doors, and left the security system running on 'kill the unworthy.' Far as I knew, that was the end of it. At the very least, nobody's gotten into the inner sanctum since... which doesn't mean nothing came OUT."
A great flaming eyebrow arched inquisitively. "YOU THINK THE SHADOW RE-MANIFESTED, AND CARRIED THE MIRROR OUT?"
"It would explain why I never heard the temple alarms go off." Farore scowled. "The Shrine of the Mirror isn't QUITE as bad as the Shadow Temple for sheer concentration of Shadow Element manifestations, but it's got its fair share - AND it's got Light and Dark, too. Shadow and Darkness together are a set-up the Dying Will of the Demon King could work with, even if it hadn't been cribbing notes from Ganondorf, Vaati, and every other dark mage it's gotten its hooks into over the ages."
Din snarled and kicked at the ground, creating a chasm. "REMIND ME AGAIN WHY WE DIDN'T *BREAK* THAT CURSE FIVE MINUTES AFTER *FUCKING DEMISE* CHOKED IT OUT?"
"Because we all thought it was empty talk at first, until bad things kept on happening with no obvious explanation? Because we were young and kind of stupid, and thought it made things more interesting? Because Hylia swore she could handle it, and Nayru wanted to give her girl every chance to do the job? Because *I* was hoping Link would fix it? Plenty of reasons, really, take your pick." The green-haired Goddess looked up at her sister's face again. "On a completely unrelated tangent, are you going to shrink down to a more normal size any time soon? Because looking up at you like this is a literal pain in the neck."
There was no reply.
Farore frowned. "Din?"
"...I NEED TO CALM DOWN FIRST," the Goddess of Power admitted. And while it shouldn't have been possible for a volcanic eruption to sound embarrassed, that was the tone of her voice just then.
The littlest Golden Goddess blinked, and then snickered. "That's... that's kind of adorable, you know, Sis?"
"SHUT UP," Din muttered. Her craggy, flame-haired head looked around, then, glowing fissures appearing across the face as the irate deity frowned. "WHERE THE HECK IS NAYRU, ANYWAY?"
"She stalked off under a blizzard, muttering something about the Sages," Farore replied. "I'm pretty sure she means to round up the team from way back when they developed the Ritual of Reflection, as well as all the Shadow Sages she can find and any of the others that just don't run fast enough, and have them tear the spell apart to see if it really was that powerful all along, or if this was yet another surprise from the Curse That Keeps On Giving."
Din snorted plumes of godly fire. "TEN RUPEES SAYS IT'S THE CURSE."
"Even I'm not brave enough to take that wager. I will make you another one in its place, though," Farore added grimly.
"OH?"
"I'll bet you anything that the Mirror of Shadow isn't the LAST Curse-riddled item from Hyrule we see turn up near Earth."
XANDER QUEST FOURTH BIRTHDAY OMAKE SPECIAL, PART TWO
PRINCESS ZELDA
Hyrule Castle was very old, and very large, and like many structures of its kind, it had not been built all at once. It began life as a purely military stronghold, a proud, austere fortress whose walls turned back many an assault by enemies both foreign and domestic - though never entirely without damage, which inevitably required repair. Down through the years, as more and more pieces of the old castle were worn away by violence and the elements and the slow passage of Time, their replacements drifted further and further away from the original purpose of the castle, for what had started out as a military base where security was paramount had since grown into the seat of royal power, and the needs of a royal palace are far different from those of a fortification.
Thick walls and squat turrets of solid grey stone, designed from the foundations up to resist invasion, were pulled down and replaced by stained glass windows and soaring towers of pure white marble, intended to evoke wonder and admiration. Heavy, reinforced gates that were often closed and barred, and which had withstood battering rams, blasting curses, and monstrous assaults alike, were replaced by newer, lighter construction, which was almost always open in a show of welcome, to accomodate the endless comings and goings of nobles and priests, soldiers and mage, merchants and commoners. The muddy space between the outer wall and the inner keep, where soldiers drilled and some of Hyrule's more infamous enemies had met their ends became a lush garden. Rooms once cold, murky, and wholly uninviting even in high summer were now bright and warm even in the depths of winter, being well-appointed with lavish furnishings, ancient trophies, and discreetly maintained fireplaces.
Yet for all the changes wrought on Hyrule Castle, not all of its security was removed. Not even most, in fact. If the walls were perhaps thinner and lower than their predecessors, walls they yet remained, and they were never unguarded. Open the gate might be, yet it was well-maintained and well-manned, and could be closed and barred at a moment's notice. The high towers with their many beautiful windows granted excellent vantage points over the castle, the adjacent town, and the lands immediately beyond. The beautiful garden was a maze, entertaining to those who knew the way or could afford to lose themselves amidst the hedges, but a distraction and potential threat to unwelcome visitors. Even the living quarters could be dangerous, should one stumble inside when the alarm was raised, and the defensive magics that normally went unnoticed were roused to action.
Such was not the case today, but if past history had taught the Royal Family of Hyrule anything, it was that they should never grow lax in their preparations, or their vigilance, lest their carelessness be repaid with the rise of a Demon King.
It was on that account that two women and a single man had gathered for lunch that day. They were seated on a balcony on the west side of the palace, where the bulk of Hyrule Castle stood above them, providing shelter from the midday sun, even as that same light granted a splendid view of the garden that spread out before them.
All three were middle-aged, and well-dressed. One of the women had golden hair, streaked with silver at the roots, and held in place by a diadem; the other's hair was more reddish, a trait she shared with the man, though he was going grey. All three had blue eyes and the pointed ears of Hylians.
The blonde with the diadem wore a dress that was a mix of violet, white, and gold, while her counterpart wore a similar garment, all in pale blue.
The man wore a green tunic over white leggings. Finely made, no question, but still a cut or two below the women's clothes.
"Has there still been no word regarding Archpriest Dane?" the more regal-appearing woman asked.
"Nothing helpful, I'm afraid," the lady in blue replied. "We've confirmed that he left Rauru two months ago, arrived in Mido a week later, and spent the next five days trying to negotiate passage south."
The man looked up from his plate, mouth full and a question in his eyes.
He was answered with a wry smile. "Apparently, none of the captains in port wanted to try their luck landing near Death Mountain, even with an archpriest aboard."
The man rolled his eyes and shook his head, the word, "Wimps," hanging unspoken in the air. Then he went back to his lunch.
The women traded glances of old, familiar amusement, before the darker-haired one spoke again.
"Master Dane appears to have felt the same way. He left town on the sixth morning, bound for Saria, and that trip should have taken him two weeks - three at the most, if he ran into inclement weather. No one in Saria ever saw him, the bridgekeeper there swears that he's let no one through to Death Mountain in the last four months who hasn't come back, and the Shiekah have gone over the road between Mido and Saria three times now, without finding a hint of the man. Not that this is saying much," she sighed, "considering it was over a month before anyone thought to look for him."
"So the best we can tell the Church is that we don't THINK their incumbent High Priest is lost or dead on Death Mountain," the blonde said, her tone almost identical. "And since our best people have now joined every priest, wizard, and Sage who's tried to scry for Archpriest Dane in turning up exactly nothing, the calls for us to use the Triforce to fix the problem are going to start up again."
A sour look was shared between all three seated at the table - a look focused on the back of the blond man's left hand, and the tattoo-like marking found there.
Three triangles, joined in a pyramid, and all glowing with a faint gold light.
Having access to a reliable wish-granting device sounds like a wonderful thing. And to an extent, it is - right up until you start to see what proximity to unlimited power does to people, and how quick they are to take the easy way out for their problems, instead of finding a solution on their own.
After all, why use the heads and hands and hearts given to you by the Goddesses to confront and overcome the trials of life, when another, far more potent divine blessing is there to do all the work for you? Why waste time investigating the cause of a drought and devising methods to prevent similar disasters in the future, when you can simply wish for the rain to fall? Why bother with diplomacy, when you can conjure boundless wealth to smooth your way in foreign lands? Why take responsibility for the defense of your land and livelihood, when you can command monsters and invaders alike to fall over dead?
Why care about death, when it cannot touch you, and you can bring back the fallen on a whim?
Conversely, why care about the living, when you can easily replace them?
The ancient king of Hyrule had known the danger, had seen it in his people - in his own son. There was a reason why he considered Courage to be the essential quality for any who would wield the Triforce.
Power gave you the means to make your choices. It provided options, opened doors that would otherwise remain closed - properly applied, it could even inform your decisions, let you guess at what was the best route to take to reach your goal. But a well-informed guess is still a guess, and in the end, even the mightiest can still be wrong. Having Power does not make you immune to making bad choices, it merely amplifies the consequences. A peasant who insults a man may be ignored, insulted in kind, or beaten for his offense; a king who insults a man may spark a war.
Wisdom let you see the consequences of your choices before they happened, allowing you to envision the best possible outcomes. Once again, however, Wisdom alone was not enough. What good is it to know how to reach your goal, when you lack the strength to do so? For that matter, what if the best path is dangerous, or requires a sacrifice from you or those you care for? What then? Do you take the harder path, and risk falling prey to your own weaknesses and fears, or do you choose a lesser path whose end you know you can reach? Which is the smarter course? Which is the better? And which is truly Wise?
Courage was what let you bear the consequences of your choices. A soul that lacks Power but has Courage can endure its weakness, and with time, grow stronger. A soul that lacks Wisdom but has Courage can face its mistakes, learn from them, and so gain what it lacks. A soul that has Power but lacks Courage cannot accept or endure weakness, even the perception of it; it becomes jealous and fearful, seeing rivals and enemies and threats to its might where none exist, while looking down on those who lack Power of their own as nothing more than dirt to be trod upon. A soul that has Wisdom but lacks Courage cannot make the hard choices; it sees too well all the things that could go wrong, and falls back on what reason tells it are safer, more sensible options.
A soul that has both Power and Wisdom can do much indeed, but without Courage, it will forever doubt itself and its decisions. It cannot make a choice and stand by it; always, it must go back and try again, seeking to correct perceived mistakes or simply because it believes it can and should do better. Nor can such a soul truly trust another, for are they not, by definition, weaker and more foolish than itself? Do they not rely on it for protection and guidance - and if they do not, would it not be better if they did?
It is only with Courage that one can make the hardest choice of all - to simply let things be. To trust that events happen when and how they do for a reason, and that people are capable of facing those events, and overcoming them, all on their own merits.
All philosophical rambling aside, there are some very practical reasons why the rulers of Hyrule have ever been reluctant to use the Triforce to solve every little problem that confronts their kingdom. Chief among them is the sheer quality of character required to so much as lay hands on the relic, without two-thirds of it vanishing in a flash of golden light. Right behind that one - and likely as a consequence of it - is the fact that the Golden Power does not appear to be inheritable.
At the very least, none of the handful of individuals known to have possessed the complete Triforce down through the ages have ever passed it on to their children or chosen heirs in its entirety. The long-dead father of the red-haired Zelda seated on the balcony came closest to doing so, and he'd deliberately hidden the critical third of the relic from his children.
There were some who speculated that the ancient ruler's intent had not been for the Triforce of Courage to stay lost for as long as it had, but rather, for one of his children to face the trials, prove their worth, and claim the missing piece.
Unfortunately for King Link's plan and Hyrule in general, Ganondorf happened.
Twice, even.
And that was another reason to limit the use of the Triforce. It was well-known that Ganondorf had wielded the Triforce of Power before the current Hero slew him, and with it, he'd done much damage - and not just to Hyrule. Other lands had suffered the depredations of the King of Evil and his monstrous hordes, and their inhabitants nursed many grudges against him and his Power. It would be all too easily for those well-earned hates to carry over to the hand where Power currently rested.
This wasn't even getting into the matter of the dark souls that looked upon Ganondorf's rise and fall, and felt the stirrings of envy and greed and AMBITION.
Nor did it address the knowledge held by the Sleeping Princess regarding her father's rise to power, his subsequent reign, and his lasting legacy - or the role Ganondorf had played in all three. She held that information close, a secret shared only with her namesake, the Hero, and the current head of the Impa family, the most trusted of all the Shiekah, for it was perilous.
How would the world react, if they learned that the most hated man in living memory was, in truth, the Chosen of Power, the Most Favored by the Goddess Din, and the Rightful Heir to the Triforce of Power? What would they say, upon discovering that the Hero-king now revered in story and song, the founder from who the modern royal claimed both descent and their right to rule, had kept the shade of the darkest villain in Hyrule's long, often-forgotten history as a personal advisor, and seemingly done nothing to ensure that the monster would remain held in check after his passing?
What would they DO, if they knew that Ganondorf's return - or some disaster just as terrible - was as inevitable as the turning of the tides or the change of the seasons, and that each use of the Triforce risked bringing that very calamity all the sooner?
For the Princess Zelda knew the old legends, the histories of the Ancient Kindom now lost to Hyrule. She had read with her own eyes the warnings of the long-gone Sages, heard them recounted by her lord father, and beheld the GLOATING of the Demon King's soul. She alone had carried the message to the modern age - the dire, damning truth that whenever Hyrule grew too peaceful, too prosperous, too beautiful, and simply too GOOD, a disaster would come to strike them down.
A dark wizard.
A murderous dragon.
A Demon King.
Pestilence and famine, plague and war, calamity and woe, disaster and despair, destruction and death.
Always they came, in an endless cycle.
A cycle that the Goddesses seemed unwilling - perhaps even unable - to halt.
A cycle that each use of the Triforce to bring hope and joy risked accelerating.
A Queen, a Princess, and a Hero exchanged looks, silently asking one another if they thought the cause before them was worth the attendant risks.
One by one, each nodded - the Hero doing so three times, once to each of the women, and then again, emphatically, when they regarded him in unison.
Wordlessly, he held out his hand.
Wordlessly, the royal women laid their hands over his.
For a moment, the shaded balcony was illuminated by a golden aura, brighter and purer than the noon sun.
When the divine radiance faded, the Hero sighed and sat back in his chair, breathing hard. Perhaps he had a little more grey in his hair than before, a few more lines to mark his face; and then again, perhaps he did not. It was clear, however, that he was weary from the wish.
Which was one more reason not to use the Triforce lightly. Its great power wasn't as free as most people assumed.
It was, after all, three fractions of the divine essence of a creator trinity. No mortal carried such power, and none COULD carry it without consequence.
Though for some souls, those consequences were lighter. Especially when the burden was shared.
"Thank you, Link," Queen Zelda said quietly.
Lacking the breath to spend on words, the Hero gave a weary nod and a jaunty little salute - which turned into wordless yelp when a delicate hand smacked him across the back of the head.
"I warned you the last time," Princess Zelda said. "Stop being so stupidly self-sacrificing and let us HELP YOU, already. I buried my father too soon because he was a stubborn fool; I'm not going to let you make the same mistake."
"Well, then," the regal blonde continued, ignoring the byplay and wiping her lips - which may or may not have been curved in a smile behind her napkin. "The Church will be pleased to know that Archpriest Dane has been found. Alive, even."
"I imagine they'll be less happy to find out he was carried off by a dragon," the Princess said dryly. Despite her lingering irritation with the Hero, she couldn't completely suppress an amused chuckle. "And here I was, thinking that sort of thing only happened to us royal girls."
"You were asleep for a long time, Cousin," came the Queen's response. "Kidnappers are much more equal-opportunity in their choice of victims these days."
"As are dragons, apparently." Eyeing the Hero, the Princess added dourly, "And yet somehow, men continue to be idiots about some things."
"Well, excuuuuse me, Princess!"
XANDER QUEST FOURTH BIRTHDAY OMAKE SPECIAL, PART THREE
THE KEY
At first glance, it was a church like many others scattered across Europe. And to be sure, it had much in common with them.
Great minds had pored over its design for years before so much as a shovelful of earth was overturned in its construction. Stone had been quarried and carved and carried across many miles to join ever-growing walls, held together by carefully-calculated placement, well-mixed mortar, and a certain amount of faith. Pillared columns lined the nave, supporting the buttresses that in turn held up the dome of the roof. Gaps in the walls had been filled in with elaborate stained glass displays, depicting scenes of saints and angels and martyrs, a colorful counterpoint to the plainer but no less detailed imagery that had been carved about them. Fine tiles lined the floor, and atop them stood all manner of furnishings, from humble pews and practical closets to relaxing chairs and the great pipes of an organ.
Yet this was not one of the great cathedrals that stood in the ancient cities of the continent, which had served as the offices of the leaders of the Church for century upon century and hosted countless thousands of believers in that time. Nor was it the heart of a humbler parish, where farmers and townsmen brought their children to hear the words of the priest, and where the children would one day bring their children to hear the same, down through the generations.
Instead, this church was part of a monastery, one isolated from city and town alike, a community intentionally set apart from the distractions of the world outside, so that its residents might better dedicate themselves to the study and contemplation of God. And if its construction happened to share certain similarities with the kind of forifications found in a castle that expected to see battle, well, that was not so unusual for the time. The age in which the monastery was built had been a dark one, after all, and any man who lived in it would have slept a little more soundly, knowing that strong walls and a barred gate stood between him and what roamed the night.
Then again, any man who knew just what was out there likely never would have slept well again, walls and gate or no.
Certainly, the sleep of the monks who called this monastery home had been troubled of late.
Though it was past midnight, a full score of the brethren were currently wide awake. Summoned by their abbot hours earlier, they had filed into the church, entered a concealed antechamber behind the altar, and proceeded down the staircase within. Now, they stood within a vaulted chamber dug deep into the modest mountain beneath the monastery - a room illuminated as much by an eerie green radiance as by the torches flickering along the walls.
The source of the otherworldly glow was an amorphous mass of emerald light that occupied the center of the room, its dimensions expanding, contracting, and shifting from one moment to the next, never the same twice. Carved into the floor beneath it was an irregularly-shaped diagram, dozens of curving lines linked together within a circle to form a complex symbol that held not a single straight line or right angle. Characters that might have been Latin surrounded the circle, while glyphs of a decidedly different nature could be found within it.
Twelve of the monks now stood in a ring around the sorcerous circle and its eldritch occupant, chanting in unison. The remaining brothers, most of whom had a couple of decades over the members of the chorus, stood back by the wall, composed yet watchful.
They had already been there for some time, and every one of them had witnessed this scene often enough to have grown inured to the strangeness and wonder of it, but their eyes nonetheless remained fixed on the glowing cloud.
At last, the patience of the senior monks was rewarded. Between one instant and the next, the gentle light of the cloud rose to an eye-piercing brightness, as all of its slow-drifting arms arched upwards, resembling great hands or a nest of grasping tentacles reaching for something.
The phenomenon lasted for less than a second, and was immediately followed by the light fading back to normal levels, while the outstretched mass of the cloud "collapsed" back on itself to resume its slow, aimless drifting.
An uneasy murmur passed through the small audience.
"And you say it has done this before, Brother Andreas?" the oldest-looking of the assembled men asked. The monk he turned to was one of the younger members of the group, perhaps in his early thirties.
The monk in question nodded. "Yes, Abbot Michael. This is the third night in a row that we have observed these surges, but there have been previous incidents going back several months."
"Months?" an older brother exclaimed. "And we're only just now hearing of it?"
"It's only recently that we've been able to observe any kind of pattern to the events, Brother Petros," Andreas said in an apologetic tone. "There's been a steep increase in activity over the last few weeks, and the last three days in particular-"
Several voices were raised in protest and concern at this.
"It's happening more often?!"
"-should have told us sooner-"
"-what could be causing-"
"-never heard of such behavior-"
"-reckless, irresponsible-"
"Enough!" the abbot called out, both hands raised to signal for silence. He had not spoken that loudly, but most of the monks heeded the call for order anyway.
One, however, did not - a man whose eyes were wide and face pale with fear.
"Is it the Beast?" the monk in question asked.
A mass flinch went through the room, accompanied by a moment of dissonance in the choral chanting.
"No, Brother," Andreas replied firmly. "I am certain of that much, at least."
"Please explain," Abbot Michael said quickly.
"It is part of the reason why I waited this long to inform the rest of you," Andreas explained, looking around apologetically. "Once I and the other watchers knew that the behavior we were seeing from the Key was not a unique occurence, we wanted to know whether or not it was a sign of the doom we have long feared. We re-examined the prophecies, performed the auguries, prayed for guidance - every method at our disposal. I even contacted an old friend who works with one of the oracles in Rome."
There was a murmur at this, some of it surprised, more disapproving.
Once again, the abbot raised a hand for silence. "You were discreet, I trust?"
"Yes, Abbot," Andreas replied. "I spoke with oracle over the phone, and I asked her only, 'Is it what I most fear?' Her answer was a simple, 'No.'"
"And our other sources?"
"We received the same answer from them all. Whatever is causing the Key to act this way, it is not the Abomination."
The monks' relief was palpable.
"Do we know what it IS, then?" one of them asked tentatively.
Again, there was a moment of silence, broken only by the ongoing chant.
"Not as such," Brother Andreas admitted. "We have attempted to determine the cause, of course, but our predecessors left no records of the Key having behaved in this manner before, none of the prophecies appear to speak of it, and our attempts to divine the answer have been... less than enlightening."
"How so?" the Abbot questioned.
Andreas hesitated. "Mostly, we've been seeing fire."
"Only mostly?"
"Yyyyes..."
"Speak, Brother," the Abbot insisted. "We cannot make informed decisions without information."
The monk sighed. "Several of the brothers have reported seeing a woman."
"...a woman," the Abbot repeated with a slight frown.
"A woman's eyes, at least," Andreas said. "Apparently very striking eyes, and also... rather terrifying."
"How so?"
"They were shooting flames at anyone who saw them. Flames that... carried over into the real world. No one was harmed, but the effect was... startling."
The Abbot considered that in a very different light. A woman was one thing. A woman powerful enough to retaliate against those scrying on her was something else again.
"Is that all?" the head monk asked.
"...no, sir. Brother Lukas... he... well..."
"Out with it, man!" one of the brethren burst out. "What did he see?"
"He saw a pig," Andreas sighed.
For a third time, the non-chanting monks fell silent.
Someone MAY have snickered.
"...a pig." Now the Abbot just sounded lost.
"A wild boar, to be precise," Andreas elaborated. "Very large, very strong, and very ANGRY."
The monks struggled to make sense of this.
"I don't recall any associations between boars and the Key."
"-ancient symbol of strength-"
"-could be looking for a trickster-"
"-often associated with the death of heroes-"
"-an enemy-"
"-could have just missed dinner that night-"
"-the woman?"
Everyone stopped and turned to stare at the monk who'd spoken.
"What was that?" Abbot Michael asked in frank astonishment.
"I said, 'maybe the boar IS the woman?'"
Every man in the room had the sudden, absolutely certainty that, somewhere out there, a woman had just gotten angry with their brother.
As magic gathers to create the Heart container you run into the spot of it's appearance and cast as loud a spell of create bottle as possible smashing the heart container into your pocket.
*Gained Heart of Sorrow*
Then you gather the leftover dark energies of the dead shadow putting them unto the container.
*Gained essence of sorrow, shadow- strong, insanity- strong, spirit- strong, Dark- very strong*
"So who get's the loot?" You ask holding up the jar, the dark swirling mass glowing with darkness inside, hoping no-one noticed you pocketed the Heart Container.
By rights it's a gift from your Goddesses to you anyway, but you'd rather avoid arguing with a true vampire and 9 tails over it's ownership.
Your partly successful. Sure enough the Kitsune start arguing over it but you can't sigh in relief because Gyokuro seems to be very unhappy.
She Pulls out a flask from behind her back and drinks it and you can feel her aura grow stronger as her Youki starts to recover. As her cold red eyes bore into yours.
You involuntary shiver.
Traumatic memories+
"You and me are going to have to have a long talk about manners boy.
Alex: "Look at what I brought back!"
Dad: "Is that a... wolf pelt?"
Alex: "Yep!"
Mom: "How did you pay for it? I don't recall you having tens of thousands of dollars of allowance."
Alex: "I... uh. Didn't pay for it."
Mom: "...Alexander. Lavelle. Harris."
Alex: "Well, Sokka and I were off exploring the ice caves together."
Mom: "And you expect me to believe you just stumbled across it?"
Alex: "N...ooo, they actually stumbled across us."
Dad: "They?"
Alex: "The pack of zombie ice wolves."
Mom + Dad: *stunned silence*
Alex: "You have to believe me! Look, look at the head, right between the eyes, you see those three tears?"
Dad: "Yes."
Alex: *holds up fist, places on pelt*
Alex: *knuckles line up perfectly*
Alex: "They ran away after they realized we weren't food, but we'd gotten four of them by then."
Dad: "You and your friend punched four... zombie... ice wolves... to death. Uh."
Alex: "Destroyed. They were already dead. And Sokka actually used his trusty boomerang."
Dad: "..."
Alex: "After we dragged them back to the village and I used magic to show them what'd happened, the tribe elders declared it to have been an honorable hunt, helped us tan the hides, and threw a party."
Dad: *distantly* "Okay. We're going to have a Talk about this. ...Later."
Alex: "The ceremonial roast seal was unusual, but amazing."
Mom: *thump*
Dreamscape
Alex stood in the desert sands, the hot sun beating across his back while the sand blew against his turban hands on his hips as he swerved his head from left to right checking his 300 ft stone wall for problems.
He tossed a soften earth and stone spell at the wall causing protective rune's to briefly glow and shine all over the walls surface. Protection rune's easily dispersing the energy of the spell.
As an alarm started blaring he smoothly pulled what at first glanced looked like a TV remote from his pocket. Hit a button and turned the alarm off.
Behind him stood wooden poles sticking in the ground with yellow, green, and red flags waving. A guide for navigation through the never-ending sandstorms. Protection from would be invaders. Perfectly navigable if you knew the proper way. Enchantment spells weaved throughout would ensure you'd lose your way if not.
Alex looked at the tentacle green moon? Radiating it's love? in the middle of the sky. He still wasn't sure how would explain that one to Mom. He'd originally planned to use the mindscape spell for this project but due to the nature of human sleep that spell ended up not being a good choice for his purposes. Luckily Gen had gotten that book in about how to enter the Dreamlands, which allowed for a normal sleep cycle. Not completely appropriate for his purposes but it had given him ideas.
With research he'd managed to make his own small temporary Dreamscape in the Astral Plane. Which the green thing had quickly latched onto, surrounded, warded, and started to upkeep. This had been extremely creepy at first. Ok it was still creepy.
Convenient though.
Smiling, he earthglided through the wall to the small world he'd built inside and ran across the water to the closest of his islands. A Squirtle popped out of the water and the fight menu came up.
Smirking he stated "Run", said "Start" to open his options menu and turned off the option for battles. He wasn't here to play at the moment.
Coming up to the beach he spotted Moblin who was currently holding a carrot in his mouth. When he'd first rewarded him for foraging he hadn't expected him to dig up the neighbor's garden. Should he pet him or not?.. It might encourage bad habits.
*Pet* *WOOF*
Alex could stop himself from smiling.
"Cmon boy let's go to the village," Alex stated as he started running into the forest of the island at 30 mph, Moblin by his side.
A bit later they arrived at edge of the village. A group of Deku Deku stood around a flower taking turns shooting at a target in a never ending cycle.
Intelligent artificial beings had never really been Ganondorf's thing.
He walked past a number of typical RPG buildings, Herbalist, Blacksmith, Library, Pokemon Center, to a Dojo that looked suspiciously similar to Lu-Sensei's in the Real world.
The Herbalist had fetch quests for ingredients and then showed the gatherer how to make potions. The Blacksmith showed how to make weapons. The Library had books that explained basic magic, ki, and other things. All of it was limited to his own knowledge though.
Hopefully his family would like it.
Entering the Dojo he spotted Larry sitting at the table looking bored.
"Hey Moblin," *Woof* The dog ran over to Larry and promptly started jumping on him.
"Down boy down."
He'd been planning on bringing his family first but his friends had overheard Briar talking with him about his Dreamscape defenses and gotten curious so he'd went ahead and showed them the place first.
"Briar, Amy and Cordelia are in the Library and Cordelia wants you to figure out a way to bring her homework in here so she has more time for Athletics, Parties, Shopping and Hanging out."
Of course she does.
"But I think the highest priority is setting up an area to fight zombies with shotguns. Up for a spar?"
"You know it won't make you stronger and you'll still have to exercise just as much in the real world right?"
"That's a good point. *Pauses* Guess I'll go play Pokemon. *Smiles*"
"The Pokemon also know DDR dances."
"Really Alex. You added DDR before setting up zombies to fight. Your such a girl sometimes."
Two weeks later
-Alex "So in the end I had to spend about six hours conjuring knives and such. Which was very tedious and boring."
-Tony "You know we have a car in the shop the owner sold to us for scrap. The whole car would probably be at least hundreds of knives worth of metal and after we removed the catalytic converter to recycle, the rest of its only worth 100 bucks or so. You could have taken some metal from it if you gave your uncle 20 bucks or something."
-Alex *Groan*
Alex: "Well, it all started when demons interrupted my prayers."
Kenneth: "Demons? Really?"
Alex: "Yes, really. But, Lord Raiden intervened, so I kind of owe him a favour."
Mary Drake: "Lord Rai... Oh, Lord"
Alex: "Exactly. So to pay him back I agreed to do three tasks. The Hakubas were very helpful in setting that up."
Mr Pritchard: "Ah, the Hakubas. Good people."
Alex: "That they are. So the first job went easy, just some repairs. No problem. The second job was to investigate a kidnapping. To make a long story short, the culprit was an insane kitsune."
Master Lu: "How many tails?"
Alex: "Um, nine."
Arthur Drake: "You fought a ninetails?"
Alex: "No, I left that to the grownups. I'm not that stupid."
Lucia Drake: "Which grownups?"
Alex: "Um, the Hakubas, Lady Gyokuro, and a couple of other foxes. Oh, and a ghost, though she didn't fight. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Anyway, when we figured out what we were up against, Briar's mom suggested a magic mirror she knew about, but somebody needed to retrieve it."
Lance: "Let me guess, it was in Faerie."
Alex: "Who is telling this story? But yes, it was in an old Memorian base. The entrance is warded against fairies, so she couldn't get in, but the Hakubas, Briar and I could. The place was awesome: Golems, skeletons, ghosts, and a whole nest of giant spiders in the basement. After we cleaned out the spiders, Captain Marcus, he's the ghost that runs the place, led his forces against the rebels and corrupted golems, while we went down into the mines to collect the mirror."
Anna: "Corrupted golems?"
Alex: "Yeah, there was a curse on Shadow Link, and it was corrupting everything around him."
Eric Drake: "Shadow Link?"
Alex: "Oh, he's the animated shadow of an old Hylian Hero. He was the one guarding the mirror. The curse was making him crazy, but once I punched it out of him, he got better. Cool guy."
Eric: "You...punched a curse out of someone?"
Alex: "Yup. After we got the mirror, we went back to Japan. We used the mirror to pull the fox's insanity out of her so she could kill it. Tama-chan sent the fox's daughter's ghost along to help talk her down after. It helped."
Altria: "'Tama-chan'?"
Alex: *Pulls out picture* "Her."
Altria: "She looks like lots of fun."
Alex: "Oh, she is."
Ambrose: "How exactly do you know 'Tama-chan'?"
Alex: "Exactly the same way I know Archer, but she said I'm not to call her anymore. Her other tails aren't very nice." *pout*
Ambrose: "...You do this on purpose."
Arthur Drake: *cough* "So, the whole thing started with gods."
Alex: "It finishes with them too. You see, while we were in Faerie, Mr Hakuba noticed that he was more powerful than normal. Like, by quite a bit. And he went back to normal after returning to Earth. So Navi, that's Briar's mom, agreed to bring him, a few priests from other shrines, and their kami, to Faerie so they could talk things out. The kami weren't allowed to give details, but apparently there is some screwed up agreement or bureaucracy or something that is preventing Earth's gods from interacting directly with their followers, but it doesn't apply in Faerie. Navi isn't a taxi service, so Captain Marcus told us about a portal between his base and some place in Europe, but the Earth side isn't working. He gave me the map so I could find the thing and fix it for him, but I can't make sense of it."
*** silence ***
Altria: "So, um...what was the third job?"
Alex: "Oh, an old man has a puzzle box they want me to check out. I'm dealing with it after the eclipse. Speaking of which, I might need help disposing of it if it has something extra nasty inside?" *Looks hopefully at Ambrose*
Ambrose: "This is why I wanted my own bottle."
*Omake: The Golden Goddesses watch (and crash) a party!*
The Golden Goddess of Hyrule were currently gathered together for one of their favorite pass-time:
Watching over "Alex" Harris, formely Ganon(dorf), going (read: trying) to make his way through life without either dying a horrible death or turning into a Dark Lord/Demon (again.)
Din especially was excited, always happy to watch her former chosen (and perhaps future...) go through adventures after adventures... Most without even trying.
Honestly, him being reincarnated was the best thing that had happened in a LONG time; Hyrule was safer than it had been in a LONG time nowadays, and she had a would-be hero to watch over with fascination and pride again!
Even her sisters admitted that Alex was interesting, and while they weren't quite as interested in him as her, they still enjoyed greatly watching over him (Nayru especially was fascinated by the knowledge to be gained by watching another world, being the Goddess of Wisdom).
And so here they were, watching over him about to finally do the familiar ritual that had been planned for what seems like such a LONG time, considering all the adventures Alex found himself into since it was first thought of.
*Drop.
"One for Power, for the body, and the world without."
Drop.
"One for Wisdom, for the mind, and the world within."
Drop.
"One for Courage, for the spirit, and the world withal."
Pulling back his hands, left hand turned over with the index finger curled over his palm to avoid spilling any additional blood, Alex let Briar perform her part.
"Ow," she muttered, before affirming her agreement to his pact.
Drop.
"One for Power, for the body, and the world without."
Drop.
"One for Wisdom, for the mind, and the world within."
Drop.
"One for Courage, for the spirit, and the world withal."
Though Alex doesn't truly hear the impact of the tiny drops of Fae blood within the bowl, each is accompanied by a progressively larger flash of magical energy - first a tiny spark, then a bright burst, and finally, the same manner of radiant glow shared by the other activated reagents.
Briar rejoined him in the center of the circle, and he proceeded with the next stage of the ritual, calling upon the powers of Light, Shadow, and Darkness.
"Powers of Darkness... hear me!"
That order was no coincidence.
Farore frowned: "Wait, what was... uh-oh."
By this time, the eclipse had progressed to the point where the aura of Shadow was being overtaken by one of Darkness, as the Moon approached the point of true occultation.
"Servants of Chaos... heed me!"
Invoking the Element of Light now not only fitted his personal preference for this circle of powers and lent Light's properties of purification and blessing to the ritual, it would also let conclude the invocation of elements with Darkness, rightly applying its property of endings - and so drawing power away from the other, less beneficial aspects of Darkness.
Farore snarled: "Not happening!"
And yet despite this, and all the other precautions he had taken, he couldn't escape a chill as the aura of Darkness grew stronger.
"Children of the Night... harken to me!"
It was impossible for him to forget that this eclipse is the same one that heralds the rebirth of the Dark Lord Dracula.
Nayru grinned, eyes cold: "Din, would you mind?"
With an effort, he forced himself to shut away those concerns, and focused on his spell.
"The time has come! The Dark Lord rises again! He calls to you-"
There was one final stage of the ceremony that must yet be completed.
Din grinned, looking utterly gleeful at the chance of smiting the cultist: "Not. At. All. Hey, tall, dark, and pasty?"
Resolute, and trusting not only in his own efforts, but the protection of the Goddesses, he proceeded.
"-serve... eh? Who DARES-"
With an exertion of magic, spirit, and will, he focused the power of the ritual through his half-formed bond to Briar-
Din grinned maliciously: "PISS. OFF."
-and in a short, sharp flash of pain, severed the Hellmouth-contaminated link completely.
"GAAAAHHHH! IT BUUUURRRRNNNNSSSS!"
Even though he was braced for it, he couldn't suppress the gasp of pain that came with the cutting of that bond. Twisted and tainted as it was, it had been with him for over a year, a source of reassurance and companionship. To lose it...
Din returned to staring at Alex, a satisfied smile on her face: "Good riddance. Now, then, where were... oh, good, I didn't miss it!"
From the audible whimper and the way Briar dropped a good three inches in the air before catching herself, he wasn't the only one who had felt that.
Farore threw a quick, harsh look at Din: "Shhh! This is the best part!"
Fortunately, there was an easy fix.
He adjusted his metaphysical grip on the magic, "aimed" it in a different direction, and willed it to flow through the array beneath his feet.
Nayru nodded, looking in approval at Alex's actions.
The silver powder erupted into silver FLAMES as the magic shot through the diagram, spreading along every line and curve and leaping to each seemingly-indepent sigil as it went. Where the surge of power reached a reagent, the gathered material momentarily FLARED with potency and purity, before being utterly consumed.
Nayru nodded again-so far, so good.
The Gatesoil burned like paper in a fireplace, leaving even less than ash.
Din grinned.
The Glacial Core Fragment sublimated instantly, and even its steaming residue was rapidly consumed.
Nayru watched closely, making sure everything worked as intended.
The Essence of Wind swirled even more wildly, before breaking apart.
Farore nodded- things were looking good.
Searfang's Horns were shot through with lines of reddish-gold, recalling the monster's molten makeup, before they bursted asunder.
Din nodded-everything was working! Good!
The Antarctic Meteorite crumbles away, as if a billion years of erosion had taken place in the span of seconds.
Farore narrowed her eyes, readying herself for the final parts.
The Ectoplasm boiled away with a ghostly cry.
The Goddesses smiled-
The mingled blood-
"HOLY-!"
-did SOMETHING, but he was not able to see what, because in the same moment that it happened, the link that was just broken was replaced, with a feeling as of LIQUID FIRE POURING THROUGH HIS VEINS.
-Din grinned-
But in a GOOD way.
-The Goddesses leaned forward, smiles on their faces-
He was pretty thoroughly distracted by this unprecedented sensation, but the ritual allowed a couple of minutes of "breathing room" at this point for precisely that reason, so he'll forgive himself for missing the particular reactions that consumed the last three reagents.
-And the three Goddesses cheered as one: "AND DONE!"*
The Goddesses looked with smiles at Alex, watching and feeling the bond between him and Briar approvingly.
They relaxed, talking happily about what happpened-
Before freezing, eyes narrowed while looking at the MANY bats that Alex and companions were currently staring at, Din's fingers twitching at the thought of more smiting...
Eventually, Alex and his friends returned to his friend's home... And all three snorted in amusement at the guard's words, Din looking particularly amused and proud equally.
Then:
You nod. "Alright, then. That does sound about right."
And all three Goddesses bursted out laughing at the utterly blasé way that Alex stated that, which was to say nothing of the guard's face at the words.
Navi's own arrival didn't help them any in trying to stop laughing.
Things, however, became a lot more serious when Death's little "speech" was made, though Din couldn't help a very approving grin directed at the knight about to fight DEATH.
The Goddesses looked at the covering-up of the situation with equal frowns and feelings of approval, understanding, but not liking, the measures taken to preserve the status-quo.
Then Alex went and proposed to cast a spell of scrying, and the three Goddesses leaned forward, eager to learn what could be learned of the situation (and sending impressed looks at Alex when he DID succeed at casting said spell).
The three Goddesses blinked at what they saw, before Din grinned approvingly at the warriors/magicals users currently "Kicking asses and taking names!"
When Ambrose mentionned the scrying, the Godesses watched closely what was said... Before all three snorted at Lucia Drake's words to her husband.
Though they listened closely to the situation, wondering if there were any way they could help further (Din was especially looking forward at anything that might allow her to smite the Dark Lord himself...)
When Alex and the rest of the group went to open a way for those fighting to return to safety, they stared closely at the portal...
And Din's fingers twitched again at the monsters showing up, lamenting the fact that a good fight was happening before her eyes that she couldn't participate in.
When Alex screamed at Ambrose about the dark mage, Nayru nodded approvingly-trust the adult wizard to take care of things wasn't a bad idea.
And finally, Din couldn't help but burst out laughing at Arthur Drake's words about needing a horse, before laughing harder at Eric's own words, clapping them on, a wide grin on her face, while Farore was too busy staring in shock, and Nayru...
...was too busy facepalming at the insanity before her to say anything.
The Three Goddesses couldn't help but agree on one thing, however-
Watching over "Alex" Harris was never boring! (Though Nayru grumbled about things being "FAR too interesting", words cheerfully ignored by Din...)
(Here it is! A small omake about what I think the Golden Goddesses are thinking if they were [are?] watching everything going on! Hope you all liked it!)
Din Ruins The Moment
Follows this omake of Judge's
Link stood stood side by side with the two Zeldas facing the young dragon Volvagia atop a round arena of rock surrounded by chasms falling down into crimson lava.
The young Archpriest of Din could be seen chained to a chair at the far side of the room.
"You need to return the priest you took." Spoke Links queen. "It isn't right to kidnap people. You can't just take people."
"Leave this place mortals. True love knows no boundries. Why must you ruin everything!" Responded the despondent dragon.
But before hostilities could commenced a golden glow surrounded the Priest.
"No it's not possible the room is warded!" Screamed Volvagia in confusion.
Sorry for interrupting, but I need my servitor for awhile. Little babyback is asking for my help.
"No! Dane! My darling. You can't take my Dane away. AHHH!" Screeched the dragon in anger.
"Erm, we'll just be going then won't we guys," Said the long sleeping Zelda as she pulled the others alongside her away from the angry dragon.
Altria's 16th Birthday:
Altria: "... Alex."
Alex: *Blinks and looks up* "Yeah?"
Altria: *Points and waves arms frantically at her gift*
ITS AVALON
Alex: "... Yes? What about it? It's your birthday present."
Altria: *chokes out words finally* "W-where?" *Well, a word*
Alex: "Just a simple fetch quest."
Briar: *Facepalm* "Alex, so help me!"
Alex: *Waves Briar down frantically* "Okay, okay, not so simple, but hey," *Shrug* "worth it."
Altria: *Stares* ... *Slams omake close-
Me: ... Oi. ...Okay, fair enough