Legends of the Hero of Time

by Ryan-Sinclair

A lore strict continuation of Ocarina of Time & Majora's Mask. The Hero of Time, Link, is blessed by the Golden Goddesses with a normal existence, free for himself to rule over. He must learn the true meaning of life as he attempts to join hylian society. Protecting and loving his new family, threats emerge as he grows to understand how he must still endure the challenges of fate.

26. Chapter 26

Chapter 26

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[Time: 7:50 P.M. (Evening)]

[Date: Month 8 'Autumn', Day 03, 8th Era]

(Location: Hyrule, Forbidden Forest, Kokiri Village - Great Deku Tree's Meadow)

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The Deku Tree Sprout gently waved in the breeze as a beam of waning sunshine bathed his upper half. With eyes closed, his smile showed that he was content with how things had been going lately. Although the gradually rotting remains of the Great Deku Tree loomed in the background, it served only as a metaphor of life for the little plant to be growing in front of its giant predecessor. When the time comes, he would gladly refill the role he once held as a demi-god of the forest. Until then, in order to grow in stature, he knew he had to focus on siphoning the magic out of the Forbidden Forest.

With a few of his personal fairies fluttering about the meadow, he certainly felt safe enough to relax. Unfortunately, his peace was interrupted when he heard kokiri voices approaching.

"Mido, you're such a jerk!" Fifi and her twin audibly snubbed the boy in disgust.

Scoffing in response, Mido said "What?! How do you consider me a jerk when I'm just trying to protect the village?!"

"You chopped down a tree to block the path leading out of the Forbidden Forest." Mimi lamented. "What if we need supplies from the outside world? What are we going to do then?"

"And, if you were that worried about it, why didn't you block the way from the Lost Woods instead? It's more dangerous out there than it is on the other side of the treeline." Fifi chastised.

Mido grumbled as they appeared from around the corner leading in and out of the Great Deku Tree's Meadow. He didn't understand why the twin sisters couldn't see things the way he did. Crossing his arms, he huffed to let them know how irritated he was before trying his best to explain. "You two don't get it. The Lost Woods might be dangerous, but we can control what comes in and out from there. There's no way for us to keep out humans and hylians in the same way we can keep out deku scrubs and wolfos."

"Link is one of those hylians, you goofball!" Fifi continued to reject Mido's isolation philosophy.

Mido waved his arm, disregarding the twins' admonishment while walking away from them. Even though he was definitely more fond of Link than he ever let on, he still feared the aberrations of the outside world. His intentions were pure in that he just wanted to ensure no harm came to his family. "Whatever."

"What are you three bickering about?" The Deku Tree Sprout creaked as he gently swayed in the breeze.

"Mido's making decisions on his own without notifying the rest of us." Mimi tattled.

"I'm just trying to keep us safe!" Mido spat, looking confused that he was being told on. "We can't just let any stranger mosey into our village anymore! It's too dangerous!"

Fifi pointed at the orange-haired kokiri brat in advance of arguing with him. "You're not just blocking strangers, you're blocking anybody from coming in!"

"Good!" Mido widened his eyes, extended his neck and stared intensely.

The Deku Tree Sprout kept a smile even as he rolled his eyes at his children's petty woes. He fully comprehended both reasons; Mido's urge to seclude the village as well as Fifi and Mimi's desire to stay in contact with hylians society. In one sense, it would be much safer to close off the borders of the Forbidden Forest in order to protect the fairies and kokiri. However, if they did such a thing, their supplies would be severely restricted. Although in most aspects their tribe was certainly self-sufficient, losing contact with the odd trader occasionally passing by would eliminate not only additional food and modern amenities, but knowledge of current events. He had already tried quarantining the village not that long ago and had no intentions of going back.

"Mido…" The Deku Tree Sprout stared at his fiery son with an austere look. "You shouldn't block the entrance to the village, especially since Link's still out there."

"That's what I told him!" Fifi blurted out.

The orange-haired kokiri boy stomped his feet and shook his fist at the twin. "Shut up, Fifi!"

"Don't tell me to shut up!" Fifi furrowed her brow.

"Alright, Alright-..." The Deku Tree Sprout butted in. "That's enough. Mido, as soon as you leave here, I want you to remove the tree blocking the path. From now on, you shouldn't make such a big decision without consulting with everyone else, especially me. Understand?"

Mido crossed his arms and grumbled.

"Do you understand?" The Deku Tree Sprout repeated in a squeaky voice.

Giving up with a long dramatic exhale, Mido relented. "Fine."

Before anybody could say anything else, the forest grew strangely quiet. An unnatural wind then came out of nowhere, blowing with gale force throughout the woodland. It brought with it an eerie chill that was unlike that of a normal weather front and was so strong it threatened to topple the Deku Tree Sprout. His thin trunk stretched and bent as it was blown, but thankfully held up without snapping. The three kokiri and their fairies reacted to the event as well. Fifi and Mimi shut their eyes from the gust and huddled together as their hair was blown back. Their sister fairies, Nina and Tita flew to them for help. Breena latched onto a lock of Mido's hair. In spite of having just been arguing with the two, the boy stepped in front of the twins as if to block the wind from whipping at them.

"Goodness!" Mimi exclaimed in surprise over the ferocity of the wind.

Nina shivered as she flattened her wings to avoid being caught by the hurricane draft. "Is the God of Wind upset this evening?" She asked, figuring the obscure deity was up in the heavens puffing his cheeks to create the air current they were trapped in.

Mido looked up at the surrounding trees where he saw birds were flocking away in droves. "What the-...?"

Even though the kokiri were spooked from the sudden gust of immense magnitude, the Deku Tree Sprout could sense what his children couldn't. He knew immediately that there was more going on than a simple change in weather. Being a demigod as well as the guardian of the forest, his extrasensory perception was capable of feeling physical impressions of beings within a short range distance of his roots. Right now, his roots were much tinier than those of his predecessor, yet he still managed to spot an encroaching supernatural entity trespassing in his sacred meadow.

Above all other titles, he considered himself a father of his kids. Thus, his foremost concern was for them. He was completely taken off guard by the abrupt intrusion and yet knew that he had to stay calm in order to not further frighten the three kokiri. "Fifi, Mimi, Mido, I want all of you to run and hide behind my husk right this very instant."

Unfortunately, his attempts to stay nonchalant failed as Mimi and Fifi frowned while trembling in fear. Their eyes darted side-to-side as they desperately tried to find what was causing the unnatural wind, still not comprehending that it was in all actuality a someone and not a something. "What's wrong?" They both spoke together in unison, always proving how similar their thought processes were considering they were identical twins. "What's going on?"

"Just do it. Now." The Deku Tree Sprout seethed the order like a stern father beginning to fear he was running out of time.

"B-But-..." Mimi stuttered to interject.

"No buts!" The Deku Tree raised his voice before commanding the fairies. "Breena, Nina, Tita, get them out of here. Now!"

Nina and Tita immediately did as they were told. Even though they couldn't physically drag the children away due to obvious reasons, they tugged and yelled at the twins until the kokiri girls gave up and listened. Together, they darted off to the backside of the meadow, sprinting around the remains of the old Great Deku Tree to seek shelter from the unknown.

Mido wasn't like them though. He wasn't so easily convinced to flee in the face of danger, even if he was told to do so by his beloved father figure. Standing strong no matter how hard the wind lashed out, he grit his teeth and balled his hands into fists. For a kokiri kid who had always been a laid back jokester, the fierce look on his face was because he had a newly developed desire to protect his family from any potential threat that might arise. He was totally unarmed, but he was willing to stay and dive headfirst into trouble.

To make matters worse, Breena also seemed to ignore or refuse her master's order. The guardian fairy stuck with Mido and stayed on his shoulder, holding onto his hair for safety.

"I'm not going anywhere!" The freckled kokiri boy spat. He raised his clenched fists in front of his body and stood in a defensive manner, ready at a moment's notice for an impromptu fistfight.

When the unnatural gale blew so hard it began to push Mido back, his feet made ruts in the ground as he tried to dig in to stop himself from being moved. Although the Deku Tree Sprout wasn't appreciative since he wanted his son to be smart and run away like he demanded the others do, it was because of the boy's defiant actions that the plant-god's slim frame wasn't completely toppled by the enormous gusts.

Regardless, the sprouting demigod yelled one more time in an attempt to convince the kid to flee. "Mido! Get out of here!"

"Never!" Mido's lower lip covered his top lip as he kept his dukes up like an immature pugilist.

"We'll protect you, Deku Tree!" Breena actually encouraged her child as she bravely faced the wild wind.

More than ever, the Deku Sprout wished that he had been created with appendages. For a split second, the little plant imagined being a hulking tree with python muscled forearms bulging with sap. Were that a reality, he'd grab his son right now and push him back to safety before straight out uppercutting the approaching invader beyond oblivion. Unfortunately, that wasn't real. He had no arms or legs, so he was forced to accept that all he could do was merely watch everything happen around him.

One last time, the supernatural gale blew with abnormal force. Aside from the eerie blare hiss caused by the wind, the surrounding forest was utterly silent. Not only had the birds evacuated, but every other critter of the woods had as well. Mido had seen this occur before back when he accompanied Link, Saria and Fado out into the Lost Woods to look for the Ocarina of Time. The boy had a creeping suspicion that he knew who was behind the strangeness unfolding before him.

Even though the Deku Tree Sprout hadn't been there with his son to experience what the kokiri boy did, he too had an inkling as to who was coming. Not only was he able to sense the malicious encroachment through his previously aforementioned expansive roots, he also identified the similarities between what he was seeing against what he'd been told by Link. It infuriated him to know that an entity would dare tarnish the sanctity of his Sacred Meadow by visiting without permission, especially one likely to have rather nefarious intentions. Through his divine connections with sprites, he was able to summon all the fairies in the village. Except, instead of a call to arms, he was issuing a warning to them that there was a dire danger and the kokiri needed to seek immediate shelter. The last thing he wanted was for everyone else to be caught off guard like he had been.

A scream in the distance made him fear for the worse. It sounded like DeBe or Laya, but he was unable to tell. He just prayed that whoever it had been was okay. "That is it…" He furrowed his thin mossy eyebrows. "I've had enough of this."

No matter his inability to move or how scared he was for the lives of his precious children and their pixies, his vexation over the situation peaked. He could care less that Mido was standing in his way now, for he yelled with a voice that was projected further than anticipated from such a small statured deity. "Whoever you are, this is my Sacred Meadow and you have no right being here without my permission! Leave now or face the wrath of the Great Deku Tree in addition to the curse of the entire Forbidden Forest!"

The wind proceeded to die down. Now, all of a sudden, a deep voice chuckled in advance of speaking with a demonic undertone. "Still calling yourself the 'Great' Deku Tree, huh?"

From around the corner of the meadow came a dark shapeless amalgamation that resembled a pitch black swirling storm cloud. Within the blink of an eye, it shifted, transforming into a dark replica of the Hero of Time; a polar opposite complete with red eyes, slick hair, gray tunic and a seriously wicked smirk. "I suppose that does sound more imposing to outsiders than being called 'Deku the Little Wooden Stick'." Dark Link laughed maniacally as he offensively jested at the enraged demigod. "Or 'Deku the Turd'! Seriously-... That's what you look like-… A turd that was shat out by a constipated Moblin!"

"LEAVE NOW!" The Deku Tree Sprout found nothing the irritating doppelganger said to be amusing.

Mido was utterly appalled at the sight of his frenemy's physical form being replicated by a corrupted spirit. At first, his eyes widened and jaw dropped from the sight alone. But, before long, he snapped out of the shock and shouted "Don't make fun of the Deku Tree Sprout, you jerk!" After rapidly shaking his fist at the shadow version of Link, he heedlessly ran forth toward the entity while raring back, ready to throw a punch at any moment. "I'll kick your ass for that!"

"MIDO NO!" The Deku Tree Sprout screamed in terror for his spontaneous son.

Dark Link yawned at the sight. He knew the scrappy boy was no real threat to him, yet he also faintly recollected precisely how much the 'Mighty Mido' bullied the Hero of Time during their childhood. It might not have actually been the doppelganger experiencing the harassment, but it still resonated on some level. Then again, he also thought of the pompous kid as his overly sensitive counterpart's first true failure; a miniature boss who had long since been left undefeated for reasons beyond his comprehension. So, as soon as the rushing kokiri got within attack range, he opted to simply kick him square in the crotch.

Mido's plan was metaphorically shattered just as quickly his groin was. His arms flew to the side of him. The intense pain in addition to the sudden stop caused a strand of saliva to be ejected from his throat as he threw up in his mouth. "Y-You-..." He tried reacting, tried defending himself in spite of realizing his foley a bit too late.

Breena gasped in shock before crying out. "MIDO!"

Not done yet with the annoying brat who was now in his grasp, Dark Link conked him over the top of the head, lifted him up by the collar of his tunic with one arm, socked him in the face until the cartilage and bone in his nose broke and then casually tossed him off to the side as if he were a broken toy. "Pathetic pipsqueak."

"MIDO!" The Deku Tree screamed in absolute horror as the freshly stunned kokiri boy rolled in the dirt before tumbling to a rather rough stop a decent distance from them.

Once again, the demigod wished he could do more than watch the situation worsen. More than anything, he wished he could be granted the ability to unroot himself from the ground, miraculously grow arms and then crush the shadowy monster into itty bitty pieces. "STOP THIS AT ONCE FOUL TULPA! I COMMAND YOU!" His thin stalk creaked as he leaned forward with an irate expression. "YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO HURT MY PRECIOUS CHILDREN OF THE FOREST!"

Breena trembled, momentarily holding her hands to her cheeks from the shock as she hovered above her injured child. She just wanted to protect the Deku Tree Sprout from the impending danger, but instead of taking care of her kokiri like she should have done, all she managed to do was witness him get laid out like a ragdoll. When her stupor waned, she realized she still had a duty to fulfill. Gently landing on top of his face, even though she couldn't tug him to safety, she went to work using her magic in order to assist in healing his bloodied nose.

"No right?" Dark Link cocked his head to the side as he questioned the guardian of the forest's choice of words. "I have no right?" His laughter started out slow until intensifying to a wide grin and him wiping a tear out of his eye. "That's rich! Seriously?! Oh, wow! You couldn't be more wrong if you tried!" While in the middle of demented chuckling, he abruptly stopped in an unnatural manner. His face soured instantaneously. "I have just as much of a right to make an attempt at saving this wretched world of ours as you and those other posers of higher power do. If anything, I was actually born with this so-called 'right'. After all, what am I but a reflection? What am I but a copy of the hero you worthless divines so foolheartedly hope will deliver you to salvation?" Delving further into obsession with his cause, he scoffed. "I have more of a damn right than you do because I'm going to be the one who gets this job done!"

The Deku Tree Sprout couldn't tear his gaze off his hurt son. On the other hand, he knew he had to keep a close eye on the insane doppelganger. "What are you talking about?! What job?!"

Dark Link narrowed his glowing red eyes. He was unsure if the demigod was playing dumb with him, confused or truly didn't know what he was talking about. Not in the mood to play games, he decided to elaborate. "I'm talking about killing Ganondorf and eliminating the evil spirit of the Demon King residing within him. It's the only way to stop our realm from being devoured."

"L-Link is doing that, you idiot!" The Deku Tree Sprout was astounded that the copy of the hero had the audacity to pretend to want to play superhero, even more so that he appeared to somehow be aware of secret knowledge pertaining to the ongoing battle between the forces of good and evil.

"Is he?" Dark Link playfully placed his index finger to his lips like a drama queen. His expression quickly reverted to a dour one whenever he snapped at the forest guardian with solid facts. "No! All he's doing is keeping this accursed cycle going! Him and all the other reincarnations! They're just endless cogs in a machine so big you can't tell what it is, a machine so vast that even it doesn't have a singular purpose anymore!"

"What are you talking about?!" The Deku Tree Sprout interjected. "There's no machine; only flesh, blood and heroism!"

Slapping his hand to his forehead, Dark Link rolled his eyes. "It was a metaphor regarding the chain."

Again, the Deku Tree Sprout didn't understand what the doppelganger was getting at. Nonetheless, he knew what he wanted the freak of nature to do. "Just get out! Get out of my meadow now!"

Lifting his lip in disgust, Dark Link shook his head and did the exact opposite of what the demigod wanted from him. He walked forward until he stood a mere five feet (1.5m) away. At this distance, he was able to quite literally look down upon his counterpart's father figure. Unlike the person he was copied from, he never had the privilege of being raised by a loving parent. He didn't have someone to teach him right from wrong or someone to tell him everything would be okay. Instead, he had to essentially raise himself, to develop his own sense of morals and righteous ideals. With nobody to nurse his booboos when he failed, he had to learn everything the hard way.

"Don't you see?" The shadowy replica pointed out. "That's the problem with deities like you, who think they're the only solution to problems. Even when things have gone beyond your control, if it isn't part of your grand plan, you refuse to take any help that's offered to you."

"There is a reason for that." The Deku Tree Sprout stoically argued. "If you're not part of the divine's grand plan, it's because you won't be of any use to it."

Dark Link grumbled in response. "Like hell I won't be. I'm different. I'm not restricted to the laws you and the others abide by." Flourishing a wave towards his own form, he said "I'm willing to do whatever it takes to defeat this cancerous blight infecting realms. Unlike you, I know I can't save everyone. If a few people have to perish to save the masses, then I'm willing to consider them expendable. I'm willing to use anyone I deem beneficial to the cause, use them as I see fit." Scoffing, he manifested a loogie he proceeded to hawk onto the ground to the side of the demigod. He couldn't stop himself from becoming melodramatic as he had a flare for extravagant sensationalism. "The game your masters have been playing with mortals for eons is over. Your plans only delayed the inevitable and now the cycle of reincarnated heroes and princesses is in danger of collapsing because the Demon King has been slowly chipping away at the chains pulling it along. If something isn't done soon, it'll break free of its bondage and eat our world like it's done to so many others."

"You won't be able to do it." The Deku Tree Sprout spoke rather nonchalantly.

What was said took Dark Link by surprise as he didn't expect the Guardian of the Forest to refute all he told it with such simplicity. Taken aback, he had to verify he heard correctly "What did you say?"

"You won't succeed." The Deku Tree Sprout reiterated. "You're a tulpa created out of dark magic, which just makes you a part of the problem. You'll never be able to defeat the devil that caused your existence in the first place."

Although the doppelganger's hands balled into fists, he managed to restrain himself from outright attacking the wise protector. Releasing steam by letting out an extended exhale, he drew his hand up his face in exasperation before pulling back on his replicated floppy hat. Upon letting go, the garment sprung back with unnatural elasticity. Turning his head to the side, he acted cheeky. "We'll just have to see about that." Placing his hands on his hip, he explained what he planned on doing. "I'm going to find every person who's been screwed over by Ganondorf and use them to my advantage. Together we're going to take the fucker out. I don't need courage, wisdom or help from gods beyond. All I need is power, power and revenge."

Bending down, he got right in the Deku Tree Sprout's face in order to ask "What do you think of that?"

The Deku Tree Sprout knew that by offering his honest opinion, he was risking a chance of being maimed or destroyed. But, he couldn't stop himself from revealing how he truly felt. "I think that you're underestimating what you're dealing with and overestimating your own capabilities. I think you're a fool who's bored with reality. I think you have no interest in saving the weak or the innocent, you're only trying to change things because you're scared of your own mortality." With wide eyes, he shared his personal feelings. "I think, even if you're a direct copy of him, you're nothing like Link and you're nowhere near as powerful as him. Because of that, you're destined to fail."

Dark Link narrowed his eyes as he stared intently at the blabbering stick. He didn't like the response he received and was ready to rip the sapient plant up out of the ground and break its stalk over his knee. Again, he managed to hold himself back from acting on his desires. Nonetheless, upon examining the demigod's body language, the posture it stayed in. He could tell the being was putting on a front. It was obvious that, deep down, the Deku Tree Sprout feared the doppelganger and was concerned for its wellbeing. So, in spite of being enraged by the guardian's lack of respect as well as inability to see the worth in a superior scheme, he just chortled. To ease the concern, he told him "Don't worry. I'm not here to kill you."

"Then what do you want?" The Deku Tree Sprout raised a mossy eyebrow.

Puckering his lips, Dark Link laughed more in advance of laying out his master plan. "I just wanted to let you know my intention, so you'll know who to worship whenever I defeat the Demon King, kill the World-Eater and prove my superiority over my counterpart." Turning around, the doppelganger began slowly walking back toward the entrance/exit of the Great Deku Tree's Meadow. As he approached the corner, his legs gradually morphed into the shapeless blob he'd been when he first arrived.

It wasn't until the shadowy replica had fully disappeared from his view did the Deku Tree Sprout manage to feel a level of relief that neither he nor Mido had been slaughtered by the maniacal living embodiment of darkness. Unfortunately, the same couldn't be said for the rest of his children as he was unable to tell if anybody else had been harmed.

Now that his safety appeared to be guaranteed, with the wellbeing of his beloved kids the only thing in mind, he used his spiritual connection to his forest sprites in order to summon any that weren't occupied to go assist. While several were reluctant to leave his presence, they soon did as they were told; either voting to physically check by flying above the pathway to avoid danger or communicating to their sisters telepathically.

"Mido…" The Deku Tree Sprout tried to rouse his son from the unconscious state the kid had been knocked into. "Mido, are you okay?"

"He got hit really hard." Breena confirmed.

"Mido…" The Deku Tree Sprout continued to try waking his son up. "I need your help, son. Please wake up."

Be it fate or just sheer luck, even in the comatose state, his father's voice registered. The orange-haired kokiri boy stirred ever so slightly, turning his head to the side, coughing, moaning and then shifting his legs.

"Mido…" Breena helped to slow the blood dripping out of his broken nose.

Finally, he opened his eyes; one opening sooner than the other. His pupils bounced a bit before focusing on his fairy first. He was confused and didn't remember what happened to him or why he was where he was. To top the situation off, his head was throbbing so badly it felt as if it was going to explode. "W-What-..." He stuttered a groggy response. "What's going on? Where am I?"

Breena held on as the boy tried leaning up. His attempt failed as he had to catch himself with his arms to prevent from collapsing.

"What happened?" Blinking, he winced from the pain in his skull. "Oww. Oww… Why am I so hurt?"

"Are you okay?" The Deku Tree Sprout asked with genuine concern.

Shaking his head, Mido wasn't sure what to say as his thoughts were still muddled and his memory was temporarily blank. "I-… I'm not sure." He rubbed his sore head. After spotting the blood that had dripped from his nostrils onto his arm, he realized his nose was busted. This freaked him out as he still struggled to remember anything that had just happened to him. "WHAT THE-...!? MY NOSE!"

"Focus, Mido." The Deku Tree Sprout encouraged. "I need your help. An evil spirit has invaded the village and is endangering your fellow siblings."

Small bits of memories gradually returned to the disoriented kokiri boy's mind upon hearing what had happened to him. He could suddenly recall seeing a familiar face. Except, it wasn't the face of the innocent hylian child who'd lived there in the forest with them his entire adolescence. It was a maleficent copy. 'Oh no…' He mentally remarked when he remembered getting beat up without being able to throw so much as a single punch. "I'm sorry." He pleaded to the demigod as tears welled in his eyes from sorrow in addition to the pain of having a broken nose. "I failed to protect you."

"There's no time to feel sorry for yourself." The Deku Tree Sprout responded to the kid's sorrow.

"But, I couldn't sto-..." Mido continued to apologize.

Cutting the boy off in mid-sentence, The Deku Tree Sprout swiftly interjected as he knew well that time was of the essence. In order to better persuade his son, he devised a way to appeal to the kid's desire for a comeback. "You can redeem yourself right now by alerting your siblings of what's happening. I need you to get with Saria and Fado; together, you three can rescue the entire village."

"W-What about Link?" Mido tried asking questions as he was still slightly befuddled as to why his home was under attack.

The guardian of the forest shook his head as much as his rigid plant frame would allow. "We can tell him of this later. He can't help us right now anyway." As a father, he gazed at his choleric child with hopeful expectation that the boy could act mature by going above and beyond during this emergency. "Right now, it's you who I need to save the day."

Hearing the impromptu peptalk gave the kokiri the motivation that he needed to get up and try again. Despite wanting to have the strength for a rematch against the doppelganger who busted his snout, he knew his best course of action was to listen to the deity that birthed him. Giving a nod of acknowledgment, he wiped the blood dripping from his nostril onto his upper lip and finally got back onto his feet. "I promise to do my best, Great Deku Tree." After straightening his dirty and wrinkled tunic, he started limping toward the exit of the meadow. He wasn't exactly in the best condition to rescue anybody from harm. Nonetheless, even with a pounding headache, broken nose and twisted ankle, the adrenaline that pumped through his veins allowed him to push himself to the limit.

"Breena-..." The Deku Tree Sprout caught the attention of the sprite before she left with her child.

Turning around as Mido limped off, the fairy asked "Yes, Great Deku Tree?"

The Deku Tree Sprout kept a worried expression as he told her "Keep him safe, okay?"

Breena gave a thumbs up before quickly flying to catch up to her kid. Together, the two hurried into the village so they could figure out what was going on in addition to rescuing anybody who needed their help. While for the time being they only had two kokiri, Fifi and Mimi, who were safe and sound there under the protection of the Deku Tree Sprout, fairies and mystical forest spirits. However, they hoped to increase that number to the entire populace of their tribe. No matter how hurt he was, Mido and Breena were both confident they could save everybody. At least, that's what they told themselves.

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[Time: 7:45 P.M. (Evening)(Ten Minutes Ago)]

(Location: Hyrule, Forbidden Forest, Kokiri Village - Know-It-All Brothers' House)

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Fado, Saria and the fairies had only just returned to Kokiri Village from their incredibly dangerous journey to the secret Woodwind Temple. Although they knew they had to speak with the Deku Tree Sprout as well as deal with the punishment he would most likely dish out to them for leaving the safety of the village, they had instead made a beeline straight to the Know-It-All Brothers house. To delay the inevitable, the two kids sought out solace in their peers. Both Saria and Fado had a feeling the intelligent siblings would have some decent advice regarding what to do, so they divulged everything that had occurred.

First, Fado spoke of navigating through the Lost Woods, then being stalked by creepy laughter from an unknown source, teleporting several miles away into the depths of an eerie temple as well as finding and fighting the nasty bokoblin who had made their encampment out there.

Saria added to the summary with how she met up with her friend and they proceeded to make their way through Farolittoral Cave. She told them how she found the remains of a previous group of humans, members of the defunct Expedition Guild who had long since failed to make their way through the treacherous subterranean passages unharmed. Although she didn't want to get her friend in trouble, she also told them how overly brave Fado had been.

The brothers were intrigued by the trek itself, but became absolutely fascinated upon hearing of the Woodwind Temple. The trio listened intently, even as their overprotective sprites scowled at what they heard. Tigu was stunned to know such a place had been hidden away inside the Forbidden Forest without him knowing. Higu was shocked to find out they encountered Tolenli Hawkeye, a member of the rito, a race previously thought to be mythical. Migu was surprised at the unprecedented discovery of one of their own being a legendary sage.

"It's definitely odd-…" Migu confirmed as he and his younger brother sat on wooden stools at the stump which served as their dining table. "But not impossible. Even if we're small statured kokiri, we're still sensitive and intelligent creations of the Golden Goddesses. Just because we're not as strong or fast as the other races in Hyrule doesn't mean we're not due a deserved spot in this world. Think of it this way; being a sage is a sort of recognition, a title of acknowledgement from the divines."

"Eh-..." Tigu, the oldest of the Know-It-All Brothers, interjected as he stoked the flames of the fireplace there in the center of the room. "There's a little more to it than just being 'called' a sage."

Higu butted into the conversation by saying "I've heard that they usually have some sort of special powers." Tapping his index finger to his puckered lips, he recalled what Fado had just told him. "You said that this so-called Tolenli informed you that you're the Sage of Wind? Have you noticed any new abilities related to wind?"

"Definitely." Fado replied as Saria delicately applied a glob of healing salve to the wound on her forearm from where the Deku Baba had bitten her. "I was able to harness the air several times. The arrows I released from my commandeered bow were propelled by the wind and even my sword seemed faster." Her eyes brightened as she remembered something else. It made her giddy to think she had new powers. She was tickled pink to think she was more important than the average kokiri. "Oh! Also, when I was fighting Tolenli and fell off the roof of the Woodwind Temple, I somehow managed to get blown back up onto it. At the time, I wasn't really able to think about how I did it. I just knew it was unusual. Most of it I thought came directly from the medallion. I figured it was acting on its own to protect me. But, now I realize that it was just reacting to me being the Sage of Wind since I was able to do this without it in my possession."

Tigu propped the iron poker up against the fireplace before turning toward the puffy pigtailed kokiri girl "Fascinating. Can I see the medallion?"

Fado nodded in advance of bending down to retrieve the green relic out of her bag. "Sure."

"Hold still…" Saria reprimanded as she made sure the healing salve was well smeared into the bite mark on her friend. "I don't know how you're not in agony right now. Heck, I don't even understand how this wound isn't worse than it is. You were bitten by a Deku Baba and it looks like it's been healing for a month."

"Maybe it wasn't as bad as it looked? Just a scratch?" Fado shrugged as she pulled out the Wind Medallion from her bag, handing it over to Tigu.

Saria shook her head. "I don't think so. I was there when it bit you, remember? I saw it sink its teeth into your arm and I saw your blood dripping to the ground. There's no way that thing only scratched you." Wiping her hand on a rag to get the rest of the medication off her palms, she then walked over to the table there in the Know-It-All Brother's house that had the alchemy equipment on it. Rummaging around, she soon found a small vial with a white liquid in it. "Speaking of which, they're poisonous, so you need to drink this antidote."

"I feel fine." Fado protested.

"Drink it!" Saria abruptly became stern, forcing the vial into her friend's hand.

Fado grumbled, popped the cork out of the small glass vial and then proceeded to toss her head back to drink the entire antidote. Her face contorted as she fought back the urge to vomit. The antidote was bitter to taste and was much thicker than she previously guessed.

She knew her friend was right since it was better to be safe than sorry. Nonetheless, she recognized Saria's intensive care and appreciated every second of it. It made her wonder if their adventuring had genuinely brought them closer together. Although she didn't want to admit it, a light blush crept upon her cheeks as she thought about how it had definitely strengthened the bond she herself had for the green-haired Kokiri.

Tigu stared inquisitively at the Wind Medallion in advance of asking his younger brothers "Have you ever seen something like this?"

Higu and Migu shook their heads as they got up to examine the relic together. Unfortunately, even putting their brains together, combining their intellect, the mystery wasn't immediately solved as neither of the younger brothers had a clue either. "No…" They said in unison before Migu suggested "We should run some tests on it to see if we can figure out its composition."

Moving over to the table with all their chemistry equipment, they first placed the green medallion on the stage of a brand new, only recently acquired brass microscope. Using a dried reed, Higu collected a flame from the fireplace prior to lighting a small glass lantern attached to the front of the device. Normally the object would be illuminated from through the aperture, but since the relic was dense, Tigu had to use a few positionable mirrors to reflect the light. Afterward, Migu hovered over, squinted and looked through the eyepiece before cycling through a few objective lenses to find the right level of magnification. What he saw was a green metal with absolutely no imperfections, not even a scratch or dent.

"Whoa…" Migu remarked in awe in advance of pulling away to give his other brothers a chance to look through the microscope. "This has got to be the smoothest metal I've ever seen. I'm not just talking about having been polished either. It looks so dense that there's no surface defects, yet it's way too light to be made of anything I'm aware of with those properties."

"Oh yeah…" Tigu confirmed as he looked into the microscope. "I see what you're saying."

Higu gawked through the eyepiece before simply adding "Weird."

Tigu pursed his lips as he thought about what to do next. Lifting his index finger due to having an idea, he looked for and then retrieved a small wooden box. "I know I have some lodestones. We can test to see if it has any magnetic properties." Removing the top of the box, he reached in and removed a medium-sized rock that was black with specks of brown sprinkled across it like rust. Taking the Wind Medallion from off the stage of the microscope, he then held the rock up to it, keeping them about an inch (2.5cm) away from each other. He didn't really expect it to react, but still took note of the lack of magnetism anyway. "Okay, it's not ferromagnetic either."

"Let me see. Let me see." Migu took the relic of unknown composition prior to holding it up to his ear and tapping on it. "It's not hollow either."

"How about a chemical test?" Tigu asked.

Higu shrugged "I don't know. I don't want us to ruin it in the process."

Tigu grabbed the medallion before saying "That's why you run a scratch test first and use the shavings." Grabbing a bistoury from off a nearby shelf, he placed the green relic flat on the table. Using the sharp blade, he located an inconspicuous spot off to the side before pressing the tip straight down onto the metal in an attempt to drive a small hole into it. To his surprise, he found that he couldn't even make an indentation. In fact, the tip of the bistoury flattened before the medallion could so much as be poked. "Geez! This thing is-… I mean, whatever it's made of, it's tough." Turning the bistoury to the side, he then proceeded to try shaving off a bit of the side. "Let's hope I can scratch it."

Putting more and more pressure on the blade, eventually it did slide, just much quicker than anticipated. Without leaving a nick on the medallion, the knife slid across the surface prior to slicing into the kokiri boy's own hand. "OWW!"

Dropping the bistoury, he grabbed a rag and immediately wrapped it around the lacerated finger. Since the rag was the one that Saria had smeared the healing ointment onto, he basically medicated it as well in addition to bandaging it. Nonetheless, he was stunned at how hard the metal was. He wasn't a geologist, but couldn't think of any known matter that had the same properties as the ancient relic he was examining. It made him wonder if it was a combination of materials, some sort of alloy, or simply an element that hasn't been discovered by mainstream science yet. Despite being nicknamed one of the 'Know-It-All Brothers', he in fact did not know precisely what he was dealing with. The best he could do at the moment was speculate and hypothesis. "Whatever this is, it certainly wasn't made by hylians or humans. I doubt any of the other known races made it either."

Tessl's face lit up upon hearing his explanation. "So, you're saying it was made by aliens?"

Tigu chuckled at the mere suggestion of something as silly as the current concept they had of extraterrestrial life. Shaking his head, he reiterated what he meant. "I doubt that. It probably wasn't aliens and it probably wasn't any of our ancestors. It's more likely to have been a race of people from the past who were here in our realm and history forgot. Since the Era of Myth, there have been many different species that have either gone extinct or evolved into another group entirely, some with bigger kingdoms than Hyrule. It's highly likely this is an object made by one of those ancient people."

"Hmm…" Fado pondered with her index finger curled to her lip. "So, why did it choose me?"

Tigu shrugged before Higu said "Probably because you're the Sage of Wind." Pointing at the engraving on the green medallion, he noted a connection. "See this image? I think it's a propeller, like one that would be on a windmill. Think about it; what does a propeller have to do with being the Sage of Wind? It seems pretty obvious to me. It harnesses wind."

"Yeah, I did notice that." Fado replied. "I thought the same thing too."

Saria butted in by asking "So, is it the medallion that's making her act strange or the fact that she's a sage?"

Migu stared at the blonde kokiri girl before enquiring "What kind of strange things have you been doing?"

Even though Fado managed to open her mouth, it was Saria who spoke in her place. The green-haired girl had been waiting and wanting to divulge every change she'd seen in her friend in hopes she could get some answers as to why they were happening. "She's lost interest in doing any of the chores here in the village and she's been going away from the safety of home to the Lost Woods just for the fun of exploring them. Not to mention, she's been making and using handcrafted weapons to kill stuff with." Momentarily stopping, she added in "I have to say, her craft and marksmanship are impressive. But, they're unnatural for kokiri like us."

The kokiri girl with puffy pigtails glanced over at her best friend, but soon had to look away as she suddenly felt her cheeks lightly flush. It was definitely a tad embarrassing for her to know that Saria had actually been paying such close attention to her behaviour all this time. Due to the conversation being about her changes of personality, she almost wanted to let them know how she'd also been feeling an above average level of attraction to her new partner in adventure. On the other hand, since it wasn't the norm for a kokiri like her to be lovingly charmed beyond anything other than platonic endearment, she knew for sure that she'd be absolutely mortified if they laughed at her or found such mature human emotions to be revolting. Considering the concern, she kept the awkward feelings of lust to herself even as the obvious blush made the rest of her fidgeting body feel hot as well.

"You're killing things?" Migu asked with a hint of fear in his tone.

Fado snapped out of her trance to relax their worries. She didn't want them to be under the impression that she was becoming some sort of serial killer going out into the Forbidden Forest to torture innocent animals. "Only things that are a threat."

"What about those squirrels?" Tessl stated questioningly.

Crossing her arms, Fado indignantly told them "I felt bad about that. It's why I went out into the Lost Woods to find better targets."

"Which were?" Tigu wondered.

"Mostly Keese and Deku Baba." Fado told part of the truth.

Pulling her lips to the corner of her mouth from frustration, Saria revealed the rest "And Wolfos, Chupa as well as Bokoblin."

"Hey…" The brave blonde kokiri poised "Those Bokoblin were invaders to our woods and needed to go."

Rolling her eyes, Saria refused to give up. She doubled down on insisting it was strange by saying "Yeah, except you had to go out of your way and even then you only found them by chance because you were somewhere you shouldn't be."

"Maybe." Fado admitted in advance to instantly backtracking so she could prove a valid point. "But, look at where my adventure got me? It not only allowed me to discover an entire secret temple that's been hidden away in our own backyard, it also showed that I'm the Sage of Wind. Though I may have gone out of my way to find all that out; I'd say it was totally worth it."

Saria growled at her friend's inability to see the danger they'd been in because of these personality changes.

On the other hand, Tigu, Migu and Higu all quietly conversed amongst themselves as they discussed a likely cause behind Fado's change in behaviour. Eventually, they came to a logical conclusion. However, in order to check if they were onto something, they went over to their bookshelf in advance of searching for an old tattered tome with a faded yellow cover that had 'Sages of Hyrule' written on it with silver gilding. Upon finding it, Migu removed it from the shelf. Opening it, he had to be careful as the spine of the book had deteriorated to the point where it was barely holding the pages together. Placing it down on the table, Higu flipped the musty pages until it revealed a section entitled 'The Characteristics of a Sage'.

Using his finger to follow along, Tigu studied aloud so that his brothers could hear him. "Though they pride themselves on being elemental protectors of the kingdom, the life of a sage is often a tumultuous one. Many given this title by the goddesses are subject to constant challenges throughout their service; such as daily rituals, upkeep of public appearance, concentrating magic, attack by monsters and even risk of assassination. Because of this, a certain poise is needed for their wellbeing and it's often suggested they meditate to better hone their character." Stopping to catch his breath, the Know-It-All Brother leered at Fado as he began connecting the similarities in her behaviour to what he was reading in the book. "Historically, the majority of the successful/renowned sages have been responsible with a critical sense of purpose. It's generally agreed by scholars that these two traits are imbued onto them by the divines so that they can better serve their goals."

"Does that make sense?" Migu inquired as he stared with one raised eyebrow.

Fado shrugged. She got the jist of what they said, yet wasn't entirely sure how that related to her. "So, you're saying my changes are because of the fact that I'm a sage?"

Closing the old tome, Higu answered for his siblings. "Generally speaking, yes. The author of the book we just read appears to be suggesting that your changes are a normal aspect of being titled as such."

"Responsibility as well as a sense of purpose?" Tigu jutted in. "Those are attributes of a mature individual."

"True. Which is probably why you've been going through this new developmental process." Tigu agreed with his sibling prior to speaking at Fado. "As kokiri, we're created, specifically made by the Great Deku Tree to resemble ageless forest children that live happy-go-lucky lives. Hunting critters of the forest doesn't usually appeal to us, nor does using weapons, adventuring in the Lost Woods or fighting monsters. But, if you've been predestined to become a sage, then it is only logical you form these differences from a regular villager to better suit your appointed needs." Putting the book back on the homemade bookshelf, he continued "Essentially, you're being granted a level of maturity none of the rest of us have so you can fill the role you've been given."

Fado was a tad confused. Looking down at her feet, she squinted and her eyes drifted side-to-side as she tried to comprehend what she'd been told. "So… I really am growing up?"

"That's impossible!" Tessl didn't like the idea of the concept.

Saria was bewildered as well. But, she had questions to ask before forming an opinion on the matter. "Yeah. I thought kokiri couldn't grow up and weren't allowed to stray far from the village."

"That's what I've been told as well." Laila confirmed.

Migu clicked his tongue before replying. "To my knowledge, none of us have ever been a sage either. This is new ground. Still, the cause and effect is valid in this case."

"Well, what about Link?" Fado asked.

Tigu shrugged. "What about him?"

"He grew up and matured." Fado responded. "Maybe it's more normal for kokiri than you think."

Saria shook her head before answering. "No. Link is a hylian, remember?"

"Oh yeah." Fado exhaled a sigh of frustration. "Okay. How am I supposed to feel about this then?" Placing her hands on her knees, she leaned forward in the chair while looking down at her feet. "Am I going to turn into somebody completely unlike the rest of you? I mean, if I'm maturing because I'm a sage, is that going to lead to me aging?" Her lip quivered as a sudden wave of shock washed over her. "Am I going to have to leave the village?" Her eyes darted side-to-side as she feared the worse. "T-The Great Deku Tree wouldn't forsake me like that, would he?" Her breathing increased with her pulse as she expressed her greatest concern. "By the goddesses, what if I turn into a Skull Kid?"

Tigu was prompt in waving his hands to catch the blonde girl's attention. He didn't have all the answers to this scenario, but he didn't want her to worry about such things either. "Relax. You're not anything like those who were banished from the village, so I highly doubt the Great Deku Tree would forsake you, especially over something caused by the Golden Goddesses themselves."

"I know he wouldn't." Saria confirmed.

Tessl chimed in with "He's too benevolent to do that."

"Why don't we just go talk to him about it?" Migu suggested. "I mean the Deku Tree Sprout. After all, he is the Great Deku Tree's successor and has most of his memories. We're honoured you came to us first, yet there's no doubt that he'd have more to tell you about this than we can."

Fado looked at Saria, who was looking back at her with a hint of anxiety. The double puffy pigtailed kokiri went from scared about her future fate to nervous about what her current punishment from her father figure will be. Stretching her mouth and wincing to express worry, she said "Yeah… I probably should."

Tigu stared curiously as he wondered "Is something the matter?"

Humming a tune of agitation, Fado finally informed them of her next trepidation. "I built my own weapon and then went out into the Lost Woods looking for monsters to kill. Don't you think the Deku Tree Sprout is going to be furious with me?"

"It's not like he doesn't already know." Saria filled the girl in on facts. "He was the one who sent me to go find you, remember?"

Fado opened her mouth to argue, yet found she couldn't think of anything. "I-..." She managed to say prior to stopping mid-sentence. Now that she had a moment of time to think about it, she was befuddled that the Deku Tree Sprout knew what she was doing and where she was going to go before she herself did. However, it soon dawned on her that it only made sense if the guardian of the forest knew all along that she was special. Thinking of it that way gave her shivers as she pondered her life being part of a prophecy. Were it true that her father had long ago been made aware of her purpose, then it was highly likely he was going to be lenient with her for the strange and awkward things she'd recently done. "You're right. I hadn't thought of it that way at all."

"The Great Deku Tree would never abandon you." Tessl comforted her child.

"I think Migu is right though." Laila reminded the kids. "We should stop speculating and go see the Deku Tree Sprout."

Fado sniffled with a small smile in advance of wiping the snot threatening to drip out her sinuses. More than anything, she was relieved to have the massive boulder of worry off her back. Although she hadn't spoken to him yet, she no longer felt as worried that the Great Deku Tree was going to be disappointed in her. "I'm ready now." She said as she stood up from the homemade chair. She decided that the time had come for her to pay a visit to the Great Spirit of the Forest. "Let's go tell him about the Woodwind Temple, Tolenli and what we discovered there."

"Do you feel up to the task?" Saria asked her friend "How is your arm?"

Extending and then retracting her arm, she flexed her muscles as she examined the fresh bandaging on her forearm. "Yeah. I'm actually feeling great; excited even."

"Huh?" Tessl squeaked upon noticing her child's abrupt change in mood.

"Definitely." Fado nudged Saria as she joked to further lighten the mood. "Now I know that I'm better than all of you."

They all shared in laughter for a bit considering they knew she didn't truly feel that way. She wasn't nearly as egotistical as Mido the village buffoon, and would never rub her superiority in her sibling's faces like that. Nonetheless, Tigu began snuffing out the fire in the firepit as the other four kokiri and four fairies were headed for the curtain-closed door at the other end of the room. Just before the group was about to exit together, right when Fado grabbed the curtain to pull it aside, they heard a loud shriek coming from one of the other homes not far from the Know-It-All Brothers abode.

The newly titled sage stopped dead in her tracks as the others narrowed their eyes with a nonplussed expression plastered on their faces. None of them were positive of what they heard until another person yelled.

Fado yanked open the curtain in advance of crossing the threshold of the doorway. Coming outside, she immediately noticed an eerie dark cloud looming over the village, one that hadn't been there just ten minutes ago. Looking to the left, she happened to see DeBe running out of the stump of a house that sat between hers and the shop. At first, the blonde kokiri wasn't sure what the other girl was running so frantically for that she was nearly tripping over her own feet. That quickly changed as soon as she saw something else come out from within the home DeBe was just inside of.

Completely out of place there in the supposed safety of their village was a menacing stalfos that quickly came charging out of the house after her. The undead skeleton warrior rushed at the innocent kokiri with a rusty broadsword.

Even though it had been a long time since they had seen the attire, Saria and the Know-It-All Brothers were old enough to be able to recognize the tattered clothing worn by the red-eyed monster. While the metal pauldrons on each of its shoulders as well as the short-rimmed spiked kettle helmet on its head was a relatively decent clue to the identity, what stood out the most to them was the ragged trousers, frayed leather gauntlets and torn boots it donned; all of which were the colour teal. They knew that those were part of the military uniform once worn by the deceased hylians sworn ages ago to protect the Forest Temple from outsiders. The stalfos had once been a member of The Oracle's Guard.

"WATCH OUT!" DeBe's fairy Rose yelled out to the child.

DeBe looked back just as the stalfos ran up to her and took a swing with its weathered sword. Her heart was pounding from the fright of being chased by a skeleton held together by dark magic. Yet, self-preservation provided her the will to survive, causing her to leap off to the side in order to avoid being sliced open.

Rolling to safety, she quickly resumed running as she hollered for assistance. "HELP! SOMEBODY HELP!"

The stalfos pulled its sword from the dirt before resuming pursuit.

Tessl, Laila, Clover, Hazel and April were all totally stupefied to witness such an event. On the other hand, from the magic aura enveloping the entire mystical forest, the five fairies all abruptly received a telepathic message sent to them from the Deku Tree Sprout. It warned of imminent danger. As guardians of their kokiri children, the fairies knew they had to protect the group. Thankfully, there was security in numbers, so until they could seek better refuge, they figured sticking together was going to be their best bet.

"I'M COMING!" Fado yelled to let DeBe know that help was on the way. No matter what her fairy would rather her have done, the brave kokiri had no intention of standing around and merely watching one of her siblings be assaulted by a shambling bag of bones. She rustled through her belongings before pulling out the ancient shortsword she'd commandeered from the depths of the Woodwind Temple. After getting a sturdy double-handed grip on the handle of her weapon, the girl held it in an offensive manner as she started running full-speed toward the murderous stalfos; all the while shouting to get its attention on her instead of DeBe. "HEY! HEY! OVER HERE, YOU BONY BASTARD! FIGHT ME!"

"FADO!" Tessl cried out in shock even though she should have known by now that her child wouldn't stand for a monster invading the sanctity of their village.

"BE CAREFUL!" Saria shouted out with worry, knowing she couldn't stop her friend from fighting. Then again, deep down, she was proud the blonde kokiri refused to stand around merely watching.

Migu looked over at Tigu before asking "How did a stalfos even get here?"

Tigu shook his head. "I don't know."

Higu chimed in by saying "Good thing the Deku Tree Sprout already knows about the danger. He must've sensed it."

"It's worse than that." Clover swiftly responded to her child, knowing what he didn't due to the plant-god's telepathic nature with fairies. "A bad guy came inside the village and approached the Deku Tree Sprout."

Everyone was absolutely horrified for the safety of their father figure since they were unsure if he was safe or not. Nonetheless, for the time being, they had to focus on saving not only DeBe, but themselves too. This motivation drove the group to stick around even when the creaking stalfos turned away from the fleeing kokiri girl and gazed upon Fado in addition to the entire group. Saria and the Know-It-All Brothers all felt great dread upon staring into its sinister glowing eyes. Fado was the only one to not be disturbed by its undead appearance, which is highly likely to be what contributed to her undominable gallant spirit in the face of its unwavering danger.

"GET IT AWAY FROM ME!" DeBe shed tears as she stumbled and fell again due to the sheer heart pounding adrenaline coursing through her body.

"I got you!" Fado responded to the girl as she swiftly closed in on the skeletal warrior. "Run to the Know-It-All Brothers house!" With her sword at the ready, she yelled at the monster while circling its vicinity to ensure it kept its focus solely on her and not the mortified Debe. "Come get me, you freak!"

The jaw of the stalfos shifted side-to-side, causing its remaining teeth to clatter against each other. In spite of not having a throat for vocal cords to even exist in, the black magic controlling it allowed for the skeleton to let out a rather unnerving chuckle that was both deep and slow. Following an intimidating display by twirling its rusty sword in its calcified hand, it proved to definitely be more interested in Fado than DeBe due to her perceived superior threat level. The monster was attracted to the challenge presented to it by the adolescent Sage of Wind and showed finesse when it began strafing in a circle around her in the same way she had previously done to it.

"I don't know what you're doing here-..." Fado scowled as she told the walking skeleton. "But, I'm not going to let you hurt any of my family."

She didn't know whether or not the undead fiend could understand her. It didn't even matter since the stalfos proceeded to jump, lunging at her with a downward slice. Their blades collided when Fado parried by holding her sword up above her head at a horizontal angle. The brave kokiri had collected a skull as a trophy during her trip to the Forest Temple, yet she had never actually fought a stalfos until now. She found herself surprised at how much stronger it was than she anticipated a fossilized corpse to be capable of.

Continuing to push against her sword by applying an increasing amount of pressure, the cursed skeletal knight craned its neck, cracking the exposed vertebrae.

In the meantime, as the brave kokiri and undead soldier struggled for dominance, DeBe and Rose stayed as far away from them as possible while running in the direction of the Know-It-All Brothers. She was grateful that they were there in the first place as she didn't know what she would have done had she not been rescued.

"If that's how you want it-...!" Fado hollered as she jumped backward quick enough to avoid being vertically cleaved in half by the skeleton's blade. "We'll do it the hard way!" After returning within striking distance by dashing forth, she then leapt off to the side while using her shortsword with great precision to slash at the uncovered shins of the stalfos. Since there wasn't any thick flesh or living muscle to cut through, the old blade was able to bust straight through the undead monster's feeble tibia, not only shattering it to pieces, but knocking the entire right leg off as well.

Fado let out an ear-piercing battlecry.

The skeleton fell onto its busted knee and missing leg, using its left hand to defensively hold up its rusty sword in the diagonal position as the right hand was occupied holding the ground to prevent itself from toppling over.

Acting on instinct, the kokiri girl didn't even realize what she was doing. Her body seemingly acted on its own as she stood off to the side of the stalfos. With a flick of her wrist, she proceeded to summon a gale of supernatural wind that whirled around her weapon's edge like a makeshift magic wand.

"Whoa…" Tigu and Higu both said in unison to express their sheer amazement. Migu's jaw dropped open upon seeing a kokiri display skills related to the Sage of Wind.

With her narrowed eyes full of raw determination, Fado swung her sword outward, casting a flurry that blasted at the monster so hard that its undead skull was physically blown off of its neck; sent rolling a short distance away. The skull chattered its remaining teeth as it laid there on the ground, even while its decapitated body began flailing about, doing its best to aggressively swing its sword side-to-side. Not satisfied yet with the outcome, the diminutive girl then made a flying kick at the skeleton's toros. Despite being held together by dark magic, upon contact with the soles of the kid's boots, the skeleton's rib cage was forced back so suddenly that it was torn off away from the pelvis bone and its arms popped out of their sockets. Its torso busted into several large chunks and its arms fell to the dirt as its legs danced around for a second longer before collapsing too.

"You go, girl!" Saria cheered on her friend since it was obvious she had the upper hand.

DeBe in addition to her fairy Rose had just reached the group and was immediately tucked away between the three Know-It-All Brothers like a scared calf seeking safety in the center of a herd. Even though she had caught a glimpse of Fado fighting off her offender, she was still too terrified of what had just happened to calm down.

No matter the fact that the stalfos' body had collapsed into a pile of inactive bones, its beheaded skull continued to glare menacingly at the heroic kokiri girl. Instead of resigning itself to defeat, the head took matters further by using its supernatural powers to roll like a tumbleweed. Fado wasn't scared of the rolling skull so much as taken aback. She watched in fascination as it came increasingly closer. When it stopped right in front of its crumpled body, it clattered its teeth before letting out another deep and slow chuckle. Showing its little opponent that it wasn't finished with her, it somehow managed to begin recomposing itself. The skeleton's arms and legs were magically drawn to its body and immediately popped themselves back in their corresponding sockets. Its ribcage reformed and the breaks in it as well as the tibia were mended through black magic.

"D-Did it just come back together?" Tessl asked with dire concern.

Fado should have done something, but she was stuck watching with intrigue. "It looks like it."

As quickly as it could, the undead knight pulled itself together. Once its body had become one again, it proceeded to grab its head from off of the ground and place it on the exposed spinal cord sticking up above the shoulders. With a quick oscillating twist, the glowering skull was secured to the neck. Biting at the thin air, it then retrieved its rusty weapon from out of the dirt. Everything previously done to it had been reversed. The restored stalfos was right back to standing on-guard.

"What do I do?" Fado asked her fairy. "How do I kill it?"

Tessl shrugged, widened her eyes and shook her tiny head as she fluttered around her confounded child. "I-… I don't know. Why are you asking me?"

"THE HEAD!" Tigu shouted from over by his and his brothers' home. "REMEMBER THE NURSERY RHYME, 'IF IT'S UNDEAD, DESTROY THE HEAD'!"

Nodding in acknowledgement to the Know-It-All Brother's words, Fado re-engaged the skeletal warrior. She ducked to avoid its horizontal slice and tried slashing at its shin the same way she had done beforehand. However, the stalfos again proved it had some level of intellect as it jerked its endangered leg out of the way before giving the kokiri girl a swift kick in the face with its worn out leather boot.

"Fado!" Tessl hollered out in fright upon seeing her kid get struck.

Jumping back, Fado shook her head to snap out of the brief discombobulation. Growling in response to what had just happened to her, she said "I got this."

Dashing toward the undead monster, right whenever she came within measure of it, instead of hastfully attacking right away like she'd previously done, she decided to duck, tuck and roll straight in-between its bony legs. Skidding to a stop, she popped up on the other side of the skeleton with a big jump, spinning around like a ballerina while skillfully flourishing her ancient sword in a circle. While in mid-air, she lashed out by curving her blade above the monster's head, chopping off its left arm and slicing through its left kneecap. When she landed, she immediately continued by giving a curved upward thrust that sliced through its right kneecap and chopped off its right arm too. Now that it couldn't attack or move since its arms, legs and rusted sword lay disabled beside it, she returned with a final slice in order to cut its head off.

As Fado swiftly kicked over the headless and limbless torso, the skull of the stalfos let out a garbled yell. The kokiri girl knew she had to deal with the decapitated head to keep its body from supernaturally coming back together. So, as it was still flying through the air, she thrusted upward. When the skull fell back toward the dirt, she stabbed it through the hole where its nose used to be. "Gotcha!"

The tip of her sword split the corroded bone and went from the nostrils directly into the condensed blob of dark magic serving as its brain. As soon as the connection to the darkness living in the skull was severed, the red glow of its evil eyes immediately dimmed away to nothingness. A small swirl of unnaturally thick fog escaped from its mouth before evaporating into the surrounding air. Not only did its lower jaw become detached, since there was no more sorcery binding its form, its ribcage collapsed in on itself and the rest of its bones utterly fell to pieces at every joint that once connected them.

"YES!" Saria enthusiastically pumped her fist in the air over her friend's battle prowess in addition to ability to keep the village safe.

Migu clapped his hands as Tigu and Higu whooped in excitement. "HOORAY! YOU DID IT!"

"I-Is it over?" DeBe asked meekly as she remained hidden behind the backs of the Know-It-All Brothers. "Is the creepy skeleton guy gone?"

"Yes." Fado replied to her terrified kokiri sister while forcefully slinging the skewered skull from off the tip of her sword. Since there wasn't any blood to wipe off, she temporarily sheathed her shortsword between her belt and tunic. "It won't bug you or anyone else ever again."

Tessl laughed jovially at the situation prior to expressing amazement of her own. "I can't believe you just killed a stalfos! That was awesome!"

Out of nowhere, Mido came limping out from around the corner leading to the Great Deku Tree's Meadow. "FADO! SARIA!" He hollered out to them as he barely managed to jump over the majestic brook flowing across their village. Each step he took was painful and his nose still occasionally dripped with red vital fluid, but he refused to pace himself as his promise to the Deku Tree Sprout motivated him to persevere. No matter the fact that the broken skeleton lying in the middle of town was an obvious clue that an attack was underway, he had to warn them of the greater danger they weren't yet aware of. "IT'S THAT THING FROM THE LOST WOODS!" He struggled to find the proper words in advance of coming right out with it. "IT'S DARK LINK! HE'S HERE!"

"What?!" Saria's head tilted to the side in confusion until it dawned on her what he was talking about. Then, panic kicked in. "THAT CAN'T BE!?"

"Dark Link?" Tigu tried staying calm in order to figure out what was happening. "That shadow copy of Link he said he encountered out in the Lost Woods?"

Fado grit her teeth and instantly redrew her sword while gradually bending down to take the destroyed stalfos' rusty broadsword for her own acquisition. "HOW DO YOU KNOW?!" She yelled back to ascertain what had happened to her annoying brother to make him look so roughed up.

"He knows because I kicked his ass." A voice said before a crunch sound was heard; sourced from nearby the Kokiri Shop.

Fado spun around in that direction as the others also directed their attention to where they heard the voice coming from. What they saw deeply disturbed them to their cores. They weren't sure how long he had been there, but, sitting atop the wooden awning to the tree stump that made up the Kokiri Shop was the very devil they were speaking of. He continued to look like the same kid version of the hero that he chose to don when he spoke to the Deku Tree Sprout. However, he now had a crisp apple that he was sinking his eerily white teeth into while peacefully kicking his legs out as if he were in a tranquil state of relaxation.

"Get out of our village, you monster!" Fado yelled at the intruding tulpa as she pointed her weapon directly at him.

"Yeah!" Mido added his opinion as he fought through the pain of his broken nose. "You're not welcome here!"

Dark Link chewed on in advance of swallowing his juicy bite of apple, picked at the skin caught in his teeth and then pretended to be highly offended by what they said to him. "Monster? I'm not welcome?" Limply holding one hand to his chest, he dramatically let out an exasperated exhale. "I thought you kokiri were supposed to be nice. I mean, I heard you were shy, but I didn't know you were so inhospitable to your guests."

"You're not a guest!" Fado continued to shout at the shadowy replicant. "You're a menace! Go Away!"

Chomping another bite out of the apple, Dark Link sniggered with his mouth full of the fruit. After chewing and swallowing, he gave an answer they didn't expect. "I don't know why you're so focused on me. I'm not here to cause any trouble." Biting into the apple, this time he spoke with the mouthful. "If you're really that concerned with invaders, then I figured you'd be more focused on the army of stalfos currently marching their way out of the Lost Woods."

"I'm not falling for that!" Fado spat, her puffy pigtails bouncing as she got into a fighting position.

From up on the plateau where the Know-It-All Brothers home as well as the farm was, Saria was able to turn her gaze to the entrance to the Lost Woods there on the other side of the village. Her eyes widened upon seeing that the shadowy tulpa had in fact been telling the truth. Marching out of the hollowed tree trunk serving as the threshold through the treeline was not one, but four additional stalfos wearing the exact same tattered uniform as the undead warrior they had just destroyed. To make matters worse, behind those four stalfos were about thirty additional soldiers of lower stature, wearing only tarnished chainmail hauberks with sallets for headgear; their leather gauntlets and boots having long since been stolen or rotted away. These staltroops were almost all holding petrified spears. Only a few had swords and even fewer held shields.

"F-Fado…" Saria stuttered in shock, but tried getting her friend's attention.

"What is it?" The Sage of Wind pondered without taking her eyes off of Dark Link.

Gulping, the green-haired kokiri pointed in the direction of the encroaching stalfos and said "Umm… I think he's telling the truth."

"Great Din!" Migu exclaimed upon witnessing the army of stalfos exiting the Lost Woods

Mido slapped his hand to his forehead, being careful to avoid accidentally smacking his broken nose. "Oh, we are so screwed."

Keeping her arm rigid and sword extended toward the doppelganger, Fado looked over at the cliff side where the entrance to the Lost Woods was. Right as she did, she saw more than anticipated.

Phantom Ganon showed up amongst the crowd of staltroops and frontline stalfos. The undead soldiers parted to allow their commander through them. Its armour had been patched where there once had been puncture holes, yet its arms and legs remained unclothed. The only difference was that its appendages resembled skeletal limbs like those of the warriors surrounding it. Its glowing red eyes gazed down at the group of kokiri. Slowly cracking its neck, the undead revenant pointed at Saria and the others in advance of letting out an unholy shriek. As if it had issued an order, the army mobilized, making their way down the slope leading into the village.

"QUICK!" Fado shouted for the others to hurry. "GATHER EVERYBODY AND HEAD TO THE GREAT DEKU TREE'S MEADOW! WE'LL BE SAFE THERE!"

"Check the shop!" DeBe yelled with desperation at the Know-It-All Brothers and Mido.

Her fairy, Rose, picked up where the girl left off. "Layi and Cerst are still in there!"

Mido limped away as fast as he could in the direction of the Kokiri Shop. "I can get them! You five get to the meadow!" Looking up at the awning of the shop, the orange-haired boy noticed that, although the half-eaten apple remained, Dark Link had vanished without a trace. He was relieved to know he wouldn't have to deal with the wicked entity even despite the horde of skeletons quickly closing in on his location. For the time being, he focused on the rescue mission he'd been tasked with.

Fado turned her head back towards Dark Link only to then also realize that the unnerving tulpa had disappeared. She scoffed and lowered her blade in advance of going on-guard in preparation for the oncoming stalfos.

The Know-It-All Brothers had no issue with hastefully retreating to the meadow with DeBe and the fairies tagging along. Saria, on the other hand, couldn't leave Fado behind. Acting on impulse, no matter the fact that she had no weapon since Tolenli had broken the spear Fado made her, she ran over toward her friend to lend assistance. "I'll help fight these creepy baddies off!"

Since she was so caught up in counting how many undead soldiers were currently shambling their way down the slope leading into the village, it took Fado a moment to realize what the green-haired kokiri had just said to her. Tearing her gaze away from the horde of incoming skeletons, she gently pushed her partner away with strict insistence that the defenseless girl also join the others in fleeing from harm's way. The last thing she wanted was for her beloved friend to get hurt because it was difficult to fight and protect in the same instance. "What are you doing!?" She chastised with genuine worry in her eyes. "Get out of here while you still can! I'll take care of myself!"

Refusing to budge, Saria shook her head before nudging Fado in return for the gentle push. "No way! I can help too!" Grabbing her friend's hand, she tried to pry the rusty sword free of the blonde kokiri's grasp. "Give me one of your swords and I can watch your back for you! You'll be outnumbered on your own, but together we can do this!"

Although Fado growled in response to Saria's decision to stay behind, she eventually gave up and allowed it, knowing that what the girl said was true. They would be better off together since they proved it during their time in the Woodwind Temple. "Fine! Here, take this… But, don't be a hero! Do exactly as I say!" She reluctantly handed over the rusty sword she'd taken after defeating the first stalfos. Her initial intention was to dual-wield. Then again, she'd rather have Saria be capable of helping defend their homes as well as their innocent siblings.

In the meantime, Mido came bursting inside of the Kokiri Shop. Breena immediately began flying around the only proper place of business operating in the entire forest. The fairy searched for Cerst and Layi plus anybody else that might be inside as her child called out. "Is anybody in here!? LAYI?! CERST!?"

"M-Mido?!" Cerst popped his head up from behind the shopkeeper's countertop with his stiff green cap askew. The puffy cheeked kokiri boy was chubbier than the others, but was the owner and took his job rather seriously. "What's going on out there? We heard yelling and sword fighting, so we hid behind cover."

Layi proceeded to poke her head up from behind the same counter Cerst was hiding behind. "Are we under attack?!"

"Yes!" Mido took the chance to quickly notify them of what was occuring. "It's an evil shadow and it brought a bunch of nasty stalfos with it! They're pouring out of the Lost Woods!" Seeing their horrified expression, he tried to assure them. "The Deku Tree Sprout tasked me with finding and bringing you as well as the others to the safety of the meadow! Now, come on!" He repeatedly waved his arm in a circle to indicate that they had to hurry if they wanted to survive. "Let's go! Let's go!"

"I'm coming!" Layi replied as she leapt straight over the countertop.

"S-Should I lock up?" Cerst asked with a wavering voice as well as a droplet of nervous sweat dripping from his brow.

Mido starred in exasperated awe that the business savvy kokiri would go so far as to obsess about his little shop even during the midst of a stalfos invasion. "Are you nuts?!" He reprimanded his sibling. "We need to go now! NOW!" Even as he turned blue in the face from desperately hollering, he happened to catch a glimpse of a particular item out of his peripheral vision. "Don't make me carry you out of here! I will if I have to!" He continued to bark at Cerst to make the hefty boy hustle and not worry about his merchandise. Nonetheless, Mido's curiosity got the better of him. Using the chance he had, he briefly examined the local inventory to see if there might be anything beneficial.

"Grab that!" He demanded as he pointed at the mysterious item.

Cerst gulped, craned his neck and then gazed up at where the ornery orange-haired kokiri was pointing. There on one of the wooden shelves behind the countertop was something that had only recently been acquired by trading; a black braided-leather bullwhip. "The whip?"

Normally a dangerous tool like that would be reserved for herding cattle and certainly not meant for use by unskilled children. However, this was an extenuating circumstance that required unusual tactics in order to survive. Seeing how he was currently unarmed, he figured anything, even ranching equipment was going to be better than having absolutely nothing. "Yes! Bring it and come on!"

Back outside, the horde of invading undead had finally reached the bottom of the slope leading from the village to the hill where the entrance of the Lost Woods was. Two out of the four stalfos warriors led the charge in front of the dozens of marching staltroops. Instead of leaving their commander unprotected, the other two skeletal knights hung back to act as bodyguards to the possessed Phantom Ganon. Deep and slow, their laughter echoed amongst the surrounding forest. Their boots sunk into the dirt as they gradually approached the center of the community. With glowing red eyes, all of them stared intently at both kokiri girls who were the only ones standing guard.

"I'm not afraid of you." Fado said as she tightened her grip on her shortsword.

Saria couldn't say the same as she was indeed terrified of any encounters with the undead. Yet, she refused to let it show as she too wanted to protect her siblings in addition to defending the land she'd lived on all her life. "None of you bony baddies are going to get past us!"

The army of skeletons passed Mido and Fado's house before they came to a dead standstill. Without making any noise or further movement, they proceeded to stare menacingly. Phantom Ganon hovered above the mobilized staltroops. It slowly lifted its right arm. Instead of simply pointing at the girls to issue their death warrant, it chose to snap its fingers. The two big stalfos upfront immediately turned their heads until a loud cracking sound was heard due to their vertebrae popping. Responding to the brainwashed ghost's orders, the skeletal knight duo took a single step forward and then tried intimidating the kids by slamming their old rusty swords against their own decayed shields.

Mido appeared from outside the Kokiri Shop, having found Layi and Cerst just in the nick of time. "Go, go, go!" He demanded the two flee. "Get to the Great Deku Tree's Meadow! I promise that we'll keep you safe from these creeps!"

Cerst came out first with Layi hidden behind him. As soon as her eyes landed on the crowd of skeletons as well as the two slowly walking forward, Layi screamed at the top of her lungs from the sheer fright. Cerst was anxious too, but knew he had to stop his sibling from screaming lest they attract the wrong attention. He quickly moved to clasped his hand over her mouth in order to silence her, but found he instead had to grab her to stop her from hitting the ground because she fainted from the immense horror.

"Get her out of here!" Mido told the hefty kokiri.

"I'm t-tying!" Cerst huffed, wrapped his arms underneath hers and pulled the girl toward the Great Deku Tree's Meadow. "Wake up, Layi!"

Pukoo, the unconscious kokiri's fairy, landed on her child's shoulder and gently smacked at the girl's left cheek in an attempt to rouse her from the impromptu slumber. "Come on!" She shouted in the tiny voice of a sprite. "Wake up, you goof! Now's not good for sleeping!"

Opening her eyes, Layi mumbled about spooky skeletons. She was still delirious with a foggy head. However, her state of semi-wakefulness allowed her enough control of her body to start walking instead of being dragged by Cerst. He was glad she woke up too as it made it much easier. Together, the two of them and their fairies hurried across the small bridge over the brook. Once they were on the other side of the small stream, they darted toward the pathway leading to the safety of the meadow.

Mido felt accomplished with the endeavor assigned to him from the Deku Tree Sprout. He'd rescued two of his siblings and warned the others. Now, he just had to deal with the multitude of undead monsters running amuck in his town. Thankfully, he had a trump card he planned on playing. Sniffling to try and clear his clogged sinuses and swollen nostrils, the cocky kid limped over to Fado and Saria prior to announcing "Look at what I found in the Kokiri Shop!"

Fado didn't dare tear her gaze from the two approaching stalfos, but Saria peeked over to see the leather bullwhip in his possession. "A whip?"

"Let's hope you know how to use that!" Fado said with panic in her voice as the stalfos on the left threw out a horizontal slice with its rusty sword. The kokiri girl swiftly ducked in order to avoid being decapitated and then counter-attacked by cutting the monster's right arm off.

"O-Of course I do!" Mido spat with a stutter in his voice.

Saria was far more scared of the horrid skeletons than her friend was. But, she didn't want to be considered useless nor did she want her partner to become overwhelmed in the face of multiple enemies. So, when the second stalfos lifted its decayed weapon, the green-haired kokiri girl leapt forward with the rusty sword she'd taken and used it to strike the undead warrior in the leg. Even though the blade was dulled from decades of neglect, it still succeeded in busting through the bone. "Take that!"

The stalfos that was now missing its leg, found itself unable to keep balance. It fell to the ground and collapsed like a pile of sticks; its bones scattering amongst the grassy ground. For a moment, Saria found herself surprised that she defeated the bad guy so quickly. On the other hand, the kokiri girl immediately realized she was wrong in her assumption whenever the evil skull laughed wickedly at her. As it began to reassemble its physical form, she'd remembered that she had to destroy the skull to keep it dead.

Unlike its companion, the skeleton without an arm was capable of continuing the fight by using its decrepit shield to smack Fado's sword off to the side. Fado recovered almost immediately and then tried giving a vertical slice. The one-armed stalfos blocked her attack with his old shield. It laughed in that same deep and slow demon voice as it quickly snatched up its offensive arm. The little Sage of Wind tried her best to stop the monster from putting itself back together, but was unable to do so as the particular skeleton seemed hellbent on outpacing her. Before she could give forth another strike, the stalfos crammed its dismembered arm back into its shoulder socket in advance of going on the attack. Now that it was back together again, it not only bashed its shield against Fado to ever so momentarily stun her, it also threw out a downward slice with the intention of cleaving the kokiri girl in twain.

"NO!" Saria shrieked as she managed to jump into the midst of the two, barely stopping the skeleton's sword with the edge of her own.

"Thanks!" Fado acknowledged in advance of retaliating by spinning like an acrobat. This confused the skeleton warrior long enough for her to end the maneuver with a forward-upward thrust. From that angle, her sword went into the underside of its jaw, penetrating the thinnest part of the old undead skull, which immediately severed the source of connection to the black magic that was controlling it.

"Don't forget about yours! It's already back together!" She noted in reference to the second stalfos.

Saria returned her attention to the remaining skeletal bully. Now that it had reassembled itself, it was coming at her with its sword raised. She ducked when it took a swipe at her and then used the opportunity to slash at both its brittle legs. "Got it!"

As the stalfos came detached from its legs, it fell forward instead of backward, almost collapsing atop the diminutive green-haired kokiri girl. Luckily for her, Fado saw this happening and wisely chose to kick the first skewered skeleton off the tip of her weapon, causing it to go crashing into its disabled buddy, knocking both monsters to the side.

The two kokiri glanced at as well as nodded to each other in silent recognition toward how well they worked together. With the second stalfos once again downed by the force, Saria took the chance to locate its skull. Right after spotting it aside its fallen comrade's, she used her commandeered broadsword and impaled the monster's head straight through its temple.

"Hey, Mido, are you going to do anything?" Fado enquired upon finally noticing that the usually talkative boy hadn't done a single thing since they had begun combat.

The orange-haired kokiri boy who had always been so wordy and arrogant about everything occurring around him, was now standing there with a look of sheer dread plastered upon his pale face. His mouth hung ajar and his eyes were wide. Blinking to regain focus, he stuttered in response to being called on his lack of action. "H-Huh? Oh-… Oh yeah." Looking down at the leather bullwhip in his possession, he wrapped both his hands around the handle before reeling back, ready to strike. However, looking at the army of skeletons, he felt his confidence wane.

They scared him enough to make both his heart and brain race uncontrollably. "L-Let's see. Which one of them should I attack?"

With the two initial stalfos having been destroyed by the two kokiri girls, the zombified Phantom Ganon shook its head in disappointment at their failure. It growled in frustration. But, without breaking its ghostly gaze from the group, it lifted its bony finger to point at them and then let out another ear-piercing banshee shriek.

Acting in complete unison, in response to their commander's telepathic orders, the platoon of staltroops all stomped their feet as they came to attention. Their eyes had been on the trio the entire time, yet now their weapons were aimed in that direction as well. While performing a traditional march forward, as their musty military boots kicked up dust, they occasionally stopped to slam their antique equipment against the ground.

This continued to happen until the shambling army had trudged halfway across the village, passing Fado and Mido's house as well as nearing the gentle flowing brook. It changed when, without further provocation, the skeleton soldiers began moving faster.

"Take your pick!" Fado replied to Mido's query on which enemy to attack.

Mido was nervous and feeling a lack of confidence in himself, which was unusual. However, he remembered what the Deku Tree Sprout told him and tried to hold steadfast in spite of the perspirant oozing from his armpits. Exhaling to ease up on the stress, he told himself to relax because there was an abundance of enemies to choose from in addition to a low likelihood of missing. Trying to let it come to him naturally, he kept hold of the whip's handle while pretending to throw it as if it were a rock.

Fado and Saria were watching with hopeful anticipation, wanting more than anything for him to be able to help them overcome being vastly outnumbered.

The braided thong of the bullwhip did indeed fly forward toward the direction of staltroops. However, the fall hit the ground short by five feet (1.5m), causing the cracker to merely whip at the grass instead of the skeletons.

Upon noticing he'd missed entirely, Mido drew back and tried again. This time, he tried flicking his wrist as if he were casting a fishing line from a pole. The fall went further with this technique, doubling the distance by reaching the frontline infantry. Unfortunately, the attack still wasn't high enough to cause damage. Even if it did manage to strike the torso, the cracker didn't have the strength behind it to lacerate the rusty chainmail haubert.

"Come on…" He grumbled in frustration as he reeled back and tried again. Instead of swiping overhead, he tried slinging the whip sideways several times as if he were wildly swinging a crude wooden club.

Like last time, partially due to the short height of his race and partially due to sheer inexperience, he was unable to properly swipe at an angle that would cause the whip to slash the staltroops' heads. The fall reached them and the cracker slid across the encroaching skeletons' chainmail each time he swiped, yet it didn't leave a mark. In fact, the soldiers didn't even flinch as they continued to march unimpeded.

Growing frustrated with the orange-haired boy's inability to properly utilize the whip he had just proclaimed to be so fond of, Fado rolled her eyes and clicked her tongue in disappointment. She was tired of him pretending to be better than he was just to look cool and certainly couldn't wait for him to improve. Her hands clenched tight as the annoyance grew while watching him struggle further. Knowing that time was of the essence, she flipped her sword upside-down, drove it into the ground with visible vexation, let go of it and then snatched the bullwhip right out of Mido's shaking hands.

"Give me that!" She said with a vein bulging on her forehead. "I'll show you how to use it."

Mido snapped at her even in the midst of the looming battle. "You've never used one either! You won't do any better than me!"

Not even bothering to listen to him, the puffy pig-tailed kokiri girl immediately handled the tool differently than he did. Instead of using two hands, she used only one and held it right in the center of the handle, between the heel knot and the transition knot. Her legs were about shoulder width apart and she didn't prepare by reeling back either. The thong of the whip stayed trailing behind her from how she grabbed it from the incompetent boy. As if she was acting on instinct or decades of training, she smoothly brought her arm up as high above her as she could prior to pulling her elbow down and snapping her forearm outward at the same time. The combination of actions made the thong as well as the fall curl in a mid-air loop in advance of flying outward with a high velocity cracking sound.

"Geez!" Mido said in awe and disbelief.

The cracker of the whip flung out so hard that whenever it successfully slashed at the neck of one of the approaching staltroops, it severed the monster's decayed cervical spine. Without even knowing what had hit it, the marching skeleton's head abruptly popped off and flew up into the air before landing amongst the crowd of its brethren.

"Amazing!" Tessl stated, in total shock over the fact that her child seemed to be almost instantly proficient with any kind of weapon. "You just took right to it!"

Saria clapped as she cheered her partner on. "I'm so proud of you! This must be from being a sage!"

Mido cocked his head to the side as he was yet to have been informed of what had transpired during his sister's most recent trek into the woods. "You're a-... do what now?"

Fado couldn't even hear them anymore. All of a sudden, she found herself falling into a mystical trance. Thankfully, it was a purposeful one as she felt the need to dispatch as many of the staltroops as possible with the bullwhip. "More…" Was all she said as she lifted the handle of the whip to perform the same action as beforehand. Slinging the whip outward, she snapped it at the head of another of the undead, this time busting into its nasal bone. Killing the monster, the vomer bone inside the nasal cavity splintered and was sent flying inside the head like deadly shrapnel. The skeleton's body fell to the ground in a pile of bones and old armour, but the surrounding shambling soldiers just went around it without stopping.

Yanking the handle back, she reset her stance as well as the whip before doing it again. Once more, the cracker hit another staltroop in the face, piercing straight into its right eye socket and immediately annihilating the black magic controlling it. Its body fell to the ground too, although the result was the same as it too was swiftly stepped over.

"Yes…" She said in an unnaturally sultry voice; one that was manifested out of sheer lust for the weaponized tool she was using. Each crack she made produced a particularly intense sound due to the loop audibly exceeding the sound barrier. In turn, this noise was seriously hypnotic to the young Sage of Wind. The way the wind aerodynamically rushed across the braided leather excited her every time she heard it. Much like whenever she first realized she had unmatched skills with a blowgun, she found herself wondering where the bullwhip had been all her life. "This will do nicely."

Trying something different, she decided to attempt taking on multiple staltroops at once. After all, it was clear to everybody that she wouldn't be able to stop the entire army by eliminating the soldiers one at a time.

Once the majority of the leather was reset to its starting position on the ground behind her, Fado held the handle of the whip with her palm facing outward, away from her body. In one swift motion, she brought her arm up until the thong was propelled forward at a horizontal angle. Without knowing the technicality of it, she had performed a sidearm crack. The action of her body resembled that of skipping a stone across water. Nonetheless, it was incredibly effective as it did what it was supposed to by striking the knees of three marching skeletons. Upon impact, their brittle bony appendages were easily sundered by the cracker. The three fell together and one even impaled itself with its own weapon. More importantly, their mass collapse received a bigger reaction from their comrades, who initially found themselves being tripped.

"Super!" Tessl declared.

"Yes!" Mido decided to cheer whenever he saw the progress being made. Suddenly, he didn't care who was doing it, he just wanted his home safe. "Do that again!"

Saria grinned and clapped with joy upon thinking they might actually win this battle on their own. For once, she completely agreed with her orange-haired brother. She was relieved that the blonde-headed kokiri was a defender of the village. "I'm so proud of you, Fado!"

Fado smirked while resetting the whip. Not only was she proud of herself, she was also encouraged by her hidden talent, her ability to master a weapon without any prior experience. The support of her boisterous friends helped as well. With these things giving her courage, she proceeded to strike the head off of a staltroop before spinning around to lash out at one of the closest soldiers. Hitting it in the chest, the thong of the whip wrapped around the skeleton's torso. Thinking fast, she yanked the handle back as hard as she could, crushing the monster's ribcage in addition to detaching it from its arms, legs and head.

"We should do something too!" Breena told Mido.

Mido shook his head as he started to say "What can we do? I don't have an-..." Suddenly, he realized his folly and it dawned on him that he did indeed have something else to offer. "Oh, wait! I do have something!" Reaching into the little pocket on his green tunic, he retrieved a handful of Deku Nuts. "I forgot I swiped these off the display by the door in the shop!"

"Use them!" Breena demanded.

"Just be careful!" Saria suggested, worried about the consequences if he missed. "Don't hit Fado with them!"

A bit of Mido's old personality shone through as he chuckled at the thought of missing. "Who are you kidding? I have impeccable aim!" Grabbing one of the Deku Nuts, reeled back and tossed it in the direction of the shuffling undead as hard as he could.

To their surprise, the objects were more effective than anticipated. Upon impact with the hip of a skeleton, the shell of the Deku Nut split apart before the seed on the inside exploded with a loud snap as well as a bright flash. Both effects were disorienting, acting like a flashbang when used on a living target. Thankfully, it still succeeded in exerting an influence over the undead too. The sheer increase of luminosity appeared to stun the stricken monster in addition to those nearby it. As if they had been frozen in time, the afflicted staltroops movement ceased and either stood as still as a statue or tumbled over.

"Awesome!" Laila exclaimed. "They work!"

Saria held her index finger to her lips as she contemplated how else they could overcome the army of the dead. Watching as the skeletal soldiers that hadn't been hit by the Deku Nut grew closer and closer to them, she knew that she had to think fast before she and the others were forced to start retreating. Eventually, her eyes lit up as an idea formed. "How about we throw them all at once and then take out those that are stunned!?" She told Mido, Fado and the fairies. "While they're frozen, Mido and I can use these swords to destroy as many of them as possible! Fado, you can watch our backs to keep us safe while we do it!"

Fado used her bullwhip to knock the skulls off of the three staltroops stunned by the Deku Nut. Although she wasn't able to eliminate them, it would take a minute for them to reassemble. Based on this, seeing that it would be beneficial to have someone else ready to perform the finishing blow, the Sage of Wind agreed with her green-haired partner. "Do it."

Mido nodded in confirmation to the plan prior to enacting it. He slung his entire supply of Deku Nuts towards the marching staltroops. Several nuts hit the frontline infantry while the rest flew further in prior to exploding in the middle of the slowly encroaching platoon. Even though a few of them held up their shields in an attempt to protect themselves, each bright flash that followed from the nut splitting caused the skeletons in the nearby vicinity to instantly petrify. Within the blink of an eye, two-thirds of the undead soldiers had been stunned.

"Now! Attack now!" Saria exclaimed before running forward. Since she was aware of the fact that she was rushing at a bunch of monsters, her heart was pounding and it just continued to increase in speed the closer she came to them. On the other hand, she made herself push through the fear because she wanted to protect her home as well as her family.

Mido yanked Fado's shortsword out of the ground and proceeded to join Saria in combat. Although he pretended to be strong, in reality, he felt the same way as the green-haired kokiri. He was absolutely terrified of the walking skeletons. The last thing he wanted to be doing was getting closer. However, he too wanted to defend the sanctity of their homely community, the forest he was born in, the woodland he and his friends had lived all their carefree lives at. He couldn't let monsters annihilate his way of life, so the only thing he could do was summon all the courage he could to fight.

Together, the two brave kokiri ran up to the stunned staltroops that were on the frontline. Using their swords, the duo hurriedly struck down as many petrified undead soldiers as they could in addition to impaling several fallen skulls to destroy their connection to Dark Magic. In the meantime, Fado performed a sidearm crack at two staltroops. Yet, she had to take action whenever the skeletons not afflicted by the Deku Nut explosions inevitably came clambering through their frozen brethren until they were close enough to endanger her friends. She used her bullwhip to either disable or eliminate a handful of the monsters. Precisely as they had planned, Saria and Mido continued to kill all they could while Fado protected them.

"It's working!" Saria felt a wave of confidence wash over her as she saw the progress being made. "It's actually working!"

"We can do this!" Mido exclaimed.

Fado felt the same level of hope. But, she also knew the tide could turn at any moment. Not only were a number of staltroops who had previously collapsed currently in the process of reassembling themselves, the paralyzed ones weren't going to stay that way for much longer either. Seeing how she wasn't at all sure how much longer it would be before the soldiers unfroze, the kokiri girl hollered a reminder as a warning. "Be careful! They won't stay petrified for long!"

As if on cue, the staltroops that had been frozen began to reanimate. Right away they redirected their attention to the diminutive children closest to them. The two kids' level of confidence swiftly diminished upon abruptly finding themselves in the midst of an active undead horde.

"Crap!" Mido barely had time to react as one of the skeleton's thrusted its spear at him.

Fado grit her teeth and swung the whip so hard that, when the cracker hit the offending staltroop in the head, it busted through the side of the skull with enough force to utterly obliterate it. "You two get back!" She yelled to her friends. "Get out of there, now!"

Saria screamed whenever she found herself quickly overwhelmed by five staltroops. Ducking, she managed to avoid being slashed by one of the swords. But, she then had to immediately jump back in order to prevent getting stabbed by several spears. "HELP!"

Reacting as quickly as she could, Fado came to the rescue. The Sage of Wind slung her whip at a skeleton near the edge of the offending group, letting the leather thong wrap around its chest. Unlike last time, she didn't cause its ribcage to collapse. Instead, she firmly gripped the handle with both hands and slung the undead soldier against its surrounding comrades. Due to the chainmail hauberk it donned, the force caused it to bowl into them like a solid lead cannonball. "Run while you can, Saria!" She hollered out to her best friend. "I'll keep them off you!"

Both Saria and Mido retreated to safety, rejoining Fado. Nonetheless, the staltroops had advanced enough at this point that the kokiri children had no choice other than to begin backing up in order to keep their distance.

"That was so scary!" Saria exclaimed with a horrified look plastered on her face.

"Are you okay?" Laila asked.

Saria nodded with an extended exhale. "Yeah. I'm alright."

"How many did we get?" Mido enquired.

Although she hadn't been keeping an exact count since it was so hectic, Breena guessed to the best of her ability. "Probably about ten or twelve of them."

"There's still about half of them remaining." Tessl responded. "And, we've only got a couple hundred feet (61m) before we're out of room to fight."

Shaking her head as the staltroops shambled closer, Fado replied with determination. "We'll fight until we're backed against the Great Deku Tree. No matter what, we can't fail. If we do, all of us will be killed."

Feeling motivated to try harder, the puffy pigtailed kokiri attempted to think of anything that might potentially help. At first she couldn't think of anything, especially not something she hadn't already done. But, eventually, she recalled fighting Tolenli at the Woodwind Temple. She remembered how she was able to subconsciously harness the wind to lend her assistance during moments of peril. Returning to a proper position for whipping, she wondered if she'd be able to do the same now. Although she wasn't sure how she summoned the supernatural gales back then, she knew that she still had to try and do it, hopefully on command, as it would definitely make her more capable of destroying the multitude of undead soldiers assaulting her home.

"What do we do now?" Tessl asked.

The leather of the whip handle crunched as Fado squeezed it with all her might. A bead of salty sweat dripped down the side of her forehead, but she focused on mentally filling herself with courage, hoping that would be enough to manifest her powers. "I do my thing."

Saria cocked her head to the side as she and Mido back up again due to the approaching horde. "And just what would that be?"

This was only the very beginning of the kokiri girl's time as a Sage. Beforehand, she had always felt different from the others and it often led to her being capable of rather unusual feats as well as learning skills most of her siblings didn't care for. However, none of what she had previously learned could be considered useful in a situation like this. Her prowess with weapons was impressive, yet due to her inexperience in addition to lack of proper training, she was still an amateur in her role. She had no clue how to use her goddess-given powers on her own volition. The best she could think of on such short notice was intense concentration, active visualization and praying that her desire alone would be enough to summon a gale.

Without saying another word, Fado began walking forward in the direction of the army of undead soldiers. As the thong of the whip drug behind her, while bravely approaching the monsters, she brought the handle up above her head prior to rotating her wrist so that the tool began spinning. The leather whooshed through the air as it oscillated faster and faster; as quickly as she could possibly rotate her wrist.

"Whoa-... Whoa!" Tessl yelled to her child as the fairy clung to her shoulder to avoid being hit by the whip. "You can't just-...!"

"Shh!" Fado hushed her guardian.

Proceeding without any distraction from the others, even when it strained the muscles in her wrist, she continued slinging the whip. Seeing that she was almost at the shambling frontline infantry, she kept up her plan. Before long, she felt a change occurring in her movements. Whether by her own perseverance, pure fate or the grace of the goddesses, the rotating leather thong gradually sped up as it was assisted by the very same supernatural wind she had been pining for. The gust was strong enough that the whirring sound it made was almost deafening. It propelled the tool far faster than the kokiri girl herself could. Each rotation was so swift that her wrist was essentially just flicking side-to-side. A desire to celebrate was definitely within her, yet she restrained her emotions in order to focus on the task at hand.

The very second she reached the crowd of staltroops, one of them lunged forward with a slightly bent shortsword and malicious intent. As soon as the skeletal soldier made contact with the rapidly spinning whip, the cracker hit with such force that its head was instantly torn off from between its shoulders. Unlike before, instead of merely falling to the ground, the decapitated skull quickly flew through the air before smashing against the front of Saria's House. With so much power behind it, the hollow head shattered into a hundred pieces, destroying the condensed black magic within.

If they were smart, they would have backed off right then and there. But, she was dealing with the undead, so it was no surprise that a multitude of nearby staltroops senselessly tried attacking her. However, the same thing happened to them as well. Their old wooden spears proved to be utterly ineffective against her as the weapons couldn't reach beyond her attack radius and were then severed by the cracker. As soon as the soldiers came within range of the spinning leather, they too were torn asunder by its strength. Several skeleton's had their heads taken off and were sent flying, while another had its skull instantly obliterated on contact.

Even though some had heads further up, being taller didn't save them from harm, for the chainmail hauberk they donned seemed to be equally useless against such immense velocity. In most circumstances, leather was obviously weaker than metal, but the divine boost given made it capable of popping open the rusted rings like they were paper. Since the cracker could cut through the armour with ease, their feeble ribcages beneath stood no chance either. They were sliced in half, their upper-torsos uncontrollably thrown into the air, where upon return toward the ground, proceeded to be whacked several more times by the spinning whip until they utterly fell apart.

"I-... I can't believe it." Tessl stated as she bore witness to her child absolutely annihilating a significant portion of the remaining staltroops. She shook her head and spoke to herself since neither Fado or the others could hear over the whirring of the whip. "I suppose I should have after you've proven me wrong several times now."

Fado was aware that her pixie was speaking, but couldn't understand due to the whirring. She chose to keep her focus instead of wondering what was said as that was a more important motive. Nonetheless, she wasn't able to keep up the special assault for much longer as the pain in her wrist and shoulder increased tenfold. The lactic acid in her muscle built up until her arm was throbbing sore. By the time she had succeeded in the destruction of ten more skeletons, she was wincing from the agony of pushing herself beyond her limit. Only courage and determination kept her going.

After taking out two more of the staltroops, they had thinned out enough for her to notice that there were only a few of them left; five approaching and two off to the side that were in the process of reforming.

She didn't even have to walk forward as she struck three more brainless skeletons by the whip and sent them flying back to the underworld where they belonged. But, after knocking the skull off of the third soldier, a severe cramp formed in her arm, forcing her to stop the onslaught.

"Ah!" The Sage of Wind groaned from the pain while the thong of the whip slowed enough for her to lower it to the ground without risking hitting herself. As soon as it was safe to do so, she grabbed onto her pulsating arm muscle and held it tightly. Her legs buckled a bit and her head lowered as she seethed from the senansation. It hurt badly, on the other hand, she knew she had to shake it out and then quickly snap back to reality as the rest of the undead monsters were converging on her position. "Son of a-...!"

"Do you need help?!" Saria yelled as she ran up to her exhausted friend with Mido tagging along.

Mido was concerned with Fado's lethargy, yet knew they didn't have any time to chat. "What can we do?" He asked with his rusty sword held up at the ready.

"No-…" Fado finished rubbing her shoulder, rotated it a bit and then went back to business. Although she couldn't perform the same cyclone spin, she didn't really need to at this point seeing how there were only a few enemies remaining. "I can do this on my own."

"But-..." Was all that Mido managed to get out of his mouth before he was interrupted by Fado's next attack.

Pushing past the pain, the blonde kokiri girl used the whip to lash out at a staltroop that had reassembled itself. Even without spinning, she was somehow able to manifest the same divine powers. Simply whipping at the soldier caused a great gale to be slung in its direction. When the cracker slashed the shoulder of the skeleton, the supernatural wind it produced was so powerful the menace was taken off its feet and blown clear across the village where it landed in the gentle brook. Unsurprisingly, the fiend wasn't able to swim. The moment it sank, water flooded its skull, causing the dark magic inside to disperse; thus severing the connection.

Coughing from the stress she was exerting on her body, Fado relentlessly carried on, turning to the next monster in advance of giving the whip an upward swing. Following a loud whipping sound, the cracker vertically sliced the skeleton in half.

Orienting herself toward the last staltroop, it had gotten so close that she barely had time to think. Her instinct was to sling out a sidearm crack, only to have the thong completely wrap around the undead soldier's body. She didn't yank on it, instead, like she had done the last time, she chose to tightly grip the handle and spin her entire body. The skeleton was taken off its feet and began circling around her. After a few rotations, she swung the monster higher up into the air. Once she was satisfied with the force being enough, she suddenly stopped spinning, coming to a dead standstill. However, the momentum and weight of the staltroop's energy gave it enough inertia to be flung off into the distance, past the foliage where it likely impacted a tree or fell to its destruction.

"You did it!" Tess stated.

Fado had laboured breathing as well as a heightened pulse from all the activity. Yet, she finally allowed herself to revel in joy knowing now that she had successfully annihilated the entire undead army. Her arms were incredibly sore but the pain wasn't able to keep a smile from forming on her lips. "Finally…"

"You're so amazing, Fado!" Mido complimented with honesty, having never been so impressed with her as he was now. "How did you do that?!" He asked in reference to the divine power that boosted her speed with mighty gusts. With everything that had happened since, he still did not know about her escapades in the Woodwind Temple nor did he realize she was the Sage of Wind. "You spun the whip so fast it was like a blur!"

"Uhh… Hey." Laila interjected.

"Thank you-..." Saria bypassed her fairies inquisition in order to show appreciation for her partner's superior abilities. "Thank you so much for protecting us!"

"Hey! Look!" Laila spoke louder to get their attention. When everyone stopped talking and focused on what she wanted, she swiftly pointed toward the exit of the village, the threshold leading out of the Forbidden Forest and into Hyrule Field. "We're still not alone! Don't celebrate yet!"

Breena chimed in by pretending as if she'd been aware of it all along. "Yeah! We have to defeat the bosses!"

Floating in front of the blocked threshold was an angry looking zombified Phantom Ganon. Dark Link was there too; riding atop the hulking ghost as if he were getting a child's piggyback ride. Together, they were definitely the masterminds behind this disaster. Without the platoon of skeletons though, the kokiri figured the two intruders were defeated as having no army was obviously going to hamper whatever nefarious plans they had in mind. Considering they only had two stalfos remaining, acting as their bodyguards, it was unlikely they'd be able to take over the kingdom, even if they did get out of the forest alive.

"Well, well, well-..." Dark Link said with a light chuckle as he teasingly placed his chin atop Phantom Ganon's helmet and then puckered his lips. "That was very impressive, Fado. It almost made me wonder why you're not the Hero of Time." Following a snort, he let out a full blown laugh. "Could you imagine a lowly kokiri being so important? It's ridiculous."

"YOU!" Fado yelled as she pointed at the doppelganger. "I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Cracking her neck to both intimidate as well as regain a bit of mobility, she then took a few steps forward. Intending to approach and use her whip, she had confidence her powers would activate again. "YOU'LL WISH YOU NEVER CAME HERE!"

Phantom Ganon suddenly let out a roar that stopped her where she was. The possessed entity hissed prior to extending its arm outward with its palm facing up and flat. At first, it was unclear what it was doing. However, a sphere of black magic flickered into existence in the palm of his hand and grew bigger until it was the size of a pumpkin.

"That's the good thing about stal-kind." Dark Link stuck his tongue out like an immature brat. "They're incredibly expendable-..."

Carrying on with what it was doing, Phantom Ganon let the dark magic build up until it was big enough to use. Right when it lifted its arm with the sphere, it seemed to project a forbidden spell. Without warning, the orb of dark magic split apart into much smaller balls. These spherical masses quickly flew upward, away from the main piece, gradually diminishing it down to nothingness. For a moment, it appeared as if the multitude of spells were randomly circling above the village. But, all of sudden they fell downward. Unfortunately for the exhausted kokiri, the witchcraft didn't go into the ground, rather each orb went into the collapsed remains of the surrounding staltroops.

"And you can keep using them no matter what happens." Dark Link finished his sentence now that it was clear what was happening. Chuckling at the amusement he brought himself, he wiped away an imaginary tear from the corner of his eye before telling them "I tell you what-..." He smiled wide, his flawless teeth showing pure white in contrast to his dark form. "This'll give me a chance to test something." Taking a deep breath, he said "I want to play one more game. If you beat me, I'll get out of your hair and you can go back to doing-... whatever carefree crap it is that you ignorant kids have been doing out here for hundreds of years." Putting his finger to his lips, he thought about the other outcome. "If you lose-... well, you'll be dead, so you won't care about what happens."

Fado ran forward as fast as she could in advance of trying to whip the smug tulpa right in its face. She made the movement and even watched as the thong and cracker flew in the right direction.

Of course, Dark Link just rolled his glowing red eyes. The moment it came within a hair width of hitting him, he completely vanished in a thick plume of smoke that evaporated into the surrounding air. Nonetheless, he was still there, still able to speak. "Ooh, feisty!" He mocked her with disembodied snickers. "Just don't forget to play the game."

Although Phantom Ganon backed up in order to increase the distance between the threat, the brave kokiri girl was still too close. She had to jump back so she wouldn't get cut by one of the two stalfos acting as the possessed revenants undead bodyguards. Fado was so upset by everything tumultuous that had happened that day, so stressed out by what she had learned earlier in the Woodwind Temple, that she didn't even try to flee. She was bound and determined to eliminate the remaining threat to her home. Her sense of honour in regards to her newly bestowed title wasn't going to allow her to leave unsuccessfully. While this overt bravery allowed her to continue standing her ground, it also put her in harm's way as she suddenly found herself surrounded by skeletons that were rebuilding themselves.

"Get out of there!" Mido yelled to Fado, worried that she was too far within the zone of danger to retreat in time. "Hurry!"

All around Fado, the undead soldiers who had been freshly destroyed began coming back together. The majority of them were no longer whole, having been split apart, shattered or crushed. While the black magic controlling the skeletons was capable of manipulation, it couldn't do so if the body it was using had been utterly obliterated. On the other hand, this didn't prevent the spell from finding another way. Instead of trying to assimilate splintered bones, it did something entirely different. It borrowed from certain piles of staltroops while adding to others. Entire limbs were quickly swapped around until there were enough skeletal chunks to combine into sheer terror.

The new enemies that formed were of lesser numbers, totaling at five. Yet, they were far more unholy than their predecessors. No longer did they resemble weak footmen. These stalbombinations were no longer humanoid, looking more like a grotesque amalgamation of body parts with multiple articulated limbs.

One had six arms, the three on the right side were holding swords while the three on the left side were holding shields.

The second had four arms. Except, instead of holding weapons, at each wrist was an additional skull ready to bite anyone within reach.

Unlike the first two, the third didn't have any arms at all. The monster had an absolutely enormous rib cage made from the bones of multiple individuals' torsos. Nasty as it was, the entire thoracic cage widened and then retracted like one huge mouth.

Now, the fourth had a normal upper-body and held a broadsword in both hands. However, it had six legs capable of granting it high-speed movement.

Finally, the fifth was exceedingly lanky. It used double the amount of bones in its formation, causing it to have dual heads upon its shoulders, but also a really tall body with extra long arms, legs and unnaturally big hands that were ready to grab onto anything alive, anything that had a heartbeat.

"D-Din…" Mido stuttered in fright upon gazing at the horror of the stalbombinations. "G-Give us strength."

"What have you done!?" Fado inquired from the disembodied tulpa, wherever he might currently be.

Saria, Mido and their fairies were beyond spooked by the grotesque mutants. They retreated further away from the active battleground, seeking shelter by the narrow pathway that led to the Great Deku Tree's Meadow. Being closer to the Deku Tree Sprout gave them a false sense of security. However, the fact that they were forced to do such a thing meant that they were running out of room to flee. If they were to be pushed back any more, they would be inevitably trapped in the meadow. Although they would have no choice other than to perform a last stand since they wanted to protect their family, they didn't want to be cornered as it meant a likely death.

Without delay, the stalbominations converged on Fado from all sides. She was surrounded. Nonetheless, she did what she had previously done and tried using her whip. "Fine!" The girl proceeded to holler in response to the last thing the shadowy doppelganger had said. "I'll play your game!"

Since it was so fast, the stalbominations with multiple legs zoomed up to her first. The monster spun its upper-body three hundred and sixty degrees, its vertebra popping as it rotated. Holding its arms out horizontally, the circular motion gave both broadswords a dangerous velocity.

Fado defended herself by using the bullwhip, slinging outward until the thong managed to wrap around all six of the freak's legs. The moment the horrible amalgamation had been ensnared, she pulled back as hard as she possibly could, tightening the tool's grip and then yanking the entity off its bony feet. It crashed into the ground and needed a minute to get back up as well as recompose itself.

During the next few moments she had prior to having to fight the next four, she took the opportunity to order her siblings back. "Run!" She yelled at the two kokiri and two fairies who were still putting their lives at risk by staying. "Get everybody and head inside the Great Deku Tree! The Deku Sprout will know what to do!"

"No!" Saria hollered in response. "We won't leave you!"

"I'll protect my family until the end of me!" Mido snarled as he held up his rusty sword.

"We can still help!" Both Breena as well as Laila announced in unison.

The next stalbomination to approach was the incredibly lanky one. With its abnormally long legs, it was able to take enormous strides that allowed it to reach the young sage in half the time it was taking the others to do the same. Not only that, since it had really long arms, it was able to reach out in an attempt at grabbing her. It opened its slender hand and took a quick swipe at the puffy pigtailed kokiri girl.

"Watch out!" Tessl warned.

Fado rolled off to the side before countering by slinging her whip at the stalbomination's head. Although she was growing weary, her powers were just as strong as ever. The supernatural wind helped to propel the leather thong so fast that when the cracker impacted, it utterly obliterated its target. Unfortunately for her, the monstrosity had another skull that immediately took over, keeping it active and fiercely attacking. It was able to take two more grabs at her until she saw the next opening. On instinct, she performed a sidearm crack that wrapped around the evil skeleton's lengthy right arm. Pulling hard, she tore the limb from the shoulder blade and then proceeded to swing it around in a circle.

"Behind you!" Tessl gulped in fear.

The six-legged monster had regained its footing and was racing toward her at high-speed, all the while holding its two broadswords out as it madly spun like an out of control top.

Coming up with an impromptu plan, Fado acted on instinct and slung the extra lanky skeleton arm into the swift footed stalbomination. Upon being struck, it tripped over the dismembered limb and hit the ground for a second time. This once again gave the kokiri girl a moment to deal with the furious one-armed undead freak currently trying to grapple using its final appendage.

"I can't hold them for much longer! I'm losing strength!" She hollered out to the others. "RUN!"

Saria and Mido plus their fairies trembled in fear as they saw the next two stalbominations rapidly approaching to join the fight. Both enemies made it at the same time; the monster with three swords and three shields in addition to the monster with four arms that had biting skulls on the ends of the wrists. However, to everyone's surprise, the five-skulled chomping skeleton was the only one that actually went for the ameutur Sage of Wind. The six-armed fighting skeleton made a beeline straight for them instead. Fado tried to stop it with the whip, but missed due to having to duck so she could avoid being grabbed.

"OH CRAP!" Mido gasped in horror, his pupils shrinking to pinpoints. "IT'S COMING RIGHT FOR US!" Hyperventilating, he said "OH CRAP! I'M GONNA PEE MYSELF!"

Saria screamed to the top of her lungs as the hair on the back of her neck stood on end. "NO! GET BACK YOU BADDIE!"

Fado whipped the second skull right off the lanky stalbomination's shoulders, causing its amalgamated body to collapse as the dark magic connection was temporarily severed. This gave her a moment to react to her teammates cries of distress, except she was unable to lend her assistance as the biter lunged at her. "RUN!" Was all she could manage to say. Her heart pounded with anxiety and terror from the thought of her family being slaughtered by mutant stalfos. Even though they pulsed with adrenaline, her muscles were at their absolute limit. "RUN TO SAFETY!"

Saria and Mido refused to flee. Even with their souls filled with dread, they stood their ground.

"WE CAN'T LET THEM DIE!" Breena said to Laila. "LET'S GO!" She started flying forward in the direction of the impending stalbomination before turning back to her pixie sister. "FOLLOW ME!"

Together, the two fairies flew toward the monster with only a few feet (1m) to spare. As tiny sprites, they weren't known for any form of physical prowess. Nonetheless, as proven in the Woodwind Temple, they would do anything to protect their children, even facing off against the undead. So, in spite of having no weapons, they held up their duties.

Using their size to their advantage, Breena led Laila right inside the stalbomination's eye sockets. In spite of it being a grotesque thing for them to do, they invaded the inside of the monster's skull. Once on the interior, even though they didn't know what they were doing, they proceeded to assault the condensed sorcery within by kicking and punching with all their miniaturized strength.

The six-armed monster dropped a sword as well as a shield in order to quickly grab at its own head. Having stopped dead in its tracks, it definitely knew the pixies were inside and it wasn't happy about it. Every punch and kick the guardians gave caused it to experience pain, making it let out a low groan as it shook its head. Although it tried its best to shake them out, it couldn't do so. Thankfully, the distraction proved to be effective. It worked great at taking the mutant's focus off the two shivering kokiri.

"WATCH OUT!" Tessl alerted.

Fado took a quick glance at what was happening in advance of slinging the whip at the multi-skulled stalbomination. The cracker was about to impact its head whenever the freak used the skull on the upper-left arm to grab the leather thong between its teeth, causing the tool to instead crack at its chest where it only broke a few ribs. In retaliation, before she could retrieve and reset her whip, the skeleton bit her left shoulder with its upper-right arm. She let out a yelp of agony, but the pain got even worse when the fiend chomped on her right knee with its lower-left arm.

"N-NO!" Tessl gasped in horror.

"NO! NO! FADO!" Saria hollered out with tears in her eyes as she witnessed her partner beginning to fail. On impulse, she started running in order to do anything within her power to prevent Fado's death. To her surprise, she found herself being restrained by Mido, who quickly overpowered and began dragging her toward the safety of the Great Deku Tree's Meadow.

Even as she felt the ancient undead teeth sinking into her flesh, Fado worried more about her family than herself. "JUST RUN!" She screamed out to them in desperation.

Breena and Laila flew out of the six-armed stalbominaton, darting back to Saria and Mido.

"DON'T YOU DIE!" Saria shrieked as she tried to resist Mido's hold on her.

Tessl flew around the chomping skeleton, freaking out. She wanted to do what Breena and Laila had done and yet when she tried getting close enough, the monster nipped at her with its lower-right arm.

Fado smirked in response to the thought of being killed. "I have no plans for it." She said aloud as she summoned the energy needed to break free of her bondage. Although she didn't want to, she let go of the whip. Having a free hand, the brave kokiri used it to pry open the jaw of the skull currently chewing on her left shoulder.

Looking back, she noticed that the six-legged stalbomination was closing in on her position, coming in hot. Yet, she was still having her kneecap gnawed on, so she thought up of a way to free herself. Just when the wildly spinning mutant got close enough, she jumped out of the way, letting it collide with the multi-skulled skeleton and ensuring the destruction of both of them. As soon as both of the creepy undead amalgamations collapsed into a giant pile of bones, the remaining skull arm let go and she was able to pry its teeth up and out of her leg.

With freedom then at hand, her first move was to grab for her whip since she wasn't fond of being defenseless.

Out of nowhere, a shadow was cast upon her. She suddenly found herself being enveloped by falling bones. Having been so focused on the others, she'd forgotten about the slow moving stalbomination with an enormous ribcage. Her lack of awareness had the consequences of getting her swallowed whole. The undead amalgamation fell upon her with its ribs split wide open, so wide that it scooped her up and then closed on her like a skeletal sarcophagus.

"NO!" Fado yelled as she was lifted up off the ground, taken away from the whip that was within reach.

Her mind raced for a solution. Quickly grabbing onto the bones of the monster's decrepit ribs, she tried pushing her way out of it, but realized she couldn't as the gluttonous stalbomination was too strong to resist. In fact, not only was she unable to bust free, she found that the space around her was decreasing. Eventually, it stopped retracting whenever the bones couldn't go any further. Although it hadn't crushed her, the enormous thoracic cage had shrunk down until it was small enough to hold her within its wicked confines.

"FADO!" Saria continued to wail in horror at her partner being swallowed whole by a genuinely freaky stalfos.

"THERE'S NOTHING WE CAN DO!" Mido retorted as he struggled to keep the green-haired kokiri girl from breaking free of his grasp. He focused all his strength into dragging her away. "SHE'S ON HER OWN NOW!"

"LET ME GO!" Saria cried as she elbowed the boy in his side. "NO! NOOOO!" She shrieked and reached out toward her friend. "FADO!"

"NO!" Mido stayed firm as their fairies helplessly fluttered around them. "YOU'RE COMING WITH ME!"

Since it no longer had pixies causing a ruckus on the inside of its skull, the six-armed stalbomination resumed its vicious attack. Picking up its dropped weapons, it ran toward the entrance of the passageway to the Great Deku Tree's Meadow where the retreating kokiri were. Coming up to the location, the monstrosity proved to be too big to fit. However, it still used its lower arm in an attempt to stab at the innocent kids through the narrow corridor; rapidly slinging the blade back and forth.

"Fado!" Tessl flew around the stalbomination holding her child hostage. "What can I do?!"

"Tessl!" Fado's eyes locked with her fairies before she told the truth. "Go! Just go; protect the others!"

Right away, the pixie shook her head. "No! I won't leave you!"

The six-armed stalbomination suddenly turned its head to look at Fado. It gradually stood back up, no longer interested in the fleeing kokiri now that they were too far in for it to reach. Taking a step backward, it held out all three of its rusty swords and then roughly bashed them against its three shields in an intimidating display. Following the stunt, it let out a deep roar before running in her direction with hate burning in its glowing red eyes.

Seeing no way out of her predicament since she was trapped in a bone cage, Fado began to mentally resign herself to a potential demise. However, she didn't want her fairy to join her in the afterlife. She knew that none of what had happened was Tessl's fault in any way, that the pixie was merely doing her job in trying to keep them safe from all the dangers in the world. Part of her wondered, had she listened to her guardian from the start, if she would have been better off than she was now. But, it was too late for regrets. For what little time she had left, she decided to keep trying to convince the flying caretaker to seek shelter elsewhere.

"Tessl. I'm the Sage of Wind. This is my duty." Holding back tears, she sniffled and said "Do this for me…" She forced a smile onto her lips even as her hands shook with anxiety while holding the monster's ribs. "Don't let them get the others."

As the six-armed stalbomination closed in on her position, two other skeletons arose from the pile of bones they had collapsed into. The black magic inside quickly reconstructed the swift-footed spinner in addition to skull hands. Suddenly there were three enemies converging on her location and she remained unable to free herself from the thoracic bondage.

Tessl barely managed to fly up in time to avoid being bitten by the chomping skeleton. "No! No! No! NO! NO! NOOOO!"

Fado looked around at the three stalbominations and saw only literal death coming her way. The adrenaline coursing through her made her pupils mere dots, her breathing slowed and even her thinking dulled. Except, even with the chemical boost pumping in her veins, she was still unable to break out of the ancient ribcage. Being squished didn't help give her leverage either. In addition, since her special powers weren't manifesting, she assumed that meant they would be of no assistance in this particular situation. All of these combined caused her to come to terms with defeat. It was incredibly frustrating to lose, especially considering she would be leaving the realm unfulfilled with her obligation as a sage. Yet, she had no choice.

She closed her eyes and thought about her life. In a split second, she saw flashes of moments she'd experienced. For a kokiri, she had a great life. Like her other siblings, she had the gift of ultimate freedom. She lived in a paradise as her ancestors did. She bonded with her own fairy, played fun games with her friends, ate delicious food, learned almost everything she needed to know from the Great Deku Tree and also helped take care of Link when he was a baby. But, she also achieved a higher level of skill than her siblings and for a good reason. Having a superior understanding of ranged weaponry as well as a lack of fear regarding the Lost Woods made her a great candidate for the Sage of Wind.

Although it was short, her time adventuring was the best and it made her unique. That alone brought a true smile to her lips as she waited for her life to end.

"CAW!" A noise suddenly came from the skyline, where only a sliver of twilight lit the darkened heavens. "CAW!"

The hopeless kokiri couldn't help other than to open her eyes. She looked up in confusion, unsure of what made such a strange yet familiar sound. It took a moment, but it dawned on her. As the three stalbomination's came within range, she realized who was making that noise.

Coming into view, just above the thick treeline and right on the outskirts of the once peaceful village came a mysterious red dot. At first it resembled a speedy bird. Unlike a normal bird, it quickly flew through the dusk sky, headed straight for the commotion instead of away. Fado had already deduced what it was, but the unknown dot didn't become fully recognizable until it arrived flapping its wings above her. Then it was obvious that it wasn't a typical avian.

Like an answered prayer, the flying object was actually a rito. In fact, it wasn't a regular rito either; it was Tolenli the Hawkeye, the current Sage of Wind.

"CAW!" He yelled a battlecry while circling around the scene to take in what was happening. As per his name, his excellent vision allowed him to instantly spot Fado held within the confines of the big chested stalbomination. Seeing that, he didn't hesitate to take action.

On instinct, Fado called out to him, her arm reaching out of the bone prison. "TOLENLI!"

Swooping down like a true bird of prey, the red rito warrior proved he wasn't too old to save the day. Landing atop the skeleton that was holding the kokiri girl hostage, the impact caused the undead monster's neck to break. Tolenli's talons dug deep into its skull. However, instead of tearing it off, he remained long enough to attack the others.

Analyzing the enemies locations, he quickly pulled out his bow, readied it, reached into his quiver and then knocked three arrows. These were special ammunition too, arrows he'd been keeping for a dicey situation precisely like this one here. They were thirty year old Bomb Arrows he'd long since been itching to use.

"Don't worry." He told the panicked kokiri beneath him. "I got this."

Although they were ancient, twisting the ends of the Bomb Arrows caused the desert dry Bomb Flower to activate. Their fuses burned quick, but gave the rito just long enough to aim for the middle stalbomination inbetween the other two. Pulling back the bowstring, he whistled a jaunty little tune and then let go.

Since he was still the Sage of Wind, Tolenli was able to manifest his divine powers. Decades of practice as well as experience made him the sharpest marksman in the entire kingdom. So, the moment he let go of the bowstring, the three lit Bomb Arrows soared the short gap separating him from the approaching undead. Like magic, the ammunition were directly propelled toward the three monstrous amalgamations by strong gusts of supernatural wind. Each arrow impacted the heads of their targets, immediately exploding into a fiery blast that completely obliterated their skulls and the evil witchcraft residing within them. The result caused the three stalbominations to permanently cease functioning. Their bodies fell to the ground in yet another pile of splintered, now smoldering bones.

Carrying out the rest of the rescue, he placed one foot on the shoulder of the undead mutant with a massive rib-cage. Knowing he couldn't blow it up without risking the injury of his protege, now that the others had been dealt with, he instead chose to rip off the remaining stalbomination's skull and go flying up into the air with it. As the monster's skeletal body below him collapsed, he made it a significant distance up above the trees in advance of punting its head far into the depths of the woods where it could be heard shattering against the trunk of a tree.

Fado fell to the ground as the final stalbomination's decapitated body collapsed around her. A few bones poked her as she tumbled, but she was otherwise unharmed. She just had a heart that was beating faster than a sprinting rabbit. Nevertheless, now that she was freed from the bony thoracic prison, she scrambled for her whip in advance of looking up to watch her saviour as he finished the job.

Tolenli had defeated the stalbomination and unknowingly ended Dark Link's sadistic game. However, he could see Phantom Ganon floating near the exit of the woods and used logic to deduce that the revenant was the source of all the malicious madness infesting the village. Taking that correct assumption into consideration, the mighty rito nose-dived to just above the ground prior to spreading his gorgeous crimson wings so that he lifted and flew straight toward the menacing entity at top-speed. Now that he was going fast enough, he didn't have to worry about flapping his wings. This allowed him to focus on retrieving another Bomb Arrow from his gilded quiver.

Phantom Ganon might have been zombified, but it still noticed Tolenli. Lifting its right hand, it pointed its index finger and began shooting its signature orbs of energy in an attempt to knock the humanoid bird out of the sky.

It had been a while since he'd performed such aerial maneuvers, but Tolenli was determined to destroy the invaders of the forest. He merely had to tilt his shoulders in order to pan mid-air. Avoiding the incoming hostile projectiles, he dove through the danger like a champion. As soon as he came close enough to get a clear shot, he held the Bomb Arrow to his beak, biting its fuse to activate it. Nocking the explosive ammunition, he pulled back the bowstring, aimed and then let go.

While the arrow made it to its target, the old Sage of Wind found himself stopped by the two remaining stalfos who had been acting as bodyguards this entire time.

When the Bomb Arrow hit Phantom Ganon in the chest, it exploded on impact. Some of the fire blasted up into its skeletonized face. The revenant reacted with pain, trying to shield itself from further damage by holding up its hands. It shook its head in agony and turned around as the fire spread across its cuirass. Dropping to the ground, it rolled across the dirt to extinguish itself. However, it didn't return to hovering. Instead, it opted to flee on foot, heading in the direction of the threshold leading to Hyrule Field.

Tolenli broke free of the stalfos grasp in advance of retrieving his two Feathered Edge swords. In the blink of an eye, he thrusted one through the eye socket of the left skeleton knight until the tip came out the back of its skull. He relinquished the stuck impaled blade, but used the other to slice the right stafos' head in half. Both the undead warriors were destroyed before they could do anything else.

Upon returning his focus to Phantom Ganon, he realized that the pathway the revenant was fleeing toward had been previously blocked by a felled tree. At first, the avian sage figured that the monster was just going to run smack into it, perhaps from having been blinded by the fire that blasted up into its face. However, he found himself utterly surprised whenever the ghostly being instead effortlessly broke straight through the fresh wood like a psyched-up hulking brute.

After splitting the tree, it escaped into the shadows of the threshold and disappeared into the darkness of the surrounding dense flora.

"FADO!" Tessl descended from the safety she'd flown to. "PRAISE FARORE, YOU'RE ALIVE!" Tears fell from the pixie's eyes as she expressed how much concern she held for the situation. "I THOUGHT YOU WERE A GONER!"

Rubbing her sides from where she'd been gouged by the stalbomination's rib bones, Fado sniffled, groaned and then smiled softly in response to the genuine love her guardian held for her. "Me too! I thought the same!" She exclaimed from the unprecedented excitement as the wild emotions that were coursing throughout her caused her nerves to be frayed. "I… I can't believe Tolenli came out of nowhere like that! I'm so lucky! If it wasn't for him, I'd have been skeleton food!"

Tessl landed on Fado's left shoulder and proceeded to give the kokiri as big of a hug as a fairy could possibly give. "You scared me so much! Please, promise me you wont ever again get so close to being killed!"

Fado gently held her shaky anxiety-afflicted hand to her fairies back in advance of responding with platonic appreciation. "I'm sorry…" In spite of not wanting to further upset the person who'd taken care of her all her life, for several reasons, she found it difficult to promise that she'd never again throw herself into danger. Nonetheless, she still tried to calm the distraught caretaker. "I… I'll try my best to not get put in harm's way like that again."

Even while still shedding tears, Tessl knew the truth. No matter what the caring child said to spare her little heart the inevitable worry, she knew it wouldn't be accurate as it would conflict with Fado's primary purpose as a sage. So, after sniffling, she sighed before saying "I know you can't promise me that." Pulling away from the loving embrace, the fairy instead delicately placed her tiny hand to Fado's cheek, but continued to stare into the kokiri's blue eye. "You felt a duty to protect this place as well as your family. I can't fault you for that. If anything, I'm proud of you." Using her other hand to dab at the salty droplets rolling from her sad eyes, she reiterated what she meant. "Just try to stay safe. Without you, I don't know what I'd do with myself. You're my child."

"You're my fairy." Fado forced a smile as she contemplated what she'd just been told.

Tolenli ignored the heartwarming reunion between fairy and kokiri, instead focusing on ensuring all the undead had been permanently destroyed. The red rito went around to each of the intact skeletal remains prior to using his Feathered Blade to jab at any skull he could find, waiting to see if any gave a response.

After another solid minute of total quiet, Mido as well as Saria reappeared, poking their head out from around the corner of the passageway that led to the Great Deku Tree's Meadow. The two were still incredibly wary of being attacked by monsters, yet had summoned the courage to come investigate the reason behind the lack of scary loud sounds related to a rambunctious battleground. Upon seeing Fado freed from the stalbombination's ribcage she'd been imprisoned inside, they were floored with excitement. Although the orange-haired boy stayed hidden in order to silently examine the rest of the surroundings, the green-haired kokiri girl wasted absolutely no time in exiting cover in favour of running to reconnect with her best friend.

"FADO!" Saria cried with blurry eyes as she ran arms-stretched.

The blonde-haired kokiri girl turned toward her approaching friend. Tessl flew up out of the way as Fado opened her arms right before the two girls collided. "Saria."

"You did it!" Saria huffed. Tears burned the corners of her eyes as she hugged with all her might. "You friggin' did it! You saved us and yourself!" With the day's rollercoaster of emotions finally grinding to a halt, she found herself acting on instinct and suddenly began giving her beloved friend a relentless round of kisses to the cheek. It wasn't really romantic kisses; more like platonic kisses of relief for a family member. "I'm so glad you're okay! I was so worried about you!"

Fado instantly wrapped her arms around her partner and then smiled wider at the fact that they were all safe. Yet, as soon as she started getting kissed on the cheek, her eyes slowly widened at the pleasant surprise. Even though her smile remained, her muscles repeatedly tensed up and a deep blush gradually crept upon her face in response to each time she felt Saria's tender lips touch her supple skin.

Tessl snickered at the sight.

"Oh!" Fado remarked in regards to the affection. The kokiri was highly embarrassed since she didn't expect such appreciation, but eventually a giggle escaped as she found the soft kisses tickled too. In spite of that, she secretly relished the sensations until they came to an end and Saria chose to just squeeze a hug. Only after it was over did she divulge what had happened. "I'm fine, I'm fine." Grabbing her friend's shoulders, she held her still to calm her down in advance of turning them to direct their attention to the anthropomorphic bird walking around their village. "It wasn't me who saved us all."

Mido had come out of the passageway he'd hunkered down in, yet as soon as he spotted the rito, he exclaimed in shock "By the goddesses, what is that thing?!"

"Tolenli?" Saria happily smiled even though she didn't quite understand what was going on. All she knew, the last time they had met, their encounter was rather cold and brutal. Either way, now the girl was more than glad to see the old Sage of Wind as it was obvious he wasn't there for a nefarious reason. "You did this for us? I thought you didn't like us?"

"Umm, hello!?" Mido jutted in as he demanded an answer to his previous question. "Who is this!? Why does he look like a bird!?"

"Rito…" Tolenli stated as he approached the three kokiri. "I'm not just a bird. I'm a rito... and my name is Tolenli." Looking over at Saria, he then ignored Mido's concern and simply answered Saria's query. "Plus, I never said I didn't like you. I just think your kind is too weak to take up the mantle-..." He suddenly stopped, then rubbed the back of his feathered head prior to correcting himself. "At least, I used to think that way until you broke my back and nearly killed me. Two nosey unskilled kids defeating a sage with decades of experience is definitely an eyeopener. Besides, now that I know you're my successor, it wouldn't be right of me to let my protege get murdered by a bunch of rowdy undead skeletons."

Shaking his head with his eyebrows furrowed, Mido asked "What are you talking about?"

Fado let out an exhale as she dreaded having to explain to everyone the discovery she made on her adventure. "It's… a long story. You'll know whenever I tell The Deku Tree Sprout."

Saria was ecstatic that the experienced rito had lended assistance; her smile was proof. On the other hand, she still wondered how it happened. Thankfully, she was brave enough to ask. "How did you know we were under attack!?"

Tolenli sheathed his blade as he examined the village, scrutinizing his surroundings as if he was somewhere interesting. "I heeded the Great Deku Tree's call for assistance."

"What?" Fado enquired. "He called out to you? How?"

"Yes, but not vocally." Tolenli confirmed in advance of explaining further. "All sages can telepathically communicate with spirits and demi-deities." He looked at the kokiri homes and the gentle brook flowing through the village. "It's been a while, but I made a promise to him that I would come if he called me."

Not even fully comprehending what this meant for her, Fado stared at the aging rito who came to her assistance, trying hard to think of a way to properly thank him. Since she had so little to offer and he was a grumpy man who felt he already had everything he wanted, for the time being the best she could come up with was a simple hug. "For now, I just want to thank our saviour for protecting us."

"Huh?" Tolenli took a step back before finding himself being hugged by a child of the forest who's a quarter his size.

"Thank you." Fado barely managed to wrap her arms around the front of the avianoid's waist. She was appreciative of her own rescue, but what she was most grateful for was having her siblings saved from a horrible fate. "Thank you for protecting my family."

Tolenli blinked from the surprise. His beady eyes glance at the uncertain Mido, who shrugged but also nodded a thanks, then at Saria, who continued to smile and even approached to join in on the hug. At first, he wasn't sure what to do as it had been an exceedingly long time since he'd been outside of the Woodwind Temple and even longer since he'd been hugged by someone. His social skills were lacking due to all the time he'd been alone and he never had any chicks of his own because he was too busy fulfilling the role of his title. However, a small paternal side hidden deep within him couldn't help other than to feel a smidge of satisfaction in protecting the lives of innocent kids from evil. A very subtle smile formed at the corners of his beak as he bent down to return the hug. "You're welcome."