Wow hi I'm so embarrassed, i just...thought I already uploaded this chapter.
I s2g chapter 29 will be up on time.
GO ON GET READING I'VE DELAYED YOU ENOUGH
Chapter 28 - Twilit Ice Mass: Blizzeta
The nighttime trash run was Telma's least favorite part of the closing time routine, and was a task she preferred to delegate to whatever night watch was under her employ that evening.
Unfortunately, she hadn't any luck with finding someone to take Koto's place last-minute. With Ashei and Isha gone, Telma was out of trusted warriors and feeling a bit more vulnerable than usual. She'd put an extra seal on the place, just in case. That, and carrying Isha's old weapon with her helped ease Telma's paranoia well enough to brave the night.
It was an unusually dark night, even for a night with a thin crescent moon. Everything had a faint yellow glow to it, thanks to that gods-awful crystal that had become a new permanent fixture in their skyline. It did little to chase away the deep shadows cast by looming buildings. Such places made perfect hiding places for monsters, Hylian or otherwise.
There's no one out here, Telma chastised herself. The night was silent, and the shadows weren't that dark. She was getting paranoid in her old age.
The trash heap was at the far end of the courtyard, and Telma resented that decision on nights like this. The stony courtyard seemed to stretch on forever, but she crossed it quickly enough. Not once did she stop scanning her surroundings. Just in case.
As she neared the pile, Telma glanced up the alleyway towards the main road, and saw a soldier standing guard at the street corner. She nearly sighed aloud in relief. A loitering soldier was a peaceful sign.
She slung two heavy trash bags atop the growing pile and prayed the city would be bringing the wagon around soon. Things had been all off-schedule and out of sorts for far too long. The last thing the town needed was a plague brought on by rotting refuse.
When Telma turned back to return to the safety of her beloved tavern, she glanced once more towards the street corner.
The guard was gone.
She finished her turn and found him standing with thick arms folded across his chest at the center of the courtyard. What Telma had mistaken for a guard's polished uniform at a distance was actually solid black plate, trimmed with gold and as dark as the shadows themselves. Nowhere upon his armor was the familiar crest of the Hylian guard. The man did not wear a helm, but instead a hood that seemed to be made of the shadows themselves, obscuring the details of his face. His golden glare was all that she could see.
"Ah, the famous hostess herself," the dark stranger purred. "I wondered what had become of your fine establishment. You see, I seem to be unable to locate it, lately. It had me worried. I quite miss the lively atmosphere and the interesting company you keep."
Telma stood frozen in her fear. The man could cover his features all he wanted. She knew enough and had heard enough to know exactly who was blocking her way to safety.
Ganondorf. The Disgraced King.
Telma had tried to brace herself for his eventual appearance ever since she'd spotted the mark on Link's hand. Both sides of her family had passed down stories of this man's great betrayals, and of the curse he embodied. Many, many stories. He was the antagonist in every version, both a history lesson and a cautionary tale about greed and how it can ruin nations.
Despite her knowledge, nothing could have prepared Telma for this terror that turned her blood to ice. He waited, still and quiet, for her to respond.
"Well, sir, buildings don't just up and wander off," she finally replied, doing her best to hide her fear under the exasperated tone of an overworked woman. "However, it's long past closing time, so I'm afraid you'll have to come back another time."
Telma blinked, and Ganon was at her side and resting an elbow upon her shoulder. She dared not turn to look at him. "Oh, I'm more than aware, miss. Just as I am aware of Hylian royalty's proclivity to…remove traces of things they want the people to forget. Forgive me for jumping to conclusions, anyway. I find myself a bit more on edge, these days. I'm sure you understand." His voice was as rich as the sweetest honey.
All I have to do is get under that arch. Now that he'd moved, Telma had a clear sightline to her safe haven away from this demon.
Assuming she could outrun whatever magic he used to warp himself about.
A weight lifted from her back. Isha's weapon! Telma's heart sank, and before she could consider what those flaming eyes filled with malice might do to her nerves, she whirled to face evil incarnate and admonish him for taking things that weren't his.
In the monstrous man's hands, the staff looked more like a scepter. He turned it over and prodded at the stones embedded in its hilt. He touched them as though nothing was wrong, which disheartened Telma further. There existed only one divine weapon that was fatal to the Demon King, but the morion stones should still have burned him like a hot iron!
"This should have been tossed along with the rest of the Sheikah trash," Ganondorf sneered, tossing the weapon back to her with disdain. "I recognize the failed technology of a failed race. You do your bloodline a disservice by consorting with-"
As soon as that staff touched the palm of Telma's hand, she whipped a deku nut from her apron pocket and thrust it o the ground. That weak, faint warmth of limited magic welled up within her, and Telma prayed it would be enough to get away.
In a flash, she was at the center of the courtyard and running as fast as her legs would carry her. Telma's heart pounded in her ears, drowning out Ganondorf's cursing.
As soon as Telma crossed under the stone canopy that sheltered her bar, she spun and faced Ganondorf, though she knew he could no longer see her. His hood had fallen from his face, revealing features Telma knew all too well. The golden eyes, the flaming hair done up in a royal headdress representing a people long buried in history, the sun-kissed skin, the warrior's glare. It was enough to make her stomach churn, though she knew she had made it to safety. For now.
Ganondorf beat his massive fists against what he saw to be a solid brick wall. On Telma's side, blue spiral cracks fractured out from the impact, lighting up the barrier that was otherwise invisible to the naked eye. The seal would hold for far longer than this demon would have patience for.
Telma knew he had bigger fish to fry. If the Demon King wanted her dead, he'd never have made himself known. He'd only come to taunt, discourage, and investigate any potential threats. Perhaps the one perk to her Gerudo heritage in this post-Disgraced-King era was the fact that this reincarnation of evil happened to have a soft spot for his own people.
Thankfully, she was more than a descendant of the race he ruined.
"The Sheikah were supposed to be long dead!" Ganondorf was roaring now, much to Telma's dismay. The last thing she needed was civilians coming out to complain about the noise. "Turning the remnants of my own people against me?! Have you shadow-walkers no shame at all?"
Wake up the whole damn town, why don't you? "You may have once been a man, but now you are no more than a vengeful spirit. A foul heart cannot pierce the Sheikah barrier," Telma hissed, forcing all traces of fear from her voice. She would not let him scare her.
"You are one of my-"
"Be gone!" Telma's voice carried over his. The King of Evil seemed taken aback by her tone. "I claim no kinship with you. You ensured that the Gerudo had no future. I will honor both sides of my heritage by bringing you down from the shadows."
Still seething, Ganondorf finally stopped beating against the barrier. "The shadows obey me, now. I am their king and their god," he snarled. "Cower in your dead magic all you like, woman. Once my pawn has taken Hyrule and returns my power to me, there will be no shield or illusion that will protect you from my wrath."
Shadows wrapped about his body, obscuring what little features Telma could see in the dim night. His scowl was the last thing she saw before he shattered into thousands of tiny black particles. They hung about for only a moment before shooting into the sky and far out of sight.
The barkeep slumped against the wall and buried her face in her trembling hands.
He'd been in her bar before. That thought alone chilled her to the bone. Telma feared she knew exactly when he'd visited, and who he'd visited. Poor Isha had hid in her room for a full day, likely terrified from the encounter with such a monster. It was pure luck that he had not come looking for blood that night.
She's still doing all she can to help right his wrongs, though, Telma reminded herself, looking at the staff that had been left in her care. Despite the horrors she'd faced, the Kakarikan woman had done quite well to keep getting back on her feet. Telma couldn't hunker down and wait out the end of the world in a dark corner of the city. She rose to her feet.
Her bar needed to remain a safe haven, now more than ever. And by the looks of things, Telma had quite a lot of work to do if she wanted to fix Isha's weapon. Crystalized magic was never a major part of her studies. It was a miracle she could even recognize morion, or recall that it was said to burn away malice. Why it wasn't working now, Telma could only begin to guess.
Isha mentioned it came from Renado, she recalled, allowing her mind to focus on anything other than the horrifying encounter she'd just endured. The shaman of Kakariko was a welcome distraction. I've been needing an excuse to check in with that handsome devil.
Despite her lingering fear, Telma smiled. As much as Ganondorf's appearance had shaken her, it had also reassured Telma that the childhood she'd sacrificed to train in secret as a Sheikah warrior was not wasted. The ancient magic would hold against the Demon King. Her bar would serve as a proper safehouse for Hyrule's finest, and she would finish what her ancestors started.
The Sheikah tribe was long gone, but Telma could still use their best-kept secrets and her diluted bloodline to serve Hyrule. This Gerudo would stand for the kingdom she loved and called home.
"Telma?"
The new voice nearly made her jump ten feet in the air. Telma whirled around to see a face she had honestly given up hope of seeing any time soon.
He couldn't have arrived at a better time. A relieved grin spread across her lips.
Link, looking rather exhausted but otherwise no worse for the wear, joined Telma under the arched alcove. His eyes immediately fell upon the weapon in her hands.
"That's Isha's, right? Is she still here?"
Bless his heart. Telma could tell from his grim expression that the poor kid had been through a lot since anyone had last seen him. "You and I have a lot of catching up to do, honey. Why don't you come on inside and take a load off?"
Ashei and Isha reached the armory with little difficulty. Ashei was quick to notice that the Chillfos beasts had very poor eyesight, which worked greatly to their advantage. Though the beasts patrolled the fortress grounds as though keeping the place under tight scrutiny, the women slipped past golem after golem without a single fight.
Isha followed Ashei to a fairly unassuming door, considering the ornamentation that was carved into all the others they'd passed. The heavy wood was reinforced with iron bracers, and seemed to be untouched by time and weather.
"Be ready for anything," Ashei warned in a low voice, turning to Isha.
"If I was going to set up my monster nest anywhere, I'd pick the building full of weapons," Isha nodded, drawing her bow. She braced herself against the wall beside the door.
Sword in hand, Ashei braced herself on the other side of the wall. She held up three fingers and counted down.
On one, the door was swung open. Isha held her breath and braced herself for a fight.
No disgruntled cries or frenzied attacks came their way. No spears of ice pierced the air. Isha cautiously peered around the door frame and scanned the darkened room for threats.
Aside from a treasure trove of weapons and armor, the room appeared empty and, surprisingly, safe. Ashei pulled a torch out of its hook on the outer wall, and both women cautiously stepped inside.
The armory was overflowing with long-abandoned weapons. Poleaxes, flails, picks, spears, swords, crossbows, and canons were in abundance, hung along numerous hooks upon the walls or piled upon the floor. It was a fairly small room they stood in, and this was made all the more apparent by all the clutter.
There were plenty of defensive items scattered about, as well. Barricade pieces were stacked floor-to-ceiling. Entire suits of armor not unlike those that stood in the foyer were scattered about the room, like silent watchmen. Rusty shields lay in heaps at the feet of several of these suits. There was even a massive rack full of stakes that waited for untold years to be assembled into barricades.
Ashei slid her sword into its sheath. "You take the right side, I'll take the left."
Isha whistled. "Why was all of this left here?" She made her way over to large barrel set beside a canon that leaned on a rotting wheel. "This seems excessive for a place like this..."
"Your guess is as good as mine, yeah?" The dark-haired woman shrugged and ran a finger along the handle of a poleaxe. "The yeti say the place was long-abandoned when they showed up over eighty years ago. I've never met anyone who knew anything about it."
Isha stopped to check inside a barrel. Her eyes grew wide when she lifted the lid. She'd been hoping for the leftovers, but this barrel was still full!
She turned and pulled off the lid of another barrel. Again, she found it full of black powder.
A third barrel. Full.
"There are depictions of important people and legendary landmarks all over the place. The living room alone is larger than the biggest home in my village. This armory could supply a small nation today. Why was Snowpeak so important, and what drove Hyrule to abandon and forget about it?"
Ashei did not respond, for these sorts of things were of no interest to her. She placed her torch in an empty wall hook and made her way around the left side of the room at a leisurely pace. She stopped here and there to inspect the abandoned arms, looking for something with a little more punch than the thin dueling sword she carried.
Isha reached into the pouch at her side and fished out several small cuts of cloth and a spool of string. She swiped a dagger off a nearby to cut the string and got to work refilling her explosives.
Minutes slipped by in a silence that was only broken up by the occasional clinking of metal from Ashei shifting through piles of weaponry. Isha fell into a comfortable repetitive rhythm of filling each pouch, tying it closed, and adding the new pouch to her side bag.
As she worked, she skimmed through her shallow knowledge of Hyrule's history in her mind, trying to recall any mention of defensive structures built in the northern mountain ranges that might give her an idea of the ruins' history. Surely, it would take something catastrophic to force a kingdom to abandon their arms in a stronghold that, for at least eighty years of abandonment, was still in quite remarkable shape.
She made a mental note to get a good look at the crests carved on the outside of the main building before they left. It would be difficult to pinpoint minute differences between the generations of the Hylian Royal family's stylings, but it would at least give Isha a rough idea of how many centuries ago the place was built.
Figuring out when and why it was abandoned, though, might not be so easy. She'd never heard of a settlement in the Snowpeak region, military or otherwise. Was it lost to history due to poor record-keeping, or was it intentionally hidden?
Metal shifted behind Isha, drawing her back to the present. When did Ashei cross the room? "Finding anything?" Isha asked without turning to face her friend.
The sound of metal whooshing through the air met her ears. Isha dove to the side to avoid whatever had been thrown her way. Just as she turned around to shout at Ashei for throwing things around so carelessly around explosives, she heard a voice not from behind, but from across the room.
"Move-!"
The rest of Ashei's cry was lost under a thunderous boom. The barrel at Isha's side burst, momentarily blinding Isha. She was sent flying to the center of the room, where the back of her head met cold, hard brick.
Isha's senses returned one-by-one. Her head and back ached. Smoke and dust filled the room and forced its way into her lungs. A familiar, painful ringing filled Isha's ears.
She coughed and spat blood, both actions causing her vision to buzz. Isha struggled to right herself on shaking legs.
Arms looped under Isha's own and dragged her back. She turned to see Ashei coughing through the haze. Isha finally managed to get her feet under her, and the two women ducked behind a stack of crates to catch their breath.
A muffled voice competed with the ringing in Isha's ears, but she could hardly make out what Ashei was frantically telling her. Isha pointed weakly to her ears. "Ringing," she managed with a heavy tongue.
Ashei gave a disappointed shake of the head and peered over the top of the boxes. She smacked Isha's shoulder, gesturing for her to look as well. Isha did so with a groan. At the center of the room, a hulking form lumbered away from the site of the explosion. Every uneven step was accompanied by the sound of metal scraping upon stone, causing Isha to wince.
"As a Captain of the Guard I order you to stand down!" Ashei boomed, yet another agitation to Isha's ears.
The figure lurched into the weak light provided by their one torch, still hanging from its hook upon the wall. Green scales reflected the weak firelight, their jagged tips coated in blast residue. Thick puffs of hot breath puffed from its pig-like nose. A four-horned ram skull sat atop his head, and on his chest he wore leather armor with no chainmail. This and the leather bracers on his legs and arms were undecorated, but his arms bore scarlet warpaint in an unfamiliar pattern.
The very sight of this brute was enough to scare Isha back to her senses. The beast took a powerful stance and began to swing the chain above his head, revealing a massive metal ball at its end that was covered in horrible spikes. Isha shuddered at the mental image of the ball crushing in her own skull, had she not moved quickly enough out of its path.
She wasn't about to make that mistake now. Isha grabbed Ashei's arm and pulled her away from their hiding spot. Splinters peppered their backs when the crates were shattered only moments later, but their cold-weather coats protected them from any serious injury. The two women retreated into a corner of the room and crouched in the shadows.
Ashei mimicked the action of firing a bow, then pointed to the monster. Isha nodded.
The beast had knocked itself off-balance with its latest throw, and was still trying to recover his hefty weapon from the wreckage. Ashei drew her sword and charged, aiming for the gaps in his armor. The reptilian deflected her strike with an arm. Her blade slid harmlessly off his brown top-scales. She scowled at his natural defense and leapt back.
Isha made her way over to a large closet that had fallen sideways after the explosion, making the perfect cover in darkness. She hit her knees and took aim with her bow. With no wind to fight off, her confidence in this fight surged, despite her pounding headache and ruined hearing. Just as Ashei jumped back to avoid another swing of the ball-and-chain, Isha released her arrow. It pierced the softer side of his upraised arm and lodged deep in his bicep.
His guttural cry rattled Isha's brain in her skull. The scaled monster snapped off the arrow at its entry wound and threw aside the shattered spine with a snarl. Ashei lunged forwards once more, jamming her sword into the monster's exposed leg. It swung the ball and chain towards her, but she easily dipped out of harm's way. Blood sprayed across the stones, following the arc of her slice.
Another arrow found its home in the beast's jaw, and its roar became garbled. Dark blood poured like a spring from its mouth. Despite his injuries, the beast still violently whipped its head about, trying to keep both women in its sights. Blood painted the walls and floor, and the lizard abandoned his strange weapon in favor of desperate punches and kicks.
Isha was on the move again, keeping the monster between her and Ashei while the soldier danced and hopped around their weakening opponent. Isha found a canon to crouch beside and steadied her arms upon its barrel.
When it was obvious the beast would not be able to chase down the agile Ashei, he once again tried to throw out his ball and chain. The weight of his weapon was far too much, and Ashei easily sidestepped the sloppy shot. She swept her sword along the ground and then upwards, driving it through the beast's skull at the same time that Isha's final arrow buried itself in its neck. The armory fell silent once more.
Isha slowly rose from her place by the canon, the rush of battle quickly leaving her to fight off fatigue and pain by herself. When her bow was returned to its place upon her back, a sharp pain in her shoulder made Isha wince.
Ashei met her halfway and pulled a bottle of red liquid from a pocket on the interior of her coat. Isha eagerly accepted the potion, and slouched to the ground while Ashei turned back to the fallen beast. With some effort, she wrestled the chain free from its clenched fist and pulled back the spiked ball.
When the red potion had worked its magic and left her even more drained of energy, Isha forced herself back to her feet. Exhaustion was the least of her worries. What if that beast had made its way to the main living room, where a sickly Yeta was resting?
Ashei was right. We have to get that mirror out of here.
The dark-haired woman lifted her newly claimed weapon with little difficulty and tucked the spiked ball under her arm. She turned to Isha and grinned. "Well, this should make dealing with those chillfos a piece of cake, yeah?"
Without the energy to offer so much as a courtesy laugh, Isha instead exhaled heavily through her nostrils and eyed the corpse upon the floor. "Something tells me they're the least of our concerns."
Their journey to the tower at the back of the fortress was relatively uneventful. Ashei had been correct in her assumption that the ball-and-chain would be devastating against the chillfos, even if it was a bit of an unwieldy weapon. Isha found her skills entirely unneeded. She didn't mind all that much - she was sleep-deprived and freezing once more.
"I was thinkin," Ashei began as they trudged up a ramp to the second level. "Maybe we shouldn't take this mirror thing with us back to town, yeah?"
"What do you propose we do with it, then?" Isha asked.
"Figured we could throw it in a crevice, bury it deep under the snow."
"No, Ashei," Isha groaned. "Unless you'd like to curse a pack of ice wolves next."
"I was only half-kidding," Ashei scoffed, shifting her hold on the enormous metal ball tucked under her arm. "Sealing it away somehow would be ideal. Don't suppose you know any magic?"
"Not a magic bone in my body to be found."
Ashei laughed. "You sound disappointed, yeah? How many years did you try before you gave up?"
Despite herself, Isha's face grew hot. She stared at her snow-covered boots. "Oh, what, like you didn't spend your toddlerhood trying to light everything around you on fire?"
Ashei gestured to the steady snowfall around them with her free hand. "Training in a place like this, you gotta try manifesting Din's Fire at least once, yeah?"
"So we can't seal it away, and we can't throw it into a pit."
"Do you think breaking it would solve our problems?" Ashei gestured for Isha to stop, and dropped her ball-and-chain into the snow. "Hang on, not sure which way to go from here." She donned the hawkeye mask and walked to the edge of the wall.
Isha bit her lip and followed Ashei, resting her hip against the frigid parapet. "Hard to say. Maybe we would rid the world of whatever curse it has, or maybe we'd make it worse. We know nothing about it, including whether or not it even is a mirror at all. I still think we should take it to Telma's."
"It made Yeta sick, yeah?"
"We think it's making her sick," Isha corrected. "We don't know anything, and we won't if we don't get an opportunity to properly study the thing. Wouldn't you rather find out why it's making her sick? Better yet, wouldn't you love to find out how to use it for the good of Hyrule?"
"See, this is why I can't stand you academics, yeah?" Ashei turned and frowned at Isha. "This thing's clearly dangerous, and you want to parade it into the heart of Hyrule to look at it for hours on end and scribble in your journals, on the off-chance you might learn something."
"I want to keep it out of the wrong hands, Ashei," Isha put a hand to her hip. "And given the state of Hyrule, it might be smart to have a few magical oddities at our disposal."
"And if it attracts monsters to the city?"
Isha waved her off. "Telma does some sort of weird seal over the bar, right? Maybe she can hide this thing, somehow."
Ashei turned her gaze back to the higher walls. "Let's worry about getting the mirror out of here first, yeah?" she said finally. "I'm not comfortable with stealing from the yeti."
"Even if it's for their own good?"
Ashei opened her mouth to respond, but stopped when she caught sight of a strange figure peering down at them from the upper walkway. It was large, and as white as the snow. The dark, wrinkled face was almost familiar, but the eyes were wrong.
They were hollow, and glowing red.
"Yeta?!" In a flash, Ashei scooped up her ball-and-chain, then bolted for the nearest ramp up.
"Out here?" Isha cried incredulously, stumbling after her frantic friend. "Ashei, are you sure?" How in the hell are you running with that thing? She wanted to add, but the icy night air seized her lungs and made even the shallowest of breaths incredibly painful.
Ashei maintained her pace for longer than Isha could, but not by much. The younger Hylian caught Ashei at the top of the ramp, and both took a moment to catch their breath.
"Maybe," Ashei wheezed, finally answering Isha's earlier question. Dark eyes scanned the wall frantically. "Her face was off, though. The eyes were glowing, like a chillfos, yeah?"
Isha shuddered at the thought and looked over her shoulder. "That way?" At Ashei's nod, the pair took off at a light jog.
"Yeta!" Ashei called into the night. Isha couldn't make out any living thing - yeti or otherwise - on the wall with them.
Why are they only patrolling the courtyard? In the temple, an army of monsters had taken up residence in the halls surrounding the Fused Shadow, which had already been claimed by a far more powerful beast. Was the same thing happening here? Had some beast come to claim the "mirror"? How have the Yeti not gotten rid of the damn thing by now?
A theory formed in Isha's mind that made her skin crawl. "Yeta, are you out here?"
She prayed they would find nothing.
"Ash? Ish?" The voice came from behind them. Ashei immediately spun and ran back the way they had come. "Yeta! What are you doing out here?"
Isha followed, and from out of the winter haze came the towering form of Yeta.
"Oh, you safe, uh!" Yeta sounded relieved as both women drew near. Contrary to what Ashei had seen, nothing seemed strange about her eyes. They were as dark and kind as ever.
"Hey, why are you out here?" Ashei insisted, placing her free hand on Yeta's arm. "There's monsters everywhere, yeah? And you're sick! You should-"
"Husband's soup make me feel much better," Yeta cut Ashei off with a warm smile. "I dreamt of mirror, woke up missing it. Decided to come look at mirror again, since I feel better. You two, not in kitchen, uh? Enjoying the ruins?"
Yeta seemed completely normal. There was color in her face and light in her eyes. She looked to be in the best shape Isha had seen her in.
Yet the theory in Isha's mind persisted. "Why don't we check the mirror out tomorrow?" She took Yeta's other arm and nodded towards the ramp back down. "Even if you're feeling better, those monsters can be dangerous if they catch you off guard." Unless they're here to protect you.
"Mirror is in bedroom just above us, uh!" Yeta slipped loose of both women's grasps with surprising grace. "I take you there. We see mirror together!" Without waiting for a response, the yeti turned and walked off into the snowy night.
The hair at the back of Isha's neck stood on end, but they followed the retreating yeti. She stepped close to Ashei. "So… What are we going to do if she tries to keep it by force?" She asked in a low voice.
Ashei quickened her pace and did not respond.
"Hello?"
Though she was still winded and burdened with a heavy weapon, Ashei broke into a run.
"We need a plan, Ashei!" Isha lunged for her friend's free arm and forced her to slow. "Something isn't right, I know you feel it too. I don't want to hurt her, but-"
"But nothing," Ashei growled and shook off Isha's touch. "We grab the mirror and we run." Her glare could have wilted a field.
"…Maybe once it's far enough away, things will go back to normal for them," Isha conceded slowly, holding Ashei's stare even when they began walking once again. "Just tell me she isn't going to turn on us."
The soldier broke their stare, and Isha felt her stomach sink. "Great," she mumbled.
Yeta was waiting for them outside her now-unlocked bedroom. The teal lock lay discarded in the snow. The heart shaped looked wrong, mangled. Isha prayed that was merely a trick of the flickering torchlight, and her gaze did not linger.
The kind-faced yeti smiled and pushed open the door. The bedroom beyond was so dark, Isha could scarcely see beyond the threshold.
"You come in!" Yeta stated before scurrying inside. She disappeared into the shadows. Ashei was quick to follow. She dropped the ball-and-chain by the door with a quiet sigh.
Isha's instincts screamed to run. She ignored them and forced herself to follow Ashei inside. Her feet crossed the ice-crusted doorway, and a heavy weight settled over her, like a blanket of melancholy. Her lungs tightened at the frightening, now-familiar sensation.
The air around them was stale and still, as though this room had been closed up for many years. A lantern at the far end of the room flickered to life as the door closed behind them. Yeta put out her match against a thick layer of ice that coated the top of her vanity, then turned and made her way across the room.
The circular bedroom was large and barren, much like the rest of the keep. Red continued to be the color of choice - the canopy bed, shredded drapery, and tattered rug were all sporting similar floral motifs in various scarlet hues. Enormous windows loomed high above, one on every wall. Snow drifted through a few broken panes.
Yeta waddled to a strange shape hanging upon the wall beside the large poster bed. She looked fondly upon the object for a moment before gesturing the two women to join her.
"Beautiful mirror, uh?" Yeta looked to Ashei for approval.
The "mirror" was strange in shape. The bottom side was smooth, curved, and framed with a thin metal that bore ornate carvings. The glass itself was etched with more patterns that seemed to follow the same curve as the frame. The other sides of the mirror were jagged.
It's a piece of something else, Isha thought with dismay. There's more of these out there somewhere.
It was all too similar to the Fused Shadows.
Ashei took a slow breath. "Yeta, you said you got sick after you guys found this, yeah?"
Isha studied the yeti's face closely. She seemed not to notice Ashei's question.
"So pretty…" she whispered. "Look at it, Ash."
Isha's hands twitched at her side. The longer they stood so close to the mirror piece, the more her lungs constricted. She could feel the crushing weight of its strange power.
Zant had reeked of the same power.
"You need to get rid of it," Isha said, stepping between Yeta and the mirror.
The yeti looked at her with a new clarity that gave Isha chills. "Pretty….mirror…"
Ashei reached for Yeta's arm. "We'll find you an even better one. One that doesn't make you sick."
Isha couldn't take the pressure in her mind anymore. She tore the mirror from its hook in the wall and threw to the floor at their feet. The strange object burned her hands like a branding iron, but Isha hardly paid any mind. She braced for the explosion of shattered glass.
The mirror bounced harmlessly off the stone without so much as a scuff.
Yeta's head whipped to the side with a sickening crunch. Her head stopped, but her face continued spinning. Isha and Ashei both recoiled, screaming.
"You fucking idiot!" Ashei gripped Isha's shoulders and put distance between them and the enraged Yeta. "Why?!"
Isha ripped her thin gloves from her hands, expecting the material to have melted into her skin. Though her palms were clearly heavily burnt, the gloves themselves showed no signs of damage. "It burned me," she croaked in shock.
Across the room, Yeta's face stopped spinning. Gone were her sparkling eyes and kind smile, gone was her sense and civility. Her lips ripped wide in a feral grin, bearing fangs that could have been blades in their own right. Eyes red with bloodthirst glowered down at the Hylians.
Her mouth opened impossibly wider, and blood trickled from her cracked skin. "No break mirror!" Yeta howled. Her voice rose to an impossible pitch, and the windows above shattered completely. Wintry gales and gusts of snow joined the chaos unfolding in Yeta's bedroom.
Ashei pulled Isha to the ground and did her best to shield their faces from the raining glass. Wind and snow whipped about the room, dropping the temperatures impossibly lower. Ice formed swiftly on every surface in a thick layer - even the floor beneath their feet.
Isha watched with horror as the ice swallowed up the mirror, still in one piece upon the ground.
"Yeta, stop!" Ashei cried above the noise. She pulled her feet free of the creeping ice and rose to face her rampaging friend.
The gales whipped around Yeta, who now stood cackling in the middle of the room. A curtain of snow and ice embraced her, obscuring her from their view.
Isha slumped against the frozen wall, palms pressed to the ice. "We can't break it," she called over the screaming wind. "We don't have any choice. We have to fight."
"I know," Ashei's normally calm voice cracked. She clenched her teeth and reached for the ball and chain she'd discarded by the door. "We just need to knock her out."
"How many red potions do you have on you?"
"One bottle." Ashei gave her a pointed look.
"Shit," Isha groaned, eying the veil of snow that now stretched from floor to ceiling at the center of the room. "I'll do my best."
Ashei opened her mouth to speak, but at that moment, the wind ceased and the veil cloaking Yeta dropped away. There was no longer a yeti standing at the center of the room. In her place hovered an egg-shaped crystal of solid ice, bigger even than Yeto. Burning red eyes glared from deep within the ice-egg.
The crystal fell to the ground, sliding on its flattened bottom with terrifying speed across the frozen floor. Ishe moved to jump out of the way, but Ashei shoved her first. Both women went gliding in opposite directions, just barely slipping out of harm's way. Yeta's crystal bounced off the wall and lost some of its momentum.
With shaking, uncooperative hands, Isha withdrew an arrow and a few explosive pouches. Yeta continued to spin haphazardly in her ice prison about the room, and Isha tried to keep one eye on her friend, and the other on the ball of ice that could easily crush her while fixing up her arrow.
Ashei wound her ball-and-chain high above her head, mimicking the actions of the lizard-man they defeated earlier. Yeta had corrected her course and was closing in on Isha, who was still lining up her shot.
"Shit!" Isha frantically kicked her legs against the nearest thing - a lump of ice that was once either a table or a dresser, she didn't care to remember. The world tilted, and she slammed down on her back upon the ice, still sliding away. Isha hissed and twisted onto her stomach, dropping speed in her slide. As soon as her arrow was steady, she let it fly. The bowstring stung her fingertips.
To Isha's disappointment, the resulting explosion did little more than chip the surface of Yeta's ice. To her right, Ashei finally released the ball-and-chain. Though such attacks took her a moment to wind up, it was significantly more effective than Isha's.
The spiked ball lodged itself deep in Yeta's ice, and the impact sent her spiraling in a new direction. Yeta's muffled screeching could be heard over the breaking ice. An intricate lattice of cracks spiraled out from the impact point.
Ashei held tight to her chain. When Yeta tried to slide away, the dark-haired soldier dug in her heels and pulled back. The ball finally came loose with a loud pop, and Yeta crashed into the wall beside Ashei. This time, she did not bounce back.
The ice prison shattered completely and fell away, leaving behind a panting yeti holding herself up with the support of the wall she had been flung into. Her breath came in angry huffs. She turned her seething glare to Isha.
"This your fault!" she snarled, pointing at the younger woman. "Ash would never! But you, strange human! You come to destroy mirror!"
"We're trying to help you!" Isha insisted, readying another arrow and praying she would not have to fire it. "Just let us take it away from here and you'll get better! I promise!"
The yeti's body started to shake and warp. Isha lowered her weapon slightly, and dared a glance at Ashei. The soldier's face was as calm and unreadable as ever. She adjusted her grip on the chain she still clung to. "Yeta…" Ashei tried to reason with her friend once more.
Yeta's feet left the floor. Her body continued to pulse and twitch. Her skin cracked and bruised where it was stretched. Her once-pristine wool was turning red.
Yeta was outgrowing her own skin.
Thick pillars of ice burst from the yeti's sides, bending at an angle and stretching for the floor. The sound of tearing flesh gave way to the feral screams of a woman possessed. Four new arms made of jagged blue ice held her aloft while her transformation continued. A line of ice spikes grew from her back and along a new icy tail, which she lashed about with impossible fluidity.
Gone was the friendly yeti who'd welcomed the two Hylians into her home, to warm themselves by her fire and sleep under their protection. Gone was the sweet woman with whom they'd shared stories over a hot meal.
In her place stood a mutated monster of hatred and violence. One Isha had managed to piss off quite well.
We have to get out of here. Isha dared to glance over her shoulder where the door should have been. It, like the rest of the room, had disappeared completely under the frost.
Isha slid over to Ashei, who kept her battle-hardened gaze on the mutated Yeta. Her knuckles were white from the tight grip she kept on her chain.
"Door's frozen shut," Isha told the older woman. Ashei barely nodded.
Yeta was momentarily preoccupied with her new form, which seemed to be a surprise to her. She marveled with evil joy at the ice that had ripped its way through her skin, and flexed her new arms. Ice crackled with every movement.
"We have to fight her, Ashei."
"I know." The soldier adjusted her grip on the ball-and-chain and blinked slowly. "Never had to kill family before."
Isha rested a hand on Ashei's shoulder. "We'll do what we can." Isha tried to reassure her friend, though she felt the words were empty. Still, Ashei seemed to find some comfort in them.
She straightened her spine and finally met Isha's gaze. "I have a plan."
Isha could have kissed the woman, she was so relieved. "Let's hear it."
Ashei rattled the chain in her hands. "This thing takes me a moment to wind up. If you can keep her off of me, I can chip away at her ice, yeah?"
"And if she kills me before you can finish her off?"
"Just stay out of her reach."
Isha's eyes fell on the sword at Ashei's hip. "Let me take your sword. If I get in close, I can take her out. You don't-"
"No," Ashei said firmly. "I'll do it. Just keep her focused on you."
Isha intended to argue further, but Yeta finally had her fill of admiring herself. She turned her blood-red eyes to Isha and charged.
That's the plan then, Isha resigned herself and shoved off Ashei. Yeta scrambled to turn and chase Isha with hardly a second glance at Ashei.
Isha's shoulder collided with the far wall just as she finished tying up another few pouches to her arrow. She drew her bow and faced Yeta, who was quickly closing the distance between them.
At the same moment the arrow left her fingers, Isha shoved off the wall once more and dropped to her knees, sliding just under the flailing icy limbs of her opponent. Yeta shrieked at the arrow that exploded in her face and released black powder into her eyes.
Any time now, Ashei! Isha wanted to yell at her companion. She tried to ready another arrow, but lost her balance and crashed face-first down onto the ice. Her teeth dug into her tongue, and blood filled her mouth. Ice crunched behind her, signaling Yeta's fast approach.
She was hardly more than an arm's length away from Isha when a spiked metal ball burst through one of her icy limbs. The young woman leapt to her feet as the yeti dropped, shrieking and off-balance.
She thrust her hand into the bag at her hip and withdrew as many pouches as her cramping, burning hand could hold. She found no sense in wasting time tying up another arrow. A good throw would be more than enough force to set them off.
While the explosion was still mostly harmless, the resulting cloud of black dust settled in Yeta's face, clouding her eyes and filing her nostrils. She hacked and spat. Her saliva was black.
Though she was quick to cover her mouth and nose, some powder still found its way into Isha's lungs as well. She coughed and scrambled against the frozen floor, trying to put more distance between her and the Yeti who was now blindly flailing about. An iced arm sailed through the air just above Isha's head.
The near-miss filled Isha with a temporary rush of energy. She stuck her tongue out at the yeti, then swung her leg around to collide with the yeti's face. Yeta went sliding uncontrollably in one direction, and Isha went the other.
Ashei was already winding up her ball-and-chain again. Isha picked up another arrow, but her destroyed hands failed her while attempting to draw it.
"No!" Isha lunged for her dropped bow, but her only weapon slid across the frictionless floor and out of reach. She hit her hands and knees and looked to her friend in despair. "Ashei!"
The ball sailed through the air, and another of Yeta's icy limbs shattered before she could right herself again. "To me!" She commanded.
Isha pushed herself off the wall towards Ashei. The soldier extended her arm and pulled Isha to a stop as she slid past. Yeta, still with one good ice-arm on either side, had finally pulled herself together and wiped most of the black powder from her face. Beyond her lay Isha's bow.
"Now give me your sword," Isha insisted, panting. "I don't have anything else."
Ashei wound up her ball-and-chain once more, her face an unreadable mask. "Do what you have to."
Bracing her burnt hands for more strain, Isha drew the sword from Ashei's sheath and slid away. Yeta remained focused on Ashei. She stamped her icy feet and stalked forwards, hissing at the Hylian she once called friend. "You jealous of Yeta's mirror!" she howled. "You want to destroy Yeta's happiness!"
Ashei remained stone-faced even as the mutated Yeti closed the distance between them. She struggled to bring the ball around in a full swing, but she did not give up or flee.
Isha felt the panic welling up in her throat. She slid to a stop and waved her arms in the air, sword gleaming off the snow. "Hey! No! She didn't do anything! I tried to break your mirror, and I'll do it again!"
Though the floor was slick, Yeta came to an immediate halt. Her neck turned impossibly far to stare down Isha. Her frozen tail whooshed through the air and spun the rest of her body. With a feral cry, Yeta charged.
Isha held her ground and tried not to think about how thin the sword in her hand was. Surely, it would snap the moment she tried using it to defend against Yeta's brutal swings.
Yeta came at her fangs-fist, grotesque mouth gaping and blood still seeping from the cracks in her skin. Isha pushed off the wall at her side and thrust the sword into Yeta's shoulder.
To her surprise, the sword didn't so much as bend. It slipped almost too-easily through the yeti's skin, lodging deep in the muscle. Isha swung around Yeta's side and released her grip on the sword, gliding straight for her bow at the other end of the room.
Somehow, she'd forgotten about Yeta's tail.
Spiked ice collided with her middle, and Isha was sure that if it weren't for the heavy padding of her winter gear, the blow would have broken more than a few ribs. The Hylian was thrown like a ragdoll back against the icy wall, and saw stars when she landed.
Somewhere in the distance came a shattering sound. Isha tried to look around the room for Yeta or Ashei, but all she could see was a blur of white and grey. Something was screaming or howling, somewhere. How exactly did I get here again? She tried to lift a hand to her pounding head, but her arms wouldn't respond.
I feel like that's bad.
Across the room, Ashei once again gathered the cumbersome weapon she'd been fighting with. Her arms shook with the effort, and her will to fight on wavered. The excitement as using such a brutal tool had worn off after the first few chillfos. Her fatigue and heartbreak had long overshadowed the thrill of this battle.
Yeta thrashed and yowled on the floor near Isha, who had not moved since being slammed into the wall. Ashei had been too slow to save her friend.
Can't think about that now. Ashei's heart was already struggling to keep itself together. Every pained cry and bloodthirsty howl from Yeta threatened to break her steel resolve.
Her rapier was still lodged in Yeta's shoulder. Blood spurted from the wound, further agitated by the yeti's struggling, yet she made no attempt to pull it out. She was too busy howling over her lost arms.
With a pained grunt, Ashei slung the ball-and-chain over her head once more. The tail. It should have been the first thing she aimed for. Her weapon made slow, lazy circles at first - barely fast enough to keep that dangerous ball at the end from striking her. With every swing, the next one became just a bit easier.
Finally, it was sailing in wide circles above her head. Ashei brought it about a final time and let the ball fly. The chain slipped through her loose grip.
The spiked metal ball smashed through the base of Yeta's icicle tail. Spiderweb cracks shot across the length of the tail before it shattered into dust, fading into the icy floor beneath her.
The pained cry that followed sent Ashei to her knees. She felt the knot in her throat and the sobs in her chest, but swallowed all of it. Not now. Hesitation would get her killed.
Ashei pushed herself off from the wall and approached the whimpering Yeta, gathering up her ball-and-chain as she went. Mourn later, she told herself, packing away those miserable feelings for later.
Using the side of her foot, Ashei came to a stop an arm's length from Yeta. The spiked ball sat at her feet, the chain bundled in her stiff hands. She looked down upon the mutated yeti with whom she'd spent every summer of her life.
The beast looked back at her with hatred. There was not an ounce of recognition or love left in Yeta's gaze.
Ashei's blood boiled and the thrill of the fight returned in force. She reeled back, dragging the steel ball against the ice. Her aching muscles quieted, and her grip on the chain tightened. That old familiar strength - the Fever, as her father had called it - bubbled from the tips of her toes to the top of her head.
Ashei swung her arm down and forwards. The ice underfoot cracked as the steel ball scraped across it, but she lost no speed in her swing. The ball struck Yeta's exposed side, where the shattered remnants of her icy limbs still twitched as though they still had function. The impact tore a final cry from Yeta's throat.
When she collided with the far wall, the thick sheet of ice coating the room shattered completely.
End Notes
Fun fact! Neither Darkhammer's nor Blizzeta's designs here are original for this story. Darkhammer's design is from one of the concept arts displayed in Hyrule Historia, which I just thought looked so much more interesting than the final design we got. As for Blizzeta, her mutations are a callback of sorts to the original version of this story. It's a much looser interpretation of the source material, but dammit I was gonna reference my personal favorite scene from The Search for Light one way or another!