Fan Fiction Friday: The Era Without A Hero – Part 73

Part Seventy-Three

“Huron!” Fado called out.

There was a tremendous crash from up ahead. Erie, who had leapt down, stood up and faced his brother.

“You traitor. You have damned us all,” Erie thrust his finger toward Huron.

“How?”

“Your softness and love of the Hylian people led to you neglecting the needs of our people! That’s why I made the deal I did. That’s why I did what I’ve done.”

“What have you done?”

Erie puffed out his chest and stood tall. “I pledged that the Goron people would not interfere with Lord Adok’s plans.”

“And I’m the traitor?”

“Lord Adok is going to liberate not just the Goron people, but all people from the tyranny of Hylian rule.”

“Lord Adok wants to burn Hyrule to the ground and destroy it!”

“It needs burned.”

Huron’s shoulders slumped.

“Since Hylians colonized this land,” Erie seethed through gritted teeth, “they have done nothing but conquer and invade. The Goron’s were forced into the mountains. We became slaves to the art of stonecraft, burdened with the task of providing rock for their castles and cities. Our people were never offered a reprieve, even after the work of our grandfather. Instead we were tasked with carving out more of the mountains for their greed and lust. It cost us the lives of two generations of great Goron leaders. It’s time we stood for ourselves and broke free of Hylian’s empire of greed and hatred.”

Huron shook his head. “When did your mind become so poisoned and twisted? Are you truly that demented?”

“And then you. You and your high and mighty piousness. Always doing right in father’s eyes. The pride of the Goron people. The blessed Sage of Fire.”

Huron’s face turned dower.

“I could never live up to your reputation. A second prince to the glorious first-born son,” Erie spat on the ground. “I never lived up to father’s expectations.”

“And so you throw away all that you hoped to live up to, all that you could have been, to destroy all that father stood for? All that our grandfather stood for? All that we stood for?”

“I never stood for what you believe!”

Huron raised up his head and chest. “You are lost then. My brother is dead.”

At this, Erie screamed and charged at Huron.

Before Huron could raise his hammer in defense, Erie’s arms wrapped around him and together they hit the ground with a rumble. Huron tossed his weight back and launched Erie overtop of him. They then both scrambled to their feet and charged each other again.

Huron swung his hammer around and Erie ducked underneath it. On his way back up, he caught Huron’s arm in his own and swung him over his shoulder and into a nearby wall. Huron, then dodged to the side as Erie punched. Erie’s hand drove into the stone wall and fractured it, the crack stretching to the ground and above their heads a few dozen feet.

Huron drove his shoulder into him and ran him back into a pillar of stone that was jutting up. They pushed through and it exploded all around, dust and debris flying all over. They came to a sudden stop when Erie managed to dig his heels in and slam his elbow across Huron’s face.

The retaliation was for Huron to bring the handle of his hammer into Erie’s stomach. That was then followed by a haymaker from Erie across Huron’s face.

As Huron stumbled back from the punch, he glanced over to Fado and Osmond. They were standing where he’d left them, their faces a mixture of anger, fear, and a desperation to help.

Huron, sensing the presence of his brother coming in for the next attack, whirled around and slammed his hammer into Erie’s side. His brother tumbled over onto the ground and came to a stop just a few feet away.

“Get out of here!” Huron called out.

Fado searched for words, but nothing formed in his mouth. Tears were welled up and beginning to roll down. Osmond glanced around, desperate for a way to help subdue Erie.

Above them, on the landing that encircled the opening of the volcano, was a small shrine. It was where Erie had been before the conflict boiled over. Osmond grabbed hold of Fado and made for a staircase carved into an opening on the side of the mountain.

Just when they managed to get out of sight, Erie got back to his feet and slammed a large stone onto Huron’s back. Huron roared out in pain and turned, shoving Erie back as bits of rock rolled down his bloodied back.

Huron threw a jab with is left hand, then swung his hammer around with his right. Erie dodged back from the jab, and then again from the hammer. As Huron attempted to follow up by bringing the hammer back across, Erie again caught his arm and jerked it hard toward him. He slammed his head into Huron’s face and crushed his brother’s nose.

Blood trickled down Erie’s face from the headbutt, but he didn’t slow. Following the devastating blow, he threw a pair of hard and heavy punches to Huron’s sternum and finished by driving a kick into Huron’s gut.

Huron stumbled back from the series of attacks and managed to deflect the final punch from Erie that would have connected with the side of his face. Forcing his vision to focus long enough, Huron thrust his hammer into Erie’s gut, then swung it upward, catching Erie’s chin and sending him reeling.

Osmond and Fado reappeared above and arrived at the small shrine.

“What is that?” Osmond asked.

On the small shrine sat a smashed red gem, a broken bracelet of gold, and the remains of a stone that looked like the tool used to destroy the relics.

“It looks like… The Goron Bracelet? And… and…!” Fado gasped, dropping to his knees and picking up the pieces of gemstone.

Down below, a cacophony of stones crumbling erupted and shook the ground. When the duo peered down, they watched as the brothers met each other blow for blow.

Huron swung his hammer towards his brother, but Erie reached up and caught it. With rage boiling over Erie wrestled his brother’s weapon away, then heaved it around against Huron’s chest.

The air split with the sound of Huron’s ribs cracking and then the heavy thump as he landed on his back a few feet from where he’d stood.

“Now it’s time you felt the weight of my shadow, brother!” Erie stepped toward Huron and raised the hammer above his head.

“No!”

Fado reached out his hand and a gust of green magic spiraled outward and wrapped itself around the hammer. As Erie began to swing it down, the hammer was yanked from his hand. Fado flicked his wrist, and the hammer hurled away, landing in the molten boundaries of the platform.

Erie turned his attention upward and roared, veins bulging all over his body. Huron began to sit up, the haze that filled him following the attack lifting. Erie glanced down at Huron, then back at Fado. A twisted and vile glint appeared in his eyes and he turned away from Huron, making his way toward the same stairwell Fado and Osmond had taken.

Huron rolled to his side and desperately reached out to stop his brother, but Erie shook him off and continued onward.

Osmond began to formulate a plan but then realized Fado moving to confront Erie. Each step carried a weight he’d not seen the Sage of Wind move with. The slight green aura now emanating from him, Fado reached his hands out to his sides and began to conjure small orbs of magic.

Erie emerged from the grotto and began to charge at Fado. Fado’s eyes met the enraged Goron’s and he prepared himself for the impact.

Fado slammed his hands together and a wave of green magic burst forth, fracturing the ground and pushing Osmond back. Had he not grabbed hold of a nearby stone, he might have toppled over and fallen into the lava below.

When the dust cleared though, Erie was unphased. He had stopped his approach to shield his eyes, but he showed no evidence of the attack doing anything together.

A flash of panic went across Fado’s face as Erie pulled back a fist.

As Fado left his feet by way of Erie’s stone-knuckled fist, Osmond charged forward to attempt aid. Instead, he caught Fado in his arms and was sent backwards once more. Fado’s tunic was obliterated, the edges singed with fire, and a dark bruise had already formed on his chest from where the punch landed.

Erie began to approach and Osmond, holding the unconscious Fado, reached for his sword. The handle was still hot to the touch and Osmond’s hand recoiled quickly. He looked up just in time to see Erie’s hand swinging down and crashing into the earth. Osmond rolled away with Fado hidden under him.

The commotion stirred Fado just enough that he pushed out from under Osmond and made his way clear of the attacks by backing against the edge of stone behind them.

Osmond braced for the next incoming punch, but it was suddenly stopped. Confusion compelled Erie to look behind him, as well as Osmond.

Huron, blood streaking down his face, had his hands gripping Erie’s bicep and holding his arm back.

“Erie, no!”

There was a moment where Erie paused. Huron’s eyes were filled with a longing for days gone by. Days when he and Erie and Claire would play together as children. Days when their father was alive. Innocence, love, and family.

Erie’s eyes, however, were filled with rage, betrayal, and hatred. His blood was boiling and chest heaving as he breathed.

“Please, come back to us,” Huron pleaded.

Erie screamed and pushed back against Huron with all his might. The two of them reached the edge of the cliff and Huron began to stumble. With one final shove from his brother, Huron fell over the edge.

Just as he disappeared over the edge, Osmond could hear Fado cry out.

Lord Huron, the Sage of Fire, kind-hearted and fun-loving, strong and mighty, fell into the crater of Death Mountain from its summit. Erie, twisted and lost, stood overhead and watched as the body of his brother vanished forever under the waves of magma.

 

The Era Without A Hero will continue…

 

This story is an imagining of the final days in Hyrule prior to the Great Flood talked about in the opening cinematic of The Wind Waker. The story is getting an audio version in podcast form set to begin releasing sometime in 2023 and there’s a complete soundtrack for the first volume here. Head over to erawithoutahero.wordpress.com or follow the story account on Twitter @ZeldaTEWAH where you can keep up on information regarding the future of the podcast, soundtrack, and other TEWAH news that will be coming soon! Every Era Has Heroes…