Fan Fiction Friday: The Man Behind the Masks – Part 23a

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Any knowledge of dragons came from the rare campfire stories of the Muryō family as a child. They spoke of gigantic flying wyrms with horned heads that breathed fire. It did puzzle me how these monstrous creatures could fly without wings.

“Hold tight,” Elrora’s sharp command brought me back to the present. 

I grasped her feathers like a lifeline. As we plummeted down the corridor of stars and doors, my cheeks pinned themselves to my ears. The Watarara swerved and jerked following their chieftess. They didn’t care about the near miss with an island of cherry blossoms. Trails of pink petals took off into the air. I swear, some of them smiled as they spiralled into nose dives. 

“Are these aerial acrobatics necessary? Hylians weren’t built to fly on birds!”  

“A curious thing to say, considering their ancestry,” she said. 

Pardon? I thought, however, Elrora didn’t elaborate any further. Instead, she came to a halt. 

“Why have we -”

Every sound bowed to it; silence made my ear drums throb. It came again. The rumble of a roar, shrillness of a shriek and a grumbling groan that stretched across the entire space. For a moment, it paralysed the Watarara. Their wide eyes swallowed the small trembling pupils within them.  

Elrora gathered herself. “We must hurry.” 

The second round of frantic flight made the first seem like a leisurely stroll. I understood now, avoiding the creature meant staying ahead. As the chieftess swooped and turned between narrow rocks it created barriers. Endless spins made me dizzy. But no matter how much distance the Watarara tried to create, the raw energy came closer and closer. 

“Where’s that confounded gate?” Guufo cursed. 

Even in the slipstream, the flock began to tire. Some of the younglings had only just gained their wings from the growth ceremony. They huffed and puffed, trying to stay airborne. At this rate, they would lose sight of the group leaders. 

I couldn’t shake off the growing sense of unease, like when a spider slowly crawled up my leg in the summer. “Elrora, could you humour me and try any gate?” 

She made a beeline for a doorway that led towards a lush green forest. Her beak, which should have slipped through, bounced back. The chieftess tried to open other portals with no luck.  

“This has never happened before,” Elrora said.

There could be a number of reasons why. Unfortunately, I suspected foul play from another source. Ganondorf.

“Ronri, look out!”

Yasei’s warning was blown away by a great gust. The entire flock scattered. A swirling tower of dark cloud moved rapidly in their direction. Increasing in power, anything nearby found itself dragged towards it. The whole dimension strained against the force with shock waves. They rippled through the doorways, making them contort out of shape.   

“So, he found us after all. This is Tatsumaki – our resident dragon.” 

That’s the dragon? I thought in disbelief. Quite a defensive strategy. Who in their right mind would hide in a tornado? 

“If this continues the corridor is going to rip apart. What say you?” Elrora’s question hung heavily in the air. “If we distract the beast the portals may open again.”

“That’s rather a big if!” I shouted above the howling winds. 

Still, I clapped my hands and set up the ammunition as my answer. Silver discs glittered in the strange light as they surrounded us. We surged forward. My honed survival instincts completely abandoned. When had danger and I become inseparable bedfellows? I began to chuckle. I didn’t recognize myself. The immaculate accountant from Kawaranai had transformed into a wild, raging berserker. 

My silver discs disappeared into the spiralling mass. Elrora swerved which nearly threw me off. Smaller twisters gave chase as they drove us back. 

“Any ideas?” She came around for another pass. 

The ride grew so bumpy that I threw my arms around her neck. “We need to get inside.”

“Inside?”

“The tornado,” I clarified. A squawk came from Elrora. “I have an idea, but no matter what, you must fly straight through.”

From everything I knew about my power, bending time and space was at the heart of it. I could move objects, even people, from one place to another. This idea stretched beyond those boundaries. Is it possible? Should it be possible? I glared at the tornado. I’m out my depth. 

“You have always been out of your depth. That is why I have come.” 

That voice. At once I felt a strangling clamminess spread throughout my body. 

His tone was light, almost casual. “You are getting the hang of things I see. Becoming quite the little magician.”

Why can’t you leave me alone, Azamuku?  

He tsked. “Don’t you remember your promise?” 

Flakes of ash fell from the sky. Even though this couldn’t be real, my mind betrayed me. I clasped my hands together and tried to keep the screaming skeletal faces at bay. The dead hovered over the edges of my memory, ready to force their way through. The Triforce, I recalled in alarm. The rebirth of the Interlopers.

“Excellent!” He lay on his back and floated lazily through the air. “If you intend to reach the Sacred Realm, simply follow your instincts. Remember how we met?” 

A life time ago. When a stranger offered assistance to retrieve Guru-Guru from the army barracks. You spoke to me from within the wall.

“Indeed, I passed through spatial matter.” He stroked long jagged nails through his silver hair. “Imagine like a child. Do you not feel the creative desire stirring within? To seize control rather than be a mere spectator?”  

I couldn’t deny that feeling had caught me off guard more than once. What else can I do with this? Such a frightening question really. Akisin had asked once if any man could resist the temptation of power. At the time I said I could, because power was dangerous!    

“You ask if it is possible.” Azamuku tossed back his head and laughed. “Instead ask: what can stop me?”  

 

Featured art: Alison Patten via Canva.com

Alison Otwl continues her Fan Fiction here at Zelda Dungeon. She likes reading manga and collecting Japanese wind chimes. Her favorite Zelda game is Ocarina of Time. Check out more of her fanfiction over at: Otwl.