Zelda Art The Wanderers - Reworked

[Din Akera]

Nice work. So the demon of wisdom is Twinrova, Hazel is the demon of power, and Mas is the demon of courage. Is that right?

Yes. But Hazel has not been revealed yet in this version. Things have changed around a bit. But you are correct yes. ^^ Thanks for reading Viper.
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Chapter 8 –
The only thing she was aware of was the sound of breathing. Din wasn’t even sure if it was her own. She could hear the breaths coming and going in deep but uneven bursts. She listened for something else, but heard nothing. She tried to shift herself but she didn’t seem to be able to feel her limbs. She searched and found her face. Slowly, she opened one eye, the other following half a second later. She squinted as the light caught her, but she peaked through her eyelashes. She could see a window with a light purple curtain hanging from the roof. This was the source of the light. The late afternoon sun shone through the window to where she lay. She glanced downward and saw the matching purple blanket covering her. Her senses slowly started to comeback and she could feel the soft bed under her side and the pillow under her head. She was in a bedroom, one that seemed to have been lived in very little. She turned her head, only slightly, to see the bed, a single dresser and a mirror as the only furniture in the room. Din looked toward the wall opposite the bed where she lay, and saw the source of the breathing sound. Rad was sitting in a chair beside the footboard of the bed; his elbows on his knees and his faced pressed into the heels of his hands. His dark hair was hanging down. Din could not see his face. He had removed his armor but did not appear relaxed at all.

Her first reaction was to be relieved. Rad was with her; she was safe. But then she remembered what she had seen. She looked at the top of Rad’s head full of hair very carefully. She looked down the back of his neck to his shoulders, where only his shoulder blades were visible. Din thought hard, she was sure of what she saw, but she was in so much pain, she could have hallucinated… Unsure of what to do she moved slightly, uncomfortable with her own thoughts. The movement of her hips and legs caught Rad’s attention and he looked up toward her face. Rad’s eyes widened as he saw that she was looking at him, eyes open.

“Din.” Rad got up and hurried over to her. He dropped to the floor and reached to grab her hand lying on the bed in front of her face. Din flinched back from the motion and Rad hesitated. He dropped his hand into his lap and looked down at his legs folded on the floor. He was silent for a long moment.
“I thought I’d lost you…” Rad’s voice was distant and sad yet held a flicker of relief. He looked up at her. “You have slept for two whole days. And I think you sucked the heat out of me entirely at least three times.” Rad looked at her with worried eyes.

Din processed what he said very slowly. Two days? She took his heat while unconscious? Din shook her head slightly. The demon had very powerful magic… The demon! Had she been killed? Had Rad and Rishian killed Twinrova once she had lost consciousness? She had seen him…change. She knew what she had seen. Din looked at Rad, confusion and a flicker of fear appeared in her eyes.

“You…she…” Her voice was quiet.

“She has been dealt with.” Rad’s voice was gentle and reassuring. He looked at her with kind eyes. “You are safe, Din.”

She was feeling much more conscious and her thoughts began to come at a more regular pace. He had been able to defeat Twinrova on his own? Rishian was injured and may have been able to help a little, but Rad had been injured too. She thought hard about this. He had changed! She was sure of it now; that is why he was able to fight the vampire and win. He had leapt into the air and took off at Twinrova… Din looked away and up at the ceiling. Rolling onto her back she pushed herself up to a sitting position. After a moment she turned her head and looked down at him. “Rad, you…had…wings.”

Rad’s eyes widened from their concerned expression to disbelief and exasperation. He very quickly stood and turned his back to her, facing the window. One of his hands flew to his face and covered it. Din saw the anger roll out of his eyes before he got them covered.

Din knew by his reaction that she was right. “And…on your head there was… your hair changed color, and your skin…” Din’s quiet questions trailed off as she saw his shoulders slump and his breaths come much faster and shallower.

She starred at his back for a long moment. She was unsure of whether to be afraid or to trust all that she had seen of him, and had come to know. He had looked so ferocious, but he had been so kind and gentle with her all this time.

Rad took two deep and strained breaths in through his teeth. Rishian’s words were running through his head. He had to tell her, now. He was right; the truth does always come out. Rad tried to suppress the anger mounting within him. Rad slowly turned his head to his right indicating that he was to speak to her, but he did not turn around, nor look at Din. “I’m not what you have thought I am, Din… I’m not Hylian, I’m...” He turned his full back to her again and took three angry steps to the window, leaning on the ledge with his palms. Rad was digging his fingernails into the wood as the thoughts ran through his mind. She had seen his true form. In the moment he hadn’t been able to hold the Hylian guise, he had morphed to his stronger Dragir form. He had thought she was gone, unconscious at least, but she had seen the monster that he is, the one he had tried to hide from her. Her voice interrupted his thoughts.

“Rad…”

He flinched a little at his name and closed his eyes, emotion rushing to the surface. He slowly turned his shoulders and looked at her from a profile stance, not wanting to face her, he knew what was coming. She would be scared of him, and that was the last thing he wanted. He had finally made a true friend, and now he would lose her.

“You can tell me. Whatever you are, you are still my friend.”

The reply did not tap him in the slightest; he knew why she was saying it. Because she didn’t know, she hadn’t really seen, she only saw the beginning of the transformation. How could she feel the same about him now that she knew? He turned to her. “Din, I am a monster, I kill, I steal, I lie, and I look every bit as vile as I am.”

Din cut his words there with a single shake of her head and a furrowed expression. She searched for an explanation in her own mind. How could he be two different people?

“Yet, you saved me, you cared for me, and you protected me.”

Rad looked at her for a moment, trying to process her reaction. She wasn’t upset; she was defending him even. With a deep breath, Rad dropped his gaze to the floor.

Din was silent for a long moment. She knew who he was. He had protected her, helped her, and showed kindness and affection for her. She looked up at him, still standing in the same spot.

“Rad, who we are is not based on what we appear to be, or ever what our race governs us to be.”

Rad was having trouble processing this type of response. This was something he had not been met with very often. Most of Hyrule’s races showed fear and hostility to the Dragir, especially their true form. Rad stood there trying to sort though it. She was receptive and she was right; he was cleaner now, and he truly did care for her. He had been doing all that he could to fight for what is good. But that doesn’t change what he had done and what he was capable of…

“Will you show me?”

Rad’s head popped up at her question and he eyed her with disbelief. She wanted to see? Why? How? Rad’s mind was moving at a million thoughts per second now.

Din simply sat waiting for him.

Rad’s expression was difficult to read, but inside he felt the pain of a thousand rejections and so much hate. “You want to see what this horrible creature really looks like? Din, you should be running from me with fear. Why would you stay? And why would you wish to see?”

Din’s heart pulled at her chest as she looked into his pained eyes. How could she tell him? “Because you are my friend Rad, and everybody needs somebody.”

Rad looked at her for a long moment. If he revealed himself to her she may run and run fast, but if he didn’t he would only be lying to her more. She wouldn’t be satisfied with that. As Rad struggled with himself his mind produced something he had not expected. How could he pursue goodness and truth, if he hid from his own reality? More importantly, if he did not pursue this, he could not hold it, it would leave him. Rad looked at Din, her deep red eyes searching him for answers, and in this moment he knew he wanted to hold onto her. Rad took in two deep breaths and closed his eyes.

Din watched as the transformation began. Rad did not change in height or weight, but only in the features of his body. The mat of brown hair turned to a silvery white and grew slightly in length, hanging just into his eyes. A pair of dark brown horns about three inches long grew out of the top of his head and curled inward then outward once more at the tips. His eyes changed from the dark brown to a bright shade of red and a great pair of wings developed out of his back and hung down at his sides all the way to his knees. The wings were black and resembled that of bats wings. But the most striking change was to his skin. Tiny blue and silver scales appeared in patches, randomly placed in between pieces of flesh. The scales caught the light and threw little sparkles across him and around the room.

Din stared at the creature for a long moment, he was frightening to say the least, but Din was drawn to him, he was also beautiful. She sat and took in all that she was seeing. Now she understood more of why he had been so defensive of showing her this.
Her lack of reaction frightened Rad, and he dropped his gaze to the floor. Crossing his arms he began to shut down. That was it; he had lost her now that she had seen.

Rad was so busy with his thoughts that he didn’t hear her get out of the bed and move to him. She walked to only half a step away and he saw her presence as she brought her hand up from her side. Her soft fingertip rose to his face and gently touched one of the scales on his cheek. She could feel the difference between the skin and the scales under her own flesh.

Rad trembled at her touch, his emotions running wild within him. Part screamed for him to get away before either of them ended up hurt, but the other part prayed that she would accept that this was him, though his past told him that was slim. He looked up at her touch, his head following the motion of her hand and their eyes met.

Very slowly Din flipped her hand over and ran the back of her fingers up his cheek. Opening her hand, she laid her palm on the side of his face. Remembering the night they had spent outside Castle Town, she closed her eyes and leaned upwards. She pressed her lips ever so gently against his cheek, mimicking his action from that night.

Rad pulled back slightly and looked at her with disbelief. He hadn’t believed she could feel this way.

She ran her hand and eyes up into his silver hair and she touched one of his horns. It was smooth as glass and hard like stone. Her hand continued down the back of his head to his neck and her eyes landed back on his. A small smile appeared on her lips as she waited for a response from him.

His eyes softened and then the emotion took over. Tears of joy, relief, and left over pain weld up and he closed his eyes to stop them from running. He reached out and grabbed Din around the waist and shoulders and hugged her tightly. She accepted his movements and submitted to him. He held her close and nuzzled his face down into her neck with a deep sigh of relief. Din was surprised at this type of gesture, but she chalked it up to his relief. Rad loosened his grip on her and opened his eyes slowly. He looked at her for a minute and let out another deep breath. “Din…” The word was almost inaudible it was so quite. He leaned forward and placed his nose on her forehead for a moment. Closing his eyes, his heart began to race. He remembered being this close to her in the alley, and his thoughts were the same now as they had been then. He looked down at her again, his eyes focusing on her red lips.

Din wrapped her arms around him up under his arms and between his shoulder blades. She placed her hands on the base of his wings and hugged him tightly, pulling her face out of his view. She sighed a little as she hugged him. Only then did she realize they had never really done this. Din relaxed completely, satisfied in her friend’s arms. That was all she ever really wanted, a friend. Coming back to the situation, more questions took over her headspace. “Rad?” he voice came out quiet against his chest.

“Yes?” He looked down at the top of her head.

“What is the name of your race?” She asked him, opening her eyes.

Rad stiffened, but nodded to himself. Giving her a name would not change anything now. “I’m a Dragir.”

“Dragir” She played with the word on her tongue and wrote it to memory.

Eventually Rad loosened his grip and slid his hands down her arms and caught her hands. “Are you feeling better?”

Din smiled a little and poked his chest once playfully. “Way’da change the subject.” She then noticed the next most pressing issue as her stomach made its presence known and rumbled loudly.

“Oh Din!” Rad’s exclamation was evident. “You haven’t eaten in two days. I will go get you something to eat!” Rad dropped her hands and led her to the bed.

Din turned her back and crawled onto it. As she turned around to face him again, she folded her legs and looked toward him. She was now looking at the Rad she had first met, one with brown hair, no horns or wings, and perfectly Hylian flesh. She was startled at first, but processed fairly quickly.

“That will take some getting used to.” She said under her breath.

Rad shot her a feeble smile and grabbed the door handle. “I’ll be right back.” He disappeared through the opening and closed the door with a click.

Din looked down at herself. She leaned forward and took hold of her ankle. It seemed fine and she was glad of that. Rotating it from side to side she felt something wrapped around her torso. For the first time she was aware of herself and her healing injuries. Looking down she lifted her tunic and saw the wrappings over the sides of her shoulders. Reaching her hand back she could feel the white bandaging over the knife wound in her back. Looking at it, it reminded her of…she couldn’t think what. Reaching back up she ran her fingers along the bandages and took in a breath. A familiar, pleasant scent swept lightly into her nose. The scent brought her mind’s eye back to the little room in the second story stone of Castle Town. Her eyes flashed open. Rishian. Looking down again her eyes and hands ran over the wrappings, that was who it reminded her of. He must have wrapped her wounds. She looked at the window, Rad had not said anything of him, and she wondered if he was alright. Maybe he was here in the Inn as well; he was injured in the fight too.

As the thoughts passed through Din’s mind, Rad slid back through the door with a tray of soup, bread, and a hunk of cheese. He approached her and slid the tray onto the bed in front of her.

Din folded her legs and reached out for the food. Looking up at Rad she set into her questions. “What happened to Rishian? Is he alright?”

Rad was taken aback at the question. “Rishian? Din, he’s fine. He has been tracking Ark since the night of the fight.”
His statement confused Din. “What--but, he was injured.”

Rad chuckled to himself. “Din, he is a Sheikah. They heal fast, and the injury was really minor. He wrapped it and was walking fine when he brought the horses back.”

Din nodded slowly to herself, processing. She looked down at the tray and her stomach churned again with desire. She ate most of it but didn’t want to risk the cheese or all of the bread. She felt fine, but just to be safe she wasn’t going to over do it. Her mind shifted from the Sheikah, back to the Dragir sitting across from her. She looked up at him, “Does it hurt?” Din’s question came between mouth full’s.

Rad blinked at her. At first he thought he shouldn’t answer her. But if she knew, why couldn’t he answer her? “No, it is actually more relieving and more relaxed.” His answer was short; he was a little bit uncomfortable with this. It would take some getting used to.

Din nodded, completely unphased by his answer. She picked up the hunk of bread and took another bite.

Rad took a deep breath and relaxed, she just wanted to know. With a relaxing breath he decided he could explain himself to her. “I have to concentrate to hold this form, but over the years it has become easier. I don’t have to think about it that hard anymore.” Rad giggled once. This was so new to him, to have someone know and not fear or question. And not only was her reaction not negative, it was relaxed and accepting. He smiled at her as she polished off the soup sitting in front of her on the bed.

Din slid the tray away from her over the top of the sheets toward Rad where he sat in the chair. His brown eyes were watching her. She looked back at him with a soft expression. He got up from his chair and leaned over the edge of the bed, grabbed the tray from in front of her and started to leave. Quickly she reached out and caught his wrist. Stopping, he looked down at her, slightly confused. “Rad, thank-you.”

He smiled down at her. “You’re welcome Din.” Once again his eyes moved to her perfectly shaped lips. Taking in a deep breath his stomach rolled with nerves. Inch by inch he began to bend toward her.

Before he even really moved the moment was interrupted by a very small tapping noise.

They both turned their heads toward the door, the source of the noise.

“Sorry to disturb you Mr. Manthys but you have an urgent message downstairs.” The small female voice came through the door slightly muffled.

“I will be down in a minute.” Rad called toward the door. He turned back to Din and took the tray from her hands. “You, just rest.”

Din nodded to him and did exactly as she had been told. She lay back down on the bed and curled up as Rad left the little bedroom through the door. Without thinking she reached up and loosened the red scarf that wrapped around her neck and left arm to make sleeping more comfortable. The action happened as she began to slip back into unconciousness.

Rad closed the door gently and started down the hallway. Once through the door and down the stairs Rad went to the front desk. As he descended the stairs of Kakariko Inn he made eye contact with the young woman who seemed to run the place. Looking up she turned bright red when she saw him.

“I’m so sorry to disturb you. I know you asked me not to, and I never disobey guests wishes of me. I’m so sorry Mr. Manthys--”

Rad cut her off. “It is alright miss. If it is urgent, it is understandable. What is it?”

The lady handed him a sealed letter envelope, “It is from The City in the Sky. The messenger said that it was of the most importance. He seemed rather flustered.” She looked at him with worried eyes.

“Thank-you.” Rad took the envelope and started back for the stairs. Once he was around the bend in the staircase he opened the envelope and pulled out the letter. He looked to the bottom of the page first as he always did with letters. As he had suspected, it was from him, the only one who ever contacted him from the City in the Sky. Rad was now to the top of the stairs. Looking up, he saw Rishian leaning against the doorframe to Din’s room with his arms crossed. Rad closed the space between them and stood on the other side of the door, tucking the unread letter back into the envelope.

“How is she?” Rishian looked genuinely concerned.

“She’s…great.” Rad smiled sheepishly, “I think she will be perfectly fine. Renado is a good healer.”

The Sheikah nodded, “We are down in the lounge when you are ready.”

“We?” Rad looked at him.

“Yes, they arrived the night we came here. I brought them over from Castle Town to Kakariko to make it easier on you two.”

Rad nodded, his face turning to a somber and slightly concerned expression.

“Does she know about the reaction yet?”

Rad shook his head, “No.”

“We’ll deal with that later.” Rishian turned and headed for the stairs. Stopping he looked back over his shoulder, “I’m assuming she knows now.” The words were a statement not a question. He turned and descended the stairs toward the lounge without a sound, leaving Rad standing in the hallway.

Rad rolled his eyes slightly. Sometimes, the Sheikah could be annoying with all they knew and all they could find out. Pushing Rishian from his mind he looked down and re-opened the letter, reading from the top this time.

Din had slipped back into the comfort of sleep and her dreams carried her way to a field. The sky was stretched out above her and she was standing in the tall grass looking up at the big white puffy clouds. She felt calm and peaceful in this place. Soon she was aware that she was not alone. Looking down from the sky she saw Rad standing just a few feet away from her across the field. He was smiling too; smiling at her. Din smiled back happily at him, thinking he must be enjoying the beautiful scene as well. Movement then caught her eye and she turned her gaze to the right. Rishian was standing in the field as well, across from Rad, is wrappings swaying in the light breeze. The three of them stood facing each other in a triangle, Din at the top.

Din looked between the two men and her heart thudded. She looked at Rad; her friend. He had stood by her now through so much and her heart went out to him. She wished he wasn’t quite so far away and her displeasure showed slightly on her face.

Rad looked back at her, his armor glinting in the sunlight and his dark hair blowing in the wind. He nodded to her with a smile and seemed to almost beckon her toward him with the motion.

Din’s heart jumped a little and she bent one knee to begin the motion. As she did her eyes traveled back the Sheikah, standing opposite Rad. Din stopped her movement and let her eyes gaze over him.

Rishian stood looking at her with his one unwrapped eye. The brilliant blue color swept over her face and blinked slowly. He let out a small sigh and dropped his wrapped face lower to look at her through one set of eyelashes.

Din left a movement in her stomach, he seemed so sad. Yet she didn’t really know him, so she couldn’t be sure. Din’s other knee bent in action to walk to him, but again she stopped. The woman looked back and forth between the two men, realizing they were both looking intently back at her.

Then the ground around her began to glow. The grasses turned a brilliant gold and Din looked down in amazement. Throwing her attention back to Rishian and Rad she saw the same phenomenon around their feet. The golden glow took the shape of a three triangles, one around each of their feet.

The three looked at each other and all smiled with great fulfillment.

Din then heard a small click and the dream began to fade away. Her body began to awaken once again in the small room of Kakariko Inn while her mind became aware of the movement in the real world.

Rad had slipped through the door and shut it gently, having produced the small click. Walking to the bedside he dropped the letter on the bedside table. Looking down at Din his eyes landed on something he had never seen and he became immediately interested. His eyes were fixed on her neck. Rad noticed only now the large scar that ran down the side and back of her neck, shoulder, and left arm; where her red scarf had so well covered it all the time he had been with her before. The scar tissue was not from a blade, or arrow, or even a gunshot. It was a large burn mark; her skin had scared from contact with hot flames. His stomach churned, this was more evidence of her past than he cared to know. All the pieces he had learned fell into perfect sequence she was exactly what he had suspected, yet she had no memory…

Din stirred and opened her eyes rolling slightly onto her back to look up at Rad standing over her. She smiled sleepily.

Rad reached down, tracing a soft finger over the burn mark, and felt compelled to ask, though he was sure he already knew the answer. “Din…what happened?”

Din opened her eyes wider at his question. Feeling his fingertips on her scar she looked toward the floor and moved away slightly. She grabbed her loosened scarf and pulled it back up over her shoulder and neck, covering the scar half-heartedly. After a long moment of silence she decided to tell him. “I had told you my earliest memory was waking up in Arbiter Grounds, in the Gerudo cell… That wasn’t entirely true. I have one memory from before that, but it is hazy. I remember screaming and crying, people running, running everywhere. And I remember fire all around me and a building collapsing.” She paused. “When I woke up in that cell, my skin was charred. I assume it was from the fire that I remember…” She trailed off and fell quiet.

Rad felt the sick feeling move through him again as he was able to step back now and see the picture, now complete from the pieces he had put together. He was right, he had met her before. His thoughts began to wander back.

“What was that about?” Din motioned toward the door trying to change the subject.

Breaking his thoughts Rad looked at the door then back down at her. “A couple things. I got a letter back from a friend who knows about the second demon, and Rishian is here. He brought some…people.” Rad staggered on the last word.

“People?” Din looked up at him with questions in her eyes.

“Yes. Reinforcements, if you will.”

“Ah!” Din sat up. “Well I guess we had better not be impolite and keep them waiting.” She slid out the blankets of the bed, straightened her tunic back from sleeping in the bed. Pulling at her scarf, she wrapped it around her neck and down her arm in a flash, covering the scar completely once again. She smiled at Rad and combed her fingers through her hair. After glancing in the mirror, she ran around the bed and grabbed him by the hand, pulling at him. “Come on!”

Rad reluctantly followed her from where he stood to the door. “Din, before we go, you should know something. These…people don’t like Dragirs much. So, don’t be confused if they are unfriendly.” Without giving her time to ask questions, Rad slipped through the door and pulled her along. Rad and Din descended the stairs back into the lobby of the Inn. The lady behind the counter gave them both a friendly smile and watched as Rad led Din around the corner into the lounge.

The lounge was an average sized room. It held two long green couches; that looked as if they had seen better days. There were two long picnic style tables in the center of the room and an open oven fire burning in the far corner. A large china cabinet sat next to it, with several different decorative plates and ornamentals lining its glass shelves. Din looked into the room and saw Rishian leaning with his back against the wall, next to the fire. He was blending into the shadows it threw. A woman was looking at the ornamentals in the glass cabinet and a man was seated on top of the table closest the cabinet, his boots on the seat.

Rad held open the door and motioned for her to go in first. Upon their entrance the three figures looked up and Rishian moved toward them. He came to Din and laid a hand gently on her shoulder.

“You are better?” Rishian looked at her, concerned.

“Yes. Much.” She smiled back at him then turned her eyes to the man and woman who had moved to now stand behind Rishian.

“Din, this Toan and Sophia.” Rishian’s voice rang through the room.

Din looked at the two standing in front of her. She looked at their faces closely. There was something familiar about them, but she couldn’t place it. She felt a sense of comfort standing with them.

“Toan, Sophia, this is Din, and Rad.” Rishian’s voice was hesitant on Rad’s name and he shot a glance at Toan.

“It is nice to meet you.” Sophia smiled and moved forward, extending her hand to Din and nodding politely to Rad without a large smile.

“And you.” Din smiled back. When their hands touched Din felt a connection. She looked at the lady’s face, trying to understand this. She had just met these two, what was it she was feeling?

Toan extended his hand as well and shook Din’s. He threw a glance at Rad, but did not acknowledge him fully.

Sophia jabbed her brother in the ribs with her elbow and he shot her a glare. He looked up at Rad and gave him a nod.

Rad accepted this and nodded back.

Rishian cut through the tension in the air. “Din, you have been asleep for the past few days, so you should know that the people of Hyrule now know about the demons.”

Din’s eyes opened wide. “Oh no. Really?”

“Yes, there has been quite a bit of panic. When the tops of Peak and Death Mountain blew off, the members of every race noticed. News has traveled fast about you, Rad, and I fighting Twinrova. There has been a lot said about the efforts to destroy the demons.”

Din looked up at Rad, a little shocked.

“Anyway, there will be many willing to help us now. No one wants the other demons released. Especially the demon of courage.” Rishian looked to Toan and Sophia.

“Our ride to the city arrives just before noon, so we only have a couple hours.” Rishian’s voice was even and controlled. The rest looked at him quickly. “With Toan’s help we will make it there easily in a couple hours after we leave. In the mean time I suggest we spend the day preparing supplies, weapons, and all the necessities.”

Din looked at Rishian. “Wait, how do you know that is the demon Ark will try and release next?”

Rishian looked at her kindly. “I know a great deal about Ark and I know this is where he will go next.”

There was so much reassurance in Rishian’s voice that she felt no need to question him further. His brilliant blue eye looked at her and told her she could trust him. Nodding she moved to her next question. “Where is the demon of courage? You said…the city?”

“Yes. His chambers are in the City in the Sky.” Rishian threw a glance at her.

Din’s eyes widened with excitement. She had heard many rumors about the floating city, but had never had the opportunity to go there. Now she understood why they needed a ride. “Awesome!” Her excited smile made the others giggle and smile.

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Din was jogging from building to building in Kakariko Village. She was looking for anyone she knew. They had all split up to cover the most ground they could before their ride arrived to take them to the City in the Sky. Din went back to the Inn; it was one of the only places she hadn’t looked. She entered the lobby and found no one, not even the young innkeeper. She jogged to the door of the lounge and leaned her torso through the opening. She almost closed the door again in defeat, when she noticed the shadowed figure on the back wall. She stopped short and looked harder.

“Rishian!” She said with a recognition smile. She came in the room, closed the door, and skipped over to him.

Rishian looked up at his name and nodded a greeting to her. He was leaning his weight on his right shoulder, against the wall. He turned back to staring into the flames in the stove.

Din jumped and sat on the end of the table, facing him. “I’ve been looking everywhere for someone.” She giggled.

Rishian woofed a small laugh. “Yeah, that’s what happens when you say that we have to hurry.”

Din looked at him. She had so many questions for him. He knew so much. After a couple breaths Din decided to just start asking. “So, Toan and Sophia seem very nice. How do you know them?”

Rishian turned his body to face her, his back now against the wall. He crossed his arms comfortably over his chest. “We go way back. We are old friends.” The words came with a friendly smile in his voice.

“Where did you meet them?” Din was still fishing as to why she felt they were familiar.

“I think we actually met in Castle Town.”

“So they are from Hyrule then?”

Rishian paused and seemed to look through Din for a moment. “They used to be.” He said hesitantly. “They moved to a land named Aleria”

Din noticed the shift in Rishian’s tone. So her next question came with hesitation. “Why did they leave?”

“You should ask your boyfriend.”

Din jumped at the sudden and harsh tone of the words that came from behind her. She turned and looked over her shoulder to see Toan seating on the end of the green couch nearest the inner wall of the room. She had not noticed him when she had walked in. He sat with one foot crossed over, and resting on his opposite knee, and one fist pressed hard into his turned out thigh. The scowl on his face told Din that her question had hit a touchy subject. She took a minute to regain herself. As she was about to speak, he stood and left the room, closing the door harder than was necessary. Din turned back to look at Rishian, who was looking at the floor.

“I guess that is not a good question to ask?” Din’s voice was a solemn whisper.

Rishian shook his head ever so slightly.

Din thought about not asking the question she really wanted the answer to, but decided Rishian was probably the best person to ask. “Rishian…what part does Rad play in all this?”

Rishian looked up at her and his eye searched her face and the now empty room. “Din, you really should ask Rad…” His voice trailed off. He didn’t want to be in the middle of this.

Din let out the breath she was holding. “Rishian, I just want to know so I don’t cause more trouble like I just did.” She motioned toward where Toan had been sitting.

Rishian nodded in understanding and after a moment of thought, he decided he could give her the overview. “The race that Toan and Sophia belong to, have a long standing grudge and feud with the Dragir race. The two races had a...” Rishian searched for the right word, “confrontation, and the Essencorix left Hyrule and all moved to Aleria.”

“Essencorix?” Din jumped in with her question.

“Yes, that is the name of their race.” Rishian explained. “Sophia is a kind soul and doesn’t want Hyrule to suffer, so she agreed to come and help even though a Dragir is involved. And she dragged her brother along. Toan is not happy about helping out a Dragir, but he loves his sister and she asked for his help.”

Din nodded as she took it all in. “So, how do they feel about me?”

Rishian felt his face go white. This was what he had been trying to avoid, and his hesitation showed that to Din. “They…don’t know you well enough yet.” He turned his head to look back into the fire.

Din could tell Rishian knew more than he was telling, but she decided not to push it. “Thank-you.”

Rishian looked back to her a little surprised that she dropped it. “You are also a kind soul Din, but a tough one with a lot of fire.” He laughed a little. “No pun intended.”

Din looked up with shock. “You know what I can do?”

“It was an educated guess. And Rad hinted at it a little.” His friendly smile creased his words again. “We should go outside. Our ride should be here shortly.”

Rishian pushed off the wall and stood in front of her.

Din jumped off the table and stood beside him. He offered his elbow to her as an escort. Din smiled at the gentlemanly offer, and slid her hand through the crease in his leather underlay. He led her around the tables and toward the door.

“Rish, I have one more question. Oh! Can I call you Rish?”

Rishian laughed, “Yes. So two more questions then?”

“Yes, I guess so” Din giggled, “How do you know so much?”

Rishian let out a relaxed breath, “Well miss Din, when you’ve been around as long as I have, you learn a lot. Especially when you are bred to find information.” His eye turned up into a smile as he opened the door for her.

“Yes, I probably should have guessed that one.” Din moved through the door and the two left Kakariko Inn, moving out into the early afternoon sun.

Shielding her eyes, Din squinted into the bright street and Rishian grunted with approval. In the center of the street lay a structure that could only be described as a large pod. It was a cube with windows around the entire upper half and a sliding door on one side. It was made out of aluminum and had faded green stripes painted on the lower half. The most striking feature on the pod was four massive propeller blades. They sat, currently idle, on the top and both sides of the pod.

Din’s eyebrows went up, through the windows she could see benches on either side of the pod, obviously seating.

Toan and Sophia stood between Din and Rish and the pod, they seemed to be talking to someone, but Din could not see with whom.

Sophia turned upon hearing the Inn door open and close again. She smiled brightly at Rishian and Din. When she moved Din could see whom she had been talking too, and Din was taken aback. Rishian lead her forward, toward the pod.

Sitting on a little ledge on the front of the container was what appeared to Din, to be a chicken. It’s feet, body, and wings were bird-like and were covered in white and yellow tinted feathers. Its neck was unusually long and led to a chicken sized head. But instead of a beak and the usual structure of a chicken, its face was that of a very young Hylian, other than the feathers.

Sophia spoke, breaking Din’s stare, “Din this is Ooccoo. He is going to take us to the City in the Sky.”

“It is nice to meet you Din,” the little being said in a perfectly Hylian voice.

Din was surprise to hear him speak, and speak perfectly well.

She shook away her surprise and smiled back, still holding Rishian’s arm. “It is nice to meet you too, Ooccoo.”

“Ooccoo is a member of the Oocca race. They are the ones that built and reside in the City in the Sky. Others do as well now, but the Oocca are the primary residents.” Rishian whispered into Din’s ear, and she gave him a small thankful nod.

Din felt a hand glide lightly over the skin of her free arm and she looked down and to her right where the touch had come from. She looked up into Rad’s Hylian face, and he smiled down at her. She gave him a friendly smile back, and looked down to see that he had suited his armor back in place over his chest and arms.

Rad’s eyes wandered to where Din held Rishian. His face showed no emotion, but he slid Din’s hand up to land in the crease of his elbow as well.

Rishian snikered behind his wrappings and hid a smile.

Din stood happily in between the two, one on each arm, completely oblivious.

“Well, are we all here? Can we depart?” Ooccoo chirped at them.

“Hold up there!” A low, calm male voice echoed down the dirt street toward them and they all turned toward the shaman hut. Renado was walking toward them with three other’s following close behind. The man in the brown robes approached the pod with the three additions following his path.

Din, Rad, Rishian, Toan and Sophia watched at they came closer and were able to see them more clearly. Two of the additional figures were men and the third, a lady. All of them carried weapons and were dressed in the clothing of fighters. As Renado stopped beside the pod, the three fanned out on either side of him and gave friendly smiles to the group.

“Hello friends.” Renado began, facing the five about to board the pod. “I have some introductions to make.” He smiled politely between them all. “This is Kilik, Maxi, and Casandra.” Renado gestured to the three that had arrived with him. “They are skilled Hylian fighters from Castle Town. They heard of your quest and wished to lend their aid.” Renado turned back to the original group. “I thought more swords would not be a hinderance.” He smiled.

“Absolutely not.” Rad and Toan nodded at the same time. The two men then looked at each other sharply and turned away again, looking down with varied expressions of anger and embarresment.

Renado chuckled to himself and turned to the three he had brought. “This Din, Sophia, Toan, and Rad.” His gaze landed on Rishian then. “And I do not believe we have met Sheikah.” He extended a hand.

Rishian responded with a firm shake and a nod. “Rishian” He noted to each of those he had not been introduced too.

“It’s an honor Rishian.” Renado bowed ever so slightly, but the Sheikah seemed to ignore it.

Din looked the three new fighters up and down. The first, Kilik, was dressed in a red traditional uniform. His chest was exposed, but his shoulders drapped in the bright red material. His red pants extended all the way to his deep black boots. He was averaged sized, standing shorter than Rad and Rishian. He held in his hand a matching red rod. It was quite thick, easily filling his hand, and standing slightly taller than him. He seemed very collected and serious. His brown hair and eyes created a somewhat ironic similarity between him and Rad.

Shifting to the next, Din eyed the man Renado had introduced as Maxi. He was dressed in a pair of white trousers and silver breastplate, with a long sleeved white shirt peaking out from under the shoulders. His jet-black hair glinted in the sunlight in an unnatural brilliance. He shifted from side to side and crossed his arms. He was quite confident, almost too much so. But what really caught Din’s eye, was the set of numb-chucks that was tucked under his arm. The weapon made her uneasy. She looked back up at his face and studied it hard. He was not the man from Castle Town she had Rad had fought, but the memory streamed clearly at the sight of his weapon.

With a deep breath Din moved her gaze to the lady. She too was dressed in white, but a simple tunic. She wore a belt around her hips and a simple sword a shield on her back. Her short-cropped blonde hair blew around her face in the breeze running down Kakariko’s street while her curious green eyes studied them as well.

The group looked between each other, exchanging menial hellos and sizing up the skills of each other.

“So, I will try one more time. Are we all ready now?” Oocca asked with a slight hint of urgency and distaste.

“Yes, I believe so.” Sophia smiled and stepped though the open door into the small pod.

Toan followed his sister and sat beside her with his back to the open door. Rishian unlinked his arm from Din and followed the siblings inside. After he was through the door, Din took a step to follow him, but Rad caught her around the waist. Stopping she looked up at him. He had a playful smile pressed on his lips.

“Oh no, you get your own personal ride.” His smile grew and he grabbed her by both wrists. With a little spin he slung her up onto his back. She grabbed tightly around his neck as she landed.

“Wait, wha--” Were the only words that had time to come out.

Before Din had time to think, Rad let out a relaxing breath and his wings shot out from the holes carved in his armor on either side of Din.

Din gasped, as she had not been expecting the sudden change. She quickly looked up toward the pod. Casandra, Maxi, and Kilik had joined the other three inside and had closed the door. Ooccoo had started up the blades and the pod was beginning to pull them in the air.

“See ya there guys!” Rad waved toward the pod and bent his knees. He shot upward into the air, his large wings forcing to move. Rad drove them forcefully upward with great speed into the blue afternoon sky. Din grasped tightly at his shirt, her arms tightening around his neck. She squeezed her knees down around his hips and buried her face in his neck, a little scared.

Rad slowed his speed at her reaction and placed his hands on her arms. “I didn’t mean to scare you, I’m sorry.”

Din took a couple deep breaths and slowly picked up her head. She looked around, seeing the clouds much closer overhead and empty space all around them. She took a couple more deep breaths. “You just surprised me.” A small single giggle came from her throat.

Rad squeezed her hand. “I’ve got you. I promise. You are safe with me.”

Din smiled. “I know.”

Looking down, the two could see the little pod ascending toward them, the propeller blades spinning rapidly. Rad started to move upward as well, without beating his wings harder.

“Oh! How nice of him.” Rad’s tone was slightly mocking.

“What?” Din asked.

“Toan is creating an updraft for us to make better time.”

“What do you mean creating?”

Rad’s face fell to a serious but relaxed expression. “Toan controls the air element. Similar to how you control fire.”

Din’s eyebrows went up. “Really?” Her tone was excited, and she looked back down at the pod underneath them.

“Yes, and Sophia controls water. That is why Rishian asked them to come.”

Din nodded in understanding. Her thoughts began to wander as they flew upward; maybe that is why she felt connected to them, because they had similar magic of the elements. Din nodded to herself; that was probably the answer to her question.

Rad’s wings carried them up into the clouds, ahead of the pod. Din reached out, amazed, and ran her hands through the white puffy mixtures hanging in the sky as they moved past them. Din wrapped both arms back around Rad and looked down. They were so far above the ground now that she could barely make out the difference between the trees and the grass. Kakariko was lost between the rocks, and clouds were beginning to prevent the vision completely.

Rad began to fall back and let the pod catch up to them. “We need to follow Ooccoo now. It is difficult to find the city unless you know exactly where to look.”
Rad flew beside the pod, following Ooccoo’s lead. Rishian waved at Din through the window and she waved back. Toan, held both hands out, palms up. His eyes were closed and he moved them in an upward circular motion. The updraft continued and they flew through the air toward their unseen destination.

“Din. Look” Rad pointed ahead of them and Din excitedly peered over his shoulder, her hold on his neck not loosening.

The clouds moved slightly and then Din saw it. The City in the Sky was everything Din had imagined. The buildings were made of what appeared to be crystallized stone and metal. The buildings were very large and most of them were dome shaped. The colors were brilliant. Most of the walls were sandstone grey, but many had stripes of green, blue, pink, and purple painted around the bottoms. The buildings had been decorated with various flags, emphasizing the wind speed at this altitude and greatly adding to the visual effect. The great city had propeller blades everywhere. They were underneath the flat bottoms of the buildings, on the tops of spikes protruding form the roves of the buildings, and on the ends of poles that stuck in every direction off the metal paths that created the ground of the city. This was most fascinating to Din. She looked at the pathways. They were simply long stretches of metal and stone that ran between the buildings and created common areas between the structures. The part that was surprising, was that there was no rails, they were just paths, complete with the spinning blades beneath them. The city was very bright, and seemed to sparkle in the direct sun. The great burning ball seemed to be almost even with the city. Din was in awe of the miraculous sight. The city indeed hovered in the sky in perfect balance.

Rad followed Ooccoo’s pod toward a landing dock, where the pod touched down and opened, allowing for it’s passengers to get out and stand on one of the railing-less paths.

Rad pulled up and set down on his feet, next to the open door of the pod. Din let go of his neck and loosened her squeeze on his hips between her knees. She slid from his back and landed lightly on her feet.

“Welcome to The City in the Sky! Please enjoy your stay. Be alert for wind gusts and it is recommended to stay with a creature of flight or air affinity at all times. Thank-you.” Ooccoo chirped happily. The Oocca got back in his pod and waved them good-bye. He took off, bound back to the ground, now many miles below.

(End Chapter)

 

[LozzyKate]

Din...all I have to say is this: I absolutely ADORE your writing. You are so very talented! Keep up the good work! This story is amazing with a capital "A." You definitely can't and won't let your readers slip from your story (even if some little things are changed here and there). Awesome work! Keep it up! :clap:

 

[Din Akera]

Din...all I have to say is this: I absolutely ADORE your writing. You are so very talented! Keep up the good work! This story is amazing with a capital "A." You definitely can't and won't let your readers slip from your story (even if some little things are changed here and there). Awesome work! Keep it up! :clap:

*blushes* thank-you very much Kate, I'm so glad you are enjoying it.

Sorry everyone for how long this chapter is, but here ya go!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter 9 -
The new arrivals looked around their new location. They had touched down at the port of the City in the Sky that lead to the main square of the city, a large disk of ‘ground’ that connected several buildings, which backed onto the common-area. There were creatures of several different races, most of them having wings, Din noted. The Oocca were in the most abundance, as Rishian had said they would be. But several other beings walked about with large wings growing out of their backs, under their arms, or folded around themselves. Din noticed a couple Hylians and even a Zora, all of which seemed to be with a winged beings.

Toan stretched and took in a large breath. “Oh. I like it up here.” He held his hands out and a large swoop of wind ran around his sister and pulled her into his chest. He caught her and squeezed her with one arm.

Sophia laughed. “Yeah I think you are going to have too much fun up here.”

“Let’s go to the temple. They know we are coming, and have prepared rooms for us.” Rishian stated, while securing his wrapping tighter around him as they blew in the wind.

Rad placed a hand in the center of Din’s back and guided her toward the square. Rishian fell into step beside Rad. Toan and Sophia followed, playfully poking at each other while Cassandra, Kilik and Maxi brought up the rear.

Din looked at Rad, and was slightly surprised that he had not morphed back to his Hylian guise, but then remembered what Ooccoo had said, and suppressed the question.

They came to the largest building in the city. The giant door at the front was comparable to the ones on the front of Hyrule Castle, and the mighty tower also stood straight into the sky in a similar fashion.

Rishian and Rad led the group up the stairs. As Rad grabbed hold of the handle to open the door, the opposite door swung open violently. A young brunette girl bounced out of the opening and jumped back as she saw the group so close all of a sudden.

“Whoa!” The brunette exclaimed as she sidestepped a collision with the Sheikah. “Sorry.” She looked at them all and then her eyes landed on a familiar face. “Sophie?” the brunette’s surprised expression was mirrored with her question.

Sophia looked up at the sound of her name and caught the sight of the girl who had come through the door. “Kate!” Sophia jumped up and jogged the couple steps between them. The two women landed in a hug with happy squeals. “What are you doing here Kate?” Sophia’s exacerbated question came between squeezes.

“I decided to take a little vacation! I haven’t been here for awhile and you know I love the City in the Sky.” Kate smiled at her as they let go. “What brings you here?” Her eyes wandered to the rest of the group and landed on Toan. “Hey! You came too!” Kate’s expression then dropped and she looked back at Sophia with intensity rather than friendly happiness. “What’s wrong Sophie?

Sophia giggled a little and rolled her eyes at Kate. “Why do you think anything is wrong my friend?”

Kate raised one eyebrow at the girl in red. “Your brother, Toan, is in Hyrule. Something is wrong.”

An amused snort came out from Toan’s nose and chest under his crossed arms and he looked off into the open sky around them.

“Not to mention you are with a Sheikah and… a Dragir.” Kate looked around the group and her eyes fell on Rad with a defensive glare.

Rad sighed under his breath and Din looked up at him from the corner of her eye. Din looked back at Kate and guessed that meant she must be another of the race that had the feud with the Dragir. Her eyes traveled to Rishian, trying to remember the name of it--Essensorix. She nodded to herself as the word came back to her. Looking up again, Din’s eyes swept over Kate’s long brown hair and flowing green dress. Next to Sophia, the girls almost matched. They were definitely of the same race Din noted, and could have easily been related.

“So, what is going on?” Kate asked in a harsh tone, still eyeing Rad.

Sophia grabbed Kate’s wrist. “Unfortunalty there is some very bad news in store for Hyrule, that I guess you haven’t heard. And yes, we are all working together to fix the problem.” Sophia’s eyes swept over the members of all the different races standing in front of the temple doors, awaiting the next step in their quest.

Kate nodded slowly and turned back to her friend. “How about you come inside and get settled. We can talk where it is more comfortable.”

Sophia nodded and looked around at the rest of them. “First Kate, I think you should be introduced.” Sophia raised her voice above the wind and spoke to the group. “Everyone this is Kate. She is a friend of mine from our home. She possesses Earth affinity.”

Rishian lifted one eyebrow. Another Essensorix; one with the last affinity. They were certainly doing well, now they had all four in the group. That is, if Kate was a fighter and would help them. He looked the girl up and down, trying to decide if she would. Rishian shook his head slightly. The group certainly was getting larger. He normally would have been uncomfortable in this type of situation, but he knew deep down, numbers were something they would need. He looked at the Essensorix lady with interest, if she hadn’t heard the news, then the Oocca must have been keeping the facts tightly wrapped in the city to prevent panic. Everyone on the ground knew and he was surprised those in the sky didn’t.

With a smile, Sophia began pointing around the group, beginning the other side of the introduction. “Kate, this is Cassandra, Kilik, a Maxi, three Hylian fighters. The Sheikah is Rishian. This is Rad and Din, and of course you know Toan.”

Kate nodded to each of them and giggled on Sophia’s last statement. “Yes, unfortunately I do know him.”

“Shall we?” Rishian’s voice broke through the moment and they turned to see him still holding the temple door open.

With a small sigh Rad looked at Rishian and smirked. “Yes, let’s go everyone.” Rad motioned to the Sheikah at the door.

With a round of nods, everyone proceeded through the door into the large temple. Those that had not been in the temple before, looked around in awe. This only excluded Rad, Rishian, and Kate. The ceiling was easily three stories above them. The room was decorated with ornamentals, suits of armor, and fancy draperies of every kind, which hung open around the large windows to the outside sky. The colors were beautiful and there was a glow of orange lantern lights, mixed with the white sunlight of the sky, let in from the massive windows. Aside from the one they had entered from, Din could see three more of the two story tall doors that seemed to be standard for the building. The one to the left was closed, the one to the right stood open only slightly, and the last, across a large open space from the entrance, was propped wide open. Din could see that through the doors lay a large alter of some kind.

A small Oocca greeted the large incoming party from behind a small desk set off to the side of the entrance. “Oh! You must be the fighters. We have prepared our best rooms for you. Please, right this way!” The Oocca grabbed several keys in his talons and began to flap his small wings. He flew to the right and through the slightly open large door.

He led the party down a hallway and up a large staircase. When they crested the stairs to the third floor, Din looked up in awe once again. The ceiling hung high above and several crystal chandeliers hung down. The hallway was very long, the large royal red carpet accentuating its great length. One wall held pictures of what appeared to be royal members of every race. They hung in large ornamental gold frames. The other side of the hall was a balcony that over looked the central room where they had entered the temple. The balcony was complete with beautiful archways, creating several frames of the view below.

As they walked Kate leaned over to Sohpia with a whisper. “Who is she? I have never seen her before.” The lady in the green dressed nodded to the redhead in the group of fighters.

Sophia shushed her friend quickly and leaned in real close to Kate’s ear to whisper back. “Din. But she has no memory of before, and she never left Hyrule.”

Kate looked at Sophia with a confused stare, but Sophia brushed her away, this was not the time.

The Oocca stopped at the first door in the hallway. He looked between all the fighters and glanced back toward the three rooms he knew were available to them. He glanced at who was standing with who and eventually shook his head. He decided he was not willing to ask about their business and chose the safest plan he could come up with. In addition, he knew he should separate the Dragir from the Sheikah and Essensorix. In the first room he set Rishian, Kilik, and Toan. In the second, Rad, and Maxi, and finally left all four girls in a third. The doors to the three rooms were spaced far away each other in the long hall.

As Kilik, Toan, and Rishian moved through the door into the first room the Hylian glanced around. Kilik’s eyebrows rose at the ornate room. The royal red carpet matched several draperies on the stonewalls. The three large beds were arranged each on an inner wall of the room with a floor to ceiling window on the far wall, overlooking the city. Looking up he could see the large golden chandelier hanging in the center of the room. Kilik chose the bed to his right, the one on the same wall as the door, and unslung his rod and bag to drop them on the mattress.

Toan looked back over his shoulder to Rishian. “You care?” The Essensorix motioned to the two remaining beds.

Rishian glanced between the two and headed for the one closest to the window on the left side of the room. “Not really, but this one would be alright.”

With a nod, Toan threw a glance at the final bed, knowing it was his.

********************************

Din thanked the Oocca and opened the last door in the hall for the other girls. Their room was just as magnificent as the rest of the temple. Two king sized beds sat side by side, up on a pedestal, each surrounded by a royal purple canopy. The drapery was lined with gold tassels that sparkled in the light coming in the massive window. An ornate dresser and mirror sat opposite the beds in the large room, as well as a couch and a several luxurious chairs. Small chandeliers glistened from the center of the ceiling and strew cascades of light onto the ornate red carpet. Din’s eyebrows rose as she closed the door and followed the others through the door.

“You guys alright sharing?” Sophia looked toward Din and Cassandra as Kate dropped onto the bed closest to the door.

Din smiled with a little laugh and looked at the new fighter. “I’m alright”

Cassandra nodded with a shy smile.

Din moved to the bed nearest the balcony window and pulled her bow and quivers off her back. She laid them on the bed gently and stretched. “Well, I guess we get a little break until…”

Kate looked at Din intently. “Until what? Come on you have to tell me what is going on.” Kate looked at Sophia with the same intensity.

Sophia looked at Din, Cassandra, and then back to Kate. “We are all here because the great demon’s are being released.”

Kate’s eyes opened with horror. “What? Why? ... How? The royal family would never--”

“Whoa. Slow down.” Sophia grabbed onto Kate’s shoulders.

“The royal family had nothing to do with it Kate.” Cassandra looked at her with disbelief. “I wasn’t a decision.” Cassandra’s shy voice was appalled that Kate would think that.

Din shook her head in agreeance. “Ark Mantrios escaped and has been moving around to the others.”

Kate looked between them with alarm. “You think he is coming here first?”

Din shook her head. “No he released Twinrova first. This will be number two.”

Cassandra nodded. “Din, Rad, and Rishian stopped Twinrova, and we came to see if we could help with the demon of courage.”

Kate looked at Sophia. “And you and Toan agreed to help?”

Sophia nodded to her friend.

With a deep breath Kate looked between them as she tried to process all this information.

Din crawled on top of the bed an plunked herself down. She looked up at Cassandra and patted the mattress beside her.

Cassandra smiled at the invite and sat down beside the redhead, glad for the friendly gesture.

Sophia stood and turned to the other girls. “I was going to go for a walk and look around. Anyone want to come?”

Kate jumped off the bed and linked arms with her friend. The two of them turned to Din and Cassandra.

The little blonde perked up at the offer and looked at Din.

Din shook her head. “Nah, you go. I’m going to take her easy. I’ll look around a little later.”

Cassandra’s facial expression dropped a little and she looked back and forth between the two friends and Din. “Then, I think I’ll stay with you if that is alright?” Cassandra looked at Din shyly.

Din smiled. “Sure. Though I don’t know how exciting I’ll be.” She laughed a little.

Cassandra smiled. “That’s okay.” Her small voice came out happily.

Kate and Sophia smiled at the two of them and waved as they linked arms and scampered out the door into the magnificent hallway. Once they turned the corner and were out of earshot Kate pulled at Sophia’s arm. “You said her name is Din?”

Sophia nodded and put her finger to her lips to shush Kate.

Kate whispered. “And she has no idea at all where she came from?”

Sophia shook her head sadly.

“Are we going to tell her?” Kate rolled her eyes.

Sophia looked at Kate hard and shrugged with defeat. “I don’t know that it is are place. Though, I intend to be there for her when she finds out.”

Kate nodded. “And she doesn’t know the history with the Dragir then does she?”

Sophia shook her head. “No.”

Kate raised both eyebrows. “Well, hopefully nothing goes up in too much flame.” She giggled. “She is a flame wielder isn’t she?”

Sophia smiled and nodded. “Yes. She will be quite useful in battle.”

“I thought so. It’s the red hair; gives it away.” Kate laughed.

***********************

Toan looked at Kilik standing over his bed and disregarded items and then over to the Sheikah standing at the foot of his bed looking out the window. “You guys want to do something?” Toan’s deep voice broke the silence. “Sorry, but I’m not very good at doing nothing.”

Kilik perked up a little and turned toward him. “Yeah sure. What’s up here to do?” The man’s even tone was interested.

Toan smirked back. “I don’t know. Guess we’ll have to go find out.” Toan turned to the Sheikah. “Rishian?”

Rishian glanced over at them. “Nah. I think I’m alright. I’ll find something to do. But thanks.” He turned a quarter turn toward them and nodded with an appreciative smile in his exposed eye.

The two other men nodded back then turned to each other. Kilik swept a hand over his long bangs to move them from his face and headed for the door with Toan close behind. As he pulled the piece of ornate wood aside he looked up to Maxi standing inches form his face his fist raised to knock on the now open door.

“Ah.” Maxi laughed a little. “Hey.” He smiled brightly. “I was just coming to see if you guys wanted to go look around?”

Toan smiled brightly. “We think alike Hylian.”

Maxi smiled back at Toan, happy for the welcoming words. His eyes moved to the man with the shaggy bangs. “You on the bandwagon too Kilik?”

The man smirked and punched him playfully in the shoulder. “You bet partner. Let’s go!” He threw a glance over his shoulder as he moved out into the hallway to make sure Toan was following. As he did he saw a winged Rad come out of his own room and head away down the hallway one more door. Kilik didn’t think anything of it and turned back toward the staircase with his new and old friend, head off to see what they could find in this new place.

*************************

Din lay back on the bed and looked at the ceiling. She released a long deep breath. She wasn’t really sure about what was going to happen next. Turning her head she looked up at Cassandra. “So, what do you think of this place Cassie?” Din took in a quick breath and made direct eye contact with the blonde. “Is it okay if I call you Cassie?”

The girl smiled and giggled once. She nodded back at Din with a smile.

Din giggled a little too. That was the second time she had cut someone off recently with that question. “Sorry, I tend to shorten everyone’s names.”

Cassandra smiled again. “That’s okay Din. And I think it is very fancy.” Cassandra looked around their room again with a somewhat uncomfortable wiggle.
“Yeah. A little too--”

A tapping noise broke Din’s words and she sat upright on the bed. Rad was in the open doorway leaning on the doorframe, his knuckles touching the door. Din smiled at him and he came through. Din noticed just how broad he was in the doorway, his wings making him appear even larger.

“Not bad.” Rad said jokingly, looking around the beautiful room agreeing with their conversation. “Guess that is what happens when they think you are the ones to save the land from destruction. You think the Hero of Time got such nice digs?” Rad joked as he moved into the room. Smiling at Din and Cassandra seated on the bed, he leaned on the small dresser opposite the bed.

Cassandra looked between them quickly and slid off the bed. “I’m going to…um” She scrambled for an excuse as she felt she shouldn’t interrupt them.

Din looked at the girl with a confused expression. “What’s the matter Cassie?”

The blonde looked at her shyly. “I’m going to go find the kitchen. See you.” She turned on her heel and raced out the door and started down the hall.

“You don’t have to go!” Din called after her. But she was already through the door. Din looked at Rad and he looked as confused as she felt.

Rad pushed himself off the dresser and walked to the doorframe. Leaning around it he looked for the small fighter, but she was gone. He came back to the room and shrugged at her. “Hopefully I didn’t scare her.” He seemed almost genuinely unsure.

Din laughed and slid off the bed as well. She playfully tapped his shoulder with the back of her hand. “Oh I’m sure that is it, you big scary Dragir.” The sarcasm thick in her words as she threw her head back with a laugh.

Rad shook his head and smirked. “Okay, okay.” He looked toward the large window and after a moment’s thought, moved toward it. He threw his head toward the balcony, motioning for Din to follow him.

Din watched as he pushed on the pane and it swung outward onto the small balcony outside the room. She followed Rad’s action and joined him in the outside air. Looking to her right Din could see the balconies of the other two rooms spaced down the length of the wall. The end one was open into the room, Rishian, Kilik, and Toan must want some fresh air she thought.

Rad was leaning on the rail of the balcony and looking down at the streets of the city below. He was scanning the area hard with his eyes.

“Everything okay?” Din looked up at him.

“Oh, yes. But… there is someone… we need to meet here…” Rad was heavy in examination of the crowded square.

“Meet?” Din asked.

“Yes, he is… Oh!” Rad reached over and grabbed Din around the waist. Hugging her tightly to his side he spread his wings and leapt off the balcony.

“Wha!” Din reached out and grabbed him around the neck, holding tightly. “Rad!” She yelled at him with slight annoyance.

He descended quickly to the square and smirked at her surprise. Turning his attention downward to a tall figure walking away form the temple, Rad called out. “Kenji!”

The figure stopped and turned back around at the sound of his name.

Rad landed lightly on the balls of his feet and set Din down beside him.

Din had every intent of giving him heck for surprising her with flight again, but was distracted with the man Rad had called too.

“Man! Rad!” The man was jovial and happy to see Rad. “Nice of you to finally show up! I thought you were going to miss the party and I was going to have to deal with the demon myself.” The man smirked as he walked closer to Rad.

The two clasped hands and pulled each other’s arms, crushing their hands between their two chests. They reached around each other’s backs with their free hands and gave each other a solid squeeze.

Din looked at the man. He was the shorter than Rad but just as broad. His hair was a deep blue and hung shaggy around his ears and over his forehead. His eyes were a brilliant shade of gold with flecks that danced around like treasure sparkles. He was clad in heavy dark armor, which almost matched Rad’s, but was tinted green instead of silver. A long cape hung from under the shoulder plates of his armor to sweep around the heels of his boots on the metal path. The cape had the markings of the three golden goddess imprinted in gold on the deep blue material, matching his hair.

Rad turned and motioned to Din. “This is Din, Din this is Kenji. We are old friends. We go way back.” Rad’s voice was jovial as well. This was probably one of the better moods she had ever seen him in.

Din smiled and offered her hand to Kenji. The man took it and looked her in the eye. “It is very nice to meet you Din.” He threw a sideways glance and playful smirk at Rad.

“The pleasure is mine Kenji.” Din smiled politely back at him.

“You gotten soft on me Rad over the years?” Kenji jokingly smiled at Rad while looking at Din.

Rad laughed and rolled his eyes. “Not a chance. I could still kick your butt in battle.”

“We’ll see about that!” Kenji launched himself forward and slammed his shoulder into the center of Rad’s breastplate. The impact sent Rad staggering backward and off the edge of the metal path. They began to fall into the sky, plummeting toward earth.

With a shocked and horrified gasp Din ran to the edge and grabbed the wall of the building that backed onto the edge of the city. She looked down and watched in amazement as the large cape on Kenji’s back transformed. It seemed to split down the middle and unfold backward. It grew stiff and took the form of deep blue wings, matching Rad’s black ones. Both men spread their great wings and caught the air.

Rad came rocketing back upward toward the city and hovered five feet above Din over the empty space, looking down as Kenji began his ascent after the Dragir.

Kenji came up and drew his fist back with a smile. He swung using the momentum of his wings. Rad dodged easily and swung back at him.

The two began to laugh, and it became obvious to Din, that this was something they did often. She stood, leaning against the building watching their aerial play fight.

“Good show?” A male voice came from above and behind Din. She turned and looked up to see Rishian squatted on a small ledge, about a story and a half up, that Din would have thought a bird couldn’t have landed on. She smiled up at him. He leapt off the ledge, head first, arms extended. He tucked, rolled and stood to his feet beside her.

“Careful, hey.” He reached out and gently took one of Din’s arms, pulling her away from the edge of the city and the open sky below.

Din smirked. “Yeah that probably wouldn’t be very good.” She looked over the edge and then back at the Sheikah.

Rishian looked over at the two friends throwing and dodging punches in the sky. His eyes were intent on Kenji, and Din watched, as he seemed to stiffen at his sight. Rishian nodded toward them and spoke in a perfectly normal tone, as if they were standing beside him. “Hey Rad, you mind if I borrow the lady for a minute?”

Rad continued to dodge Kenji’s playful attacks and laugh loudly as he grabbed him by the wrists and wrestled with his friend. It was quiet obvious that he didn’t, and couldn’t have heard him.

Rishian smiled. “I’ll take that as a no.” He turned to Din, who was giggling loudly. “Would you like a tour of the city miss Din?”

Din smiled at him, “Sure I would.”

Rishian once again held out his elbow for her. She slid her hand into the crease and looked up into the sky at Rad and Kenji. She shrugged; he would find her later. Turning, she followed Rishian away from the ledge and toward the center of the market.

The Sheikah led her through the busy streets. She was amazed at how many different races she saw about the city, she had always thought that the City in the Sky was a place where very few people came. But upon examination she saw many Oocca, Hylians, several Zora, Kokiri, a Goron or two, and some she didn’t know the name of.

Rishian smiled behind his wrappings as he watched her expressions of surprise and amazement. He began his tour by showing her the ports where the pods carried those who could not fly, to and from the city.

Din nodded, she remembered this area from the ride earlier. She was quite impressed with the devices.

Rishian then took her down to the market square to the many shops where Din excitedly bounded in and out of each of them, looking at the many different items. There were many things she had never seen before, along with beautiful souvenirs, jewelry, and any object a soul could desire.

Continuing the tour, he led her down a large path, which was off to the side from the rest of the city. The path branched off several times allowing for access to all the residences floating between the pathways. This area they past through quickly, as there was not much for sightseeing.

Finally, he walked her down a long pathway that seemed to lead to nowhere. It had stretched off from the rear of the city. The path was covered in heavy clouds, making Din uneasy about the wind gusts. She squeezed onto Rishian’s arm tighter, now much more aware of the altitude of which they were at. Looking back over her shoulder she could see the side of the temple in which they were staying. Looking farther up she smiled to herself as she was able to pick out their balconies on the wall. Turning back she focused on where they were going, trying to see through the thick clouds.

The Sheikah walked her forward and through the wall of the puffy substance. “Last thing I thought you might want to see.”

*********************

Rad and Kenji had landed on the platform after their duel and had begun looking for Din. Rad had become worried that Din may have fallen or gotten into trouble when he couldn’t find her.

“Let’s go ask if anyone saw her.” Rad hurried back into the temple.

Kenji followed easily, still smiling playfully, “I’m sure she just went for a walk, or back to her room to have a nap, maybe to the shops to buy some souvenirs, to the kitchen to get something to eat, or maybe to write a letter home to tell her family about all this.” Kenji was just rambling now and Rad was beginning to snicker at his friend.

“Speaking of letters, you have horrible timing. You really call this urgent?” Rad pulled out a piece of paper from under his armor and shook it at Kenji.
Kenji shrugged. “It’s faster ain’t it? And plus, I didn’t want you to be rushing yourself to get here when Len still hasn’t even gotten back to me yet! Just wanted to tell you I have been tryin’.”

Rad laughed, “Yes, but hauling me away from…” Rad cut his sentence off, knowing what his friend would say to that.

Kenji began to laugh extremely hard even though Rad didn’t finish and Rad turned and punched him in the shoulder. Shaking his head Rad walked up to the desk where the Oocca who had showed them to their rooms was shuffling paper.

“Excuse me, did you see where the red-headed lady went off to?”

The Oocca looked up at Rad and smiled a friendly smile, “Yes, she and the Sheikah went on a tour of the city, I believe.”

Rad’s worry for Din’s safety disappeared, but another emotion he could not name took its place. “Ah, thank-you.” As Rad turned back around to where Kenji was rubbing his shoulder.

Kenji smiled at his friend, “If she’s with a Sheikah she is fine!” Then Kenji’s face fell slightly into a confused expression. “Wait, you are traveling with a Sheikah? Where in goddesses’ heaven did you find a Sheikah these days? The royal family hasn’t had protectors other than their guards since the Evil King was destroyed by the Hero of Time”

Rad nodded, “I know. But Renado, the shaman in Kakariko, knew where he would be, and he has been a lot of help to us, he is quite knowledgeable.”
Kenji’s expression grew serious and he fell deep into thought about what Rad had just told him. Rad looked his friend up and down aware of the change in him. “Everything okay Kenji?”

Kenji nodded, “I think so, but I should really try to get Len to answer again.”
Rad nodded and moved aside. Kenji walked past Rad and gave him a playful elbow goodbye as he walked through the large open doors toward the alter in the center of the temple.

**************************

Thwack! The arrow slammed into the cork target two rings away from the center bull’s eye. Down the length of the stem, several yards away was Sophia, holding her bow. The lady in the flowing red dress shook her head in disapproval.

“I told you. You will have to compensate for the wind up here more than on the ground,” Kate told her shortly.

The shooting range the two of them found was quite simple, especially compared to the rest of the place. The door lead out onto a platform with several cubicles lined up in a row. The ledge then dropped off into the open sky below. Then many feet out from the ledge were about fifteen targets, each floating on their own small platform, complete with its own propeller underneath. Sophia stood in the middle cubicle and looked back over her shoulder at Kate who was leaned on the back wall beside the door, arms crossed.

Kate nodded back out toward the target with urgency. “You can do it, just compensate more.”

Sophia turned back the target and raised her bow. Aiming down the length of the arrow, she aimed off to the right, into the wind, much more than she normally would. Letting the arrow fly it split outward into the sky. Just as it did, the wind changed and blew the arrow to the side, hard. The weapon missed the target entirely and fell toward the earth. Sophia looked back over her shoulder and dropped one hip, placing her fist on top of it. Raising one eyebrow she sighed at Kate. “That worked.” Her sarcasm was as thick as she could make it.

Kate rolled her eyes. “Well, if the wind hadn’t changed…”

Just then, the wooden door creaked open against the stone frame. As it moved the two ladies looked toward the opening at the same time. A small blonde poked her head through the door and looked around the room.

Cassandra’s eyes landed on the two of them and she shied back through the opening. “Oh, sorry.” She began to close the door again.

“No, no!” Sophia took a step out of the cubicle toward the door. Extending one hand she grabbed the edge of the door and pulled it back open, revealing the small fighter. “Come on in.” Sophia smiled at her.

Cassandra smiled sheepishly and her cheeks turned a light pink. “I didn’t mean to interrupt I was just looking around.” She looked at the ground between her feet. She didn’t think she would stumble upon these two. In fact, part of her had hoped she wouldn’t. They had not really given her much of a welcome. Though Sophia seemed friendlier to her than Kate.

“You’re not interrupting. I’m just doing some shooting.” Sophia smiled and motioned her to come into the range.

“Or trying anyway.” Kate laughed still lent against the wall.

“Hey!” Sophia laughed back at her. Looking toward the blonde she shrugged. “The wind is hard to deal with this high up.

Cassandra nodded politely and looked out at the targets.

Stringing another arrow Sophia shot again piercing the very outer edge of the target as the wind blew the arrow sideways again. Sophia sighed and shook her head.

“If you shot with more force and speed it might not move it around so much.” Cassandra suggested quietly.

Kate and Sophia looked at her and blinked. “You think?” Sophia questioned.

The blonde nodded again.

Looking back out at her target Sophia strung one more arrow and pulled the string back.

“More.” Cassandra stated.

Sophia pulled back harder, straining her arm.

“More still. Bend the bow a lot.” Cassandra looked at her.

Sophia laughed and relaxed the tension, shaking her arm out. “I can’t pull it back that far, I’m not quite that strong. She raised it again and pulled back as hard as she could.

Cassandra quickly ran the couple steps between them and grabbed the bow from the other side from Sophia. She held the frame and pulled on the string as well. The frame flexed hard and the two of them looked at each other through the open hole. “Ready? You aim. That was never my strong suit, just the pull.” Cassandra looked out toward the target.

Sophia giggled a little at this funny position but aimed the arrow at the bull’s-eye. “3, 2, 1, release!”

The two girls let go at the same time and watched the arrow whiz out into the sky with amazing speed. Thinking there was no way it would have worked all three girls watched with skepticism. But they were proved wrong as the arrow cut through the wind and dug into the target’s center with great force.

Sophia’s jaw dropped open at the sight while a huge smile spread across Cassandra’s face, proud that her idea had worked.

“What? No way!” Kate cried out with a smile. “Ha ha! That was awesome ladies!” She pushed herself off the wall and came to stand between them to get a better look at the direct hit.

The two Essensorix turned and looked at the Hylian girl. Kate spoke first. “Great idea Cassandra. Where did you learn that?”

The small lady shrugged. “I learned a lot in training, and I had to deal with Kilik and Maxi as well. I learned to outsmart them rather than try to keep up with their strength.”

Kate laughed. “I think you did a pretty good job at the strength part too!”

Cassandra smiled at the two girls and turned red again, this time for a much better reason.

“I’m tired of this now.” Sophia looked between them. “You want to continue your tour with some company?” She looked at Cassandra.

The fighter in white smiled back. “Sure.” She felt much better now than she had when they had arrived. Maybe she would get to be friends with some of these people.

The three girls packed up and moved back through the door in which they had entered, headed off to see what else they could find to do in the huge temple in the floating city.

**************************

“Bathroom!” Maxi slammed both of his fists into his hips and puffed out his chest at Toan and Kilik.

Toan shook his head. “No way! Storage closet.” He smirked to himself.

Kilik raised one hand to his mouth, thinking. “Hallway.” He stated firmly.

In front of the three men was a small, wooden, and unimpressive door with a metal handle. The door was one of the only regular sized doors they had come across in the temple.

Maxi elbowed Kilik in the side, pushing him forward.

The man moved forward and lay his hand on the piece of metal. Putting his shoulder in it, he turned the handle and pushed on the wood. As it swung he took a step back to allow the other two to see. Inside the doorframe lay a small room stuffed with several brooms, mops, and cloths.

“Yes!!” Toan raised his fists in victory and took several circular victory steps.

“Ahh!” Kilik and Maxi rolled their eyes.

“Whatever man! Next. Let’s go.” Maxi threw his arm in a gesture for them to follow him. He took several steps down the corridor away from them.

Toan and Kilik turned on their heels and jogged a couple steps to catch up to where Maxi had stopped. They stopped at his side and turned to face the same direction as the black haired man.

An ornate metal door loomed high into the stonewalls above Toan, Kilik, and Maxi. The three stood outside it, arms crossed, staring up at the black designs. The door was easily two stories tall and thick as any guarded door should be.

“Armory.” Maxi stated boldly with confidence.

“No. It’s too…pretty.” Kilik cocked his head to one side and tightened his crossed arms on his chest. “Library.”

Maxi and Kilik looked over at Toan and waited.

The Essensorix smirked and shifted his weight to the other leg, looking hard at the metal door. “I’m going to go with some type of common room.”

“Ahh come on Toan. You gotta be more specific than that. You got the last four right!” Maxi poked at him with a smile.

Toan laughed. “Yeah, okay. Well, then… great hall.”

Kilik raised his eyebrows. “Really? That is a stab in the dark.” He laughed.

Toan shook his head and laughed back. “I’m running out of ideas.”

The three of them had been at this for an hour or so now. Each door they had come across they had guessed and entered to see who was right.

Maxi moved first and pressed his weight against the heavy door and swung it open.

The three moved forward and each stuck their heads through the door at different heights so none of them had to actually enter the room, but they could all see. As they did so they were hit with a beautiful smell. The aroma overwhelmed them and the three of them all felt their stomachs rumble and their mouths water. Opening their eyes they saw a long narrow room with ten or more long, benched tables. The tables were a deep brown wooden stain against the stone floor. High windows lined the room on either side, letting in bright white light and a beautiful view of the sky. At the far end of the room was a thin, long, horizontal window and through the little space, the three men could see Hylian and Ooccoo cooks hard at work. All three’s mouth dropped open and they threw the door all the way open, stepping into the room with two big strides. At the same time, all of them expressed the same emotion through one word. “Food!!”

**************************

As Rishian and Din moved along the metal pathway Din could see three towers forming out of the clouds. As they walked forward, the clouds dissipated completely and Din could see that the three towers were equipped with long-range projectiles and other sorts of weaponry. The tower in the middle held a giant spyglass. Rishian lead her to the base of the middle tower and motioned her up the ladder. She stepped out onto a circular platform, once atop the ladder, covered with a canopy roof.

Rishian followed her up the ladder and motioned straightforward out into the open sky. “Can you see that?” He leant in and pointed, looking down the length of his arm.

Din looked hard and could see, a mile away, another of the floating buildings. It stood all on it’s own, and appeared to be quite large, but Din could not be certain form this distance. “Yes.”

Rishian motioned to the spyglass. “That is the chamber that holds the demon of courage.”

Din’s eyebrows went up and she immediately understood why he had brought her out here. She bent her head and looked through the glass. With its assistance, Din could see much more of the chamber. It was made of stone and had none of the colors painted on it, as the rest of the city, yet, it was colorful. There were Sheikah symbols carved into the stone, more than fifty of them. Each was glowing with the magical seal that they possessed. The seals were red, green, yellow, purple, teal, and dark blue. Each seal of a similar color was connected with a line of a matching color. The crisscrossed lines created a colorful cage over the surface of the stone and encased the building in its entirety.

“Wow, those are the symbols of your race.” Din noted.

“Yes. When connected with Sheikah blood they create a seal that takes great strength and magic to break. That many ensure the demons containment.” Rishian nodded.

Din pulled her face back from the glass and looked at Rishian. “I see. So in theory we have nothing to worry about.”

“In theory.” He nodded. Rishian’s eye smiled at her and he offered his elbow once again. The two began to walk back along the path to the main portion of the city. As they walked, Din looked around her and thought about all that he had showed her and her thoughts came back to one place in particular they hadn’t been.

“Will you show me what that alter is inside the temple?” Din smiled at him.

Rishian’s eyebrow dropped. “No. I-- I can’t. But I’m sure if you asked Rad’s friend Kenji about it, he could show you. He would also be able to tell you about it, which I could not seeing…” Rishian’s voice trailed off as he realized he was speaking out loud.

“What?” Din looked at him; knowing there was more.

“I can’t enter alters to the goddesses.”

“Why not?” Din did not sound interested rather she was concerned something was wrong.

Rishian looked at her, he couldn’t believe he had said that information aloud. He was too open with her; he had let his guard down. They had reached the doors of the temple once again and Rishian grabbed hold of the massive door and opened it for Din. She walked through the door then turned around to stare at him with concern when he did not follow her through.

Rishian nodded toward the interior of the temple, “You should go ask Kenji for that tour, we can talk later. There is something I have to run and get quick.” Rishian let go of the door before Din could protest.

With a deep breath Rishian leaned against the closed door for a minute, the bright sun beating against the exposed portion of his face. After a moment to collect himself he push off the door and headed across the square toward one of the little shops that he had taken Din into, just moments before.

Inside, Din stared at the closed door for a minute. She shook her head. She knew Rishian was tied to so many secrets, and that he was having trouble opening up, but she wanted him too. She was a friend to many people now, and she hoped he could join that list. She took a breath and turned around to see the empty temple. Looking toward the alter doors she could see Kenji inside. Thinking it a good opportunity, she jogged toward the doors, the heels of her boots clanking against the stone floor. She slowed when she reached the doors and took a single step into the room. The room was absolutely massive, easily bigger than the lobby of the temple. The room was rectangular, stretching away from the door with great length. There were four ornate stone observation benches on each side of the room right close to the door. The benches did not extended even a quarter of the way to the front of the room. A long royal carpet stretched from the door to the end of the room where the alter stood. The carpet was the three royal colors of the goddesses, arranged in the correct order: blue, red, and green from left to right. At the end of the carpet were four great steps to a higher platform. Atop the rise was rail, stretching from one wall to the other, lined with thousands of candles. The candles all burned a natural orange, but the wax of the candles were colored for each of the three goddesses. Behind the rail stood an offering basin that was easily twelve feet across. But the most impressive feature of the alter were the three statues behind the basin. The one on the right was carved out of solid emerald. The goddess Farore, holding both her hands over her heart, leant backward, with a bevel in her leg. The middle statue was made from ruby. The goddess Din, holding both arms extended down and forward in fists. The third, the goddess Naryu, carved from solid sapphire, she held one hand over her forehead and the other trailing out behind her. The three figures were up on pedestals; Din slightly taller to arrange the three in the shape of the triforce. The roof overtop of the statues and basin was open to the sky; the rest of the roof, composed of stain glass windows, threw more red, green, and blue light onto the floor and walls of the room.

With surprise at the beauty Din took the step back out of the room; she had never seen anything more brilliant. She could feel a completely different atmosphere from the room and was not sure what it was, but she knew this was a place of great respect. Din could see Kenji standing at the base of the stairs pacing back and forth between the two outer walls of the room. She felt a sense of unease, and did not feel she should simply enter the alter. She began to turn, to leave, when Kenji looked up and noticed her.

“Din, please come in.” He smiled and waved at her.

Din looked at him, and with a nod and a small smile she started down the carpet toward the front of the room. “I’m sorry to interrupt, I was just hoping for a tour…”

“You are not interrupting at all, in fact, I’m waiting.”

Din nodded, not understanding what he meant by that. “Okay. I was told that you were the person to see to have a tour here.” She smiled at him.

He reached out as she came nearer and placed his hand on her shoulder with a friendly smile. “Did you now? Well, then I guess it is a good thing I’m already here. Welcome to the Temple of the Goddesses. This is a place where people of all races come to pray to their creators, ask for guidance, or simply be in their presence. Some beings use this place to contact the goddesses or their messengers, and other use it as a place to sit or play; just to be here.”

Din looked at Kenji, “Is that why you are waiting?”

He smiled at her and led her forward to stand at the base of the stairs. “Yes, I am waiting for an answer.”

Looking up from this spot, Din could see just how large the statues of the goddesses were, easily sixteen feet tall. “An answer?” She asked him.

“I am one of the beings that can communicate with those that can come a go between worlds. I have a friend who is a right hand messenger for the goddesses and I have been trying to contact him about all this ‘demon release’ business.” Kenji laughed a little.

Din smiled at him, he was so friendly, “I see. Well that is quite the talent.”

“I have battle magic as well. I can create weapons of ice and flame.”

Din jumped away from his hand at the comment of ice. She gave him a sheepish smile as he considered her reaction. “I’m sorry. Water magic affects me greatly. It is my weakness…”

Kenji replaced his hand, “I won’t hurt you. It isn’t in my being, I have to call it forward.” Din nodded and relaxed. Kenji continued, “So you are of fire magic then?”

“Yes.” She smiled proudly at him. She was starting to like the fact that others could know about her abilities and not recoil with anger or fear. She giggled to herself; she should have started spending time with beings such as these long ago. “So, does your friend know what is going on?”

Kenji nodded, “Yes, Len is an arc angel and watches the land of Hyrule. He reports to the goddesses, so you could say.”

Din nodded in understanding. Kenji moved, and pointed her at the different pieces of the alter. He explained how each race played a part in the construction of the alter and the history of the magic used within it. Part way through his story the candles underneath Naryu flared brightly and turned a brilliant blue.

“Oh, Din, I’m sorry, but you will have to excuse me, messages have arrived.” Kenji placed his hand on the center of her back and he led her part way down the carpet toward the door.

“Oh, absolutely.” Din jogged a couple steps away and looked back over her shoulder with a friendly smile and wave. “Thank-you for the tour Kenji.”

“Anytime Din.” He smiled back at her, and hurried up the stairs of the alter to the basin. Din left the alter and headed for the door of the temple, her mind focused on finding Rishian. She was still overly curious about his reaction to the alter.

************************

Toan bit down on the last hunk of bread he had snatched and munched happily as he looked towards his counterparts across the table. The three of them had floated into the dining room and promptly began munching.

“To think--this is right across the lobby from us--and we didn’t know until now!” Maxi stated between his mouthfuls.

“No kidding!” Kilik smiled as he threw another bite in as well.

The three were seated at the table closest to the kitchen window as they devoured the meals the cooks had been happy to feed to them.

“Well we know now, and we will come back!” Toan slammed his fist down on the table with a playful grin.

“Yes we will!” Maxi and Kilik chimed in after him.

Toan looked at the two of them. “So how do you guys know each other? And Cassandra?”

“We trained together.” Kilik stated around his last mouthful while Maxi nodded in agreement.

“So you guys are friends.” Toan stated with only a hint of a question in his tone.

“We are.” Kilik looked at Maxi. “Cassandra is really shy so…”He threw another hunk of bread in his mouth.

“And she’s a girl.” Maxi laughed a little.

Toan smiled and rocked back on the bench, relaxing. “I see.”

At the other end of the dining hall, the door opened ever so slightly and Rad stepped through with next to no sound. He looked down the length of the room and his eyes landed on the three men finishing up their food. He took a breath and headed toward them. Thought he could get something anyway, even if he couldn’t really stay.

The three boys looked up and when their eyes met with the Dragir in true form all three stiffened, Maxi and Kilik out of discomfort and slight fear, and Toan out of anger and frustration.

As Rad came closer he dropped his gaze and nodded to them politely.

The two Hylian’s nodded back nervously, but the Essensorix ignored him and growled under his breath.

Continuing forward, Rad walked to the window and leaned forward on it with his elbows, smiling at one of the Ooccoo cooks. “Could I get a bowl of anything? Maybe whatever they had?” Rad motioned at the three men at the table.

The cook smiled politely and picked himself up off the counter using his little yellow wings. The Ooccoo grabbed a bowl of chowder between his talons and flapped himself and the bowl over to the chowder he had been sitting on. Picking up a hunk of bread between his claws he slapped it down on the side of the bowl and once again lifted himself and the food into the air. He set it down on the little window ledge and smiled at Rad. Turning around he went back to his tasks.

As the cook was going about his business for Rad, the two Hylian’s took in his appearance. They were both amazed at the great wings, but the silver hair, dark horns, brilliant red eyes, and most of all the silver scales in his skin made them uncomfortable. Neither of them could really put a finger on why, but they were uneasy with him. The two of them knew he was on their side, but they just weren’t right with him. Glancing once again at each other out of the corner of their eyes they were both thinking about the Dragir. They understood now why their teacher had told them most of the Dragir hide in a Hylian form.

“Thanks” Rad took the bowl placed before him and turned back to the other men. “May I?” Rad asked in an even tone to the three of them.

Maxi and Kilik glanced at each other and then directly over to their angered friend. Neither of them really was knowing what they should do.

Kilik decided they couldn’t be rude to someone who was to help them. “Uh…sure.” He smiled a quick and small gesture.

Rad gave a halfhearted smile back and slid onto Toan’s bench with a full space between them. Looking down at his bowl he began to eat. After a couple mouthfuls he tried to break the tension. “Pretty good hey?” The words were fairly quiet.

Maxi nodded looking at his hands in his lap.

“Yeah.” Kilik’s agreement came out under his breath.

Rad sighed quietly to himself. Why does he even try? This was probably mostly pointless.

Toan’s fists had bunched up on the table and he was taking deep breaths. “You trying to make small talk Dragir?” The words were a low growl.

Rad looked at him. “No, not really. Just try and ease the tension between us all.”

“Why? Cause you think that we can actually trust you?” Toan snarled at him.

Rad’s eyebrows lowered over his eyes. “Because I was hoping we could all get along if we are going to fight together.” Rad’s words had also turned to a growl in his chest.

“We might be fighting on the same team. But we are not, by any means, together. I don’t trust you Dragir, and I never will. I would never let you watch my back in battle. You would turn your back on me the way you did fifteen years ago.” Toan stood on the last sentence as his temper rose.

“And what in Hyrule could I do to make you feel better? Huh? Would you rather I morphed?” Rad glared at him and took in a sharp tightening breath. In an instant, the wings, horns, and scales were gone, his eyes and hair having returned to their deep brown. “Does that make you feel better? To see a Hylian?”

Kilik and Maxi looked at each other. Both of them relaxed to no longer see the Dragir, agreeing with his statement. They both thought about informing him of this, but refrained due to Toan’s facial expression.

Toan glared harder. “No. Because then, all I see is the poor Hylian soul you destroyed to take his form.”

Rad’s temper shot up like a rocket. “You know nothing about that!” Pushing off the table Rad stood and stared Toan in the eyes. “You have no idea the circumstances of that portion of my life. I did not steal this form. It was leaving this world anyway.”

“Oh, I’m sure.” Toan sneered back at him.

“I’ll answer my own question. No. There is nothing I can do. Because your judgment is made and I cannot change it.” Rad took hold of his bowl and turned on his heels toward the massive metal door. “I was just trying to be friendly Essensorix.” He threw a glance back over his shoulder. Rad threw the door open and stalked down the hallway back toward his room. He would eat there and hope that Maxi wouldn’t be coming back anytime soon. As he walked, he began taking long deep breaths. As he did, the transformation began without him realizing. After it had started he let it go to completion. With a little sigh he looked down at himself. He knew this form was better up here anyway. Faster reaction should someone go off the edge. Plus, the Ooccoo were not adverse to the Dragir, and most of the Hylian’s here were used to winged creatures, it was simply the ones from below that were a problem. Rad sighed to himself again. Maybe, after this whole thing was over, this would be a good place to settle into for a while. As the thought entered his mind, only one face was crystal clear in his minds eye. The beautiful woman may not want to stay here though… His thoughts ran away with him as he continued back to the room.

Back in the dinning hall, Toan was clenching his fists tightly, with a small grunt he dropped back onto the bench and looked at his friends.

Maxi spoke first. “What was that about?”

Toan rolled his eyes. “The oldest rule in the book. Never trust a betrayer.”

Kilik looked at Maxi and back at Toan. “Okay, so he betrayed you?”

Toan shook his head. “Worse. He betrayed my race. The whole Essensorix race.”

Maxi raised an eyebrow. ‘How does one person betray a whole race.”

“Not just him. His race.” Toan looked up at them. “The Dragir are responsible for the death and near extinction of the Essensorix. After it was over, they would not compensate in anyway and we left Hyrule; moved to Aleria.” Toan’s statements were growing shorter and lower with each breath.

Maxi decided to push it just once more. “So, you don’t trust him because of his race.”

Toan glared at his hands. “I don’t trust him, because I knew he, personally, was a large part of it.”

The Hylian’s nodded lowly and dropped it.

****************************

Standing in front of the alter, Kenji held up both his hands and a ball of fire appeared in one and a crystal of ice appeared in the other. He threw the pieces of magic into the basin and stirred them together with his hands. Backing away, he looked up at the open roof and called. “Len, I wish to speak with you!” The blue candles flared brighter and Kenji held both palms out relaxed in front of him. Closing his eyes, he waited.

Suddenly a furious gust of wind came through the roof of the temple. Both doors to the lobby slammed shut and locked tightly. A small smiled appeared on Kenji’s lips, but he did not move or open his eyes. A blinding white light shot through the entire room and very slowly faded, the source from the base of Naryu’s statue. A figure appeared sitting on the pedestal under the statue’s feet. The male figure was dressed in long flowing white robes that sparkled in the sunlight. His white hair reached all the wall down his back to tickle the backs of his knees. It was tied together into one piece at his waist. The figure stood and walked forward to the rail of candles between himself and Kenji, his bare feet making no sound on the stone floor. He was much taller than Kenji and very slender. The man had an aura of power, prestige, and kindness about him.

“Hello my friend.” Kenji’s voice came out in a whisper without opening his eyes.

“Hello Kenji.” The man spoke. He leaned on the rail of candles in a very relaxed stance.

Kenji lowered his hands and opened his eyes slowly, looking at the man. “Len, I have much to ask you.”

The angel shook his head, “No Kenji, there is much I need to tell you first. You do not know what is going on underneath your own nose.”

Kenji’s brow furrowed and he nodded for Len to begin.

*****************************

Din had opened the door of the temple to something she had never seen before. The sun had begun to set and the sky was turning orange and darker blue. Being this high in the sky, the colors surrounded the city, rather than simply being above it. She paused and looked at the new surroundings for a moment, taking in the amazing sight, then she set off down the stairs of the temple. Din moved through the majority of the square looking for her friend, but she could not find him. He had disappeared. She shook her head, remembering the old words: you will never find a Sheikah that is hiding; only once they choose to be found.

Just then, a pair of arms grabbed her from behind. Out of instinct Din pulled one of her daggers and swung. The person who grabbed her ducked and avoided her attack. Din pulled the other dagger and wretch out of the person’s hold. She spun and slammed him against the wall closest to them, the first dagger at his throat.

Rishian held both hands up in surrender. “Whoa, whoa! It’s me!” He was surprised at her reaction.

Din blinked at him a couple times and swiftly pulled her daggers away. “Don’t do that to me!” She breathed out held in air. “I’m sorry.” She replaced the daggers and backed off.

Rishian laughed. “No, it’s okay, I shouldn’t have snuck up on you.” He looked at her for a moment then reach up under the wrappings over his chest. He pulled out a small object. “I got you something.”

Din was a little surprised. “What? Why?”

Rishian giggled a little, “Because I think it suits the situation.” He held it out to her.

Din reached a hand out and Rishian dropped a locket into her palm. She looked at it closely. A silver chain held the locket tightly. The pendent, also silver, shone brightly in the fading sunlight. The locket had engravings of three symbols on it, only one of which Din recognized. The Sheikah symbol was arranged to the lower left of the other two. Din looked at the one on the top of the arrangement and then to the lower right; neither had she ever seen before. The locket was beautiful nonetheless. Din looked up a Rishian. “Thank-you, it’s beautiful.” Her words were genuine.

Rishian nodded. He reached into her hand and took it from her. Moving to behind her he placed it around her neck. Din lifted her hair and let the locket fall to rest on her chest.

As they smiled at each other a large wind gust hit the city. Din and Rishian ducked and shielded their faces with their hands. Rishian pushed Din toward the door of the temple and they ran up the couple steps. Din hauled the door aside and they slipped through out of the wind.

After a couple giggles Rishian looked at the shut doors of the alter, “How was your tour?”

“Good.” Din thought the opportunity was perfect. “Rish, why can’t you go in the alter?”

The Sheikah shook his head, “Din, it’s nothing, don’t…” Rishian’s words trialed off as they walked into the large inner room of the temple. He looked up to see Rad on the third floor leaning on the balcony rail outside his room, watching them as they had come through the door.

Suddenly, Kenji threw open both doors of the alter and stormed into the lobby with a very angry look on his face. Kenji did not notice Din and Rishian, he simply looked up to Rad and growled, “That Sheikah has some dam nerve!”

Rishian’s head lowered with a deep sigh and shook form side to side. Din looked at Kenji, confused, then back to Rishian to see his reaction. “What?”

Kenji turned at Din’s voice to see the two in the center of the room. His brow furrowed and he stormed across the space between them. Kenji grabbed Din by the arms and hauled her away from Rishian. “You! You have no place here!” He yelled at the Sheikah.

Rishian recoiled slightly from Kenji’s words, but did not move. His eye tightened into a defensive look. “Not here Kenji.”

“Do not tell me what I will or won’t do, traitor!” Kenji moved closer to Rishian, his fists clenched.

Din grabbed Kenji’s arm, “Kenji! What are you talking about? Rish is our friend!”

“Friend! Ha! You should stay away from this one Din if you have any sense.” Kenji’s anger was building. The man pulled Din behind him as if defending her from this danger he saw.

Rad saw what was transpiring below in the center of the lobby. He placed one hand on the balcony rail and vaulted himself over. Opening his wings, he dropped down partly between Rishian and Kenji. Rad faced his old friend. “Kenji, calm down”

Kenji’s glare turned to Rad, “I won’t calm down when we are all in danger and he puts us there!” Kenji pointed at Rishian. Kenji moved past Rad toward the Sheikah with one arm draw back. “Get out!”

Rad moved and grabbed Kenji by both shoulders. “What are you talking about? Rishian has helped us this whole time.”

Kenji glared at Rad, “Think about it Rad! Why doesn’t he serve the royals anymore?” Kenji’s eyes darted to Din and his angry tone continued on, “Why couldn’t he show you the alter?” Kenji turned back to Rad, “Because he is tainted!” The sentence came out in a yell.

Rad’s facial expression changed from confusion to shock. Very slowly he turned to look over his shoulder at Rishian, without letting go of Kenji’s shoulders.

The Sheikah looked down slightly, and Rad knew then that it was true, all the pieces fell together in Rad’s mind.

“What does that mean?” Din complained.

Kenji shook Rad’s hands from his shoulders and moved past him to stand directly in front of Rishian. He starred him down but spoke to Din. “It means he made a deal with a demon and has lost everything worth while.” His words were a growl. “You should have guessed it the first time you saw this, Rad.” Kenji planted a finger in the center of Rishian’s unmarked chest. “He can’t even bare the symbol. He is a traitor not only to his own race, but ever innocent being in the land!”

Rishian was trying to contain himself, keeping quiet. He struggled hard with himself, but could no longer contain his words. “Know all before you speak!” Rishian grabbed the wrappings on his left shoulder and ripped them out of the way. He pulled the leather underlay back and turned to show his deltoid to the others. Imprinted in his skin was the Sheikah symbol in dark black ink. “I will bare the symbol until I die! I am a Sheikah first and will always be so! I can still perform all actions of any worthy to be called Sheikah! I may have made a deal, but the intentions were true and therefore I will always be true to what is right!” Rishian’s voice rose throughout his words.

Kenji glared back at him, “It does not matter your intentions! You made a deal with Ark Mantrios and now cannot walk on holy ground.” Kenji threw his arm back toward the alter doors. “It is because of you this whole disaster is happening!”

“I did what I could to prevent it once I realized my mistake! Why else do you think I would risk my seal!” Rishian held up his left hand to show the tips of his thumb and forefinger glowing a faint teal color. “I sealed him to keep him a bay while we could rally all the help we could!”

Rad cut through with shock of his own. “You risked your seal on the demon of courage by creating another one?”

Rishian turned to him. “I couldn’t let him run wild while Din was unable to help you!”

“It matters not what you did now! You arranged for Ark’s restraints to be easy enough for him to escape from Arbiter Grounds should he get the opportunity, in exchange for your own life being extended!” Kenji yelled back at Rishian.

Rishian’s anger grew. “That was secondary! The survival of the Sheikah race was number one! And you tell me how that would have happened if any of the demons would have ever broken free!”

“None of them would have if you had had Ark’s restraints as harsh as the others!” Kenji’s furry exploded from him.

“The Demon of Power has been dam close before now, even without Ark’s help Kenji.” Rad’s growl came low.

“Don’t you dare defend him!” Kenji snarled at Rad.

Toan, Kilik, and Maxi appeared from the corridor that led to the dinning hall. The three of them stopped short, looking across the lobby at the four people standing in the center arguing. They stood in the entrance, not wanting to get involved, but wondering what was going on.

“Wait, extended life?” Rad glared at Rishian. “Why in goddesses sakes would you want that!”

“What I want is to prevent the destruction of our land!” Rishian retaliated.

“How can you even say that with what you did! Making deals with demons is the most selfish thing you can do!”

“Kenji! That was over fifty years ago! He has been nothing but helpful to us now.” Rad was trying to reason with his friend and himself.

“The deal was for the Sheikah to survive to protect the royal family should evil ever rise again!” Rishian snarled back at Kenji.

“You might as well have brought the evil back yourself!” Kenji yelled.

Kate, Sophia, and Cassandra could hear the shouts from outside their bedroom door. The three thought they had better check what was going on had had come out onto the balcony to investigate. The three of them looked down the several floors to the verbal fight below them. Looking at each other with confusion they focused on the words to try and understand what was wrong.

“You are such a liar!” Kenji screamed at the Sheikah.

“Liar? When in goddesses name did I ever lie to you?” He snarled back.

“Don’ you dare use the goddess’s names! You are forbidden!” Kenji’s fingers curled inward.

“You have this so wrong you don’t even realize it! How could I use them if I was forbidden?” Pointing once again to his shoulder. “I wear the mark don’t I? I’m not completely tainted!” He tried to explain.

“Completely?” Kenji yelled at him. “The evil is brewing inside you. This is how it starts!”

“Why did he help us then!?” Rad protested. “If he is tainted and turning he wouldn’t.” Rad turned to Rishian. “Why did you help us? Especially if you knew your race would survive?”

“Because it was the right thing to do!” Rishian moved toward them with his harsh words.

“So now you are noble?” Kenji’s sarcasm was filled with anger.

“Drop the attitude Kenji!” Rad rolled his eyes and hollered.

“Excuse me? Whose side are you on?”

“The side that wants to protect Hyrule!”

“Really? ‘Cause I’d say you are defending a traitor!”

“I’m not a traitor! I have dedicated my life to protecting Hyrule!”

“Yeah, you’re extended life!”

“BOYS!!” Din screamed and pushed her way into the center of the circle they had created. She held up both hands, moving them all away from each other. The three stopped yelling but none of them dropped their glared expressions.

Din’s angry expression brought all of theirs to shame and she gave it to each of them. “You are acting like children! The past is the past! It cannot be changed. I know nothing of my past and I turned out alright! We need to work toward the common goal we all have in the present! This means, keeping the demon of courage contained and bring Ark down, to ensure survival of all the races of Hyrule. Fighting accomplishes nothing! Fighting each other makes this situation worse, not better. We are only strong when we stand together.” Her tone had grown calmer and held a motherly component to it. She looked between them all. All three’s expressions had fallen and they were looking downward, taking all she said. “Now, if we are all to survive this, we need to put our differences aside and move forward.”

The three men looked between each other. There was a stillness in the large room and no one said anything for a long moment.

Rishian finally nodded slowly. “She’s right.”

Kenji took a deep breath and looked up and to the right seeing the others on the balcony.

Rad let out a breath he hadn’t noticed he was holding. “She is right.” He glanced over the other way, his eyes landing on those in the doorway.

Kenji looked back at Din and then at Rishian. “I’m sorry. I let my anger get the better of me.” He paused and looked Rishian in the eye. He began to make words again but they were slightly strained. “I have heard good things about you as well as those I accused you of.” Kenji’s voice was quiet and low.

Rishian looked back at him, realizing that he too lost control. “We are both guilty of that.” Rishian nodded

A content expression came over Din’s face. “Okay, now it would do us all some good to go to bed and let the emotions calm down. Tomorrow we can discuss and work things out.”

All three nodded and Rad spoke, “I think that would be a good idea.”

As the four turned to head through the door and up the stairs to their room, Rishian hissed in a quick and pained breath. He shook his left hand hard and cringed slightly.

Whipping around the others showed concern and Din reached out to him. “Rish! Are you okay?”

Rishian lifted his left hand and looked at his fingers. They all watched as the glowing teal color on his forefinger dimmed and disappeared completely. Rishian looked up at the rest of them quickly. “Ark broke the seal.”

Rad and Kenji stiffened and the four looked back and forth at each other.

Rishian shook his head and jumped into action. “We do have some time. Ark will have to wait; he will be weak from breaking the seal. Kenji, you should tell your messenger, prepare for battle with Ark. Rad, go send reinforcements out to the chamber of the demon of courage. Din, rally the others to prepare their weapons for a battle, probably in the morning. There should be armor around that we can borrow too. I’ll go tell the people to the city to buckle down.”

Kenji looked up at Rishian; guilt had started to take form in him. “Sheikah.” Rishian looked back toward him. “Truly, I apologize.” Kenji offered his hand.

The Sheikah considered it for a minute and then decided it better to make friends than enemies. He took his hand and shook it.

Din looked over to Toan, Maxi and Kilik and waved them to follow her. She turned and began to run up the stairs. Toping the rise she saw the other ladies looking toward her. All of them had heard Rishian and as Din waved them all on they set to work right away.

Everyone began to scatter. People moved in every direction as the word spread. All was being done to prepare the city and the fighters for Ark’s arrival and prevent the demon of courage from being released. If he was released, doom was a guarantee for Hyrule…

(End Chapter)

 

[LozzyKate]

:clap: :clap: This is fantastic Din!!! I can't wait to read more! I'm loving this story

 

[Din Akera]

Chapter 10 –
Night had fully set over the City in the Sky. The stars had begun to twinkle, and the moon shone brightly down on the metal and stone city. The white light painted the city with an eerie and ghostly mood.

Rishian stood on the center watchtower, looking out toward the chamber of the demon of courage. The Sheikah stood with his arms crossed. He was deep in thought, but watching as the Oocca set up extra guards of every race and established fast track communications with the temple.

“Hey.” A male voice came from behind him.

Rishian turned to see Rad stepping up ontop of watchtower and crossing the space to stand beside him.

“Hey” Rishian replied quietly as he turned his attention back to the glowing seals on the chamber.

“We seem to be in good shape?” Rad asked him.

Rishian nodded once. “Until the greatest demon ever created shows up…” There was doubt and anger in Rishian’s voice.

Rad crossed his arms over his chest as well and the two men stood beside each other, staring out into the night sky at the chamber.

Rad’s presence caused Rishian’s mind to wander. His thoughts began to flow from the demon and the coming battle to the people he had met in the last couple weeks and the choices he had made. His mind thought about the past and how it was affecting them all now. Rishian looked out the corner of his eye at Rad. He was still focused on the chamber, but Rishian knew his mind had probably wandered off as well.

On the contrary, Rad’s mind was very focused. He stared blatantly at the chamber. He was running through his mind looking for everything he knew about the demon. He knew the beast form was one of the most terrifying beings a person could ever see, let alone battle, though he had never seen it himself. He knew the demon could fly, that is why they imprisoned him in the sky. Rad continued to think hard, to remember if there was anything else he had heard throughout his travels.

The two men stood in silence for a long time and finally Rishian couldn’t contain his thoughts any longer. “Rad, does she know yet?” His words came out quite sternly.

Rad snapped back to attention. He turned his head and looked at Rishian, whose gaze had not moved from the glowing seals. Rad blinked as he tried to understand the question. “What?”

Rishian looked sharply at Rad and his eye narrowed into an almost threatening stare. “She deserves to know, and know the whole story. She is the only one up here that doesn’t.”

Rad dropped his chin slightly and his expression hardened. “She is happy Rishian.”

A snort escaped him. “So ignorance is bliss? Even when it means not knowing who or what you are for your entire life?” Rishian’s voice held heaps of sarcasm.

Rad sighed to himself, “Why try and fix something that isn’t broken?” Rad was grasping at straws. He had avoided telling her for this long, he didn’t think he needed to tell her now.

Rishian turned to face him fully. “Because she has a right to know who she is and where she came from. And it would be best if she could hear it from you. You can’t honestly believe she won’t figure it out. With Toan, Sophia, and Kate here she may find out the truth any second. How do you think she will feel if she hears it from one of them?”

Rad felt like he was being reprimanded by a parent, but he knew Rishian was right. Rad nodded slightly then looked back out toward the demon’s chamber.

The Sheikah’s eye tightened. “Rad, if you don’t tell her, I will.” The words were as much a threat as they were a promise.

Rad shook his head slightly and he turned around to leave. As he did, Kenji came up the ladder to the platform as well, his cape dragging on the metal behind him.

“Hey.” Kenji said to his friend with a happy smile.

Rad gave him a half-hearted smirk and leapt off the edge of the watchtower, diving into the night sky underneath the city.

Kenji looked back over his shoulder and watched Rad’s wings spread as he left the tower. He turned to look at Rishian’s back. Walking up beside him, to where Rad had been standing, Kenji gave the Sheikah a questioning look. “Is he really that worried about all this?”

Rishian did not look back, “Got a lot on his mind.”

Kenji nodded slowly, not fully understanding the reply. “I think we can do this. We are ready for when Ark shows up. We will stop him before he even makes it to Mas Yheta’s chamber.” Kenji flicked a hand in the direction of the demon of courage’s containment.

Rishian didn’t respond. Kenji’s presence caused his mind to now wander in a different direction. He looked sideways at Kenji, to see him staring off toward the chamber. The glowing seals pinpointed its location in the night sky. Rishian’s questions got the better of him and he broke the silence. “So you seem to know all about me. All I know of you is what I have been told throughout my life.” Rishian turned his head and looked at him. “Some call you ‘guardian’, others ‘messenger’, I’ve even heard ‘divine’. But I know better than that…” Rishian shook his head. “So what are you?” There was an edge to Rishian’s voice.

Kenji looked at him and smirked. “You’ve heard a lot. What I am has very little to do with what I do.”

Rishian frowned behind the wrappings.

“The truth is Sheikah, that I am Hylian.” Kenji responded calmly.

Rishian snorted and shook his head. “Yet you have been around longer than me and haven’t aged a day. Len give you eternal life as well?” Rishian was getting annoyed with him.

Kenji smiled. “Well, if you had let me finish. I’m one quarter Dragir, and as a result have the lifespan of one.” Kenji’s voice dropped. “That is part of the reason I made my wings appear the way they do.” The sentence came out under his breath.

Rishian nodded slowly. He thought the explanation made sense, but he didn’t know whether or not to trust it. “I see.”

Kenji rolled his eyes. “Sheikahs…always so defensive.”

“We have learned to be over the years.”

“Well, Rishian. You don’t have to be defensive with me.” Kenji smiled at Rishian, a friendly smile. “Again, about earlier…my messanger--”

“Don’t” Rishian said flatly. “Just let it go.” He looked at Kenji with the very blatent command.

Kenji dropped his eyes and turned to look out at the chamber.

Rishian was tired of the visitors. With a sigh he leapt up, grabbing the edge of the roof of the watchtower. He wrapped the shadows tightly around him, and knew that he had disappeared from sight completely. He swung his legs up and flipped over the edge of the roof, landing in a squat on the metal grating. Rocking back on his heels he sat on the roof. Relaxing he let one leg slide out and hang off the edge and kept the other bent, his elbow resting on his knee. He took a deep breath and let out a small sigh. He knew he was agitated because of the events of the day and he tried to calm himself. He looked back over his shoulder toward the main buildings of the city. He could see the balconies of the living quarters on the temple. A small orange light burned in Din’s room, illuminating the edges of the balcony in the night sky. A black figure swept up the side of the building and landed lightly on the rail. Rad stepped down and entered the room, folding his wings as he walked through the opening. Rishian turned back and looked hard at the glowing seals on the chamber, his eyebrow narrowing. He pressed his fist into the roof. If not company, than his sight and thoughts to agitate him more.

**************************

“It is beautiful, Din.” Kate giggled excitedly. She was examining her hair in the mirror in the four girls room.

Din smiled and patted the bed in front of her looking at Cassandra. “I’m glad you like it Kate.”

Cassandra crawled into the space where Kate had been just moments ago and settled in with her back to Din. The four of them decided to have a sort of slumber party. Sophia had joked that they could never be too old to do each other’s hair and dress up a bit.

As Din began playing with Cassandra’s short-cropped hair, Sophia picked up a pillow off their bed and swung it violently at Kate. The brunette laughed and pulled the one from behind Din’s back and leapt toward Sophia with a little scream of excitement.

All the girls began to laugh as Kate and Sophia chased each other around the room throwing the pillows and jumping over objects lying around the room to catch each other, including the beds.

Cassandra smiled and giggled too. She was beginning to feel like part of the group, Din had been a large part of making that happen through this slumber party, not to mention her accomplishment at the shooting range. She reached out and grabbed the other pillow off the bed and swung at Kate as she went by.

Spinning on her heels Kate looked at her with a playful shocked expression. “Now you are going to get it!” Kate laughed and lunged at Cassandra with her feather weapon.

Cassandra squealed and rolled over her shoulder past Din to the other side of the bed from Kate to dodge.

The pillow swung and was headed for Din’s face. The girl looked up to see the incoming object and was not prepared for it. Out of instinct, her hand flew up to protect her face and when the pillow made contact with her bare palm, it quickly caught fire.

“Din!” Sophia gasped.

Din looked at the pillow and quickly picked it up, putting out the flames. Her face flushed red as she realized what had just happened. “I’m sorry.”

The other three girls giggled and Cassandra’s turned into words. “It’s okay Din. I’m sure they have another one.”

Din reached up to try to take the heat out of her face. As her arms moved she could feel Rishian’s locket inside her tunic against the skin of her chest, she had tucked it in once she had got back to the room.

Kate’s expression grew more serious, but remained friendly. “Din, can I ask you a question?”

Din looked at her quickly, her expression falling to a soft and curious one. “Of course!”

Kate looked around the room and stuttered a little. “Have…have you talked much with Toan and Sophia?”

Din paused. That was not the question she had been expecting. “No. Why?” She said setting down the burnt pillow. Her eyes darted to Sophia, who was giving Kate a mixed expression of disbelief with a hint of fear and anger.

“Well, maybe we should all get to know each other a little better. We could tell you about…” Kate seemed to be searching for the right words and looked over her shoulder at Sophia for support.

Sophia jumped off the bed to stand behind Kate. She looked at Din with a kind smile. “We would just like to get to know you better Din.” She smiled a friendly smile. Grabbing Kate’s shoulder she hissed into her ear. “What are you doing?’

The redhead looked back over her shoulder at Cassandra for any help in understanding. The blonde shrugged back at her. Din turned back and gave the two of them a confused look. “What do mean? You know me alright.” She fished for what they were getting at. Standing she took a couple steps toward them. “What do you want to tell me about?” Din’s voice was questioning, but friendly.

Kate and Sophia looked up at her and swallowed, both of them searching for the right words and the confirmation to be the ones to tell her everything.

Just then, the four girls heard a small noise from the balcony and both turned toward the open glass doors. Din looked through the long curtain, blowing in the night air. She watched as Rad stepped slowly into view. He looked up at them; his expression was somber. He leant against the doorframe and crossed his arms lightly over his chest, dropping his gaze to the floor.

The girls all looked at him for a moment and then they became aware of his mood. The four looked him up and down. Rad did not move.

Sophia turned back to Din. She quickly gathered herself and picked up the stray pillows and pieces of clothing on the floor and dropped them on her bed. “It can wait Din. We will see you guys tomorrow!” Her happy voice echoed slightly off the stonewalls and she scampered along the royal carpet toward the door. She nodded with her head for Cassandra to follow and she grabbed Kate by the elbow, pulling her through the door back into the hallway. Cassandra smiled at Din and followed the other two out of the room quickly. Sophia glanced back into the room at Rad and nodded to herself. That is who should be telling Din, not them. She closed the door with a click lightly behind them and pushed the other two girls down the hall.

Din watched her friends go and then turned back to Rad, who had still not moved an inch. Din pushed her confusion from the moment before aside and walked very slowly toward him. “Rad?” Once she reached his side she slowly lifted one hand and touched her fingertips lightly to his breastplate looking up at his eyes with concern. “What’s wrong?”

Rad looked her deep in the eyes, his thoughts racing, Rishian’s words echoing loudly in his head and his heart beating at an alarming rate. He took a deep breath and searched frantically for a way to approach what he needed to tell her. The man looked deep into her red-brown eyes, searching for some semblance of an answer. How could he tell her all he knew of her past when it would only hurt her? Moreover, how could he tell her all he had done when he knew she would be horrified? Rad’s mind was running out of control and he knew it showed on his face.

Din looked hard into his confused and saddened eyes. “Rad…is everything okay?” She could see deep-rooted pain and sadness in his eyes, and it hurt her to see him this way.

Rad nodded slowly and dropped his gaze once again. His eyes landed on a shining piece of jewelry on his hand. His eyes widened as his thoughts drifted in an entirely new direction. His gaze moved up from his hand to look at her. “Din, I need to tell you something.”

Din nodded an encouragement.

Rad unfolded his arms and slid a silver ring off his middle finger. He held it up in between them. “I want you to have this. There are not many Dragir left in Hyrule, but all Dragir are loyal to each other, we are all kin. If you show this ring to any Dragir, you will be taken in and treated as family.” Rad held the ring out to her.

Din was slightly taken aback. “Wh…why would I need that?”

Rad shook his head. “Battle is unpredictable and…I...I can’t always guarantee that I will be…” His voice trailed off. “Din, I need to know that you will be safe and taken care of. Please.” He pushed the ring closer to her in the space between them.

Din looked him in the eyes for a moment and then dropped her gaze to the piece of silver jewelry. She slowly reached up and took it out of his fingertips. She slid it into place on the forefinger of her right hand. She looked at it briefly then turned back to see his expression.

Rad had softened slightly, but had not relaxed completely. The real reason he had come to speak to her hadn’t come out and--

“Rad?”

The Dragir snapped back to the moment at her voice and he looked down at her, a questioned look on his face.

“You said there are not many more Dragir in Hyrule. Why?” Din’s question was quiet.

Rad took a deep breath and a small sigh came from his throat. He looked up at the chandelier hanging above them. “It’s a long story Din.”

The girl did not respond; she simply waited. She knew he would continue.

“My home was called Dragiria. It was attacked and destroyed several years ago in battle” There was pain mounting in his voice, but he suppressed it quickly with a deep breath. “Not very many survived.”

Din looked at him with slightly shocked and concerned eyes. “I’m so sorry Rad.” The words came out in a gentle whisper.

Rad was quiet for a moment, but then continued. “Most of us scattered throughout Hyrule, not really knowing what to do or where to go. We had all seen so much and most of us were still young, only a couple thousand years--”

Din made a small surprised and confused sound.

Rad looked at her quickly and gave her an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, I know I haven’t told you much about the Dragir race. Our life spans are very long. We live to about 18, 000 years old.”

Din’s eyebrows went up as she processed this information. “Wow…I had no idea...” She paused and looked at him. “How old are you now?”

“I’m mid life, about seven or eight thousand. We don’t really keep that close of a track on it.” He shook his head slightly and shrugged, then returned to his story.

“Dragiria is now being rebuilt in Labrynna. Many have gone back to see the new city. I think I will wait until it is done before I go back. It will never really be the same I wouldn’t think. Close, but not the same.”

Din nodded in response. She could see the emotion rising in him and decided it better to quit now. “Come on. It’s late and you look tired. Maybe you should rest.” Din’s voice broke through his thoughts. She placed a hand on the back of his shoulder and led him into the room.

Rad let out a breath he wasn’t aware he had been holding. He knew he was avoiding the next part of the story, but he didn’t care, they did need their sleep. Maybe that was a good idea. Dealing with things in the morning would bring a fresh start and a fresh mind to the whole situation, she was right. Rad knew he was simply putting off the inevitable, but he didn’t want to hit her with it tonight. The day had been filled with enough drama. Rad started for the door to the hall but Din’s words stopped him before he could take a step. “I’ll go get you something to drink before you go.” She knew something was bothering him, and she wanted to do everything and anything she could for him. She was out the door and down the hall before he could protest.

Rad looked at the door and sighed. Sitting down on the edge of the bed he dropped his face into his hands. He had told her part of the story, but not the part he needed too. His chest was tight and the emotions were running high within him.

Din came up the flight of stairs to the fancy hallway containing their rooms with a glass of water in her hand. Looking down the length of the hallway her eyes landed on Cassandra and Kate leaning on the wall opposite the girls’ room.

Cassandra smiled at her as she approached and a yawn quickly replaced that.

Din looked between the two. “You guys want to go to bed don’t you?”

Kate nodded to her as her own yawn came forward. “Sophia just crawled in with her brother. They used to have to share a bed at home anyway.”

Din giggled and glanced over at the closed door to Toan, Kilik, and Rishian’s room. “Okay hang on a sec, I’ll get him out of here.” Din opened the door and slipped into the room. Upon first glance, Din thought he must have already left, but then she heard the sound of deep breathing. Looking down she could see that Rad had slumped over and fallen asleep on the bed nearest the door. Din looked down at him and sighed. Placing the water on the side table she slipped back out into the hall and looked at Cassandra and Kate. “Ladies, he fell asleep in your bed.”

“What?” Kate sounded annoyed and frustrated.

“Really?” Cassandra’s small voice followed with disappointment.

Din nodded to them. “But that does mean his bed is available.”

The two girls looked at each other and smiled. “Thanks Din!” They both scampered off down the hall and slipped in quietly to Maxi, and Rad’s room closing the door silently.

Din shook her head and closed the door to her room as well. Looking at Rad one more time she moved to the bed nearest the window and crawled in for the night. Lying there she could hear his breathing in the bed next to her and her thoughts began to run over the days’ events. She knew something was going on, and everyone was trying to tell her, but no one seemed to be able too. As she began to drift off on the soft mattress she could feel the weight of the ring around her finger and the locket on her chest.

************************

Ark Mantrios stood in the center of a small island in Lake Hylia. He had crossed the wooden bridge and now stood glaring up at the night sky. He was looking hard for one particular sight, sure he would be able to see it before he sun came up. Glancing to the east he could see the first sparks of orange and purple beginning to show behind the cliffs that held the water into Lake Hylia. Snapping his attention back upward, he scanned the clouds and the fading light of the stars shinning overhead. Then he saw it. Ark’s stomach jumped slightly as his eyes landed on their target. A small glowing ball of red, green, yellow, purple, teal, and dark blue was hovering many miles away in the sky, only a speck of light to the untrained eye. A smile appeared on Ark’s lips and he shook his head in slight disbelief, he couldn’t believe his luck. The goddesses must be smiling down on him.

Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a large, deep red stone. It was translucent and shone in the growing light. The stone took up Ark’s entire hand due to its size. He held it flat on his left palm at eye-level. Glancing back over his shoulder Ark looked for the height of the sun, and could see he had made it just in time.

“Foolish Sheikah. He may have slowed me down, but he gave me ample time to find the gem in the tunnel, and even more time to charge it. The small test dose worked easily on the seal he used to keep me in that hunk of rock.” Ark spoke quietly to himself as he angled the stone upward toward the glowing speck in the sky. “How about we test how many seals a large dose can break?”

As the words finished the first rays of morning sun shot over the cliffs and bounced off the sparkling clear water that surrounded the small isle the demon stood upon. Ark’s eyebrows furrowed with concentration as he looked through the red glass toward his target. He then raised his free hand up above his shoulders, behind his head, making a line from his back hand up past his eyes, up the length of his arm, to the extended gem, and up into the sky.

Ark’s voice rang out and echoed off the walls of the vast lake in an angry summoning. “Brother born of courage! Awaken now and avenge our fallen sisters! Teach this land that they cannot imprison the great and go unpunished! Release your wrath upon them and show them how it feels to live in true fear! Awaken! Mas Yheta, the demon of courage!!”

As the final words grew into an excited furry, a ball of Ark’s black and purple magic formed in his rear hand. He looked back and saw exactly what he had hoped for. The rays of sunlight shone on the gemstone and caused it to glow and emit a small red hue. With a victorious smile Ark released the ball of magic in a black beam. The magic smashed into the stone and it seemed to be absorbed for a single moment. Then, the gem shot out a beam of solid black power, laced with a red sparkle. The magic rocketed up into the sky toward the glowing speck.

Ark slumped over, setting the stone on the ground. The spell had taken much of his energy, but he was able to look up and watch as the destruction of Hyrule made it’s way up into the clouds.

“We’ll see how the hero’s deal with that, now won’t we?” An evil smile held the strained words. The demon struggled to stand but made his way back across the wooden bridge, toward the healing spring, taking the stone with him.

(End Chapter)

 

[Myriadviper42]

Nice. I noticed the Ark scene is exactly the same as the original. Good job.

 

[*M i d n a*]

Lolz, it's gonna take me a while to catch up, Din. But I have read three chapters so far, and it looks better than before, way better tbh. You are doing a magnificent job with this piece, so keep it going. Also, noticed that you are posting a chapter for a post, and that's good. It's long but it contains a chapter none the less, and you don't have that wall of text like you had when you started for the first time on this project, remember? I will keep reading this when I have the free time, you know it. ^^

 

[Din Akera]

Nice. I noticed the Ark scene is exactly the same as the original. Good job.

Yes, because it wasn't required to change. ^^ I'm glad you are enjoying it Viper

Lolz, it's gonna take me a while to catch up, Din. But I have read three chapters so far, and it looks better than before, way better tbh. You are doing a magnificent job with this piece, so keep it going. Also, noticed that you are posting a chapter for a post, and that's good. It's long but it contains a chapter none the less, and you don't have that wall of text like you had when you started for the first time on this project, remember? I will keep reading this when I have the free time, you know it. ^^

Thank-you Atsie. ^^ And yes I remember. the return button works wonders.
Sorry this chapter is so long, and that it took so long to get posted. I have started school again and that means it might come a little slower now. But for all of you that read the original, this is the chapter you have been waiting for because this is the chapter that I stopped in the middle of. So here it is.
--------------------------------------


Chapter 11 –
Toan and Kilik quietly shut the door of their room, hoping not to wake the others in the rooms next door. Morning had rose early and the two of them were headed down to meet the other four that should already be up. They were to meet in the dining hall to chow down on some breakfast before their guarding shift. The Oocca had decided to rotate of all the warriors in the temple on chamber watch. Toan, Kate, Sophia, Maxi, Cassandra, and Kilik were scheduled to start in a couple hours.

As the two of them took shallow steps away from the door down the hall, Kilik leaned in close to Toan and whispered. “You think the Sheikah ever actually slept?”

Toan woofed a quiet laugh. “Not in there he didn’t.” He seemed sure of himself.

“I didn’t really think so either. He wasn’t in his bed when we went to sleep and he wasn’t there when we woke up.” Kilik looked back over his shoulder at the closed door of their room.

Toan stopped and looked back as well. “I’m a pretty light sleeper, I doubt he came in and out.”

“Yeah.” Kilik agreed.

As they turned to go they heard a small creaking sound and the two of them glanced back to see the door to their room opening from the inside.

The Sheikah poked his head out and looked toward them. Coming out of the room he looked the other way down the hall and then back at the two men. “Morning gentlemen” He said matter of factly.

Toan and Kilik’s mouths dropped open slightly and the two of them gave each other amazed glances. “Uh, morning Rishian.” Kilik answered him with a stutter.

Toan tried to collect himself as well. “How did you sleep?”

Rishian shrugged and let out a very little yawn. “Pretty good.”

Kilik and Toan were caught for words, he had slept and he had just come out of the room…

Rishian smiled to himself behind his wrappings and gave them a single wave. “I’m going to go for a morning jog. See ya.” Without waiting for an answer he turned on his heels and disappeared down the other end of the hall.

Toan looked at Kilik and shook his head in disbelief. “I will never get used to Sheikahs.”

Kilik nodded an agreement, still staring at the spot Rishian had been a moment ago.

After making their way to the dinning room and getting their food from the kitchen, the two men joined the rest of the fighters at the table they had eaten at the day before.

“Can you top me up sis?” Toan pushed a glass across the large wooden table in the center of the dining hall toward Sophia, sitting on the opposite bench.

Sophia looked up at him with an annoyed expression that held a hint of playfulness. She rolled her eyes and looked at Kate and Maxi sitting beside her. “He’s so needy!”

The two smirked with their forks in their mouths while Kilik and Cassandra plunked themselves down on the bench beside Toan with their bowls of breakfast.

Sophia reached her hand out across the table and a stream of cold water poured out of her palm into Toan’s glass.

He smirked and scooped it up to his lips. “It’s not like it’s any trouble for you.”

Sophia smiled politely and continued on with her meal. Before she got her next forkful to her mouth, Kenji appeared with a tray of breakfast from the kitchen and trotted over to the rest of them. He slid into place beside Sophia on the bench and smiled at them.

“Morning!” The man did not wait for a reply he simply dove into his food, shoveling forkfuls in without seeming to breathe.

The girls looked at him and blinked.

Toan smirked and glanced sideways at him. “Hungry?”

Kenji looked up at the Essensorix and then over at the others, realizing they were all staring at him and how fast he was shoveling his food. “Ha, yeah. A little.” He smiled around a mouthful.

“Would you like some water?” Sophia kindly offered with a smile and filled his glass from her palm for him.

“Oh sure!” Toan complained. “You offer for him, but your brother has to fight you for it!”

Sophia smiled and giggled. “Well, yeah.” She glanced at him playfully.

Toan shook his head and looked at Kate, Cassandra, Kilik and Maxi. “Good meal?”

“Very much so.” Kate was polishing her bowl with a piece of bread.

The Hylians all nodded and continued on munching.

“Good enough to keep you guarding under my watch?” He smirked an evil smile at them all.

The four of them looked up with widening eyes, a little flicker of nerves floating through them all.

Sophia rolled her eyes with exaggeration and she leant on the table, blocking Toan from the rest of them. “He talks big.” She mouthed to them all.

“Hey!” Taon complained from behind her back.

The rest giggled at the siblings, their attention going back to their breakfast.

*************************

Din stood in a large open field; the uncut grass swirled around her ankles in the wind. Looking down at the grass she wasn’t sure whether she was conscious or not, but at that moment she didn’t care. As her vision straightened she could see two other shadows waving back and forth in the tall grass.
Her view of the situation changed instantly. She was now looking at herself from a third party perspective. She stood proudly in the center of the field, her flaming hair blowing in the wind. Looking at herself, she noticed something was strangely different. Her scarf was gone. She stood in the field, only in her black tunic, her scar fully exposed to air around her.

Putting the thought from her mind she looked for the creators of the shadows she had seen from her own eyes a moment ago. Quickly, she saw them. Kate stood on her left, and Sophia on her right. The two girls were dressed in their normal attire. Kate, in her green dress, and Sophia, in her flowing red one. The three women stood with their shoulders all touching one another, in a circle, facing outward from each other.

Looking at this picture Din realized just how similar they all looked to each other. Other than the colors of their clothes, hair and eyes, they appeared exactly the same.

In a split second, the three women raised their hands outward and upward. Fire exploded from Din’s palms, water from Sophia’s, and vines and earth from Kate’s.
Din’s perspective on the situation changed again as the window tightened and went black. Once the view cleared, Din was standing alone in the field again, this time she was dressed as she normally would be. As she looked across the open space she realized she was not alone, and she had been here before. Rad and Rishian stood opposite her once again, the two looking toward her.

She went to walk toward them again, but like before, she was unable to move her feet. She looked down in frustration at her feet that would not pick up, and caught the glimmer of something around her neck. The silver locket Rishian had given her lay on her chest, outside of her tunic. An uneasy feeling churned her stomach. She looked up at Rad, wondering if he had seen it. Lifting her hands she tucked it in once again. While doing so, a glinting off her hand caught her eye as well. The silver ring on her hand sparkled in the sun. Din felt the nerves in her stomach again and she looked quickly at Rishian, wondering if he had seen.

As Din looked for somewhere to put the ring she became aware that the field was getting darker. Confused she looked up at the sun. A darkness was building fast overtop of the three of them. The dark figure became thick and laughed evily downward at them. The darkness never took a complete shape, but once it finished forming, it lunged downward at them.

Din dodged to the side, thankful that her feet had let her move that time. Looking across the space to see if Rad and Rishian had made it out of the way too, she watched as the evil landed upon both of them. “No!” She screamed and ran head long into the dark cloud.

Once inside she could see she was on a very thin balcony with rails on either side, blackness all around her. Rad and Rishian stood on the balcony several feet away both in fighting stance glaring up into the dark evil.

Din ran as fast as she could toward them, but it was not fast enough. Out of the darkness came a massive blow of magic. The force sent both men off the side of the rail into the black abyss below. Din jumped and gripped the rail with all her force as the sickness of what just happened ripped through her. Reaching out with her hands she screamed. “Rishian!”

With a jolt Din’s mind jumped back to real life. She sat straight up with a gasp. The woman looked around herself. She was in the bed where she had fallen asleep the night before. Taking a couple deep breaths she placed her hand on her chest, trying to calm her heart. She looked to her left, where the other bed still held a peacefully sleeping Rad. Din shook her head just a little. The whole thing was just a dream. Taking a couple more deep breaths she looked toward the balcony window. She could use some fresh air. Crawling out from under the covers, Din tiptoed toward the open balcony. She glanced back over her shoulder to make sure she hadn’t woken Rad.

Din leant against the railing of her balcony looking down at the earth. She knew that it was probably only just morning down below, but because they were so high up, the sun had already lit the city completely. Din looked back over her shoulder for Rad. He was still fast asleep in the bed. Her mind churned at the dream she had, but looking at him there, asleep, she knew he was alright. With a small relaxed sigh she turned back to look out at the seals on the demon’s chamber. Rad was alright, but what about… Out of the corner of her eye she saw movement and she turned her head sharply sideways to see a man standing on the edge of the balcony leant back against the wall of the building in a relaxed stance. Din gasped and jumped back in surprise.

The man jumped forward and landed on the railing in a squat beside her new position. Rishian held a finger to the wrappings covering his face, where his lips would have been. He looked past her toward where Rad was sleeping.

Din let out a sigh of relief and rolled her eyes at him. She looked briefly back at Rad and then back to the Sheikah. Her words came out in a whisper. “I thought we agreed you weren’t going to sneak up on me!” Din crossed her arms and dropped a hip.

Rishian smiled widely behind the covering and it showed in his eye. “I don’t try, it’s just my nature.” Rishian looked down at her from his perch. His eyes landed on the silver ring glistening in the sun around her index finger. He looked up at her, more serious. “Did you have a good evening?” The words were friendly, but he was searching.

Din shrugged and barred a small smile. “It was fine. Something is bothering Rad, but he doesn’t seem to want to share it with me.” Din looked over the edge of the balcony to the solid smooth wall below. How on earth did he get up here? She pushed the thought away, knowing that the Sheikah specialize in that sort of thing.

Rishian growled in his chest, knowing she couldn’t hear it. Did he have to do everything himself? He wrestled with himself for a short moment and then stepped down off the railing to stand beside her on the balcony. He lifted his arms and placed one hand on either of her shoulders. “Din, you need--” Rishian cut his words off as his ears began to pick up a high-pitched whistle. He turned his gaze away from her eyes and looked over the balcony.

Din moved with him, but couldn’t yet hear the sound. “What? What is it?” She looked over the balcony as well.

“Shh…” Rishian was trying to pinpoint the direction of the sound. It was growing louder. He looked down, toward the earth.

Din looked down as well, she was beginning to hear the whistle. She searched the sky as well, but neither of them could see anything.

“What’s going on?” A deep voice came from behind the two of them. Din and Rishian turned to look over their shoulders, back into the room. Rad was coming up behind them, running a hand through his sliver hair.

“Can you hear that?” Rishian asked seriously to the Dragir, who he knew would have better hearing.

Rad’s expression grew serious and he moved to the edge of the balcony on the other side of Din. He leaned on the rail and listened. He could hear the whistling sound, accompanied by a slight crackle. He nodded and his eyebrows furrowed as he could tell it was coming closer. “What is that?” He looked over at Rishian and the two men’s eyes met with concern.

Din watched the sky as they contemplated. She looked down, past the demon’s chamber, and saw something she had not noticed before. She could see a small black speck. At first she thought she imagined it. Looking again at the same spot, she squinted in the morning sun. The black speck had become a dot in the sky. It was getting larger.

“You think maybe a propeller is going?” Rad asked Rishian optimistically, but there was doubt in his voice.

“I don’t think so. Don’t they just quit? And they have alarmed monitors on them to prevent that…” Rishian answered him.

Din focused hard on the spot, her eyes not as powerful as the Dragir or Sheikah’s. The dot turned into a streak and it was evident to her that it was coming closer. The black stain in the blue sky was moving at an alarming rate and was headed toward the city. Din whipped around. “Rad! Rish! Look!” She pointed out toward the blackness and the two men turned and followed her gesture, both of their eyes landing on incoming streak.

Rad’s expression grew from concern and concentration to disbelief while Rishian took in a quick gasp of shock. The two could now identify the blackness; it was dark magic, laced with a red seal-breaking spell.

“Oh no…” Rad’s words came out under his breath. Din looked up at him with concerned eyes. Her attention whipped around to Rishian who was now leaning hard on the rail breathing very quickly. The magic seemed to accelerate and came rocketing toward the demon’s chamber.

Rishian cursed loudly and grabbed Din around the shoulders, pulling her downward. At the same time Rad spun on his heels and opened his wings shielding the three of them from the open balcony. The three heard the whistling magic smash into the chamber with an ear splitting crash. The explosion sent a shock wave through the air that threw the three of them from the balcony onto the bedroom floor.

***************************

The dinning hall shook violently as the shock wave hit the entire city. The seven fighters who were finishing breakfast gripped the table and grimaced. The impact knocked the unsuspecting Cassandra off balance and she grabbed at Toan’s arm to prevent herself from falling off the bench.
The man pulled her back up to a sitting position quickly.

The moment of still silence that followed had the seven looking between each other with stone faced worry.

“What was tha--” Kenji’s serious and almost threatening question was cut short when an urgently piercing alarm rang out throughout the entire temple and city. The alarm told everyone that the worst had happened.

The seven of them leapt up out of their seats, throwing both benches backwards on the floor in the process. Leaving their dishes as they were, they took off at full runs toward the door that led to the main entrance of the temple.

“Go! Go! Go!” Kenji ordered them and his cape began to transform from its loose stature around his ankles into the large dark wings.

Sophia began frantically stringing her bow and tying her quiver to her back as Toan reached up and ripped his white collared shirt from his chest exposing the scabbard and blade on his back.

As they hurtled out of the dinning room door and ran down the corridor that lead to the lobby, Cassandra slung her shield on her arm and pulled her short sword from its sheath.

Kilik and Maxi tied their armor tighter and checked their weapons positions on their backs as they all ran together.

Reaching the massive temple doors first, Toan threw his weight into them hard, throwing them wide open. The other two Essensorix and the three Hylians ran out behind him with Kenji flying through the space above. The seven were blinded momentarily by the bright morning light as they burst out into what they knew would be a coming nightmare.

Once their eyes adjusted they could see the nightmare was reality. People everywhere in the market ran with fear from building to building, most were screaming or crying out. They all knew what the sound had meant, and they were all terrified.

Several Oocca were trying to keep order and some of the members of the other races were also trying to slow people down, but the chaos was erupting quickly. People ran, knocking over store stands, pushing through the crowds, and small fights were breaking out between some of the more agitated residents of the city.
The fighters shook the scene from their minds, they all turned to run as fast as they could down the little pathways toward the look out towers for the chamber that held the coming doom.

**************************

Lifting his wing, Rad rolled off of Din and Rishian and to the side slightly. The three looked out the open glass doors to see the magic continue upward through the sky after hitting its target. The chamber had a gapping hole on the right side. The concrete was cracked, pieces of metal bent upward and broken, and hunks of rubble fell from the chamber to the earth below. But the most horrifying sight was all of the Sheikah seals fade to nothingness.

“No!” Rishian jumped up and mounted himself on the railing of the balcony staring in rage and horror at the sight before them. He whipped around to look at Rad and Din who had scampered back to their feet as well.

Rad reacted quickly. “Let’s go” He grabbed his massive blade from on top of the dresser where he had laid it the night before and strung it to his belt, marching intently to the edge of the balcony.

Din took hold of her bow and quiver and slung it onto her back with familiar speed and jogged after him while looking down to make sure her daggers were in place in the tops of her boots. She looked down over the edge to see Toan, Sophia, Kate, Cassandra, Maxi, Kilik and finally Kenji burst from the temple doors and begin the run down the long pathway.

Rad reached over and grabbed Din around the waist taking one foot up onto the rail. Din wrapped her arms instinctively around his neck. He jumped into the air and opened his wings, flying downward toward the others.

Rishian sprang from his perch, sliding and hoping down the wall to land beside the rest of them in perfect silence.

The ten fighters looked between each other and clutched their various weapons as they ran. They stopped on the open portion of the platform that began out to the towers. They turned one by one to look out toward the gaping hole in the chamber waiting for any sign of movement.

The fighters all breathed hard, none of them prepared for what was coming. Rishian looked sideways at Din and then at Kenji. “Any information you have would be good to share right now.” Rishian’s voice was a mixture of worry, determination and slight anger.

Kenji nodded and his serious voice whispered between them. “He will most likely be in beast form. You can’t attack his skin. The scales are solid metal. They have been harvested in the past to be used as armor. The weak spot is in the center of his--”

An ear splitting yell of victory came from inside the chamber.

Rad’s attention whipped around and he glared at the hole. The male holler shrunk back down to nothingness. After another moment of stillness a very broad figure strolled out of the darkness inside the crumbled chamber. For the first time, Din’s eyes rested upon the demon. The man was very pale with straight long black hair that hung to the center of his spine. He wore a black tunic, which only extenuated the color of his white skin. A long-sleeved purple trench coat hung to what was left of the concrete platform. The demon smirked to himself and looked about the immediate area, his gaze moving over the broken concrete and the beautiful city. He took in a large breath of fresh air and released it with a relaxing sigh. His eyes turned down toward the earth below them and he whispered into the wind. “Yes brother. I will make it so. Then I will meet with you again.” Lifting his gaze back to the situation at hand, he turned toward the city. He looked across the gap between his chamber and the bulk of the city to see, for the first time, the group of fighters. He smirked to himself, he had expected opposition, but was slightly impressed with how many there were. Scanning over each of them his eyes locked with Din’s.

The lady took in a quick gasp. His eyes were the most brilliant and terrifying yellow she had ever seen. The stare made her uncomfortable and sent a shiver through her body.

Kenji’s voice broke through Din’s emotions. “Mas Yheta!” He yelled with furry across the gap in the sky. “Stand down! Surrender now, and no one is injured!”
A wicked smile appeared on Mas’s face. “Oh, but that is no fun Kenji…” the words came out in an even, mocking tone. The demon took another large breath and cried out. “This world will pay for what it did to me and my siblings! I will avenge my sister’s deaths and join with my brother to destroy this land!” The words evolved in to rage and the demon’s body began to shake and shiver violently.

“Prepare for battle.” Rad ordered the group. Everyone shifted to the ready and turned their full attention to the matter at hand.

Mas began to laugh while his body shook. His shutters interrupted the vocal pattern. His shoulders began to expand and the man doubled over, clutching at his sides. The fighters shifted, uneasy about what they were witnessing. The demon’s laugh turned into a battle cry, as his body grew larger. The purple trench coat seemed to meld into his skin and turn into dark glistening scales. His hands met with the concrete platform and his nails turned to massive black claws as his legs morphed to match his now front legs. Mas’s neck began to extend and his shoulders flatten out. From the flat spot grew five protrusions and his battle cry turned into a deep roar of a beast. The demon’s face grew into a muzzle, complete with long spiked teeth, while several sets of horns appeared on top and back of his now scaled head and neck. The five new limbs that grew from his back produced five identical heads to the first while a very muscular long tail extended from the back. At the tip of its tail were twelve large spikes extending outward in every direction from a solid spherical mass.

The ladies’ stomachs churned as they looked upon the six-headed dragon. The bulk of it was black, with purple accent scales interspersed throughout the main body.

The men took in all they could of the six long necks and heads. Each one was black, but had a different color accent scale. One head bared green, another yellow, one a silver-grey, a piercing white, deep blue, and finally blood red.

Rishian knew what that meant. Each head possessed its own ability. He shifted his eyes toward Rad, Toan, Sophia and Kate, knowing they were processing this new information as well.

The demon continued to grow in size until it was nearly larger than the chamber it had been contained in. The fighters barely came to its knees in height. The dragon raised all six noses to the air and released a terrifying roar that shook the city. Everyone who heard the cry felt only fear ripple through their bodies. Everyone understood now why this demon was created in the name of courage. The dragon dropped its heads to look at the ten challengers on the closest platform of the city to the ruined enclosure. It bowed most of its heads and bent its knees. A shiver ran down the length of its spine as it prepared to leap the gap.

“Kenji!” Rishian growled. “Finish your flipping sentence! Its weak spot is…!”

“Oh!” Kenji seemed to snap back to reality. “The purple soft spot between the bases of all its necks.”

“Wonderful.” Sophia said sarcastically under her breath.

“Would you care to share what each head’s ability is?” Rishian was tired of having to prompt Kenji and his voice was beginning to show his anger.

Just as Kenji was to open his mouth the dragon pushed off the ruined containment into the sky. Coming in for a landing it opened its claws, intended on snagging the watching fighters.

“Move!” Rad ordered and pushed Kate and Cassandra out of the way before opening his own wings and taking to the sky.

Kenji mimicked this motion to the other side with Maxi and Kilik.

Toan grabbed Sophia with one arm and threw her back against the wall, standing in front of her, his fingertips wrapped behind him, placed on either side of her.

Din jumped to the side to only nearly escape the impact of the dragon on the city. Rishian caught her hand and pulled her onto his back. He grabbed hold of a small stone and hoisted both of them up onto the building out of the way. He gripped the stone and they both turned back to see the dragon smash down where they had all just been and where Toan and Sophia still were, pressed against the concrete.

The impact of the huge dragon rocked the City in the Sky. The propellers momentarily lost their positions in the sky and the side the demon had set down on dipped downward. The devices soon righted the platforms and walkways with much strain and effort at the new weight.

The dragon looked at the scattered fighters with its different heads.

Din wrapped her arms around Rishian’s neck out of fear as the silver accented head turned to them with its piercing yellow stare. The Sheikah reacted quickly and grabbed at the small cracks in the wall. Climbing with incredible speed, he glanced back to see the head winding up and its mouth opening.

“Arg! Hold on!” Rishian leapt up into the air, off the wall, grabbing at Din’s arms around his neck to hold her. Just as they left the wall the silver scaled head released a massive black spike. It shot out from its mouth and barred into the building where the two had been perched. The massive projectile burst the wall apart and rubble came crumbling down to the platform below.

Rishian landed softly on the narrow metal pathway below, with Din on his back. He quickly spun around to look up at the massive onyx spike that had been released from the dragon’s mouth.

Two of the dragons’ heads turned down, looking toward Toan and Sophia, pressed defensively against the wall of the building. The green and blue-scaled heads curled their lips back and wound up in the same patterned as the silver head.

Toan tensed and crouched in swift reaction. Sophia grabbed around his neck and he jumped forcefully into the air. Swinging his left arm in a circular motion, a gust of air swept under them and pushed them up toward Rad and Kenji.

The green and blue heads released sprays of liquid at the spot the two had been standing in. Each one matching the accent color of the head it came from. The deep blue liquid was thick and impacted the side of the building with little force. But then it began to run down, as gravity pulled at it. The steam coming from the deep blue substance was obvious to all the fighters present. The green spray licked the wall behind the first and the stone began to degrade and crumble at its soft touch.
Sophia reached up as Toan’s jump and wind gust began to level out. Rad grabbed her by the hand and pulled her onto his back.

Swooping slightly Kenji caught Toan’s wrist and held the man in the air as the two liquids slowly destroyed the face of the building.

The dragon roared fiercely at its double miss. The yellow head extended upward, pointing its nose into the sky. With a deep breath it released a shot of lighting. The demon was agitated and making sure everyone knew.

“Dear goddesses…” Din’s voice came out under her breath.

Kilik watched with great intent and great fear. He realized this fight would require some study. “Guys!” He hollered at the scattered groupings. “The blue head is molten tar, green is acid, yellow is lighting, and sliver is onyx spikes!”

Rishian took in all that the Hylian said and was thankful someone could identify and watch for them. “Watch them Kilik! And holler good if someone doesn’t see the breath coming!”

The Hylian nodded in understanding.

Maxi shifted beside him and glared up at the demon. “What about the red and white ones?”

Kilik shuffled away from the battle slightly. “I guess we’ll have to find out…” The worry in his voice was so heavy a shiver ran down Maxi’s spine.

The dragon looked between the ten scattered fighters and chose to go for the majority. Kate and Cassandra were on its right and separated from the rest of the group due to the pathway destruction from the acid, tar, and dragon’s weight. Turning its large body, it moved toward Kilik, Maxi, Din, and Rishian standing under Toan, Sophia, Rad, and Kenji in the air.

“Lead it back!” Kenji hollered at those below him.

The fighters turned around to see a larger, open portion of the metal pathway, it would make fighting much easier to be able to move.

The fighters on the ground turned and ran in the direction of the large platform while those above them flew to the air space above it.

Kate looked at Cassandra and then back toward the dragon and other fighters, now moving away from them. She glared down at the gaping hole in their path. “We are going to have to go around.”

Cassandra nodded and the two girls spun on their heels and ran in the opposite direction to try and find a way over to the larger platform.

The Dragon stalked after the group glaring at the city around him. The demon opened several of his mouths and shot lighting, acid, and tar at the buildings around him. The demon took step after step, lazily following the group of challengers and crushing smaller buildings under his feet. The demon was smirking to himself as he watched the destruction.

Rad and Kenji set down on the platform beside the others, letting Toan and Sophia gently down as well. As the group of runners met with them Kenji looked at the large black and purple dragon with intent.

Mass turned to look at the eight who opposied him. The massive beast roared at the retreating group and pursued them with quickly, deciding it best to remove them from the situation. Its large feet and claws left dents in the metal, due to its weight, as it stalked them.

“Lightning!” Kilik hollered at the group.

All of them looked up to see the yellow head opening its mouth.

“Dodge!” Rad yelled back.

They all jumped to the side and rolled back to their feet. The shot of lightning bounced off the mental and shot off into the sky.

“Dancing with it won’t get us anywhere!” Rad yelled at all of them. “Attack it!”

“Spike!” Kilik shouted again.

Again they jumped in different directions on the large platform to avoid the hit. The giant spike dug through the metal and concrete and was left sticking up at the angle of its impact.

“Split up!” Kenji screamed orders at them. “Everyone take a head!”

“No!” Rad growled a yell back. “Defending won’t get us anywhere and fighting each individual head will only delay our death!”

The massive dragon took another step toward them a low grow in all its necks. It arched its back and snarled at all of them, all of its eyes darting between them.

“We have to attack. Go for the weak spot!” Rad ordered them all, taking a step back with the rest of them as the dragon advanced.

“Easier said than done Rad!” Din cried eyeing all the magic heads. She couldn’t even see the weak spot on its back form this angle. The dragon was so large… A shiver of fear ran through her.

As the fighters debated, the dragon became irritated. He had had enough games. Planting his feet he swung his body around and threw the massive spiked tail at the group of fighters.

Kenji and Rad leapt upward into the air spreading their wings to avoid the impact. Rishian grabbed hold of Sophia, standing closest to him, and pulled her flat to the metal platform. Toan and Din were not so lucky; the tail impacted the two of them dead in the side.

Din, having been closer to the beast took the scaled part of the tail in the stomach. The blow knocked the wing out of her and caused her body to wrap forward around it.

Toan was standing farther back and he received the pain of the rock hard sphere on the end of the tail in the center of his chest. But more to the Essensorix’s pain was the first spike driving into his shoulder.

The dragon swung its body with the motion, dragging its tail off the platform out into the open sky.

Din grabbed at the scales with her hands to keep her balance as the blow took her off her feet and over the empty space. Looking sideways she saw Toan miss the grab on the tail and begin to fall.

Toan clamored for the edge of the platform but missed as his arm would not respond to his commands.

“Brother!!” Sophia cried out as she watched him go over the edge with use of only one arm.

Toan swooped his good arm in a circular motion and a breath of wind caught him and lifted him swift back up to the platform.

“Din!” Rishian and Rad yelled at the same time, looking up from Toan at the redhead hanging off the end of the demon’s tail. The two men looked at each other quickly.

Sophia watched him reappear with the swoop of air and land on the ball of his feet on the edge of the metal. He fell to his knees, grasping at the injured and bleeding shoulder and desperately trying to suck in air. The blow had smashed his ribs into his lungs.

Rishian eyed the open space. He could crawl down the dragon’s back, but he would risk the dragon swinging again at his touch and throwing her to the ground. Sharply he looked at the Dragir. “What are you waiting for!?”

Rad and Kenji both pushed their wings forward and shot through the sky toward her.

The demon caught the movement and swung around again, throwing his tail away from Rad and facing him with his six heads.

The motion threw Din sideways again and her fingers began to slide over the smooth black and purple scales.

Rishian’s heart dropped and he ran forward at full speed. He dove under the dragon’s feet and wrapped its shadow around himself, completely disappearing from view. Grabbing its rear leg as lightly as he could he scampered up its thigh onto the base of the tail. Still slightly hidden he looked down toward the woman and tore a piece of wrapping from his hand and tided it quickly around the dragon’s leg.

Din looked up and saw part of the Rishian out of the shadow. She clamored to hold on. Looking in the sky she could see Rad and Kenji trying to get past the different heads of the dragon.

Mas would have no part of it. His six sets of eyes were locked on the two flying beings and opened its mouths to deal with them. The green, acid, baring head shot out at Kenji, but the Hylain swooped in the air and dodged easily. He tried to dive under the head, hoping its attention would be hindered for a moment from the shot. The green head was, and Kenji almost made it through, but the yellow head reared in front of him, blocking his path.

Kenji growled to himself. The old tactic, attacking right after your opponent’s attack, wouldn’t work on Mas. He had too many sets of eyes.

Sophia had run to her brother and was helping him to his feet when Kilik called out. “Watch it! Acid coming down!”

The two Essensorix looked up and saw the green liquid headed in their direction. Sophia raised her hands and shot a stream of water at the impending death. The water spray deflected the acid and dropped it on the metal platform. Smoke began to rise from the spot as the liquid ate away at the spot it had landed.

Din watched as Rishian came completely out of the shadow and crawled down the length of the tail toward her at an alarmingly fast pace. She looked over the top of his back toward the others fighting to get through.

Rishian reached her quickly. He sat, wrapping his legs around the tail and locked his ankles. Reaching out he grabbed her under her arms and pulled.

Din struggled to help, and was able to make it most of the way to being on top of Mas’s tail, rather than hanging off the side.

Rishian leaned away from her to counterbalance and pulled hard.

The pressure of Rishian’s legs around Mas’s tail increased with this movement and the demon noticed. The blue-laced head turned around and looked at the two of them, its yellow glare starred them down and the demon roared with anger.

“Quick!” Rishian’s command was followed by him pulling Din tight to his chest and wrapping something around her that she did not see.

The demon’s roar faded and the dragon swung its body around again, throwing the tail outward toward the open sky with great force.

Rishian tried with all his strength to hang on with his legs and hold Din as well. Had it just been him, he knew the force would not have uprooted him, but Din’s added weight made the momentum much greater. The two of them were thrown far into the clouds.

Rad watched Rishian and Din go over the edge and the fear in his stomach leapt into his throat. “Kenji!!” Rad flipped over backward in the air, dodging a snap from the black-scaled head and pointing himself downward.

Kenji mimicked Rad’s movement, something the two of them had practiced together many times. The two of them looked down and folded their wings.

Din’s tiny scream was muffled quickly by Rishian’s chest. He pulled her into him and hugged her tightly. Everything seemed to move in slow motion. Din’s eyes glanced down at the earth many miles below and her stomach churned. She never thought this was the way she would go, falling from the sky to the ground below. Turning her face back upward she looked at the Sheikah holding her close to him. He looked back down at her, his one exposed blue eye. Their gaze locked for a moment and she saw flashes of many emotions in his beautiful eye. In that moment she saw his eye flash between pain and sadness to a comforting and almost happy smile.

Rishain looked down at the girl he held. Plummeting toward earth, all he could think of was the emotion of peace he could feel through his mind and body. She was so close in this moment… He looked at her face, but did not see in her what he was feeling. Her face held a blank and fearful stare. Why? He almost shook his head in disbelief then he snapped back to the present situation. The Shiekah threw his head up looking back toward the platform they were falling away from, then down at his hand and arm around Din. He looked back at her and smiled truthfully. “Ready?” His voice was almost mischievous.

Din looked at him with confusion. “Not really” Her voice was shaky and she looked below her again as they fell. “I don’t want to die yet…” The words were a whisper.
Rishian pulled her tighter to him and whispered in her ear through his wrappings. “That’s not what I mean. Quick, tighten your ribs.”

Even more confused, Din’s eyebrows fell. But she wrapped her arms around him tightly and did as she was told. She could feel his breath against her face and she could hear his heart. It was beating fast and she couldn’t help but notice. Taking a deep breath she nestled her face into his chest. Her breathing slowed in this position without her notice. Even though she was plummeting to the earth, Din felt calm in the Sheikah’s arms.

Just as the thought left her mind, Din felt a tightening around her ribs and Rishian grunted with some effort. Suddenly the two of them stopped short in the air and their decent was halted completely. As the stop occurred the tightness around Din’s stomach sharply contracted, pushing the air out of her for a moment. Din looked down toward the earth quickly to make sure she wasn’t mistaken, they had truly stopped falling. Looking back up at Rishian, Din searched for an explanation.

Rishian was looking back up toward the platform. Stretched out above his head was his arm, his hand holding tightly onto a piece of white cloth wrapped around his wrist. Looking farther up the length of cloth, Din could see the other end tied around the dragon’s rear leg.

Such relief swept through Din she burst out with a laugh and victorious cry. “Ha! Yes!” She grabbed Rishian around the neck and pulled herself up higher on him. “Oh, thank the goddesses Rish!” With the second exclamation of her joy, she stretched her neck up and planted a firm kiss on the wrappings covering his cheek.

Rishian pulled away slightly with surprise at the gesture. His mouth fell open with shock and he turned down to look at her. Under his wrappings Rishian felt his face go hot and he knew that he was blushing. In that moment, he was thankful for the coverings more than ever.

Rad and Kenji plunged after them and Rad’s heart calmed, but only slightly, when he saw the wrappings snag and stop the two of them from falling any farther. He looked back over his shoulder to see Kenji chasing him in their downward plight. But more to his horror he saw the dragon’s heads turn their gaze and take a couple steps toward the edge of the platform after them. “Come on!” Rad yelled at himself, turning his head back down toward the two fighters hanging form the thin piece of cloth.

The movement of the dragon pulled the Rishian and Din sideways, due to the attachment to its leg and the two of them grabbed each other tighter at the lurching momentum.

Din burring her face in Rishian’s neck. Every inch of her was begging for him to save her. The cloth swung them around like a pendulum. They were simply a weight at the bottom of a free string.

The Sheikah lay his head on hers trying to comfort her, yet hold them there by the cloth and not drop her. He looked at the piece of wrapping slung around her ribs and breathed out sharply, it should hold. He looked up to see Rad and Kenji dropping toward them and he ground his teeth together, if he could have yelled at them to hurry he would have.

The dragon roared at the retreating fighters and the yellow head opened its mouth. A shot of lighting burst out of its throat down toward the swinging Din and Rishian.

Rishian looked up and saw the shot forming in the dragon’s mouth. He lifted his legs and swung them hard. The movement swung the two of them hard to one side and the streak of lighting whizzed past them toward the earth below. The Sheikah looked over the top of Din’s head to see Rad flying straight at them, his arms opening for the catch. Rishian twisted himself and loosened his grip on Din, but only slightly so Rad could take her.

Rad’s eyes were set on the redhead and could see Rishian’s movement was intended for him to grab her. As he was closing in he heard the charge of a magic ball. Looking over his shoulder he saw the demon rearing not one but four of its heads back, winding up for an attack.

Rad cursed loudly and drove himself forward as fast as he could. He heard the release and looked back to see an onyx spike, a bolt of lightning, the tar and acid streaming through the sky toward them. Cursing again Rad swerved away from the stream of attacks, saving himself from the impact.

Rishian’s eyes opened with fear. They were sitting ducks. Thinking fast the Sheikah looked at the incoming magic. Without real consideration he bent his knees and timed the impact of the onyx spike that was coming down right beside them. As the onyx spike came closer Rishian waited until the tip of the spike was only slightly past his foot and then kicked it as hard as he could. The impact with the side of the solid spike pushed the two the them on the end of the line out of the way of the other magics that went streaming past them.

Din exhaled into Rishian’s neck. She still had her face buried. She was trying to be a calm as possible and not affect his efforts to save their lives.

The dragon roared and aimed carefully at the swinging bait. Releasing another shot of acid, the demon aimed not for the dangling fighters, but for the line holding them to its leg.

The green stream of liquid shot through the air and made direct contact with the line way above Din and Rishian’s heads.

Rishian’s violent curses, coupled with the feeling of falling returning to her stomach, told Din that something had gone wrong. She removed her eyes from the Sheikah’s wrappings to watch Rishian’s weight fall forward on top of her, her back headed for the ground first.

Rishian looked from side to side frantically, he had to save her! Searching for a way out of this, he caught movement to his right. He looked at Din and took his now free hand and unwrapped her from him. Taking her forearm in his hand he held her firmly. He looked her square in the eyes. “Din, let go!” It was an order, not a suggestion. Rishian looked to his right hard, seeing Rad coming back around, he yelled as loud as he could. “Catch!” The Sheikah let go of Din’s body and pulled as hard as he could on her arm, upward, while throwing himself to the side and downward. The motion vaulted Din, upward into the air. The backward momentum caused her to hover for half a moment.

Rad saw her free in the air and opened his arms once again. With slightly too much force, Rad impacted her body and caught her stomach on his shoulder.

Din wrapped her arms around Rad’s neck and clamored to see below her. Rishian was falling rapidly toward the earth. Out of reaction Din reaching out with her hands and screamed. “Rishian!”

Rishian looked up at Rad and Din, watching them get farther and farther away. He looked at Din, the tears building in her eyes and her screams reached his senses. His heart felt as though it might explode from pain. She was upset and that hurt…

Out of nowhere Rishian caught the shape of a black figure streaming through the air toward him. Looking to his side, he focused on the incoming object.
Kenji rocketed toward him and reached out as he got closer. The two grasped hands and Kenji slung the Sheikah up onto his back. “Good try Sheikah, but you don’t get all the glory.” The sentence came out with a smirk.

Rishian shook his head partially in relief and partially at Kenji’s antics.

Din breathed out a huge sigh of relief and she clung to Rad.

The Dragir, let out a breath he had been holding since he had watched her go over the edge. He hugged her tightly. Rad nessled her into his chest under his chin and sighed. “You’re alright, I got you.” His words were a whisper.

Kenji turned his attention upward and began to ascend toward Rad and Din.
Rad followed his friends action, turning them upward he also ascended, still holding Din close to him. The four of them had fallen a long way and had a ways to go to get back up to the platform.

Back on the platform, Sophia had helped Toan to the center and sat him down behind the large onyx spike, still sticking out of the metal and concrete. The man was gasping hard for breath. The blow had knocked all the wind out of him.

The massive dragon tuned its attention back toward the four fighters still with him on the platform, satisfied after hitting the piece of cloth with his acid. With a growl it crouched like a cat about to pounce.

Kilik, Maxi, and Sophia moved to protect the injured Toan. The boys held their weapons at the ready, still amazed with what they we seeing and fear running through every vein.

The dragon’s heads snapped forward, one at a time. Each head’s jaws opening and snapping shut, going for the kill.

Kilik planted his foot and swung hard with his rod. The weapon made a direct hit on the side of the blue face. The ear splitting crack was evident that the dragon’s scales were indeed as hard as armor. The blue head staggered for a moment at the hit and shook it off after a second.

Maxi didn’t hesitate, jumping wildly forward with his set of nun-chucks as the yellow head snapped at him. With another hit from the Hylian fighter the dragon roared and sped up the pace.

Sophia began to charge a large waterball between her hands, if the boys could hold it off for a minute she might be able to do some serious damage, or at least distraction.

Kilik leaped out of the way of the red head snapping at him and swung hard at the black head. Another direct hit errned him a second to spin on his heels and go back to back with Maxi. The two of them fell into their training mode. The paired attacks the from the dragon’s heads and watched each others backs. THe two of them tried to keep an eye on Sophia as well.

Maxi smirked to himself, he was starting to have an once of fun. He jumped, leaping over an attacking snap and swung his weapon, cracking the dragon’s scaled head. Landing again he dodged another snap.

Kate and Cassandra ran hard, they rounded a corner of a building and the platform and battle came into view. They sprinted as fast as they could to help. The two girls noticed right away the absence of four members of their team.

As they entered the platform Cassandra drew her sword and headed to Kilik’s side to defend Toan and Sophia from another head.

Kate slid to stop behind Sophia and raised both arms outward. She closed her eyes and called the weapon she knew would be the most help with this fight. She waited, but nothing happened. Closing her eyes tighter, she concentrated harder, but still nothing happened. In frustration Kate opened her eyes and glared down at the ground around her. Her eyes landed on the metal and concrete and her mouth dropped open in disbelief and anger. Throwing her arms up in defeat she turned on her heels and ran back toward the city, off the platform.

Cassandra glanced back and saw Kate’s retreat. In disbelief she hollered after her. “Where on earth or you going!?”

Kate threw the words back over her shoulder at them. “Just for that, earth!” Kate ran to the very first building she came to, it appeared to be a house. Without turning the knob she threw her weight into the door, busting the frame apart and opening it into the house. Running inside she could see an Oocca hiding under a small table, between them was a kitchen counter. Kate slammed both palms down on the counter and leaned on it hard. “I need a plant! Or dirt! SOMETHING!!”

The little Oocca looked at her with fearful, but confused eyes. “Huh?”

“Don’t ask questions when the demon of courage is outside!” Kate screamed at the little bird.

The Oocca didn’t move, but looked toward the top shelf of a bookcase beside the door.

Kate spun around and saw a small tuft of green in a dirt pot. “Perfect!” She squealed. The Essensorix grabbed the pot and sprinted back out the door. Running as fast as she could without spilling or dropping the pail she slid back to a stop where she had the first time. She set the pot down between her feet and raised her hands. As she closed her eyes and called her weapon, she heard the familiar sound of the earth moving. This time, several thick green vines erupted from the pot small pot. They stretched upward and wrapped around Kate’s arms like snakes. Holding them outward, the vines shot forward, extending toward the dragon.

The four that were trying to keep the demon busy saw the incoming vines and breathed a small sigh of relief.

Kate’s vines reach out and wrapped around the tops of four of the dragon’s heads. She pulled back toward her hard, and the pressure forced the four heads aside and downward toward the platform.

Sophia opened her eyes from her concentration and thrust her hands forward and the giant waterball se had been creating smashed into the center of the demon’s chest, underneath the base of its heads.

The pressure pushed the dragon’s front feet out form under it and it fell to its chest on the metal platform. Out of pure rage the dragon’s two free heads roared. The white-laced head turned toward the vines and opened its mouth.

“We don’t know what this one or the red one is yet!” Kilik hollered a warning to them all.

Cassandra looked up and noted that the red one, was the other head that was free of Kate’s restraints and the one glaring down at all of them.

The white head breathed out and a white haze poured out into the air. It did not attack anyone or anything, it simply hung in the air. The dragon shifted, pulling its heads to the left so the vines were in the haze.

Everyone watched with anticipation. Quite quickly the vines began to turn brown and shrivel around the dragon’s necks.

The other four fighters turned to look at Kate shocked at what they were witnessing.

Kate held only an expression of frustration and disapproval. “It’s poisonous gas! It killed them! Whatever you do, don’t breathe it in!” They all turned in horror to eye the white head.

Toan got to his feet with a struggle. Holding out his good hand he waved it hard in the direction of the haze. A great gust of wind shot through the air and blew the haze out into the open sky, away from them.

Sophia ran to her brother and helped hold him upright.

The dragon shook its heads and the dead vines broke and snapped like twigs. Completely free again, it got to its feet and the red head roared, opening its mouth at all of them.

“Be ready!” Cassandra yelled.

The read head breathed out a hue of sparkling red magic. With a sweeping motion the dragon aimed it at all the fighters below him.

Toan, Sophia, and Kate were far enough back that with only a small dodge they were out of the way of the magic.

The Hylian’s were not so lucky. Kilik and Maxi both dodged, but the magic spread to wide. They both took the full force of the magic hit. Cassandra jumped back and almost made it, but he magic licked at her legs. The three Hylians fell flat to the platform, the boys completely unmoving, but their faces struck with horror and their eyes darting around wildly.

“Cassandra!” Kate and Sophia yelled with horror.

“Kilik! Maxi!” Toan’s calls came at the same time.

The three Essensorix began to run toward them, but the dragon wound up with his blue and silver heads. The molten tar spewed out of its mouth headed at the three Hylians.

Cassandra looked up and saw the attack coming. Throwing her weight to one side she rolled and fell into the hole in the platform made earlier from the dragon’s acid breath.

The tar landed directly on Kilik and Maxi, the steam and heat rising into the air. The onyx spike coming closely behind smashed into the same spot.

“No!” Toan’s angry cry echoed throughout the city.

The dragon looked down at Cassandra in the hole with almost a smirk.

The Hylian girl looked back in fear. She dropped her gaze to her legs. She could see them, but she couldn’t feel them. Looking out of the hole toward where she knew her friends were she yelled. “It’s paralysis magic!”

The yellow dragon’s head snapped down at her, its jaws closing only inches above her body. The dragon tried again, but couldn’t quite make it’s teeth sink into her, the hole was slightly too deep.

Just then, two black streaks shot up beside the platform. The magic weary Sophia and Kate as well as the injured and bleeding Toan looked over, and sighed with only slight relief. Rad and Kenji set down beside them, sliding Din and Rishian to the platform as well.

The dragon’s five unoccupied heads turned to look at the four he had thought he killed. With a growl of frustration the demon’s yellow head snapped down at Cassandra again. The Hylian girl screamed, altering the new arrivals to her presence.

Din’s eyes widened with horror and she jumped into action. Planting her foot Din lunged and threw both arms in a large sweep toward the yellow head. From between her hands came a large ball of raging fire. The flames licked at the dragons face and it pulled away sharply.

Casandra saw the fireball go overtop the hole she was in and she sucked ina quick breath. She knew that meant Din was alright. She looked up at the yellow head as it shook the flames and smoke out of its eyes.

“Let’s finish this!” Rad ordered them all.

“You have to get the eye between its heads!” Kenji reminded them all loudly.

Kate grunted with determination. She raised her hands once again and the vines grew back up her arms. The earth magic shot out toward the dragon’s heads again to wrap around them. Kate aimed for the white one first. “Let’s see if I can cut of your flow? Eh?” She growled to herself. Kate was able to catch the white, red, blue, and green heads with her first attempt. The vines wrapped around the top of the demon’s necks and she tightened them as hard as she could.
The white head opened its mouth and tried to dispel the vines with the gas, but nothing appeared from its throat.

With a confident smirk Kate shot out two more vines grabbing at the yellow and silver heads. With a quick grab she was able to catch them and wrap them as well.

“Nice Kate!” Rad encouraged her.

Looking at the tied dragon, Din took off at a full run and dove into the hole under the dragon’s feet.

“Come on girl!” Din pulled at her arms.

“I can’t move my legs!” The terrified Hylian cried out to them.

Rishian heard the girl’s fearful sentence and took off in the same pattern Din had traveled. The Sheikah slid into the hole beside Din. “Here.” He slid both arms under Cassandra and picked her up quickly. Din Looked up and checked quickly. The dragon was still tied, but struggling against the earth magic Kate was using. With Rishian carrying her out of harms way and Din leading, the three made it back to the group.

“Sophia, make them larger!” Kate hollered at her friend through concentration.

The brunette jogged over and grabbed hold of the vines wrapped around Kate’s arms. Water poured out of her hands and ran up the length of the vines. The plants grew in size and tightened more quickly.

“Can you pull them apart Kate?” Rad asked franticly.

Kate nodded with struggle and pulled the vines in different directions. The movement forced the dragon’s noses down to the metal platform, pulling the necks apart. Between the bases of the necks was indeed a soft spot in the scales containing one more very large eye.

The dragon struggled hard against its bondage, knowing its weak spot was exposed.

“Gah!” Kate pulled hard, but the dragon was starting to get free once again. “Quickly guys!” Kate yelled at them with anger.

Seeing her struggle, Kenji jumped forward and laid both his hands on Kate’s shoulders. Closing his eyes he pushed his energies into her, adding his magic power to hers. Once he began mixing their magic, he could tell she was running low and was probably adding to the struggle.

“Sophia!” Cassandra called from Rishian’s arms

The Essensorix turned around and looked to the blonde.

Cassandra reached out and pulled the bow off her friends back and held it out to her.

Sophia’s eyes widened in understanding. “Rishian! Hold her up!”

The Sehikah shifted Cassandra so she was standing, with him supporting her weight.

The two girls took hold of the bow and Sophia strung an arrow. Cassandra’s strong arms pulled back on the string and Sophia aimed the tip of the weapon at the eye, just as they had earlier that day.

“Wait!” Din reached over and lit the tip of the arrow aflame. “Now!”

“3, 2, 1!” The girls released the arrow and it shot through the air without changing course in the wind, barring into the eye.

The dragon roared in great pain and struggled hard again against the restraints.

“Wasn’t deep enough!” Kenji called out to them, still concentrating on pushing his magic through Kate.

Rad growled deeply and drew his massive blade. He ran and took off, opening his wings. “Need more force!”

“I can help with that.” Toan grumbled. Opening both hands he pushed them forward at Rad’s open wings. A huge gust of air threw Rad forward, faster than he would have been able to push himself.

Diving between the deadly heads of the demon, Rad raised his blade high and landed with his whole weight on the sword, driving it into the demon’s eye.
Mas Yheta howled in pain and his body shook from head to toe. The dragon collapsed to his knees and shuttered.

Rad snarled at the demon. “You aren’t dead yet?” The Dragir pulled the blade back and placed the tip on the end of the arrow sticking out of the eye. Pressing in again, he prayed he could burry the arrow in the demon’s heart.

The dragon cried out again and flopped to its belly on the concrete platform. The dragon let out a strained breath and went completely limp.

Rad pulled his sword back out of the beast and jumped back down to the platform. He stood, looking at the lifeless body and took a couple deep breaths. Turning, he looked back over his shoulder and wing toward the group.

Everyone stared for a moment holding their breath. Was it over? The beast wasn’t moving… Slowly the fighters turned to each other, small smiles appearing on their faces.

Din looked between them all. “We did it? …We did it!” Din’s excitement burst out of her and she jumped toward Rishian with her arms extended.

“Ha ha!” Rishian laughed with relief, happiness, and laughter at trying to catch Din while still holding Cassandra upright.

With a small smile Toan took Cassandra so Rishian could hug Din back.

Sophia smiled and hugged her brother. “Good job Toan.”

Rad walked back over to the group with a proud smile on his face. Kenji met him first with another of their fist grab hugs. “Nice shot Rad.” He smiled at the Dragir.

Rad laughed. “Thanks.”

Kenji looked toward the lifeless dragon and then back at the group. “Not quite done yet.” Kenji walked up to the lifeless dragon and reached his arms up toward the heavens. “Len! Goddesses! I present to you the Demon of Courage, Mas Yheta!”

A bright light blared above the dragon and the wind ripped through the city. The fighters covered their eyes for a minute from the brilliant light. As it began to dim, a beautiful figure hovered in the air. Len looked down upon them all, his knee length white hair blowing in the breeze along with his white robes.

The group stared back, amazed at the sight of him. Din looked him up and down. She nodded to herself, this must have been Kenji’s messenger he was waiting for yesterday.

Kenji turned around and smiled at the group. “Everyone, let me introduce you to Len, the angel of the goddesses.”

Len smirked at the introduction and looked down at the dead demon. Extending one arm casually he flicked his fingers upward. The lifeless body lifted up off the metal platform and floated upward into the sky, all six heads hanging low. When it was slightly above him he spoke toward the sky. “Goddesses of Hyrule, the demon is defeated. Let you be the judge.” The words floated upward and the dragon began to glow a brilliant white. Within a few seconds his body disappeared completely.

The angel looked down at the group and began to descend toward the platform. He crossed his arms and stopped the decent a couple feet away from the surface in front of the group of fighters. “Your valiant efforts for the great good have been notice. The Goddesses are pleased.” The angel made direct eyecontact with each of them. He paused deliberately when he got to Rad and to Rishian.

Kenji smiled as well. “Thank-you for your blessing Len.”

The angel nodded with another smile to Kenji and without further word the brilliant light pierced through the area again and with that the angel was gone.

Rad and Rishian looked at each other sheepishly, both dropping their gaze to the concrete.

Din watched the angel go. She was impressed with his prestige and struck by his presence. There certainly was more to Hyrule than she had ever been exposed to before.

“Good job team” Kenji smiled at them all. “Impressing the angels and the Goddesses. Been a good day.” The man chuckled.

Kenji’s words brought Din back to the current situation and she looked between them all. Almost immediately the fighter noticed an absence. Din looked across the space and her eyes found them. Toan was standing beside the now hardened tar with the spike sticking out, holding Cassandra in his arms. Din looked at her friends and started across the space slowly. When she reached their sides she looked at Cassandra’s face. The Hylain had her head leaned on Toan’s collar bone and tears were streaming down her face, but she did not appear to be crying in any other fashion. Looking at Toan, Din could see he wasstaring at the spot with anger and pain in his eyes. The redhead lifted her hand and placed it on the back of Toan’s blood stained shoulder gently.

The Essensorix turned to look at her and dropped his gaze. He closed his eyes and sighed.

Cassandra was trying to stop crying, but she couldn’t help but feel loss. She shook her head against Toan’s chest. “They were like brothers Din…”

“I know.” Din walked around them to Cassandra’s head and gentl stroked her hair to comfort her.

The rest of the group came up behind them, saddened and closed expressions on their faces. The moment was bitter sweet. The demon of courage was dead, but they had lost two of their team.

Din looked toward the grave of the two she had barely got to know and felt a wave of loss roll through her as well. The strongest emotion was simply that of hurt for her friends pain. Raising one hand she rubbed the single tear out of her eye.

Rishian watched the movement and come up behind her first. Placing one hand on her arm he looked at her face over her shoulder.

Din looked at the Sheikah over her shoulder and showed him her hurt expression. As she closed her eyes and took a breath she felt another hand, but on her lower back.

Rad had come up on her other side and slipped his arm around her waist in a comforting gesture. The Dragir looked down at her with concerned eyes. He pulled her into him gently

Din looked back at him and gaze him a thankful half-hearted smile. Submitting to his pull, Din lay her head on his shoulder, and tried to stop herself from crying.

As Din moved toward Rad, Rishian felt a drop inside of him and began to let is hand slip away from her. Din moved her arm in response, moving it back into his hand. Rishian’s partly wrapped hand had trailed down her arm past her elbow.

Din moved her arm and caught his hand with her fingers.

Rishian felt his stomach jump as she closed her fingers around his. He looked over at her and she pulled him closer using her grip on his hand. The Sheikah sidestepped one pace to stand right next to her. Raising his other hand he placed it on the top of her arm and rubbed his hand up and down, giving her his support.

In between Rad and Rishian, Din felt at ease. Leaning on her friend’s shoulder, she felt comfortable and safe and holding RIshian’s had made her heart sore.
Sophia slipped her arm through Kate’s and the two of them pulled each other in for a hug. The two girls were saddened by the loss and leaned on each other for the moment.

Kenji crossed his arms over his chest, knowing that battle would warrent loss. Part of him felt cold for the thought, but he rationalized it with the fact that he barely knew the two. He heard a small sound and his ears perked him in the direction of the source. Looking to the left Kenji’s eyes trailed toward the city. Turning around completely there the man could see an accumulation of figures on the ledge closest to were the fighters stood. “Guys” His voice came out shortly.
One by one the other fighters looked over their shoulders and began to turn around. The sound grew louder and the group looked toward the figures for the confirmation. Many different people from the city stood on the edge of the city looking at their saviors. All of them had begun to clap and the sound and group was continuing to grow.

The fighters looked between each other and small smiles appeared on a couple faces. They had saved the city, and ultimately Hyrule.

Oocca, Hylians, Gorons, and Zora’s stood around the crumbled buildings and began cheering within the clapping.

Kenji smiled at all of them. “We are the heroes. Congratulations guys.”

The fighters began to feel the reward of their win trickle through the loss. Many of their small smiles turned into full expressions of happiness. They had done it, and they had done it together. The fighters smiled at each other and looked toward their cheering section on the next platform of the city.

*******************************

“Arrrrrggg!!” Ark Mantrios screamed in anger into the sky, the violent sound echoing off the walls and water of Lake Hylia. The demon stood on the top of the rear wall that contained the water in the basin. Clenching his fists his breath staggered with rage. Ark turned his ruby red eyes back up to the sky and muttered through clenched teeth. “Curse you Len.” The demon looked at his feet, raking his mind for a plan. He had to end this. This group of beings was destroying everything, and the Sheikah turn his back on him.

Ark pulled a spyglass from under his breastplate and held it to his face. Glaring up at the clouds his eyes fell upon the group comforting each other. He grunted to himself as his thoughts caught up to the view. She would do best…

The great demon growled and dropped the spyglass to the rocky ground. The glass shattered, breaking into pieces and clattering around his feet. The demon began to breath hard and his fists clenched harder. His neck began to expand and a great tail reappeared from his back and extend outward behind him. The demon curled over and a great snarl erupted form his throat. The brilliant red of Ark’s eyes flashed and he shot upward into the sky.

(End Chapter)

 

[Zelda's_Child]

Wow... you totally drew me in. That's an amazing story, Din. You're incredible.

 

[Din Akera]

Wow... you totally drew me in. That's an amazing story, Din. You're incredible.

Thank-you. I'm glad you are enjoying it.
---------------------------------------------------------


Chapter 12 –
“She’ll be alright.” Kenji smiled at the group. He laid his hand on Cassandra’s forehead and looked into her eyes.

Cassandra looked up at him with a worried expression. She was lying on her bed in the girls’ room, her legs still unmoving. She glanced around at all the other fighters standing around the magnificent room. “You really think so?” Her voice came out with a small sob of worry.

Kenji nodded back and laid his other hand gently on her thigh. “I can tell it is temporary magic. It will ware off over night, but you should rest. You’ll be back to yourself in the morning. Maybe even a little quicker.” He smiled brightly at her. “The goddesses are pleased with you, remember.”

Everyone breathed out a little sigh of relief at Kenji’s words. They had been worried their group was down three fighters, not just two. Kenji looked over to Toan sitting in a chair beside the bed. “And let’s have a look at you.”

“Nah.” Toan pulled away to the side casually at Kenji’s advance. He looked down at his bloodstained skin and shrugged. He rotated the shoulder around and looked back at the man. “See I’m fine.” His low voice spoke quite quietly. His bleeding skin was obvious to everyone, as he had not found another shirt since the earlier removal.

Kenji shook his head slightly. “Alright, if you say so.”

A grumble came from Rishian’s throat and he moved though the people to Toan’s side. “No. Sit still.” The Sheikah pulled out some bandaging from under his leather underlay and began to wrap Toan’s bleeding shoulder.

Toan woofed a laugh. “Whatever you say Rishian.”

The Sheikah glanced up at Kenji. “You have to be insistent sometimes.”

Kenji shook his head with a laugh. “Or known each other for awhile.” He nodded toward them, indicating their friendship.

Night was beginning to set in over the City in the Sky. The sky turned to a beautiful purple and orange on the horizon below them. The rest of the daytime hours had been spent on removing rubble and closing off unsafe areas of the walkways around the city. With the demon dead and gone, the air in the city had a much calmer and more jovial feel. The clean up had been set-aside for the night and people were gathering in the main square. Not before long, someone had sat down and begun to play music. Shortly after that, someone with a different instrument had sat down beside him and joined in. Now, the market square had transformed into a full on celebration. The party had erupted completely. Everyone had dropped what he or she had been doing and had gone to join in.

Once Kenji’s had assured everyone of Cassandra’s healing and Rishian was done with Toan, the group of fighters began to disperse form Cassandra’s room to let her rest. Some of them had intent to go find the source of the music they could hear throughout the temple, and others simply followed out into the hall.

Din looked at Cassandra from the foot of their bed before leaving. “You want me to stay?”

“I’ll stay with her.” Toan stated softly before Cassandra could answer her. “Not really feeling up to much else anyway.”

Din looked to the injured man’s shoulder and nodded slowly. “Alright.” She looked back at her friend in the bed. “I’ll be back in awhile. You try to sleep some.”

The blonde nodded to her friend and gave her a feeble smile. Cassandra looked over at Toan and mouthed a thank-you to him for the offer.

With that, Din turned on her heels and left the room, closing the door quietly behind her. She stood in the hallway alone. Part of her was still processing the day’s events. Everything had happened so fast, but the battle had only taken an hour or so. She sighed to herself. Hearing the music and the happy shouts form outside the main temple doors, she leaned on the balcony overlooking the lobby. She searched around inside herself. She had felt several different things today and she was having trouble sorting through them. Din couldn’t believe herself. For all the years before that cage match in Castle Town, she had known there were magical beings in Hyrule. She had known vaguely about the demons existence, but she had never been apart of it. Looking down at her hands she wonder to herself one question. Why? She was a magic wielder, she knew that, but she had always simply lived with the Hylians, as a Hylian. Her thoughts then reminded her why…because she didn’t know anything about herself. The blank space in her memories floated over her past, nothingness.

Din shook her head form side to side. This was supposed to be a happy time; they had defeated another demon. Lifting herself from the rail, she floated down the stairs to the main lobby and cracked the doors open, just enough to slip through.

Immediately Din’s senses were hit with and entirely new scene from earlier that day. The market had been dressed up. Lantern strings were hanging above the square, strung from building to building. Many of them had been encased with colored glass and were swinging back and forth in the evening breeze. This effect threw many different colors of light all over the market square, dancing back and forth. The music was loudly cheering through the air from a raised storefront on the left side of the city’s main square. The band was playfully challenging each other and jamming with the mood of the evening. Looking down the stairs from where Din had exited the temple, she could see the giant gathering of people. Every Ooccoo, Hylian, Goron, and Zora had come out to join in the festivities. Din scanned the crowd and her eye caught a mat of blue hair, matched by a flowing blue cape. Kenji had found a young Hylian woman and was dancing with her. The man was smiling and twirling the girl around the space. He pulled her in close and the two laughed as they skipped back and forth. Din smiled to herself. Part of her had thought Kenji might be a bit of a ladies man. Just as the thought ran through Din’s mind the man looked up, noticing her standing at the top of the stairs.
“Din!” He called out waving his hand.

“Hi!” She laughed back with a small wave.”

“Come here!” He waved his hand inward this time and started moving through the thick crowd.

With a small giggle Din started down the stairs and tried to move toward him. He met her part way through, and she was glad of it. Everyone was quite tall and she couldn’t see very well. Looking up at him she smiled. “Good party?”

“Oh you bet!” Kenji smiled a quirky smile and grabbed Din around the waist. With one quick step he grabbed her hand and spun her around.

“Ah!” Din laughed as she caught up to his movements. She grabbed loosely at his hands and followed him.

Kenji laughed as the two of them danced around in the thick crowd and Din laughed back. This was fun and a reward well deserved for all of them.

The redhead glanced around the mob of people to try and decide if the others were here too, because they should be enjoying themselves as well. As she looked to her right her eyes met with a black dress shirt. Looking upward her eyes landed on a silver haired and winged Rad. “Rad!” Din smiled happily.

The Dragir smiled back at her and looked at Kenji. “Mind if I cut in?”

Kenji smirked to himself with a small snort. “Not at all” He said aloud, passing Din’s hands forward. As he moved through the crowd he passed by Rad’s shoulder and whispered. “I won’t get in the way this time.”

Rad looked at him a little shocked and then changed it quickly into a warning glare.

Kenji stuck out his tongue and began to laugh as he melted back into the crowd. He went looking for another girl who was willing to dance with a stranger.

As Rad started to turn red he looked after his friend, whishing he could smack him some days. Turning back to Din he hoped the lantern lights would hide his blush. “You want to dance?”

Din smiled at him. “Sure!” As the band began a new, but equally as jovial song as the last, Din threw her arms around Rad’s neck.

Rad grabbed her around the waist, slightly more intently than Kenji had and spun her one way, and then the other. Rad smiled down at her. She laughed as they danced and it made his heart sore. Rad shook his head to himself as they danced. He had truly fallen. He had been trying to ignore it, but at that moment it all came to him. He remembered the first time he saw her, and the evening at The Milk Bar. More than that, he remembered her defending him in the fights they had somehow found their way into and out of. He sighed as the memory of standing up against her in the alley came back and the fear of the fight with the Demon of Wisdom. He remembered how scared he was that he had lost her. The time was short, but he knew what he felt was real. Holding her hand and twirling her around he noticed the ring around her forefinger. He smiled, if only she were a Dragir. He shrugged shallowly at the thought, it really didn’t matter, it would only mean he would loose her at some point. Shaking his head at the thought he replaced it with the present. If she would like, he would do anything for the years he could have with her. He twirled her into his arms and caught her around the waist and lower back. She reached out and put her arms around his neck. They swayed back and forth and Rad sighed again. This was heaven he was sure of it…

***********************************

Toan picked up his head sharply and breathed in a couple deep breaths, blinking hard. He looked at Cassandra on the bed and she giggled at him.

“You’ve been head bobbing for fifteen minutes.” The girl informed him with a laugh.

Toan shook his head and pressed the heels of his hands into his eyes. “I’m sorry.”

“No! Don’t be sorry.” The girl laughed again. Her voice turned more serious. “You lost a lot of blood today you probably should sleep.”

Toan nodded to her without verbalizing his answer, mustering the energy to argue. Propping his head up on his hand he placed his elbow on the arm of the chair and leaned back onto the soft cushion. “But I said I would stay with you.” The words came out slightly slurred.

Cassandra shook her head. “You know there is this song passed down through my family…” She looked at him out of the corner of her eye with a smirk. “My mother taught it to me.” Closing her lips together Cassandra began to hum a beautiful soft tune. The song was slow and quiet and repeatable. The Hylian girl looked over at Toan and watched his breathing slow right down. After about the third time through, Cassandra stopped and waited for a minute, looking at the Essensorix. After a moment or two she whispered. “Toan?”

The man did not move, his breathing letting her know he was asleep.

Cassandra turned back and looked at the ceiling. She smirked to herself, that was easy, she thought. Closing her eyes she felt a breeze through the open window, now only if she could fall asleep as well. She was still slightly unnerved at not being able to feel her legs. But her friends said she would…in time.

A great gust of wind burst through the balcony window and Cassandra opened her eyes quickly, turning to look. Standing on the balcony was a shadowed figure. Focusing hard Cassandra tried to determine who it was. The figure did not move it simply looked back at her for several moments. Unease began to build within the Hylian girl. She had thought it might have been Rishian, but this figure gave off an eerie feeling. Cassandra looked quickly at Toan and then back at the figure. “Wh--who’s there?” She croaked.

The figure on the balcony took several slow steps forward. As it came into the candle light of the bedroom Cassandra’s unease settled completely. The angel dressed in white with the flowing hair smiled at her as he slowly came into the room. Cassandra recognized Len immediately from the battle earlier that day. Relaxing, she smiled at him. “You scared me.” She whispered in his direction.

The angel smiled back. “I’m sorry my dear.”

As he came even closer to her bedside Cassandra began to feel the unease rise in her stomach again. Why was he here?

Len looked down at her lying helpless in the bed. “Your injuries are preventing you from walking.” The words came out as half a statement and half a question.

Cassandra nodded, though she thought he should have known that from earlier that day. “Kenji said it would ware off…” Cassandra said hesitantly, still not sure if she believed the magic Hylian.

“Hm.” The angel looked down at her legs. “Maybe I can help a little.” The angel reached out one arm wrapped in the white robes and grabbed at the skin above her knee.

Cassandra flinched at his touch. He grabbed her much harder than she had been expecting and his touch was cold. Her eyes jumped up to his face with a gasp at his actions.

“Shh!” he hushed her, throwing a glance toward the still sleeping Toan. Len looked down at his hand on her thigh and began to process. He closed his eyes knowing what was coming.

Cassandra squirmed away from him slightly, but he held his grip firm on her skin. She felt an icy felling licking through her body and it made her very uncomfortable. The Hylain girl knew nothing of magic, but she didn’t think healing should make anyone feel this way. The unease in her stomach turned to panic and she wiggled hard, trying to get away, but his grip and her lack of control of her muscles prevented her wish.

Finally Len released his hand from her and held his eyes closed for a minute. After he felt the calming of the process, he opened his eyes and smiled down at her.
The release of his hold on her sent relief washing though her body and mind. She looked up at him, unsure of what had happened.

He smiled a beautiful angelic smile. “Do you feel any better?”

The relief running through her produced a nod. She wasn’t sure why, but it did. Looking down at her legs, she could still feel nothing. “I-- don’t know”
Len nodded to the girl. “It might take an hour or two.”

Cassandra nodded and looked back at him. She was still uneasy with his presence and wasn’t sure if he had really helped. But her better judgment told her she had better be polite to an angel of the goddesses. “Thank-you Len.”

He smiled at her. “You are welcome.” He looked over at the still sleeping Toan and smirked slightly. “I will be on my way now Cassandra.” With that he turned silently on his bare feet and left the room onto the balcony.

Cassandra strained her eyes hard to see him go, but the darkness invaded on his shape that she wasn’t able. The blonde looked over at Toan and then down at her legs. Reaching out she lay her hand on her thigh and rubbed it gently. No…still nothing. Laying her head back she closed her eyes. The relief that had washed through her made her sleepy. That was good, she thought. Sleep would do some good. She took a deep breath and let her torso relax. She could still feel her heart beating quickly under her ribs. As sleep came to take her Cassandra saw a flash of brilliant red staring down at her.

*********************************

“Oh Rad.” Din laughed as he twirled her around again. She caught him by his forearm to stop him. Smiling happily up at him she called over the music and he bent his ear down to her mouth. “I need a break! Let’s go get something to drink.”

Rad nodded in understanding and motioned her through the crowd.

Din tried to move, but the crowd had gotten too thick. She pushed a little but the people dancing around her wouldn’t move and she let of a slightly annoyed sigh.

“Here.” Rad’s voice came from behind her. Sliding his wings forward though the crowd her wrapped them around her almost all the way to the front.

Din giggled as the black-scaled extensions of him wrapped around her. She peaked out through the foot of space that he left for her to see though. This was the first time she really noticed the scales on his wings up close. Looking at the inside she could see a sort of purple tinge to the black color as the light glinted off of the shiny surface.

Rad placed one hand on her lower back and gently pushed, encouraging her to step forward.

Din followed his push and walked forward. As she did, Rad moved as well. The tips of the wings acted as a sort of wedge and rocked people gently to either side and they began to move easily through the crowd. Din chuckled to herself, she guessed some people might have simply noticed the Dragir moving with his wings out and just gotten out of the way.

With a smile Rad walked them to the edge of the crowd and eventually pulled his wings back around behind himself, folding them on his back as he usually held them.

“That works well!” Din laughed and smiled at him.

Rad smiled without acknowledging the comment. “Come, let’s get you some water.” Rad moved toward her and placed his hand on her side around her waist. Turning her he let his hand slide around her to her lower back once again, moving her toward the closest fountain he knew.

Din smiled. She was perfectly comfortable with her friend. As they were walking, Din glanced to her right and saw a building and platform she had never noticed before. With a gasp she took several jogging steps in the direction of the beautiful view from the extension. The platform seemed to be a secondary platform extending in an arrow shape off the side of a three-story building. Looking out, Din could see the vast sky all around her. She had never seen anything like it; the stars were gleaming from every direction. Even though she had been here one night already, the view still seemed like something entirely new. She clasped her hands together behind her back taking in another amazed breath. A warm sensation on her wrists made her **** her head slightly backwards, but she knew what it was. Strong fingers pushed their way, gently into her hand. Din turned, looking down at the hand that held hers. She was somewhat surprised at the gesture and looked up at Rad.

Rad’s stomach churned nervously. He listened to the now hushed music coming from the square around the corner. The more solitary location gave him some revived courage, but little relief of the butterflies. Taking a deep breath he looked down at her and smiled a gentle smile. He had to tell her how he felt…

Din smiled back. She turned her head to the side and looked down at the sky below.

Rad responded to her movement by stepping behind her and sliding one hand gently around her shoulders. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her from behind. He placed his chin on the top of her head and followed her gaze to the earth and sky below them.

Din smirked at his gesture. “It’s beautiful Rad.” Her voice was soft and calm. She sighed a little. She was content with his embrace and still awestruck by the sky.

Rad nodded and looked deliberately at her. “I agree.”

Din looked up at him and after a second understood he didn’t mean the sky. An embarrassed giggle came from her throat and a blush took over her cheeks. She took her fingers out of his and turned in his arms to face him. She shied away slightly, pushing off his chest with her hands.

“Aww Din.” Rad whispered empathetically. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you.” Rad’s deep red eyes drooped down into a worried frown.

Din shook her head. “No it’s okay.” The words came out just barely audible. She dropped her gaze, hoping the dark night and her hair hid her cheeks.

Rad slid his hand around to her back and pulled her in for a gentle hug. Placing his chin again on the top of his head he took in a deep breath.

Din submitted to his pull and laid her hands and head on his chest. She closed her eyes. This was a place she felt safe, but she had not expected that from him. Her head began to retrace their time together. He was so good to her…

Rad could feel his heart beating so hard against his chest he was sure she must be able to feel it against her cheek. Just do it! He yelled at himself in his head. Come on, creature of courage! It’s not that hard! Rad breathed hard and slowly relaxed his grip on her back.

Din responded to the relaxation in his muscles and she lifted from his chest to look up at him.

Rad looked down at her. As she dropped her hands from his chest he brought his around and caught her left hand with his. Bring it up to his neck he wrapped her hand around the back of his neck and pushed her elbow up onto his shoulder. Bringing his free hand up Rad gently slid the tips of his fingers along her cheek and wrapped them gently around the back of her head. Closing his eyes, he leaned down and very gently placed his lips against hers.

A shot of surprise ran through Din and her body didn’t respond in anyway at first. Her eyes fell closed and she felt Rad’s soft lips pressing into hers a little harder. Din’s mind ran around in a circle. Where was the fluttering? Din’s mind brought her to all the stories she had heard about a first kiss, and she couldn’t find the connection with this moment. Maybe… she thought, she should respond. That might do it. Din tightened her grip on Rad’s shoulders where he had placed her arm and rocked up onto her toes. She pressed back into him with some force.

Rad’s heart and mind exploded. She was kissing him back. Rad wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her into him, kissing her hard.

Din pushed her fingers up the back of his neck and twisted them into his hair. Her breathing came faster and she could hear his heartbeat soar.

Rad slowed his movements and broke the kiss for half a second. Opening his eyes he looked at her. Her skin glowed in the moonlight and her red hair sparkled form the lanterns. “Din…” He breathed. Leaning back down his kissed her again, very, very gently while stroking her hair with his hand.

Din let him kiss her again, but her stomach was churning with fear. What was wrong? Her heartbeat never changed. This was not what she thought it would be. As he broke the kiss again she looked up into his eyes. They were full of bliss and part of her wished she felt that way…

“Now.” He whispered down at her. “How ‘bout I go get you that drink.” He let his hands slide down her arms and caught both hands. He gave them a good squeeze and slowly turned around. As he let go he strolled toward the fountain area, a huge smile spreading across his face. Relief ran through him and he shook his head to himself. He couldn’t believe he had done it. With a great release of a breath, Rad worked his way through the ever-growing crowd to get the lady--his lady a drink. The large smile was firmly plastered in place on his face.

Din dropped her gaze to the metal platform and sighed. She didn’t understand why there was nothing. Cocking her head to the side she caught sight of the stars again and turned in place to face the open sky. Part of her was sad; she wanted to cry… But the larger part was just simply confused. She hadn’t even really known he felt that way. She had guessed on some level he might, but… She shook her head. More importantly, now what should she do? She kissed him and he was in goddess’s heaven about it. Thinking, she realized the only thing she really could do was…

A swoop of air rushed past the side of the building to Din’s left, cutting her thought short. The redhead turned sharply and looked into the dark spot, shaded by the building’s wall. Looking hard she saw nothing. She began to turn back to her thoughts when a voice whispered at her form the place. “Din…”

The redhead’s attention shot back up to the spot and she glared hard into the darkness trying to see. It was a voice she did not recognize. Taking a couple steps toward the shadow she called back in a whisper. “Who’s there?” The words were quiet but firm.

“Come here.” The voice came at her again.

Taking a few more cautious steps Din saw a figure in the dark space. Squinting hard she could see long robes and hair blowing in the gentle night breeze.

“Len?” Din asked, still in a whisper. She took several more assured steps, moving into the shadow of the building as well.

The angel looked back at her and smiled. “Hello child.”

As Din’s laid her eyes on him she shuttered. The lady bowed slightly, not sure how to address an angel. “Sir.”

“Aw, none of that.” The man with the white hair snickered at her and crossed his arms. He cocked his head to one side and looked down at her. “I had just come to see how the party was going.” He smiled kindly at her.

“Oh.” Din straightened and looked back over her shoulder toward the market place. She realized she was so far away from it now she could barely see the lights anymore. “If you’d like to go, it is right this way.” Din said with slight confusion. She stepped to one side and gestured with her arm. She thought it odd the angel was over in one of the back streets so far away from what he said he had came for.

“No, no.” He insisted harshly. “I’m not really into crowds.”

“Ah. Um. Alright.” Din was still confused, but tired to rationalize that the angels probably didn’t behave like most people.

“Though I am quite surprised at your choice of company.” Len looked off toward the horizon casually.

Din looked at his face. “What do you mean?” Her eyebrows fell over her eyes.

The tall man looked back at her. “Well, the Dragir.”

The lady looked over her shoulder in the direction of where she and Rad had just been standing. “Oh…” She guessed he must have seen them. “Rad and I are good friends.”

“I realize that. I’m just surprised you could be.”

Din looked back up at him again, still confused. “Why?”

The angel raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Uh.” Turning his head slightly his eyes searched her face as he thought deeply. “Din…don’t you know what you are?”

Din’s stomach leapt up into her throat and she gasped in quickly. Of course! An angel would know everything! Fear, nervousness, and excitement pumped through every inch of her body and her legs felt as if they might collapse. She looked back up at him and clasped her hands together over her chest. “Len, you know about my past?” Her voice shook with so many emotions.

The angel nodded slowly. “I do. If you don’t remember, then I guess I retract my earlier statement. It would be possible for you to be close to him…” The last sentence came out very quietly; Din only just caught it.

“Please…tell me who I am.” She looked up at him.

The angel sighed and looked her in the eye. “I’m surprised you haven’t figured it out yet young one.” Leaning forward his words came more fluidly. “Din, you possess the elemental power of fire, you have great strength, and your past evades you.” He searched her face, but saw no recognition. He looked her directly in the eyes. “Din, you are an Essensorix.”

Din’s eyes widened. “Wha--” She looked down at her hands and back up at Len. The pieces began to fall together. The dream about Sophia and Kate, why she thought they looked familiar and friendly, why she was so easily comfortable with them. Din shot her attention back to the angel. “Why wasn’t I born in the land the Essensorix live in? What was it called? Aleria! Why was I left alone!” Anger was starting to build in her questions.

“Din, you were only nine when the war broke out.” Len gently interjected.

“The war? I thought I was a feud. They said it was just a feud. Rad told me it was a feud!” The last sentence came out with some begging laced on the words.

“No Din. It was a war. The Dragir attacked and killed almost every Essensorix they could get a hold of.”

“But he’s so gentle and kind! He would never do that!” Din protested back at Len.

“Din, you have seen him fight. He is an amazing fighter. He is a killer, it is what he does.”

Din started to cry, the realization was setting in. “No…”

“Din, he was the leading commander, the captain of the fleet. Rad led them into battle.” Len bent a little to try and look her in the eye. “That is fact.”

The redhead shook her head forcefully from side to side, not wanting to believe it. She doubled over slightly, bringing both fists to her face.

Len looked down at the top of her head. “And he never told you…did he?” Len sounded empathetic as the whispered words came from his lips.

The tears began to run as she realized what he said was true. Everything she had been told fell into place, all of Rishian’s hints, Kate and Sophia trying to tell her in their room, Rad’s secrecy. Everyone had known except her and he lied to her… The anger in her body boiled and the frustration and pain came to the surface. Angry, pained tears started to run and she couldn’t stop it, she didn’t even try.

“I’m so sorry Din…” Len reached out to lay a comforting hand on her, but hesitated and pulled it away. “I’ll let you be…” With that he stepped back into the dark and disappeared.

Din heard a swoosh of air, but didn’t even look up. She was hurting and didn’t care about anything else. Her mind reeled. Rad’s face appeared in her mind and she questioned every moment they had ever spent together. Had the entire friendship been a lie too? He kissed her tonight! Her knees shaking, she bent to the ground and planted both fists in the concrete. Grinding her teeth together the tears ran off her cheeks and splashed on the cold platform. Her family was dead. That is why they never came for her, and she could never find them in her travels. Rad had been responsible for their deaths. No, he had been responsible for her race’s near extinction. No wonder Toan hates him! Her arms shaking, Din straightened again and turned on her heels. Keeping her head down she stormed toward the temple doors. She had to go… She had to do… She had to… Her mind ripped thousands of miles an hour, she had no idea what she needed to do, but she was moving, she couldn’t do nothing. As she came around the corner to the front of the temple, she could see the steps under her hair and stormed toward them.

“Hey m’lady.” A deep voice came from in front of her.

Stopping she looked up and her eyes landed on a face she knew well. The red eyes, silver white hair, and horns all shimmered in the lantern light; his scales especially threw light in every direction. Din’s stomach churned as she looked at him.

Rad looked down and saw the streaming tears and the obvious anger on her face. “Din! What’s wrong?” His demeanor immediately changed and he set the glass of water he had been bringing her down on the handrail of the stairs.

Din curled up her upper lip and snarled at him. “How can you even…” Her words cut off as the frustration and pain grabbed at her voice.

“Hun, tell me what’s wrong.” Rad’s genuine worry and sympathy moved him to reach out to her. Extending his arms he took her by the shoulders and began to pull her into his chest.

“No!” Din screamed at him and thrashed both fists at the center of his chest, pushing as hard as she could. “Don’t touch me!” She screamed through her tears raising one finger and pointing it at him.

Rad grabbed at his chest, the impact knocking his lungs with the absence of his breastplate.

Din turned as fast as she could and sprinted up the stairs of the temple. She grabbed hold of the massive door and threw it open just enough to slip through. She hurtled across the lobby to the flight of stairs. As she ran, she searched her head for anywhere she could go. She is stuck in the sky! The redhead reached the top of the stairs and stopped in her tracks. She looked down the hallway to the third door. Cassandra and Toan were recovering in her room…it wasn’t even her room! She dropped her eyes to the floor as another wave of tears weld to the surface. Looking up again her eyes landed on the first door and her heart skipped one pained beat.

She took of like a shot again. Sliding to a stop on the royal carpet, she grabbed hold of the handle and without bothering to wait or knock she threw the door open and looked in. The room held three empty beds… Looking to her right the first bed held red warrior garments and the next in line held a long sword. Turning to her left, by the balcony, the last bed was empty. Slamming the door shut she staggered to the empty bed and fell down face first into the sheets. Bringing her hands to her face the tears began to flow more rapidly and her stomach clamped up. She began to sob uncontrollably. In her short breaths in she could smell…him.

After a moment the air in the room moved and she felt a presence appear beside her. But she didn’t bother to look up. Relief swept through her and the next wave of sobs broke through. A warm and very gentle hand touched her shoulder. She turned her head to the side and looked up though her hair. Through the water in her eyes, she saw the only person she wanted to see. Din rolled to her side, the sobs still governing her. “Rishian…” His name barely came out audibly.

“Oh Din…” He reached out to her and very gently placed his fingers on her forehead and cheek, brushing her hair off her face. His wrapped face was full of worry and at the same time with understanding. Reaching out with his other hand he slid both hands on either side of her face and brush his thumbs over the tears on her cheeks, whipping them away.

His touch was warm and sent another shot off relief through her limbs, but the pain still dug at her chest. The tears were not slowing.

Rishian reached down and wrapped his arms under her. Gently he pulled her up into a sitting position.

Din felt limp, but once he got her up, she wrapped her arms around his chest and buried her face in his shoulder.

He stroked her back and his mind ran. She was in so much pain. His heart bit at his chest. Part of him felt so angry, but another part was so happy he could be here for her.

Din looked up at the closed door of the room over his shoulder. Part of her was surprised Rad hadn’t followed her. She took in a quick hiss of air. The thought of his name burned her heart again and she slammed her eyes into the Sheikah’s neck, his wrappings soaking up her tears. “Rish, I have to get out of here. I can’t stay here.” The words came out between the sobs.

Rishian, leaning his head against hers, and nodded. “Okay.” The word held no hesitation. It was definite.
Din took in a relaxing breath at his agreement.

“You give me one minute.” He pulled away from her and held his shoulders in his hands. He looked at her with his blue eye. “I will be right back.” He assured her.

Looking back, Din could see it was a promise. Her red-brown eyes still streaming she nodded, stopping the sobs. Dropping her hold on him, she laid her hands in her lap. Looking down for a fraction of a second, she felt his weight lift from the bed. She looked up again quickly, but he was gone. She looked at the door, it hadn’t moved. Glancing back over her should she saw the balcony door was open half a foot. She sighed and turned back, praying he would keep his promise. Lifting one hand, she brushed the new tears out of her eyes and leaned against the wall.

***************************

With complete grace, Rishian landed on the rail of the balcony of the third room and peered in. Cassandra and Toan were still both asleep. The Sheikah dove off the rail, hands first through the open door. Landing lightly on his hands he vaulted himself over the bed and landed behind Toan’s chair in perfect silence. Standing from his squat, Rishian turned and looked down at Toan. He reached over the back of the chair and laid one hand over the man’s mouth and the other on his shoulder. Gently, he shook the Essensorix.

Stirring, Toan come back to consciousness. Feeling the hand over his mouth, his fight instincts were immediately triggered. Throwing his eyes open he jolted to alertness in the chair. Swiftly, Rishian jumped and moved his face into Toan’s eyesight, bringing the hand from the man’s shoulder to his own mouth, shushing him with one finger. Rishian looked at the sleeping Cassandra and then back at his friend.

Toan let out a sigh and shook his head. Pulling Rishian’s partially wrapped hand off his face he furrowed his eyebrows at him. Don’t do that! The Essensorix mouthed at him.

Rishian shrugged, that was the least of his concern right now. The Sheikah threw his head in the direction of the hallway door. “We have to go. She knows…” He whispered his urgent words.

Toan’s eyebrows rose. “Oh.” He leapt up out of the chair and was right behind Rishian at the door. The two moved through and the Essensorix closed the door of the room softly. Turning toward his old friend his face turned down into seriousness. “When?”

“Just now.” The Sheikah looked down the hallway at the door to his room. Turning back he looked up at Toan. “Where is your sister?”

Toan looked down the hallway as well and thought for half a second. With a grunt he jogged a couple paces down the hall and stopped at the middle door. Shoving the door aside, he looked in and saw exactly what he expected, Kate and Sophia asleep on the larger bed. Toan snickered, he knew his sister would be sleeping, she wasn’t much of a partier, and Goddesses know Kate is joined to her hip. Toan looked back at Rishian, still standing by the last door in the hall, and motioned for him to get Din. “You mind grabbing my sword too.” The man then turned and thudded into the room, placing one hand on each of the girl’s ankles. “Wake up ladies. “ He shook them with his hands and words.

The two girls stirred and Sophia kicked at him. “Bug off big brother.”

“No, get up. We have to go. Now.” Toan’s serious voice told them this was not joke.

The two sleepy girls blinked at him from the bed. They looked at each other for half a second. The two flipped over and jumped of either side of the bed to a standing position. The both looked at him with questioning eyes.

“I’m sure I won’t have to explain. Come on.” Toan moved quickly back through the door into the hall with the two girls right on his heels.

***************************

Still leaning against the wall, Din looked at the door, wishing for him to come back. After what seemed like forever, she saw a shadow under the door from the lanterns in the hall. The door creaked open and the shadow slipped through.

Coming toward her, Rishian extended at hand to the lady. “Come.” He said.

Getting off the bed, she reached out to him and grasped hold of his extended hand.

Rishian reached out with his other arm and wrapped it around her back tightly, supporting her physically as well as emotionally. The Sheikah dipped slightly and grabbed Toan’s weapon off the opposite bed in the process.

Din dropped her head on his collarbone, closing her eyes as he walked her back through the door out into the hallway. She heard small voices as she felt the carpet of the hallway under feet. Looking up from under her hair she saw the other three Essensorix.

The three turned to look at her and Sophia responded first. “Din, hunny.” The brunette extended her arms and jogged the couple steps between them. As she reached them she wrapped her arms around Din and pulled her into a strong and comforting hug.

Rishian released his hold just enough for the other girl to hug her, but refused to remove his hand from her back.

Sophia pulled away and looked at Din’s sad eyes. “It’s going to be alright Din. We are all here for you.” The girl whispered at her.

Din nodded without looking her in the eyes. As she was responding, a large creak resounded through the lobby over the balcony below. The music from outside temporarily swelled and faded again with another creak. The group on the balcony turned and saw the Dragir come through the great doors of the temple. Taking in a gasp and bending her head down, Din took several quick steps backward, running her back into Rishian’s chest.

The Sheikah instinctively wrapped his arms around her protectively. “Let’s move.” He nodded toward the door he and Din had just come through, making eye contact with Toan. Swiftly the group entered the room and moved out on to the outer balcony. Looking down, the Sheikah looked for confirmation from his friend.

The only male Essensorix in the group smirked and nodded looking over the ledge. “Go” He said in a hushed tone.

Rishian grabbed Din’s hands and slung her around him up onto her back. “Hold on. He whispered in her ear.”

Din wrapped her arms around his neck, dropped her face into his shoulder and tightened her knees around his hips.

Rishian leapt off the balcony and grabbed hold of the smooth stonewalls below them. Scaling the wall with perfect accuracy and silence he touched down on the balls of his feet on the ground floor. Looking to his right he could see the lights of the party around the corner. Looking back up he watched the three Essensorix standing on the rail of the balcony, one girl on either side of Toan. With a count down, the three jumped together and began to fall. With a sweep of Toan’s arms a great gust of wind swooped upward and slowed their decent just before they hit the ground. All three landed softly and stood, looking toward Rishian and Din.

Din looked toward the flashing lights of the party around the front of the temple. She shook her head. How things can change… not an hour ago she was dancing with Kenji and having a blast at their accomplishment.

Rishian shifted her slightly on his back and took off at a light run down the pathways of the city, away from the party and the temple.

“Left! Go in the back!” Toan called from behind them.

Rishian took a hard left on his next footfall and ran down a ramp.

Peaking up from the wrappings, Din saw the loading dock, lined with empty pods coming up fast.

Rishian slid to a stop beside the pod at the end of the line and looked back at Toan. “Does it matter?”

“Nope!” Toan pulled up beside the Sheikah and grabbed hold of the door of the pod in front of them. He pried his fingers through the door and pulled it open. He stepped aside and held his palm open. “Ladies first.” Politely, he bowed slightly.

Din slid down off of Rishian’s back and was quickly met by Sophia and Kate on either side. Sophia squeezed her hands and led her forward into the pod. Slumping into a seat Din felt the weight of the pod rock at the two men climbing in after them. Leaning forward, she placed her elbows on her knees and buried her face in her hands.

Toan stood in the centre of the pod and flicked his wrists in a circular motion. At his command the propellers on the pod jumped to life, without the help of the motor.

Rishian slid into the seat beside the redhead and reached over with his hand. Placing it in the center of her back he rubbed her comfortingly.

Din felt the tears begin to rise again and she slowly slid sideways letting Rishian’s hand slide to her shoulders and laying her head on his collarbone once again.

The pod began to descend toward the solid ground below, carrying the four Essensorix and the Sheikah all focused on the girl with the broken memory.

****************************

The Dragir walked through the large spacious bedroom; all of them were gone. Rad shook his head and thought hard, what happened? Dipping down he picked up the red robes laying on what was Kilik’s bed and glanced over at the other two empty mattresses. Furrowing his eyebrows he turned on his heels and left the room with a determined glare. Turning down the hall he grabbed hold of the door to the girls room and pushed it aside.

Cassandra looked over at the door with open and cheerful eyes. The young blonde was standing in front of the mirror hanging over the dresser, combing her hair. “Hey Rad.” She chimed happily.

Rad was caught off guard, he hadn’t been expected her to be awake let alone standing. He was shocked out of his concentrated state. “Uh. Oh… Hi. Wow Cassandra, you look much better.” He took a couple steps into the bedroom.

The girl smiled and nodded. “I feel a lot better.”

Just as the sentence left her mouth there were footsteps in the hall and a figure in a cape came around the doorframe at a good speed. Kenji whipped around the doorframe and landed in a dramatic pose just inside the room. “Oh Cassandra!” He called melodramatically. “Oh.” He stopped short and straightened when he saw Rad.

Rad looked back at his old friend and a chuckle started in his chest. His eyebrows fell slightly in confusion and the laugh in his lungs grew. “What was that?” He burst out in a full on laugh.

Kenji dropped his head in defeat and began to chuckle too. “I came to see if I could cheer the lady up. I was going to take her down and dance with her, holding her if I had too.” Kenji looked up and across the room at the perfectly well lady. “But I see she could stand and dance all on her own now!” He sounded slightly surprised.
Cassandra smiled proudly. “Yeah!” She looked down at herself, straightening her white tunic.

Kenji’s eyebrows fell slightly overt op of his eyes. “That sure was faster than I thought it would be. Hm. Guess the demon’s magic wasn’t quite as strong as predicted.” Kenji brushed his blue hair out of his eyes, crossed his arms and sunk his weight into one hip.

“I think the speed mostly had to do with Len.” Cassandra smiled into the mirror.

Rad and Kenji turned to Cassandra sharply. “What?” They chimed together. Rad looked back at Kenji and the man in the cape advanced closer to the girl. Looking down at her, Kenji’s face and voice became very serious. “Len? What do mean?”

The shy girl felt all her cheerfulness fade into discomfort at the two men’s immediate change in tone. She shied away slightly. “He, he came to see me.”

Kenji’s face became more confused and held a mix of disbelief and anger. He closed the last couple steps between them in two great strides. “Cassandra, listen to me.” He reached both hands out and placed one on each shoulder, starring intently down into her eyes. “Are you sure it was the angel? You need to tell me everything.”

Cassandra looked up at him, a little frightened at his intensity. “I--he just showed up. On the balcony. He came in and put his hand on my leg. It felt weird and then he felt. Told me it would be better.” She looked around Kenji at Rad for some help. “I don’t know. He just left after that.”

Kenji’s mind ran around in his head for an explanation. He looked back over his shoulder at Rad. “Len would never appear to just anyone.” He looked back at Cassandra. “And he does not and cannot interfere with Hyrulian affairs. He is a messenger and an observer.”

Cassandra tried to wiggle out of Kenji’s hold but her efforts were no use.

Rad unfroze himself and walked over, he took hold of Kenji’s wrists and looked him in the eye. “Hey, ease up alright.” Rad pulled his friend’s hands away from the girl.

Cassandra staggered back a couple steps and gave Rad a thankful nod. She rubbed her shoulders where the man had been gripping her. “All I know is he made it feel awful and then immediately better. Within a couple hours I could feel my legs again.”

Kenji’s eyebrows narrowed again and he pulled his arm free of Rad’s hold. “I’m sorry Cassandra, but this is very important. What do you mean it felt awful then better?”

The blonde Hylian shrugged a little. “He grabbed my thigh and all this bad energy was in the air. It made me uncomfortable and almost sick.” The lady squirmed a bit at the memory. “Then he doubled over for a minute and turned away from me. After a moment he took his hand back. All the bad stuff went away and I felt really tired.” She shrugged again. “You know I want to help, but that is all that happened. He just left after that and I went to sleep.” Her eyes were full of confusion and a hint of sorrow. “I’m sorry…” She trailed off and dropped her gaze to the floor.

“No, don’t be sorry.” Rad extended a hand to her and rubbed her shoulder lightly. He looked up at Kenji. “What do think?”

The special Hylian brought his hand to his mouth and thought hard. “Unfortunately I think the worst…”

Rad’s eyes narrowed and he growled in his chest a bit. “You think it could have been…” Rad didn’t want to finish his sentence.

Kenji nodded. “It is the only real explanation.”

“What?” Cassandra asked quietly.


“The greatest of them all came to see you Cassandra, disguised as something you would trust.” Kenji growled at the floor. “Dam it, he has gotten stronger over the years, not weaker!” Kenji’s voice rose in anger. The man slammed the side of his fist into the bed frame beside him.

Cassandra’s eyes widen with fear. “Wh--What? Goddesses!!”

Rad looked down at Cassandra. “He touched you and wouldn’t look at you during that time, would he?”

The little fighter looked back up at him with wide-eyed fear and shook her head from side to side. “No.” She whispered at the Dragir.

Kenji swore violently. “He stole information from an injured!” The man threw his hands up in disbelief and began to pace around the room. “Demons sink so low…”

“What do you mean?” Cassandra’s voice quivered. “Stole information?”

Rad looked down at the frightened girl. “Ark is the most powerful of all the demons. He possess all three affinities and he used two of them on you.” Rad shook his head. “You couldn’t have known any better. He played off your emotions by appearing as someone you would trust, courage, and then used his powers of wisdom to read all your thoughts. Everything you know about each of us, he now knows too…”

“He wouldn’t look at you because he eyes glow a brilliant red when he uses his powers.” Kenji snarled, still pacing.

“Oh my Naryu… I’m so sorry Kenji.” Cassandra felt tears welling up in her eyes.

“No! Don’t you be sorry!” Kenji turned on his heels and stormed across the room at her. He grabbed her by the shoulders again and starred straight down into her eyes. “You have nothing to be sorry for. He deliberately used you because you were weakened. He is the only one that has to be sorry.” Kenji assured her. The man looked up at Rad with an angry and determined expression. “Where are the others?” He let go and headed for the door quickly. “We need to rally and get a move on.”

A thought broke through into Rad’s mind and he gasped in a quick breath. “Din!” His eyes widened with understanding and then clamped together with hatred and overwhelming emotion. “No!” The word burst out of him in a vicious roar. Rad’s fists clenched together and his crouched down into a pounce ready squat without intention. His teeth ground together and he roared at the ground below him. “Curse you Ark!” He screamed. He looked up at Kenji in the doorway. “We are leaving now!” He snapped.

Kenji and Cassandra both starred at him with confusion at his outburst and slight discomfort at the angered Dragir.

Rad growled in his chest, the sound resembling an animal. “Din ran out in tears earlier. She screamed at me and there was so much pain in her eyes… He told her everything…” Rad’s fists tightened even more. “And lies!” The Dragir pushed his weight forward and threw the door of the room open as hard as he could. It crashed into the wall in the hallway and Rad stormed out onto the balcony.

Kenji’s eyebrows furrowed. This was not going to be pretty. The only time he had ever seen Rad this upset was when the war had started and he knew how that had turned out… The man shook his head slightly and took a deep breath; he knew there was nothing much worse than an angry Dragir. Kenji looked back over his shoulder at Cassandra and nodded for her to follow. “We better back him up”

Cassandra very slowly took one step forward. She shook her head slightly, what had she gotten herself into? She looked up at Kenji. “I don’t think he will need much back-up with that kind of anger.” The girls voice was so quiet it was barely audible.

They followed Rad into the hallway and watched as he spread his wings and jumped the gap to the temple doors below in one swoop. When he reached the massive metal doors he slammed the left one open as hard as he could and stormed down the steps of the temple.

******************************

The white hair shrank up his back and began to darken back to the natural grey-black it had been for so many years. The man in the black armor leaned back on the wall of the building he stood beside and crossed his arms over his chest. Smirking to himself as his features returned to normal and his eyes flashed a brilliant red, he watched the pod with the Essensorix and Sheikah vanish from sight in the clouds below. He raised one finger to his lips and smiled. He thought he’d be able to count at least to one hundred before the Dragir came out in full battle mode.

Ark tilted his head to the side as he watched the party still going on one level below him around the corner. The redhead, Din, had sure left in a hurry, and reminded the other Essensorix of the Dragir’s previous actions. This plan certainly would work… A group divided was certainly not a force to be reckoned with. The demon thought hard, was there anything else? Din already knew of the Sheikah’s assist in his own release. Maybe that was as far as the emotions could be stirred with truth alone…

Ark Mantrios, now fully back to his own form glanced down as the ear-splitting crash came from the temple doors below. “You missed her by almost an hour big guy” Ark whispered under his breath to the Dragir below. “Getting slow in your old age Rad…”

*****************************

The five travelers left the pod in the center of South Hyrule Field. Abandoning it, they made their way up the long staircase surrounding the beautiful fountain that led to Castle Town. Rishian looked to the east and could see the beginnings of sunrise.

Walking beside him, Din stumbled on the stairs. Instinctively she put her hands out to catch herself.

“Whoa.” Rishian moved with lightning speed and caught her in his arms before she hit the ground.

Din’s hands grabbed lazily at Rishian’s arms around her upper body as her knees shook slightly. She breathed a heavy sigh as Rishian straightened her back up. The battle, lack of sleep and emotional stress had finally caught up to her to the point her couldn’t control it any longer. As the Sheikah stood her back up her head fell backward and her eyes closed softly. Trying to open them again her eyes rolled and they fell shut again. “Rish…” The word was simply air on her breath.

“It’s okay Din.” He whispered back at her. Stooping a little the Sheikah slid his arm around her back and hooked his other behind her knees. Standing upright she fell back into his hold and he looked down at her in his arms. “…I got you.”

Din’s eyes refused to open after that. Her other senses tried to pick up the slack. She could hear Rishian’s footsteps on the stairs below her and the three other sets of steps. Her ear being pressed against his chest, she could hear his heart and his breath coming evenly and slowly as well.

“Here, I’ll grab that.” Toan’s voice came out of the darkness in her mind.

“Thanks.” Rishian replied with a breath.

Din heard a great creak and the sound of metal rubbing on concrete. She guessed the doors through the wall must have been closed for the night.

“Halt!” A male voice ran through the air and Din cringed at the volume.

“Easy. We are residents.” Rishian called back from under the wrappings.

Din heard the scuffling of feet and saw the flash of lights from behind her eyelids.

“Hrump” A gruff male voice grumbled. “Fine, let ‘em through.”

The clanking of armor moving around was the only sound Din could hear for the next moment and then she felt Rishian began to advance again. Din’s senses began to go cloudy again and ears gave up the fight. All she was aware off was Rishian’s chest and arms touching her. Her head rose and fell with his breathing and his heart pushed on her face in perfect rhythm. As she breathed in she could smell his soft scent in her nose. It was comforting to her and she breathed out and in again for another relaxing whiff. Din felt her body give out and the relaxation of sleep cloud her mind.

“Din…” The Essensorix heard her name faintly in the distance and felt her body shake gently.

“Hmm” Din stirred a little in Rishian’s arms, having no idea how much time had passed.

Rishian’s voice came out of the darkness very close to her ear. “We are here at the Inn. I’m going to go home, Kate, Toan, and Sophia will take good care of you.”

In her half asleep state Din felt panic jump into her stomach and throat. “Nnn” She grabbed at the wrappings under her hands and pressed her face into the Sheikah’s chest shaking her head.

Rishian let out a beep breath and another male voice came form the dark space. “She wants to stay with you Rish.”

The Sheikah nodded and she shifted her slightly in his grasp. “Alright. Well, we will see you tomorrow then?”

“If you need anything you know where to find us.” Sophia’s kind a quiet voice came quickly.

Din felt Rishian nod and turn on his heels. He began to move again, this time at a much swifter pace. Din could feel his feather light feet dance sideways from shadow to shadow along the streets of Castle Town. The smooth motions eventually dropped her back into the comfort of sleep in his arms.

******************************

He looked at her from the shadow of the far corner of the little space. The Sheikah had laid her down on his bed and covered her with a blanket. Crouched in the shadows he wrapped himself in the darkness completely, his blue eye watching her sleep. He let out a deep sigh. Why? It was the only word running though him. She was no different then all the others he had met. So…why?

With another sigh he dropped his head and pushed his hand under the stray locks of brown hair on his forehead. Deep in his chest he could feel his heart beat, and is emotions run around it in circles.

Din breathed easy, fully encased in sleep she hadn’t moved in some time, other than the simple rise and fall of her rib cage.

Raising from his squat the Sheikah took several steps toward the sleeping lady, without truly noticing his own advance. The shadow’s melted off his body and he stepped into the very dim light that reached the room from the moonlight outside. He knew she would not be able to see in this light, but he could see everything of her. Reaching her side he looked down at her. The tears had gone, but some slight redness still lined the bottoms of her eyes. Reaching out very gently with one hand Rishian’s fingertips brushed a lock of hair out of her face to fall behind her head. Letting his fingers trail down the side of her face, they moved down her cheek, over her nose, and down to brush her lips. His touch was so gentle; he knew she would barely feel it. “Din…” the word came out under his breath and didn’t make it past the wrappings covering his face.

****************************

Small rays of faded light peaked around the corners in the stonewalls and lit Rishian’s small abode with a faintest glow of yellow and white. Din stirred under the blanket and pulled the thick fabric up over her eyes, protesting the light invading her eyelids. The blankets were warm and she didn’t want to move. As her mind became more aware and awake she felt stiff from the battle the day before. With a large stretch she yawned and rolled over to her other side. Opening one eye she peaked out at the room around her. Across the way she could see the still untouched couch and the perfectly clean mat on the floor. She glanced around the room and her heart skipped a beat. Where was she?

With a flutter of her pulse and a shallow gasp she sat upright in bed and scanned the room around her. Her eye fell on the stone and on the couch and mats once again. Turning, she saw the stove and cabinet on the back wall and the unburning candles placed around the space. Rishian’s room. With a sigh of relief she relaxed and slumped back down into the bed, bringing the heel of one hand up to rub her eyes. Wow. She thought to herself. She must have been really tired last night; she didn’t remember him bringing her here initially. With a deep relaxing breath in she could smell that smell off the sheets. Letting her head fall to the side she looked over the room again. He wasn’t here…

Din felt everything inside her drop a little and she pushed herself upright again. With another stretch she placed her feet on the cold stone floor and slid back into her boots, which Rishian must have removed for her. Buckling them up the sides, she stood and took several steps toward the faded light she could see around the stone. Turning the corner, she remembered this hallway from the last time she was here. It had been night then and pitch black. Trailing her hand along the stone anyway, she walked down the hall to the crack in the wall leading to the outside market place. Looking down, she dipped and slipped through the small crack to the outside light.

Shielding her eyes for a minute, Din blinked at the streets below her. She remembered only now that Rishian’s hidden place was on the second story of the city. Squinting upward she realized the sun was already half way across the sky. She had slept almost all day! Dropping her gaze she shook her head to herself. Taking a couple steps forward, she looked over the edge of the rooftop to the cobblestone below. How on earth did he get her up here? She sighed at the many mysteries of the Sheikah that no one would ever understand.

“Good morning beautiful.” Rishian’s hushed voice came out of the air around the girl.

Din spun around expecting to see him standing behind her, but he wasn’t there. She looked to both sides and eventually spun her self in a couple circles looking for him. “Rishian?” She called out quietly.

His snicker surrounded her and his voice arose again. “What are you doing spinning around like that?”

A small smile appeared on Din’s lips. She looked up to the third story that rose above her, trying to find him. “Where are you?” She turned again, scanning all the ledges.

“Oh come on Din. It’s no fun if I just tell you.” He snickered again as he spoke

Din’s eyebrows dropped in determination. If she could get him to keep talking… “Oh, so this is like hide a seek?”

“Maybe. I even made this one easy for you.” He laughed.

Getting an idea, Din’s eyes jumped to the dark places in the immediate vicinity. “How easy? Shadow wrapping does not make it easy for me.” She smiled as she walked from corner to corner where the buildings met each other and threw dark shadows from the lack of sun.

“Oh, I wouldn’t make it that hard. I’m not even moving around, nor wrapped in shadows.”

Din smiled. She listened hard for the source of his voice… “No? Well that’s a relief.” She pounced to the edge of the building and looked downward into the street.

Seeing nothing, she sighed dramatically. “Isn’t that the age old tale of the Sheikah? You can’t find one unless they reveal themselves.”

Rishian laughed. “Yes, or want to be found…”

That time, Din knew the voice had come from behind her. Standing quickly, she looked and saw the flat wall with the crack to Rishian’s room. “What?” The word was in disbelief. “You can’t be…” Her sentence trailed off as she walked to the crack. Bending down she look up inside and saw the Sheikah leaning against the back wall, his arms crossed over his chest, one knee bent with his foot on the wall. His one exposed eye smiled at her.

“Well, that took longer than expected.” He laughed a little.

“How?” Din looked confused and slightly shocked. Bending, she pushed herself through the crack and back in to the hallway that lead to his living space. “You were in the…” She looked down the completely stone hallway toward the room and then back at him. She smiled and shook her head; she knew she shouldn’t try to rationalize it, so she wasn’t even going to try.

“There it is…” Rishian’s words came out quiet.

Din looked up at him and glanced around. “What? There what is?”

The Sheikah dropped his eye and woofed a single laugh. “Your smile.”

Din’s felt her face go hot and was glad of the dark space in that moment. She looked down and away, trying to suppress the small smirk on her face.

“I’m glad to see you are feeling better.” He dipped his head to try and look at her hidden face.

With a deep breath, she pulled the heat from her face with one hand, hoping he didn’t notice. She looked back up at him. “Yes, I am.” She stuttered only slightly. “Th--thanks for everything yesterday…”

Rishian pushed himself off the wall and moved toward her. “You are most welcome.” He reached her and reached out with both hands. Taking hold of her he squeezed them gently. Looking down at her from behind his wrapped face, he made eye contact and spoke seriously, but gently. “Din, if you ever need anything. I am here for you and will do whatever it takes to help you.”

Din’s eyes widened slightly at the words. No one had ever said anything like that to her before. Feeling his hands around hers her heart fluttered and she glanced down to make sure she was still standing. She smiled with closed lips at him. “Thank-you Rishian…” She looked up at his one blue eye and then across the white wrappings. She found it funny, she had come to know his appearance by the wrappings, but she had no idea what he really looked like. Part of her wanted to know and this encouraged her to reach out and pull the cloth off. But the other part told her she shouldn’t, that was probably very rude in the Sheikah’s culture. There was a reason they wrapped themselves, she couldn’t just take it off of him. Looking back at his blue eye she wanted to return the offer. “You too. You know that right.”

Rishian smirked and it showed in his eye. “Thank-you ma’dam.”

Din laughed a little. “I guess a Sheikah can take care of himself, but I wanted to offer.”

Rishian’s smiled faded. “We aren’t always so good at matters concerning social interaction.” He looked at her with intent. “It is nice to have a friend Din.” Rishian sighed to himself. He had been so solitary for so many years. Walking around the City in the Sky was very weird for him. He hadn’t been in public for many years. Now, he had made a friend, which had been even more rare in his extended lifetime.

Din looked up at him and squeezed his hands back. She took one step closer to him; their bodies inches form touching. She looked up at him with concern. “Rish…” She raised one hand to his face.

The Sheikah’s heart skipped a beat and he froze completely. He watched her hand come up and he stiffened. She wouldn’t…

Din’s fingertips touched his forehead, where the wrappings ran back over the top of his head. Sliding her fingers along the crease very gently she brushed some of the stray dark hair from its place, pushing it out of the way of his eye to the side. “You have been lonely…” Her words were a statement, not a question.

Rishian let out a deep sigh and dropped the stiffness in his body. Letting his head fall forward, the left side of his face landed in the palm of her hand.

Din was surprised by the action, but didn’t shy away. Her palm was touching the white cloth, but her fingers lay on the skin around his eye, under his hair. Very gently she rubbed her thumb across his cheek, over the wrapping and onto the skin, then back again.

Rishian pushed his face into her hand harder, without thinking about the motion. A simple touch…something so absent for so long… He sighed and relaxed more into her. “Yes…” The word was barely audible to the lady.

Din left his relief and she responded by giving him more. Her heart wanted him to be happy. Letting go of his other hand she reached up around his back and pulled him into a hug.

He submitted to this and let his torso bend downward. Their chest met and he let his head fall to her shoulder. Reaching his arms up around her back, he pulled her closer and hugged her back. Rishian struggled with himself. He was letting his guard down, and he knew it. He was supposed to be strong and fearless, completely independent…but she made his heart weak. He sighed and nuzzled his face against her hand.

Din’s heart fluttered again at his actions. She breathed out a deep sigh and let him hold her. There was so much about him she didn’t know, yet she was comfortable and at home with him. Home… Her mind fluttered around in her head and landed on the place she had called home for so many years. Gerudo Fortress grew up in her minds eye, her friend Ella, her mother, and her old room. Home…another place popped into her mind, someone she used to feel that way with.

Rishian felt compelled to explain, he had to…But she had been through so much in the last day, how could he add to that… “Din…I…” He started.
She turned her head toward him slightly, waiting for his sentence.

“Rishian!?” A female hollered from what seemed like nowhere, the voice echoing through the stone building like a church bell.

Rishian grumbled in his chest, quiet enough that Din wouldn’t hear it. Always, worst timing… Straightening Rishian looked back toward the main portion of his room.

Din followed his gaze and her heart sunk. There was a lady in his room?

Rishian rolled his eyes and grabbed Din gently by the wrist. Leading her forward they moved down the hallway and around the corner to the main room.

To Din’s surprise there was no one there. Furrowing her eyebrows in confusion she looked toward Rishian.

The Sheikah looked down at her and squeezed her arm where he held it. “Promise you won’t tell?”

Din became more confused and she let it show on her face.

“Because I could be easily hunted down if anyone knows…”

Din gasped in a shocked and horrified breath. “Rishian, I would never tell anyone anything!” Din felt herself become angry. “No one would hurt you…”

Rishian laughed a little. “Oh you’d be surprised. The Sheikah are very mysterious for various reasons.” He took a step away and let his hand slide down until the tips of his fingers landed in her palm. “Come on.”

Din calmed immediately at his touch. She took hold of his fingers, loosely, as he did with hers and followed him into the room. They moved to the back wall and Rishian extended a hand to the stonewall. He pressed on a series of blocks and suddenly the room began to tremor. The walls began to move. Looking back, Din saw the opening they had just come through, that led to the hallway and crack to the open street, close over with stone. The wall completely blocked the entranceway and made a seamless match, she couldn’t even have guessed exactly where the opening had been. Her eyes had opened in amazement and she turned back to Rishian. Upon doing so, she saw a new sight directly in front of them. The wall that the Sheikah had just been touching was gone, and a new hallway stretched away into darkness before them. Din’s eyebrows shot up. “Wow!” She looked back at the close over and then to the new hallway again.

Rishian squeezed her hand again and then looked her in the eye. “You understand why you can’t tell anyone?”

Din nodded firmly. She looked at the other bare walls around the room and remembered one of them gave way into a shelving unit full of maps. Letting her eyes wander around the stone she wondered just how many of the walls moved and opened to different places.

“Come, they are waiting for us.” Rishian pulled on her hand and moved forward down the dark hallway.

“They?” Din looked up at him, following close beside.

Rishian nodded. “Sophia, Toan, and Kate. They want to know how you are doing, and they want to help as much as they can.” The hallway bent left and they came to a crossroads. Rishian turned her to the right and they continued down another completely stone hall.

Din nodded and smiled a small half-hearted smile. She largely didn’t want to think about the pervious day, but she did want to know what she was, and the three of them are what she is, so…

As if he read her mind Rishian continued. “They can answer any questions you have. The hallway twisted to the right and came to a fork. The Sheikah led them down the left one.

Din had not really been paying attention to the halls and paths, but at that point, she didn’t care. “You think it will be okay?”
Taking her down another right at a T-intersection in the halls. He turned to her and gave her a sincere expression in his eye. “Of course. They will only tell you what you want to know. They are here for you.”

Din nodded, letting out a deep breath. Before she could open her mouth to say anything they came to a dead end. The stonewall was flat and hard in front of them. It had gotten so dark that Din could barely see, though she was sure Rishian could see perfectly.

The Sheikah knelt down and raised a finger to where his lips would be behind the wrappings over his face, indicating for her to be quiet. Looking back down he touched the floor and twisted one of the stone blocks. Again, the stone moved, without noise. The section of the floor at the base of the wall rotated into itself and opened up a hole big enough for one person at a time. As the hole revealed itself, the sounds of many people filed up into the stone hallway.

Looking surprised, Din knelt down beside Rishian and looked through the hole. She could see nothing except a solid colored steel plate. The metal echoed the sounds upward into the stone hall.

Rishian slid through and landed silently on the metal. It wasn’t much of a drop. He looked upward and raised his arms out to Din. Nodding, he encouraged her.

Din sat on the edge and pushed herself off. Tucking as she fell, she reached out with her arms, preparing for impact.

Rishian caught her easily in his arms and set her down on her feet.

Looking up, Din could see that the steel plate was another series of paths and halls. Ahead of her was a long a dark hall that twisted off to the left, to her right was one that seemed to stretch on forever. She turned to the left and saw something new. A grate covered an opening out onto the street of Castle Town. She looked at the area visible through the grate and her eyebrows rose in recognition. A set of stairs came down from the main street into a low-lying, dimly lit square. The grate over looked the area that led to Telma’s bar. Din took a step toward the grate and smirked. Rad had been right; Rishian had been watching them through the grate. “This is how you keep an eye on the whole city…” Din’s thought came out on her lips.

Rishian smirked to himself and then spoke, “Come on. This way.” He reached out for her hand again and turned her directly around to face another grate. Through this one it was much harder to see. Rishian leaned down again and unlatched the bottom of the grate. As he leaned his weight onto the piece of metal, it swung from a hinge at the top, opening a space at the bottom. Rishian reached out to Din, offering a hand. With another encouraging smiling eye he nodded. “They are waiting for us.”

Din took the two steps between them in stride and took hold of his hand again.

Rishian slid one leg through the opening and sat on the edge. Holding the grate open with his back, he pulled Din down to an almost sitting position in his lap. He grabbed her around the arms and slid her through the small space.

Din looked down, still holding tightly to Rishian’s arms. She could see the stone below and let go when he did. Landing softly she stood and looked up around the space. Her eyebrows rose again, this too was a place she recognized. The inside of Telma’s bar, but she was looking at it from a different angle. Instead of standing at the door looking up the length of the backward L-shaped room and to the side into what she remembered as being the dark portion of the bar, she was standing in the shadows looking toward the counter, the longer area out of view around the corner. Feeling a hand on her elbow, she looked back over her shoulder to see Rishian looking down at her. He had dropped and shut the grate with no sound at all.

Rishian gestured to behind them and Din turned to see the three Essensorix sitting at a table in the middle of the back wall surrounded by the dark shadow.
The three smiled happily and began pushing two chairs out for their company. The square table was pressed against the back wall in the dark space; Toan sat with his back to the open bar, the two girls side by side facing the grate through with Din and Rish had just entered. Din noted that Toan had seemed to find another white shirt, exactly the same as the one that he had lost before the battle with the demon of courage.

Rishian slid into the chair immediately next to the wall. Being in public in Castle Town was not the same as in the City in the Sky. He was with friends, but he still didn’t like being out in the open. Coming through the gate to the city-carrying Din had been weird enough.

Din sat in the chair next to him and looked across the table at the other Essensorix. She lent casually on the table placing her hands together and her elbows on the edge.

“How are you feeling, hun?” Sophia leaned forward in her chair and reached directly across the table, placing her hands on Din’s.

The redhead smiled “Much better.” She nodded with a small smile.

“Good. You had us a little worried.” Toan leaned back in his chair and slung his arm over the corner of its back.

“Worried?” Din looked at him.

“We need as many Essensorix alive and well as possible.” Kate crossed her arms over her chest.

Sophia elbowed her hard, giving her a small glare. “And you are a good friend, Din.”

“Wait, what?” Din looked between the two girls with confusion. We need as many as possible?

Rishian sighed under his wrappings and thunked his head against the wall. “Din, you should ask them the questions you want the answers too. They can tell you almost everything you want to know.”

Sophia nodded enthusiastically. “Of course dear. Where would you like us to begin?”

Din looked down at her hands, she hadn’t even really thought about it. Her whole life she’d had no idea of who or what she was and now she had three members of a race that she supposedly belonged to sitting in front of her willing to tell her everything. She shook her head a little. This was not going to be any less emotional than the events of the past day. She looked up and met eyes with all three of them. “I guess, the first thing I want to know, is how you know I am an Essensorix at all?”

Sophia smiled a friendly smile. “Well, first of all your physical characteristics. You appear as a Hylian does, but with rounded ears. You are tall and lean. But most of all, you wield an elemental magic gift.”

Toan cut in then, leaning forward on the table as well. “The Essensorix are the only race that can inherit an elemental gift from the world around us.”

“Inherit?” Din looked at him.

“Yes” He nodded. “If an Essensorix child is exposed extensively to one of the elements before puberty, they will contract that element and be able to call it at anytime.”

“Meaning at some point,” Kate cut in with her snarky attitude; “You were exposed to a large amount of fire at a young age.”

Rishian lifted his head and glared at Kate. “Do you mind? She has never learned any of this, it is hard on her and you don’t need to be adding to the stress. Alright?” Rishian’s voice held defensive venom.

Kate rolled her eyes.

Sophia gave her another look. “She is always like this, unless there is danger around, then she can sometimes be nice.” Sophia looked up at Rishian. “I don’t understand the correlation either.” A small giggled followed the sentence.

While they talked Din’s mind fled immediately back to her very first memory. The flames were everywhere, all around her. She remembered crying, not understanding what was happening. The wooden boards burning in the fire were collapsing from above her and she was trying to get away, get out, but the boards kept falling from above her. Coming back to the present Din looked down at the red scarf covering her left arm. The others had quit talking and were studying her. She grabbed the tie at the bottom of the scarf, above her hand, and pulled it loose. The Essensorix let it slide about half way off, up to her elbow, and looked at the scared burn mark imprinted in her skin.

All the eyes at the table fell on her arm. Sophia took in a quick breath of shock, while Kate and Toan’s eyebrows raised swiftly. Rishian let out a breath and felt his heart and stomach churn as he felt pain for what she had been through.

“Yup, that would do it.” Kate stated from her chair.

Din’s voice came out under her breath. “It was everywhere…”

Rishian reached out and slid the back of his fingers down her right shoulder, closest to him, comfortingly.

Din was glad of the gesture. She looked up and across the table. “How did you all get yours?” She looked to Toan.

As the question came out Rishian stiffened in his seat and Din looked to him. His gaze was past her and she turned her head the other way, following his sightline. From the counter, a man was approaching the table very slowly. The elderly man was looking at the floor and seemed to be slightly uncomfortable. Din recognized the man immediately.

Talon reached the table and stopped, still looking at the ground. “Evening Rishian.” He greeted the Sheikah with extreme hush in his voice.
“Evening” He nodded to him. “I think we are alright for now. We will motion you if we need anything. Thank-you Talon.” The Sheikah tucked his chin, his wrappings hugging his face tightly.

Talon nodded and replaced a small note pad and pen in his pocket. His eye caught Din and he paused. “I guess you must have found him.” He smiled shyly.

Din nodded and gave him a friendly smile back. “I did.”

Talon glanced very briefly at Toan and dropped his eyes again. “The other lad not with ya?” He spoke to Din again.

“No, he is not.” Rishian spoke very firmly. “Thank-you Talon.”

The man turned on his heels and hurried away, back toward the counter.

Din choked out a sigh, trying not to let her mind go to the company she had been accompanied with the last time she was here.

Sophia read this on Din’s face and quickly launched back into their conversation. “We all had different experiences to receive our affinities.”

Toan smirked. “Truth is, most Hylians believe that air Essensorix must be the most numerous because it is everywhere. But just being in it, is completely natural for everyone, you have to over exposed. That is the key.” He chuckled to himself. “For me, it happened by accident. I snuck out of the house one night when mother had told us to go to bed.” He looked at his sister. “And I got caught in a mother of all wind storms.” He looked back at Din again.

Din’s eyebrows rose with interest. “Wow.”

“I knew about the ability to acquire magic.” Kate went next. “I wanted the earth affinity really bad. So, I dug a hole in the dirt, rubbed it all over my face and body. I filled the bottom of the hole with leaves and branches and anything I could find really. I climbed in a buried myself up to my nose and mouth.” She shook her head. “I literally laid there for three days.”

“Three days?” Din coughed.

The brunette nodded. “I wanted it bad, I had to make sure.”

Din shook her head and then turned to Sophia seated in front of her.

The girl looked down at the table. “Mine is a little more traumatic.” She paused for a moment. “I almost drowned in Eldin spring.”
Din gasped. “What?”

Sophia nodded. She turned to her brother and smiled. “If it weren’t for this guy I wouldn’t be here today.” She punched him playfully in the shoulder.
Toan smiled and dropped his gaze. Din was sure she saw a small blush on his cheeks but she couldn’t be certain.

The three of them looked at her, waiting for her next question.

Din thought hard, but her next question entered from Sophia’s previous sentence, so the thought didn’t take too long. “You said Eldin spring?” Din remembered that name from her travels. “That is in Kakariko Village. I thought you all lived in a different land?”

Toan’s demeanor visibly changed. His fists clenched and his jaw tightened.

Sophia reached a hand out and placed it gently on his forearm. “You know we would get to this. This is what she doesn’t know and needs to hear.” The girl in the red dress said to her brother. Sophia turned back to Din. “Toan is the best one to tell you all of this, he was the oldest at the time.”

Din turned to the man and waited. She could tell this was difficult for him.

Toan looked down at the wood grain of the table. Taking a few breaths he convinced himself this was necessary. “The Essensorix used to live all over Hyrule. In Castle Town, Kakariko, in Faron, some in cottages in Zora’s river, several on Death Mountain, the City in the Sky, I even heard of a few in peak province. The location was mostly a preference. Most Essensorix choose to live in an environment that suits their elemental affinity. But, we had one major city. Very few members of any other race lived there; it was an Essensorix city. We are a peaceful race, and were rarely involved with any type of dispute because we mostly kept to ourselves, friendly when we needed to be. I guess this is where I should jump a little and tell you that we did not live in Kakariko. Sophia’s incident was when we were visiting some people there, we lived in the large city.” Toan looked at his sister and then over at Din. “The city was named Kesselran. It was located just west of Hyrule Castle, on the other side of the field. That area is now…” He stuttered and choked on his words a little. “The area is now--inaccessible.” He seemed to finally find the right word. “So I doubt you have even been there.”

Din nodded in understanding. She hadn’t, but she did know that area well. That was where the path from the field led down along Lake Hylia to where Gerudo Desert began. “So what happened?” Din prompted lightly.

“The Dragir attacked the city.” Toan’s fists clenched as the anger of the memory was heightened. “I was a new lieutenant of the Kesselran Army and we were completely blind to the attack. It came without warning and without reason.” Toan looked up and his eyes met with Din, flaring. “They killed everyone they could find, burned buildings, and trashed every visible space. They were looking for something, to this day I don’t know what, but the damage was--” He took several deep breaths to try and control himself. “The city fell and the Essensorix were slaughtered; and not just the army, they killed innocents too.” Taking another calming breath he moved on. “Needless to say, those that survived rounded up the others around Hyrule and the political anger poured out of the leaders of both sides. No agreement was ever truly reached. There was more bloodshed during the so called ‘coming to a conclusion.’” He scoffed. “The conclusion was the Essensorix leaving Hyrule to try and get away from the Dragir and rebuild the devastated race.”

“We all went to Aleria.” Sophia picked up where his sentence had ended, trying to give him a break. “There, we are safe and we have made a new home.”
Kate had stayed quite through the whole story. She had closed in, very aware of the memory in her own mind. This was something none of them liked to think about.

Din was awed by the story, but her own mind was trying to fit it in the pieces she already had. The fire she was in was obviously one of the burning buildings. With a sigh she guessed that she must have stumbled away from the city and down the path to the desert where Avail and the Gerudo found her. She knew that already from what Avail had told her. She nodded. “So why do I have no memory?” She whispered, her voice beginning to shake.

Rishian leaned forward at her sad sound. He leaned on the table and leaned his wrapped face down into her view. He lay his hand on her back and spoke softly to her. “It might be trauma. The mind forgets traumatic events to avoid the pain…”

“But I want to remember…” She looked at his single visible eye with pain in her own.

“I know…” He didn’t have an answer for her.

Toan looked for something to say. “Maybe you got hit in the head by a piece of debris.”

“That is very possible.” Sophia chimed in, trying to be positive.

As the words were leaving her mouth, the door of the bar burst open. The group of five looked up, Toan looking over his shoulder at the loud noise. In through the door walked a very broad man with dark brown hair that hung to just above his matching dark brown eyes. The man was dressed as a warrior would be, a massive blade hanging at his side, his silver armor glittering in the lantern lights of the bar. Rad's brown eyes darted around the lit portions of the bar; he did not look toward the shadows.

At the sight of him Din took in a quick and almost fearful breath.

The second Rishian’s eyes landed on the Dragir in Hylian form, he sprang to action. The Sheikah was out of his chair and had Din out of hers before the girl was done taking in her breath. Rishian spun her around and pressed her back into the corner of the stonewall underneath the grate. The Sheikah placed himself in front of her and wrapped the dark shadows over his back and all the way around himself. He whispered to her. “Stay completely behind me.” He grumbled that he had never been able to extend his ability of shadow wrapping. He could only truly enclose himself. He could hide her behind his own shadow, but if any part of her was to move to the side of his body, it would be seen. No sound had been made in the movement; as long as the Dragir did not approach he wouldn’t know of their presence in the darkness.

Din nodded to acknowledge that she heard him. Her veins were coursing with adrenalin, she felt herself start to shake. Why was he here? She felt the anger of the past day rising to the surface. Why? Her mind jumped back to Toan’s story and the facts he had told her. Rad had led the surprise attack on Kesselran and in the end, drove her entire race out of the land, burned their city to the ground and left her with no past to remember, no family, and no home. These thoughts all raced through Din’s mind a spilt second. She dropped her head forward to land on Rishian’s chest. She closed her body down, trying to make herself as small as she could behind him. It wasn’t difficult, he tall and muscular, though not as broad as Rad.

Rishian looked to the side. Toan, Sophia, and Kate were glaring at each other, each of them throwing a glance in the Dragir’s direction.

Talon looked up from behind the counter. His eyebrows furrowed when he saw Rad. He remembered the man from the last time he had come in. Talon threw the quickest of glances into the dimly lit corner. He saw, in that glance, the sudden absence of the Sheikah and the girl, but the agitated silhouettes of the three company members. The elderly man grumbled. He was too old for this stuff. “Can I help you sir?” Talon spoke gruffly to the Dragir.
Rad looked the man in the eyes and grumbled in his chest. This fellow had been no help last time. “I’m looking for some people.” The Dragir did not wait for a response; he began to scan the bar with his heightened eyesight.

“Look, we don’t want no trouble here.” Talon came out from behind the bar to stand in front of the Dragir. “So, unless you want to sit down and order something, you ought to be on your way. Ya hear?”

Rad ignored the man completely as he finished the scan of the lit, longer portion of the bar. Turning slowly, his eyes scanned the empty tables of the dimly lit shorter side of the room.

Rishian felt the hairs on his skin stand up. He hissed through his wrappings at Toan. “You mind dealing with that?” The urgency was evident. “I can’t get her up and out the grate without his sensitive ears hearing that.” The whisper was barely audible to Din pressed against his body and she wondered how on earth Toan heard the Sheikah.

Toan’s fist, pressed into the table, tightened. “Gladly.” He growled. Slamming his fist down with great force he stood, throwing his chair over backward to the stone floor.

Rad looked up immediately at the Essensorix. His eyes landed on the two girls with him. He quickly scanned the immediate area, and his stomach sunk when the person he was truly looking for was not with them.

Toan pivoted and glared at the Dragir. “I suppose I’m not who you have been looking for?” Toan growled at full volume across the bar.

Rad lowered his chin and looked the Essensorix in the eyes. “Toan, I don’t want to fight.”

Toan began an advance toward Rad. “No? Cause that is certainly not what happened fourteen years ago. You seemed more than willing to fight then.”

Rad slowly shifted to a defensive position at Toan’s advance. “You still have no idea what you are talking about lieutenant.” Rad growled back at him. He was so tried of this. The Essensorix never even remotely understood.

“Oh I understand well enough Captain.” Toan was only feet away from him now. “You trying to find someone in particular so you can finish the job you failed to complete all those years ago?”

Rad’s fist clenched up. “No.” He growled, trying to hold his temper. “I want to know that she is alright. I feel more for her than--” He cut himself off, he knew that was a useless train for this Essensorix to hear.

Toan began to chuckle. Standing in front of Rad, Toan crossed his arms and leaned back, looking the Dragir up and down. “So how did your stolen form feel about his death?”

Rad glared up at Toan. “Are you trying to pick a fight?” He yelled at the man.

Toan ignored the question completely. “You aren’t as strong in this form, but you can’t show yourself as what you are in Castle Town anymore can you? The Hylians are not used to seeing the Dragir since the fall.”

The verbal fight had grown so loud Rishian was sure people outside would be able to hear it. A few drunks seated in the lit portion had taken notice and were rocked back in their chairs, hoping for a little entertainment out of the situation.

Din’s emotions were clamoring to the surface and she began to cry. She pressed her face into Rishian’s chest trying to stop, but she was still tired and still processing everything. She could feel the sobs rising to the surface.

“Shut up!” Rad yelled back at him.

“Bring it Dragir.” Toan starred him down.

Rad’s rage at the memories and Toan’s prodding got the better of him. His fists bunched together and he almost lunged at the man. But a small sound grabbed his attention first. He could hear small cries. Rad stopped and looked up. He stared into the dark corners of the bar. Glancing quickly over Sophia and Kate, still seated at the table, they were glaring back at him.

Rishian tightened. He placed his chin on the top of her head. “Shh.” He tried to calm her.

Toan tightened as well. He had to get Rad out of here. “What? That was a quick back down.” Toan advanced toward him. He hoped he could distract Rad from the corner.

But it was to late; the Dragir had heard her. He took two confident strides toward the tables and called out. “Din?”

The Essensorix shuttered and sobbed again at his voice moving around her name.

Rad waited, looking hard into the blackness. “Din, that wasn’t Len, he told you lies.” The Dragir was clamoring to get her to come back so he could explain.

“Lies?” Toan burst out. “How is you killing her entire family and race a lie?”

“I didn’t know how to tell her!” Rad turned his anger back toward Toan.

Din’s mind burst out with Rad’s statement. “What?!” Her words came out before she could stop them.

“Din!” Rad knew her voice and he leapt the space in one great bound, jumping tables and chairs, landing beside the table where Sophia and Kate were seated.

“No!” Rishian dropped the black shadow cloak and spun around. Flicking his wrist a short dagger came out from under his wrappings into his hand with lightning speed. He grabbed Rad across the chest, grabbing his opposite shoulder and threw him down on the table. Rishian pushed the knife to his throat and glared.
Kate and Sophia shot up out of their seats at Rad’s back slammed down on the table.

Din was left exposed in the corner and Rad could see her. He looked past Rishian to the woman and begged. “Please Din, let me explain.”

Din’s anger was mounting now, his previous statement playing over and over in her mind. “You knew what I was and didn’t tell me?” Her voice was low and threatening. She looked at the ground, her eyes hidden from Rad’s view.

Rad’s stomach dropped. He hadn’t meant for her to know that. He stammered. “Din, I…I didn’t know how to tell you. I didn’t want to hurt you!”

“To late.” Din took off like a shot from her little corner. She blew across the bar and threw open the door. Slamming it behind her she sprinted across the low-lying space and took the stairs up to the street in twos. She had to go. She had to go home. The only words in her mind were ringing loud and clear. She noticed the lack of light in the streets and looked up at the sky to see the darkening of night closing in on the city. She was glad of that; it was easier to move with stealth in the dark. Taking a hard right she ran down the main street toward the stable. Flying past the purple tent she had fought in several nights ago, she burst through the door into the wooden building filled with horses.

A sleeping man with a pitchfork woke suddenly at her loud noise. He stood from the hay bails he had been on and blinked at her. “Can I help you miss?”

Din nodded vigorously. “I--I need a horse.” Tears were still pouring down her face and her breath was coming fast now from the long run.

“Uh…” The man looked her up and down once. “It is fifty rupees to rent a horse for the--”

“Here” Din cut his sentence off and pulled a purple rupee out of her left boot. She looked in the first stall where a solid black horse was already saddled. She opened the stall door and took hold of the reins. “Thank-you” She walked the horse out of the stable into the street before the man was able to answer her. Once on the cobblestone, she mounted up with urgent speed and kicked the horse to a trot. People on the street moved out of her way and the guard at the west gate opened the large wooden door for her without question. She threw him a thankful nod as she passed.

Once outside the Castle Town gates she pushed the horse forward into a canter. “Go.” She commanded. Pointing it across the field directly west, she knew she could make the pass before sundown and make it down the path before dark. She looked ahead to the setting sun, throwing oranges, purples, and dark blues on the clouds of the horizon.

***************************

Rishian moved a quickly as he could in the fading light. He sprinted through the long narrow stone tunnels with perfect silence. Hard right, he ran faster. Where would she go? Somewhere she felt safe. Hard left, he skidded around the corner. If she left the city, she would have to do it quick before they shut the gates for the night. Up the shaft. Rishian grabbed hold of a small bar that hung down into the tunnel. He grabbed hold of the stones and crawled vertically up the skinny space. Reaching the top he threw open a trap door and crawled out.

The Sheikah was perched on top of a tower. The building seemed to be the tallest in the city, aside from the castle to the north of his position. Rishian squatted on the small stone structure and scanned the fields around the city, sparing quick glances down at the streets below. As his eyes moved he saw a figure to the west. Turning his attention there, he could see a black horse mounted by a single rider with flaming red hair. The Sheikah shook his head and his heart ripped with pain. She was going home. Of course that is where she would go.

Rishian watched her go until he could no longer see her riding into the bright sun hovering over the horizon. “Oh Din…”

(End Chapter)

 

[Zelda's_Child]

Oh my goodness Din. Amazing. Truly amazing. I love your writing!! But it's so sad...

 

[OotLord1003]

wow....only chapter one and it's quite good!
I really like how descriptive it is! Keep it up!