Post by serraskai on Dec 7, 2009 3:11:25 GMT -5
The Legend of Zelda
Silhouettes in time
“I hardly see how the idea of an attack on central Hyrule is something we should worry about- the denizens of the dark corners of our good kingdom are banished, for good if we’re lucky. I’ve not seen peace like this, well, since my oblivious childhood.”
-Pelleon, the royal adviser of Hyrule
Chapter 2: Violence begets
Laughter and pats on the back met Grave as he dismounted his hefty mechanism
and met with his cohorts atop the building, their smiles and high spirits setting the mood for their night, mostly likely spent at a milk bar nearby (a “milk bar” only by name of course) drinking and making merry followed by flirting and of course more drinking- that was their lot in life. That was all they had now, really. Evil resided in the hearts of men the same as it had before Link, but now the guards that once held off the forces of darkness from outside the walls were mostly worthless. This day alone almost made all their time standing around feel more like it was almost worth it. Almost.
While a child Grave never wanted this. His youth had told him to seek glory, riches, and an adventure of his own- as he aged he began to discover these things to be simply falsehoods that he would only achieve only while within the realm of his mind.. Nevertheless, when he was with his friends like this, he was their king, their prince, whatever he sought to be amongst his friends…
Snapping himself out of his stupor, Grave graciously accepted the final congratulations of the evening as they headed off to their first stop of the night, where they would drink until they would be willing to harass any woman that neared them with the strangest, creepiest smiles and pick up lines that would (with any luck) get those women into their beds that night. The likely hood of them actually getting one was slim, but that wasn’t really the point, in the end.
With a smile, Grave directed the others to the side of the building where a ladder had been set up for them to get down before anything terrible occurred. The rooftops belonged to the thieves, after all. They always had- even under the rule of that shadow bandit they had ruled the rooftops without any to stop them. Many thieves actually thrived during his rule and even openly supported him, the swine. But due to them, the guards typically didn’t set foot atop them without either a specific task or a death wish.
One of the men, Petton, spat something hastily, in a panicked tone as Grave neared the edge. There were lights out in the fields, tiny specks that could be fires. Concern was the most obvious response, but Grave kindly noted that not everyone lived in the castle town, and they would celebrate their own way. However, he noted that the lights were moving, rapidly. Too rapidly to simply be a festive fire.
Grave spun on his heel, his face painted with a sarcastic smile that lightly masked his annoyance, but spotting the glow as they took flight changed his mind. He stood in shock as the lights reached a high orbit above the city, where he identified it- a flaming piece of debris, likely from a catapult or some such device. Their trajectory was precise, to the point of being downright astounding in its aim.
“Get DOWN!”
The people may have screamed. They may have warned the more ignorant amongst them of what was about to occur. Their efforts proved in vain, however, as the raging death meant to incite panic found its mark and purpose atop the now ruined cobblestones of the square, which responded to the message by tearing upward out of the ground in an attempt to escape the crushing force of the newcomer. Bits and slices of stone and man dove away from the terrible will that was this attack.
Arkanhim slowly staggered to her feet with a sudden realization and horror as to what was occurring all around her. The shock of the people, the flame, the death the…
Snapping herself out of her shock, Ark turned away and clasped her hands over her ears as she fell to her knees. She could feel the warmth of the barrage at her back and the clang of the debris. More horrible than this was the very tower that she had lived in, and guarded so diligently, which had suffered direct hit. The unrestrained rage of the attack had found itself on the gatekeeper‘s home, forcing its stone walls to shift and separate before shattering in its wake. The deafening sound of the hollow edifice crumpling from the weight of the blow would haunt Ark for years to come, that much she knew.
But she was alive. The minuscule miracle that had allowed her to live was indeed well choreographed, the larger pieces soaring, bounding and crashing over and around her, some not reaching her at all. Nicolai was nowhere to be seen, a thought that saddened her deeply but left her with an empty sense of duty and a burning drive for revenge. She could probably save him, if she began digging now. But even if she did, he would be down for the count. On top of that, when whatever enemy came rushing through her hollow gate, he would die painfully. Mayhap more painfully than he was already going to or had. Whichever way things were about to occur, she now looked helplessly as the remains of her home came to a rest, its burnt and ravaged shell still standing where her memories had placed it so carefully. She would die along with it, tonight.
She could already feel the tears in her eyes as she braced her arm, checked herself for wounds, and drew her sword, her eyes drifting to the now impossible gap where the iron wall hidden within the roof had once been the prime protector. That same gate now made a ruined arena, leaving the gap to lay open, as it undoubtedly would for all time, with nothing anyone could do about it. She gripped her sword with pride and marched. Ark placed herself before the gap, standing upon minor bits of rubble, taking note of their position to prevent her from falling at the most inopportune times and thus spelling her death. With not but the idea of defense of her kingdom in her mind and an unnatural focus in her eyes to accompany the sword she gripped, she locked eyes with the first of her enemies as, a Bulblin of insignificant size dressed in ragged leather and furs. It’s tiny, scraggly arms ended in two massive clubs, which it was using to bash the skulls of fleeing passer-bys.
Vacantly Ark wondered how long it had been since the catapults first went off. How long had it actually taken them to penetrate this far into the city? Surely not much time had passed, but was she really the first obstacle they had reached? The likely answer was yes, since the previous gates were probably destroyed and all their crew either dead or woefully unprepared. Their death had been determined before these things even neared the city.
The creature stepped toward Ark and started a swing, but a short stab in the ribs stopped it cold before it even had a chance to strike. As it collapsed, however, a second revealed itself from the crowd of rushing, panicked people and stepped towards her. That one would meet a similar fate as she arced her weapon across it’s unarmored chest, creating a horrid gash that took it’s life. As the creatures came, she struck them down, aided only by a strong arm and an equal will.
As the crowd thinned, however, she confirmed what she had thought before, that she was undoubtedly doomed here. Dozens more of them swarmed and prowled the streets, followed by a small group of armored knights, each looking lively without the tires of battle even upon them yet. Stepping back from her fresh kills, Ark brought her weapon up and prepared to meet each of them in battle, at once or one at a time, it really didn’t matter to her.
Steeling herself for what was about to occur, she counted them. Bulblins were incompetent in battle against anyone with a weapon better than a shoe, but in bulk or when covering stronger foes they could prove more useful than one suspects. That was the case here, it seemed- the armored knights marching toward her amidst the crowd of foes proved a huge boost to their martial ability- not that they needed it against one lone soldier. However, through the tangled mass of flesh and flames of their own creation they had little breathing room in this tight corridor she had funneled them all to her, something Ark wasn‘t sure she was thankful for yet.
Stepping from her last “free” kill, Ark met the first of the next wave, a brave (or possibly foolish) Bulblin that swung its jagged, makeshift club in an attempt to brain her. But that wasn’t the attack, just a fake out. Another Bulblin, beside her, bashed the side of her head with a rock, causing her to stagger away from her assailants. While the attack smarted and even managed to draw blood, Ark neither fell nor bent to them. Nay, the creature was met instead with a retaliation of metal entering it’s chest, causing a grievous slash wound that caused it to bleed out across the killing floor beside it’s brethren. Thankfully, these things weren’t smart enough to keep up momentum in a fight, so thank the goddesses for idiots.
The next of the creatures held in its paw a spear, or rather a long stick that tapered to a point at one end, jabbing at her but managing only a light wound, allowing Ark to grab the spear and yank it from the other’s hands. Dropping the weapon to strike at another as it neared her, Ark didn’t even notice as a single, smaller, creature which had clambered atop a pile of rubble and leapt upon her, bringing her down into an exposed, vulnerable position that her aggressors would no doubt take advantage of.
From all around came stabs, slashes and clubbing strikes, but Ark managed to stay standing despite the creature on her back, chocking her, obscuring her vision, trying to break her neck. She stepped shakily backward, away from her foes, meeting a chunk of rubble and toppling away from them in a single motion, throwing the Bulblin from her.
Standing valiantly from the fall, Ark checked first to see if the Bulblin behind her was out, a suspicion confirmed with a quick stab. Spinning, she prepared herself to resume the fight, but decided in the end that is wasn’t a grand idea. Instead of meeting with more Bulblins, weak and frail enemies, she instead came face-to-mask with one of the fully armored knights, who, judging by his body language, was none to pleased about what she was doing.
“Maiden, what are you doing here?”
Well that caught her off guard. The knight didn’t sound like a monster, he sounded… well, like a young man. On top of that, he sounded genuinely confused. “Excuse me?”
“What are you doing here? This is no place for a maiden. Flee, get back to your home.” The knight still sounded confused, but a straightforward tone overpowered it as he shuffled his horse about and readied his halberd in preparation for battle, or possibly for intimidation. It didn’t work.
“I’m sorry but I am a knight of Hyrule! I will fight until death!” She said, bracing herself and raising her sword in preparation for a quick stab at him.
“Charming.” Annoyed? He honestly sounded annoyed! The nerve! Ark bit her lip as she ditched her stabbing stance and adopted another battle stance, preparing to fight with the man, but she knew it was hopeless already. She was hurt, he was fully armored, and the Bulblins had been very polite in waiting for them to finish, which was something the never did. For anyone.
The initial charge was the worst of it, the bulk of the sudden rush throwing her to the ground as the stab of the halberd also met her. In an attempt to get away, she lunged to the side, but the weight of the attack still managed upon her, and Ark stumbled head-over-heels across the rubble, slamming into a particularly large slab of stone as she came to a rest.
Warm life streamed from the back of her head, and the sting of the minor wounds the Bulblins had caused was finally getting to her. But nonetheless, she rose to her feet, defiant, and tried to assume a battle stance. When she dropped her sword, she felt it. The hopelessness, the primordial fear of death. The natural fear that everyone felt in such a situation… and a single hit, on the back of her head, with a blunted object, likely from one of the Bulblins who had been standing around doing… actually, she hadn’t noticed what they were doing. She was focusing on the knight, not them, and now it had cost her dearly as she faded into blackness…
Silhouettes in time
“I hardly see how the idea of an attack on central Hyrule is something we should worry about- the denizens of the dark corners of our good kingdom are banished, for good if we’re lucky. I’ve not seen peace like this, well, since my oblivious childhood.”
-Pelleon, the royal adviser of Hyrule
Chapter 2: Violence begets
Laughter and pats on the back met Grave as he dismounted his hefty mechanism
and met with his cohorts atop the building, their smiles and high spirits setting the mood for their night, mostly likely spent at a milk bar nearby (a “milk bar” only by name of course) drinking and making merry followed by flirting and of course more drinking- that was their lot in life. That was all they had now, really. Evil resided in the hearts of men the same as it had before Link, but now the guards that once held off the forces of darkness from outside the walls were mostly worthless. This day alone almost made all their time standing around feel more like it was almost worth it. Almost.
While a child Grave never wanted this. His youth had told him to seek glory, riches, and an adventure of his own- as he aged he began to discover these things to be simply falsehoods that he would only achieve only while within the realm of his mind.. Nevertheless, when he was with his friends like this, he was their king, their prince, whatever he sought to be amongst his friends…
Snapping himself out of his stupor, Grave graciously accepted the final congratulations of the evening as they headed off to their first stop of the night, where they would drink until they would be willing to harass any woman that neared them with the strangest, creepiest smiles and pick up lines that would (with any luck) get those women into their beds that night. The likely hood of them actually getting one was slim, but that wasn’t really the point, in the end.
With a smile, Grave directed the others to the side of the building where a ladder had been set up for them to get down before anything terrible occurred. The rooftops belonged to the thieves, after all. They always had- even under the rule of that shadow bandit they had ruled the rooftops without any to stop them. Many thieves actually thrived during his rule and even openly supported him, the swine. But due to them, the guards typically didn’t set foot atop them without either a specific task or a death wish.
One of the men, Petton, spat something hastily, in a panicked tone as Grave neared the edge. There were lights out in the fields, tiny specks that could be fires. Concern was the most obvious response, but Grave kindly noted that not everyone lived in the castle town, and they would celebrate their own way. However, he noted that the lights were moving, rapidly. Too rapidly to simply be a festive fire.
Grave spun on his heel, his face painted with a sarcastic smile that lightly masked his annoyance, but spotting the glow as they took flight changed his mind. He stood in shock as the lights reached a high orbit above the city, where he identified it- a flaming piece of debris, likely from a catapult or some such device. Their trajectory was precise, to the point of being downright astounding in its aim.
“Get DOWN!”
The people may have screamed. They may have warned the more ignorant amongst them of what was about to occur. Their efforts proved in vain, however, as the raging death meant to incite panic found its mark and purpose atop the now ruined cobblestones of the square, which responded to the message by tearing upward out of the ground in an attempt to escape the crushing force of the newcomer. Bits and slices of stone and man dove away from the terrible will that was this attack.
Arkanhim slowly staggered to her feet with a sudden realization and horror as to what was occurring all around her. The shock of the people, the flame, the death the…
Snapping herself out of her shock, Ark turned away and clasped her hands over her ears as she fell to her knees. She could feel the warmth of the barrage at her back and the clang of the debris. More horrible than this was the very tower that she had lived in, and guarded so diligently, which had suffered direct hit. The unrestrained rage of the attack had found itself on the gatekeeper‘s home, forcing its stone walls to shift and separate before shattering in its wake. The deafening sound of the hollow edifice crumpling from the weight of the blow would haunt Ark for years to come, that much she knew.
But she was alive. The minuscule miracle that had allowed her to live was indeed well choreographed, the larger pieces soaring, bounding and crashing over and around her, some not reaching her at all. Nicolai was nowhere to be seen, a thought that saddened her deeply but left her with an empty sense of duty and a burning drive for revenge. She could probably save him, if she began digging now. But even if she did, he would be down for the count. On top of that, when whatever enemy came rushing through her hollow gate, he would die painfully. Mayhap more painfully than he was already going to or had. Whichever way things were about to occur, she now looked helplessly as the remains of her home came to a rest, its burnt and ravaged shell still standing where her memories had placed it so carefully. She would die along with it, tonight.
She could already feel the tears in her eyes as she braced her arm, checked herself for wounds, and drew her sword, her eyes drifting to the now impossible gap where the iron wall hidden within the roof had once been the prime protector. That same gate now made a ruined arena, leaving the gap to lay open, as it undoubtedly would for all time, with nothing anyone could do about it. She gripped her sword with pride and marched. Ark placed herself before the gap, standing upon minor bits of rubble, taking note of their position to prevent her from falling at the most inopportune times and thus spelling her death. With not but the idea of defense of her kingdom in her mind and an unnatural focus in her eyes to accompany the sword she gripped, she locked eyes with the first of her enemies as, a Bulblin of insignificant size dressed in ragged leather and furs. It’s tiny, scraggly arms ended in two massive clubs, which it was using to bash the skulls of fleeing passer-bys.
Vacantly Ark wondered how long it had been since the catapults first went off. How long had it actually taken them to penetrate this far into the city? Surely not much time had passed, but was she really the first obstacle they had reached? The likely answer was yes, since the previous gates were probably destroyed and all their crew either dead or woefully unprepared. Their death had been determined before these things even neared the city.
The creature stepped toward Ark and started a swing, but a short stab in the ribs stopped it cold before it even had a chance to strike. As it collapsed, however, a second revealed itself from the crowd of rushing, panicked people and stepped towards her. That one would meet a similar fate as she arced her weapon across it’s unarmored chest, creating a horrid gash that took it’s life. As the creatures came, she struck them down, aided only by a strong arm and an equal will.
As the crowd thinned, however, she confirmed what she had thought before, that she was undoubtedly doomed here. Dozens more of them swarmed and prowled the streets, followed by a small group of armored knights, each looking lively without the tires of battle even upon them yet. Stepping back from her fresh kills, Ark brought her weapon up and prepared to meet each of them in battle, at once or one at a time, it really didn’t matter to her.
Steeling herself for what was about to occur, she counted them. Bulblins were incompetent in battle against anyone with a weapon better than a shoe, but in bulk or when covering stronger foes they could prove more useful than one suspects. That was the case here, it seemed- the armored knights marching toward her amidst the crowd of foes proved a huge boost to their martial ability- not that they needed it against one lone soldier. However, through the tangled mass of flesh and flames of their own creation they had little breathing room in this tight corridor she had funneled them all to her, something Ark wasn‘t sure she was thankful for yet.
Stepping from her last “free” kill, Ark met the first of the next wave, a brave (or possibly foolish) Bulblin that swung its jagged, makeshift club in an attempt to brain her. But that wasn’t the attack, just a fake out. Another Bulblin, beside her, bashed the side of her head with a rock, causing her to stagger away from her assailants. While the attack smarted and even managed to draw blood, Ark neither fell nor bent to them. Nay, the creature was met instead with a retaliation of metal entering it’s chest, causing a grievous slash wound that caused it to bleed out across the killing floor beside it’s brethren. Thankfully, these things weren’t smart enough to keep up momentum in a fight, so thank the goddesses for idiots.
The next of the creatures held in its paw a spear, or rather a long stick that tapered to a point at one end, jabbing at her but managing only a light wound, allowing Ark to grab the spear and yank it from the other’s hands. Dropping the weapon to strike at another as it neared her, Ark didn’t even notice as a single, smaller, creature which had clambered atop a pile of rubble and leapt upon her, bringing her down into an exposed, vulnerable position that her aggressors would no doubt take advantage of.
From all around came stabs, slashes and clubbing strikes, but Ark managed to stay standing despite the creature on her back, chocking her, obscuring her vision, trying to break her neck. She stepped shakily backward, away from her foes, meeting a chunk of rubble and toppling away from them in a single motion, throwing the Bulblin from her.
Standing valiantly from the fall, Ark checked first to see if the Bulblin behind her was out, a suspicion confirmed with a quick stab. Spinning, she prepared herself to resume the fight, but decided in the end that is wasn’t a grand idea. Instead of meeting with more Bulblins, weak and frail enemies, she instead came face-to-mask with one of the fully armored knights, who, judging by his body language, was none to pleased about what she was doing.
“Maiden, what are you doing here?”
Well that caught her off guard. The knight didn’t sound like a monster, he sounded… well, like a young man. On top of that, he sounded genuinely confused. “Excuse me?”
“What are you doing here? This is no place for a maiden. Flee, get back to your home.” The knight still sounded confused, but a straightforward tone overpowered it as he shuffled his horse about and readied his halberd in preparation for battle, or possibly for intimidation. It didn’t work.
“I’m sorry but I am a knight of Hyrule! I will fight until death!” She said, bracing herself and raising her sword in preparation for a quick stab at him.
“Charming.” Annoyed? He honestly sounded annoyed! The nerve! Ark bit her lip as she ditched her stabbing stance and adopted another battle stance, preparing to fight with the man, but she knew it was hopeless already. She was hurt, he was fully armored, and the Bulblins had been very polite in waiting for them to finish, which was something the never did. For anyone.
The initial charge was the worst of it, the bulk of the sudden rush throwing her to the ground as the stab of the halberd also met her. In an attempt to get away, she lunged to the side, but the weight of the attack still managed upon her, and Ark stumbled head-over-heels across the rubble, slamming into a particularly large slab of stone as she came to a rest.
Warm life streamed from the back of her head, and the sting of the minor wounds the Bulblins had caused was finally getting to her. But nonetheless, she rose to her feet, defiant, and tried to assume a battle stance. When she dropped her sword, she felt it. The hopelessness, the primordial fear of death. The natural fear that everyone felt in such a situation… and a single hit, on the back of her head, with a blunted object, likely from one of the Bulblins who had been standing around doing… actually, she hadn’t noticed what they were doing. She was focusing on the knight, not them, and now it had cost her dearly as she faded into blackness…
