Demon Slayer

Phiorra looked worriedly at the cave. It was small and very dark inside... “Ummm... miss Jessica? I think we should let Sir Temple go in first. He’s armored and well equipped for fighting.” She looked and saw merely a dagger or two, thinking Jacob would for sure be the team tank.

The priestess glanced between the two, then towards the dark cave. “Oh, wait! I’m excellent for dark places!” She took a few steps forward, then focussed as a bright light began to emit from nowhere in particular. The cave was now lit as if the daytime light shone directly in it. Unfortunately this light would stretch through the whole cave. “Alright, now we should be able to avoid tripping and falling. We wouldn’t want any bumps on our heads before all this...”

"Well thank ya little lady, but ya can just call me Jacob. Sir Temple literally was ma father. No offence meant Ms. Rouge. I figured tha same thing as Phiorra. Not ta say ya can't hold yer own. Just that I was more built and trained fer this sorta thing." Jacob carefully crawls into the cave. As Jacob gets inside the cave enough to where he can stand he sees the summoning ritual going on before him. "Tha hell's goin' on 'ere?" Jacob asks as he readies his sword and shield. Jacob looks at the people involved and the large pentagram in the floor. "Nevermind. Whatever it is, it ain't up ta any good!" Jacob charges towards the closest people to him sword held ready to strike.

The sudden white light startled Marcus, but the figures around the pentagram were unaffected and did not seem to notice the intrusion of three armed adventurers. Marcus felt a stab of annoyance. He and Sayomi were supposed to be working as guards, preventing exactly this kind of intrusion. Yet, they had allowed an interruption to barge into the isolated cave, and it now fell upon them to keep the intruders from breaking the wizards' concentration.

The man charging them was strikingly familiar to Marcus. He made a quick list of his appearance: blonde hair, Triforce armour, Mirror Shield, large sword. "Jacob," he said, "is that you? My name is Marcus, and we worked together in Ikana. Do you remember me?" He readied a protective spell; it never hurt to be too careful. "You cannot interfere, Jacob. None of us can. The spell has progressed too far. Breaking their concentration will result in a backlash of magical energy which will kill us all, and Impa will be caught in the blast."

The casters' voices rose in eery harmony, and he looked up to see the assembled wizards throw their heads back and scream the final words of the incantation. The innocent white light that the three newcomers had summoned was instantly extinguished, and it was replaced by a burning red light which flooded throughout the cave. Unsurprisingly, it originated from the pentagram. The dashes in the ground burnt with red fire, and the rock inside the pentagram melted into nothingness. A hand, redder than the light which had announced its coming, stretched out from the darkness and grasped the stone floor of the circle. It pulled itself up, clawing its way out of whatever pit the pentagram led to. It raised its triangular head, shaking it back and forth and roaring as it swished its barbed tail left and right. It unfurled its wings, but the clawed tips struck the circle's edge and recoiled. It hissed, and the glimmering circle shone brighter.

The wizard on the right flung back its hood. The woman stared at the demon with manic glee, her dark eyes glittering like coals in the red light. She outstretched her arms, and proclaimed in a loud voice that the demon Vire had returned to the world. They had freed it from its prison, and it would aid them in the destruction of the mortal world, all in the name of the glorious Lord Ganon. The other two wizards pulled down their hoods, staring at the confined demon in equal joy. The demon Vire struck the glowing circle and roared. "How dare you confine me?"

"I apologize, Vire," the woman stated from across the circle, "but we cannot be certain of your loyalty to the King of Evil. We have bound you, demon, and you shall do our will! Do as we command, and destroy Impa!" The three of them began to chant again, and the circle glowed as they poured their magic into it. The faintest outlines of chains began to appear on Vire's red body, and it roared again. It struck the circle with its claws, and the glowing barrier dimmed. It pressed its hands against it, and light seared where the beast met the circle. It opened its fanged mouth wide, and a ball of red energy blossomed forth. It slammed into the circle, and the magical cage shattered. The Vire leaped forth and pinned the woman down to the ground. Her concentration broken, the magical chains dissipated. The other two wizards stumbled back, the magical backlash from the aborted spell stunning them and leaving them dazed.

"I should slay you for your insolence," it hissed, "attempting to control me. I am superior to you in every way, mortal." It pressed harder, its claws digging into the ground, and the woman shrieked as she struggled to push it off. "Serve me, and watch as I show Hyrule the true meaning of fear in the name of the Lord Ganon!"

The woman stopped struggling, and her eyes burned with fanatical glee again. "Ganon's will be done," she cried, "I shall serve you!"

For the first time, the Vire looked over at Marcus, Sayomi, Jacob, and the others. It turned, its fangs bared as it grinned at them. "A snack, to celebrate my newfound freedom. Slaves," he commanded, lifting its claw off of the woman's neck, "kill them. But leave them intact; I wish to feast on their carcasses."

The woman stumbled back, and the other two wizards ran up to her. The old man gripped the dark-haired woman's arm tightly, and the apprentice bit his lip as he looked from her to the adventurers. "Mistress," he began, but the woman cut him off. She glared down at them from atop the stage, and raised her hand. A glowing ball of fire crackled along her fingertips, and the other two followed suit. "In Ganon's name, I shall burn you to your soul," she swore.

The Vire (open) The Vire (close)

Okay, first off, I hope nobody minds that I introduced the demon now. There really wasn't much else to do. I tried to keep it canonical, thus the Vire. I used the Vire from Oracle of Ages / Oracle of Seasons. Here's what zelda.wikia.com had to say about it:

In battle, Vire will first fly directly at Link in order to attack. He is weak against swords. After taking enough damage, Vire will change his strategy, keeping his distance and forcing Link to approach in order to attack. Vire will fly around the room while shooting either a pair of blue projectiles, or a single red one which homes in on Link. Both projectiles can be destroyed by Link's attacks. Once damaged enough, Vire will turn into two small Keese that can be finished off the same way as his previous form.

Here's the accompanying picture:



Chaos laid out the stats of these characters, in case you want them.

Woman: 1/5/1
Old Man: 1/4/1
Apprentice: 1/4/1

Vire: 5/2/4

Other than that, the rest is up to you guys. Feel free to give them whatever spells / items you think make sense, and if you'd like to throw in some drama, have fun.

Phiorra watched in horror as right before her, a demon spawned and attacked it’s creator. A demon... her light Arrows would damage it well... right? She tried to pull up her bow, but found herself unable. The fear gripped her heart and made her legs weak, but she knew she couldn’t falter. This was why she was here. It was why they were all here. Breaking the frozen stance her body had taken, she pulled up her bow and notched an arrow, pulling the string back. She wouldn’t aim for the people, only the demon. If their beast was slain, they would surrender, she hoped.

The arrow she held back became coated in light, and at the last moment, the Vire took notice, but a moment too late. The arrow blazed through the air, embedding itself in the creature’s chest. It let out a roar as the light pierced deep into it, but instead of dying pain as Phiorra had expected, pure rage crossed it’s face. “A Light Priestess?! Well, it least I get a unique meal for my first... Die priestess!” He then spit forward, causing a red orb to fly through the air towards her.

“E-Eep!” Phiorra cried out nervously, diving to the left. That should take her out of it’s path... Unfortunately, Phiorra hadn’t counted on it homing towards her. It struck her leg, making it erupt into a fiery pain. “AH!” She yelled, starting to try patting the spot where it’d struck. Alas, it wasn’t normal fire that could be patted out. The magical flames had gone right into her leg and damaged it from there. “L-look out everyone! The orbs will chase you!”

"Phiorra! Alright ya bastard. By tha Golden Goddesses I banish ya back ta tha hellhole ya came from!" Jacob yells getting the attention of the youngest mage. The mage summons another red orb and fires it at Jacob. "They may follow ya, but they're magical ain't they?" Jacob squatted behind his mirror shield. The red orb hit the mirror shield and with a metallic twang bounced off of the shield and flew back to the young mage.

Fear shows in the mage's eyes at the orb hits him dead center of the chest. The mage fell over clutching his chest where the orb hit. Jacob took his chance and charged the helpless mage. Jacob jumps towards the mage and pointing his sword down stabs the mage through the head. Jacob grins to himself before being back handed by the Vire. "Away pesky Guard. Your Goddesses can't save you now. Ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

Jacob flies back into a wall of the cave. A small and almost unnoticeable pentagram is burned into Jacob's head where the Vire hit him. "Ugh...I'll admit...that hurt..." Jacob stands back up. "...but is that all ya got?"

The woman was injured, her leg badly burned by the projectile fire spat by the Vire. Marcus started towards her, keeping an eye out on the surrounding vicinity to ensure that he wouldn't be suddenly stabbed by one of the mages. He called out to the woman. "Hey," what was her name, Fiera? No, Fiora! "Fiora, I'm a Healer, I can help-"

Something shone suddenly from his right, and Marcus threw himself forward to avoid a ball of water thrown by the old man. It splashed against the ground with the force of a bomb, sending shrapnel-like water exploding everywhere. Marcus threw his arms up, but strangely, when the water met his skin, it was only a light drizzle. He looked up at the old man questioningly.

The man hissed and reached into the folds of his robe. "Hold still, Healer!" Marcus understood, the spell must have a very small area of effect. He scrambled up to his feet several feet away from Fiora, holding up his arms in a defensive posture.

"Don't worry," he said very quietly to her, "I've got this." The old man finally found what he was looking for, and with a cry of delight pulled out a small rod. At its tip gleamed a crystal jewel, and Marcus tensed. He saw the man pull the rod back and swept his own hand forward through the air.

Legends tell that the Hero of Hyrule had in his possession three gifts from the Goddesses themselves. One of them, from the Goddess of Wisdom, Nayru, was a spell of invincibility. When times were at their worst, the Hero would invoke the name of Nayru and be instantly cocooned in an impenetrable crystal of blue light. The spell was called "Nayru's Love," and it was what every defensive magic-user strove to replicate. What Marcus was using was one such replication. It was called "Nayru's Affection," and by swiping his hand through the air he created a crystal barrier that hung between himself and the old man. The mage stabbed the air with the rod, and a ripple of distorted power flew directly at Fiora and Marcus. It collided with the hanging crystal, shattering the barrier into a million tiny shards of reflective magic and sending the spell rebounding back towards the old man. The reflected ripple of power slammed into him and sent him flying back. Marcus winced as the man's head slammed against a squatting stalagmite with an audible crack!

"He won't be getting up soon," he said, turning back to Fiora. "Fiora, I'm a Healer, may I please tend to your wounds?"

Phiorra looked at Marcus a little confusedly. “Umm, yes, you can heal my leg if you wish... But it’s like Fee-Ore-Uh. You went more like Fi. Common mistake, so it’s okay.” She smiled at the guy, then took her bow to hand, seeing the woman approach. Out of all the hylians remaining, she seemed the most adept. Lobbing an energy ball towards them, Phiorra quickly fired a light arrow over Marcus’ shoulder, hitting the energy ball and bursting right through it, dissipating the spell and flying into the caster’s shoulder.

With a pain yelp, the woman looked to her two fallen teammates, and seeing that she had to rely on the Vire overpowering all the foes, tried to run deeper into the cave. Unfortunately, the very tool she hoped to use to cover her escape stopped her. “Coward... I can see only one outcome for you.” He then cast an orb towards her. Too stunned to dodge, she took the hit mid chest, bursting into flames. Her very soul burned inside her, but the pain was very real. She screamed in terror, writhing in pain until her body just collapsed to the ground dead. The creature then looked back at his foes. “Useless pawns...”

"Yeah. Ya gotta do everythin' yerself now a days don't ya demon?" Jacob gets the Vire's attention with his joke. The Vire charges at Jacob claws extended. Jacob feels a strange power bubbling inside of him, just waiting to be released. Jacob inhales deeply and gives a mighty yell. Although more than just a yell, silver white flames erupted from Jacob's mouth covering the Vire. "Tha hell?!"

Body covered in the silver flames the Vire screams and grabs Jacob by the throat slamming him against the wall again and again. Jacob, now really pissed, grabs a hold of the Vire's throat as well. In Jacob's rage he focuses power into his hands. Dark purple flames swirl and dance around Jacob's hands and the Vire's neck. The flames burst with a violent power slamming Jacob against the wall once more and sending the Vire tumbling back a bit. Jacob collects himself and retrieves his sword and shield. "No idea how I did that, but that ain't important right now."

Jacob runs and starts slashing at the Vire. Blood covering his sword and dripping onto the floor of the cave. Jacob keeps slashing without letting up even as the Vire screams and wails in pain.

"Alright then, Fee-ore-uh," Marcus said with a small smile. He bent down to heal her leg when she tensed. He looked up to see her fire an arrow of pure, concentrated light. It destroyed a ball of harmful magic and impaled the female mage in the shoulder. Marcus smiled fully at the woman. "So," he said as the warm glow of healing magic was absorbed into her leg, "how's that spelled? Your name. P-H or F?"

It was a second degree burn. The magical fire had penetrated deeply into the skin, but thankfully it had not burned all the way through it. If left unchecked, the wound would color red and white and develop bloody blisters that would take weeks to heal. Without magic, scarring was practically inevitable. Thankfully for the Light Priestess, she had a Healer on hand. Marcus worked quickly, well aware that they were in a combat zone, but a shrill scream still made him look up. Jacob was viciously cutting into the demon, giving it no opportunity for the wailing demon to strike back. Marcus wasn't shocked at Jacob's combat prowess. After all, they had adventured through the Stone Tower Temple together. Rather, he was glad that his friend was keeping the demon occupied so he could fully concentrate on the healing. He was also impressed on how well Jacob was faring; not many mortals could face down a demon like that and be so successful.

Marcus stood and nodded at her. "Your leg is healed," he said.

Phiorra smiled, giving Marcus a gentle hug. “Thank you!” She stood up, testing her leg. “You haven’t said your name though so maybe...” She cut herself off when she looked over at Jacob, who was slashing the demon to the sacred realm. Unfortunately, that would go a lot more slowly than if he used this...” She fired another arrow at the Vire, backed by her light power. Once the beast was even more stunned than he was before, Phiorra ran in and halted Jacob’s hand.

“Wait... You’ll do more damage with this...” She tapped the side of his blade, then watched as it cast a glow, the whole sword engulfed in light. “There you go!” She smiled sweetly before returning to Marcus’ side. “So anyway, your name?”

Jacob grins almost delightedly. "Thank ya Phiorra. Now back ta hell ya demon!" Jacob continues slashing the Vire reeling and wailing in pain. Inflicting deep wounds in the Vire Jacob finishes with a stab through the head. Twitching the Vire falls to the ground in a pool of it's own blood.

Jacob sighs. "Well fer good measure..." Jacob takes a deep breath and exhales the same silver white fire as last time. The flames engulf the Vire as the demon turns to ash. "...burn tha bodies." The small pentagram on Jacob's head starts burning a bit. "Gah. Marcus. Can I talk ta ya fer a bit?" Jacob walks over to Marcus. "Now I want ta know why exactly you were here."

Marcus was a very logical person. He prided himself on his unemotional, rational responses to stress, confrontations, and Loft. Yet, despite all his attempts to keep his mind as unencumbered by fanciful emotion as possible, his heart could not help but flutter when Feeoreuh hugged him. Alarmed, he took a second to steady himself before answering, but before he could she had drawn back her bow to attack the Vire. Her arrow landed with another crackling of light energy, and the Vire roared with pain.

Feeoreuh dashed off to enchant Jacob's sword, and Marcus took another few seconds to take stock of the situation. Repressing emotions was not psychologically healthy; rather, it was much more beneficial to meditate through them, realizing their source and steadily unraveling them into nonbeing or nonimportance. Given the circumstances, a full-blown meditation was unadvised and unpractical, but he did close his eyes and concentrate on his breath for the time she was away.

When she returned, Marcus was in control of himself again. He was, most unfortunately, bound by the physiological limitations of his age category. Hormonal attraction to the female gender was to be expected for males in their late teens, and therefore he should not be too unduly hung up over it. In response to her repeated question, he said, "my name is Marcus, Priestess Feeoreuh."

Further conversation on his part was cut off by Jacob destroying the Vire. Marcus watched with narrowed eyes as Jacob belched flames into the Vire's face. "Interesting," he thought to himself, "he did not have that ability during our mission in Ikana. It would definitely have come in handy when we were battling the hordes of mindless undead." Marcus' train of thought derailed completely when he noticed something on Jacob's forehead. It was a small pentagram that had most definitely not been present during Ikana.

Jacob came up to him, and Marcus shrugged. "I was volunteering as a Healer in Impa's new hospital, and I got bored. I was looking for a new adventure when I was approached by the elder mage. He offered me a job, to oversee a magical experiment as a trained Healer. I knew they couldn't tell me what the experiment was, because I wasn't technically hired until I arrived on-site. I accepted the job, arrived here, and the rest is history."

He stepped forward and reached out a hand towards Jacob's face. "But you, Jacob... how did you produce fire like that? You couldn't do that in Ikana. Are you aware that there is a pentagram burning on your forehead? If so, I hope you didn't trade your soul for control over the element of fire."

Phiorra too, took notice of Jacob’s new addition. “N-no Marcus... He didn’t even have that before we entered the cave...” The priestess neared the man, wincing a bit. Her senses were jumping off the wall, and the closer she got to Jacob, the worse it was. She eventually raised a hand, using her summon spell to get a few tools for a nice little exorcism.

“Jacob, I think the demon may have left a mark on you... As long as that’s there, it can freely return to this world...” She motioned for him to lay down. “I can expel it though, so don’t worry.”

Jacob's eyes widen as both Marcus and Phiorra say that. Backing away from Marcus Jacob turns his shield towards him and looks at his forehead. "Wha...what? No...this...it can't be...I never sold...ma soul belongs ta the Golden Goddesses. This can't be happenin'. No. NO!" Jacob rubs his forehead trying to wipe the pentagram away like it was just some dirt. No matter how hard Jacob rubs it doesn't go away. The skin around the pentagram turns bright red and starts bleeding a bit in places from Jacob rubbing so hard. "No...no...I can't...I gotta go ta paradise. See Lily again...no..." Tears run down Jacob's face.

Lily? Obviously a deceased wife. Jacob was strongly religious, then. Perhaps because of his deceased wife? Marcus catalogued this information and reached up a glowing hand. With his healing magic he brushed over the pentagram and stopped the bleeding. He didn't dare go any deeper; best leave that for the professional. He also used the opportunity to do a little cranial damage control; Jacob had been slammed repeatedly against a rock wall, and that had to have hurt a lot. Marcus funneled some power there and was happy to sense that there wasn't a concussion; Jacob had been lucky.

He stepped back, smiling comfortingly. He may be very logical, but he understood the importance of a good bedside manner. "Jacob," he said in a warm and gentle tone, "she just said that she held the power to expel the demon from you. Relax. I highly doubt that the Goddesses would damn your soul to an eternity of loneliness and pain just because a Vire tried to use you to claw its way back into the land of the living to kill hundreds of innocent people."

Phiorra nodded as Marcus spoke. He obviously saw exactly what was at stake here. “He’s right Jacob. The goddesses are many things... Cruel isn’t one of them. They’d never bar you from the afterlife for being attacked by a demon... Especially if it isn’t your fault...” She couldn’t help but think of Relerin now... As if Jacob and Relerin were somehow connected. But that’d be silly, it was purely a coincidence.

A soothing hand rested on Jacob’s shoulder. “Jacob, collect yourself and lie down please... We need to work quickly if we’re to stop it from ever returning again.”

"...Is this how Relerin feels? Bein' cursed by somethin' that..." Jacob somewhat snaps back to reality at Phiorra's touch.

“Jacob, collect yourself and lie down please... We need to work quickly if we’re to stop it from ever returning again.”

"R-right. Sorry 'bout that. Thinkin' of ma wife an' a friend's son who...er...nevermind." Jacob lays down his shield and sword and lays on the cold stone floor of the cave. "Okay. I'm ready."

Marcus hung back as Jacob laid down to let Feeoreuh do her work. He wondered whether he should say something to reassure Jacob, but he honestly didn't know what to say. It was evident that Jacob did not wish to talk about his family, and Marcus had no desire to press the issue. The priestess had already told Jacob that he was in no danger of going to the Evil Realm for this, so that wasn't a problem anymore, and he was already letting her work her magic. There was nothing really for him to say, so he didn't. Instead, he turned to the priestess.

"Priestess Feeoreuh," he said, "do you have to do this very often? I can't imagine that overshadowing is all too common."

Phiorra shrugged. “Nah, it’s not too common, but I’m fairly well versed in how to do it.” She slowly pulled out a glove with several layers of padding and slipped it on. “Now the first time I did this, I said it wouldn’t hurt at all... but yeah...” She beamed reassuringly. “Now we know!” With a press between her hands, the pads of the glove began to glow with light, Phiorra entering a trance-like chant.

“O’ great goddesses... Crafters of the sea, earth, air, and life... Allow my hand to reach the soul of this man... May I spare him of a demon’s grasp... Give me the power to save him... The wisdom to see the evil... And the courage to face it. Now demon...” She smacked her palm down on Jacob’s head almost comically. “BEGONE!” With the contact, the pentagram was erased, and a strange black mist was in her hand. However, with a clenching of her fist, the mist was destroyed.

Phiorra smiled, taking off the glove. “And there you have it! An exorcism, and now we’re one less big evil scary demon.”

Jacob watched as Phiorra removed the demon from him. Jacob's eyes widen at the demon that was inside of him. He sighed in relief as Phiorra banished the demon. Jacob sits up and feels where the pentagram was. He feels nothing, but checks in his mirror shield to make sure. The mark was truly gone. Jacob springs up. A bit smile on his face he hugs both Marcus and Phiorra. "Thank yens."

Jacob lets go of them and clears his throat. "Sorry 'bout that. Well this was interestin', but..." Jacob sighs in regret. "...I'm sorry Marcus..." Jacob grabs a hold of Marcus' arms and folds them behind his back. Jacob holds Marcus' arms in place tightly. "...but I gotta place ya under arrest fer helpin' ta resurrect a demon, aidin' Ganon Worshipers in acts against Northern Hyrule, and conspirin' against tha peace o' Northern Hyrule an' 'er citizens. Ya got tha right ta remain silent. Anything ya say can an' will be used against ya in a court o' law. Ya got tha right ta an attorney and if ya can't afford one tha court'll provide one fer ya. I'm sorry Marcus. I really am. Phiorra could ya please get ma shield an' sword?"