Inauspicious Conditions

Julius walked along the sandy dunes once more. He couldn't tell where he was at this point; nor exactly what he was looking for. Still, though, he was comfortable enough; thanks to the Dodongo Hide hidden underneath his Zora Mail. He couldn't have thanked Sienna enough to have given him it before he had headed out. Normally, anyone else likely would be sweating and dehydrated; but Julius was quite comfortable. Nearly in any environment now, he thought to himself, feeling the light white fur rub against his bare skin. How useful it was to know such a skilled armorer.

It was his time to revel in another's gift, he supposed; after Sienna had received that blade of his, he could have imagined the look of sheer... pleasure-- ugh, a chill shot down his spine -- plastered onto her face. He was still somewhat uncomfortable around her. It was only natural, he supposed; given that she was one of the most psychopathic, sadistic beings he'd ever met.

Soon, Julius happened upon a structure of sandstone. It was circled with pillars of all different shapes; erosion had taken its toll on these stone monuments, it seemed. Intrigued, Julius wandered closer to the building, wary of what may lurk inside. He had been in this desert before, and he knew what monstrosities could lurk far beneath the desert sand.

As he passed by a pillar, he heard a somewhat familiar voice ring out. "Mister Surgate," it spoke. It was the tempered voice of the lawyer, Spaghet Yettin -- whom he'd shared a dream with not long ago. He turned to face the Moblin; he could have been said to be his favorite monstrosity thus far.

Julius responded with a kindly statement. "Ah, Spaghet. It is good to see you. I am glad to see that apparently whatever prophecies we dreat up haven't happened yet, but... I remember seeing this place in a dream shortly after I managed to slip the grasp of whatever spirit had invaded our dreams. At first, I had thought it to be a different location, but I'd never seen the other in the day before. Either way, I intend to explore here. What of you?" He asked Spaghet. He knew Spaghet was... admittedly less than equipped for such an expedition. Perhaps it seemed that Julius would have to defend him once more.

Julius shrugged, hearing that the Moblin had no desire to talk about his first reason. He could guess well enough; he went on his own wild ghost chases often enough, at any rate. "Well, if you intend to go inside for... whatever it is you need to obtain for your sister, I assume, then feel free to tag along." He didn't mean to offend Spaghet, but... he had seen how he conducted himself in a fight, and he knew such a place would be crawling with all different kinds of monsters. In fact, why was he heading inside, anyways? As far as Julius knew, there wasn't exactly much to gain other than sight-seeing and the mild chance of death... in other words, his typical day.

But, given the recent turn of events in Julius' life, it seemed to just be life, at this point. He would get up, wander out to some archaic ruin, fight off a bunch of monsters, and come back with practically nothing to show for it. It was... beginning to become mundane, to say the least of his journeys. There are only so many demon-possessed swords you can fight, so many dragons to slay, before it all becomes relatively... the same. It was mind-boggling.

Julius took a step forward, past the ring of pillars surrounding whatever statue stood in the center. Its features were worn, rugged, and near unrecognizable; whatever beauty it once had, it held no more. It had two outstretched hands beyond itself, and other than that, it seemed to mostly be a mess of jagged sandstone. What looked like chests were held within its palms, but whatever treasure it held had to have been taken long ago, Julius thought to himself. It was likely to be a rather... unfruitful delve, if you'd asked him. But no one did, so he did it anyways.

There was what seemed to be an entrance under the statue; it was just as badly worn as the statue above it, but it had seemed to hold fast. He stepped through it, and into similarly sandstone-colored surroundings. Two serpents stood before him, and presumably Spaghet as well, with a staircase between the two. Runes of ruby seemed carved into their undersides; it surely would have been magnificent, at a point, were it not for the structure's immense age. He began to head up the stairs, before looking back at Spaghet. "You may want to be more on your guard here than there."

"It's not that I don't think much of you Spaghet; I just think you to be a bit out of your element. Here," he began removing a segment of his armor. Underneath was his bare, pale skin-- a long scar stretched over it, still somewhat fresh. "That happened..." How long ago? Julius thought for a moment, recounting the days in his mind. "That happened almost a month ago," he spoke, showing it to the lawyer. "All I'm trying to say is that I don't want you to wind up dead." He certainly hoped the Moblin wouldn't, at least.

With that said, he approached the door Spaghet had talked about. With a shove, he forced open the passageway. He looked at Spaghet. "It looks like that did the trick," he said, peering into the room. It was somewhat lit; there was a large torch in the center of the room. It was dim, though, and didn't allow him to see much as he headed into the chamber. He walked to the torch, unable to see the walls of the room. A crunching came from beneath his boots; he assumed this to be the sand, but the cause was much worse than he would have thought...

As he neared the torch, he looked down at its base. It was the skeleton of a man. Immediately, he was taken aback; there was a trail of remains throughout the chamber, including where he had walked into the room. He drew his blade. Whatever had caused these men to die may still be lurking. He looked back at the entrance of the room. "Spaghet," he said loudly, "be careful if you come in. It may be dangerous in here."

"...Ah, piss, you told me to not go through this door?" Julius was dumbfounded. It seemed his age was showing. "That was... my mistake." He admitted.

The Captain of the Hyrule Guard, everyone.

Still, he had felt the murderous intent from the moment he'd entered the room. Things he had fought before -- he thought back to the battle which had earned him the scars he'd shown to Spaghet -- knew how to suppress it. Those things were truly a fight -- not being able to tell where your opponent is has that effect, after all.

Finally, Julius cast his gaze to the ceiling. There was a being wreathed in darkness. There was a single, dim reflection -- a green gem, located in the center of the creature. It looked down at them with a gaping maw. Julius could feel the energy from this thing -- almost as bad as the monstrosity he'd fought in this same desert. "Spaghet," he said, backing away from the torch, "I want you to be very careful in this fight." The thing leaped down at him. It was unimaginably fast -- and just as vicious. Whatever this thing was, it craved life force, souls, whatever you wanted to call them. It fed upon the living.

It carried a scythe that seemed to be made of darkness as well; it was topped with the skull of a Stalchild, but Julius couldn't tell whether it was a legitimate child or simply a monster. It was a pointless detail, as he was now fighting for his (and Spaghet's) life. It swung its scythe once -- projecting a wave of black energy, almost like a Power Beam. Julius slashed back at the creature, reflecting whatever magic it had used; whatever it was, it probably wasn't good news. It slammed back into the creature with little effect.

So, dark magic doesn't work on it, Julius thought, scoffing at how typical it was. It was probably made of the same energy as that being... who was surrounded by Bad Bats, Julius realized. Two can play at that game, he thought, summoning up a Keese. He knew Bad Bats to be akin to a Keese's older, meaner cousin -- but perhaps it would help distract the entity. Julius closed in onto the creature, keeping his mind off of Spaghet. Maybe he could make himself useful.

Julius then realized he had no information on Spaghet to begin with, really.

Julius watched his Keese get slashed in half in an instant. It was exactly what he was expecting to happen; he wagered his chances with the creature in an instant, and decided to stay back. It was very obviously not man; Julius had no idea what it was, really. Possibly something similar in nature to Death Blade, or...

He didn't have time to think about it; its scythe was coming towards him with increasing speed. He parried it with his blade, but couldn't necessarily counter his opponent. They were going to have to find a way out.

Julius increased the distance between the two of them again. He kept the being his body's length away from himself, not wanting to get caught in one of those... waves of energy, or whatever the hell it was. All he knew was that it was some form of magic-- given his sword's ability to reflect it. Another wave passed by him-- at Spaghet! His eyes tracked the wave, himself being too far away to make a difference. Thankfully, he wasn't hit, but the attack did seem to explode-- another reason to not be hit. Great.

He sensed around the room, feeling for whatever life he could. He knew he couldn't match the creature directly in a fight-- being whatever it was, it obviously had some control over... life? It was hard to tell, but Julius knew that it would be a hard fight.

That was when Julius made his first mistake. He tried to block the scythe with his shield -- caught a bit off guard by a sudden juke -- when the scythe suddenly passed through his shield and armor into his arm. It wasn't particularly deep -- but he felt a whole lot weaker, now. If that was what this thing could do, then... There was no facing it. They had to escape.

"Spaghet! Find us a way out! This thing is..." Julius struggled to find the right word. 'An abomination,' 'mightier than I,' 'stronger than anything else I've fought'. He didn't want to scare Spaghet too much. "This thing can go right through my armor!"

Julius looked behind himself for an instant, seeing the light flood into the otherwise dimly lit room. He kept his senses focused on the being, however, before feeling... sick. Like his energy was actively being drained away from him. He wanted to vomit; he wanted to grip at his esophagus and tear it out with his bare hands. He wanted to die.

And then came the fear. The overpowering, mind-shattering fear; it made him run, far away. Farther than he would have otherwise; he feared for his life, but at the same time he didn't. It was strange; what had happened? Perhaps, when he rushed out into the room to meet with Spaghet, he would ask; but before then, he nearly dropped his blade. He wanted to cry at this point; to scream bloody murder. But something, something prevented it.

It was a fear he'd never felt before, in all his years as a guard; it was something he wasn't supposed to feel. Not normally, at least. Then, it started burning; he entire body felt like it was on fire, the pain pulsing out from the wound on his arm in waves. He had to leave. Now.

He rushed out into the antechamber behind Spaghet. He tore of his helmet as he slammed the door shut behind him, his face dripping with sweat. He threw his shield off of his arm, and started taking off the armor over his arm. As he peeled off a piece of armor, he finally saw what had happened: a sick green ooze seeped from his wound. It was spreading over his armor. In a fit of fearful panic, he began to cry, exasperated, panicked, and fearing for his life, "Oh Din, oh Nayru," over and over again. Finally it came to an end with a scream, followed by: "Why couldn't you have been a fucking doctor?" He grasped the wound, attempting to place pressure on it. He had no idea what was happening. He had no idea why. What the hell was that thing?

"Urrrrgh!" He hissed through his teeth. It burned. He tried to listen to Spaghet, taking in his advice to calm down. He was right. He wasn't of any use to anyone like this. "R-right," he said, struggling to let the pain go. He put his armor back on, before strapping his shield onto his arm again.

He struggled to pick himself up from the ground. It stung, but it was beginning to fade. He just needed to get his mind off of it; he was sure he'd be fine. At least, that's what he told himself. In truth, he had no idea how he'd fair; or if he'd even live to see the end of this place. He nodded to Spaghet, reexamining the doors. "So... which door do we go through?" His blade sat in its scabbard, still, thankfully.

"I... Give me a second, please," Julius said, hanging over the railing for a bit. If Spaghet listened, he'd be able to hear Julius vomiting onto the floor below, and the stench that emanated from it more than normal. He walked back to Spaghet after spitting out what remained in his mouth. "That was unpleasant. Well, assuming there aren't any more 'forbidden rooms', let's get going, shall we?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I have. That was my fault," he said, moving up to the center door. "But something about this palce isn't necessarily right, Spaghet." He moved the door open, bringing a huge chamber to face: it sloped down to the center of the room, almost perfectly, where a dozen spikes hung deep below, covered with corpses already.

Julius just barely managed to catch himself before stepping into the room. He looked around at the edges. There was enough space to walk; but ReDeads frequently dotted the edges. They wouldn't be able to close in, Julius knew; they'd have to take the advantage of range before continuing on. He pulled forth his Hookshot from his Adventure Pouch, aiming it at the first ReDead. He fired once, the hook boring into its skin, ripping chunks of flesh from it. He repeated it thrice, until it tore the head of the ReDead off of its corpse, which lay in tatters.

They were able to move forward now, making it to where the ReDead lay, black blood splattering over much of the sandstone surface, ready to take on the next ReDead. He looked behind at Spaghet, before moving his focus back to the ReDead. It was already moving closer to them. Without thinking, he pressed the trigger, still trained on the ReDead, before it pierced clean through its torso. The Hookshot, instead of unlatching, started to draw Julius to the ReDead; thinking quickly, he posed his blade in such a way that even were he stunned, it would slice the thing's head clean off.

He neared the abomination, and predictably, it screeched the usual bone-chilling scream, having the same effect it had always had on his nervous system. He froze, still, but he kept coming. His sword impacted its neck, tearing through whatever stone-like face it seemed to have. It continued, its impressive weight tearing through the thing's head. By the time Julius had come to move his body again, its head hung on by only a sliver. Surely, the creature was dead.

Julius caught Spaghet, and his violin, as he began falling towards the ground. He had gotten the gist of what Spaghet was trying to say well enough -- and promptly stowed the instrument in his Adventure Pouch for safe keeping. Just as he was beginning to consider what to do with Spaghet's body, something screeched from behind them-- a section of wall had lifted up, revealing yet another ReDead. He turned, but soon found his body frozen in place; not necessarily with fear, but with whatever the pitch of a ReDead did to a being's body.

He hated how powerless he felt. He hated that he could do nothing, like this. But, as the ReDead began to approach Spaghet, he found himself powerless to do a thing to the undead horror.

Spaghet became unfrozen first, quickly dispatching the monster with whatever technique he'd learned. Julius, still frozen, was forced to look on in a half-turn as the Moblin gripped onto the ground. His sense of motion came back to him slowly, completing the turn at first, before being able to speak to the lawyer. "Uh, of course," Julius said. After all, Spaghet had given him his moment earlier. He grimaced as he still felt the vomit on his tongue.

Then, Spaghet said a rather funny joke about Navina. He thought it was rather accurate; he chuckled at the joke, covering where his mouth was behind his helm with his hand. "Yeah, that impression is dead on," he said, still laughing. "Honestly, I have no idea why she's such a stiff." He paused for a moment, looking around the room. "It might be because some of the worst hasn't exactly hit her yet. Have I ever told you of how I got my scar, Spaghet?"

"There's a saying we have, you know? I can't remember it exactly, but it goes along the lines of not having to suffer for the sins of your father. I just think everyone should kind of... get to be their own person, I guess. It's harder to explain than you think." Julius sat at the edge of sandstone walkway. "Anyways, onto the story."

He looked at Spaghet, and took of his helmet. The black metal of his gauntlets traced along the scar trailing his right eye as he spoke, "I was on my way here, to the North. I was born in the South, before it was taken over and everything. I used to live in Kakariko-- apparently, my lineage had helped to found it. Anyways, I cam here because there was a journal I'd found; it belonged to my grandfather. He had helped to found Kakariko, and mapped out a lot of the South. Not by himself, of course; even though he was this hugely accomplished mage and great with a sword or whatever, it was a bit much for him. So he decided to conscript a portion of the Guard -- the organization that I help lead, now. Anyways, his journal chronicled all kinds of crazy, fantastical shit-- it was really amazing. That's why I decided to join, at least.

"Anyways, so there's a caravan heading from Kakariko to Castle-Town, heading through Goron City. Goron City was pretty amazing before it was all destroyed or whatever, by the way. A stunning sight, for sure. Anyways, the caravan was recruiting for guards, and having inherited my grandfather's skill at arms, I decided I'd go. So, we start going, and the trip's all going well. There was a particularly cute woman there, Jessica as I remember her calling herself; she really caught my eye. So, we get to talking, and really take to each other, and before we know it, we're to Goron City already. That was... about a week into our trip, almost, I think. Our supplies were running low, so we restocked, and stayed there for a couple of days. Mostly, I wandered around their forges, picking up a couple tricks of the trade-- I was a weaponsmith then, and still am, honestly.

"So, we leave Goron City without much issue, starting to go into the Northern lands. You could feel the climate shift almost instantly-- it got much colder faster than I'd thought it would. And, of course, being the brash, hot-headed kid that I was at the time, I hadn't brought anything warmer than a few shirts with some short sleeves. I caught cold pretty quickly-- it was hypothermia, basically, spurred on by allergic reactions because I'd never been around a lot of the plants and stuff the north has. Anyways, so I'm there, swearing to Din I was about to die-- I was praying for her to get me through it, shivering underneath a bundle of blankets, and I guess she granted that wish, sort of.

"So, basically, we're riding along, and we see the remnants of a camp site-- what I know now that was left by a band of Bulbins-- and I get up, but don't really recognize it. So, I wrap a blanket around myself, and start to ride alongside the caravan. Then, we hear this horn in the distance, and immediately begin to be assaulted by arrows-- it's a wonder I'm alive, honestly, but that isn't how I got the scar, yet. So, I have my shield overhead-- it was pretty much just wood at the time, since I was trying to travel light. So, my shield shatters after too many close calls, and then I'm left with just my sword. The sword I have now, in fact," Julius said, bringing it out from its sheathe. "So, while everyone else is all freaking out, another one of the guards wounded, and so on, I notice them on a ride just to the north of us. We hadn't necessarily cleared the valley yet, even -- they were there, preying on travelers like us. So, of course, when they notice that I'm climbing towards them, they start lighting their arrows, and send... ten? Maybe more, of their riders to seize whatever it is we're carrying." He looked at Spaghet again. "Tell me if I'm boring you, please. I know you didn't ask for my entire life story."

"So, anyways, there I was on that ridge, climbing my way up. I immediately notice the riders going down to the caravan, so I just drop. It sent a shock through my system, sure-- and then, as soon as I could, I just start dead sprinting back towards my horse, and then rode back towards the wagon. Of course, they weren't having any of that, so about three of the riders start coming towards me. It's night, of course, so I can't really see a whole lot-- I do manage to make out the eyes of their beasts, which have this... glow to them, I guess. That's how I'd describe it, at least. Like a cat's eyes, sort of. Anyways, so we're fighting them off in the dark, and then I see the wagon go up in flames-- and, of course, my first thought was to get over there and make sure Jessica was okay. That was the wrong move, apparently, and I rode nearly right into this one rider's spear. I bring my sword up to parry, but it's a bit too late... and there you have it. I still have nightmares about that night all the time-- thankfully, most of us made it out... okay. More than a few of us died, though." Julius grimaced as he said that. It was clear who had made it, and who hadn't.