[open] A Journey to the Lost Village of Kakariko

Pressing onwards into the tall grass, Mila could hear Kamaar following from behind. Pushing through the grass was rather easy, but a few bushes scattered across the field left its mark. Ignoring the relatively small cut on her forearm she continued plowing through, trying to get a margin of distance between the bird and herself.

“Huh.....a Rito? Never heard of them....” Mila responded, shakiness evident in her voice. Shorter and shorter the grass became until it was at knee height. Following a time lapse of around ten minutes which included nothing but traversing through grass, the ground had finally become softer and mud became increasingly tangible. “Looks like I'm getting close....” Feet first, Mila's ankles sunk deeper into the progressively growing amount of mud. Attempting to take another step, the woman fell face first.

She wasn't phased at all until she looked up. It was one of the most horrendous things Mila had ever laid her eyes upon. “A face? No, a skull!”The eye sockets pulsated with red iris that seemed to float in nothingness. Every premise of this creature screamed danger. She tried not to scream, but a squeal erupted from her mouth. Suddenly, it moved, crawling to its feet and rising from the mud. A jagged, sharp, and silver sword was in hand, ready to cut a living a soul into a million different pieces to make the ultimate jig saw puzzle. What's worse, Mila forgot her bow....

She responded. That’s a good sign, it leaves him time to fix the socially screwed up situation he started about an hour ago. The sun by now was already long gone, hidden from the night skies of Hyrule, the moon taking its place.

“Never heard of a Rito? I’m quite surprised! I thought that you would have at least ran into one at some point.” He shot back, trying to keep up with Mila.

She was already out of sight and with the tall grass blocking his view, it seemed like he lost her. Not to mention he received no reply to what he just stated about five minutes ago. Another five minutes passed, not a word said between the two. He was beginning to wonder if he even heard her say anything to him or if it was all just a veneer of his imagination. The grass began to become shorter and shorter as he maneuvered through these wretched fields when all of the sudden, a shriek in the distance broke the night’s gentle yet deadly silence.

Within seconds Kamaar was already changing from a gait to a fast run, his heart literally beating out of his chest. As he skidded out from a clearing he came to a halt. His heart stopped for a brief couple of seconds while his eyes adjusted to the night sky and what he saw almost made him turn around and flee out of morbid fear. It was a…. a… stalfos… He stared deeply into its eyes, its red hue piercing deep through his very soul. It was almost just as bad as running into a re-dead, ALMOST, not quite as bad though. He stared as the creature began to lift itself up more and more slowly redirecting its attention
from Mila to him. It tilted its head a little before letting out the most gruesome bellow.

Kamaar didn’t move, believing that remaining still would cause it to go away but he knew in all truth that this wasn’t a realistic and practical assumption. It slowly drew out its blade, dragging it along its sides as it slowly drew closer and closer towards Kamaar. Finally its face was just inches from Kamaar as it continued to stare him down.

He had two options. One, he could try to out run the creature but in all truth where there was one stalfos there were more. Or two he could try to fight it off. He’s killed a few throughout the years but usually the odds were in his favor… Not the stalfos.

The stalfos began to lift the sword up with both hands, getting ready to slice and dice his meal into the smallest pieces it could. His time was up! He had to move… and NOW. Kamaar quickly rolled out of the way as the sword cracked against the ground and was already coming in for a horizontal swing. He quickly jumped, throwing a couple of needles out toward the stalfos face with just a gentle flick of his wrists. A few missed but at least a couple hit the stalfos causing it to stagger a bit. Kamaar landed sloppily causing him to lose his balance and fall over. The Stalfos quickly drew up the blade once more and slammed it down, just singeing a group of Kamaar’s feathers. He didn’t care! Those grew back… his arm doesn’t.

The noise of the sword cracking down rang through Mila's ears. Mud splattered every which way, covering everyone within three feet. In haste, the young woman went and reached for her bow that usually sat on her back. It immediately became apparent. “My bow....I forgot my bow back at camp!” she shouted.

Mila rolled on her side as the stalfos went in for another blow. Another loud clang followed, just inches away from where her head had just been. Everything seemed to blur together. The moment seemed so surreal as if it was playing out in slow motion. Several heart wrenching roars rumbled forth from the skeletal fiend, resulting in an emphatic shriek from Mila. “I have to be brave...I j-just have to or the man will die!” she said under her breath whilst choking on some tears.

The sight of the stalfos brought back unwanted memories of the invasion Ganon had issued forth on Kakariko Village. Fear was a familiar feeling; it had consumed Mila on that day as well. If it wasn't for a man forcibly pushing her towards the gates that lead out of Kakariko she would have died. This situation was the same thing, except she had to be the savior this time.

Dragging herself on her own two feet the young woman steadied herself. Mud was caked on every inch of Mila's body, weighing her down, making even the simplistic movement grueling. Swinging her leg in an arc, Mila thrust it against its ribcage. A stomach sickening crunch proceeded. Pieces of bone snapped off, landing into the mud. The stalfos looked up at Mila, with a murderous glaze. Kicking the walking skeleton hadn't even phased it. In fact, it just looked more teed off.

Kamaar kept his eyes tightly shut waiting for the final blow. But, it never came. A sudden snap ringed through the air as a bone flew past his face. Several more roars followed as the incensed creature began to swing its sword wildly around. All Kamaar could do was stare, a shocked expression visible across his face as Mila round kicked the Stalfos in the ribs. Although the creature was hardly phased, she saved him and now it was his turn to help her. Once again he threw himself up before unsheathing his daggers from their resting place. He quickly ran towards the monster while its back was turned to him and with a quick movement rolled over the monster landing next to Mila.

He gave her a slight smirk and promptly handed Mila one of his daggers before immediately rushing forth blocking a vertical swing coming towards the both of them. His arms nearly snapped from the force of the blade, but he held his ground. He could feel himself being pushed back through the mud. He dug the tips of his feet deeper trying to return with the same amount of sheer power. Nothing happened. He pushed harder literally feeling the veins in his neck popping out. He couldn't hold him long. Hopefully Mila would do something and fast or this thing would be roasting Cucco for dinner.

The man landed lightly, handing a dagger to her in the process. It wasn't long before the stalfos had the advantage, pushing Kamaar with ease. If she didn't act fast, the skeleton would surely overpower him. Mila gripped the brass hilt awkwardly. In truth she had never handled a sword, let alone a dagger.

Swords-play was a beautiful art, mastered only by a few select individuals. Although it was a very common practice. Swinging a sword may look easy, however much practice, precision, footwork, and form was involved to wield one effectively. Mila had neither of these things. She was at the disadvantage. Nevertheless it was better then nothing at all.

Clambering through the mud, the terrified woman moved towards the dark creation. There was no way breaking any bones would phase it, so the problem would have to be solved a different way. Mila had to buy both of them enough time to at least make an escape.

There was only one option, make sure the opponent couldn't see them. It would have to be a quick and calculated strike, but there was a chance it would work. Holding the dagger rather clumsily, Mila drove the weapon into the stalfos left eye socket, embedding it into the bone skull. A ear piercing screech erupted forth from the monstrosity. Ganon's minion fell backwards, sinking into the mud clambering to dislodged the dagger that had impaired its vision in the left eye socket. At closer inspection, black ooze was dripping from it profusely. “Did....did we win?” Mila said breathing heavily. Her voice was filled with fear, horror, and curiosity all at once. She just wanted this to be over.

The stalfos roared in pain as it toppled over, the dagger plunged deep into the black abyss of the eye socket. The red hues of it's pupils slowly diminished until they were no more. All Kamaar could do was stare.

“I...” he quieted himself for a second, trying to once more catch his breath.

“I hope so... With the amount of force you drove that dagger into its head, it should be dead...”

Still out of breath, he finally stumbled over towards the creature, while sheathing his other dagger. He fixated his gaze on the oozing black substance slowly dripping down it's cracked face. After a couple moments of examining it, he gripped his hands tightly around the hilt of his other dagger and gave a couple of tugs before the weapon finally wedged free. Although fragile looking, this girl sure did pack a punch. Gently, wiping the edge of the iron blade against the grass, he put it back in its resting place along with his other dagger before turning his attention to Mila. He once again was smiling, his eyes closed with satisfaction. Kamaar gradually made his way over to Mila, flicking pieces of hardened mud off his shoulder, ready to say something. Then... exactly what he hoped wouldn't happen, happened.

All around them, from the bushes, from the tall grass, from the trees, slowly red eyes began to appear all around them. Fear seized Kamaar's heart as the number of eyes popping up grew more and more. Paralyzed with fear, he finally reached his hand towards Mila's arm, tightly gripping and gently pulling her towards him.

“Run....”

There must be at least twenty of them. Stalfos blocking every which way. Twenty pairs of red, evil eyes feasting upon a new set of victims. Kamaar was right. Having barely managed to defeat the first skeletal creature, it was impossible to take on all of Ganon's minions.

Mila felt the affirmative grip from the bird man. She knew all to well that this was an impossible situation. It was time to run fast. Very fast. It was getting harder to move. Mud that was caked on from previous falls had already hardened. What was worse, midnight in the plains can become awfully cold. Mila could already see her breath in the air each time she exhaled. “I was suppose to be in Kakariko Village by now....Everything is getting worse by the second...” she shouted.

Suddenly all the stalfos lunged forward. Mila dove out into a plot of grass. Tall enough to hide her, but certainly not far away enough from the enemies. She quickly pushed herself up and commenced into a run. Taking long strides and ripping through the endless field was all she could do.

Hyrule's sky was lite up with thousands of tiny stars. There wasn't a cloud in the sky. However, the temperature was dropping rapidly and a light mist hung in the air. Nights in the southern fields weren't always pleasant, this night being one of those days.

Direction wasn't even given a second thought. Mila didn't care where she went as long as it was far away from those hideous things that had attacked them both. Hopefully Kamaar was right behind her, otherwise she'd have to go back out of the sheer goodness in her heart. Even if she didn't trust him, the man helped her. Mila was willing to do so in return.

A couple beads of perspiration traveled down the side of his face as he calculated his next move. They were closing in fast. He spun around, looking at every direction.

“Oh, don't worry. I will take you to Kakariko myself if I have to!” He shouted back, determined but desperation apparent in his voice.

One stalfos swung a horizontal swing faster then he expected causing him to duck. He began to crawl away which quickly transferred into a full burst run. Mila had already made a run for it and was at least a quarter of a mile in front of him. Stick, branches, you name it, slapped him as he drove through the fields, plowing everything in his way just to get away from those... THINGS!

“MILA! Just keep running!” he yelled to her up ahead.

The sound of crashing branches and banshee like cries were ringing through the air as they struggled to catch up. Even though they struggled it was apparent of how close they were getting. Finally, catching up to Mila, he grabbed her by the arm and quickly jerked her to the side pulling her down with him. He put a hand to her mouth signaling her to be quiet, waiting for the stalfos to pass. He didn't want to scare her like he did before but being scared was better then being dead.