Sword and Shield Maze (Mag/Cloud)

Sword and Shield Maze
-Kalvar (3/1/5): Wall Scaling: Wall Walking augment (-20r), Summon Ammunition (-10r), Blink Shield Ring (-25 r) a Kinstone (-2r) and -7 Rupees from Profile.
-Julius (4/1/4): Roc's Cape (-35r), Red Potion (-60r), and 25 rupees.

It had been a long journey to Northern Hyrule. Not feeling comfortable traveling with anyone, he traveled around the mountain range completely alone. Well, mostly alone. He wasn't sure if Wind Fairy counted as true companionship, but he was glad for her presence. She seemed mostly like a real person, so there wasn't any real difference. Asides from being a talking bow, that is.

Kalvar had took a short detour to head near the closest forest he could find. He grew up in rocky desert environment, but the forest was a good place for shelter and food. It was time to start hunting. Hopefully he'd find a deer to be able to eat today. Most of his diet ended up involving fowl and various plants he could scrounge up, and he was dying for some real meat.

Leaping upwards onto the largest tree he could find, he began to effortlessly climb upwards. He'd definitely gotten a lot of experience climbing over time, and had a sneaking suspicion it was more than just natural talent that allowed him to effortlessly cling to flat ceilings. Some lingering magic perhaps? Either way, he didn't bother questioning to much. Whatever the source, it was useful.

Climbing up onto a branch near the very top of the tree, Kalvar scouted out the area across the forest with his Hawkeye. Huh... No animals nearby, but there was some strange stone structure in the distance. It was worth investigating, especially if there were people nearby.

Once Kalvar finally arrives at the structure, he immediately realizes whats going on. It's not a building, and no one is living nearby. It's a large set of abandoned ruins that nature had slowly overtook once again. Vines climbing up the dilapidated walls as well as a dead layer of leaves spread around. Looked like nobody had been here for years. Might as well look around.

He retrieves his bow from across his shoulders, and begins to look around. Man, this place was huge. So many abandoned buildings, fallen into complete disrepair. He couldn't even really recognize the architecture either. But then again, he grew up entirely in Southern Hyrule. The culture was probably vastly different up here.

Kalvar suddenly froze, turning invisible as he did so. Someone else was here, he could Sense it. They were around the corner, but he didn't dare risk looking just yet. Whatever it was, might end up going away. However, once he heard the sounds of combat, Kalvar leaped around with an arrow already notched on his bowstring.

The sight he saw, was not one he had been expecting. A Darknut was unexpected, but not too much so. Julius however, was not a sight he had ever expected to see again until he reached Castle Town. He was just about to lose an arrow at the Darknut before it launched its blade straight towards him.

Kalvar didn't even have time to curse as he quickly jumped back behind the wall. The massive blade stuck itself straight into the ground where he had been standing just half a second ago. That was too close for comfort. However, Kalvar couldn't help but grin at the sight. The Darknut had just tossed away it's weapon. This was an opportunity.

Jumping upwards, he quickly climbed up the ruined wall with ease. Bow in hand, he nocked an arrow just in time. The Darknut was already swinging a fist at Julius, and it was now or never. Confident in his abilities, Kalvar's bow glowed green and a gust of wind surrounded his hands as he let the arrow fly.

His arrow didn't hit exactly where he hoped, but hit the Darknut anyways. Striking the armor of the large monster, the arrow suddenly exploded into a burst of wind. Even though his arrow didn't pierce the armor, the strong gust knocked the already weakened Darknut onto the ground. It's punch missing Julius quite drastically, swinging at the open air as it fell. Leaving it perfectly exposed for Julius to give it the final blow.

"Excellent shot, Master." The bow spoke telepathically to Kalvar, reminding him of her presence. "You've certainly learned how to use my magic appropriately." "Not now." Kalvar responded mentally. "Save the compliments until we make sure it's dead."

Kalvar physically winced as he saw Julius get struck with the blade. That definitely looked like it hurt, and yet he still seemed to stay on his feet. A blow like that would have probably brought himself to his knees. Knowing full well that even Julius couldn't last forever, he leaped into action. Literally jumping off the ruined wall, he notched an arrow on his bow right as he landed. No time for thinking about it. Time for action.

Charging forwards, he ran towards the Darknut as his bow started to glow a pale green once more. "Ready Master." His weapon spoke aloud this time, just as Kalvar slid down as if he was playing a game of ball. However, instead of trying to touch a base, his bow was aimed directly at the darknut right above him.

The Darknut lifted a foot to smash down on top of Kalvar he slid, but that proved to be his downfall. Kalvar let loose an arrow, and the sudden wind gust exploded both Kalvar and the monster backwards. Kalvar flung back, rolling onto his back from the awkward tumbling he did as the wind knocked him around. Man, that hurt.

Their enemy didn't have near the same knockback as Kalvar did, but with his foot raised he was at a severe disadvantage to balance. He fell backwards, only just managing to land on one of his knees. It was already trying to stand back up, but it definitely seemed dizzy.

Kalvar was quick to try and scramble to his feet, trying his best to ignore the self-inflicted damage he caused to himself. He'd happily do that again and again all day if it meant he didn't have to witness such a blow to Julius again.

And just like that, the battle was over. The Darknut somehow frozen solid. He really had no idea what Julius was capable of, did he? At least Kalvar imagined that he did some good.

Smiling a little wider as Julius spoke, his bow suddenly spoke out loud for him. "We have been doing wonderfully, Creator. Master is quite the lovely travel partner. He expressed his high opinion of you several ti-"

"Aaanyways..." Kalvar interrupted, not exactly wanting his bow to ramble on about how much he rambled about Julius internally. Julius was everything Kalvar dreamed to be, after all. A strong, powerful knight of Hyrule. Ever since he met him, he was always comparing himself. How he measured up, and whether he'd ever be as good as the man before him.

"We've been doing just fine. A bit rough around the edges here and there, but I've always traveled. A few nights in the rain never hurt anything." Kalvar chuckled, before suddenly speaking again. "Let me guess, some twist of fate allowed us to meet up once again for another delve into some strange dungeon? Temple? Whatever it is, it looks like you could use the help."

Suicide? Bah. He was more than confident in his abilities right now. After just taking down a beast like that, he was foolishly confident that they'd be able to do it again. What was the worse that could happen? They both die a horrible death? Impossible.

Of course, his bow had concerns. Mentally communicating to Kalvar, it said "Master, are you sure about this? Julius made no mistake stating how dangerous this is."

"And if it's that dangerous, then he needs all the help he can get. Right?" And with that, the bow fell silent unable to find a fault in his logic.


The place surely was impressive. Right away, he noticed a fire theme on one side and ice on the other. Duality at its finest. That was what the Gorons and Anouki were meant to symbolize, right? What else could they be for? He almost lost himself analyzing the walls until he saw them split into two separate paths. Not to mention, he went wide eyed as the door automatically opened for the ice path. Some strange magic at work, yet very convenient.

Right on the other side of the door, was a room absolutely filled with ice. Walls completely made of it, and various patches on the floor were as well. It seemed like it was indeed a maze, as the very end of the ice filled corridor split off into two directions.

"Probably best not to split up," Kalvar said out loud, his bow slipping into his hands just in case. "Never know when someone or something might jump out at us."

Almost as if just to spite him, the two splitting pathways suddenly slid shut with a large block of ice blocking both paths. Seemingly from nowhere, two skeletal like monsters seemed to emerge straight from the walls Their bones made entirely of solid ice. They were both Chillfoses, but Kalvar himself had no knowledge of what they were. Only that their large icicle spears would cause them massive problems in the space they had to maneuver.

Kalvar didn't even have a moment to react before Julius had slain both creatures with ease. Cutting straight through the Chilfos like it was warm butter, and then kicking the other one into a melted puddle before putting it out of its misery. He had no words to describe the sudden combat, other than a simple "... Huh."

With the summoning of the strange single eyed Keese, Kalvar stood back and waited patiently. Julius seemed to know what he was doing... Even if he himself didn't have the slightest idea. Was he scouting with it? Sure seemed to be with his eyes closed and it flying around for him. Now, where did he learn to that? So many questions and no answers.

"Moblins. Not normal ones, either." Kalvar heard Julius say, and he let out a soft sigh. "Not normal? What do you mean? Are they made of ice? Covered in snow? Details would be appreciated." And yet, he followed behind Julius as they went down the path.

Eventually, he finally saw what Julius was talking about. The corridor opened up into a rather large room, absolutely full of these Silver Moblins. The walls were made of ice, but luckily the floor was a snow covered stone. At least the solid ground gave more traction than the ice to walk on and fight.

Unluckily, the Moblins spotted them first thing. The largest of the group, covered in thick furs and hides, immediately started to charge towards the duo, the giant frozen club it wielded raised to strike, with the rest of its friends not too far behind. A total of six Moblins were in sight, and who knew if there was more somewhere else?

Not wanting to take any risks of them getting closer, Kalvar quickly let loose an arrow from his glowing green bow. Within a single second the arrow struck right into the chest of the largest one, knocking it straight back in a gust of wind. Straight back into the rest of the Moblins charging behind him. They quickly collided, and a few even fell onto the floor. But it wasn't going to stop them forever. They were already assembling themselves and running once more.

Kalvar's best talent was archery, but his second was tactically retreating. Melee combat was pointless for him. Without a single word, he quickly stepped back and practically leaped at the nearest ice wall. Climbing up the wall was more difficult than he was used to, coming from the desert and its giant rocky cliffs. But even the slippery ice wasn't enough to stop his escape, the most it did was numb his hands from the immense cold. The room was at least 20 feet tall, but with the huge Moblins and their long reach, he should still be careful.

The first Moblin was likely in range of Julius's sword by the time he reached the top of the wall, but he couldn't exactly see either way. As he was still facing the wall, it made looking out for enemies difficult. Especially as a few of them seemed to have long reaching spears... This fight was not going to be fun.

Kalvar had no idea what was happening to Julius, but he hoped the man was fairing alright. He was too busy worrying about the two Silver Moblins remaining on him. Their spears weren't quite long enough to reach anything but the soles of his feet, which they managed a good stab at. Kalvar winced in pain, blood dripping down onto their faces from his left foot. This definitely seemed to excite them, taking some perverse enjoyment in the blood shower. He quickly scampered the rest of the way up to the ceiling.

Only then did he finally get a good view. Julius was safe, thank the Godessess above. And yet, he was being surrounded on all sides. This was not going to be good, and he couldn't do anything but watch... His hands had to remain on the ceiling to stay above, and dropping down sword drawn was suicide. He'd fall onto them and get stabbed immediately, but desperate times called for desperate measures.

He quickly let go of his hands, expecting to fall down and getting a single stab with his sword as he fell. However, Kalvar just seemed to remain exactly where he was. Feet plastered to the roof like some sort of spider. An excited and yet confused laugh escaped from his mouth as he suddenly knew exactly what to do. He grabbed his bow, already retrieving an arrow.

Unfortunately, arrows in his quiver weren't exactly gravity resistant when he stood against gravity. He only managed to grab three of them before every other single arrow fell down to the ground below. Time to make these count.

He quickly fired one arrow, but even with Straight Shooting gravity was still at work, and it made things extremely awkward to work with. His first arrow fell right at the Moblins feet effectively doing nothing. The second didn't fare much better either, firing right where the arm on one of the Moblins would have been if it had not been cut off. Julius's doing, very possible.

His bow reacted on its own for the final shot, without Kalvar even consciously thinking of doing so. The bow glowed a pale green as he readied his next arrow. The Wind Fairy apparently suggesting the next move. Kalvar smirked at the sight. This could work.

"Julius! Brace yourself!" And with that, he fired the arrow. Within mere moments of the arrow landing amongst his foes and single ally, all hell broke loose. Moblins were knocked back in every direction with a huge gust of wind and he could only hope Julius was going to be okay. At least, he likely wasn't surrounded anymore.

Kalvar was officially out of arrows and out of luck. Usually most fights ended before this point. A few extremely well-placed arrows and most foes would fall down dead. To which, he could retrieve any unbroken arrows and continue on his way. But in the middle of combat? Near impossible if he wanted to keep all his limbs intact. Theoretically, he could drop down and grab one quickly, but it wasn't worth the risk.

Quickly retrieving his sword from its sheath, his bow fell to the ground. As it fell, the bow seemingly transformed in midair. As it touched the ground, a bright white cat was in its place. Perfectly normal in every way, asides from three beautiful emerald-like gems for its eyes and nose. The bow's wind gems, of course. It quickly scurried off across the room, dodging and weaving between the Moblin's legs. Causing just enough of a distraction to draw their attention, Kalvar finally lets himself drop.

Sword in hand, he lands directly behind the first Silver Moblin. It had foolishly looked down at the scrambling cat, before Kalvar's sword suddenly stabbed directly in its back. It gasped for air, swinging its weapon wildly as more and more blood spilled out of the wound. With a quick twist, Kalvar pulled the sword back out as fast as he could. A vital organ hit, likely the lungs. The silver monster sputtered, yet turned around anyways. The beast's teeth bared angrily, almost as if it didn't even feel the pain.

Unnerved, Kalvar stepped backward. This was unexpected... And quite honestly terrifying. A beast that can survive a stab to the lungs with no sign of pain? What were they fighting? Unfortunately, Kalvar's pause in shock turned out to be his weakness. Before he knew it, a spear from the unharmed Moblin stabbed directly into his side. His vision blurred as the spear was retracted, his precious blood dripping onto the snow-covered stone beneath his feet. Pain shot up his back, hand instinctively covering his side as he stepped back.

"Master!" Kalvar heard nearly yelled inside his head. Within seconds, the bow turned housecat was clawing at his attacker's legs. The claws were sharp of course, but they barely caused a single dent against the Silver Moblins thick skin. It was definitely trying, at the very least. Regardless, the Moblin barely even acknowledged the miniscule attacker's presence. It wasn't any more dangerous than the common housefly to the beast.

The wound wasn't too bad, all things considered. It could have been much worse, actually striking an organ of some kind perhaps. Regardless, his vision was hazy for a short while as Julius seemingly dispatched the remaining foes with ease. Kalvar had a hand pressed to his side to apply pressure to the wound, letting out a long sigh as he dropped his sword onto the ground in disgust. If only he was more talented with the blade this wouldn't have happened. His skills were long distance combat and evasion, not... whatever this was. An obvious sense of self-loathing was quite apparent in his grim expression, frowning at nothing in particular.

The "cat" that was his bow immediately scrambled back over to his side, an unreadable expression on her feline face. Kalvar simply sat down on the ground after Julius bandaged him up, not saying much of anything as the cat finally climbed onto his lap. After brushing against him softly, the feline form dissolved to reform his bow once more. The very moment he touched it with his hands the Wind Fairy spoke to him mentally. "You will be okay Master. You have recovered from worse injuries."

"That's not the point. It's in front of him." Kalvar mentally responded, taking the slight reprieve to recover his breath. With a sigh, he sat still as his bow spoke once more.

"What do you mean, Master? It is Julius, my creator. Surely he would not jud-"

"That's exactly the point. He is everything I can imagine wanting to be." Kalvar interrupted. "Brave, strong, skilled with the sword and absolutely fearless. The shining example of everything a member of the Guard should be. It's..."

"It's embarrassing. I see." Wind Fairy finished his sentence for him with lacking tact, as usual. "You wish to be like him. And getting injured shows weakness, where you see no weakness in him."

She would have continued on, but Kalvar pleaded with her to silence so he could at least keep some of his pride intact. He didn't need help, not from anyone. Determined to never get into a situation where Julius of all people had to rescue him, Kalvar steeled his nerves as he began to collect his arrows that had fallen. It was still a sizable amount, but the supply would eventually run out if he wasn't careful.

Finally grabbing his sword, he sheathed it carefully after removing the drying blood from the blade. It was surely time to continue on, he refused to waste time any longer. He didn't even speak, simply nodding towards Julius to let him know that he was prepared to continue.

However, Wind Fairy had other ideas. Out loud, her voice echoed into the room. "Thank you for saving Master Kalvar, Creator Julius. We are ready to continue." Kalvar just let out a soft sigh, shrugging as he gripped a few arrows tightly in his hands. Hopefully, he didn't lose them like that again.

"Nineteen, actually." Kalvar responded, staring straight up at Julius as he did his best to be completely unwavering in the face of a talk of reality from the soldier he idolized. He didn't quite understand everything that he mentioned. Spirit Realm? Fighting his own body? It didn't make sense to him, but he could tell Julius was dead serious about the fact that it had happened. It was strange to think just how little experience he actually had when compared to people who had been fighting their entire lives. He was only born into the world after the great war with darkness had truly started, after Kakiriko had burned to the ground.

Fifty-three years of working with weapons were certainly impressive. Julius looked his age for sure, but in a positive way. His scars showed experience, a fine-tuned weapon after decades of combat. However, what Kalvar was not prepared for, was being compared to their senior archers. A part of him knew that he was the best archer the world had ever seen, or at least so he had told himself since he was little, but hearing it from someone else was definitely a boost to his confidence. Especially considering his own archery skills were almost entirely self-taught.

Julius didn't really give much a description of what he was doing with summoning Keese, but apparently, it gave him information, and that was more than enough for Kalvar to somewhat understand. Readying himself once more, he pressed on, taking the lead with his bow at the ready. Surely he'd be able to surprise an enemy with a sudden strike of an arrow, rather than give them any time to charge. Even if they were assumed safe, he'd rather err on the side of caution.

The pathway eventually opened up to exactly what Julius had described. A huge pathway, with boulders of all shapes and sizes covering the area. One boulder, in particular, was even blocking the path, but it was fairly small and easily able to be climbed over top of. However, once Kalvar leaped up to the top of the boulder, at the far end of the passageway he noticed something a bit strange. There were two corpses at the far end of the passageway, partially crushed beneath the rocks.

Normally this wouldn't have fazed him, but the bones weren't exactly staying still. The rotten flesh covered in bandages were ever so slowly pushing the rocks off of them with inhuman strength. Eyes wide, Kalvar quickly leaped up and stuck to the wall with his feet as he whispered down to Julius. "Gibdos." Without another word, Kalvar readied his arrow on his bow and simply froze in place. Within mere moments, he vanished from sight as he kept still, waiting for the perfect shot as those undead abominations revealed themselves.