The Great Fairy Fountain [Clooby & BP]

Julius wasn't necessarily thrilled at the thought of wondering into the Lost Woods. There were many old, almost unreasonable myths and wives' tales about the almost forsaken location; the fact that, as it was, he was old enough to have been in his thirties when Ganon attacked...

Well, he was convinced he was nearly at the end of his rope. He wasn't... especially thrilled at the prospect of becoming a Stalfos.

But there would be time for dwelling upon his wizened features later; as it stood now, he was on a specific, almost selfish mission. See, in these woods, there was rumoured to lie a particular fairy -- not just any fairy, as Lexi had been, but something much more powerful.

In these woods, there was rumoured to be a Great Fairy. The Great Fairy of Guidance, in fact, as far as he could tell. After pouring across many texts and historical tomes dealing with the Lost Woods, he couldn't come to any solid conclusion, but this was his best guess.

Now, someone would probably be wondering the why of this entire expedition. Some time ago, however long it had been, he had the seemingly ingenious idea to offer his body up to an almost malevolent trickster; an unwise move, that surely would have been ill-advised by those who... were not in attendance of the event. Regardless, he had been cursed, but not in a traditional way, exactly. His curse had its uses, but his otherwise sickened appearance was an unexpected side effect.

Still, what more could he have expected?

Either way, he had learned his lesson. Gathering his part of eight, excluding himself, they began to make their way into an almost swamp-like lands. What little that had been accurately mapped of the Lost Woods would be useless now; the landscape was almost entirely useless, but Julius was no so effortless.

He knew he would be able to, ultimately, resist the many twists and turns of the almost evil forest. What remained, however, was a... vague sense of unease. Were these woods truly safe to tread?

As his small group continued their march, a cloaked individual suddenly tumbled onto whatever beaten path the woods conjured up. He raised a hand, signaling all of them to stop in place while he investigated. He proceeded cautiously, well aware of the myriad of tricks the forest would perform in order to exterminate their group.

As he approached, he felt no hostility from this being before him -- it was difficult, of course, to discern just one being from what seemed to be an ocean of hatred. Indeed, it seemed that the very forest itself craved their death.

He got closer to the figure, hand sliding from the hilt of his blade and being offered to the figure.

He looked back to his group before shouting, "It's a civilian!" He leaned back towards the figure before lifting her up. "There's no need to worry, ma'am. We're part of the Hyrule Guard -- I'm Captain Julius Surgate. May I ask what you're doing out here?"

"Well, there's no point in leaving you here to rot," he said, escorting her to the middle of the convoy. It would be safest there -- he knew all of his men were capable fighters in their own right, but he had no idea if this girl was capable of anything. "Either way, it seems like we're after the same thing." He returned to the front of the convoy, to lead his men through what was commonly known as one of the most dangerous location in Hyrule -- and, even with Julius' supernatural sense of direction, he couldn't help but feel... wrong.

Wrong about every twist, every turn, every road down a split path they took. It wasn't how you would describe feeling wrong when you answered a question incorrectly; no, it was much worse than that. It was a gut instinct, a primal fear, that told him that he should not be here. That this place was openly, deliberately attempting to cause him harm and, at worst, death.

His breath was quick, rapid; shifting about like the trees in the forest. He didn't like what he was feeling, and neither did any of his men. As they had discussed prior, he began to call role. He listed off every name from the guardsman behind him, to the very back. Only seven answered.

"Shit," he uttered under his hasty breath. They had lost a man. Needless to say, they wouldn't be leaving until they found him. "Everyone, turn around. Stay in eyesight of everyone else," he began, slowly observing his surroundings. Just as well, he used his sort-of sixth Sense to feel for any openly hostile forces around them.

Well, at least for something he could discern aside from what seemed to be the murderous intent of the forest itself.

"Arifa," he said, moving closer to the civilian, "Stay close. I don't want there to be any casualties -- guardsman nor civilian -- on this operation."

"It is... strange." His words were tense in the strange atmosphere. He had felt similar things -- but nothing like this. Nothing this ominous, or awful, or... unnatural.

Yes, Julius decided, that was the best way to describe it. This ominous, nigh-predatory bloodthirst he felt was simply not of this world.

He drew his blade swiftly, as the feeling seemed to consolidate in a smaller area. Somewhere to the... left? No, the right-- it shifted again. It wasn't periodic, as if someone were teleporting with Wizzwarp, or something similar, but it was almost as if reality itself was having trouble placing this particular entity. It would be somewhere, then in another place, and it would keep going on like that, instantly shifting and sliding across physical space.

He drew his blade swiftly, further attempting to pinpoint the apparent error within reality. It kept moving instantly, without rhyme or reason -- there was no pattern of speed, nor of direction. It simply moved, but Julius could not figure out why. His eyes scanned the areas immediately surrounding him, from the treeline to the dirt paths around them.

Julius finally laid eyes upon it as it teleported dead center into the path before them. It was a beast; at least, Julius thought so. It had a strange stone-like mask over its face, and crawled towards them like a salamander. It had a body formed of shadow, and almost seemed to corrupt the area around it as it crawled towards them at an alarmingly fast pace.

Julius responded first. "Everyone, back!" He shouted, shoving Arifa out of the creature's path, before bringing up his shield as it wicked talons raked against the steel. He shoved back with all his strength, causing the animalistic abomination to stumble backwards. It was... a good deal heavier than any of them likely thought it would have weighed. But where was all that weight stored?

He eyed the creature carefully. He poised his blade, ready to counter whatever its next move would be -- provided it stayed in place. "The mask!" He shouted, noticing a few of his group draw their bows. Everyone was cautious -- almost too cautious. After all, no one had fought such a creature before.

Julius diverted his eyes as Arifa declared the name of her spell. A second later, blinding light flashed all throughout the woods, and so did an otherworldly wailing. His eyes fell back upon the beast; it had frozen in place. Good.

Arrows sailed through the air, only to ricochet off of its stone mask. That part seemed... well-defended, to say the least. A quick Spin Attack at the midsection of its body proved to do enough harm; the arc of energy from the tip of his sword sliced into its shadowy skin, releasing a black mist of what may as well have been blood into the air. But mist? Julius didn't know what that could be.

Regardless, he followed up his initial move with a number of other strikes and blows against its body. It was more important to save the lives of his companions, should this stuff prove to be fatal, than to worry of his own safety.

The twang of several bowstrings releasing nocked arrows registered to his ears as the beast's hide was further peppered with arrows. Well, it would certainly be dead by now, at least, is what he thought as rammed the beast's mask with his shield, before burying the gleaming silver of his sword in its tainted flesh. His sword had struck through the beast's neck; or, at least, what would have been the neck on any other creature.

He withdrew his blade with speed, noticing what looked like grime on its features. He grimaced. That was probably the thing's blood -- he noticed it quickly turned to mist, almost literally sizzling off of his blade. He... didn't really want to know what that thing was. Given its weakness to Light, it was more than likely something of the shadows. What he couldn't understand was what exactly it was.

He turned back to Arifa. "So you know some magic. That's good; great, even. Are you okay?" He looked to the rest of his companions after checking on the girl. No one could find their missing person, but... Somehow, they were all accounted for. No one seemed unusually vicious, and even the forest around them had lost its malicious atmosphere. Maybe that thing was the cause of the apparent hostility in the woods.

Either way, he'd be keeping an eye upon his team. After all, they still had to find the fountain. He directed his group to set out in the direction he'd recognized as North. That fruit he'd eaten however long ago was becoming more useful with every second they spent in this place.

"More personal. I suppose that his Majesty doesn't think that the situation at hand necessitates inquiring about what any Great Fairies could necessarily offer to the situation." He kept his senses sharp as they continued to explore the woodland. He didn't know what to expect from his surroundings-- one of the many pitfalls with his planned journey: the lack of information about the region.

Even while his supernatural sense of direction made sure they weren't quite falling into a loop, the forests still bent and twisted according to its own will. And even then, there were still other dangers of which to beware...

Namely Wolfos, Skull Kids, Stalfos, even lowly thieves... Julius was sure there were more threats, but they were most likely undocumented thus far. Maybe, if this expedition was successful, he'd be able to add to that pool of knowledge.

They came to a fork in their path rather soon. Julius looked both ways-- it was difficult to tell which way either path lead, and each had a similar menacing vibe to it.

"Hold," he shouted to the rear of his caravan. "I think this is a good place to rest for a moment." He turned to Arifa. "So, I suppose your reason is just as personal, then? What with being sick and all." He was beginning to... well, doubt her motives here. But, still, he hadn't felt any ill will of her during her time with his convoy. After all, why would a lone girl be wandering alone in somewhere as dangerous as the Lost Woods? He was an extensively practiced and experienced swordsman, and even he didn't like the thought of going it alone.

But at the same time, who was he to judge? He was searching for the fairy for... a fairly selfish reason, actually. "Well, I suppose my reason is more than personal. Selfish, I'd say. A while back a... let's call 'it' some kind of... I don't know; demon, deity, something along those lines. I'm, frankly, not sure what the hell it's supposed to be. In my experience, it usually takes the form of a child without a face, and makes a bunch of vague illusions... Like I'm supposed to be a 'mask' a 'face' wears, or something. Anyways, its whole angle is that if you offer something to it... Like, say I could offer my sword, or something like it, and he would 'twist' it, in a way." He stopped for a moment, considering how to word what was going to come next.

"I guess you could say that I got too... cocky, arrogant, or maybe even desperate for some twisted bid of power. So, I offered up my body, hoping to get some sort of edge for what's to come. The result was that I became... warped; distorted, in a way. Underneath all this armor, I look like a corpse walking around. I've got boils and warts and all kinds of unseemly features now. I'm disgusted at my own actions, now, and... Well, I regret them enough to mount this whole expedition in unknown, incredibly hostile territories. I'm obviously willing to risk my life to see if there's even the possibility of regaining who I used to be."

He looked at Arifa again, having taken a seat on one of many nearby stumps. This probably meant that there were thieves or some such nearby. He'd have to stay sharp. "What about you? Given with how much ease you cast that spell, I don't think you can be that sick, but I can't really use magic, so... I guess I really shouldn't be saying anything about it."

"Only somewhat," he began, continuing to take note of his surroundings. "But I suppose that's a fair enough explanation. I only wished that I seemed to posses... at least some skill with the art. It's a shame, really-- long ago, my line used to be one of almost feared, but ultimately respected mages and warriors. One side faded, but the other continued."

He noted her nervous fidgeting once more. It was obvious, now, that something was making her uncomfortable; but, the question was what. Perhaps she could sense something he couldn't-- or see, or hear something he couldn't. With the way she was drawing her hood over her head... It was almost like she didn't want to be seen-- like she needed to hide her face for some peculiar reason.

But, considering his own reason to seek out a Great Fairy, perhaps it wasn't so peculiar.

"Well, as I was saying. While I am knowledgeable enough about common spells and such, there are admittedly very few things I can do with... well, what I suppose resembles magic, at least. For instance, I can conjure a Keese... but it's not exactly though magic that I summon it; I don't think so, at least. It feels more like I'm... I don't know, projecting an extension of myself into existence, or some other such nonsense. Maybe I just don't understand enough of it."

He kept a close eye on her reactions as he spoke to her, while doing his best to make it seem like he wasn't really paying attention to what she was saying or doing. While he supposed that someone who was trained in something like he was would have picked up on it... If she was just a sickly village girl, as she said she was, then he doubted she would be able to tell.

But Julius had a sneaking suspicion that she had something to hide.

((Had I been posting, this thread could be finished by now.))

A flash of icy steel flashed through the air, a single burst of frozen, slashing energy filling the space around Julius. He had advanced toward the Stalfos and their keepers, confident enough in his weapons and abilities that he would be able to take them out before they could even consider attacking.

As arrows began to be nocked behind him, the others in the small squad he had brought with him considered the enemies' positions. Nearly all of them were frozen from around their ribs down, and smashed into pieces, all in the same motion.

A stray arrow pierced the lone stalhound that had managed to escape Julius' wrath.

"That will be enough of that," Julius spat, sheathing his blade. He looked over at Arifa, not sure of what to make her expressions. "Well, for whatever you think you may be hearing, please do keep us informed. I'm not sure if you're aware, but no Hylian's senses can detect an Undead, so please, if you think something is ahead, feel free to inform us."

They had been resting here for long enough. Julius ordered the scout troop to begin moving again, setting off deeper into the woods, but the same sense of dreadful forboding still ate at him, his being. Like something was intrinsically wrong with this situation, even though he knew that they weren't heading in circles.

They walked for a while longer. Was time even passing in this forest? The deeper they got, the darker and stiller things seemed to get.

"Now see her as she truly is!" Something shouted through the air. A blinding flash of light emerged from the center of the group, now stopped, blinding most everybody.

When everyone regained sight, Arifa rang out in a suddenly shrill voice, "Get her!"

As others scrambled for weapons, Julius barked orders at his assembled posse. There was now a very strange feeling emerging from whom he assumed was Arifa. He kept his eyes upon the... no, that certainly wasn't possible. Was that a Great Fairy? The Great Fairy they sought, perhaps?

"Keep Arifa at bay!" Julius yelled, noting the almost remarkable shift from friend to foe. As his men assembled a circle and leveled their spears at the girl, Julius looked at the fairy... closer. "Oh, by Din and by Nayru," he muttered, more to himself than anyone else-- "You were her this entire time, weren't you?"

"Men! Bind the imposter," he barked, turning just in time to see the magical disguise begin to fade away from the Keaton among his troops. Not knowing what to do, his men allowed the fox to scamper away. He let out another sigh of almost discontent.

"Captain! Do you wish us to pursue, sir?" One of his lieutenants asked, motioning for the others to be prepared to leave... not they they weren't already.

"No. But, now that we know it uses a magical disguise, it'll be difficult for it to blend itself with us again." Why hadn't he used his Lens of Truth earlier? Mistakes were made, but it was almost inevitable. At least no one had died... As far as they could tell, at least.

He turned back to the Great Fairy. "So," he started, moving past Arifa, "what's the real reason you're out here? Earlier you said you were seeking out the same person we were... Are you returning to your fountain? I didn't even realize Great Fairies could leave their fountains," he added, head awash in confusion.

"Well, it's good to know that you're on our side already, at least." He took a last look around the particular patch of forest they were in. "Assuming you know how to get there, how far away are we currently? I'd like to get everyone there in one piece, before another one of those shadow creatures emerges... Or we run into more trouble otherwise."

And so, they traveled down the unused path for another seven, eight minutes perhaps, before their foremost guard came to a halt, the others keeping the distance between each guardsman at about five feet.

Julius was instantly aware of why they had stopped.

"Shadow beasts," he muttered under his breath towards Arifa, drawing her attention to the overgrown marble pillars that marked entrance to her fountain-- concealed in a cave just beyond them. "Stay here-- Great Fairy or not, I'll not have a member of my entourage hurt by beasts such as... these," he said, a sharp inhalation of breath trailing just beyond his words. "They do not belong on this plane. As a Great Fairy, I am sure you know this more than any of us."

He drew his blade. There would be a long way to go between him, his men, and Arifa-- and with the three beasts that seemed intent on perhaps entering her fountain, or... maybe they intended to capture the Great Fairy herself. Either way, Julius thought to himself, neither of those would be happening any time soon.

He looked ahead at the beasts. Earlier, they had seemed... misplaced, but now, they seemed more solid. They were dispersed rather loosely... but Julius had few doubts that he wouldn't be able to handle the beasts appropriately, now that they seemed more concrete in their reality.

He charged at the monsters. He brought his sword down, hard, slicing through the shoulder of one. For all the good it seemed to do, it sliced further and further into its torso, black blood seeming to drain the light from anything it touched, seeming almost as though it were... nothing. He didn't want to know what happened if the stuff got on him, and prayed he wouldn't find out through first hand experience.

But, just as the first fell, seemingly dead, the other two unleashed an ear-splitting howl, worse than the most frigid of snow-blowing winds felt upon Snowhead. It chilled him to his core, but he noticed something... The other beast began to rise again, even though Julius had just cut it down.

Just what was going on here?