The Plane of Shadows [Moonshadow] - COMPLETE

"GOT YOU!" Thria finally caught up to the black ChuChu, hitting the brakes and skidding by it to block its path. Knowing she couldn't punch it, she instead launched a fireball at it to scare it into moving back, towards Triton and Finnagan. Triton had to admit he admired the older Zora's nerve- after having been attacked by presumably one of these things before and almost dying as a consequence, he stared the approaching Chu down fearlessly, taking his large spear in two hands.

To their collective horror, the Chu didn't leap at Finnagan but at Triton.

Fortunately, Triton had the quick reflex to jerk both his arms up to cover his face and start circulating electricity through his skin, summoning a powerful aura of lightning to protect himself and knock the Chu back. Finnagan took this opportunity to bury his spear in it and twist the weapon a few times, until the black jelly oozed away. "Well," he said, brushing back his own fish tail appendage as if relieved, "I'll take that as revenge for what its kin did to me before." Still, his voice trembled. "Shall we go and ask our friend if he's alright?"

"Let's," Triton said, waiting until Thria rejoined them. However, as they approached the rest of the group, they saw them all sitting around the stiffened body of a... Zora drained of all colour.

"Fion?" When Triton saw the Twili's eyes go wide, he didn't think to look at what it was that had scared him, but gently took his shoulder. "Fion, what is..." Finally, he got the hint, turning his gaze in the same direction. "Oh... sweet mother of Jabu-Jabu..." he got up, dragging Fion to his feet as well. "We... we are..." so dead, was what he wanted to say, but he couldn't let himself utter those words. Thria turned in the same direction, looking ready to punch someone's lights out, but even her eyes went wide when she saw the veritable horde approaching them.

"HOLY FISH BALLS!" she screamed, snapping the remaining Zoras out of their stupor. Triton found his voice back, as well.

"We can't take that many of them!" he shouted, stating the obvious, "Get running! Run! Back to the platform, we can make our stand there!" He started running, dragging Fion by the wrist. As he turned around, he saw that the sky had turned to reflect the Zoras and the Twili, clearly showing the fear on their faces and their weary bodies. But there was something else. A glimpse of movement in his peripheral vision caught his attention and he snapped his head to a side. There it was... the most alien, and yet comforting, thing he had seen since entering this strange world.

An enormous, metal snake moving on wheels approached the platform, moving at a dazzling speed but seeming to slow down as it approached. "We can take shelter in there!" he shouted, pointing at it with his cane, "Hurry! Before it passes by without us!" He started to run a little faster, most of the men keeping up.

Sadly, one of their scholars was not as fast as the warriors with them. What Thria had feared, had happened; his flippers gave out and he stumbled, the sea of nothing washing over him and overtaking him. Triton saw it happen in the reflections in the sky, and swallowed. That poor soul... but there was no time to wait. They had no chance against this many of the Chus. No... their only hope was the metal snake, which had now stopped at the platform and slowly opened multiple doors in its side.

Once inside the metal train, Triton finally let go of Fion, putting his hand on his chest as he struggled for air. They'd made it... The majority of them were safe... He looked around, watching as Zoras explored the inside of the snake, finding comfortable, padded benches and sitting down on them. He helped Fion take a seat in one of them as well, but just as he wanted to sit down opposite the Twili, he saw Thria.

His sister was not her usual self, having sat down a few rows away from her men and burying her face in her hands. She was trembling, shaking her head ever so slightly. He excused himself to the Twili, getting up and walking over to her; almost being slung into her lap as the snake shook. "Thria," he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. "It's alright. We're safe."

"Shut your trap," Thria said, her voice shaking. "I don't know if you've noticed, but we lost three men there." This was a surprise. Thria had lost men in battle before... he didn't think it would affect her this badly. "Two of them were mine. And they were good men, Triton. I brought my best on this mission because I want to make sure your bookworm ass gets out of here intact."

"I'm not dead yet," he tried, only for Thria to cry out in frustration.

"You don't understand! You saw those things- there's nothing I can do to them! I can't hurt these things! If I kick them or hit them I'm the one who gets hurt, and..." she buried her face again, trembling harder. "Leave me alone," she said, muffled. "Just leave me alone for now. I... I'll be okay if I can just be alone..."

"Get some sleep, sister," Triton said, patting her on the back. "We're all tired. You'll feel better if you sleep a bit... I promise I'll keep an eye out for you this time." He stood up, walking away from his sister and back to Fion, although he kept looking over his shoulder. Seeing Thria in this state was more unnerving than hearing her swear at her men and watching her punch monsters bigger than herself in the gut. He hoped she'd go back to her usual loud self soon.

"Yeah," Triton said, distracted, still looking over his shoulder at Thria. "Me too." He slammed his fist on the table in frustration. Thria thought she had failed, but in the end, Triton was the leader of this expedition. Seeing his men safe had been his responsibility, too. Did they know the men were dead? Or was what awaited them a fate worse than death? He looked at Finnagan, who was busy maintaining his spear, and Nereid, who seemed to be calmly looking out a window. They had felt feedback from these things, Finnagan had even been victimized by them. He shuddered. He didn't want to think about it anymore.

'I'm sorry too, Fion. I was irresponsible, dragging you into this. I should have sent you back to Hyrule the moment we found you.'

Triton smiled as Fion patted his hand. The Twili was a completely innocent bystander in this mess, had seen horrors beyond his presumed age, and yet here he was, trying to comfort a grown man who had gotten into this voluntarily. What he said was more confusing, however. 'You wouldn't? But why not? You said you knew this place wasn't home, that the darkness felt different. Surely, you would rather have gone back and sought a way home in Hyrule?'

As he spoke, he rummaged around in his pack, setting various items on the table between them. He was carrying a lot of supplies, but eventually he started to stuff his food, his drinking water, and his healing potions back into his pack, leaving only an ink pot, quill, and notebook on the table. Picking up the notebook, he started flipping through the pages to where he had left off with his research. Still, as he put it back down, he looked at Fion, having given the Twili enough time to think about his answer.

Triton pulled the book a little closer to him in order to read Fion's words better, furrowing his brow. Hmmmmm... 'I will admit, I sense something about you that my brethren do not have. When I first called out to you, that was because you radiate some sort of power that I only recognised as fundamentally different from my own.' He shook his head. 'I'm sorry, that isn't helping. Is it possible that when you left the Twilight Realm, a part of you remained behind? People who undergo traumatic experiences often suffer partial to complete amnesia, as their minds attempt to block out the trauma so they won't have to re-live it. Might something similar have happened to you?'

He tapped on the table with his quill, still thinking. Fion was missing something he could not describe. He couldn't recall the literature saying anything about cases like that. Then again, he hadn't read much on Twili to begin with; there wasn't much research available on them. He could only make guesses based on the theory that Twili had evolved from Hylians thrust out of Hyrule and into the Twilight Realm; this meant that on a base level, they had to function the same. He looked down, starting to scribble to test his quill as he pondered the child's dilemma.

Triton watched as Fion fell asleep, and then shifted his attention back to his notebook. He re-read what he had written thus far, but he knew he'd started out all wrong. He had started work on a phantasmal creature through which he could send his senses. But the concept of the creature's free will, as well as a consciousness and how he would conjure it all up, posed an obstacle he could not overcome. It was possible, of course, some Summoners were very capable of these things. However, he was no summoner, and it would beat the entire point of the spell if he wasted that much power casting it.

He was going about this wrong. He had to start with his senses. Touch. Sight. Hearing. Smell. Somehow, he had to separate them from himself and pour them into a semi-physical form. And it had to be temporary; he did not want to risk permanently losing any of his senses. Storing impressions... could he do that? Maybe... but in order for there to be any impressions his senses would have to function even as he used them. He groaned. This was so much harder than the literature had made it out to be. Was it possible to split his senses, he wondered? To give one part to the separate form and keep the rest, himself? No, splitting was no use. He'd have to somehow duplicate it and then separate the two duplicates of each sense...

It felt like hours later that he finally underlined the last block of notes he had taken and rubbed his eyes. The theory was sound this time. He'd figured out a way it should be possible to do, but he was too tired to try and put it into practice. He closed his notebook, stowed it, the inkpot, and the quill into his pack, crossed his arms and hung his head, nodding off much like everyone else in their company.

"Whoah!" Triton shouted in surprise as he was thrown out of his chair by the metal snake abruptly coming to a halt. Looking around, he saw his fellow Zoras scrambling to get up as well, looking as confused as he was. As he checked his belongings, he jolted up when a disembodied voice became audible.

We are terribly sorry, a woman's voice said in perfect Zoran, But due to an unforeseen technical issue, this train will not continue to its normal destination. You are advised to disembark and travel through the Underground District to the Core. This should add about a day to your estimated travel time.

Triton looked up, trying to find the source of the voice, but the female zoras in their company were as confused as he was. Meanwhile, he heard the doors of the metal snake open up. "Well..." he muttered, "Let's do as she says, I suppose... We're not going to get any closer to that Core by just sitting here." Waiting for the others to get up, he was the first to disembark, lowering himself out of the vehicle and helping the first warriors down as well.

The Underground District, as the voice had called their current location, was wildly different from the world above. As Triton looked up, he saw the same watery surface he had been looking down at. They were underwater, yet they were not swimming and they were breathing using their lungs... supporting the watery surface were countless beams of crystal and walls of reflective glass, and as Triton turned he looked at no less than three reflections of himself.

Navigating the Underground District would not be any easier than the inky blackness of the world above.

Triton felt Fion grabbing onto his robes, looking down at him and putting a hand on his head. "It'll be alright," he said, although he wasn't sure. There were so many Zoras all over the place, it was beyond confusing. Thria had grabbed onto her head, not far from him, and a dozen of her reflections did the same. How was he to know which ones were his real companions and which were their reflections? And how was he supposed to know where to go?!

Maybe he could see more from above, he thought. It was fortunate that he had just concluded research on a spell that allowed him to do just that. He lifted his cane, focusing his energies and shutting his eyes. Slowly, energy started swirling in front of him and a semi-transparent creature started to form. Finally, when Triton opened his eyes again, a small, spectral cat with a thick, bushy tail and talon-like paws hovered in front of him. By his command, the creature flew up a little higher until it reached an apparent limit. Triton closed his eyes again, switching his point of sight to that of the Familiar.

The extra height helped a little. The walls were less disorienting and the floor offered no reflections were no Zoras were standing. He tried taking an unsure step forward. It was strange to see himself moving, but it worked- he saw himself moving towards a wall and started to turn. He opened his eyes again, leaving the Familiar unattended as he explained his idea. "I can see us from above," he said, gesturing to the spectral being. "I may be able to lead us out of this... maze... and towards the Core that way, it's slightly less disorienting. Unless anyone has a better idea..." Of course, walking would be tricky without his senses down here. Still, barring someone else having any idea or the Dowsing Rod helping them -something he doubted- it was the only way.

This was... so incredibly disorienting. And uncomfortable. Wow. Triton wished he'd had a chance to practice this, instead of going for this baptism by fire. Still, it was the only choice they had, and if anything he had to be thankful he finished his research at all. It was hard to move his body without any feedback from his balance organ or feeling in his flippers, and determining which of his bodies to move took just that split second longer. He had to practice more so he could send out only his sight, he noted to himself, but now was not the time for that.

He saw Thria looking down at the Book of Mudora and saying something to Fion before taking his other hand. "...your eyes," he faintly heard. "Lead... hand." He floated his Familiar a little bit lower to stay within hearing range. That way he might at least be able to talk.

He jolted both his heads to the side when he heard a crash. The remaining other scholar had walked headlong into one of the walls, shattering it. Thria shouted that he had to be -careful-, damn it, and Triton watched as he regained his balance and kept walking. This wasn't working. He had to get back up to his upward limit and guide the others out of this maze. The Core was close by, he hoped. And with almost his entire consciousness detached from his body, he thought he could feel a pull... He looked into the distance, seeing only the reflection of his Familiar. But it was there. They were getting closer.