The Spirits' Playing Ground [Starsend] [COMPLETE]

Silas stepped forward to grasp the man's hand.

"Seems we'll make a good team, then. Name's Silas." He gave a friendly smile and nod towards Luna, before stepping back and readjusting his cloak. It was new, a long black garment that covered up one side, but left one arm free to move.

The man next to him, Captain Surgate, was his colleague in this mission.

Silas had never really known the man personally, but he had seen him from a distance a few times. Though he had looked drastically different from the warty, diseased man he was now. The Sheikah thought it a miracle the man was still working. Then again, times were desperate. Silas himself had only just recovered from his ordeal at Impa before he was pulled from his bed with an urgent message. And speaking of that ordeal...

He crossed his arm over his chest, fingers brushing past the pinned up sleeve hidden under his cloak, remembering there was no second arm. Silas'd rather not think about how that came to be. Although the lack of pain was a godsend, he did notice that balance did not come as easy to him as it once had. The arm's replacement still unnerved him, brought back unpleasant memories and sensations, so he kept it hidden under the cloak. Somewhere he still felt a lingering shame of having given in to that monstrous entity.

But now there was the mission to focus on. If Impa had seemed like a suicide mission, this definitely was one. No one could say for sure what the portal held, as no one had made it back alive.

It was not a good prospect.

"Right. The undead." It turned out Julius himself had much experience in dealing with the Undead, too -- something he was all too quick to make aware. "I've faced most types of undead that have been... documented, shall we say, and a few that haven't." He thought back to his fight with that demon-possessed blade. He still remembered the pain shooting through his arm for nearly the entirety of that encounter; and worse yet, was that it was still out there, somewhere.

But that was for another time. "Anyways, yes, I believe that having the two of you along would be a great deal of help. You look like you can handle a blade, too; I'm hoping what you look like is right. But you," his gaze shifted to Luna. "You haven't said anything at all. Any skills other than 'knowledge of the undead' you bring along? You don't have much in the way of weapons..." He eyed the whip and what he assumed to be a dagger on her person. No, she wasn't built for physical fighting, and he doubted she had something as preposterous as a Muscle Band on her person.

"Well, no matter," his gaze shifted back to Horus, "but I doubt you're the kind to bring around dead weight. Well, we shouldn't have to worry about much... The Deku Kingdom has agreed to send their men and ward off the Mad Scrubs for now. In addition to this, we've received an escort to help protect us in our journey to get there. Considering the lack of information we've received regarding where we're bound, it's imperative that we do not injure ourselves, or do anything that would otherwise hinder our operation. I'm sure you understand, since just about all we know is that it's populated primarily by undead."

He looked to his men. "Let's pack back up and get going again. No telling what kind of things are around here -- river Zoras, Deku Babas, and all other sorts of nasties that aren't even native here." He didn't want any unnecessary losses, but would come to lament their fate when they left their escort.

Trudging back to the campsite through the thick underbrush, Julius and his men began to pack their meager supplies into the few bags and such that they bothered to bring. Unsurprisingly, all they brought were tents and a cooking pot, which meant that they were rather mobile in their efforts to search for wherever the portal had appeared.

Evidently, they were on the right track, as halfway through packing, one of the Guardsmen had picked up on a Mad Scrub in the area. "There's more with them!" Julius shouted, drawing his glimmering blade. "Time to see how the fresh meat does," he muttered to Silas. If they listened, great. If they didn't... Well, that only meant that they both got to see what exactly both were capable of.

"Baptism by fire, huh?" Silas replied dryly. He slipped the knife from his back into his hand, flipping it around a few times to get a good grip. He nodded to Horus when the redhead showed up next to him. "More or less. But do try to stay close. Getting to the portal is our main priority." That their escort would be taking the biggest blows was something he did not mention. Cruel as it might have been, that was the plan that had been decided on. They needed all the strength they had for when they reached their destination.

Soon enough, the Scrubs were swamping them. Small as they were, they were still a force to watch out for. Silas hacked left and right, dodging whatever projectiles the Mad Scrubs fired. One particularly lucky Scrub managed to hit his new hand, the nut colliding with a loud bang and flash. Silas recoiled from the light, too late to shield his eyes. Unfortunately his cloak had been between the hand's reflective surface and the nut, else it would have made short work of the Scrub.

Quickly blinking, Silas regained his vision. He leapt at the Scrub, tearing through its snout with his knife. With it done for, or at least incapacitated, the Sheikah whirled around to see how the others were doing.

Julius muttered under his breath. He had taken his helmet off and was unable to find it -- if a stray Deku Nut or some other projectile were to find its way to his head... It didn't matter; not here, not now, as there were more things to worry about.

He stepped out as the guardsmen drew their bows. They would stay at range, likely, which meant it was up to Julius -- and Silas, and presumably Horus -- to deal with... whatever else there was.

He charged to meet the opposing forces, not bothering to regard the lack of Deku Kingdom support in this area. They knew they were close to the portal by now -- which meant all kinds of nasties would be about and ready to engage. Perhaps, then, it was fate that drew Luna and Horus to them.

The Mad Scrubs had spread out far faster than he had originally thought them capable of. They were also more organized and suspiciously more... well, intelligent, than anything he had read about them, or anything that mission intelligence seemed to have implied. That could really only mean one thing -- they might actually be closing upon a war zone. There was very obvious animosity between the Deku Kingdom and the Mad Scrubs of Moruge... and with the recent appearances of these portals, it was also unsurprising that the Deku Kingdom might use this as an opportunity to quell a long-time enemy after all.

Julius held his blade back and extended his shield forward. He already knew how they operated; he had fought these Mad Scrubs before already, though it was a different place and a different time... But, then, could Julius really say that he knew anything of what these Mad Scrubs were capable of?

A vortex of slicing energy roared around him as arrows whistled through the air. He reflected a volley of Deku Nuts back at the Scrubs, with the missiles traveling behind them. Several bright flashes went off around the area, and in the next volley of nuts, there were far fewer Scrubs than there had been before. Had they been killed? Or were they simply 'playing dead'?

"Stay alert! We do not know what else is out there. Men, forward!" He ordered the Guard. Many of them were his own men, who had volunteered to be there, knowing full well what could happen, once he and his partner had entered the portal. He hated it, but... was there anything else they could really do? It's not like the King would send out another squad of Royal Guards -- he had already lost one in the portal itself.

Either way, the men moved forward, the bows still nocked with arrows and ready to fired at any minute. Everyone in their group should have known that these Scrubs were capable of blending into their surroundings, but that didn't mean everyone did. Julius wondered how Horus would respond if one of these Scrubs surprised him.

It was much like hacking your way through a dense forest, Silas concluded. Albeit a dense forest set on shooting and blinding you at the same time. And moving too. Perhaps it wasn't so much like a forest. Save for the hacking part.

Whatever it was, it was hard work. Sweat starting to bead down his face, his breathing heavy, but steady. Keeping his balance was harder now he had only one arm. As the hand floated on his own, he found no support there, but no weight either. It had nearly made him slip up when a Scrub got too close and rammed him in the back. He managed to turn his stumble into a turn, sweeping the monster off its feet, but he knew it had gotten too close. He had to be on guard, if he wanted to make it to the portal.

The two newcomers looked to be holding up well. Quiet as the woman had been, Silas quickly noticed she was more than capable of taking care of herself. And as expected, Julius was more than capable of standing his ground, mowing a way through the mass of Mad Scrubs.

Something in the distance drew Silas' eye.

"There! The portal!"

Ah, so the girl did have her own special abilities. This was good; she knew a thing or two of magic, which was most excellent, given their lack of someone who--

He heard Silas shout, interrupting his thoughts as he continued to crash down upon the Mad Scrubs who had decided to attempt to attack their party. Had he heard Silas right? The portal.

He looked in the distance. That was... definitely the portal, he assumed. It was an odd, eerie -- something. He wasn't sure how he would describe it, or if he even could describe it. It was less of a something and more of a -- of a nothing. It was the absence of light, of sound, of colour and definition that made him aware that it was even there. And he was... oddly drawn to it, yet at the same time, a sense of dread swept over him as he looked into it. What awaited them on the other side? He knew there would be the undead, of course, but other than that the scout that had successfully come back was nearly catatonic. Useless, in a sense.

Either way, they had to go through it -- no matter how any of the others felt about it. "Horus, Silas, Luna -- get to that portal at all costs!" They would not, could not stop here -- no matter what, they had to press on.

And press on Julius did. He leapt over a squad of Mad Scrubs on his way there -- performing a Helm Splitter with a great degree of finesse, even in his quite heavy armor, taking the Scrub's head with him -- before ultimately breaking into a mad dash for the portal. As he neared the portal, he looked back to his men; they were handling the Mad Scrubs quite excellently, but... He couldn't shake the feeling that something was off. It made him worry tremendously. He, and everyone else, knew they would all likely die during this mission. He hoped that the Palace's forces would arrive to supplement his own detachment soon. He hated knowing that good men would die, but... His own future did not look so spectacular, he had to admit.

With a grimace, he stepped through the portal.

Silas hopped into the portal, skidding along the ground and only barely managing to grab onto Julius to avoid falling into... well, space.

Over the rocky edge of whatever they were standing on, in the sky, everywhere around them, millions of stars sparkled against an inky black sky. It was the most beautiful and at the same time the most terrifying thing the Sheikah had ever seen. He did not want to think about what would've happened had he not grabbed onto his colleague. Grinning a little awkwardly, he let go of Julius, giving his armour a gentle pat. It felt strange to be walking on something that was so clearly floating on nothing and yet not feel it move under their weight.

"Right. This is... not what I expected." Silas said, looking up at the stars above. "As Luna said, I was expecting a little more company. Like, hordes of undead. Not... space."

The portal had closed behind them, leaving the small group alone, and with no way back. Silas knew it would happen, and yet, now he saw it for real, the realisation struck him hard. He had send a note to his brother saying he was going to be away for a while, and asking to relay the message to their family. But he had not mentioned that 'a while' was very likely going to turn into 'forever'. He swallowed. It was all part of the job. Sooner or later, a mission like this was going to happen, and it was already a miracle he had survived Impa. Silas could only pray and hope his luck would hold up a little longer.

"So... now what? This is kind of where our mission briefing ended, seeing as no one knew what would be inside. Apart from the whole 'end this' thing, of course. But that's a little vague."

Julius caught Silas as the Sheikah grabbed onto him to stop himself from falling into the abyss. The place was... unnerving. Unusual. An oddity in the extreme, for sure, but it was difficult to say exactly what or where they were. Only stars seemed to surround them, and even then, there was nothing familiar in the sky.

In fact, he wasn't even sure how they were... well, alive. Luna brought up an interesting point, however. He replied, "I... really have no idea. I would have thought there to be more resistance on this side as well, but based on the little intelligence we have..." He looked around. He and Silas had been taught a certain technique in the mere moments prior to their departure; a last ditch tool to possibly aid them in their unknown effort. Maybe they -- the shamans, sages, magicians; whatever you so desired to call them -- had anticipated, at the least, something to this effect.

Projecting the spirit was... difficult, to say the least, and neither he nor Silas had it down perfectly, exactly, but they knew enough to do it after an amount of time. Either way, he finished his observation with his Lens of Truth in hand, and sat down near the center of the rock they stood upon. "Well, the hordes of undead are still possibly here, but by no means do they surround us and desire our blood. I have... very little idea of how expansive this realm is, but there is little doubt that it could very well be larger than anything in Hyrule as any of us know it." He motioned for the three others to take a seat in front of them. "Silas, you remember the technique, yes?" He cast Luna and Horus a glance. He knew that there was little way either of them knew of it. They would have to explain, and teach. It would be interesting, at least.

"So, to 'project', as they called it..." He remained sitting. "It is much easier to do while sitting, or generally relaxed." He looked to Silas. "Essentially, the aim is to unbind the soul from the body, becoming something akin to a ghost." He gauged their reaction carefully. "Not necessarily like a Poe, or..." He thought for a moment. With how little information they had of the region these two came from... He wasn't sure what all they had encountered. Hopefully it wouldn't resemble anything like the Death Blade he had fought in the Tantari, but either way, it mattered little. "Anyways. In order to activate the form requires either a very high concentration of willpower and spirit," he looked at himself, Silas, and he suspected Horus as well, "or a large amount of magical potential." He flicked a gaze at Luna. "I have little more advice beyond this general explanation, but I believe Silas should be able to explain a bit more."

"Yes, I can." Silas said, as he sat down next to Julius, crossing his legs, resting his arm in his lap. "Please, take a seat. As Julius said, it's best to do this while relaxed. As much as that's possible here."

The Sheikah had to admit that he had been surprised when the shamans had walked into their camp, and even more so when he heard why they were there. A meditating technique, right before a suicide mission? That it was much, much more than that he found out not much later. Frankly, the idea of leaving his body terrified him. He remembered the wave of nausea that had swept over him after he projected for the first time, hoping it would not happen again. Still, it was all they had been given to survive here. And it started to look like it was going to be highly useful. Silas regretted calling the shamans 'airheaded weirdos with their magic mumbo-jumbo'.

"Also, a word of warning. I hope you guys haven't had a heavy breakfast, as you'll probably lose it once you return to your body. I know I did the first time."

He waited for Horus and Luna to sit down, then continued his explanation. "Once you're comfy, close your eyes. Focus on my voice." He took a deep breath. "Think of something calming. Just a single thing, as if you're trying to fall asleep. Slow your breathing, focus on every breath." Silas felt a familiar numbess in his fingertips. "Now, think of it as taking off a heavy coat. Concentrate on breathing if you're nervous, that's alright. It's not easy to leave your body behind. Breathe. Slowly. Very slowly. Try to breathe yourself out."

Silas focused himself. Breathe in. Breathe out. In again.

When he exhaled, he felt himself leave his body behind.

Julius, of course, hadn't left his body yet. He was just waiting, seeing if the other two could pull off what Silas had before them.

The entire experience of his senses leaving his body wasn't exactly new to him. No, because of that damned thing's influence -- and his own brash, poorly-made decisions -- he had been able to project, to an extent, beforehand. Perhaps that was why it was far more intuitive for him to understand than Silas, and the reason as to why he had developed such a quick proficiency in it. However, he had to be more careful; in his Spirit Form, he could actually harm and be harmed. But, there were far fewer limitations and such upon this form, than there were in his other ability.

He felt his consciousness start to slip after Horus' outburst. No, this wasn't right -- quickly, he righted himself. If his more illusory double arose, that wouldn't help anyone, and would indeed only leave his body open to the others' manipulation. He trusted Silas, but didn't quite know about the other two...

Either way, his more ghastly, ghoulish image soon arose, having successfully separated the ties that bound his soul to his physical form. All around him, death arose from the ground -- no, this was not necessarily death, but... It didn't do much to assuage his feelings about the already alien and nearly inhospitable atmosphere around them.

"Good work," he remarked the mage and the swordsman, already surveying his surroundings. There appeared to be an apparition -- a ghost, perhaps? -- standing in the center of the whatever chunk of rock they'd landed on. No, it seemed to go on farther than any of them had realized at first; only now did Julius even bother to recognize the true scope of where they were. He looked towards the others, who probably saw what he had seen.

Wordlessly, he made his way over to the ghost. As he came nearer into view, it became clear to Julius that it was one of the prior expeditionaries. Julius watched the man's face, the somber expression painted across it being obvious. Silently, he turned to face Julius, giving him a parting glance as he gestured forth, towards another end of the rock they sat upon.

Julius returned his look, before looking back toward the other three. Could the spirits they encountered not speak back to them? No, if the man's soul was still here... Sometimes, when a person died, they would turn into a Poe. Other times, they might turn into... something else, surely, but more often than not, their spirits would pass on. At least, that was the common belief, and in Hyrule, they most certainly had some proof to back up those beliefs. So, then, why could he still see this one's soul?

The ghost spared him another look. It was like he was talking without talking -- he could nearly feel the ghost being anchored to where it stood, and its almost seething lust for revenge and freedom. It gestured, more harshly now, to where it had before. The opposite end of the rock. He headed there, with the three who had entered with him in tow.

But the ghost only pointed again. It appeared to be all he was capable of.

Silas started to move in the direction that had been pointed out, keeping an eye out for anything unusual. Well, anything more unusual than what they already had encountered. How much weirder could it get?

At the edge of the asteroid, the Sheikah paused. He knew he could float in this form. He had in his brief training, and he was now. But to actually step off of solid ground and into the air... It was all quite spooky. Silas swallowed, carefully putting one foot over the edge. And then the other. But he remained afloat. Concentrating on his movement, he lowered himself, facing the rocky side of the asteroid.

Something was sticking out of the bottom of the asteroid.

A root...?

Silas floated closer. It was indeed an oddly pale root, gnarled and crooked, like that of an old tree. He reached out with both hands- his missing arm restored now he was a spirit- but found he could not grab on to it, as he was a mere spirit, and not made of flesh now. Instead, he raised himself above it, as if trying to walk along the white line it cut through the starry skies below him, following it wherever it was leading.

It was hard to see in the dim light of the stars. But if Silas looked very closely, it appeared that there was something far, far on the horizon in the direction the root went. Something not unlike a tree, blocking out the stars. Was that where the other spirit had been pointing to?

The Sheikah went back up over the edge, calling and waving the others over, eager to tell them of his findings.

The duo's response to the ghost of his deceased comrade was rather.. interesting, to say the least. Did they seriously not think that a fellow member of the Hyrule Guard, let alone the Royal Guard, would seriously not speak were he able to? It was almost a disgrace, but they also mentioned something about Ikana, earlier. He was almost sure of it, in fact-- which meant that neither of them likely knew a thing about just what the organization was about, now of what its more capable members were... well, capable of.

Either way, as the two of them continued to pester the spirit (whom only hungered for release from this hell), he saw Silas' spirit slink off to the edge of the asteroid they continued to mope around on. Well, whatever the Guardsman had found was surely of importance to the group -- and that Sheikah was already beating him to it! Savior of Impa or not, he wouldn't allow himself to be beat on this mission... suicidal as it very well was.

Nevertheless, Julius found himself praising the Goddesses that unexpected visitors hadn't also found their way into this realm of... How had those druids even described it? 'A realm which lingers between the living and the dead', or so he thought. In their native tongue, it probably sounded more eloquent. But he was getting beyond himself. The bottom line to him was that he was, at least, surrounded by people he could call allies. That alone rose his morale to the point where he didn't necessarily mind that they, and their accompanying escort, had been sent on what was deemed by literally everyone as 'certain death'.

Perhaps Silas knew this, as well. Perhaps he didn't mind, in some of the same way that Julius didn't-- that he had tested fate one too many times, that his luck was sure to run dry here. But, as he approached the edge of the asteroid, he observed Silas stepping over the edge of the asteroid. That was right; they didn't actually need anything to walk on, or breathe, or... Well, they didn't really need anything in this form. It was strange. His mind could have lingered on the oddities of this form -- of this place, of this mission, of everything surrounding him -- for possibly forever. Did time even pass here? He wasn't sure.

Soon, though, Silas arose from the edge of the asteroid. He most likely was already aware of Julius' presence -- just like how Julius was already nearly acutely aware of the roots running from their chunk of land to... Was that a tree? What in Nayru's bountiful bosom-- No. He had to remind himself that they weren't even in Hyrule any more. He could expect nothing, so he simply accepted what was and was not, here.

"Well. Even with the presence of these roots," doubt was evident in his voice, "and that tree in the distance, I doubt there would be very much that we would be capable of." He studied the area closer. "...What do you think might happen if we were to agitate these roots, Silas?" He raised the question. There were more islands -- perhaps, then, there would be more roots, as well. He was genuinely curious, but... if things turned out for worse for them, and they accidentally brought death to themselves, well... That just wouldn't be good. "It would be better, I think, to experiment on an island where our bodies aren't, don't you think?"

"Yeah, don't want to risk forever wandering as a spirit. Kind of puts a damper on socialising, don't you think?" Silas hovered next to Julius, looking down at the root. He could go back to his body, then try to see what happened if he touched or cut into the root. But it might go over badly. If he fell while corporeal, he would fall for real. And there'd be no way back up.

When Horus and Luna came over, Silas listened, nodding as they explained what they had seen, before telling them of his own findings.

"It's good to see you're eager," The Sheikah replied dryly to Horus' last comment. "But let's not get ahead of ourselves, alright?" So the tree appeared to be an important point of this place. Perhaps even its center, or source? It was too soon to know for sure, but the information was unsettling. The Tree of Undeath. Gosh. Silas repressed the urge to shudder, instead looking back at the tree in the distance. There were many more asteroids scattered between the tree and their current location, most of them somehow tethered by the long, twisted roots. But though there were many, they were far from close.

Seemed like it was going to be quite the trip, then.

"I suggest, before we tackle the evil tree of doom, that we test these roots first? Away from our immobile bodies, of course. I rather fancy mine, so I wouldn't want to accidentally dump it into the abyss." Silas pointed at the nearest asteroid, a much smaller rock to their left. Even when floating it would take a while to get there. And that was assuming they wouldn't run into anything. "So, if everyone's ready, let's go?"