The Spirits' Playing Ground [Starsend] [COMPLETE]

Silas inclined his head at Julius' mention of his magic. The man was doing himself short. The fairy thrusting a blade through a portal seemed like quite spectacular magic to the Sheikah.

It was good to know what everyone was capable of. In case they ran into body-snatching spirits again. Or if any of them ever proved a danger... No, Julius was as much a king's man as Silas himself was, and the other two had proven themselves friendly so far.

"The wall's about the only magic I can cast. Really, my brother is the magical figure in our family. The rod's a souvenir from Impa. It absorbs electricity and fires it again at will, quite handy. I've got a lot more tricks, but eh, family secrets, royal orders, can't really say much about them. Sorry." He flicked his hand, suddenly holding a pair of needles. With another flick, they vanished again. "I can show you this, though. And... being Sheikah counts for something I suppose? Been trained to fight from the moment I could walk. I mean, you guys probably had that figured out by now. If not, forget I said anything." Silas drummed his fingers on his knee, eyes drifting to the side.

"And I've got this... thing." The metal hand next to him rose a few inches off the ground, then plopped back down. "It's mirror silver, and rebuilds itself, too. But I've yet to completely get the hang of it, to be honest. Losing an arm isn't easy." Sometimes, the hand still utterly confused the Sheikah. Sure, he knew it could regenerate, that he could use it as a shield or a particularly strong melee weapon, but he had the nagging suspicion it could, should be capable of more.

Silas leant back on his remaining arm, pondering the other's abilities. Having Julius keep watch over their bodies next time seemed the smartest course of action. As he said it himself, without magic he was virtually useless against spirits. Luna seemed the best choice in fighting them, as she possessed the most magic, but was otherwise frail against more physical enemies. All in all, their little group seemed to balance out quite well. A relief. They could not afford any dead weight here. Not if they wanted to press on.

"So, what we know so far..." Silas flicked a needle into his hand, using it to draw in the dirt on the ground. It was easier to sort his thoughts with an image in front of him. "We've got these asteroids, somehow all connected by roots to a single tree. Which to be honest sounds like a focal point of this place." He sketched out the rough shapes of the asteroids, drawing squiggly lines between them to indicate the roots. "Touching or damaging the roots does something. We know for sure it makes them move, just not the particular direction. The spirits seemed to come from the tree... Anything I'm missing?"

"I agree," Julius spoke, at the mention of the tree being the focal point of the place. "So, we could probably determine that it's similar to the origin point of this place -- especially with how far its roots seem to stretch. I'm sure, that if we wanted to wander around for potentially forever, we could probably see that as true for ourselves, but..." The prospect of being here forever was most definitely not welcome. They had limited amounts of food and water, all of which was currently stored inside his own Adventure Pouch. They wouldn't last here any more than... well, assuming they rationed it to where everybody barely ate or drank over the next week, they could last about that long.

"We don't have the resources for that. At most, we've got about a week before our supplies are exhausted. Anyways, if we assume that we're right about it being akin to the origin point, then..." Julius wondered. What did any of this even mean? Did any of it necessarily mean anything? Time already didn't mean a whole lot here, since there wasn't a sun or a moon. How long had they been here, anyways?

"Forget I said anything," he said. Usually, he would consult his grandfather's notes for any relevant information, but he sincerely doubted it held any information that could be applicable in a situation like this. He wasn't thrilled at the entire prospect of this adventure; the portal had closed behind them as they entered, and he didn't have any real idea of how to reopen it. All in all, it looked vaguely as though they were doomed.

"Wait a second," he said, realizing what he had said, and what Horus had spoken about earlier. "If that... tree, or whatever it is over there, is some kind of major... something," Julius didn't quite know the words he was looking for here -- but he was trying, at least, "well, if the tree is really that important, then it seems to me like..."

He couldn't go any further without explaining the situation entirely. He thought Silas would already have already known about the situation, but he couldn't tell for sure. "Alright, so let me start over, at the very beginning. This place, altered reality, dimensional fragment, whatever you want to call it, isn't the only one like it in Hyrule, right now. There are two others -- dubbed 'Sunwell' and 'Moonshadow'. Sunwell houses an incredibly vast desert, seeming unpopulated by anything, and gravity is said to be tied to the presence of light. Moonshadow is... a different story. It's a space of moonlit waters -- cold to the bone, and seems to be permanently cloaked in darkness."

"Basically, what I'm trying to get to, is that if the scouting expeditions' theories are right about both of those, then the Sun -- and a Moon, quite possibly -- are the focal points of those two altered realities, or whatever, as well. But here, there's nothing but stars and asteroids -- and that tree. Understand what I'm getting at?"

All sound theories, Silas concluded. Sound, but worrying nonetheless. If that tree truly was the core of this place, it was more than likely they had to destroy it in order to put an end to things. But that would also probably spell their own demise. As much as Silas had known it beforehand, it was hard to take how certain it was becoming he would not survive this mission.

He shook his head. Focus on the mission. That was all he could, all he should do right now.

"I suggest we first test out those roots again. Away from this asteroid, that is." He glanced at Julius. "Perhaps we might find a way to get our bodies to come with us, while Julius watches over them." As much as Horus and Luna had proven themselves in the fight, Silas was not quite comfortable with leaving Julius behind. Not when they did not know what the situation would be like at the tree. "Once we have a definitive answer, we can set course for the tree. And whatever we might find there."

Silas crossed his legs, taking a deep breath.

"Time to leave our bodies behind, once again." He nodded at Julius. "We'll see you in a bit."

Letting go of his body was remarkably harder this time, as visions of facing himself in battle kept crossing Silas' mind. He banished any thoughts of the battle from his mind, forcing himself to focus on the task at hand. Get in spirit form, find out how to move the asteroids, then head to the tree. And near-certain death- No, that wasn't helping him relax either. The Sheikah let out a frustrated sigh. The stars, then, just think of how they sparkle, how splendid they look when it's all you can see... Simply focusing on the light was a start. Gradually, Silas felt himself slipping away, finally leaving his body once more.

"Have fun." That was all Julius offered to the trio as they departed from their bodies. Of course, this begged a question -- what would he be doing while they were away?

Well, the answer was somewhat easy. While he had at first doubted his great-great-grandfather's journal, he knew the man to be all too eccentric for his own good. What was more, is that Julius himself discovered that most of the journal's trappings were true, at some point or another -- like when he teleported to that damnable tower through magic of the Shadow Folk, or...

Suffice it to say, he knew he could trust whatever crack-pot, washed-out, ill-begotten secrets that lay within the leather bound book.

He reached into his Adventure Pouch, bringing the tome out as carefully as he could. Then, he rid himself of his gauntlets -- they would only damage the aged parchment that the text was scribed upon. He opened the book with his bare hands -- a rare occurrence -- while keeping alert for any signs of danger. He couldn't be sure of what was around, and his ability to sense harmful creatures wouldn't come into play here -- it detected the living, but not the dead.

So, all he could really do was keep his ears open.

He began to thumb through the pages. Page after page of nearly nonsense garbled manuscript went by, faster and faster. He was familiar with what those pages held -- details of his journeys and whatever else favoured his whimsy at the moment. This ranged from all sorts of instructions and theories upon magic and swordplay -- and how the two could possibly be combined -- to reminders on the most elementary of spells.

It seemed to be... rather scattered and sporadic, at the least. It would take him some time to find anything of actual relevance -- and that was even if anything could be used in this situation.

Silas shrugged. "No problem." He was watched quietly as the other two prepared to leave their bodies. Seeing how they responded to one another brought him a certain... peace. About the mission, about this quite possibly being his last mission. It reminded him who he was doing this for. Perhaps it was selfish, but the thought of saving the entirety of Hyrule was not what spurred him back into action. No, rather the thought of his family; his brother, his parents, the people he held dear. If completing this mission would mean they could live in safety, even if just for a short while... Even if he had to put down his life for it... That was enough to know. It filled Silas with determination.

"The plan," Silas started. "Is to head over to that asteroid," He pointed at the nearest one. "Mess with its roots to see what happens. We need to find out if there's any way we could move them, as we cannot touch them in this form, nor move them while we're in our bodies. It's quite a pickle, I know, but we need to stick together, all four of us."

They did not look back as they set off into the star-filled void, eyes focused on the asteroid ahead. Silas could only hope it was a safe distance from their bodies. But then again, with floating spirits, nothing was a safe distance. He looked at the horizon, where the black shape of the tree loomed ominiously. What went on there, the Sheikah could only guess. But they would find out soon enough, after they figured out how to work with the roots.

Silas held a hand up when they reached the bottom of the next asteroid, various pale roots curling and twisting out from it like fingers, trying to claw their way out of their rocky prison.

"And here we are." He ran a hand over- through the pale root. As expected, it did not respond. "I'd suggest Luna to use her magic on it, with us two being back-up in case anything happens. My magic, unfortunately, needs solid ground to work."

Well, this would prove to be interesting. While many of his relative's notes were incomprehensibly insane, he knew they at leas held some semblance of... Well, it would be improper to say truth, considering there were never any oblique misinformation or dishonesty; indeed, in many places, he even admitted how insane many of them must have sounded.

Truly, the inner workings of his mind were an enigma.

He continued to thumb through the pages, reading much about his journeys about and around wherever he had been. There were entire sections detailing the minutiae of the building of Kakariko, and more describing many forms of martial techniques -- some of which were rumoured to have been passed down his own line, and then promptly forgotten. The journal was a proven treasure trove of knowledge for any whom cared -- but, since most of it was largely insane ramblings, few could stand to read it.

Julius continued reading about whatever martial prowess his father had mastered that day, and eventually came upon whatever exploits he had gotten into while fighting off whatever inhabitants had made the South their home. As his however many great grandfather wrote,

That section was interesting for Julius to read, but ultimately useless. He was looking for -- what was he looking for?

He had to think about his options. Myths, legends... The legend of the three Golden Goddesses and their Triforce came to mind. Power, Wisdom, and Courage... The three paragon virtues, he briefly thought to himself. How did any of them relate?

Well, these portals didn't -- couldn't have just come from... Nowhere. Something like this surely had to have been constructed, or... Perhaps there were more theories about this. Likely towards the back, as that was where the more insane and wholly incomprehensible fiction resided.

He wrote about many things; of the land that, he theorized, bordered this one, and lent it its magic. There were many crack-pot theories, but soon he wandered upon vague writings of the Triforce, and all he had pondered about its capabilities.

But, just as soon, the space around him illuminated with a cold, blue light. He thought he heard the giggle of an imp.

How he wished it had only been an imp.

Sometimes, Silas concluded after listening to Luna's theories, it was better not to know everything. He did not know what was more disturbing; the fact this place had been sucking from their life force all along, or the fact it appeared to be one, giant organism. And another thought crept into his mind. The tree, feeding off life force. Right now it only fed on whoever entered the fragment, but what if it grew? What if it became big enough to reach out of the portal, into the world? A world filled with living beings for it to gorge on. Silas felt a shiver running down his spine.

"...We have to stop this thing before it spreads."

The asteroid moved when the root was attacked, as expected. But now they also had a more sound reason on why it did so. And they had found a way to reach the tree relatively quickly.

"Let's go back. Julius has to know this."

As he sped back to the asteroid on which they had left Julius, he saw it engulfed in a bright blue light, their bodies still sitting motionless on its surface. Julius was nowhere to be seen. Instead, there was only a frightful spectre hovering above the asteroid, cackling madly as it swung around a huge blade. "Oh no..." If Silas still had a need to breathe, he would've gasped in shock. Instead, he gritted his teeth, homing in on the monstrosity.

"Don't you dare!"

He knew what this monster's game was, and yet his earlier fears had only been justified. Of course they would face something like this again -- and what was more, is that he knew it would be impossible to defeat with only brute force. No, they needed to think quickly, decisively, and strategically.

They would have to outmaneuver the creature, catch it off guard; that was how they, himself and Guy, had beaten Death Blade. Surely this creature, with its wicked sickle in hand, would have few differences. It would likely be able to perform the same tricks, and use the same misdirection as it had.

He just hoped it wasn't nearly as strong.

While the others were surely capable fighters, he knew that none of them measured up to Guy's mobility and his own endurance just yet. If he broke his arm, or otherwise got seriously injured... Well, he wasn't too sure that he would be able to go on for long like that. After all, in his first match with Death Blade, his arm had been dealt a nearly crippling blow he had fought through it, but the adrenaline was strong, and his will to continue stronger. Even now, with his blade in hand and shield in the other, he couldn't help bu be extremely wary.

He found himself with one regret: his sense for danger didn't work on the undead. Without it, he had to rely on more... ordinary means of detecting a foe. But, while Death Blade had been seemingly made of shadow made physical, this one gave off light. Surely, if he noticed the light, he would be able to judge its position far better than he had the sword-wielding being.

It all came down to keeping his eyes and ears open. He could not afford a mistake -- not a misstep, not a folly. It would come down to the wire, here, and would ultimately determine their survival here.

The creature's form was lanky, tall; similar, even still, to Death Blade. Surely the creature hadn't... No, it couldn't have followed him here! It was preposterous. But he had seen the beast escape, and then stole the blade it had presumably been bound to for some time. Well... When -- if -- they managed to defeat the creature, he would be able to know, in that moment, if it truly was the same beast.

"Alright," he growled, bearing his blade like a set of powerful fangs. "Come on!" He yelled, charging at the creature. Last time, he hadn't been as prepared. Last time, he wasn't as skilled as he was now.

Last time, he had also had less to worry about. It was plain to everyone already on this mission, however, that it may well be their last. Even for Horus and Luna, Julius knew that it could possibly spell even their demise.

Within a flash, Silas was back in his own body, leaping up to join Julius. The man was still very much alive, having been obscured from view by the monstrous entity.

"We've found a way to the tree," Silas started. "And if this place does what we think it does, we need to finish this quick. Before it robs us of all our force." He readied his weapon as the captain did, metal hand floating upward, curled into a fist. "So let's get rid of this one!"

The Sheikah leapt at the spirit and lashed out with his hand. But his opponent moved fast, effortlessly dodging the blow. Silas struck out again, not giving the spirit a moment's rest, but it dodged nearly every attack, and blocked what it could not. Its counters were just as vicious, as the spirit used its full strength to strike back, sword cleaving through the air with a whistling sound. Silas stepped back, out of the way of a particularly vicious slash that would've cut him in half had it hit. The spirit moved again, swinging the sword back down almost immediately. The Sheikah brought up his hand in a reflex, metal hand crashing against a metal blade.

The sword left a deep cleft in his hand, the metal groaning as it bent when the spirit furiously tugged at its sword. Silas tried pulling his hand back, but the spirit was strong, and pulling just as hard to get its own weapon free. The sword came loose with a start, making the Sheikah stumble backwards. Hard as the blow had been, it did give Silas an idea. He backed away further, planning his next course of action while shouting to his companions.

"Try to get it to strike at the ground!"

Julius leapt at the creature, completing his charge with a powerful Helm Splitter. There was no time to cease his advance or halt the flow of the battle; he would have to keep the pace up in order to remain close to the demon-possessed blade.

However, he wasn't anticipating the ghoulish figure to so easily change its target. He hadn't even seen Silas coming, and yet it had seen him, almost as though it had some sort of omnipresent sixth sense.

"Damn it all," he muttered under his breath, landing behind Silas, who was still rushing the spirit... soul... thing. Whatever it was, Julius had tangoed with it before; whatever it was, he knew, could easily shift directions and essentially teleport to wherever it needed -- wanted -- to be. Misdirection would be their greatest asset here, as it had been in his first fight against Death Blade; but, for all of their combined worth...

Well, Silas and Horus were far more mobile than he was; they would certainly help. He knew that Luna would be of use as well; if she could absolutely nail their foe with some kind of spell, then they could likely execute... Whatever Silas' plan was. He closed the distance between himself and the Sheikah, and added his own strikes to Silas', however ineffective they may have been.

"Silas, you know how strong this thing is -- it's stronger than I am, for Din's sake. Leave the close physical combat to me, and strike whenever you have the opportunity to. I'm sure Luna is already thinking of ways she can help. If you see Horus approach, make sure he stays back with Luna. If this thing can pop up from almost nowhere, then I sure as hell don't want anything like it approaching our lone mage," he spoke between strikes and martial maneuvers. Of course, he was relatively coordinated with Silas. He was able to charge and unleash his Spin Attacks in close proximity without harming the Sheikah, at least, which was good enough for him.

He continued raining strikes and techniques upon the ghoulish figure as he attempted to get something resembling a clear shot ready for Luna, or if not her, then Silas, at least.

"It's tricky, but we can pull it off. Use that feather of yours." Silas looked at his hand, the metal shifting and seemingly melting together again, albeit slowly. "I'll be able to get out of the way, and block it if it comes to that." He looked from Horus to Luna, nodding at the latter's remark. "She's right. We'll distract it, leave it to Luna and Julius. We can jump in if needed." Then came the inquiry to his magic. Silas nodded again. "Briefly, yes. It's like any other spell, the trick is to will a wall into being by designating one. Focus your magic on what you want it to do, then draw a line with your fingers." Something clash together with a loud clang behind them. Silas' eyes shot to his hand and back. Where there had been a gash before was now only a deep dent on both sides. Enough for he planned to do. "I'll give a more complete explanation once we're rid of this thing! Horus, follow me!"

He set off, running back towards the raging spirit. In the meantime he turned to the redhead. "We have to stick together, draw its attention to us. Then jump away at the last moment, that's the only moment to catch it off-guard. Think you can do that?" They approached the spirit from the back, Julius fighting it from the other side. "Try that crossbow of yours." Silas suggested, summoning a set of needles into his hand. Hopefully, combined with Horus' attack, to draw the spirit's attention.

The volley of projectiles passed through the spirit, half of it clanging against its blade. But it did what it needed to. The spirit whipped around, swinging its blade in a wide arc, staring down at the Sheikah and Hylian. With a mighty swing, the blade was lifted again.

"Now! Move!"

The spirit swung its sword down, burying the blade deep into the asteroid.

Silas jumped at the spirit, focusing all his power into his fist. It vanished as it saw the Sheikah coming, deciding its own hide was more important than the sword, re-appearing mere feet to the side, out of range. Or that's what it thought. Silas was unable to slow himself down, crashing to the ground with his hand, landing heavily behind it. The impact of the metal object with the asteroid caused a vicious shockwave, shaking the very ground, and reaching the spirit as it tried to grab its sword again. So that was something he could do with the hand.

"Julius, now!"

They hadn't paid Julius any attention.

Why is no one listening to me, he thought to himself as he studied his opponent. Really, he knew that the... ghost, or demon, or whatever it was, could essentially will itself to wherever it desired to be. Whether that had any real, defined range was unknown -- but it had used it plenty of times to bewilder his group and evade their attacks easily enough.

Well, whatever the plan had been, it probably wouldn't work now. Not according to anything Julius knew about this spirit, at least; even if it wasn't the same one he had faced within the Arbiter's Grounds, he knew they had a certain expertise with whatever innate teleportation they possessed. Namely, that he knew if it willed it, it could most certainly take its blade -- whatever weapon it wielded, in any case -- with it, as well.

Julius wasn't especially surprised when it abruptly disappeared from the battlefield. It could be... Julius didn't want to come to the conclusion of anywhere, but to the extent of his knowledge, that was about the long and the short of it all. He looked around the battlefield for what he could see -- and then saw a flash above him, the glint of steel being swung overhead. Something... Something was rushing at him. Him, specifically; it was... A projectile, no doubt about it; his next question, then, was if it were magical.

Well, I have no choice but to try. At worst, it might end him -- but, were he able to deflect it, then they just might have the advantage to enable them to win.

The... Julius thought of it almost as a vortex, or perhaps a crescent of energy; its form was almost indiscernible to him, but it didn't matter; what mattered is that he had been right, and that his blade had reflected the projectile back at the spirit swordsman. It bounced back with the same speed it had approached him with, and before he knew it, collided with the demonic blade that was suddenly before him.

The monster hadn't anticipated the effects of Julius' equipment, and was wounded across the chest. No blood flowed, nor was there any indication that any damage had been done; but he didn't continue the wide horizontal arc he was in the process of completing with his blade.

It stood there, frozen. Julius wasn't sure why; when they had injured it before, it flew into a... it was more apt to describe it as a blood frenzy. Maybe this place affected it in some strange realm; maybe it was able to find something resembling peace in what was, to all else, a form of purgatory.

That did not, however, mean that Julius ceased his advances on his opponent then and there. No, on the contrary; he only continued his flurry of strikes, slashing first through the shadowy tunic wrapped around its body -- no, that is its body, he thought to himself, suddenly realizing that he had, essentially, just vaporized a portion of it corporeal form. The revelation didn't mean much to him -- maybe for whatever additions he could make to the bestiaries of Hyrule after he possibly returned from this journey, but right now, in the middle of a struggle for life and death, it meant very, very little to him.

He continued striking the creature through its shadowy form, before eventually executing a Spin Attack that went almost vertically -- the wave of energy cracked whatever horned, skull-like mask it possessed on its head. Was it even a mask? He had to ask himself, for only a moment, before an abominable screech escaped from the being, echoing into the void around them.

Had they done it?

And then it was gone.

Silas breathed a sigh of relief. Hopefully, that was the last vengeful spirit, or at least for a while. He walked over to Luna and Horus, clapping the latter on the shoulder and smiling at the former. "Good job there, you two. And not bad at all for a first try at that spell." The fingers on the Sheikah's other hand moved slowly, clenching and unclenching as the hand continued to repair itself.

With yet another obstacle out of the way, they were another tiny bit closer to their goal. And now they knew how to reach said goal... Which reminded Silas that Julius might not have gotten all of the information in the heat of battle. And if he had, well, it wouldn't hurt to repeat it again.

"As I said, we've- although I should really praise Luna for her thinking here-" He gestured at the mage. "We've found a way to the tree. Attacking the roots causes it to pull them towards itself, possibly in defense. Or, which is the more unpleasant explanation, to quite literally absorb us, or our life force. Which might also explain why there are so many dead here." Silas shifted on his feet. "I mean, they didn't send just any men in here. These were seasoned warriors, they've all faced Poes and the like before. But not... life-stealing trees."

He let the information sink in for a moment.

"Anyway, Julius... Perhaps you've come up with additional ideas while we had our little expedition? Or anyone else got anything more to say?"

"Ideas. Right." He sheathed his sword as he exhaled, steadying his breathing. "Well," he began, removing his helmet so that the group could better understand him.

"I have come across a few things from his ramblings. If his theories hold any truth -- which we may as well assume, then something like the Triforce would be something that is otherwise static across space, time, or... well, even dimensions. For instance, take the old Hylian myth of the Sacred Realm -- the resting place of the Triforce, sealed off from Hyrule except for... Well, a few places, if the wives' tales are to be believed. Anyways, I'm getting a little off topic here-- what I'm trying to get at is that if the Triforce is static, and if every other dimension is tethered to it somehow..." These were all rather tenuous ifs, he realized; after all, Xerxes was likely insane by the time he wrote any of this. That was how it appeared in the journal, at least.

"What I'm trying to get at, is that this place was likely created by the Triforce. However, I'm sure we're all familiar with the myth and legend associated with it; that, whomever should lay hands upon it, gets their wishes and desires fulfilled to the extent of its power, which is, of course, limitless. As little as I like to admit this," he sucked air in through his teeth, "someone has garnered at least a fraction of its power. Someone -- somewhere -- had to have obtained the power necessary to, if not create this place, then at least bridge the gap from this dimension into Hyrule. What I believe is that Ganon is now in possession of the Triforce; or at least part of it. It is strange, considering no movements have been made by him in almost... twenty years. But if he spent that time searching for the Triforce, making it seem as though he were lying dormant or some other such nonsense? Well, it'd be almost the perfect diversion."

He wasn't sure he could believe any of this himself. He didn't want to believe that Ganon had somehow come in possession of the Triforce, and were that truly the case, then he would be absolutely unstoppable.

He decided to not linger on that, however. They had been sent here with a mission in mind; and, as they were not dead just yet, they were succeeding in that regard. There was still one thing yet left to be dealt with, however. The tree. The towering monolith of... whatever forces it governed in this place. Given that it held no direct sway over the dead, and seemed to absorb the life force of the living, it may as well have been considered some kind of border agent.

"Well, we're not exactly doing ourselves any favours by standing around. Let's get this show on the road."