The Woods are Black and I Can't Turn Back

"What are we doing in the sewers, Mr. Surgate? You should be so bold as to wonder by now."

They stood in the Castle Town sewers, a small girl with a stack of books and a guard decked to the nines in combat gear. It reeked. The smell was powerful, and Lucia had even plugged her nose before the trip. So why were they in the sewers, anyway? Earlier that morning Julius woke up and suited up for a bodyguard job that he had received in a summons the previous day. Only someone as thorough with a pen and paper as Lucia could have possibly gotten the papers through to the main guard office so fast. This was urgent, it seemed. Urgent beyond all reason, really. What could get such a bookworm in a mood like this and out into the cold sewers so suddenly anyway?

"I had the most horrible nightmare the other night. It's nothing to be taken lightly at all. When the Great Deku Tree is threatened, we children of his all have horrible night terrors of the one who threatens him."

Lucia paused for a moment, looking incredibly uneasy.

"I saw it in my dream, it's. . . "

She started to look sick, she turned pale and clutched at her stomach.

"If I told you, you probably wouldn't believe me. It's the most disgusting thing I have seen in my life."

She led Julius down the sewers, and turned a sharp corner with him. Around the bend was a drainage pipe that was horribly twisted. A horrible black mist shot out of the pipe and a spiral of cyan light poured out from within. Something was horribly off about this mystical entryway.

"It was in the dream too, I saw one of the aggressors placing it here. It's a secret to everybody. It's a design of the Twilight Realm I think. I know with confidence it goes to the Kokiri Forest. We need to check up on them at least, please come in with me."

"The twilight realm, hmm?" He eyed the portal warrily. He knew, to whatever minute amount, about the Twili. Beings fabled and ranted about his great-great-grandfather, Xerxes, who filled several sections in his journal with whatever he could scrutinize from myth and text alike. He even had a few theories on how beings could travel from Hyrule to their dimension, though he often made the point of it requiring a deific level of magical energy, perhaps that which even rivaled the Goddesses' own.

That was niether here nor there, however. There was a more pressing matter to tend to: what, precisely, was ailing the Great Deku Tree so? The only way for them to find out was through that portal, and standing here certainly was not going to help. With a deep breath and a brave step forward, he confidently strode into the portal, its magical energies mixing with his own, and soon, it was dark. A chilling sensation wrapped around his body, overpowering his senses. Every hair on his body stood on end, and right when the sensation reached its peak, there was a sudden...drop, of elevation. His senses slowly returned to him, and he felt himself walking. It was still absolutely black, not being able to even see the edge of his visor.

As he kept walking, though, there was a faint light in the distance, slowly illuminating his surroundings. It was then that he noticed he wasn't actually moving at all; "Teleportation is...odd," the beefy guard muttered, shuddering as light fully enveloped him. His surroundings became clear, and clearer still, until it seemed as though he stood in the middle of a strangely forested area...though there was no way for him to possibly tell they made it to Kokiri Forest as they intended.

The most alarming feature of the newly found landscape, however, was a thick, condensed smoke trail about fifty feet in front of them. He knew that whatever was causing it was burning fresh, alarming him slightly. Wandering onto a grassy cliff, about ten feet in length, and peered over the ledge as carefully as possible.

There tents, made of dark, cobbled together hides lay strewn about the ground as a makeshift camp. Hulking creatures with the bodies of men but the faces of dogs and pigs walked along the ground, carefully sniffing along the ground and at the air, though he knew that they couldn't smell anything beyond the clouding scent of the smoke. It was okay though, Moblins weren't known to be particularly bright amongst Hylians. Julius turned toward Lucia, who was just now emerging from the warp. "We've got moblins."

Lucia regained her footing and tapped her glasses frantically.
"Moblin. Weaknesses. . . head, lower chest, toes. Defenses present in held shields, bucklers, boots. Overall flesh is very sturdy. Spears look sharp, they include a cloth for retrieval. Clubs are large, feature iron studs. Could be kanabo. . ."
Lucia rambled on as she scribbled a detailed picture of the Moblin facing them, so as to get a better picture of the facial features. She continued a little further than necessary, even including the brass nipple-ornaments.

"Mr. Surgate I believe we have a Moblin problem. Allow me to draw my boomerang sir, I will cover you."
The leading Moblin charged headfirst at the two. Not ten feet from Julius had Lucia tossed her boomerang in the direction of the creature's generous mug. He recoiled in his own steps and had begun to see little yellow birds.

"He is stunned Sir, have at him. You will find that the flabbier parts slice much like a ham."

Lucia's fairy, Lith appeared from her pockets from under where the Boomerang was wedged. She was dying to comment on this quest.
"Well lookie here! Somebody's gonna cry if daddy tree doesn't get his medicine! Heeheeeeee!"

Julius, heavily armed and armored, drew his blade and sprinted towards the dazed Moblin. His keener senses would alert him if any more were nearby, and sure enough he detected three...not necessarily more Moblins, but still three more malicious presences. The flabbier, the better cut, right? His sword of silver gleamed from the sunlight as he sliced deep into the Moblin's flesh, elliciting a piggish squeal from the injured Moblin has he exited his slightly concussed sttate. "Hurrk! You'll pay dearly for that, Hylian scum!" The pigman snarled, though it really sounded much more similar to an oink. He drew his own weapon of choice, a club decorated with iron studs all up and down its body, soaked with blood from a recent kill, though its minor amount implied it couldn't have been much more than a Miniblin, at best.

There was a sound of iron on steel. The Moblin's thick, sturdy club connected with Julius's shield, as he brought his sword up and thrust it into his thick, leathery upper torso. You could probably make a decent pair of pant from their hides. The beadt squealed with further rage, Julius's blade sinking deeper and deeper into his chest. He expelled a final breath, slumping over onto Julius's blade and body.

He threw the recently killed corpse off of him, his blade sliding out just as slowly and painfully as it had slid in. A sudden whistling glided past the back of his head, just barely nicking the back of his helmet, as something pierced the ground adjacent to him. A spear, crudely constructed with stone and stick, hewn together with rope, lodged itself into the earth. He turned as another was chucked his way, though he had more than the necessary agility to bat it out of the air with a quick thrust of his shield...though it was likely that it wouldn't have pierced his armor even if it had connected with him. A shout alerted the rest of their camp to the two intruders' presence...three more bodies came into view from somewhere opposite the portal, in addition to the two still to the left.

The portal above them sputtered and closed shut in the sky. The haze of the woods thickened and it was much harder to see. The troop of Moblins approached cautiously. Not all of them had spotted the couple of travelers yet. That was soon to change.

An unidentified blur sped through the woods far off. It resembled a large lion. From that direction came the ear-piercing blare of a horn. It was a call-to-arms for all of the monsters within the mile. The pair of Moblins before Julius and Lucia were already in combat range. The one on the right side cut in, and went to swing his pronged spear at Lucia. He knew she would be the easiest target. She stepped back, unable to block it.

"Sir, we are now surrounded. I suggest we clear a path and then flee. Take out as many as you can."
"An' go easy on the salt!"

Lucia tossed her Boomerang again. It veered off course of the creature's face and instead slammed its under-arm area. He lost his balance and control over his long pole-arm.

"There's something wrong, it's getting darker. But it's still the morning!"

Julius heard the intense blaring of the horn, and he knew exactly what it meant. War. Battle. Soon, they would be overwhelmed by beasts. They had to get out of there immediately. Julius noticed Lucia throw her boomer angbonce more, this time disarming a Moblin to the right of them. Excellent, he thought, tightly grasping the wooden handle of his blade. He sprinted forward as he drew ever nearer to his chosen opponent. Closer, closer, and closer still, before he lurched in with a jab, his blade quickly puncturing the Moblin's soft, flabby stomach, before quickly withdrawing and continuing with several vicious slashes across the rest of his torso, his sword slicing into the bones of his chest. Another, slightly across from the one he had just slain, readied his blade for an instant before his head fell to the ground, a few squirts of blood pumping from his body as his corpse fell limp to the ground. A path opened ahead of them, "Let's go, Lucia!"

They began their journey into the forest, moblins trailing behind them. A small thicket was just ahead. Darkness pervaded his eyesight, but he could still faintly detect enemies...but strangely enough, from the thicket as well. "Wait, Lucia, I can sense some enemies from up ahead. It might be an ambush, or a scouting party reporting back. I think I can handle the moblins from here, but if you want to continue up ahead, we can. I'm not sure what's up there though," Julius said, facing the crowd of moblins emerging from behind them.

The fog was thick, but a glance into her spectacles showed a gleam of what was ahead. What was it that Julius had sensed? She wasn't sure but Lucia was confident that Julius would have her back. Her boomerang was held tightly to her chest as she jogged along. Maybe strapping five books to her back was a bad idea, she figured. The ordinary sack was a bit heavy for someone with the stature of a child.

"Hey!" Lucia began speaking through her pirate's charm "I can give you helpful information through this stone I tied to your belt. Neat huh?"

Ahead of her, Lucia saw several Bokoblins sharpening their weapons. They chuckled to themselves as they made formation. They were looking forward to today's kill. But. . . they were going the wrong way. What is wrong with them? Lucia wondered. They weren't even going anywhere. The thicker the fog got, the tighter the circle they were walking in got. Either they were dumber than normal Bokoblins, or something was seriously wrong here.

It finally hit Lucia like a ton of bricks, she had been jogging nowhere herself. Her glasses couldn't pick up anyone but the Bokoblin squad. She examined the trees for some hint of her position. Maybe one landmark would show her where she was, right. Her navigation was normally mechanically good. Something crossed her eye that stood out. It was a carving on the bark of the tree, seemingly done with a sharp object like a knife.

"The woods are black and I can't turn back."

This power was affecting everyone, even Ganon's soldiers. A chill went down Lucia's spine. She shouted over the pirate's charm to get Julius's attention.

"We've been compromised! The further you go into the woods the worse it will get. The sense of direction goes berserk in the fog. Fight those Moblins and I will try to think of a way back over to you."

"More useful than neat, I'd say," Julius spoke back to the pale green stone hanging from his belt. A rumbling sensation struck forth from the ground, something tearing through the ground as it headed directly for him. Rock and earth alike shook and crumbled, a solitary Moblin in the distance, as he dived out of the way of the strange technique. The Moblin's towering form struck the ground beneath him, unleashing another earth-shattering strike, Julius diving out of the way once more. His platemail weighed him down too much this time; the wave collided into him, sending him hurtling back a few feet, but otherwise noticing he felt about normal. Regaining his composure, he charged at the Moblin, but it wasn't too long before three other moblins, almost equivalent in size to Julius himself, came out charging full sprint at him, spears readied.

They collided. He managed to deflect one of their spears with his shield, and sliced another's belly open right as his spear neared his torso. Unfortunately, his skills were a blade, not the general use of his body in combat, he realized all too soon as an iron steel split the plates of his armor. A draw of luck for Julius, it seemed, as the spear was caught in his armor. A vicous, savage, and solid blow struck the Moblin whose spear was caught by his armor, as his sword was wedged deeply with the center of his skull. He pushed up on its hilt, levering it out of the corpse as he concentrated on his blade. One second turned to two, two seconds to three, and before he knew it, the final moblin of the three felt his torso disconnect from his legs as he fell apart. At least he left the family jewels in tact, the Moblim said in his head, followed by a short grunt as his life was ended.

Another shockwave headed his way as he nimbly weaved to the side. He caught the Moblin in the head with his shield so forcefully there was an audible crack, his skull bursting open and his damaged brains spilled out onto the forest's floor. He noticed five more moblins, all standing behind the most recently fallen one, prepared for combat. This was going to be a fun one.

Lucia almost fully heard the explosive noise of the Moblin's attack. Maybe it wasn't completely hopeless.

"Uh, Lucy. What is that?" Lith wailed while pointing in some other direction.

Lucia upheld a pained smile and her eyebrow twitched. It wasn't often Lith showed actual concern. Whatever that fairy saw was not good at all. Lucia cocked her head to the side with empty eyes.

Something resembling a tree trunk was behind her. But. . . this looked a little more segmented, maybe like a bamboo stalk. It was thick and a little. . . hairy? Impossible. Infinitely impossible! Lucia was surrounded by these unnatural tree stalks. She knew she couldn't look. She had to get out of here!

"Julius I don't know you that well but I need you to scream as loud as you can. Right. NOW."

She knew that if he could mimic the result of the Moblin attacks she could close her eyes and follow the noise out of the evil fog. There was something beyond the scope of terrifying, and right above her head. There was a vibrating hum coming from above her and she knew she was as good as dead if she looked up. She had to escape the black trees at all costs.

"WAAAAAAAARGH!!"

Julius loosed a ferocious, feral roar while battling the group of moblins. Two were already lying about on the sparse patches of grass and copious amounts of brush. One was severely wounded, having a deep gash on its that spilled thick, sludge-like blood red blood down onto its belly. A more observant spectator would also detect a moblin directly beside it, though this moblin had one arm and no head.

A crudely constructed object sharing properties of both a mace and a club buried itself in Julius's side. He still felt a decent amount of the blow's impact, almost knocking the wind out of him. But as they traded blows once again, Julius would find his glistening sword cutting into the tenderer areas of the Moblin's body. A squelching sound resounded through the environment as he drew his blade out of its corpse. He quickly slashed again in a single, fluid motion, his shield knocking into its head and his blade chopping hard through bone, almost scalping the moblin, but definitely killing it as he pried open its head like the lid to a can of paint.

Another one slammed into him from behind, almost toppling him like a pile of rocks. He turned to face what seemed to be his final two foe, only revealing three more already having replaced those he had just slain. There was only one option, one solution to this, he thought, sticking his shield out in front of him and his sword behind him as it gathered and mixed together his willpower and magical might into one steamy concoction.

The scream exploded, echoing slightly off the trees. Lucia ran with her eyes closed. She moved her body to focus on the direction of the shout. It was at this point she noticed all of the Bokoblins had disappeared. There was a crash and another hum. They were coming. Lucia's body tingled with fright, her inner adrenaline made her go faster even when her body hurt.

"Great job with those bandits Sir. But as soon as you see me get out of the fog we have to run."

So that was how the Lynel was controlling his troops. It had to be the exploding noise of his horn. These monsters may have been much smarter than they looked. However, that meant the horde was much more of a problem for them. The monsters could have easily gotten as far as the village by now. That meant, everyone. . . was in danger. Even though she wasn't very attached to many of the other Kokiri, Lucia was still concerned for them. They would all suffer horrors as bad as what happened to her dear Mayon.

Lucia tripped over the curdling arm of a Moblin, she made it. She opened her eyes and stood back up. Julius was there, somewhat hurt but capable of running. If they could just keep going they could probably find the village. There was no way the Great Deku Tree would let the fog get all that deep in the village, so it must be the opposite way of the fog. Lucia motioned her arm to remind Julius of the plan and kept running.

Then, another horn blared. The whirling noise coated the entire forest. It was the Lynel again, she was sure of it. Sure enough, some more Bokoblins came to replace the ones that were abducted. Lucia bonked one square in the face with her boomerang. It bounced back into her hands, and she swung it with full force into the bandit's head.

"Major Surgate, I can navigate from here back to the village. Let's exterminate these vile obtrusions obstructing my collection of data."

Major. A title he hadn't heard in a long while. Usually, he just preferred to be called Julius, or something similar. A t
title hadn't been used by a member of his family since Xerxes, and it admittedly felt strange at first to have one. But he syill insisted those he knew, and those he respected, to simply use his name without it. It felt better that way.

But now wasn't the time to properly acquaint each other. Lucia decked a bokoblin square in the jaw with her boomerang, giving it a dazed look for less than a minute before it casually shrugged it off. Julius charged, reflective sword in hand, his shield raised, before a brutal clang resounded through the forests. The bokoblin's bladed club collided with his shield, and an explosion of black smoke and heat, filling the area with an intense smoke, almost totally blacking out the area, and giing it an intense odor that smelled of brimstone. However, his keener senses allowed Julius to effortlessly determine their locations. A clash of steel on steel followed again, another bladed club parrying his blade in a smooth motion. A short stubby arm just barely came into his view, brandishing a large dagger, what little light there remained gleaming off of it threateningly. Several short, confused swats came towards him, but they waved around lazily and somewhat forgetfully.

How was this plan supposed to work again, the violet furred bokoblin wondered briefly before simply choosing to withdraw from the fight. He wasn't all that crazy about Ganon, and from what that lynel creep said, it sounded a lot like he wasn't gonna get paid today, if ever. He had to make a living, and as nature would have it, making a living unfortunately required simply not dying. He was in this game for profit, not serving Ganon. Yeah, bailing sounded like a pretty good option, he thought, nimbly withdrawing through the cloud of smoke...if anything, he knew one place he could go, sneaking through the woods: the Forsaken Fortress. At least he'd get paid. Or something.

Meanwhile, Julius had prepared a spin attack, the other bokoblins being more confident in their ally, now on his way to the pirate's den, fulfilling his end of the deal. Needless to say, they were cut in twain as Julius grabbed Lucia's arm and pulled her through the smoke.

"Let's go!" He hollered, eager to finally get away from these endless moblins. As fun as they were to kill, he was getting tired.

Lucia felt a tug and was suddenly dragged along by the massive Castle Guard. She was relieved that they had found a way through the seemingly endless enemies. Though she was more anxious about making it to the village. Not all that many Hylians had entered the Kokiri Village, and Lucia was more than certain the monsters had reached it as well. There wasn't much time, they had to reach it! The girl ran along with Julius far into the woods. They didn't stop for anything. They hadn't even slowed down to check for tree roots. Lucky they hadn't tripped on any yet.

As soon as a structure came into view, Lucia's fears were confirmed. A massive Stalfos clanked out from the encampment. His helmet flapped in the deathly wind. They were camped right outside the Kokiri Village, and it was certain they had attacked already. Posts could be seen down in the village, with a child tied to each one. A Stalfos commander paced back and forth in front of the shivering and crying children. Lucia's hands covered her mouth, this was the worst case scenario.

The Stalfos in front of them took his sweet time. He chuckled and all of his bones clattered together. He drew two huge sabers, each serrated in a sadistic craft. This edge let him savor his enemies bleeding out. A voice whistled out from inside his skull. He was trying to tell them how they were already too late. Lucia noticed this smug attitude, it sickened her more than anything. She tossed her boomerang at it, knocking off his helmet and making his skull twist around his spine.

"This is a Stalfos, Sir. It's the most disgusting eyesore I have ever seen." Lucia barked through her teeth, visibly livid. "Its weaknesses are bombs, hammers, slashes, stomps, grinding them down into a fine powder with a rock. . . Let's just kill this son of a bitch!"

There was a single, solitary moment as Julius peered through his helmet at the stalfos. A gust blew through their battlefield. In the three second moment that this consisted of, you could witness so many different, awful things that had happened in the forest. The trees that provided shelter for the Kokiri had been reduced to piles of unrecognizable ash. The grass and soil wilted and turned a disgusting black color the farther the stalfos strode into the village, much of the land currently being bare, or desecrated by its filth. Bodies lie out of sight, their corpses cold and blood thick in their bodies, riddled with toxins, sword slashes and arrow wounds all across their bodies. Children, helpless to defend themselves, were slaughtered relentlessly by this cold, sadistic abomination that Julius swore could only have been conjured by Ganon's terrible magic.

Despite the sadness of his surroundings, there was one thing Julius focused on above all: his soon-to-be opponent, the stalfos that had caused all of this. Black platemail. What appeared to be two scimitars, twisted with dark magic and smithed to inflict the worst wounds possible. His helmet was tapered at its tip, a deep purple ribbon or something similar flowing from its tip. Lucia's boomerang knocked its helmet off and twisted his head around a full one hundred and eighty degrees. At that point, Julius's prized helmet hit the unholy earth, and in a fit of rage, he charged the perverse creation of Ganon. Sword clashed to sword, sounds of battle and the clangs of steel-on-steel rang through the village.

The stalfos's left saber connected with his shield. A counter from Julius's blade swung into the side of his armor, but bounced off, uselessly. Suddenly, he felt the air around him grow cold, a light blue mist forming around his right saber. "I'm not as stupid as you think, fortunately enough," he muttered through his teeth at the pile of bones in front of him.

"And what makes you so sure?" It whistled out of his head, a sibilance on its tongue, however his words were formed.

Lucia leered at this sick murderous spirit. It looked like the damage to the village was much, much worse than she could have imagined. An explosive hate filled her, someone who rarely got angry if at all. Her Spectacles of Agony lit up with a danger warning, the Stalfos's blades had become bright blue. His swords were unbelievably strong and durable. He roared and wound up a powerful slash at Julius.

Out from behind Julius, Lucia flew with a sideways leap. She tossed her boomerang at the monster repeatedly. Over and over the thing smacked against his arms and torso. Lucia's face was covered in tears, she was screaming and slamming him with the weapon.

"Stop that! Stop that you little twerp it doesn't even hurt!" the monster shouted back.

The killer made his biggest mistake yet and turned his attention to Lucia. He seemed intent on skewering her like he had done to so many of her old neighbors. Lucia continued to bonk his upper body with her wooden boomerang. He was clearly enraged at this point and turned to strike her.

Lith giggled in Julius's ear. "Look at this moron he's not even facing you now!" she blurted out.

Julius could hardly believe the spectacle he was observing as Lucia went completely berserk on the marauding Stalfos. More importantly was the fact that the idiot was actually turning away from him. It gradually got worse for the stalfos, as with a single swing of Julius's gleaming blade, several leather straps were sliced through, neat and almost instantaneously. Before he could realize it, his cuirass fell to the bedamned forest's floor. With another fluid motion, almost like air, gliding over the smootg, silky crusts of a cooling pie, he smashed his sword into his exposed ribcage, which was almost as white as paper, Julius noticed.

But there was never an impact. The Stalfos, having regained his composure, caught Julius's blade only an inch from breaking through the delicate bones of his ribs. "Boo," the boney freak show said in a deep, monotone voice. For a moment, Julius wondered what the his deal exactly was, and then he felt why.

A third arm, wielding an Ice Enchanted dagger, tucked through his shield and stabbing into his hip...or would be, had ot not been...disarmed several moments before. His shield slammed into his rib cage, followed by a deep arc of his blade, cutting through his alabaster vertebrae with a bunch of cracks, crunches, and snaps along the way.

He feel into a heap of bones as Julius began what essentially was nothing more than hopping up and down upon the corpse like a crazed man with something to prove. And maybe he did, or something. Not even Julius was quite sure what the deal was.

Still mad about seeing glimpses of the destroyed village from atop the ridge, Lucia gave the killer's helmet a swift kick. It hurt her foot a little, but the punt sent it far down the ridge. There was an audible clank as it smacked the ground seconds later.

The Stalfos camp was mostly empty, as the rest of the towering skeletons were out on patrol. However, their subordinates remained. A trio of Skull Kids hunched over a small table next to a camp fire. Through their skull masks they were shouting at something. It was a large rat, they were shaking it and asking it where it put the cheese. The interrogation had apparently been going on for an hour or two. They were shouting loudly enough that they didn't even hear the fight going on fifty meters from them.

A wooden boomerang came from behind and tossed one of the Skull Kids into the campfire. Lucia caught it as they all jumped in surprise. These enemies were the perfect size for Lucia to actually fight. She flung the crooked weapon repeatedly as the spiteful creatures ran for their lives. They all caught it in vital areas and were soon defeated. The rat at least looked happy.

Lucia scanned the Stalfos camp and found not much of interest. Stalfos didn't have many living functions so the place was bereft of any cooking equipment, beds, or toiletries. However, there was one thing that caught Lucia's attention. A big pile of stolen treasure and valuables from the village was sanctioned off on the side of the camp. Off to the side of this pile was another small table. The table had an open book on top of it. Lucia was curious about giving the valuables back to the Kokiri, but was suddenly much more curious about the book. She took a look at the pages it was open to.

Lucia was done reading, but she got the gist of what the book did. There was no doubt about it, the original owner of this book was long gone. That awful Lynel might just be the cause of every atrocity here. But the book, it was only right to take it out of his possession it seemed. Lucia grabbed the thick book and closed it shut. She opened it back up again, it was completely blank and full of new pages. Lucia wanted to test it out to see if the diary entry was legitimate.

She tore this page out and threw it on the ground. The crinkling paper lit on fire and out of the smoke popped a large fan about the size of Lucia's head with Julius's portrait smeared on the side in some unidentified ink. It was made entirely out of cork and slowly floated to the ground. At this point, Lucia knew Julius was probably heading down into the village. She was sure to follow him and try out her new powers on those monsters.

Julius descended from his vengeful rage gracefully, similar to a bird perching itself atop the higest branch of a tree, basking in the sun's rays while a cool breeze drifted over it. He walked towards his helmet calmly, the pile and bits o of bone blowing away, nothing more than dust in the wind. He lifted his helmet, and for a moment, he thought. Was the life he lead currently lead what Xerxes had mentioned in his journal? Of course nowere different times. Southern Hyrule hadyet to be explored, yet to have its wilderness tamed by the Hylians as they dragged plow and cattle alike across its surface. However, there were alternatives. The sea to the east, would perhaps hold the answers he sought. But, there was still land unsurveyed to the east...perhaps even further south, there would be wilds which held secrets yet unknown to those of the north.

Running an idle thumb over the crest on its right side, a small sigh escaped his lips. There wasn't any point to it; any wonder and amazement had long since been drained from his life. Perhaps he was already set on his course. Perhaps this is where he was meant to be, now. He was so unsure of it all, now. There were more important issues at hand. With an unpleasant sigh of a mix of sadness and despair, he placed his helmet back onto his head. He, somewhat glumly, began the trek down the cliffside and into the village.

However, his sorrow did not detract from his combat abilities in the slightest. He tore into stalfos after stalfos, a single swing enough to completely demolish their forms and several stomps would disable their ability to reform. He tore through several of the creatures in such a way, his despair turning into anger. Rage. Incontent.

"Come, Lucia! Vengeance must be served upon these fiends swiftly and fiercely, fiercer than Din herself! We advance at once!" He barked at Lucia, his rage centered toward the Stalfos who stood ahead of the posts.

Lucia tossed the ink bottle and book into her book-sack and hurried after Julius, who was on a roll crushing Stalfos. She burned her scones in the rushed trip down the ridge. The Stalfos Captain saw her heading toward the prisoner posts, but Julius was nearly in range to meet him in combat. The smoke became thick, and mixed with the menacing fog above. The fires on the fairy-childrens' houses were dying down. She could see the soot caking the horrified faces of her forest siblings. They had to be saved!

Lucia tore out the page quickly and got a very crude and square-edged knife. The iron was completely pure as it wasn't stated otherwise. Lucia ran up to one of the posts and started cutting a girl off the ropes.

"I've been waiting for you!" the girl shouted, overjoyed and strangely erotically.

She was looking forward to getting saved?! Lucia wondered how she could have expected anyone from the forest to get past these hulking Stalfos. She chalked it up to an abundance of hope, and maybe a little fantasy on her part. Lucia just proceeded to cut free every Kokiri as they all became overjoyed one by one. They followed her to a safer spot. Two or three kids grabbed small swords and shovels and followed Lucia.

"We want to fight back." they exhaustively cried.

Lucia didn't know how to say no, they were fighting for the same thing she was. That awful Ganon and the Lynel were going to find out the hard way that the Kokiri Forest was off-limits. The two boys put pots on their heads and marched along with her. A girl told Lucia that she was a skilled magician and could help.

"You're the one who used to call me a stinky-face and put itching powder from Skulltulas in my sock drawer." Lucia remarked. Being the dork of the village had its perks.

"Well I'm sorry, it was a one-time thing. Let me use my magic to help." the girl chattered remorsefully.

She sounded sincere enough. They came to face the Stalfos Captain, who was staring down Julius in the clearing. He brandished his bearded axe, clattering his crooked teeth. His big tasseled helmet swirled in the soft breeze of ash. He mirthfully ran the blunt of the axe up his ribcage. There was a delightful sound as the entire octave played as if his chest was a xylophone. He stood tall, at least seven feet high. He screeched fiercely. The face of his skull started to extend white growths made of ice, forming a tall crown. His entire body became covered in these white icicles. Covering his upper chest was a deep blue breastplate of a similar hardness of the camp guard. The icicles shot out of the edges of the scant armor he had, forming a barrier of spikes. A bluish flame formed in his lower mandible. A bright glowing vapor of blue fire stormed out of his mouth and rose like smoke.

"ALRIGHT MAGGOTS, YOU'RRRE IN FOR THE TIME OF YOUR LIFE!"

He began by flinging an Ice Shot from his axe at Julius, cackling madly.

Julius noticed Lucia moving past the stalfos, entirely unnoticed, scrawling madly on a notebook...before ripping it out and crumpling it into a tiny white ball with streaks of goopy black ink staining it to a mess. Soon after, a featureless serrated iron knife appearing in her hands in place of the ball for a moment. She began cutting down the rest of the kokiri as he stared down the Stalfos captain, right into his beady, red eyes. Sweat soaked Julius's brow, dripping down the contours of his well-aged face, soaking the interior of his helmet. His eyes had a focused, determined look, attempting to predict his move, when something unpredictable happened.

Icicles began to form all across his body. The edges of his deep blue breastplate, his mandible and upper jaw, icicles slowly grew, crackling as they did. His jaw began chittering with a dull creak as a deep blue fire formed in his mouth, seeming to steam into the air as he startes to speak, enunciating his R's and yelling, apparently at everyone in the village currently. A cyan spire, about the height of his chest, with a bottom so slick it began to slide even before he batted it towards him with a swing stroke of his elongated, somewhat menacing bearded axe.

It began sliding towards Julius faster than he expected. A head on collision seemed imminent, until Julius struck it with his shimmering sword, wedging it deep into its side as it began to shift into that direction, floating into a dirt wall and collapsing. Julius moved forward cautiously, having observed the slow moving glacier transform a portion of the wall into permafrost. He continued forward, his emblazoned shield set forth, a symbol of vengeance obvious to the Stalfos: the Triforce. His grip on his blade was firm, yet flexible; ready to be maneuvered for whatever other spells or techniques the frozen skeleton had yet to reveal. Behind the Stalfos, he noticed the now rescued Kokiri armed with makeshift weapons and improvised armor. He knew he would have to fix this later to prevent this from happening again, but quickly buried it in the back of his mind, barely being even a surface thought.