Turn Back for What

(( Cool, hookshot shoots forward at light speed and negates all downward momentum. ))

With a groan, Sienna reluctantly helped carry the barrels. She had a fairly easy time lifting them, but because each had even more mass than her body, she couldn't get a good enough hand-hold to carry more than one at a time--especially not considering she was carrying her glaive the entire time. How obnoxious. Why was she even bothering to help them?

Guy himself managed to roll the barrels along the floor and out of the dungeon, while taking care the lids were on fairly tight. He couldn't help but beam--this stuff was going to be worth a fortune, whether he found a use for it himself, or sold it to Gustav.

Although the trio was forced to take a different route back to the entrance, it was fairly unguarded. The only enemies in their path were a handful of Keese, numerous small spiders--which no one seemed to recognize--and a second Helmasaur. None of these were so threatening, nor so cunning, that they couldn't be defeated by any single member of the intrepid trio--even while carrying a barrel.

. . .

As Sienna hauled away the last barrel, Guy and Julius returned to see the floor opened, a pitfall inside. Guy proceeded to walk down the length rather casually, as Julius... decided to just leap down it.

Guy's eyes widened a bit. He expected to hear a splat in about three seconds, but was a bit surprised when there instead came a clashing of boots and armor against the ground a short distance away. It was difficult to see all the way down, but apparently Julius as used his hookshot. Even by the standards of Guy--a Deku Scrub who fought Darknuts shirtless, and spent time with several murderous sociopaths--that seemed excessively reckless.

He called back over his shoulder, "I'll see you down there, Sienna!" There was no response but the shambling of her armor, but even then he was fairly certain she got the message, but just didn't care to tell him that. How would she get down here, though? Well, knowing her, she would find a way.

Guy himself wound up in the room which--unknown to him--Julius darted out of as soon as he landed. Guy presumed the Hylian was still up ahead, but in which direction, he couldn't be certain. The tunnel went two ways, after all, and the hum of unseen machinery made it difficult to hear something as subtle as footsteps.

After glancing in one direction, he looked in the other--and abruptly burst into flames as a Dynalfos pounced on him out of nowhere. A colossal mallet swung towards him in a wide horizontal arc, forcing Guy to leap back at the last moment--the blow glanced off his shield. Skidding backwards, Guy's hand fumbled but succeeded in drawing his sword.

Before the monster could further his assault, Guy spat out a blast of Fire from his flaming gullet. The monster predictably covered behind its steel buckler--but hardly expected Guy to use that time to leap over him. While still high in the air, Guy spat a Deku Nut straight down into the creature's face, stunning it long enough for Guy to propel downwards with a ferocious stab of his blade, landing a hit across the creature's shoulder. He was aiming for the neck, but...

"W-wait!" The Dynalfos spoke, abruptly, holding a hand out. He dropped the mallet, hands quivering.

Guy hesitated on his assault, but kept his guard raised. Dynalfos didn't normally use cowardly tactics and deception, but that didn't mean there could be an exception.

The creature was breathing heavily. It was desperately speaking a language which sounded similar to Hyrulean, but which Guy could not fully decipher. There were some words which were the same or similar, "...apology... Lizalfos... Temple..." If they had truly gone back in time, Guy mused, then perhaps it was speaking some archaic form of the Hyrulean language.

Guy wondered if he was more of a Lizalfos than a Dynalfos, but just happened to be wearing armor more akin to the latter. If that was the case, why did he bother attacki--oh, right, Guy almost forgot that he was 'just' a Deku Scrub. This fool didn't think a real warrior could be packed in a little brown creature with leafy hair. It was a fair mistake to make. Furthermore, a real Dynalfos probably would have been able to block that Deku Nut, or at least been smart enough to look away.

"Do not move," Guy firmly commanded. He originally had no intentions on taking a prisoner, but wasn't exactly the sort to take a life without necessity, either. Furthermore, this Lizalfos might actually be an aid in navigating this place--or figuring out where they were. He kept his sword raised against the creature, and left his body aflame to look as intimidating as possible. His other hand, however, carefully crept into his pouch, before pulling out a small shell.

Glaring at the Lizalfos, Guy breathed words into the commshell, "Julius. Julius, are you there? Double back... A Lizalfos has surrendered to me." He hesitated to call Sienna. She would no doubt not see the value in any information the creature would have, and instead just torture it for fun before inevitably killing it. Guy supposed he could offer the Lizalfos to her as a present, if all else failed.

Guy's eyes widened slightly at hearing this place's name. It certainly would explain how upon entering the place, they seemed to travel backwards in time. If it was any other Lizalfos, he wouldn't have believed it, but it did all seem to fall into place. He gave a soft laugh, "What a coincidence." His eyes glittered slightly, "I don't suppose that Hylian blade--the Master Sword, right?--is still here." Something like that would be priceless to any Hylian--enough to pay for a great flying machine and more. That entire race frantically faps to their own myths and legends, after all.

He glared at the Lizalfos again, seeing a confused and terrified expression. Guy's two words were deliberate: "Master. Sword?" The only response he received was a slow, uneasy shake of its head. Either it wasn't here, or the Lizalfos had no idea what it was. Figures.

"You." Guy jabbed a finger towards it. "Here." He pointed towards the ground. "Why?" He shrugged.

By now the Lizalfos seemed to be getting the message on how to speak so they could be understood. He said several words slowly and clearly. Two were unmistakable as, "Mechanic," and "Upkeep."

If this truly was the Hylian's oh-so-sacred, oh-so-mythical temple, why would a Lizalfos be here upkeeping it? Either the Lizalfos was lying to them, or there was something about the Temple of Time he didn't already know. Darknuts could be magically created to guard the place, even if Hylians themselves rarely took to that practice, so at least that made sense. That said, why would Dynalfos, Helmasaurs, and spider-creatures be here--and not Hylians? There was obviously something fishy going on. He voiced these concerns to Julius in a hushed but hurried voice, so that the Lizalfos likely wouldn't be able to both hear and understand, ending with, "Is there something about this place I don't know, or should we get Sienna down here to have some fun?"

"Hm," Guy smirked a little. It seemed Hylians had never been very popular in these lands, which was rather amusing. He supposed all races were dicks in their own ways, but only Hylians also managed to be almost universally douchebags. As far as Guy knew, the 'Sacred Realm' was just some holy, wonderful place all Hylians wanted to be for some reason he couldn't understand. It didn't matter when or where you were, your life would suck just as much as it always did, regardless of how sacred or defiled the ground beneath you happened to be. Still, it might be worth seeking out this realm, if only to satisfy his curiosity... and shove it in the face of a jealous Hylian or two.

"I was wondering why you would hang around with a couple of Denzritas," he scoffed, "Our family name alone is probably memorable to a guard captain." At least, it used to be. Julius didn't seem so oblivious as to not realize he was romping around with a thief and a serial killer. At least Guy had a more solid answer. He had some kind of obsessive Twilight fetish, and needed two people crazy enough to help him murder monsters to steal it away from whoever held it. It made perfect sense--Guy practically rolled his eyes.

"Sacred Realm or not, I do wonder why Twili would be involved." He gave a cautionary glance to the guard captain, "I've met one or two of them in my time, claiming they came from some Twilight Realm... with odd mannerisms and an odder appearance to back it up." He shrugged a bit, "Didn't know about that banishing bit, though." A Twilght Realm certainly sounded like it would be more interesting than a Sacred one, in his mind. Whether or not some invasion was happening--how would Julius know anything definitive about that, anyway?--it seemed like it would be an interesting place to see, judging from the people he met who hailed from it.

In the meantime, however, all Guy wanted was to extract whatever further treasures he could from this place he could.

Finally, the two and their prisoner reached a strange, ominous pair of doors that seemed to be made out of solid black metal, encrusted with dimly glowing green runes. Though Guy couldn't recognize the language itself, he remembered that green-on-black look from an old Twili friend of his...

Before he could ask the Lizalfos about the door, however, a colossal glaive shot through its chest, blood gushing out. A hoarse groan escaped the creature's gullet as it fell to the floor. Guy facepalmed, as Sienna strode up and began to stab her hand into the wound, reaching for the creature's still-beating heart before pulling it out of its body.

She gave an indifferent look to Guy, then Julius. "What." Her cold, iron voice sounded like it could've ripped out a heart, too.

Guy shuddered at the sight of the heart still throbbing in his sister's hand. He sighed heavily, and looked away, his voice trailing off, "You'd... think I would get used to seeing disembodied hearts, at some point..."

"Hm," Guy smirked a little. It seemed Hylians had never been very popular in these lands, which was rather amusing. He supposed all races were dicks in their own ways, but only Hylians also managed to be almost universally douchebags. As far as Guy knew, the 'Sacred Realm' was just some holy, wonderful place all Hylians wanted to be for some reason he couldn't understand. It didn't matter when or where you were, your life would suck just as much as it always did, regardless of how sacred or defiled the ground beneath you happened to be. Still, it might be worth seeking out this realm, if only to satisfy his curiosity... and shove it in the face of a jealous Hylian or two.

"I was wondering why you would hang around with a couple of Denzritas," he scoffed, "Our family name alone is probably memorable to a guard captain." At least, it used to be. Julius didn't seem so oblivious as to not realize he was romping around with a thief and a serial killer. At least Guy had a more solid answer. He had some kind of obsessive Twilight fetish, and needed two people crazy enough to help him murder monsters to steal it away from whoever held it. It made perfect sense--Guy practically rolled his eyes.

"Sacred Realm or not, I do wonder why Twili would be involved." He gave a cautionary glance to the guard captain, "I've met one or two of them in my time, claiming they came from some Twilight Realm... with odd mannerisms and an odder appearance to back it up." He shrugged a bit, "Didn't know about that banishing bit, though." A Twilght Realm certainly sounded like it would be more interesting than a Sacred one, in his mind. Whether or not some invasion was happening--how would Julius know anything definitive about that, anyway?--it seemed like it would be an interesting place to see, judging from the people he met who hailed from it.

In the meantime, however, all Guy wanted was to extract whatever further treasures he could from this place he could.

Finally, the two and their prisoner reached a strange, ominous pair of doors that seemed to be made out of solid black metal, encrusted with dimly glowing green runes. Though Guy couldn't recognize the language itself, he remembered that green-on-black look from an old Twili friend of his...

Before he could ask the Lizalfos about the door, however, a colossal glaive shot through its chest, blood gushing out. A hoarse groan escaped the creature's gullet as it fell to the floor. Guy facepalmed, as Sienna strode up and began to stab her hand into the wound, reaching for the creature's still-beating heart before pulling it out of its body.

She gave an indifferent look to Guy, then Julius. "What." Her cold, iron voice sounded like it could've ripped out a heart, too.

Guy shuddered at the sight of the heart still throbbing in his sister's hand. He sighed heavily, and looked away, his voice trailing off, "You'd... think I would get used to seeing disembodied hearts, at some point..."

There was something about this punk that made Sienna want to rip his mask off and punch him in the face 5000 times or more until he died not from a sudden impact, but from aching, unimaginably painful head trauma and a broken face. That is, more than she usually wanted to do that, anyway. Clutching the bleeding heart of a Lizalfos in her hand, she abruptly chucked it at the jackass if only so it would stain his cloak. Simultaneously, Guy's knife launched through the air towards him. In a sudden poof, his body seemed to fly apart into black specks.

"Wizzarp?!" Guy glanced above him just in time to see the monster tear down towards him with a plummeting attack. Guy barely had time to propel out of the way, sliding backwards on his Hover Boots as he launched another knife. Before his blade even made contact, the freak abruptly spun like a top, blades outstretched.

The strange spin attack simultaneously deflected Guy's knife, while making it difficult for Julius or Sienna to get clo--"Nope." Sienna's nine-foot glaive tore through the air like something few mortals could have ever beheld. Its blunt edge tore into the creature's gut as he spun, and sent him flying nearly a dozen feet into the air. Sienna's only regret was that he was too close for her to use the bladed edge of her polearm. If this was going to be that kind of fight, well, she was already prepared for it. Sienna's body hurled back, before chucking the massive weapon like a javelin. Predictably enough, the obnoxious little prick teleported out of the way before it struck him.

By the time he did so, however, Sienna had already whipped out her ominous, six-foot Death Blade. Beneath her mask, she gave a sidewards glance towards Julius. It was almost as if she was thanking him.

...Meanwhile, Guy was preparing another volley of knifes, while simultaneously wishing his sister would just use the damn wakizashi instead--it was much faster, after all.

Guy's knife launched with pinpoint accuracy, stabbing into exposed gray skin a split-second after Julius' spin attack. If that wasn't enough, Sienna launched herself forward with a ferocious overhead strike--Guy knew if it landed, the teleporting fool would be struck clean in half. As he expected and feared, however, there was ample time for him to teleport away.

Guy eyed him carefully, as the individual floated high in the air now, charging some kind of spell. The Twili he met before were fairly capable in battle; this one was not. He'd never fought a man from the past before, but figured they would be capable, judging from the Darknuts met earlier. So, then, why was this fool so cocky if he couldn't even get close to landing a solid attack without resorting to teleportation? Guy was certain this fool either didn't know how to fight, or was extremely skilled at making others think that was the case. Regardless, Guy remained on guard--just in case this jester was more than he seemed.

The Twili launched another volley of his magical spells towards the group, spraying across the area. Sienna not only guarded against them almost effortlessly, but her armor seemed to eat them even as she strode forward through the torrent. Meanwhile, all Guy had to do was hold up his Mirror Shield--the volley shot right back towards the origin, blasting him backwards and onto the ground, landing on his ass.

A vicious grin spread across Sienna's face. She was already charging forward, and found the perfect opening as she leaped with vigor, bringing every last fibre of her ridiculously-huge muscles down on the downed creature with a cleaving strike that certainly wouldn't miss again.

A terrific CRACK echoed throughout the room as Sienna's shadow-wrapped blade tore clean through the being's helmet. Before he could fully vanish, her fist instantly shot forward, clutching cloth... feeling it tear as he warped away. Sienna heaved her sword back up, the helmet now awkwardly lodged on the blade, and ripped robes in her hand. Everyone in the room expected to see the fool pop up somewhere else, but...

...Silence.

Sienna bellowed abruptly, "I want to live for a thousand years just so I can spend 900 of them smashing that jester's face into the bloody, rotting, shit-stained corpses of his family."

Guy blinked. Even for Sienna, saying more than ten words at once must've meant she was... definitely pissed. She definitely had the jester part right, that's for sure. He kept his guard raised nonetheless, eyeing the room. It was too odd--too suspicious. He said, with a bit of hesitance, "What was that about? I've never seen someone so... so..." His face twisted, slightly, "Capable of using such magic, and wielding such weapons, but doing so as poorly as that." It was truly unreal. It was as if some great entity chose the most useless Twili of them all and gave him power he couldn't even hope to properly use.

"I was hoping for something like that, yes..." In truth, his hopes of finding much else were rapidly diminishing. While he had often heard phrases like 'arcane magic' or 'forgotten relics', he supposed those things weren't just lying around a temple like this. They were lucky enough to find the nectar, he supposed. It at the very least seemed like they could go back whenever they wanted, so long as that strange staircase remained intact, but... "Can we even leave the temple? I haven't seen anything resembling a usable exit... and the walls seem solid even by Sienna's standards."

Sienna merely shrugged, but Guy didn't expect her to care. Whether she was murdering things in the present or the past, it probably made no difference for her. Still, he wondered... in her eyes, would it be worth murdering a single Lizalfos, if that meant she couldn't slaughter 100 of that Lizalfos' descendants?

Before he could post the question, they were abruptly ambushed by a half-dozen four-limbed spider-things that pounced at them from seemingly every corner of the maintenance shaft. Guy managed to bounce one of his shield before stabbing a clean shot through another's eye--strange, it seemed, for an arachnid to only have one massive eye. These creatures were furry, and small as a Korok--insect or spider, the scene was too rushed to tell. As another pounced upon his back, Guy abruptly burst into flames, driving it off with a squeal of pain.

Meanwhile, Sienna was smashing her fists and boots into one after another, plowing through them effortlessly. Her glaive couldn't be properly wielded in this cramped corridor. At the same time, however, the spiders' fangs couldn't penetrate her armor, and they weren't sharp enough to aim for the weak spots in it. In less than a minute, Sienna had squashed four, while Guy had slain three. It wasn't much of a fight so much as a quick slaughter.

After extinguishing himself, Guy made his way to a chute of some sort, which led both up and down--seemingly an elevator shaft without an elevator. What was its purpose? A chimney? With a bit of hesitance, Guy began to walk down the chute--before he felt a sudden tug on his shoulder. Sienna glared at him, demanding, "Scarf."

"...Wha--oh. You can borrow it, I guess." He supposed she wanted to go down as well, if only because it meant there were probably more things down there to kill. With a bit of hesitance, he pulled off his Roc's Scarf and handed it to Sienna, who proceeded to wear it as the cape it was designed to be. Guy couldn't help but sigh a little, thinking scarves were far... far cooler.

Guy called back, "Julius, we're headed down. Either follow us, or listen carefully to your Commshell."

...

A minute or so later, Sienna floated almost eerily into a colossal, dark chamber, before stomping down boots-first onto stone tiles. After Guy dropped down behind her, softening his landing with a propel, Sienna tossed the magical gliding garment into his waiting hands.

The room was sporadically lit by holes in the ceiling, which seemed to open and close at random intervals. Both Denzritas scanned the darkness, sure that something must be lingering here. Guy calmly patted his sister's shoulder, before directing her attention silently to a single, colossal orange eye that rested... in the body of a single, colossal arachnid... which stood on the ceiling. It didn't seem to have noticed them yet.

"Julius," Guy whispered into his Commshell, "You may want to get down here..."

Guy pressed his face into his palm so hard he was sure it would have broken, had it not been formed of stone. They come upon a colossal spider-beast that hasn't noticed them--and what does the Julius do? Yell at it so it makes sure to stare right at them, throwing away any possibility of using the element of surprise. Apparently they didn't teach Hylians about the single most important rule of combat. Even Sienna wasn't that stupid. He sighed so hard and was so disappointed in his companion that he probably would have bailed right in that moment, had piles of that precious nectar not been waiting for them at the entrance.

Even while distracted by utter disappointment, Guy managed to hear the man call out, and he somewhat reluctantly raised his shield. A ferociously hot beam nearly two feet in diameter shot out towards himself and Sienna--Guy hissed in pain, his shield not able to deflect all of it, feeling the red-hot energy sizzle across his stone skin.

Sienna herself launched forward, her armor clanging wildly. After launching that beam, the monstrous spider--was it a Gohma? Sienna was unsure, but didn't particularly care--got a flaming kick to its underbelly. It left her the perfect opportunity to rocket her glaive through the air with a ferocious swing, cleaving into one of the monster's legs with a loud CRUNCH...

...Only for her to be utterly shocked when the leg wasn't lopped clean off. What the fuck, were those things made of Goron Iron? She definitely did some damage, but for the exoskeleton not to even be broken after a full attack--what the hell was this thing made from? Sienna was so distracted she barely had time to guard herself against another attack. Its legs shot out towards Sienna and Julius at once, the monster using them as giant spears. While not very sharp, they were apparently at least as hard as steel--which was enough for Sienna to not one lodged through her face.

Guy saw his sister ducking and weaving through several stabs from the legs. Whipping out a few throwing knives, he too slung them at the beast--only for them to bounce off its legs, or sink into its hide without much fanfare. It didn't even flinch. If that wasn't enough, its eye began to glow again towards him--all as it rained down continuous strikes against the other two. What the bloody fuck. Guy couldn't help but feel as though it hadn't even begun to fight, even.

(Enjoy my shitastic, three-month late post. )

Sienna glanced towards the Hylian screaming her name. What, like he expected her to not see that attack coming? Before she even had to deal with the beam, Julius managed to tear his blade clean through the very orifice that would have fired it. The arachnid's pinppoint spear-like leg strikes suddenly became wild, outright missing Sienna and Guy both without them even needing to parry or dodge.

"Almost disappointing." Sienna chuckled quietly. Thought it was nightmarishly strong mere moments ago, this monstrous spider was suddenly so impaired that killing it seemed totally unnecessary. Would it even be able to notice if they ran away? But, of course, she would slaughter it anyway--especially now that its weak point was spouting a vile, glowing liquid. It was almost as if the creature was painting its own wound just for Sienna to exploit.~

As Sienna launched herself through a flurry of gigantic, thrusting legs, Guy doubled back a safe distance. He gave a glance towards Julius, who was now adjacent him. There was a slight nod given, as if of gratitude or respect. "I think... that more or less finished the job." His weapon was still tightly gripped, and his eyes on the monster, but his words were calmed. They both watched Sienna recklessly tear into the fresh wound with glaive and sword alike, driving it further and further away from them, until she had somehow managed to pin the beast against a wall. "...Suffice to say, my sister teaches well the lesson that you should never drop your guard."

With her glaive now torn in half my a steely lag, and her brand-new demonic sword lodged several feet deep into the monster's hide, Sienna's bare gauntlets tore elbow-deep into fresh wounds. Her voice bellowed cackling glee as she forcefully pried out organs and gore for which she knew not the name, eyes glowing with delight like a Kokiri in a candy store. The monstrous beast beneath her twitched, seemingly nothing but what would soon be a colossal corpse...

As Guy watched his sister maim the creature, his breath slowly calmed. Considering how this battle began, he expected more of a fight. If it wasn't for one literally glowing weakspot, that foe would have been formidable indeed... Giving a sidewards glance towards Julius, Guy felt as though the Hylian felt a similar, melancholy sensation of disappointment.

Earthquake? Probably a small one. It almost muffled the question Julius asked, which Guy promptly answered with a nod. After sheathing his weapon, he began to pull out a rather long spindle of hemp rope from his pouch. Handing one end to the man, he asked with a sigh, "Who do you think is heaver: Sienna, or yourself?"

With that sad, Guy took the other end up into the air with a high jump, performed an overly-fancy back-flip with his second jump, and finally propelled himself so high up into the air his outstretched boots only gingerly grazed the ceiling--but it was enough. He looked down towards Julius with a casual salute--bidding him a temporary farewell as he walked towards the orifice from which they entered, one end of the rope in tow.

...He wasn't sure how far the drop was, but hopefully this rope would reach. Hopefully he would be able to pull up one of them--though it likely would mean Julius removing his armor. While Guy was strong for a Deku Scrub, he was still a Deku Scrub, not some sort of freakish monstrosity like Sienna--who, of course, was only now beginning to finish off her playdate with a giant spider corpse.