Hebes24 wrote:
One thing though: I think it's Hylian, not Hylean.
Fixed
Next chapter.
CHAPTER 2: The Great Fairy’s Mission
“Must be important, uh……”
“Gibso.” The fairy answered. “Now come on, we must get to the Great Fairy fast!”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, you mean that you’re here to deliver the urgent message that the Great Fairy has an urgent message that she must tell me personally? That…doesn’t make any sense at all.”
“Hey, I’m no one to question the Great Fairy.”
“Well I guess that leaves it up to me. C’mon, let’s get moving.” Zelda grabbed a cloak off of a peg on the wall and a piece of paper from her desk. On it, she wrote:
Off to see the Great Fairy. Will be gone a while.
- Zelda
PS: Whoever is reading this; tell Kirkas that I’m still waiting for those 250 rupees he owes me and that I will personally beat them out of him when I get back if he doesn’t have them for me.
Pinning the notice to her door, Zelda slipped on her cloak and began to walk down the hall. Gibso bobbed behind her.
“You can stay in my hood if you want.” She told the fairy, who willingly obliged.
The princess made good speed down to the castle’s stables, though she was distracted for a few minutes by her little sister Teta, who, like all small children, loved to talk about anything and everything that came to mind. Zelda and Teta got along quite well as siblings, and even though there was over fifteen years’ difference in their ages, they looked a lot alike, though Teta was still in her “cute” stage.
Saying goodbye to her sister, Zelda continued to the stables. As the stablemaster was an efficient man, her horse was ready within minutes. The snow outside was not deep enough to discourage the anxious creature.
Princess Zelda’s horse, Liath Macha, was a majestic beast, strongest of his brothers, small enough for speed, but large enough for mounted combat. He was pale grey, with small patches that faded to white, befitting his name “grey mist”. He pawed the ground expectantly, wanting to go out with his rider.
“T’sokay, Macha, lets go. Hey, Gibso, how urgent it this message the Great Fairy needs to tell me?”
“Utmost importance.”
“Good.” She smiled. “Yah!” She gave Liath Macha a snap of the reins and a little kick to the flank. The horse, overjoyed to be out of the stable shot off at a fast gallop, out of the stable, through the east gate, through the bustling town, (though he did not run anyone over, as most people knew that the safest place to be when Princess Zelda was riding was out of her way, especially after the incident where she led the Bulbin King on a mad chase through the city for three hours) and out onto the Fields.
The Great Fairy’s fountain was placed in the side of a hill a couple miles outside of town. The castle was still visible on the western horizon, and snow had begun to fall from the clouds that had filled the sky. Jumping down from Liath Macha, Zelda entered the cave.
She had been to the Great Fairy’s fountain twice before, once at her naming, the second time when she was near death after a run-in with a group of anarchist Gorons. The hallway to the main fountain was unchanged: the tiles were still pale blue, still immaculately arranged. But there was something amiss: the air was slightly cold, unusual, as fairy fountains are toastily warm in the winter, and the musical tones of fairy’s conversing was dimmed somewhat. The central pool was empty, the luminescent crystal ceiling providing light. Now Zelda knew that something was wrong: almost half of the fairies she saw were not bobbing cheerfully around as she had seen in the past, but on the floor, barely moving, their lights dim. The other half seemed dazed and sorrowful.
Stopping before the crystal clear water of the central pool, Zelda took off her hood.
“Okay, I’m here.”
Sparkles of bluish light began to filter themselves from the air, converging in the middle of the pool. The Great Fairy’s form appeared hovering just a few inches above the water.
“WHAT THE HELL?” Zelda exclaimed, half shouting, half screaming.
Zelda knew that the Great Fairy of this fountain took the appearance of a little girl, clothed in leaves and with hair that switched from pink to gold depending on what angle you looked at it. That part of her had not changed. But now she had massive brown scabs coating her skin, some bleeding around the edges, some not even fully formed. Silver fairy blood dripped into the pool from her wounds. Her expression was tired and extremely sad.
“You came, young Zelda” The Great Fairy said, a small smile forming on her lips.
“What the hell happened to you?”
The Great Fairy smiled again.
“You always were right to the point. This is the plague that has been striking your borders. Apparently it has chosen me, and some of my younger brothers and sisters, as its next victims.”
“Uh, viruses are spread, they don’t choose targets.”
“This is no common disease. This is the Plague of the Dammed. It is a being in itself, traveling the land, searching for new victims, an invisible, silent killer.”
“And how does this have to do with me?”
“You do not know, in fact, few still do, but the Plague appeared once before. Almost all beings in Hyrule died, were it not for the Hero of Time, who called down the Golden Goddesses, who healed the land from its ailments. But this time there is no Hero. The duty falls to you. Summon the goddesses from their temples: Din in the west, Farore in the east, Nayru in the north. When they appear at the Temple of the Gods in Castle Town, they will heal the land as they did long ago, and the coming crisis will be averted.”
“Sounds simple enough.” Zelda turned to leave. She took approximately three steps before she was knocked to the ground. A gangly misshapen biped, with weathered brown skin with open red and black sores and a gaping fang lined maw crouched over Zelda staring at her with sightless eyes. Zelda punched it in the face, feeling its brittle bone structure crushing under her knuckles. Kicking the creature, now writing in pain, off of her, she sprung up, whipped out her sword, and beheaded it. The creature dissolved in a flood of brown particles.
“What the hell was that?” She turned around to face the Great Fairy.
“One of the Dammed. A physical manifestation of the plague. It knows you are out to stop It. The next one will be stronger. Take my blade, lest they become too strong for mortal steel.”
A sword fell from the ceiling and imbedded itself in the floor next to the Princess. Pulling it out, she held it before her. It was similar in size and weight to her old sword, but was made of a strange purple metal instead of the silver steel she was used to. The sides of the blade were forest green, with a pair of black roses etched onto each side.
“Nice sword.”
“Now go. Farore’s temple is the closest.”
Zelda nodded and headed out, Gibso bobbing after her.
Now, as an amusing side note, Liath Macha is the name of the horse of a Irish mythological/folk hero. Why did I choose that of all names? Epona is the name of a Celtic horse goddess. Betcha didn't know that.
Sick! Can't wait!