The Scoundrels of Virtue

[NayruGoddessOfWisdom 8]

He was moody, but Torianna knew how to subdue Rueben. Two glasses of whisky sat on the small round table between them where they were tucked away in the corner of the tavern. Rueben wrapped his hands around his glass in an attempt to warm to the drink, Torianna chose to leave hers cold. The only noise came from the bartender, clinking glasses as he cleared away after last night's chaos.

"Last time I saw you, you were on your way to prison," Torianna finally broke the silence.

He sipped his drink. "I made bail."

She nodded, pondering. He looked tired. He had always looked tired, but Rueben had struck her as somewhat indestructible since the first day they'd met. Even as an eight year old, he never went to bed on time. These days, she doubted he even had a regular bed; shooting whisky at this time in the morning and working through the night.

"Are you still with the network?" she asked.

He appeared to hesitate for a moment, his head bobbing gently left and right as he pondered. "Freelance," he replied. "How about you? Are you still working with... do-gooders?"

"No," she muttered, something akin to guilt twisting in her stomach. It was quickly quelled by a gulp of whisky. "I had to prioritise."

A spark of curiosity flashed in his hazel eyes, momentarily erasing the small creases beneath his lower lids. "Prioritise what?"

"Jaydon," she replied honestly. He shifted uncomfortably on his wooden stool, and instantly Torianna realised that he knew something she didn't. It took her only a few seconds longer to piece together a solution: he was her way in. If she could win over Rueben, she'd have a man on the inside. She might just be able to save her brother.

"I need to know what happened to him," she blurted. "And those... those rule abiding cowards wouldn't help! So concerned with following the rules..." she sighed, gathering herself. "I know Jaydon did a lot for you, and I know that you're in Darius' good books, so you've got to know more than me. Rueben, we need to help him."

He sighed, averting his gaze down to his glass. "I don't know, Torianna..."

"My brother got you your job," she reminded him. "You owe him at least this much."

He pursed his lips, as if tasting something sour. Eventually, he gave her a slight nod.

"Fine, for him," he paused, his crooked grin spreading. "And for old times' sake."

Edited 3 Apr 2015 by NayruGoddessOfWisdom (see edit history)

[Knuckle 484]

After the Stalchildren were gone, Endel crossed his arms and scowled at Cheval. "I hope you don't think you're clever for goading Lorcan like that." He said. The other thief gave him an annoyed look in return and was about to retort, but the sound of sliding bars interrupted his train of thought. The door on the other side of the room had opened, and Maia was already on her way to the next chamber as the rest of them gave each other furious glances. Lorcan strode across the room and lifted the door for them so they could proceed.

 

The four of them found themselves in what appeared to be the prison antechamber. Not that the place was small by any means; it might have been the biggest room yet, but most of it was shrouded in darkness. Four ominous blue torches bathed most of the room in unearthly light. Whatever this chamber held in store for them, Endel had a feeling the living were not welcome here.

"This place... it couldn't have been made by Hylians..." Maia wondered aloud.

"My understanding is that the Hylians 'borrowed' this place from some other long-gone tribe of desert folk." Cheval explained. "Not the Gerudo, though. They never made anything like this, and the Royal Knights destroyed every trace of their culture after their eradication a hundred years ago."

"Then who else is there to borrow from?" Endel asked, but Cheval shrugged his shoulders.

"We should keep our guard up, probably split up and cover these chambers as well. There's nothing too bad left here, but if you get in over your head, just retreat and we'll come back to tackle it together."

 

Just then, Endel felt a familiar pulling sensation, a compulsion to explore the main chamber ahead that he couldn't explain. It was almost like that feeling he'd had in Kazdan's manor, but the bewitchment was even stronger this time. His conscience was clouded with an unbearable desire to run, to reach some untold destination where someone was waiting for him... someone he didn't know but desperately needed to meet. Like a dog on a leash, he felt his body pulled up the stairs and through the enormous doorway illuminated by those blue lights. He thought he heard Cheval and Maia call after him, but their voices were very soon distant and forgotten. His mind ensnared in desire, Endel took a left in the main chamber and descended deeper into the ruins.

[ButterflyBabyBlue 2]

"Looks like Endel likes the plan, I guess," Cheval muttered, his expression irritated. "What's with him?"

Lorcan shrugged, still a little worn out after their scuffle. He looked to the other two to see what they would do, raising his eyebrows in question.

Cheval stared back for a moment before giving a sigh of resignation. "Alright, we'll go individually. One of us should probably check up on Endel, though, I'm getting a strange sense about him..."

Lorcan supposed Cheval wasn't far wrong - Endel was most certainly not the same one Lorcan had known just a few weeks ago. Though he supposed none of them were exactly unchanged, Endel had almost turned on his head.

Maia lifted her hand in a timid show of volunteering. "I'll go in Endel's direction, you two can cover more ground a lot faster than I can, anyways."

Cheval sent her off, then turned to Lorcan. "Let's see how long it takes us to meet back here with some relevant information. What's the bets that I'll win?"

Lorcan scowled, attempting to be dismissive before debating. Without a second glance back at Cheval he took off and kicked into scouting the place out at top speed.

[NayruGoddessOfWisdom 8]

"This is where the network are holed up now?" Torianna said in disbelief. The building laid out before her as she dismounted the horse was absolutely, completely unassuming. Tucked away along the far edge of Faron Woods, the network had retreated to a small cottage with a barn attachment. There were no guards, no complex security measures... Torianna was almost disappointed.

"Our job is actually pretty easy," Rueben muttered as he clambered down next to her. "After the escapades of your little buddies, the network took quite a hit. Member numbers are dwindling, and Darius..." he cut himself short, choosing not to finish that sentence. "My point is, as long as we're deadly quiet - rely completely on stealth- we can make it to Jaydon undetected. I'll go in first as a scout, they trust me, after all. When the coast is clear, I'll bring you in. Got it?"

Torianna nodded, and Rueben took off in a casual stroll. She watched him leave, indulging herself the nostalgic memory of working alongside him. If you overlooked the awful things they did, her and Rueben made a very well oiled machine. Lord knew she enjoyed his company.

Just as Torianna's mind was beginning to wander to things she didn't want to consider, Rueben re-emerged curling one finger in invitation. She wasted no time in approaching the building and sneaking through the doorways. Together, they moved silently, without footstep nor word, up two flights of stairs to the attic. As they reached the top of the third staircase, they were met with only a simple wooden door.

'This is where Jaydon is being held' Rueben mouthed, forming each syllable with careful emphasis. That was all the instruction Torianna needed.

With no lock on the door, Torianna was fully expecting to be greeted with something grotesque. A monstrous beast in chains, something reminiscent of the disgusting creatures that they'd seen before: a snivelling demonic hybrid who, more than anything, needed protection. With Rueben's aid, they could get Jaydon to a safe location, find someone capable of healing him...

But there were no chains. And the creature waiting for them wasn't a beast. Jaydon, looking a great deal paler, leaner, and stronger than before was sat behind a desk in what appeared to be a very well lit and lavishly furnished office. His hair, once as thick and dark as Torianna's was now ash white, swept back to expose the fat black spheres that served as eyes. Those awful black lightning bolts still marked his arms, and the smile on his sharp face was one of malicious intent.

"Torianna," he said, his tone measured. "How nice of you to drop by."

[Knuckle 484]

Soon enough, Endel's body was running not of his own volition, shuffling like a puppet on nimbly moving strings. Last time he'd been certain Kazdan had cast a spell on him in the basement of the sorcerer's manor, but that couldn't be the case any longer. Had some other character been watching him, controlling his actions from the shadows? What cause did this enigma have for taking such direct command of his movements at times like these? Endel had a dreadful suspicion that his questions were soon to be answered by the puppeteer itself.

 

His arms reached out to shrug away a large, stone barricade guarding the next room, undoubtedly the chamber in which his enchanter lay. He must've been in the deepest reaches of the Arbiter's Grounds by now, but this room was surprisingly less dark than he'd expected. It was lit by an inexplicable luminescence, the same hue of the flames in the antechamber, but here the light seemed like a glow from some invisible source. His body moved on its own through the musty, glowing air and came to a halt in the center of a very subtly raised dais. Its surface was circular and covered with strange runes, and in the center was a huge gash where something had been embedded; what exactly it was, he could only imagine. Behind him, the sound of a shutting gate indicated he was now enclosed in this room, not that it mattered; his feet were glued to the spot. A cold chill swept over him, the kind of horrible feeling that accompanies the sight of a corpse, but it was only a few seconds later that the source of Endel's dread revealed itself.

 

A ghastly monster three times his size, cloaked in flowing robes of black and glaring at him with searing red eyes, materialized out of thin air. When Endel noticed its bony, human hands and hircine crown it dawned on him this was the creature from his recent nightmare. Upon closer inspection, he noticed the creature's neck was bent at an odd angle, and head notwithstanding the thing was quite human. Endel then realized he was moving his eyes and head on his own again, though leaving the room was still impossible thanks to the sealed inner gate. 

 

"Can you... hear me?" A voice suddenly echoed through the room. Endel looked around for the source, as the monster's face hadn't moved to form words at any point. For the time being he nodded, his fists clenched in terror. Why did this abomination have such a haggard, familiar voice? "Good..." the voice said, as intimate and strained as ever. "There is so much... I would say to you. But too little time... or rather, I lack the patience. Even for you... Endel, my son..."

 

Endel's head reeled at the word 'son' like his brain had been clubbed. Surely that was a figure of speech, or this was all a trick, or something, anything else. "Be calm, Endel." The voice commanded. "My child, this is your destiny. This time... I will not allow interferences. I have cheated death and worse... much worse, to have my revenge."

This was another nightmare or something, Endel was telling himself. This twisted beast couldn't possibly be his father. He was begging himself to believe that lie.

"I was damned... by my comrades and my liege, falsely accused of treason and confined here to rot." The voice of Endel's father entailed. "But a renegade god, the Fire Dragon, took pity on me... and preserved my tortured soul in this form."

It was all a lie. It had to be. Endel couldn't believe it. He could feel his world crumbling.

"Yes... discard your foolish notions of predestination and divine protection. The lies of the gods could not save me from Hell... and they won't save you." His father's shade was reaching out to him now with a welcoming hand. In the distance a door slid open, and a familiar voice called out to him. The monstrous form of his father whisked away and Endel felt his body going into shock. Someone was running to the dais now, probably Maia.

 

With a pitiful "heh," Endel collapsed and remembered no more.

"

[Franne 2]

Maia walked in a steady pace. It was very dark, and she had a hard time seeing where she was headed. Just when she wasn't sure where Endel had run of to anymore, a loud noise erupted. 

"Endel?" Maia called out nervously. She ran until she reached a stone barricade blocking the entrance. She pushed it with all her strength, but it wouldn't budge. "Endel!" she yelled. The door blocked any sound coming through, so she had no idea what was going on. Her heart was beating fast. Should she get the others? Right when she wanted to make a run to get the rest, the gate slid open again. 

Endel stood in the room, shaking and looking like he had just seen a ghost. Then suddenly, he collapsed and fell on the floor.

"Endel!" Maia rushed towards him. "Oh Goddesses, Endel!" she shook him lightly, but he didn't wake up. "Please, open your eyes! Endel!" 

She was torn between two choices: stay with Endel or get the rest, but that would mean that she would have to leave Endel alone, and who knows where the thing that shocked him so much was. What did it do to him? If it attacked him, it sure didn't leave any physical wounds. 

She inhaled deeply. She couldn't leave Endel. Besides, she probably wouldn't even be able to find the others. She sighed, and held Endel's hand, squeezing it softly and telling him that he would be okay. 

[Knuckle 484]

((Forgot to mention this in my last post, good to have everyone back ))

 

As his awareness returned, Endel regained his senses and realized he was currently dreaming again. It wasn't like a regular dream where he could fly or do whatever he wanted, but it wasn't like the nightmare from before because he knew this was all in his head. Well, all of the empty blackness that surrounded him at least. He looked down at his shoes to make sure he was standing on solid ground, but there was just abyss, same as the rest of the dream around him, until suddenly he heard it.

 

The voice that had been his father's.

 

"What an unfortunate interruption..." He bemoaned in that lifeless, rasping tone. "there is so little time already... and so much truth you should know."

Endel didn't want to think of this abomination as his father. That man had been a thief, an accomplice to Darius, and probably a bit of a vagabond, but Endel knew his mother loved him and he was human. This thing... it was a shell containing nothing but resentment bent on vengeance. There was no fatherly love in its heart, just an understanding that Endel was a useful tool that could be emotionally manipulated. Even still, the command he made next surprised both of them.

"Tell me what happened to you. I want to know why you hate the Gods and the Royal Family so much."

 

"Bah..." The voice replied, but Endel knew it would be happy to share any information that could entice him. "I was a great swordsman... a captain of the Royal Guard... and happily married. All of that was taken from me by Darius." His father hissed. "...but I was framed! None of my crimes as a thief constituted as treasonous... but the corrupt courts branded me as a traitor, and I was thrown in here... I want revenge on the Kingdom that allowed this to happen!" it roared.

Endel crossed his arms and scowled. "I'm not interested in helping you solve a problem you created. Talking to Darius and thieving for your own amusement was idiotic." Father or not, he couldn't stop himself from being condescending.

"... if only you knew the rest of the story." the voice dripped with promise. Endel couldn't help but give his attention.

 

"It's true, my vendetta on Hyrule is... petty. The hatred I have for the Gods is... shall we say, more pertinent to your interests." Endel said nothing, and so the monster continued. "After I was imprisoned here for a long time, the isolation began to have... adverse effects on my sanity. I began to wail at the walls, calling on every deity I knew... what I hoped to gain, I can't remember. But as I lay dying in that prison, something did answer my delusional prayers..."

 

"He is called Volvagia." There was an odd tone in that thing's voice when it told Endel that name; cautious, but reverent. The name felt like that of a boogeyman to him when it passed his ears. "The bastard heir to the original God of Fire... Volvagia was sealed away, same as I, for crimes that were not... entirely his fault. His purpose is a grim one... Endel, the Gods have tasked him with the destruction of Hyrule."

It took a moment for the full force of those words to reach Endel. His deities, the forces whose love created the world... wanted it gone? Wanted him gone, along with everything he cared about? he could feel his mind racing, but the panic would not wake him up this time. He was trapped in this dreamscape, with nothing but the disembodied voice of his monster-father and the horrible, terrible truth it had relinquished

 

((hope this isn't too long, lots of exposition to make!))

[NayruGoddessOfWisdom 8]

"I don't-" she faltered, glancing at Rueben. He wouldn't meet her eye. "I don't understand," she muttered, looking back to her brother. "I thought you were... Lorcan-"

"Your friend did an admirable job," Jaydon cut her off. "Without his assistance, I doubt I would have regained my sanity. That certainly wouldn't have boded well for the network, considering the predicament you landed Dad in."

His tone was accusatory, and it was enough to anger Torianna. "He doesn't deserve that title."

"Oh, you made your opinion quite clear when you kicked him off that cliff face," Jaydon said, slowly raising himself up from the desk. "He still hasn't quite recovered, so I've been left in charge. Which means now that you've wandered straight into my reach, I'm in charge of finding a suitable punishment."

Suddenly panicked, Torianna turned back to the door, only to find Rueben stood in it's way with his arms crossed. This time, he met her eye. All at once, she realised what he'd done when he came in as a 'scout'.

"You!" she spat. "You tricked me. You could have let me get away-"

"You mean like you did to me?" he replied, raising an eyebrow. "I would have escaped those guards had it not been for you. Besides, you came with a handsome reward. How could I possibly say no?" He paused, smirking. "You said yourself that I owed Jaydon. I was just bending the rules of loyalty a little. I thought you hated rule abiding cowards?"

The beast returned then. The same beast that had ripped itself from Torianna's chest the day that her father had taken Lorcan away against his will. Except this time, she didn't exercise its aggression on a patch of dirty ground; she leapt at Rueben. She wasn't even considering her actions as she jumped up at him, hooking her legs around his waist and clawing for his throat. His back knocked into the door frame as he desperately grappled at her hands, trying to pry them away from him. He forcefully shoved her back, but she hooked her fingers into his shirt and dragged him down with her. They hit the ground with a thud.

Try as hard as he might, Rueben couldn't subdue Torianna's anger and her strength wasn't enough to overpower him. The two of them rolled on the floor, grunting with each hit they took. They were locked in a furious stalemate, until eventually Jaydon intervened.

As if from thin air, two metal bands clamped themselves around Torianna's wrists. They were thick, smooth, bright red in colour and letting off a slight sheen in Jaydon's shadow. Torianna let out a high pitched growl, straining against the cuffs that held her hands together.

But apparently, her displeasure at this turn of events was nothing compared to Rueben's. He let out an animalistic wail, raising his cuffed hands and slamming them down against the edge of the desk. The red metal didn't even dent. "What the hell is the meaning of this?!" he demanded.

"Next time you consider betraying me, even for a second," Jaydon said, "remember the consequences."

((Oh my God, Knuckle. Your reply was astounding! ))

Edited 10 Apr 2015 by NayruGoddessOfWisdom (see edit history)

[ButterflyBabyBlue 2]

Lorcan was in the process of scoping out the other rooms when he felt something slightly... off. And then Maia, calling out Endel's name. Lorcan stopped in his tracks, glancing about warily before backtracking. No one had returned to the first room since they'd split up...

He moved swiftly down the corridor Endel had seemingly been pulled into, looking for any recent footprints in the dust-covered halls. Eventually, he found who he was looking for.

Maia sat with tear-filled eyes, alongside an unconscious Endel, who frowned in the middle of a deep sleep. Lorcan entered cautiously, wishing even Cheval were here to offer something of comfort for the distressed Maia.

Lorcan tapped her gently on the shoulder to snap her out of her worried state, gesturing to Endel with a quizzical expression. 

"He's been out like this for a while," she informed the knight, her voice shaking. "I don't know what he saw, but..."

Maia didn't need to finish. Endel was white as a sheet, sweat breaking out across his forehead. Lorcan watched him concernedly, deciding to occupy himself with investigating the area and hoping Cheval would show and offer something he couldn't.

Endel moaned softly, sporadically, in his sleep as Lorcan moved about anxiously.

[Knuckle 484]

((thanks Nayru! ))

 

"This is all a lie, just a trick. You... you have to be lying!" Endel was denying the monster's testimony... his father's testimony, with all the effort he could still muster.

"Use your head... what reason would I have to lie to you? Surely you don't think... I cheated death only to torment you with falshoods. Volvagia did not save me from oblivion for nothing..."

It was true, there was no other reason this supposed god would spare Endel's father if it intended to lie. But he couldn't believe the truth laid out before him, it was too much to bear without absolute proof.

"Hmph..." The beast grunted, "adherence to one's beliefs in the face of skepticism is... honorable, I suppose. Since you require solid proof... I shall take you to Volvagia myself."

 

Before Endel could parse how that was possible, his dreaming self was abruptly swept out of the inky blackness where he'd been residing; colors began to flash by him in a dazzle of brown and grey. Suddenly the whirling ceased, and he was floating,invisible, above the real world. He saw his own body, still as a stone, with Maia and Lorcan shaking him and crying desperately for him to move again. But there was no time to try and tell them he was fine, because once again his astral self was carried away by a powerful force toward some terrible destination. The blurring colors lasted longer this time, and changed between many different hues; sandy browns, then stony grays, then another bout of inky blackness, then angry reds and oranges. This time, when the world around him stilled Endel was in a huge cavern, bright and hazy with heat and smoke. The ground was a molten body of magma, with a single alcove watching over a lone island in the center of this burning lake.

 

On that island was the hugest monster Endel had ever seen. It's body was long, scaly, and featureless like a snake's, but brimming with muscle. At what must have been its front end were two long, humanoid arms terminating in clawed digits as thick and big as Endel was. Past the shoulders was a head like a dodongo's but many, many times bigger and glossy like polished steel. It was black as obsidian, and a pair of wicked horns similar to his father's adorned the back of its exoskeleton. Two bulbous protrusions between the horns and mouth were its eyelids, Endel guessed, and they fluttered to indicate this leviathan was dreaming. He could only guess what the dreams of this fiery god entailed.

 

"So it's true." Endel said, his voice dead and stony. His father made no reply, but none was necessary. This wasn't a dream, Endel could feel it. Volvagia was real, just as he'd been described, and so his father couldn't have been lying about anything. He and his friends really were doomed, through no fault of their own... the gods just didn't want them anymore, so they left this thing here to burn them to ashes. He already felt dead inside; the truth had crushed him.

"It is time... awaken, and tell your friends what you have seen. The quiet one... he will know where you should go next." The parting words of his monstrous father's voice echoed for a moment in Endel's deadened mind before the whirling colors enveloped him a final time. The lights flashed back at him in reverse now, and in one last burst of dark grey he felt his spirit dive back into his lifeless body. He regained his senses and opened his eyes.

[NayruGoddessOfWisdom 8]

"Are you proud of yourself?" Torianna hissed across the space, straining furiously against her cuffs.

"Oh, don't you dare!" Rueben growled from where he sat beside her. "This is your fault as much as it is mine."

Torianna pressed her lips together, exhaling loudly through her nose before jabbing an elbow into his ribs. "Don't forget, genius. You're the one who double crossed me. If you hadn't done this; we wouldn't be stuck here." She chanced a glance over to the door, but it still remained firmly locked. Her shoulders were still heaving from both her struggles and her temper. "Admit it," she continued. "Your loyalties are completely warped."

He groaned in exasperation. "Oh get off your high horse! You think I'm disloyal? Have you even thought about yourself? You ditched your family for a group of random strangers for no other reason than the fact that they looked interesting. Then you ditched them because... what? They didn't do what you wanted? They weren't prepared to drop everything when you snapped your fingers? Don't you think that's a little... selfish?" He paused, watching Torianna for a reaction. When she didn't offer one, he lowered his voice and continued. "Don't lecture me on loyalty, because you and I are exactly the same: neither of us are loyal to anyone but ourselves."

The moment that he finished talking, Torianna felt an old and unwanted tugging sensation in the pit of her gut. Her allegiance had changed the moment that she broke into the scoundrels' base, but her loyalties hadn't. She'd been running around, thinking she owed some debt of loyalty to her father, to her family, to the network. She'd been operating under some illusion of freedom, but all the while she'd been wearing chains that kept her sentenced with loyalty to her bloodline.

But screw that. Screw all of that. Because loyalty wasn't something you wore like a shackle, and carried with you as a burden. Loyalties changed, and shifted. Old loyalties washed away under the influence of new ones. They didn't come as a debt to be owed, but as a choice freely made to stand beside someone.

For far too long now, Torianna had been shackled to the wrong people. She hadn't even realised, up until now, that she held the key.

But before she could break free of any metaphorical chains, she had to get off the red cuffs from her wrists. And in order to do that, she was going to have to work together with Rueben for what (she hoped) would be the last time.

Edited 11 Apr 2015 by NayruGoddessOfWisdom (see edit history)

[ButterflyBabyBlue 2]

Endel woke with a jolt, almost springing from Maia's knees with a startled grunt. Lorcan took him by the shoulders, looking into his friend's eyes and waiting for him to calm down.

"L-Lorcan," Endel said softly, his speech somewhat strained. He turned and found Maia's expression of relief. "Maia, Maia... Where's Cheval? We need everyone here."

As if on cue, Cheval came at a light jog into the chamber. "Well, Lorcan, seems-"

Lorcan waved him off impatiently, looking back to Endel intently.

"This... this thing spoke to me," Endel began. "We don't have a lot of time, I can explain on the way... The quiet one... Lorcan, you need to check that crystal ball!"

Lorcan frowned, but didn't dare to question Endel, who was obviously quite disturbed. He pulled the ball out of his bag, setting it in his lap and staring as he'd done before. When he saw it, he wished he hadn't been given the ability to see these things.

He pulled a knife out, wiping dust away almost absently while keeping his eye on the figure in the molten caverns of one of Hyrule's most dangerous locations.

He carved two words into the stone as best as he could - 'Death Mountain.'

"Oh, no," Maia whispered.

[Knuckle 484]

Endel could see Cheval getting fidgety as he read Lorcan's message. "Hey, that's all well and good, but the Great Fairy-"

 

"To Hell with the Great Fairy!" Endel bellowed. "No more fairies and no more messages from those damned gods!" He'd completely lost his composure just then, and shriveled back in embarrassment. Maia looked at him with grave concern.

"Endel... do you want to talk about what happened?" She was a natural at drawing him out of his turmoil, but there was a pit of anger in his stomach that nothing could wash away now. His father's revelations had marred him too deep. "Later." He said, mustering a smile to give her comfort. His father's vendetta on Hyrule Castle leapt to his mind when he looked at Maia then, but he shook it off. The old man's revenge shouldn't have been any of his concern anyway.

 

---

 

"So," Cheval began after hearing Endel's testimony. They'd left the Arbiter's Grounds and made a beeline for the bridge that connected Gerudo Desert to the main road. "This... Volvagia, he's an illegitimate child of some fire god that the other deities locked up in Death Mountain. They didn't kill him, but left him there to destroy the world because... because they don't like us?" Endel nodded without taking his eyes off the road ahead. Cheval kept conjecturing in the absence of more explanation. "I don't understand, why would so many people want us going on this quest if there's a giant god that's gonna wake up and kill us all any day?"

"The Adivsor, the Great Fairies... I bet they're just as duped as we were," Endel replied coldly. "Everyone's been an idiot, thinking all the good they do actually matters, fighting for a future they want but blissfully unaware that only fiery oblivion is on the horizon."

Maia seemed almost as shocked as Endel. "I grew up thinking if I gave my life to serving the queen, the gods would be happy with me. I can't believe they want me dead, I just can't..." She seemed visibly shaken earlier as well, when Endel had told her the true fate of his monster-father and its desire for revenge. 

"There's only one thing I'm certain of." Endel told her, "any gods that want to wipe me off the face of Hyrule like a vermin infestation are nothing to me."

[NayruGoddessOfWisdom 8]

Despite their annoyance at one another, Torianna and Rueben managed to hatch a plan together. Security in this new base was pitiful, but it did exist. All they needed was a distraction to gather enough time for them to escape. So they agreed to lie in wait for a few days, something was bound to come along eventually.

That night, it did. And it was far better than Torianna could have anticipated.

She was awoken in the small hours of the morning by a horrendous crash from above, followed by a hot sizzle. Rueben jolted upright beside her, and the two of them exchanged knowing glances. This was their opportunity - a better one wasn't going to come along any time soon. It was time for action.

Commotion broke out on the top floor of the house. Loud thundering footsteps could be heard alongside raised voices - panicked voices. Rueben utilised this for cover, bashing his shoulder into the locked door. Once. Twice. On the third attempt, the wood splintered beneath the force and the locking mechanism broke away from the door. He stumbled a little, before nodding to Torianna.

Together, they took off along the corridors, Rueben in the lead to show her the way. As they reached side door of the building (they decided not to use the main exit), smoke could be seen pouring down the stairwell. By the looks of things, their 'lucky distraction' was actually a fire. Torianna forced herself not to be fazed by it. This wasn't the time for delay.

Torianna's boots were showered with tiny droplets from the dewy grass as they ran the length of the building, over towards the stables which, thankfully, were left unharmed by the flames. Rueben worked quickly on freeing and prepping one of the horses, before hoisting himself up onto the saddle. Torianna clambered up behind him, and Rueben raised his cuffed hands to let Torianna drop her arms around his waist to keep her balanced.

He led the horse ever so carefully around the flaming building in a bid not to spook it, working with incredible skill despite his restriction. As they moved, Torianna took the opportunity to study the building. Flickering orange lights could be seen through the smokey windows. A small number of networkers were gathered outside the building, all of them shouting and screaming and trying to figure out who was missing. As they drew out towards the tree line, her eyes drifted up to the gaping hole in the roof of the building.

"It just came out of nowhere, I swear!" one of the men shouted. "Like a damn fireball falling out of the sky!"

Jaydon was nowhere to be seen.

Briefly, for just a moment, Torianna saw Darius amongst the tiny crowd. He was hunched over, coughing violently, his bony hands curled around what appeared to be a walking stick. Never before had she seen him looking so... old. For a moment his haggard eyes caught hers, and Torianna felt a flash of righteous indignation, before the horse took off in a canter and she was whisked away into the forest.

[Knuckle 484]

The trek back out of the desert was long and miserable, though Endel was thankful nobody else offered to visit the Great Fairy; they didn't have enough food and water left to make that stop anyway. Even after the sun went down, they walked through the sand and darkness because nobody felt like sleeping on that joyless evening. There didn't seem to be any reason to keep going, other than to fight a hopeless battle against a divine force bent on their destruction, but some stubbornness kept their legs moving. Endel found it best not to think to much and just follow his gut since there wasn't any higher calling for him to serve now. He was already finished with that spiritual garbage for good.

 

Travelling in a straight line made the trip out of the desert much quicker, and a kernel of relief lifted Endel's spirits when he stepped off the desert sand and onto the bridge connected to Lanayru. They camped that night just off the road, a stone's throw from where they'd crossed back from the desert, and not even Cheval said a word about their exposed location or the lack of a posted watch. Endel didn't bother with a tent either; he laid out his bedroll and slept under the stars outside Maia's tent, in case someone tried to attack them in the night. 

 

For a little while, Endel thought about Torianna as he lay there under the sky. He'd treated her awfully, and it turned out she was completely right to call him out. If only he'd listened to her concerns, he could have stopped his righteous prostration and started doing what was best for him and his friends again. But no, he'd been to desperate to change his ways for Maia and the others, he wasn't about to become his old self again just because of Torianna's protests. But try as he might, he couldn't make up his mind either way, and so he fell into a troubled sleep.

 

---

 

The next morning, he was awakened by a loud whistle as a bolt of fire streaked overhead. It landed far away, somewhere in the direction of Faron Woods, but he never heard the impact. It was a strange phenomenon, but he was too jaded to think of it as anything other than a weird happening that probably had some logical explanation. Or maybe Volvagia was already making his moves to smite them all, now that his secret was out? Endel shrugged to himself and began preparing breakfast. They would be moving fast in the direction of Death Mountain this morning, and he had a feeling it was going to be a very long day.