The Legend of Zelda: The Dark Race

[Gael 1]

The Skull Kid, swinging his lantern and humming the entire way, led the trio through the forest with apprent ease. They eventually emerged from the many groves and tunnels into a clearing, surrounded by crumbling walls of stone. There were other stones, too, set in a circle around the clearing.

Rox leapt atop the stone in the center of the circle. "This is a safe place." he said. "The woman was afraid, but Rox says, I will help you. I will show you the secret place. No one will find you here. So Rox helps!"

Moira's eyes widened. "You..saw her? You saw mother?"

Rox jumped up and down in delight. "Oh, you are pretty woman's little girl! You are pretty too."

Ryoo began to grow impatient. "Will you show us the way to the secret place, Rox?"

Rox pointed to the opposite wall. "It's there, silly wizard."

As they looked, the wall began to grow transparent, slowly vanishing until it was gone.

"The Sacred Grove...." breathed Ryoo. He had never seen it for himself, but it was one of Hyrule's most legendary places. He took a step towards the path, but Moira was already running up the path ahead of the others.

Ryoo and Ayame followed, though Ayame looked increasingly tense and worried. They had just crested the top of the hill when they heard Moira's joyful cry.

"MOTHER!"

When they stepped into the Sacred Grove, Moira was in the arms of a beautiful Hylain woman, crying. And beside the two of them on the grass, lay a woven cradle. And inside, a baby boy.

[Gael 1]

The warlock, the Twili, the Ordonian and her mother were seated in the grass beside a crumbled staircase. The woman held her baby boy in her arms. she was speaking.

"I tried to ignore the dreams when they began...I just dismissed them as normal nightmares. But they just kept coming, and they were always the same. Black figures, coming. Coming to kill my village and my child. I was so afraid..."

"But why did you decide to leave..?" asked Moira. "And why did you come here?"

"The night I left, I had awoken from the dream again, and....there, at the foot of my bed, there was a....a wolf. But it wasn't a wolf, at least, I don't think it was. It was a golden creature, like some sort of spirit. And it told me I must flee. I followed it through the forest, and none of our sentries even noticed us. He led me to this place."

Ryoo was staring at the child. He looked so.....normal. He glanced at Moira. She seemed positively radiant. She was leaning over her brother, letting him grasp her fingers. Ryoo admitted to himself that she was actually fairly good-looking, if she hadn't been such a stubborn tomboy.

Then he saw that she and the baby bore the same mark on their left hands, and then he was certain. They had not made a mistake.

[Teto 2609]

Kaero was dreaming again. This time, it was through another's eyes. A tall person. Unless he was floating. He was in a forest. He seemed to know where he was going. He reached some kind of grove and looked around. There were more tunnels than usual that he could take. 'Hmmm. Where to now?'

There was a yell in the distance. _'Mother!'. Kaero knew the man's voice, and the yell. The yell was Moira's and the voice was the Dark Hylians. The man knew where to go. Kaero wished he could warn Ayame, who he knew would be with Moira right now. He tried with all his might to move to Ayame's body, how he knew that this was real, he didn't know, but he knew that it was real. He drifted from the man's body and more images flashed in front of his eyes, he continued to concentrate. The image of a woman and a child drifted into his mind, he was back in Ayame's body, he knew it.

Kaero decided to try yelling, perhaps Ayame would hear him and yell it herself, he tried, 'The Dark Hylian is coming!'

Kaero yelled as he suddenly awoke, his voice echoed through the forest, birds scattered and a few leaves fell from the thick trees above, one landed on his side, directly on one of his wounds, it hurt and stung, it continued to sting for a while, but the leaf soon blew off. It was a ghostly breeze that seemed almost alive. It passed him and made the leaves above rustle. None fell.

Had Ayame heard him? He hoped so.

Kaero lay his head down again, the ropes had begun to cut into his legs and he bled even more. This has shortened his life expectancy and he has but 2 real time days to live.

The clock is ticking.

No pressure

[Adn 0]

Ayame heard a voice again rather like the one telling her about where to find Ryoo but it sounded paniced"The Dark Hylian is coming!"Ayame turned to Ryoo and Moria and her mother and said"A Dark Hylian is coming."For a fraction of a second nobody moved but then.Ayame saw him the Dark Hylian who had attacked them earlier."Thank you for finding the boy for us."he said."But you are of no further use to us."

[Gael 1]

Zain moved faster than any of them could blink. In seconds he had the woman and child help in front of him, facing the others, with a knife at the woman's neck. She clutched the baby in her arms, but he tore him from her grasp.

Now holding the knife at the woman's neck with one hand and the child in another, he grinned at the stunned party. None of them dared to move.

"You all make it too easy for me...yes, much too easy. It's almost boring! Haha!"

He shoved the woman away, but immediately brought the knife to the child's neck instead.

"Please, no!" cried Moira.

"What is your master going to do with the boy?!" demanded Ryoo.

"Oh, even I don't know that." the Dark Hylian replied. "He may kill him, he may make him one of us....do you know how us Dark Hyilans came into being? Hehe...neither do I. But somehow, my Master figured outhow to take the souls of Hylians and copy them. Copy them, twist their inds and personalities around, and create a completely new being."

He was taking small steps backwards as he spoke, daring the others to come at him. None of them dared to.

"I wondered for a while who my counterpart was. Was I somehow connected to some everyday Hylian, out there somewhere? Oh, I was eaten up with curiosity. So I searched for him. And guess what? I found him. A farmer. A kind, hard-working young farmer with a young wife, just starting on his own. Well, I didn't like him."

He paused for effect.

"So I killed him. And that pretty wife of his, too." He laughed. "Wouldn't it be funny if he made Dark Hyilans of you all?!"

He took another step bck, and laughed histerically, and chillingly. That was when Moira lunged at him.

[Teto 2609]

Kaero stared into the darkness, the trees hung over him. This was another dream. But from his own eyes this time. Which time, he didn't know. He was looking around the forest. Suddenly, he flew smoothly through the trees, he looked down at his own body, far below. He looked into the distance, the forest was endless and stretched out for miles in every direction. Where was he exactly? A golden hand reached down to his body and left again into the sky. What this meant he didn't know. Was it death? Or something else? It went black and once again, he saw the scene below, but the hand was gone. The image swam in front of his eyes for a second and he woke up back in his body. Tied up on the ground. He looked at his paws and saw a mark. A triangle glowed through his fur. But he felt it disappear and some strength left him. It made his whole body ache and he once again lost consciousness, as he did, he looked at his paw and saw the glow again, it left and the centre of the triangle let out a black light.

The loss of strength weakened him.

1 real-time day remains.

I like packing on the pressure.

Note: Does my character have a dark counterpart? In the good world maybe? Just an Idea... In case my character dies... I might switch to his counterpart.

Edited 7 Nov 2008 by Teto (see edit history)

[Adn 0]

ooc:Yeah sure!he's you're character if you want to be evil counterpart of Kaero go ahead.

[Teto 2609]

The clock is ticking. 23 hours.

[Adn 0]

As Moria lunged for Zain he dematerialzed.Moria looked around at us."We HAVE to go save him."she said flatly."But,what about Kaero?"said Ayame."He hasn't got much time left." "The child is more-"Ryoo began." Fine then you two go look for this child and I'll met up with you once I've saved Kaero."said Ayame and she sprang away and Ryoo and Moria went to find the child.

[Teto 2609]

Kaero was weakening. His bleeding had slowed, whether his wounds were healing or he had almost bled himself dry, he didn't know. He was awake and the pain in his broken leg was getting worse. He didn't know whether anybody would actually come to save him. Was he going to die, or was someone on their way just now? He stared back into the darkness. He was too awake. He longed for sleep. He could enter Ayame's body again and try to get help. But he couldn't sleep. He might never wake up. He looked into the darkness. He heard a rustle behind him. It was on ground level. Should he call for help? Or is it hostile? Was it the man come to finish him off? He would die soon anyway, any chance at rescue would be good enough for him.

'Hello? Help!' Kaero barked, the rustling stopped, they had heard him. Whether that was bad or good, he didn't know.

'Is that you?! Kaero?' Ayame called, she floated above him and shouted in joy, 'It's you! I found you! Are you o.k?', she asked.

Stupid question Kaero thought to himself, he looked at his wounds. 'Oh, yeah.' Ayame said, realizing that he was lying in his own dried blood.

'Can you actually get me out of here?' Kaero asked, she was small after all.

'Yeah. I think so. But I think that I'd better get your wounds healed. To the best of my ability I mean. Ryoo should be able to sort you out though' Ayame untied him.

[Adn 0]

Ayame used some of her Twili magic to keep Kaero from bleeding to death and then she said"Ryoo and Moria have gone to find the child.Dark Link has him now."Kaero looked surprised."Let's go.But wait you probably can't walk too far yet."Ayame said urgently.Then she focused hard on where she wanted to go and the teleported them off.But before they had reached their destination she knew that some other force was pulling them off course and she was too tired to fight it because healing Kaero and telepoting took quite abit of energy and so they landed on a stone floor.(This is an opportunity for a scene where Dark Link tells Kaero about Rio)

[Teto 2609]

Finally finished it.

Kaero landed on the cold stone floor. He looked up. In front of him a man sat in a velvet cushioned throne. Kaero stared up at him. Why had Ayame brought him here? Was it a trap?

'Hello Ayame. Good to see you again. You've evaded capture too many times. This time I will kill you.' Dark Link rose from his chair, unsheathed his sword and stepped towards Ayame, swung his sword towards her neck, stopped it suddenly, inches from her neck and grinned. He stepped back and held his sword at his side. He towered above both of them. He looked crazed. 'So. You risked teleporting did you? You should of know that I can manipulate time and space. Just like you.' Ayame's breath quickened and was heavy. But she remained silent. 'Who's your friend? A wolf? Who does he look like to you Ayame? Anybody you met? Fought? Killed?' Dark Link grinned. Kaero looked up at Ayame, who was sweating, still looking at Dark Link, who had walked back to his throne. 'Tell him then. He has to know. He would have found out sometime Ayame. Or maybe he already knows? Or guessed? Go on wolf. Guess.' Kaero had an idea of what all this was about. But he didn't want to think about it. it couldn't have been true. 'Wolf. I know that you're the brother of Rio. You're looking for him. He's dead, wolf. And who killed him? Your good friend there. Ayame... She stabbed him through the neck. Horrible way to go, I'm sure. Must have been very, very painful for him. I couldn't even begin to imagine the agony.' Dark Link grinned at Ayame, who stood in silence. Kaero didn't know who to trust anymore. 'Wolf. She killed your brother. What do we do with her? Kill her? No? Jail her?' Kaero nodded. Ayame looked down at him. Kaero didn't know what to think. But at least Ayame would stay safe until he knew what to do.

'Kaero. But. I saved you. You would have died without my help! And now you're joining this man?!' Ayame yelled. She couldn't believe what was happening.

'Yes.' Kaero said. It pained him to say it, but he had to do it.

Dark Link looked at Kaero and then at Ayame. He broke out laughing at Ayame. 'Guards! The wolf wants to send her away! Take her to the dungeons and throw away the key! But remember to keep her under 24 hour surveillance! We don't want her to kill this one too!' the guards took her away. She never spoke as she was dragged away. It was a stunned silence. She was gone. Taken to the dungeons. Dark Link laughed as he walked up to Kaero. He moved his hand over him. Kaero was lifted up into the air, which took him by surprise as he was lost in thought at the time and never noticed. He felt his wounds seal up and a sharp pain in his leg as it mended, he yelped and winced. Dark Link set him down on the ground. Dark Link laughed again, 'Your brother. He was great. My kind of guy. He was seeking revenge for the murder of your parents yes?' Kaero nodded and Dark Link continued, 'Ah. So he wasn't a dirty liar like most people in this God forsaken world. Too bad he's dead. He was a good pet.' Dark Link laughed to himself, Kaero wondered why Rio ever joined with this horrible person. He laughs at the thought of Rio's death. 'You're so like him. You've got a very vengeful personality also. So. I guess you want to join me too?'

Kaero had to think about his answer long and hard (That's what she said). Should he join this man? Joining him lead Rio to his death, but following Ayame had almost lead him to his death. But she saved him. But she also killed Rio. What should he do... 'So. What do you say? Yes, or no?'

'No.' Kaero said at last, giving Dark Link a quick, angry look. He turned and ran for the door. The guards stopped him and pushed him away.

'Pathetic.' Dark Link said plainly. Looking at Kaero in disgust. 'Did you seriously think you could escape?' he asked angrily. 'Now I have to kill you too.' Dark Link raised his longsword and thrust it down towards Kaero. Kaero jumped out of the way and rolled on the stone floor. He jumped to his feet as the guards attacked. 'LEAVE HIM!' Dark Link yelled furiously. Kaero stood guard as Dark Link raised his sword and approached Kaero meanisingly. Kaero jumped at Dark Link, who was off guard at that moment, Dark Link raised his free hand to block Kaero's attack, but Dark Link's magic failed to work and Kaero bit Dark Link's right hand. Dark Link yelled in surprise and pain, he dropped his sword which clattered on the floor. Dark Link fell to his knees and breathed heavily. The guards ran to attack, but Dark Link yelled again, 'NO! KILL HIM AND IT IS LOST!', Kaero didn't know what he meant, but he didn't care whether he ever found out. He looked for an exit, but the only one was guarded. Escaping seemed like an impossible task. Ayame could have gotten them out of there. Why did he give her up to Dark Link so easily? 'Wolf. You will die here. Give up now and we wont make it as painful.' Dark Link threatened. Kaero remained defensive. He wasn't going to give up so easily.

Kaero and Dark Link stared into each other's determined eyes. Dark Link was on one knee, his other leg was as upright as he could. He held his sword in his left hand and had the end stabbing into the ground. He looked as if he was being nighted, but Kaero could see that he was struggling to stand.

There was a sudden flash that startled Kaero and put him off guard for a split second, in that time, Dark Link had pushed off from the ground and began to sprint for Kaero, who jumped out of the way at the last second, Dark Link's longsword shaved a small amount of hair from Kaero's side and left a small scar. It stung momentarily, but Kaero ignored it. The flash had come from a man that had appeared at the other side of the room. He was holding a baby. Who was he? 'Master. I have the boy. The plan went off without a hitch. What should I do wi-' The man started.

'NOT... now Ark.' Dark Link gasped. He was suppressing a lot of rage and was struggling to control it. Dark Link's eyes seemed to have calmed. They weren't as fiery with rage. Something was going right for him, but he still had Kaero to deal with. Kaero decided that he should try to get the boy. Something told him that the boy shouldn't be here. Something from his dreams. From Ayame's memory. Kaero looked for a way to get to the man. He decided to risk it. Kaero ran around Dark Link before he could stop him. The man with the boy noticed that Kaero was going to attack and redied to teleport, the man materialized into the atmosphere just as Kaero jumped at him.

The three of them materialized and reappeared in the lost woods. Kaero knocked the man to the ground and lifted the boy in his mouth by a blanket. Kaero sprinted into the trees, by some miracle, the baby remained silent. Made his job much easier though. He ran through the trees. he saw two figures up ahead. They were walking and arguing. But. Somehow. Kaero could understand them. They were the voices of Moira and Ryoo.

'We must hurry. He must have materialized to the castle.' Ryoo was saying. Kaero felt such joy to be free and to be helping for once. He had been a burden so far. But he was finally of use. he bust through the trees behind Ryoo and Moira, Ryoo recognized them both instantly, 'The boy!' Ryoo exclaimed in relieved, surprised joy. Kaero set the baby on the grass.

'But. Where's Ayame?' Moira wondered. Kaero then noticed that he had left her in the castle. He raced off through the woods. And headed into the trees towards Hyrule Castle. He hoped.

Edited 7 Nov 2008 by Teto (see edit history)

[Adn 0]

Why on earth had she been so stupid?She shouldn't have teleported and then Kaero...he had joined Dark Link just like Rio.She sat there for what felt like hours and then she remembered how tired she was she might as well get back her powers back so she slept.But as she closed her eyes she felt her strength ebbing away...it was strange it felt as though someone was draining her power and life force.She knew it must be Dark Link and then she thought no more and entered a dream.

Edited 8 Nov 2008 by Dark Midna (see edit history)

[Gael 1]

Moira landed where Zain had been only a moment before, crashing and rolling onto the grass. "NO!" she screamed. Her mother stood, shakily, and helped her up.

Moira looked at the group. "We HAVE to go and save him." she said flatly, beginning to panic.

"They'll have gone to Hyrule Castle, Moira." said Moira's mother hurriedly. "Go. Now!"

Ayame floated towards Ryoo. "But,what about Kaero?"s she said. "He hasn't got much time left."

"The child is more..." Ryoo began.

Ayanme interrupted his thought. "Fine then you two go look for this child and I'll met up with you once I've saved Kaero." She glided, surprisingly fast, into the surrounding trees.

Moira looked again at her mother. "Mother, I..."

"I'll be fine, child. I will return to the others. But, please, hurry." said her mother. She kissed her daughter's forehead, then beckoned them to hurry. Moira and Ryoo immediately ran back down the path into the Lost Woods.

"But..." gasped Moira as she ran. "It takes days to get to Hyrule Castle! Can't you use your magic or something?"

"If I could, we'd be there by now!" answered Ryoo impatiently. "Dark Link has barriers set around the Castle; if I tried to use magic to get in, he'd know, and he'd probably kill us before we had even set foot on solid ground."

"What in the name of Din are we supposed to DO, then?!?" Moira demanded.

Ryoo skidded to a halt and grabbed Moira's arm. "Hyrule is falling apart, Moira!" he yelled. "Dark Hylians can find us anywhere, even in the most sacred and secret place in the land! They might now have control over part of the greatest power known to us! You can't expect me to know how to solve this!"

Moira stared at him, then yanked her arm out of his grasp. "I don't care about magic." she said flatly. "Or power, or whatever damn destiny the Goddesses have picked out for me. That monster has my brother, and I'm going to get him back!"

"HOW?!" Ryoo practically screamed. He never let is temper show, but there was something about this girl that transcended his patience.

"I...!" Moira began, but suddenly, her expression changed. As if she had heard something, or seen something unexpected. She seemed dazed, or lost in thought all of the sudden.

Ryoo stared at her, bewildered. ".........Moira?" he said, only half believing that she could hear him.

Her expression returned to normal. She turned on the spot, and stared into the trees in another direction. "It's.....this way. The wolf...is going to be there...."

"What are you talking about?"

"We have to go this way!" Moira began to run, but Ryoo grabbed ahold of her arm again.

"How do you know that?" Ryoo demanded.

"I just.....HE told me!" she answered, and ran off. Ryoo stared after her, then began to follow at a run. Only then did he remember something. When he had first seen Moira, that day in Hyrule Field, she had brown eyes, the color of hazelnuts.

When she had looked at him just now, they were blue.

Link....Ryoo thought, I hope you know what you're doing with this girl.

[Teto 2609]

Note: Here you go. Another long-ish reply for you!

Kaero didn't know how he could ever hope to find the castle. He had never been to Hyrule before. It was wider than anywhere he had ever been. It was raining. An icy wind chilled Kaero bones. Could he save Ayame. And if he could find her, would she trust him? He ran up to the closest hill and climbed to the peak. There it was. Hyrule castle. Looming on the horizon ominously. It looked as if it was once a brilliant, majestic and grand palace. But now it was dark and foreboding now. But Ayame was there somewhere. Dead or alive? He had to find out. Even if it killed him.

Kaero sprinted down the hillside. The sun was setting in the distance. His coat was soaked and the it glistened in the orange sunlight. This world was horrible. But beautiful. The rain lashed at his side as he turned at the bottom of the hill and headed for the castle. His legs were numb. If he stopped he would feel the pain in his legs. The sprinting was almost automatic now. He was falling from one leg to the next in a swift forward sprint. He didn't know how long he had been running for. He was nearing the castle. It seemed much larger and more imposing than before. How did he ever hope to save Ayame?

He stopped. He was panting and his chest felt as if on fire. His legs didn't hurt like he thought they would. He could see the guards in the distance. Talking in a group. He hear a yell of alarm. Was it because of him? An arrow struck the muddy earth beside him and the alarm was raised. The guards looked, but didn't seemed bothered it was just one wolf. Was Kaero such a threat? Or was there something over the hill behind him, advancing towards the castle? A second arrow flashed past Kaero and struck the earth. Kaero looked up at the archer's towers. He bust into a sprint, faster than the last. He must have been going fast, the guards seemed confused and panicky. The got on guard as Kaero leaped towards them in attack. The one he attacked raised a shield, Kaero span in mid jump and hit against the cold black shield. The man was knocked aside, but remained upright and defensive as Kaero span into the mud, sending it up behind him. He snarled and readied for battle. But now was not the time. He turned and sped off to the castle. The grounds were empty and dull. The rain continued to fall heavily. The guards chased him, but that couldn't keep up. Kaero was determined not to let them win. He raced into the castle. Guards were on either side of the entrance and were confused as to what all the panic was about. He saw Dark Link at the other side of the hall talking to one of his men. The guards at the entrance noticed Kaero and yelled. Dark Link looked up as Kaero ran for what looked like the dungeons. Dark Link yelled, 'It's the wolf! Kill him before he escapes again!', Dark Link was enraged. That boy was important indeed. Kaero burst through the door to the dungeons and raced down the steps. There were more steps on the first level and many different dungeons. He didn't have time to decide. The guards would be here in seconds. But he knew that Ayame would be a threat to Dark Link somehow, so she would probably be in one of the lower levels. He continues down the winding staircases passing the next three floors until he reached the fifth and final level. There were no separate cell blocks. It was a huge circular room lined with jail cells. There were many guards here and many from the upper level had now joined the chase. He looked through the cells from where he stood. There were many different Hylians, Gorons and Zoras. He saw Ayame, who lay in a cell to his right. There were two guards on either side of the cell. Time seemed to have stopped or at least slowed down. The guards had noticed him, but they had barely moved. Kaero Ran for them in attack, he saw shocked faces slowly form on their faces, but it was already too late for them. Kaero had attack them both, killing them both easily. There were more guards coming down the stairs and others from around the cell breaking into a slow-motion run. He looked back into Ayame's cell. She was awake and looked confused. Kaero felt as if he was floating as he moved his head, looking around the room. Kaero lifted his paw and placed it on the bars of Ayame's cell. He managed to push the door open with ease. It slowly swung open and Ayame floated out of the way. She placed a hand on Kaero's head and they materialized.