Zeldanime: Wayen Ch. 3

~~Cursed~~

Not even a cicada's cry met his ears as he drew closer to his destination, and it worried him. In the wake of the Moblins' attack that morning, it seemed the entire world had been driven into hiding. Silence pervaded the Hyrule Fields, casting an eerie pall over the normally vibrant kingdom. It would have sent most back to Hyrule Castle, to wait until morning had come before performing this investigation.

But Wayen was a Sheikah, and as such even he found benefits in such a setting - with no one around, he was free to dissolve his mask and wander the fields with his telltale traits showing. Casting his unhindered crimson gaze across the Fields felt wonderful...but once the initial exhilaration died, his unease returned in full force.

He tugged on his stallion's reins, bringing the black steed to a halt as they crested the final hill. "Whoa, Ebony...easy girl," he reassured, petting her mane while he looked over the area. There it was: the ruins of Princess Zelda's carriage, the location of the Moblin attack from earlier that day. Getting here had been simple enough, but once again the silence reminded him that something was not right about this place. "Stay here, girl," he muttered as he dropped to the ground.

With only slight hesitation, the mage stepped forward into the moonlight and approached the wreckage of the carriage. Barring another attack from Ganon's beasts, soldiers would be sent out tomorrow to clear the area, but for now the scene remained identical to how Krin and the Princess had left it. The wagon's remnants sat near the road's center; not too far from it his crimson gaze could make out the hole from which the Moblins had emerged.

Had the silent night not amplified his caution, he likely would have focused solely on completing his objective. Now, though, his ears twitched in search of a sound, his eyes scanned the area for any living creature, and his mind began stretching out its senses in search of any living thing. He continued walking towards the carriage, but his focus was on the world around it, searching for the cause of the silence...

--_{someone comes!?}--

The words nearly slipped past his ears, so softly were they spoken. He stopped in his tracks, raising his hands as magic swirled to his fingertips. Another look showed no signs of movement, but he knew what he had heard. Someone was hiding out there - and few beings could hide from the Shadow Folk...

Movement!

The flash of motion in the corner of his eyes was all the warning Wayen received, but it served him well. Reflexes took over and propelled him to the side, so that all he felt was the wind whistling past his ears. He rolled to the side, barely recovered before he saw the black claw darting at his face, and threw himself forward into the dirt, watching the black nails slice into the earth.

Or rather, through the earth, meeting no resistance from the soil. Wayen's eyes widened at the sight, then he shot back to his feet and backpedalled several steps, putting distance between himself and his assailant.

At a glance, it might have been mistaken for a simple, ragged gray cloak floating on the breeze. But such notions vanished in light of the thin, gnarled claws emerging from the tattered sleeves, the black mist wafting out from the bottom of the cloth, and especially the sole glowing eye gazing out from the inky mass beneath the hood. Never before had Wayen seen one of these beasts, but he knew it at once:

A Poe.

...he cocked an eyebrow. "What, no lantern?"

A cackle escaped the creature, and glowing fangs appeared below its eye, in the shape of a grin. --_{i must have misplaced it...}-- came its voice, louder this time.

Then, without another sound, it vanished.

Wayen hissed and jumped back another step, wary of those claws appearing from nowhere again. Intangibility and invisibility - those were the tricks of a Poe, and he would need several minutes of preparation before he could defend against them. But he didn't have minutes; he probably didn't have seconds. For now, though, he would settle for his sole advantage: 'An intangible Poe can only interact with its lantern,' he recalled from his studies. 'Without one, it'll need a physical, visible form to strike.'

It came a moment later, and the only forewarning was a shift in the wind as the claws whistled back into existence. 'From behind!' Wayen shot forward, dodging beyond the Poe's range, and spun about. His hands shot up, rippling with magic - too late. It had already vanished again.

This wouldn't work - the ghoul could play around with him fearlessly, just waiting for him to make a mistake. And eventually, he would; stamina wasn't his specialty. He needed distance and time, and he wouldn't get that here.

With a sudden burst of speed, Wayen turned and bolted straight into the forest.

* * *

--_{where arrrrrrrrrre you?}-- the Poe called out, its ghastly voice still only going so far into the verdant sea. It passed tree after tree, always glancing about, always listening for movement, always tasting the air for the scent of its prey, and always hungering for a new soul to feast upon. Restrictions were so infuriating; with this live specimen, it would make sure to do things the right way. Slowly. Painfully. Draining the soul with all the care of a stampede of rolling Gorons.

It savored the thought, and the memories of past victims.

A speck of movement caught the ghoul's attention; turning that way, it happened to spy the boy - the Prey - leaping through the trees. Perhaps he was traveling by branches in order to throw the Poe off... It snickered at such futility. Such crazed tactics might have caught weakling mortals off guard, but they were useless dribble against a spirit of darkness.

It flew after him.

Branches, bark, leaves, more branches - the Poe shot through them without a sound, remaining intangible as it sought the prey. Prey moved well, even for a Sheikah, but he could hardly escape the ghastly pursuer. Through the bunches of leaves it could spot him leaping from branch to branch, sometimes glancing over his shoulder with a slight quiver in his eyes. Oh, what pathetic beings mortals could be...

A cackle threatened to escape it. The ghoul dove down, to a level just below the man's path, and shot forward - within a second, it was in front of him, and it hurried back upwards. Prey faced front just in time to see the Poe rematerialize - it could tell the instant he saw its golden eye shine once more. That look of shock was one it had seen countless times, but it savored every last one.

Its claws rose, and it shot towards its target -

But at the last moment, Prey angled himself downwards and dove beneath its fingers and fangs. It hissed with annoyance, spun down towards the ground...

--_{...where...?!}--

The Poe floated there, dumbstruck by what it saw. Or rather, failed to see.

Prey was...gone. Simply gone! No sign of his passage, no sounds, nothing at all remained of him. The Poe's eye shot back and forth, covering the entire region. --_nothing!?--

In an act of desperation, it bolted up through the canopy and cast its gaze all about the area. This time, though, it did not look with its eyes, but with its mind - seeking not a fleeing speck of frightened mortal, but the aura of such a being. With all animals in the region scared off by the Poe's very presence, that meant that Prey was the only living thing such sight would find...

--_{ther- wait, there?}

--_{how did he-?!}--

* * *

Wayen's weary form was waiting when the Poe bolted down from the skyline, rage evident in its very motions. Its dark presence pervaded the region, a cold breeze that made him shiver as its sole eye fell upon him. Despite such discomfort, he still had the gall to raise his hand and give it a tiny shake. He could see it in that eye - the disbelief. It still couldn't perceive how he'd gotten back here so swiftly.

He simply sat back against the Princess' ruined carriage and smiled.

It remained intangible and invisible, but his eyes fell upon it at once - Wayen had tuned in on its aura by now, so he no longer needed sight to find it. The ghoul seemed to notice this, slowly weaving around the area, glaring back as those red eyes never left it. Finally, it seemed to give up on the pretense and made itself visible once more, though not tangible.

They stared at one another for several long seconds.

Wayen broke the silence himself, as he rose to his feet and slung his cloak over his shoulders. "You are one of Ganon's servants, I presume?"

--_no!-- He eyed the beast curiously, bewildered by its fervor...and by its sudden smirk. --_{i serve no one... i simply assist him, in exchange for many a meal.}--

The Sheikah scoffed. Read between the lines - it was a servant of Ganon, and simply thought it had retained its independence. Ganon was offering it targets, and it was taking them of, no doubt, its own 'free will'. Hah! Next it would say that Ganon would let it leave this 'partnership' of theirs at any time...

He took a step to his right, and the ghoul followed suit, letting the pair circle each other pointlessly. "So the attack today was his doing, then?" An important assumption to verify.

--_{but of course,}-- came the swift reply. --_{and i was sent to finish the job.}-- It glanced around, then cackled softly. --_{a shame that ganon chose to attack the princess' carriage. much better defenses around that one; less deaths to feast upon.}--

"I suppose," Wayen muttered, thinking of these so-called 'defenses'. Krin had been caught off guard; it was that braggart who had stepped in to save the carriage. A wandering vagabond with no place in Hyrule Castle, much less the job of guarding the Tri—

Oh, Dark World. He'd gotten distracted.

The claw was a mere inch from his face by the time he refocused—

It slashed right through him.


...and just like that, the illusion vanished.

Wayen leapt out from the shadows of the carriage, not giving the Poe a chance to realize what it had attacked - a mere Mirage Double. His hands glowing with a golden aura, he shot them forward, watching from above as the motion ignited the power within the trio of magic seals he had spent the last few minutes inscribing in the dirt. "Light Prison!"

Chains of light shot out from each seal, shooting straight for the Poe. With a gasp the ghoul shot forward, dodging one chain and taking another straight to his face, but not being ensnared. The Sheikah's mind raced as it recalculated and sent more chains out from the seals. Another pair bashed into its side, but its dodging ensured no firm capture. Nonetheless it slammed into the ground, and then - 'GOT YOU!'

One chain wrapped around the bottom of its cloak, snapping tight as it tried to flee. The seals sent out dozens more chains, each one finding its mark now. Within a second, the creature was entangled in a hundred restraints. Arms were tugged in both directions. Its neck played host to chains from all three seals - each one trying to drag it back to its own source. Captured by divine energy, the spirit couldn't even phase away. All it could do was scream its hollow wail and struggle against the unbreakable prison.

Wayen landed straight in front of it, arm outstretched. Sparks of light appeared and gathered around his fingertips... Then his hand... Then his entire arm was aglow with a brilliant luminance, shining so bright he had to shield his own eyes.

--LIGHT MAGIC?!--

He smiled. The arm spun about, pointed directly at the ghoul.

"HEAVEN'S—"

--HOW CAN YOU USE LIGHT MAGIC!?!--

"—BEACON!"

Shining like the sun itself, the spell pierced the night sky like a javelin and tore directly through the Poe. It was engulfed in an instant, before it even had time to scream. A never ending river of power formed of the sacred element of Light cascaded over the ghoul; Wayen could only guess as to what the magic was doing to it. Against a normal opponent this spell was described as a raging inferno; against a demon of darkness, the brilliant beam must have been agony incarnate.

--YOU'RE SHEEEEEEEEEEEIKAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.....--


He waited until the scream had stopped...then held it for a second more. Finally satisfied, the light faded away, until at last the moonlight had returned to prominence. Then he whipped his hand away, flinging the last traces of the spell into the dust. Where the Poe had been, only specks of light remained. No trace left of it either - good.

Only then did he reply to the ghoul's complaint.

"That's just my curse."

* * *

He knelt at the edge of the gaping hole from which the Moblins had climbed, fingers slipping through the cracks as he examined every last trace of energy in the area. The battle with that Poe had sent everything out of whack - he had to rush to get accurate readings, lest the aura from his Light magic corrupt the traces he'd been seeking.

Examining things with magic was like sprouting a sixth sense for the auras left behind from spells; even though the traces could not be seen or touched or tasted, he could still sense them and any of their irregularities. It sounded simple enough in theory...but he'd always struggled with it. 'Just like with all those other blasted elements...'

Within a few minutes, though, Wayen had his results, and had double- and triple-checked them. He sat back against the ground and gazed up at the stars, not exactly sure how to take this information. It could go either way, really...some of the implications were a relief...and others were absolutely terrifying.

"Don't jump to conclusions," he whispered to himself. "There could still be some Moblins out there in the world... The Gates could still be shut..."

Somehow, he didn't find that comforting.

Wayen rose after a moment and strode over to the carriage. There was something nagging his head now...something the Poe had said.

"...I was sent to finish the job..."

What 'job'? The Princess had been rescued and returned to the safety of Hyrule Castle... Anything valuable in the carriage had been brought back with her. If the job was to capture Princess Zelda, then the ghoul was several miles away from where it should have been. If it was to raid the carriage, that was also a useless gesture - and Ganon would not send a powerful creature like a Poe to do something so menial. 'What is he after this time?'

He examined the carriage and came up empty for clues; the thing didn't look like it had been touched for hours. With a weary sigh, he walked around to the back of it and glanced around... Nothing to be seen here-

'What is -' He came up short as his gaze found something on the edge of the woods.

That was it - that had to be it.

"Oh, Dark World."