The begining of a massacre

[Emoir]

Lyra looked at the others as they introduced themselves. She sat down, unsure of what to say about herself. As the others told information about themselves, Lyra listened patiently. The first few gave quite a bit of information from themselves, such as where they were form and such. Yet when the girl named Ebony introduced herself, she merely gave her name and occupation. After the girl named Jess introduced herself, Lyra felt confident enough to tell the others about her self.

“My name is Lyra, and I am fourteen,” she said, standing up. “My main job for the past two years has been exploring different islands and finding out bits of information about them. That was the main reason why I came here, to West Island.” Lyra brushed some of her hair out of her eyes. “I am obviously not a professional mercenary, but I was taught how to use a sword when I was younger. You guys will not have to worry about me abandoning you if hunting these monsters gets tough, or anything like that. I will stay here until all of the monsters are dead.” She looked at the others. “I may be small, and I might not be the strongest person here, but I do not give up easily. Besides, the people on this island are depending on us.”

Lyra felt she had no more to say. Sitting back down on the ground, she waited for the others introduce themselves.

That cloacked Rito must be kidding, introducing yourself? Well that's probably the most useless command i ever heard.

Oh well, what must be done, must be done. I could see that every mercenary thought the same as i did.

A strange girl started talking. Garei listend carefully to her name: Brather. Then came the others, Garei grieved their names in his head. Brather, Lunar, Dakko, Piuma, Ebony , Jess, Lyra.

Oh great, I thought. I'm the youngest of this group.

I sighed, when i realised that it was my turn. Setting a step forward, i began to introduce myself:

"My name's Garei. I'm 13 years old, so i'm probably the youngest here." Some of the mercenaries looked curious at me, others suprised. Ignoring the faces, i continued:

"But i do not want that any one of you underestimate my abillities, i can kill as good as any one of you, why would i else be here?"

I took a step back, and waited for another mercenary to introduce him- herself.

Gosh..." I muttered, while glancing up at everyone from behind strands of my hair. 'These people are horrible, hell, I'm horrible. Teams of actual trained mercenaries died here fighting what's in that jungle, what in Din's name gives us a fleeting chance to even survive long enough to run away?' I thought.
Everyone was very young, so obviously there weren't enough real mercenaries left to send here. That, or the people selecting the mercenaries are pure stupid.
I felt bad for our leader, he had to fight with us. He's probably the only real good fighter on this damn team.

More people introduced themselves, more sighs and giggles came from everyone else. A boy named Garei, who was probably the youngest of the crew, seemed horribly agitated that we had to introduce ourselves. It kind of pissed me off. One thing I can't stand more than anything are people who think they're superior, when they're the precise opposite.

Everyone said what had to be said, and all were introduced. Though I'm sure many, such as myself, forgot about three fourths of the people's names already. We all turned at the cloaked leader and he looked back at us.
"What." he asked.
"Introduce yourself, we have to trust you with our lives, do we not?" I said, with a bit of a sarcastic smirk on my face.

Ketu stood with his arms folded; all of the other mercenaries had introduced themselves and they now turned with their eyes to him. Guess it’s my turn…
“All right then, I’m Ketu, and as you already know I’m leading this group. I don’t intend to let any of you die, but if you jeopardize the mission or put others in danger, then I will kill you myself. My background, age, or recent whereabouts, are none of your concern,” he said. A couple group members scoffed, the half-breed had expected that, since he really had revealed even less than Ebony.

“C’mon, you can tell us a little more than that can’t you? I mean, all we know is your name really, none of us have talked to you personally…” Piuma said. Ketu rubbed his forehead and sighed. Might as well give em something now to shut them up…. Don’t want anyone asking questions later. All right then, I’ll try and make it good…

“I was fourteen when I first became a mercenary, the similarity to the fact that it’s the same age as most of you who’re all starting off is a striking coincidence, but nothing more than that. I can assure you I wasn’t some cocky little kid looking for adventure, I needed money, and this was the only job I could do to make enough of it with the skills I have. Yeah, I kill things for a living, I’ve been stabbed, bitten, clawed, cut, and have the scars to prove it. I can’t say the experience has bettered me as a person, if anything it’s probably made me hard, cold, and insensitive. Also can’t say I suggest the same career path for any of you. After this is over, I dunno… find a job on a farm, or fishing, or hell, treasure hunting even. Some people are able to hack this kind of job, some sadistic people even enjoy it… Also, since for a few of you those Bokoblin were the first creatures some of you ever killed, then I suggest you toughen up, fast. Do not feel any compassion for a monster, ever. It’s not a feeling that will be expressed mutually, they’ll kill you. They’re evil, so swallow your guilt and when something comes at you, stab it, cut it, kill it. That alone will get you through whatever the hell’s out there on this island…”

The group was silent… “So remember, never hesitate to kill, just thrust with whatever weapon you’re using into your enemy. May sound like sh* tty advice, but I wish someone had told me that… Could’ve saved me some wounds…” There was a long pause of silence. “All right, there, happy now? I talked,”

A few group members nodded, no one complained. Good, by using a morbid topic none of them seem to have noticed that I didn’t tell them jack all… Better get this group moving before any of that sets in, or before they get comfortable.
“Lovely, now, are you all ready? You’ve got your supplies? Weapons? Bedding? The last one’s not so important, food we can also scavenge for, weapons however... Check them now, make sure they’re good to go, we could get surprise attacked at any time,”

Clothing shuffled and metallic shings! filled the air as people pulled out swords, inspected them for a second, then sheathed them.
“All right then… Last chance to back out,” again the group was silent. “Fantastic,” the half-breed said under his breath. “Lets go then, single file line. Ebony, you seem to be the most indifferent to things like insects and birds, so you’d probably be able to point out an attack more easily than the others, so you’ll be at the back of the line. I’ll go in the front, ranged people go in the middle, and swordsmen fill in the gaps. In the event of an attack, swordsmen form a circle and ranged people, well, do what you do best, stay in the middle, and for the love of Cyclos, don’t shoot your team mates.”

No one seemed to argue with the set up for the line, at least not that Ketu noticed. He took a step into the woods, stepping on a branch. Several birds scattered as it cracked. Thus the trek began, the day was warm but not to a point of unpleasantness. The forest was relatively cool and because of the season there weren’t many dried leaves on the ground that crunched or crackled. Ketu looked up slightly as they walked, walking on the ground still made a lot of noise… And judging by some of those broken branches the Bokoblin probably travel through the trees rather than walking, not only for silence but to avoid their own traps…

The half-breed looked over his shoulder.
“Watch the trees,” He said simply.

[Emoir]

We all walked through the forest in our simple strategic order. I, as I'm sure most of the group did, had that odd feeling the first time you do something new. That feeling of "Gee, this is kinda easy". And if no one else had it, then I did. And if that's not the usual feeling someone gets when starting something new maybe I am crazy. I walked sideways, my hand outstretched holding the bow, and an arrow in the other hand at the ready. I glanced up and around, mostly at the trees. Traps weren't much of my concern, since I was in the middle, but the trees were my duty. If we were to be attacked I'd need to be ready, and up there is most likely where they'd come down at us.

Something cracked, and I swerved around to see the fisherman stepping on a branch, and giving me a "Oops" kind of look. I scoffed, and realized my hair was in the way. I put my bow back and tied my hair back with some more black ribbon, then got my bow and arrow ready again.

Then it got quiet. Everyone was moving, but there were no more branches on the ground, no leaves. "Eyes peeled." Ketu said, holding his hand up. Everyone looked around, some seemed scared. I was a wee bit hyper from my lack of sleep, so I wasn't too frightened. Then it got dead quiet, and the next thing everyone heard, was a loud thud. "Everyone, quiet and alert." Ketu said. I peeked over some people's shoulder's to see Ketu had fallen in a hole.

I looked up and around the trees. "Lunar, do you see anything?" Ketu asked, climbing out of the hole. "No, not yet." I called back. It was a bit of an awkward moment, we had fallen for a trap and we just sat here. "Gotcha..." I muttered with a smirk. I shot my bow off and shot a bokoblin off a tree. "Dammit, a scout. We just entered the forest and we already have scouts." Ketu groaned. "Keep moving, ranged people at the ready, Ebony, keep your eyes open." Ketu commanded. We all listened.
"This won't end well..."

Brather grabbed her staff from its sheath. She rubbed the symbol on top of it like she had many times before. Finally she might finally figure out what it all meant. The group started to move, but Brather ran up to Ketu.

"Where am I supposed to be in the group? I'm not exactly a swordswoman, and I'm not really an archer or bowwoman either."

Ketu looked her over. "Whichever area you think you're best in. If you think you'll be more useful fighting without your powers, be with the swordsman. If you fight better with your powers, be in the archer group." He walked off without another word.

Brather joined the group of archers in the middle without another word.

She allowed her power to build up. The power inside... whenever she built it up it always felt the same. Cold, unforgivable, and destructive. He symbols glowed blood red.

The fisherman had seen this, so he accidentaly stepped on a branch while he stared at her in surprise. Lunar turned with his bow aimed at the fisherman. Luckily he didn't shoot.

Brather scratched the symbol in her left hand. There was something strange going on here. The cold feeling she usually got from building up her power was becoming warm and inviting... almost like it was ancouraging her to use the power inside.

She looked down at the ground for a moment. She didn't realize it until she could no longer stop and pick it up, but she had just seen a three of clubs. She built her power up just a little bit more. There was something bad about to happen...

Piuma found it odd that Ketu, of all people, had fallen into a trap hole in the floor. After all, he was the team leader, and he was the most experienced. Maybe his mind was on something else? Maybe he had family back home that he was worried about? Or maybe he was even worried about the mercenaries, and had been thinking of the worst case scenario where they all died and he was sad and lonely.

"Yeah, right..." Piuma thought to herself. " Ketu isn't exactly the caring type. Well, at least he doesn't give that impression with his constant threats to kill people who 'jeopardize the mission'."

Piuma watched interestedly as Lunar picked off a Bokoblin scout from a distance. Aside from the soft "thwump" spund it made when it hit the earthy floor below, the Bokoblin hadn't managed to make a sound.

Regardless, Ketu gave the order to ready their weapons, and he promised that things would not end well. Piuma was a bit confused. It was just one dead Bokoblin. She doubted the rest of the Bokoblins would ever find the body before the scavenging creatures of the forest took care of the corpse.

The group pressed on along the forest path, and there was no interruption. A great silence seemed to hover over the group. The only sounds were those of their footsteps and breathing. Aside from that, no grunting Bokoblins, and no nature. A pale sky hung above the group, and it steadily began to grow darker.

Piuma could feel it in the air. A storm was coming. She had known since yesterday, when she saw the fat grey clouds looming overhead. She decided that she should at least inform Ketu.

"Ummm... Mister Ketu?" Piuma called, breaking the silence. Ketu stopped walking in his tracks. He turned around, his dark cloak billowing through the air.

"Yes?" He asked simply.

"I think it's going to rain very soon." Piuma pointed out, looking up through the trees at the hastily darkening sky.

"And?"

This question threw Piuma off, as she hadn't expected it. Perhaps Ketu didn't think a storm mattered, and thought that they should just press on through the crazy weather.

"Well...nothing." Piuma said.

"No, I insist. Tell me. What relevance does a storm have with what we're doing?" Ketu asked.

"What, is he just trying to humiliate me?" Piuma thought angrily to herself.

"Well..." Piuma said. "A storm could be dangerous. With the rain falling, we'd have trouble seeing great distances, and it would be hard to hear someone sneaking up on us."

Piuma thought Ketu was thinking it over. He remained silent for a moment, and then spoke.

"We'll keep moving on, and if a storm actually decends on us, then we'll make a decision about what to do." Ketu explained. "Now let's keep going."

[Emoir]

Ketu walked in front of the group with the others in line behind him. So far there had been little to no sightings whatsoever. No signs of traps, no scouts, nothing. We’ve been walking for over an hour now… there has to be something…. Ketu’s eyes widened as his foot touched something soft. He looked down, there were faint traces of Bokoblin moving around under the ground. They’re… moving under the ground as well?!? Damn! How come I didn’t notice this?! We’ll be surrounded in no time… Well, time to make our presence felt…

There was a snap as Dakko stepped on a branch, but the half-breed ignored it knowing it had come from someone in the line.
“Eyes peeled” Ketu, muttered as he lifted his foot. He gathered a portion of magical energy into it, then slammed his foot onto the ground. There was a loud thud and the ground underneath him gave way. As expected

There were snorts of shock and surprise as the half-breed landed on the floor of the tunnel. Bokoblin dropped the supplies or tools they were carrying and ran to see what happened. From what Ketu could see, the tunnel was only one way, but it probably stemmed off with hundreds of branches like an ant tunnel. Either way, he thought, this should slow down whatever they’re planning. Holding out both hands to his sides so his palms were facing down opposite directions in the tunnel, the cloaked figure gathered the magical energy in his body to manifest in his hands.

Torrents of flame raced on either side, burning and incinerating everything they touched until even the earthen tunnels were burned black. After feeling he had used a sufficient amount of force, the half-breed lowered his hands. There’s no way I could’ve gotten them all, but this tunnel wont be much use for a while… hopefully that helps.

Pushing his magical energy off of the ground Ketu pulled himself out of the hole. Everyone looked around, alert, except for the male Rito, who stood there idly starring at Ketu as he pulled himself out of the hole.
“Lunar,” He snapped, “See anything?” The Rito shook his head.
“No, nothing ye- wait, gotcha!” He said as he fired an arrow into a tree, killing a Bokoblin. There’s one, there probably only moments away from beginning an attack…

“Nicely done… Although next time don’t yell ‘gotcha!’ before firing a shot, it gives away your target. Everyone else keep moving, and ranged people get ready, you too Ebony,” Ketu said. The group nodded and kept walking. They had only begun moving again for five minutes before someone piped up.

“Umm, mister Ketu?” It was the small female Rito, Piuma.
“Yeah? What?”
“I think it’s going to rain soon,” she said. Ketu looked up, judging by the clouds gathering the group might have to stop, then again it would probably also force the Bokoblin to stop, none the less they had to stay on guard at all times… However his magic was a hell of a lot less effective during the rain, flames were dampened and with everything wet electricity went wild and out of control when it struck something.
“And?” Ketu asked, wondering if she was aware that he would become next to useless in the rain.

“Oh.. uh.. nothing..”
“No, I insist”
“Well, a storm could be dangerous. With the rain falling, we'd have trouble seeing great distances, and it would be hard to hear someone sneaking up on us…”

Yeah, but they’ll have trouble seeing us as well, making it much easier for us to set a trap for them…
“We’ll keep moving for now and if the storm does come and is strong enough, we’ll stop.”

Thunder cracked across the sky as the air itself vibrated. Suddenly the ground shook violently. The magical energy in the earth around the group spiked.
“Something’s coming!” Ketu snapped. Everyone stopped and drew their weapons. Boney, navy blue gnarled hands burst from the ground. They gripped the ground and began pulling themselves from the ground, large heads slowly emerged along with the rest of the hideous half decayed bodies.

“Re-Deads?!! Out here?!?” Ketu gasped, shocked. How’s that possible?! Re-Deads can’t be out in the sunlight, they usually stay in dungeons. There’s now way the could get out her- Ketus eyes widened. Of Course!! They must’ve moved them along the underground tunnels, and now that the clouds are blocking out the sun they’re in perfect position to attack! The Re-Deads let loose their other worldly scream as they advanced on the group from all sides, there was about a dozen of them. Mostly all of the group was instantly frozen as their eyes locked with the Re-Deads.

“Don’t look into their eyes or listen to them you’ll be parlay-” Ketu stopped, noticing no one even had the chance to listen. This is way to advanced for them to handle on their own, I’m going to have to intervene now if they’re to survive,

Ketu levitated into the air and held his hands out, flames gathering in his palms. His eyes suddenly caught something in the group, the two members he’d picked out before, the slender blonde man with the rapier and the muscular bearded knight with the giant broad sword. They pulled out their weapons, but weren’t looking at the Re-Deads.

“NOW!” The one with the rapier shouted. The knight grabbed him and hurled him into the air towards the half-breed. Sh* t I knew those two were too good! Ketu leaned out of the way and propelled himself to the side to dodge the man in green. He grinned and pulled out his rapier, tossing it quickly. Ketu was still too buisy gathering the energy in his palms and wasn’t able to move fast enough, the rapier stabbed into his shoulder and pinned him to a tree.

Gagged the half-breed grabbed the blade, a trickle of blood staining his cloak. The knight dashed forward holding his sword laterally, preparing to slash horizontally.

Changing the magical energy in his body to a different form Ketu grabbed the tree’s trunk with his hands, allowing a surge of magical energy to flow into it. It traced along the tree and into the ground until it reached the knight. This time rather than sending his own magical energy away from the ground Ketu sent the knights, and the man yelled as he was volleyed into the air.

Tearing the sword loose from his shoulder the half bread landed on the ground and held his hands up towards the knight in the air, electricity crackled around his hands. The man in green with the rapier appeared along side him, Ketu’s eyes widened, he hadn’t even seen him coming. Bringing his knee up sharply the man brought it to the half-breeds chest. Ketu gagged, hunching over, his spell disrupted. The blonde then brought his arm down, elbowing the back of the half-breeds head.

Ketu slumped to the ground, still gagging. The knight slammed to the ground feet first, he grabbed the cloaked figure and slung him over his shoulder. The blonde nodded to him as he pulled his rapier from the tree and the two of them quickly dashed off.

Lyra cursed herself as the Re-Deads advanced towards the group. ‘Why couldn’t I hear them?’ she thought angrily, trying to move. Unfortunately, she had looked the Re-Dead in the eyes and was frozen by it. She tried to close her eyes as one of the Re-Deads advanced towards her, but she didn’t even have that little luxury. The only thing she could do was move her eyes around. Right before the Re-Dead was about to attack her, Lyra realized that she was now able to move.

She quickly dodged the Re-Dead, as it looked stupidly at the place where she had just been. It turned to where Lyra was, and started to slowly walk towards her. Learning from her mistake, Lyra didn’t look directly at the Re-Dead this time: instead, she looked at it out of the corner of her eye. She swung her sword at it as soon as it got in range. The Re-Dead let out a piercing screech. The Re-Dead advanced towards Lyra again at the same pace, and Lyra jumped at it, letting her sword hit its head. The Re-Dead slumped to the ground, dead.

Lyra looked around and saw two of the mercenaries- the only ones that seemed to be professionals- carry Ketu away. “What the hell is going on?” she asked herself. She started to follow them, but she felt something jump on her. Turning her head, she found she was looking in the face of a Re-Dead. “Get off of me!” She exclaimed, trying to fight it off. The Re-Dead clung onto her, strangling her. She tried to fight it, but her air supply was growing less and less.

[Emoir]

Brather was frozen... Just like most of the others. She had looked one in the eyes before she knew what was going on. Her insides had frozen before her body had. She hated these things.

However... not all of her was frozen, just her body. Her built up energy was free to escape in whatever fashion she chose. The Re-dead that had frozen her was only five feet away... too close to use electricity. It also didn't breathe... water wouldn't help...

It was two feet away now... too close to use fire. I know! Brather thought, Why don't I just use light!

The Re-dead was too close for comfort now... It was now or never! Brather only had to think about it for a second. Light wasn't exactly her specialty though.

The Re-dead screamed as it was covered with a faint light. It wasn't enough to kill the Re-dead, but the light was strong enough to freeze it in the same fashion Brather was. She felt the paralysis wear off. Brather drew out her staff and bashed the Re-dead one, two, three, four, five times. She looked around at the other people, who were mostly unfrozen by now. She let out a very small sigh of relief... the people were fighting back.

She heard something behind her.

Before she could turn around a club bashed into the back of her head. Her staff fell onto the ground.

The last image she saw before she totally blacked out was a small group of Bokoblins staring down at her. She tried to call up on her powers, but whatever was effecting her powers on this island (like how her powers had felt warm and inviting) was effecting her again... somehow stopping her from using them in that moment.

The next thing she knew, Brather was in her version of the dream world. Shapes and sounds reached her eyes and ears that she would never hear or see in the real world.

"Well..." she said aloud, "At least they'll notice I'm gone... I hope."

Then she realized that she wasn't holding her staff.

"Maybe they'll have help..."

She sat down and focused on her staff...

Re-deads began appearing. Due to the fact that i was behind the group, i didn't looked in their eyes. But i did see them coming. Pulling out my sword jumped at one Re-dead, slicing his head in two. Another Re-dead jumped also, but at me. He was trying to absorb my energy. I could feel myself turning cold. To bad for him, i had my dagger.

With a swing i cutted the Re-dead's hand with my dagger, forcing him to jump off at me. Then, i turned around and used my sword to stab in his head. There were a lot of other Re-dead's around, and i didn't knew if the others were fine. But i had no time for this, as i saw some bokoblins standing around a girl, which i couldn't remember the name.

Should i, or should i not? Bokoblins were known as slaughters, who left the bodies of those they killed to left behind. But at the other hand, if a person is in debt to you, you could take profit of that...

Putting back my dagger, i took a decision. I ran towards those bokoblins, and jumped at one of them, hitting his throath with my sword. The other bokoblins looked at me, with suprise, and hatred. As they used their clubs to slash at me. The payment for that action, was that i jumped behind them, and cleaved one's head when i landed. Another bokoblin took profit of this, and hitted my arm with his club.

Biting through the pain, i stabbed between the bokoblin's eye, killing it. Again, the last bokoblin tried to hit my head, but it fell for my feet. Looking up, i saw a Rito holding a bow. He was the one that shoot the bokoblin. I nodded for thanking him, and he nodded back, but i couldn't understand him, as i saw something interesting at the corner of my eye.

The knight and the guy with the rapier which i found strange, were carrieng that cloacked Rito far away from the fight! It seemed like they had fought together, as i saw some blood flowing out from that Rito's shoulder.

"No... no! Not them! Anything but these!" Piuma thought frantically, as the putrid ReDead made it's way towards her slowly. Each dragging step it took made Piuma's heart go colder and colder. She knew she had to break eye contact with the monster, but her eyes remained fixed in position.

A small gust of wind breezed through Piuma's hair, and a faint rumble was heard in the sky. The storm was coming, ad it simply added to Piuma's fear. She averted her eyes to the grey sky, where the clouds were congregating, ready for a serious storm.

The wind blew again, and Piuma brushed a strand of hair from her eye. With a sudden shock, she realised that she could move! She pulled out her Modified grappling hook, and swung it around in circles, building up momentum. That's when she heard a noise behind her.

"Braaaaaa!"

Whipping around, Piuma caught sight of the Bokoblin, one among many who were surrounding the perimeter, aiding their ReDead friends. The Bokoblin held a sharp large sword, and had it held back, ready to lunge. Piuma turned around, to run from the Bokoblin, when she locked eyes with the ReDead again, now inches away.

Unable to move, Piuma's heart seemingly stopped beating, as the ReDead leaped onto her back. However, at the same moment, the Bokoblin jumped with a vertical sword slash, aimed for Piuma's back. Instead, the sword connected with the newly attached ReDead, and it groaned in pain before falling off of Piuma.

Piuma stumbled away from ReDead and Bokoblin, gasping for breath. Her heart was beating unbelievably fast. She struggled to regain her breath before returning to the battle. A loud bang erupted from in the sky, causing Piuma to jump.

She looked up, and torrents of rain poured from the sky. However, the rain seemed to at least have a negative effect on the ReDeads, since they weren't used to outdoor environments. They were looking around, seemingly confused, and the Mercenaries were taking advantage of this, and striking them down.

Everyone seemed to be handling themselves well, especially since they were fighting such advanced monsters, with added Bokoblin annoyances. Piuma looked around, and nothing seemed to be trying to get near her. She kept her weapon out however, just in case. The sky rumbled and flashed again, and Piuma shivered slightly. She hated storms as much as she hated ReDeads...

"Braaaaaaaaa!" Piuma heard behind her, and she turned around again, locking eyes with a Bokoblin, who held a branch in hand. It didn't attack though. Piuma swung her grappling hook around, building for the attack when WHAM!

Piuma stumbled forwards, and turned around angrily. A second Bokoblin laughed at her. Piuma's head was spinning, and the pounding rain made the whole scene confusing.

"Hey! That hurt you big jerk!" Piuma yelled at the Bokoblin. "Why I outta..." WHAM!

A second smash to the head, and Piuma was dazed. The lightning flashed, and Piuma tried to shake the stars from her eyes. The Bokoblin behind her came up for a another hit, but Piuma ran up t it quickly, and gave it a hard boot to the knee. The Bokoblin screeched in pain, alerting his other friend, who came at Piuma. Piuma moved out of the way of the second Bokoblin's attack, at swung the grappling hook around the two Bokoblin, pulling them both together. Once the two Bokoblin were tied together, Piuma gave a loud whistle, catching Dakko's attention.

"Mister...ummm you!" Piuma called, still dazed from the bonks on the head. "Can you use your harpoonie thingy?"

Dakko chucked his harpoon at the two restrained Bokoblin, making a shiskabob of them both. Piuma turned away quickly from the messy scene, and pulled her grappling hook back from the mess of the Bokoblins. Dakko retrieved his harpoon, and Piuma approached him.

"Hey! Thanks there Mister!" Piuma said, swaying slightly on the spot. The world seemed to be spinning before her. Dakko said something to her, but Piuma couldn't comprehend what he had said. She tilted forwards, and fell to the ground, her head still spinning, until everything went black and silent.

[Emoir]

Brather felt it, even though she was knocked out. The storm had come. She made her body breathe in a good amount of the smell. She didn't know why... but she loved storms. Why didn't matter to her, she just did.

She went back to focusing on her staff. She was connected with it. Over what seemed to be endless travels and fights, she had found a way to connect with it through her dreams.

In the Real World, her forgotten staff lay on the ground. It was near her body, where one or two mercenaries were defending her as they also tried to defend themselves. They didn't see it, but the symbol on it glowed suddenly.

In the Dream World, Brather had found her staff. She looked through its symbol into the real world. It took a lot of energy, and she knew she'd be hating herself for days to come, but she would be able to fight with the staff, even unconscious.

In the Real World, Brather's staff rose until it was standing up. It did a quick spin for Brather to check her surroundings, and then, slowly, it rose into the air. Brather knew her physical form must be sweating now. The strain of doing something like this was hard, but she had to find a way to fight for the people who, she grudginly reminded herself, she needed to help her find Krid.

It flew to the nearest Bokoblin and started knocking the thing around as if it were a punching bag. The Bokoblin's buddy swung wildly at the staff, thinking that something like an invisible person was there. After the staff had killed the first Bokoblin (bashing its skull until it collapsed, crushing the brains.) It for the second, killing it as easily as it had the first. Then someone grabbed it...

Brather shook in the Dream World. Whoever was trying to grad the staff was really strong. It refused to let go. Then, for the third time that day, she felt a change in her powers. The change was like a great big charge of energy. Like she had just been holding back the whole time.

In the Real World, Brather's staff was covered in fire suddenly. Whoever had grabbed it screamed in pain. Brather could see the figures shadow as it fled into the woods. Brather only saw that it was human, and that it wasn't one of the mercenaries.

She felt her staff shudder. She was almost out of power. With the last of it, she made it go back to her and clatter next to her side. She sighed in the Dream world. Thanks to that strange power fluxuation she had been able to fight long enough to help slightly. But who kept doing that? Or was it a what? It didn't seem to be bad or good, sometimes taking her powers at bad moments and giving her power conveniently.

Before completely giving up on her powers for now and drifting into the healing power of deep dreams, Brather had one thought, and only one.

Nothing had ever effected her powers like this. No matter what happened on this island... she was going to find the source.

Even if it killed her.

Dakko looked around. He saw a few ReDeads. One was coming towards him, extremely slowly. It's so slow, this might be easy. He took out his fishing rod, and cast it at the ReDead. The hook landed in it, but the ReDead kept moving forward at the same speed, which was slow. Dakko reeled it in. He took out his harpoon and was about to stab it, but he froze. He couldn't move his body, despite his efforts. The ReDead jumped on Dakko's back and started biting him.

"Ow, that really hurts," he said. He then noticed that he was somewhat able to move his body. He slowly forced his arm holding the harpoon up, and stabbed the ReDead through its head. Using his harpoon as a lever, he forced the ReDead off his body. He grabbed his neck, and noticed a bit of bleeding, though it was slow and would stop after a few minutes. He then saw a bokoblin rushing at him.

"Just one? Good, less work," he said. He side-stepped out of the bokoblin's path, then cast his line, catching the hilt of the bokoblin's sword. He started pulling with his arm, but the bokoblin was pulling back with equal force. Dakko put his harpoon away, and started reeling the bokoblin in. Once it got close enough, Dakko took out his harpoon and slapped it on the head repeatedly. Eventually, it fell over. Heh, stupid bokoblin. Dakko turned around, looking at the mercenaries. He then heard a sound behind him. He turned to see the bokoblin up with a sword in its raised hand. He blocked the downward slash with his fishing rod, then stabbed the bokoblin with his harpoon.

"Stay down," Dakko said, stabbing the bokoblin's dead body. He then heard a whistle. He looked up, and saw Piuma calling him.

"Mister...ummm you! Can you use your harpoonie thingy?" she called. Dakko saw two bokoblins tied up. He raised his harpoon and flung it at them. Bullseye. He walked over to grab his harpoon. "Hey! Thanks there Mister!" Piuma said.

"No problem," Dakko said, smiling. He then noticed she had fallen. Shocked, he first asked her, "Are you ok?" Since he didn't get a response, he thought of what to do. I should probably get here away from the bokoblins and zombie things. He picked her up and carried her away from the battle, and lay her down against a tree. He turned around and saw three bokoblins jump at them, all ready for a vertical swing. Dakko took out his fishing rod and blocked, but felt the force of them pushing him down. He had to use both hands to keep up his fishing pole, so he could not grab his harpoon.

"Hey!" he shouted to no one specifically. "Could someone give me a hand over here!"

Jess stood, staring in horror, as the redeads came up from below ground. She had never encountered something so foul and evil before. In her horror, she made the very bad mistake of looking one of them in the eyes. It started moving towards her. Jess moved to pull out her daggers, and realized she was paralized. She couldn't move a muscle, couldn't even flinch as the horrible thing came closer.

Just as she was thinking there was nothing she could do, a gust of wind blew Jess's hair in front of her eyes. She used the opportunity to look away from the redead's face before getting the hair out of her eyes. She readied her daggers. The redead was practically on top of her by now. She slashed out hard and fast with her right dagger at it's chest, and followed up with her second. The redead kept coming at her, so close that she could smell it's putrid breathe. She backed up, and kneed it hard in the chest, right where she had struck with her two daggers. The foul thing stopped for a moment. Seizing her chance, Jess plunged both her daggers into the redead and twisted, then pulled them out and kicked it as hard as she could. She turned away, revolted, but relieved she had managed to take one down.

Then she heard, "Baaaaa..." coming from behind her. She turned to see a bokoblin right on top of her. She ducked to the side as it brought a club swinging down at her head, and kicked it's knee. It howled angrily, and swung at her chest. Jess backed away from the swing, but it managed to hit her arm. "Well, at least it's a club and not a sword," she thought, wincing. She lashed out with her right arm at the throat of the bokoblin. It saw her though, and blocked with it's club. While it's club was raised she thrusted with her left arm at it's chest, plunging her dagger in deep and using the same little twisting move she had used on the redead. She then kicked the bokoblin away, and it fell to the ground, dead.

Jess breathed shallowly. She had never fought this hard in her life. She turned, looking for the next monster that was closest, when she heard a slightly desperate voice yelling, "Hey! Could someone help me over here!" She around to see who it was, realizing for the first time that it had started raining, and hard. In her terror, she hadn't noticed before. She searched for the person who had been calling, and saw the fisherman, Dakko she thought, standing over a prone piuma, blocking three bokoblin swords with just his fishing rod.

Jess took a deep breath, and then ran as fast as she could over to were Dakko was standing. The bokoblin, who were intent on the fisherman, didn't hear her coming and she was able to stick her daggers in one of them's spine. It shrieked and fell over paralized. She kicked it hard in the neck, and again in the head to make sure it was dead. She then turned to the other two.

The bokoblin had turned their attention towards the new threat, giving Dakko his chance. Jess saw him pull out his harpoon, and wack the bokoblin closest to him soundly on the head. It turned back to him and he stabbed it through the chest. It fell to the ground instantly. Then, before Jess could even try to punch the other bokoblin, he speared it on his harpoon the same way he had it's comrade, and kicked it to the ground.

Neither of them even had time to say thanks however, because a couple more bokoblin had been alerted by their comrade's shrieks, and were quickly making their way towards them.

[Emoir]

I swerved around, examining the situation. "How the hell did all these thing just come up?" I called, a bit shocked. I put my bow away and whipped my dagger out. I glanced down at it, and then up at a bokoblin. "Don't suck Lunar, don't suck." I repeated under my breath. I ran at the bokobling as it cried out it's odd war-cry and I stabbed it in the gut. I looked up to check if it was dead, and was met by the monsters club. "Ow!" I shouted, backing away and rubbing my head. I glared at the stupid creature and ran straight at it. At the last second I swerved to the right and stabbed him in the head.

This time the thing was dead. I looked around, hearing a lot of the zombie-lokking things moan. I saw one and right before I looked at it's face someone shouted out "Avoid the eyes!" I glanced around to see who shouted it, but I didn't see anyone. I looked back at the zombie, who was now right in front of me, and I saw it's eyes. "Uh-oh..." I thought as I stood there paralyzed.I couldn't move, I had my hair tied behind my head in a ponytail, so my hair couldn't block my view, I was basically screwed.

The zombie threw its scrawny leg around my neck and climbed onto my shoulders. At this point I was losing my paralysis. It started to suck the life right out of me. I got down on my knees and groaned, it hurt horribly. I slowly moved my arm up and clenched my fist. Gaining strength, I began running backwards, and after a while, I slammed right against a tree, knocking the zombie off. "Son of a *****, serves you right!" I shouted at the horrible creature. I whipped my red potion out and took a sip, regaining the life he stole. I then readied my knife, and took the ribbon out of my hair, so I couldn't get caught in another trance. The zombie was a fair distance from me so I put my dagger back for a moment and took out my bow. I shot two arrows into the creatures eyes, and about three in his mouth. He still wouldn't shut up. "Oh gah, that's so it." I said, grabbing my dagger out. I ran at it and jumped up, and cut it's head in two as I landed. "Die you stupid bad, thing!" I said, trying to control my vulgar.
"Now who else wants a taste?"

“Sailing is getting insanely repetitive...” said Nicoli with a bored look on his face.
“There’s the ocean, and some more ocean... OH LOOK! THE OCEAN!.” Nicoli knew that he was loosing it at this point. He had been sailing for a week straight, without a trace of his destination. He had run into Windfall, and stayed for a few hours, which lifted a small portion of the redundancy, but he was only able to stay long enough to pick up a refill for his canteen and jug and two pounds of dried fruit.
“I’ve decided that I hate apricot...”

Nicoli looked at his compass.
“Alrighty then... so north is now south-east eh? With this piece of trash guiding me, I’ll never find that ferry...” He paused and took a look at his prized possession, his sword.
“Sorry you didn’t get a chance to slay those monsters...”

The week before, Nicoli received a letter telling him to go to the ferry that heads toward West island. He recognized this as a breed of recruiting letter, and he knew that West Island had some trouble with their bokoblin population, so he assumed it was a call to arms.

The postman was a few days late, but he didn’t mind, his boat was the fastest on the sea.
“What a load of good the ‘fastest boat on the sea’ is giving me now with a faulty compass... Wait a minute...” Nicoli spotted a familiar silhouette on the horizon.
“That’s it... it’s West Island...” He took a pause for thought.
“Hope they don’t mind me coming unannounced... WHO CARES! I FOUND IT!”

Nicoli jumped up for joy, while still at full speed, and nearly threw himself overboard before he realized he had to slow down to dock. He reefed the sails and turned the rudder to point his boat towards the docks.
“Ahh... West Island... you can just smell the street crime in the air...”
Nicoli tied his boat up at the docks, listed his name in the guest book, and paid the dock master ten rupees.

His black tunic, hat, and sheath always got him looks, but this day he got many more than usual.

“It’s one of them mercenaries...”
“Oh... it’s one of you again...”
“I though you people left a few days ago...”
“Is your kind invading?”

“Hmmn... for people under siege, they aren’t too receptive of people toting weapons...” said Nicoli with a look of caution and alert on his face, afraid that some lunatic would pop up out of the bushes and cut off his legs.
“I wonder if James knows what’s going on around here... wait... What am I saying! He runs an inn for goodness sakes!”

Nicoli headed over to what he considers to be ‘the oasis of West Island’, “The Blue Rupee.”
The weary traveler opened up the door to one of the friendlier faces on the Island.
“Hey there James!”

“Hey... is that my little friend Nicoli? How’s it goin’ lad? Haven‘t seen you in a while.” said James with his characteristic shoreman accent and genuine hospitality.

“Not good, I’ve been sailing around for about a week looking for the ferry that sails here.” Nicoli said, with a pained expression, recounting the meaningless hours on his craft.

“Ahh... that be rough... but at least ya’ found us! Wait... did you say ferry?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

“There was a whole whopping group that came over on a ferry just yesterday, most of them were farmers tryin’ ta’ imitate mercenaries.” said James with an almost humored look on his face.

“That so?”

“Oh yeah! Some of ’em even stayed here. They left yesterday , headed to the beach they were, then those that were stayin’ here, came back that night, all of ‘em beaten up like rag dolls. Then they left again this mornin’, heading down to the beach again. Ya’ missed ‘em by about, oh... five hours.”

“Thanks for the info James, that explains a lot...”

“You’re welcome my friend! Make sure to stay one of these days ya’ hear?”

Nicoli headed out the door, feeling rejuvenated, and ready to press on into the vast unknown of potential adventure.
“So they’re on the beach, or at least were. That’s a start.”

(A couple hours later...)

“Looks like there was a battle here...” Nicoli said as he scanned the shoreline, looking for where the group might have gone.
“Well, whoever they are, they won.” said Nicoli as he examined a blue bokoblin arm.
“They did a fairly decent job of cleaning up too, but why would they leave an arm out here, while cleaning up every other meaningless piece of muscle and bone?” Nicoli pondered for a second.
“They must have had to leave suddenly... due to a second wave, but I don’t see signs of another struggle... whoever is leading them might have wanted them to find a bed before nightfall...”
Nicoli then noticed some tracks, all Rito and Hylian, heading toward the forest. He began to follow them with great interest.

Eventually, the tracks led him to an abandoned campsite with a smoking pile of ash in a rock circle.
“Doesn’t look that old... almost as if the fire was put out recently...”

In the distance of the woods, Nicoli could barely make out a deep voice, “Now lets keep going...”

“Jackpot...”

After a few minutes of walking, following the noise of the group ahead, Nicoli heard a loud thump. He paused for a moment and took in his surroundings, checking for any possible enemies.
“Nothing at all...”

After walking a few more feet, a sound like no other pierced through his mind, like a rapier through skin.
“...A Re-dead... wasn’t expecting that...”

After a brief moment of paralysis, he rushed forward to where the group was battling with the horrid monsters of the underworld.

Right ahead of him, there was a little brown haired girl with a pony tail, gasping for air, being strangled by a Re-Dead.
“Well, I guess it’s time to officially join the group...” Nicoli drew his sword, unveiled it in all it’s brilliance, and held the blade next to his face.

“Overhead slash, block with right, forehand slash, backhand slash, draw back... stab...” and with that, he advanced toward the Re-Dead.

“I’m a little rusty, I wonder if I can do this after a week...” said Nicoli with a slight laugh in his voice.
He proceeded to cut the horrid thing’s head off.

The girl that was in the jaws of death just beforehand, fell to the ground, still gasping for air.
“Are you ok?” said Nicoli, as he kicked the body of the Re-Dead away. He realized the irony of the title of this particular Re-Dead, when the girl he had just saved began to speak.

“Yeah.. *cough * I’m fine... I had that thing and you butted in... idiot” said the small girl, quickly lifting herself up from the ground.
“Well thanks anyway, even though I've told you guys so many times before, I'm always on the ba... wha... who...?”

“Yes?” Nicoli asked with a snide tone to his voice, taken aback by the girl's blatant rudeness.

“Who are you and why are you here?”

Nicoli didn’t foresee this problem, and realized that he must be fairly frightening to a complete stranger, with his all black garb, and blood covered sword.
“Um... I know that you don’t know who I am, and that all you’ve seen of me is aggressive behavior and darkness... I understand this... but... My name is Nicoli, and I am here to help all of you.”

[Emoir]

"I can't believe I'm late," an indigo-haired youth said, reaching the end of the forest. He mentally scolded himself, eyes darting around as he quickly identified the obvious meeting spot of what he'd heard was the seventh mercenary group.

It's bad enough I let my grandpa talk me into not going to join the other mercenary groups, he thought, touching the soil where boots had left their impression, but to be a day and a half late... I'll never hear the end of it. I mean, what kind of hero shows up that late for anything? A minute, two maybe - looks like they went straight west - but a whole day and a half? That's no way to make a good impression! As it is, I'll be lucky if they don't dismiss me on tardiness alone...

Sighing, the novice monster hunter followed the path the group had left, shaking his head as he observed the clear path they'd left. Eve an amateur could follow this trail, he considered, sighing. Suppose it must be a decent number of young ones, by the boot size and the fact that they seem unable to keep their tracks hidden better. Just hope no Bokoblins catch sight of this, else they'll never get any rest.

And sure enough, after a few more minutes of following what he hoped was the group of mercenaries sent to take care of the monsters, he could make out flashes of bluish-gray skin and pointy tails darting inbetween the trees. Keeping the same pace, the young man let his hands slip to the pouches on his legs, pulling from each a trio of carved wooden kunais. Holding them between his fingers, he silently cursed himself for not preparing more before he left the house.

Only a dozen more left, he thought bitterly, as his mind flashed to when he'd decided not to bother with carving new ones. The decision was a foolish one and now, as he realized how deadly it could be, the blue-eyed youth swore to never be caught unprepared again.

The light began to fade, as if to match his mood, and the indigo-haired monster unter glanced up at the sky. Clouds were rapidly gathering, and he silently wondered if the Wind Gods wern't playing a cruel joke on him. Almost no ammo, monsters running around me and now I'm about to lose light... this really, really isn't my day, is it?

Just then, there was a rumbling, before the sounds of battle erupted deeper into the forest. The monster hunter swore he saw a mass of Bokoblins heading in that direction, and set off to follow when a sounds behind him made him stop. Turning quickly, a trio of the ugly beasts were charging for him, leaving little time to react.

His hands extended forward as he backpedaled away from the gray-skinned monsters, the monster hunter snapped his wrists and let the wooden throwing knives fly, watching with satisfaction as one set embedded themselves in the face, neck and chest of a Bokoblin. The other two, however, evaded his attack completely, and rapidly closed the distance between themselves and the indigo-haired man.

"You can't beat me," he said confidently, freeing the massive shuriken from it's place on his back. As he spun it expertly in his right hand, he declared "I'm Saxen Thelgood the Third, a hero beyond your comprehension! So come, fiends! Come and fall by my mighty Windmill Star!"

And come they did, approaching from two sides. Hopping to the right, the young monster hunter ducked under a swing meant to decapitate him and let the spinning weapon move through the Bokoblin's torso like a buzzsaw. Chunks of flesh and brownish cloth were tossed into the air as the monster fell, chest mangled by the man's weapon. Even as Saxen admired his handiwork, however, the third struck his back with a powerful blow.

The youngest of the Thelgood men felt his body move in slow motion as the first flash of thunder crackled through the stormy sky. There was no permanent damage, thanks to the chain-mail shirt he wore under his tunic, but the force alone would leave a nasty bruise. Tossing out a leg as he stuggled to his feet, Saxen realized that if the attack had been a thrusting one it would have likely gone through the shirt and done more than a little damage.

The kick missed completely, but gave the indigo-haired young man the time he needed to get up and turn around. The Bokoblin advanced again, so fast that the Hylian could barely get the massive shuriken spinning again. It clashed with the crude metal sword, the rotation stopping on contact. Pushing the beast away, Saxen backed off and started the Windmill Star going again as he dipped into his left holster to pull out two more wooden kunais. Hoping the creature was as stupid as he thought, he let the rotating weapon leave his right hand and soar through the air.

The huge shuriken soared through the air, barely missing the creature's head as the beast hopped out of the way. Even as the weapon moved through the air and embedded itself in a tree, the yongest Thelgood's wrist snapped and the kunais sand through the air to embed themselves in the Bokoblin's sword arm as it touched down. Howling madly, it dropped the weapon and turned to run, only making it a few steps before another pair of wooden throwing knives ended it's life. Sighing, Saxen dashed to the tree where the Windmill Star was stuck and pulled it free with a hard tug.

"So much for peace and quiet from now on," he muttered, looking around to see if any more monsters were looking for a fight. Seeing none, he headed through the forest, shuriken spinning again as he darted between the trees towards the growing sounds of battle...

Lyra sneered at the man who had just killed the Re-Dead that was attacking her. ‘I was just about to kill it,’ she thought angrily. The guy asked if she was alright, and she replied angrily, “Yeah-” she coughed “-I’m fine. I had that thing, and then you butted in.” She muttered under breath, “Idiot.” Looking at him, Lyra continued ranting. “Well thanks anyway, even though I've told you guys so many times before, I'm always on the ba...” She stopped, seeing as she didn’t recognize who this person was. “Wha... who...?” He was dressed in all black, and quite a bit taller than her.

“Yes?” the man asked, taken aback by Lyra’s attitude.

“Just who are you, and why are you here?” she asked him, keeping her guard in case he attacked.

“Um... I know that you don’t know who I am, and that all you’ve seen of me is aggressive behavior and darkness...” He paused for a moment. “I understand this... but... My name is Nicoli, and I am here to help all of you.”

“Help? You’re here to help? Does it look like we need help?” Looking around, Lyra realized that was a pretty bad example to give him. Lyra did note that the others were fighting a lot better than they had during the last battle, though.

“Oh no, of course you don’t need any help,” Nicoli replied sarcastically. Lyra glared at him.

“Well, it’s not like I can decide whether you can stay or not. That’s up to our leader. However, he’s um…not here at the moment,” Lyra said, unsure of how this traveler would react if he knew the leader was taken by some traitors. “Look, right now, you can fight with us, I suppose. Just don’t get in my way.” And with that, Lyra jumped in, fighting off the bokoblins that had appeared.

After fighting them before, Lyra knew not to underestimate these things. She also knew not to block their attacks as much. Especially since there wasn’t a local blacksmith in the woods. She silently tried to sneak up on one, but unfortunately stepped on a twig. Cursing herself, she prepared for the monster to attack. The bokoblin jumped at her, and Lyra jumped a little to the left. The monster skidded slightly, before turning to face her. The monster went to attack her, and Lyra rolled behind it and stabbed it in the back. The monster let out a gurgled yell before it fell to the ground, dead. Lyra smirked as she pulled her sword out of the bokoblin’s back.

[Emoir]

“Help? You’re here to help? Does it look like we need help?” the rude girl asked, while Nicoli was considering if saving this insolent little twerp was worth the effort, as well as coming to West Island at all.

Then he noticed the rest of the group, half of them either being killed or blacked out on the cold ground, or laid against a tree trunk, and the other half seconds away from joining their comrades.
“Are these really mercenaries?” Nicoli asked himself.
“These are mostly untrained children... They're so... sloppy...” Nicoli began to feel pity for the newly found congregation of Ritos and Hylians.
“They need help...”

Then he took a look at the little brat that he just saved, with a scowl tightly fixed on his face for, to him, no comprehendible reason.
“Oh no, of course you don’t need any help.” he said with a heavy dose of sarcasm.

“Well, it’s not like I can decide whether you can stay or not. That’s up to our leader. However, he’s um…not here at the moment...” the little brat said.
At that moment, she looked around with a worried look on her face.

“So, she doesn’t know where her leader is eh? That basically sums it up... a liar and an idiot.” Nicoli thought to himself.

“Look, right now, you can fight with us, I suppose. Just don’t get in my way.” and with that, the girl jumped into the raging battle.

“Humph, I wouldn’t be surprised to see her dead tomorrow...” he said with a scowl on his face.
“In any case, I need to start attacking and show this group how to fight these things...”
Nicoli then put his hat over his head to cover his eyes.
“Alright, I still can see through the fibers, this’ll protect me... to a point.”

With his improvised “armor”, he advanced on a Re-Dead in the middle of the battlefield.
The monster of the underworld saw Nicoli, and let out one of it’s trademark shrieks, to no avail.
“What do you know.. it works.” said the hooded warrior with a smile on his face.

The Re-Dead must have tried to escape, in it’s snail-like moving pattern, but wasn’t quick enough to escape the point of Nicoli’s blade, jamming it into it’s back.

“Two today... three more and it’ll be a record...”

Just behind him, Nicoli heard the sound of Bokoblins, all of them angry yells.
“Blood on the sword... a “dead” Re-Dead at my feet... It won’t attract any attention at all...” Nicoli thought to himself, rebuking his foolish hastiness.

He wheeled around, facing three armed Bokoblins.
“Great.... just great...”

Piuma awoke, leaning against a tree. The rain still came down in torrents, and the thunder and lightning still rocked the skies. Each sound was like a tiny drum beating against Piuma's brain. Every raindrop was a tapdancer on her head, each clink of weapons a sharp stab to her brain, and every rumble in the sky was an earthquake of pain in Piuma's head. But she couldn't just sit there, while the others were fighting, and possibly dying out there. She had to help!

Getting to her feet quickly, she had to lean against the tree for support, because her head was spinning so fast. Around her, she noticed two of the mercenaries, Dakko and Jess, fighting off what seemed to be little blue demons.

"They're Bokoblins idiot. C'mon Piuma, pull it together!" She thought to herself.

She took out her Grappling Hook, locking her eyes on one Bokoblin in particular, which was giving Jess a hard time, as she already had more than one on her case. She swung the Grappling Hook, and let it loose, totally missing the designated target, but hitting one of Dakko's Bokoblins square in the chest, causing blood to spurt out of the wound. The Bokoblin fell to the floor in a heap, but Piuma didn't notice.

Grumbling to herself for missing, she pulled the Grappling Hook back towards her, where it caught the ankle of a Bokoblin along the way, and tripped it to the floor. Dakko disposed of it with a sharp stab to the neck with the Harpoon, and he then proceeded to take care of the Bokoblins which were starting to form a circle around Jess.

Not too far off, a ReDead was shuffling towards the three of the mercenaries and the surrounding Bokoblins, hungry for a living meal. Whilst the mercenaries battled the various Bokoblins now swarming the rainy clearing, the ReDead simply shuffled by, unnoticed.

Piuma fired off the Grappling Hook once more, catching a Bokoblin by it's large earring. She dragged it towards her, while it howled painfully. Before she got it all the way though, the earring ripped, and the creature yelled louder. Jess ended it's pain with a quick slice of the throat.

Even with the three of them working on the Bokoblins however, the Bokoblins were pushing them slowly farther and farther back into the forest. It didn't help that they were all tiring out, and Piuma's head still spun and ached.

"This isn't working." Jess said. "They're starting to wise up and use their shields or dodge."

It was true. Whilst the Bokoblin Shields weren't sturdy enough to block Dakko's big harpoon, they were more than enough to reflect the daggers Jess used. And while the Bokoblins couldn't dodge the speed of Jess' daggers, they were easily didging Dakko's Harpoon.

"Let me try something! But you guys need to be fast!" Piuma explained.

She jumoped in the air, flapping her wings to stay airborne, which she wasn't good at when she was thinking straight, meaning that flying right now was much harder.

"Breeze!" She shouted, using her meager magic. The small wind attack pushed the rain into the eyes of the Bokoblin, blinding them all for a second. The wind attack also pushed Piuma, upwards, where she smacked her head against a tree branch, and fell down to the base of the trunk once more.

Her vision started to blurr, but she smiled with satisfaction as Jess and Dakko took advantage of the attack to decimate the Bokoblins. Heck, Piuma had even managed to use her breeze attack to push a Bokoblin into the hands of the ReDead, which promptly began to squeeze the now helpless little monster.

The rain kept pouring, and everything seemed to fuzz out.

[Emoir]

One of the three Bokoblins charged at Nicoli.
“Well, at least they’re stupid... if they were experienced, they would have advanced as a group.”

With that, he side-stepped the creature just as it was going to stab him, and slashed it as it ran.
Without Nicoli's notice, the other bokoblins had begun to advance on him, swinging their sabers as they menacingly walked toward their enemy.

“Finally... a challenge... their bravado will do them in though.” he thought as he walked toward the right hand bokoblin, attempting to draw an attack.

The bokoblin, thinking that he had Nicoli it it’s grasp, swung his sword as to cleave his head in two, but it was not to be. Nicoli blocked the blow with his right steel forearm brace, and then stabbed the foolhardy attacker in it’s side with his left hand.

“Now it’s a fair fight.” he said, sending a shiver of fear down the last bokoblin’s spine as the black clothed warrior wielding a blood covered sword approached.

The bokoblin flailed around his sword, hoping to get a cheap shot.
But once again, Nicoli blocked a blow with his right forearm, and stabbed with his sword in his left hand.

“Someone has to be holding back the real threat... this is way too easy...” Nicoli said as he examined the status of the group. Those that were knocked out, such as the rito girl that was against the tree trunk, had started to fight again.
They were doing better than he originally thought.
“Still sloppy... but better.”

Nicoli then heard someone yell the word that, at that moment, was the last thing he wanted to hear.

“DARKNUTS!!”

I couldn't believe his eyes, first the re-dead, then the bokoblins, and now these guys! This everything exept a calm day. Drawing my sword, I looked around. Everybody seemed to do well, but i spotted two guys around the group, who i had never seen before. But for those matters were no time now, as a darknut spotted me, and went slowly towards me.

I held my sword in my right hand, describing a vertical line. Then, as the darknut slashed with his sword, I rolled behind him. There, i spotted an opening in the darknut's armor. Quieckly i stabbed in it, curious what would happen, and the helmet and some armor plates of the darknutt fell of.

The darknut seemed to be suprised, but he turned around quickly, to slash at me again. This time, I dodged his attack, and jumped at the darknut's head, stabbing into it. He fell, dead. I coudn't control myself, and looked around again. Luckly, there were only a few darknuts.

But behind me, a re-dead appeared, and jumped on me. I could fell that i was growing weaker, as i felt cold, very cold. My thoughts were still clear though, so that i could slash at the Re-dead, and could stab at his face, killing it.

The storm was getting heavier now, and it would be suicide to fight on, even for the monsters. And the monsters thought so to, as i saw that the rest of the bokoblins began to retreat.

Brather woke up and looked around. She was lying down on a makeshift bed, in a small clearing.

The glow of a camp fire caught her attention, and she walked towards it. It was a large fire, and all the mercenaries were sitting around it, their heads down...

"Hello, thanks for keeping those creeps off of me when I was knocked out." Not a single person lifted their heads...

"Hey, I said hello!" The young wanderer said. She looked around... everyone was here... even two new people. Ketu even had a stump to sit on... Why weren't they talking? She walked towards Lyra, who was nearest to her.

"Lyra... what's going on? Why is everyne so-"

She was cut off by someone grabbing her shoulder. She turned around to see Dakko. He looked different somehow... but how? Then she realized it. His eyes were rolled back into his head.. he was... he was...

"A RE-DEAD!!!"

Brather woke up sweating. Good! It was all a dream!

She looked around. The fight was still going on, but some of the excitement had gone down. About four Darknuts had appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, but they were being defeated semi-easily. The Bokoblins seemed to be retreating, and the Re-deads seemed to have turned on them, mistaking them for the mercenaries and attacking them.

A Darknut and another one of the mercenaries was fighting, paying little attention to anything else. A Bokoblin, one of the few that had not retreated yet, tried to attack Brather. At first she just tried to fry it, but she was met with an intense pain in the areas where she had symbols, her hands, head, and feet ached suddenly. She shook it off and prepared herself to fight the Bokoblin with her staff.

The pain was something she had expected. Using her powers so much in one day, they were drained too far to use, making her body feel the pain of trying to use them. Something like a muscle spasm from using that particular muscle much more than it's used too.

She was lucky enough to have only one Bokoblin to fight. She smashed it extra hard in the head, crushing it's skull in with the same attack she had used when knocked out, only physically. It fell to the ground with a scream of anguish...

Brather fell to her knees. She was too tired to fight now. Her magical, mental, and physical energy was depleted.

It seemed that most of the monsters were in the same state. They were retreating, and Brather was happy to see no evidence of anything but some cuts and bruises on the other mercenaries, except for the small rito girl. She crawled over to the girl and inspected her. She was not dead, luckily, but she was knocked out. She had a few scratches and scrapes, but she would live. Brather sat with her back against the same tree that the girl had hit her head on, staying to protect her from any mosters that would like to fight her. Most of the other mercenaries were holding their own. Of course, she didn't know what good she'd be against anything with the will to fight. She put her staff in its sheath and put the sheath on her lap in a ready-to-fight position.

She put on a strange glare. It was a mix between anger and determination. Was this how things would be in every fight? She would fight, lose, and have to be protected by the others. She cursed herself inwardly, and promised herself one more thing.

This was not how it was going to be. She would fight until the end of the next battle, alone.

[Emoir]

Dakko looked around. Most of the Bokoblins were retreating. He let out a sigh of relief. Now he could relax a bit. He took his harpoon and stabbed a bokoblin in front of him, finishing it off. He sat down as he looked to see how everyone was doing. Most people seemed to be holding their own. He noticed two new people he had not seen before, but he shrugged it off.

He glanced up and saw a few Darknuts. One had come over towards them. Dakko stood up and readied his weapons.

"Well, you're rather big," Dakko mused. He then attempted to stab it with his harpoon, but the armor didn't break. "I guess I should've known that wouldn't work." The Darknut raised its large sword to swing. Dakko blocked with his fishing rod, but the strength of the Darknut pushed him aside easily. Dakko rolled aong the ground, but quickly stood up.

He readied his fishing pole, cast it at the hilt of the sword, and hooked it. Smiling, he tried to pull it away from the Darknut, but it pulled back. Dakko was pulled toward the Darknut, then slammed into the ground hard. He coughed a small bit of blood. He tried to stand, but felt pain in his back. The Darknut swinged its sword downward. Dakko managed to roll out of the way. Using his harpoon for support, he managed to stand again.

I need to get its armor off. He cast his fishing line at it, and managed to hook part of its armor. Dakko pulled, and the metal plate the Darknut wore fell off. The Darknut charged at him and swung its sword. Dakko blocked, but was thrown against a tree. He fell to the ground. He lifted his harpoon. If I can just land a hit. He threw his harpoon, but missed.

He cursed the Darknut under his breath. He didn't know if he could handle something this strong.

Lyra looked up when she heard someone yell out, “Darknuts!” She saw that these darknuts were about twice her height, and were covered in armor. They were advancing on the group of mercenaries. “Dammit! How can I beat these things?” she asked herself, trying to look for a weakness. She had to duck when one of the darknuts swung its sword. She quickly moved out of the way as it moved towards her. Looking around anxiously, she saw what the darknuts looked like from behind. She saw that their armor was held together by suspender-like things. ‘So that’s their weakness!’ she thought, smiling slightly.

Facing the darknut, she was ready to move at any given moment. The darknut swung its sword. Knowing that the darknut would waste a few seconds recovering from the attack, Lyra ducked and rolled behind the monster. Swinging her sword, she slashed at the suspenders, breaking them. The armor fell off of the darknut, and the darknut turned to Lyra. Now that the armor wasn’t weighing it down, the darknut was able to move a lot faster than it did before. Lyra quickly bolted out of the way as the darknut ran towards her. Lyra jumped at the darknut, stabbing it in the back. The darknut fell to the ground, dead.

Sheathing her sword, Lyra looked around. The bokoblins seemed to be retreating. “Why are they retreating?” she asked herself. She was soon answered by the rain, which was now falling heavily. “Great,” Lyra muttered, wiping the water off of her face in vain. She then realized how tired out she was from all of the fighting. Leaning against a tree, Lyra closed her eyes and let the rain fall on her face.

Thick black clouds rolled overhead and thunder boomed ominously. Far below the storm clouds and the forest’s canopy, the creatures’ numbers finally began to dwindle.

Ebony was tired and annoyed and broken and chewed on. Which is to say, not in the best of moods. Stray hairs clung to her face with sweat, her ears burned from the screams, she was wielding the sword in her right hand now because her left arm was gnawed at and weak and didn’t seem to want to obey her mind, her right shoulder was bruising already from being clubbed and hurt when she moved it and the same club blow had hit her neckring and forced the metal of it into the flesh around her neck. The bite was what worried her most, though. She had smelt the re-deads’ breath and she didn’t want anything from their mouths in her bloodstream. The cut on her neck annoyed her, too, she would have to remove her neckring to treat it. Angrily, she tore the sword out of the fresh corpse. Droplets of blood, black in the limited light, flew from its blade.

Here to help us? Wonderful. She thought as the newcomer introduced himself, slashing wildly at a nearby bokoblin and missing because it was several feet further away than she thought. Kill the things that are trying to kill us. That’ll help.

Lightning tore though the still darkening sky. The temperature dropped noticeably. Someone yelled about Darknuts, but Ebony was busy enough with the creatures that were already there. The bokoblin Ebony had failed to slash before leapt at her and got caught in its leap by a second slash so weak the creature hardly slowed or moved, just gained a nasty gash in its leg. Ebony stepped back uncertainly and the monster landed just in front of her instead of burying its claws into her chest. Confused and suddenly unsure of what to do, Ebony brought the sword down though its back and through its stomach and into the ground a little. For a second, she stopped. Weak and exhausted, the young pharmacist leaned on the handle of the sword to catch her breath, attempting to move the fingers in her left hand. She could, kind of. That was good.

Before she even got a chance to feel relieved, a clenched fist the size of Ebony’s head smacked into her chest, removing the air from her lungs exceedingly efficiently and throwing her backwards. She hit the ground hard, first her back and then the back of her head, and she skidded, small stones tearing at her back and shoulders. She stood as quickly as she could, which wasn’t actually very quickly, struggling to her feet and then standing shakily. Getting up after that blow had been hard, staying stood was harder still. Fighting at all in her condition, let alone winning, was nigh on impossible.

Still, Ebony stumbled towards the sword, plucking it out of the bokoblin’s spine and holding it rather shakily, attempting to hold it with both hands but actually just holding her left hand’s fingers around the handle with her right. The clouds decided to drop their water, soaking every one and thing there, the forest canopy failed at being an umbrella. Fortunately, there were only four Darknuts, Ebony noted. Fortunately? ONLY? Those things are huge! What am I thinking - ‘Only?’ Also, the Re-deads and Bokoblin were, or seemed to be, retreating. I’d rather be fighting the bokoblin, why can’t the Darknuts be going?. Deciding not to think anymore, Ebony tossed herself to the ground and let the gigantic sword fly over her head. Using the sword to lean on, she stood. For a second, Ebony could have sworn she saw something tear out of the bushes, and then the Darknut stopped. It had been hit in its huge back by what appeared to be a three-pointed somthingorother. Whatever it was, its accuracy was deadly, and Ebony was glad that it was deadly to the monsters and not them. Its thrower, an indigo-haired young man, emerged from the foliage and for the first time, Ebony decided to check how everyone else was fairing.

Well, on the bright side, the bulk of them were doing better than her. Still, most were hurt. That little Rito girl – Pu…, Pi…., Piu…, Ducky. While memorizing books on botany word for word wasn’t all too difficult to her, Ebony had never been good with remembering things like names. Ducky (Ooc: Piuma, that’s going to be Ebony’s nickname for you now, I hope you don’t mind ^^U If you do mind, tell me.) was unconscious. The girl who had hit that guy in the lines was with her. Deciding that she would probably help more as a healer than a fighter right now, Ebony walked over to the duck-billed rito, looking in her bag for smelling salts. One clay bottle had broken when she was hit and hit the ground before, but fortunately, and was just a bottle of water and with the looming clouds overhead it didn’t seem like water was something they would be lacking anytime soon.

Finally finding the smelling salts, she began to attempt to wake the rito girl up. She eventually did.

“Wake up, Ducky. Battle going on, sleeping not good right now!” Ebony said in an exceedingly false chirpy tone that did a very poor job of hiding impatience.

“Is- is everyone okay?” Ducky asked weakly. Pathetic as she liked to think it was, Ebony could not help but admire how the rito girl was concerned for everyone else when she was hurt herself. “My head hurts…” Ducky added quietly.

“Well that’s natural, since you hit it. Be more careful, klutz.” Ebony snapped, turning to see how the hattle was going. The last of the darknuts fell, but the entire group looked a mess. Quite frankly, Ebony wanted nothing more right now than to go to sleep and stay asleep for a long time, but she hadn’t contributed much to the fight and it was only good manners that she help out after. Suddenly, though:-

“Everyone, plug your ears!” The fisherman yelled, standing weakly and using his harpoon as a balance. The re-deads scream…well, Ebony had heard it once and she doubted she’d forget it her entire life. While ‘her entire life’ wouldn’t be all too long if this kept up, it was a pretty nasty sound, and she recognized it the second she heard it.

“It’s coming from the ground!” Yelled the short one. Lyra, Ebony thought her name was, the one with the funny ears. Ebony decided that her nickname could be ‘Ears’. It was easier to remember, and it suited her.

The sound stopped suddenly as it had started. Ebony tried to take her hands from her ears, but found that her body wasn’t listening to her brain. The stupid noise had paralyzed her! All around her, the others were having similar difficulties. Bokoblin, about fifteen of them, emerged from behind trees. The rain fell in sheets and torrents. There wasn’t a thing anyone could do as, one by one, they were bound with thick rough rope at the hands and ankles and dragged, unable to struggle, into the forest.

[Emoir]

As he ran toward where he thought the yell had origonated, he noticed a beaten up, red-haired girl that seemed to not be doing too well, and decided to cut her workload a little bit. Nicoli then stabbed one of the bokoblins that were attacking her in the back.
“Hello! I‘m here to help all of you! I was a little late!” he said to the girl as he was slashing and blocking the blue maggots attacks.
She seemed to give a nod of approval as she was slashing away, but she didn’t seem to land any strong blows...
All of a sudden she was on the ground, and a giant wad of metal was standing in front of her.
Nicoli decided to help this girl once more.
“You don’t have much experience with these things... be defensive.” he thought as he advanced on the Darknut.

The iron-clad monstrosity attempted to cleave Nicoli as the bokoblin did. Nicoli, as before, jumped to the left, trying to find a weakness he could stab at.
The Darknut wheeled around and knocked him to the ground with it’s shield, leaving Nicoli open to attack.
The behemoth lifted his equally large sword above his head for a death blow.

“I can’t block that with any ‘forearm brace’...” he thought as his mind was racing, still trying to find a way to win, even though he was in the clutches of death.

The Darknut turned, as to gain more power, but also exposed his armor’s laces.
“That’s it!” Nicoli then jumped to his feet, rolled, and slashed at the monster’s weakness.

The Darknut seemed surprised and stopped for a moment, which was all Nicoli needed.
The last monster fell to the cold hard ground.

He looked around, and didn’t see the red haired girl, but he did see something knock him on the head with a mallet.

The last thing he felt before the dark, was a bristly old rope being tied around him.

The day hadn't ended well for the mercenaries. Being captured by the Bokoblins was quite the lousy experience, at least that's what Piuma thought. The ropes were tied too tightly, the forest was soaked by the torrential downpours of the rain, and Piuma felt worse than a Rito that had flown into a glass window at full speed.

Despite the fact that the girl Ebony had woken her up, Piuma could still feel unconciousness gripping the edges of her mind, slowly trying to take over again. But Piuma wanted to know what the heck was gonna happen to them. What the Bokoblins were doing wasn't right. Piuma thought that wild Bokoblins would cleave up their adversaries on sight; the mercenaries had certainly done that to the Bokoblins, after all.

Being one of the lighter group members, Piuma had been slung over the shoulder of one of the Bokoblins. It had it's advantages and disadvantages though. A good thing was, she wasn't being dragged in the mud. The bad thing was, every breath she took was filled with the Bokoblin's nasty scent. Yuck!

At first, Piuma stayed silent, but the curiosity of the Bokoblin's behaviour overwhelemed her, and she whispered into the Bokoblin's ear. "Hey! Yeah, you! Want a nice, shiny Rupee?"

The thought of something shiny clearly intrigued the Bokoblin, whom Piuma could tell, was stupid; even by Bokoblin standards. It glanced at Piuma out of the corner of it's eye, to let her know it was listening.

"Well, if you want the shiny Rupee, then you'll have to tell me a secret!" Piuma said, trying to sound genuinely playful. "You know, like a game?"

The Bokoblin nodded, but it was still suspicious. Still, shiny things were awesome; this Bokoblin in particular collected Rupees to see them shine in the light.

"Okay..." Piuma thought of how to best put her question. "Why are you taking us somewhere?" She asked slowly and clearly.

The Bokoblin didn't know if he should answer, but the prospect of a shiny item nagged at his thoughts. He thought about it for a moment; a very short moment. Bokoblins didn't require much logic. It was simply "shiny = good" and "no shiny = bad".

The Bokoblin opened his mouth, and finally, Piuma would know why they were being dragged into the forest, rather than being killed on the spot.

"Brrrrrraaa!" A Bokoblin came up behind Piuma's captor and wacked him on the head, warning him not to say a word, or else they'd all be in trouble. He then came around and gave Piuma a searching look, a snarl set on his face. He took his sword and bonked Piuma on the head with the hilt of it. A sharp pain shot through Piuma's already aching head.

Grinning in satisfaction, the Bokoblin turned and marched away, leading the group of Bokoblins deeper into the woods. Piuma's Bokoblin had his eyes now locked ahead, and when Piuma tried to speak to him again, he tapped the hilt of his sword as an obvious warning.

Piuma frowned. This whole march into the forest was annoying. She was soaked, she ached, and now her head was spinning even worse. The pain was too distracting, and Piuma wasn't able to think up a plan. She needed time and rest to clear her head. Not knowing how long the journey would be, she closed her eyes and let the darkness take her, hoping she would wake up fast enough if something really really bad happened.

[Emoir]

Brather was ready to fight now. She may not have had the energy to do so earlier, but anger would fuel her now. When they started to bind her she tried to use her powers, but like before she was hit with a sharp pain in the areas where her symbols were. No powers... greaaaaaat.

She was bound by a particularly nasty looking Bokoblin. He only had two teeth, and he was covered in a brown substance that Brather was hoping was mud.

It stood her up on her feet and got another to march her with the group of mercenaries, all of them bound. Some were walking while others were being carried. They must have been the more livelier ones that hadn't given up. The ugly Bokoblin (though Brather considered all of them ugly, this one was really ugly in her mind) grabbed her staff and her make-shift staff sheath. It tossed the sheath and took her staff into it's left hand. It started to swing it around and hit random things.

Brather felt a surge of rage. That thing was using har staff like a common club! If it was damaged when she got out of this... if she got out of this... she would make the Bokoblin suffer. The Bokoblin did not notice that Brather was glaring at it until it turned back to her. All it did was let out a small Bokoblin laugh and swung the staff more wildly. It swung the staff at a solid rock to Brather's left.

And for the first time Brather could remember, and it was something she would never forget her staff cracked. It sounded like the breaking of a thousand sticks. That may not have had much signifigance for anyone else... but to her it was a big deal. A REALLY big deal.

"MY STAFF! YOU BROKE MY STAFF! I'LL KILL YOU!"

And she tried to use her power again. Her rage blinded her from her pain, her pointlesseness, everything but killing that Bokoblin. Her symbols glowed a pure black. The light around them dimmed greatly. Brather's eyes, however, glowed red. Her rage, built up from years of being in fights, from agrivation in her search of Krid, all of the problems she had at childhood, all of it concentrated on that one Bokoblin. And then there was another crack. Even as Brather fought to overcome her bonds, her staff fell into two pieces. Brather stopped dead in her tracks. It was like her world had stopped. She collapsed onto the ground. Her symbols, however, still glowed their black color. They did not stop. Two Bokoblins picked her up, bound her legs, and threaded a stick through her ropes. They carried her like they would food.

The ugly Bokoblin, however, did not move. It stood their until one of its buddies ran up to it and tapped it. The Bokoblin fell to the ground, dead. The cause of the death? It could have died purely of fright...

Its buddy, not feeling any sadness for the death, took its items and the two halves of the staff, which it thought would make good kindling.

Dakko sat on the ground as some bokoblins approached him. He put away his harpoon and fishing rod, and closed his eyes. He was a bit ashamed that he had no energy left to fight a few simple bokoblins. He felt the bokoblins tie his arms and legs, and then grab him by the arms and dragged him. He decided that instead of struggling; he would just rest and enjoy the ride, maybe he could fight later.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much to enjoy as he was dragged over many small rocks and pebbles, which scratched his wounded skin. While he was being dragged, he was carried over a bee hive which held a few angry bees that came out and stung him.

"Be more careful where you drag me," he panted to the bokoblins. For a response, he felt a sharp pain on his head. Dakko couldn't believe what was happening to him. He had come to West Island to fish, but now he was being dragged off by bokoblins. I really didn't see this coming.

He looked around and saw the other mercenaries. Some were being carried, others dragged. He thought about attempting to fight back, but quickly dismissed the idea as foolishness. With his hands and feet tied up, he found no reason to resist. Even if he could escape this one bokoblin's grasp, he didn't have enough strength left to fight any of them.

The only thing I can do is wait now. He waited patiently, wondering where everyone was being taken to, and wondering what was going to happen when they got there. Dakko also questioned himself why the bokoblins were capturing them. From what he was told, previous mercenary groups had been killed in the forest, so why wouldn't the bokoblin kill them there. It seemed like an easy task, as most of them had lost the strength to fight. Whatever the reason, Dakko was sure he would find out when they arrived at wherever the bokoblins were taking them.

Dakko nodded his head down and tried to rest, though he felt a large pain when he was dragged over a sharp rock the size of his fist.

[Emoir]

“Great... just great... all this... in one day...” Nicoli said as he stared into the face of the Big Octo, trying to steer his ship out of the whirlpool.
“I wish... I had learned how to shoot bow... oh well... it isn’t like I have anything to live for anyway...” so Nicoli conceded himself to his ill fate, and looked at the black, stormy sky. As he looked harder into the face of the Moon, he noticed some shapes in the sky, like brown blurs.
“Those aren’t gulls...”

All of a sudden, the blurs started to attack the giant squid, killing it, sending it to the depths below.
One of the Rito landed on the ship, to examine the Hylian they had just saved.

“Are you alright?” asked the Rito.
“No...”

“Why not?”
Nicoli just glared into the face of the benevolent Rito.

“Do you have any kin?”
“No...”

“Friends?”
“No...”

“A home?”
“No... all of them... gone... hammerlock...”

“Hmmm...” the Rito called over one of his compatriots.
“Quill, I will take this one to the Aire, you continue your delivery to Outset.”

As the other one went off, the Rito approached the boy again.
“Little Hylian... you can have a home... where I take you, will be the most marvelous place you will ever set your eyes upon... and you’ll have an island, full of a new family, and...” the Rito was cut off.

“I already have a family, they are gone, no other will suffice...”

“Uh...”
“I am the last of my kind... I wish to join them... wherever they are... kill me...”

The Rito just stared in disbeleif.
“I said kill me...”

“...I won’t, it’s just... not...”

“KILL ME NOW!!!”

Nicoli woke up with a start.
“AAAUGHH!!”

“Braaaa!” the Bokoblin whacked his disturbed prisoner with, seemingly, one half of a broken staff.

“Ugh...” Nicoli was still in a daze from his nightmare.
“I really wish I hadn’t attacked Koli way back when...” said Nicoli, his mind full of regrets.
“He was like a brother...”

Nicoli then looked at the other mercenaries, all of them were bound; and either walking, dragged, or carried such as Nicoli.
“This is a good sign...” thought Nicoli

Then a ray of hope shone on him.
“They didn’t take my dagger and sword... heh, heh, heh...” Nicoli then pondered what he should do.
“I shouldn’t try anything until we get to our destination, or if they try to kill us... wait... there’s something else I can do... súyë...”

He then looked around to see how many Rito there were, there was only one that he could see, the little one that he saw earlier knocked out against a tree.
“Jackpot... she‘ll wake up eventually...”

“I want to walk...” he said to his captor. The bokoblin looked to his superior, it nodded, and Nicoli was thrown to the ground with a half smile on his face, knowing what would eventually come to be.

[Emoir]

Ketu’s stomach heaved up into his throat, then down, then up again. Ugh… what.. moving… My head… what happe- He Froze, stopping himself from opening his eyes widely or touching the back of his head. An accented voice spoke,
“Hey, Brutus, how’s he doin?” A gruff voice that sounded like it struggled with the language replied,
“Real good. He hasn’t moved at all, how hard did you hit him? Didn’t kill him did you?”

There was a hoarse laugh.
“Ha, no. Although I’m surprised he hasn’t woken up yet, he shouldn’t be out this long. Just watch out all right?”
“Yeah, sure”

Ketu kept his eyes closed and his breathing regulated. I wondered how those two hadn’t been sent in the earlier bands of mercenaries… Although this really doesn’t explain anything, are they working for the monsters on the island, acting on their own, or what? Damn… my head hurts like hell… Furthermore, why did they capture me? And where are they going with me? Ugh, this is so confusing….

He hung limply on the shoulder of whoever was carrying him, so, there seems to be only two… I can’t sense anyone or anything else. If I take time and gather enough magical energy, I can easily change it into a more potent form and discharge it into the one carrying me, then fight the other guy one on one. Gah, who am I kidding? I feel so weak right now I’d be lucky not to pass out from gathering too much energy. But… If they’re worried about me waking up, then why didn’t they kill me when they had the chance? And where are they taking me? It’s probably wisest to just stay like this for now... Not that I have any other options. Ketu’s shoulder throbbed, the sword that stabbed him there earlier was thin, needle like in fact, so the wound wasn’t wide. However, it had gone clean through his shoulder and came out the other side.

There was a bustle of noise in the distance, like people talking. Well, not people but.. something.. The noise grew louder until the cloaked half-breed was able to realize that it was Bokoblin who were making it. Bokoblin? Wait... is this one of the encampments? So they have some kind of connection with the monsters then….
“Hey, the two mercenaries are back!” a phlegm choked voice said.
“Yeah we got the leader,”

There was a low, angry growl from a Bokoblin followed by a loud clang, as if two swords were being crossed together.
“What the, hey let us pass, we did what we were told…” the accented man said.
“You killed several from our village…”
“It was an attack, we had to make it look like we were with them,”
“Our scouts said that you enjoyed slaughtering our kind,”
“We don’t have time for this garbage, just let us through,”

There was another growl, and the blades scrapped together as they were lowered.
“Dumb little pig faced sh* ts,” the accented man muttered. Bokoblins chattered and snarled all around the two men proceeded further into the village. A putrid smell traveled through the air, forcing the half breed to struggle as not to gag. After walking for about 15 minutes or so there was a loud shuffling and Ketu felt a cloth pass over his back as the two mercenaries headed through a draped door. The noise from outside faded and the sound was replaced with crackling torches.

“Bow before the Bokoblin chieftain!” a Bokoblin growled.
“Hell no!”
“BOW!!”
“Lets just do it Zeris, it’s not worth the trouble,”
“No! I’m not bowing to my head to a pig demon,”

After much grumbling clothing shifted and ruffled as the two bent over.
“Now, what business do you have with the great chieftain…”
“We got your stupid bounty,” one said, and with that Ketu felt a hand placed underneath him as he was pulled off the shoulder and tossed to the ground. He winced, trying not to grunt.
“Is he dead? He is no good to me dead,” A booming voice snarled.
“Nah, little sucker’s still alive,” the accented man sad. A swift boot landed in Ketu’s gut and he coughed loudly, wincing and clutching his stomach. So much for feigning unconsciousness… The half breed thought as he opened his eyes. The world was dark and hazy at first, yellow straw like walls formed to his vision as well as a large thrown like chair with guards standing around it.

“Good, take him to a cage and begin the ritual,” The booming voice said. Ketu began to look behind him to see the speaker but two Bokoblin grabbed him underneath his arms and yanked him to his feet. Ritual? Ehh… This isn’t my day… The half breeds vision formed as he was dragged out of the hut and into the village outside. Dozens of huts and poorly built wooden houses littered the area. Hundreds of Bokoblin scurried to and fro, most of which weren’t carrying weapons.

There was a loud banging noise that rang in the cloaked figures head as he was marched through the village. Turned his head he could see a Bokoblin with a hammer pounding a red hot sword on a rock. So they do forge their own weapons… The half breed was taken to another part of the Bokoblin village and into a small hut, a red robbed creature stood hunched over a table, not noticing the Bokoblin who entered.

“Hey, here you go, the chieftain says to start the ritual right away,” a Bokoblin growled. The figure at the table turned around sharply, it had a large tropical beak and a strange golden crest on its head. A.. Wizzrobe?? How do the Bokoblin have connections with all these other monsters?!
“Oooh, good good good, put him there put him there,” The bird like creature said quickly. It’s voice reminded Ketu of a turkey… The Bokoblin took the half breed over to the floor and forced him to his knees. Picking up several shackles that were staked into the ground they clamped it around the cloaked figures neck and arms.

“Sooo, my little blue skinned friends, how are things going for the village?” The Wizzrobe said in its funny yet freakish voice.
“Excellent, preparations are under way, soon we’ll have enough to drive the vile black creatures from our land,” the Bokoblin replied. There was a short pause, “Also we captured the rest of the group, they’ll be arriving shortly. So don’t waste all your time with this one,” The Bokoblin added.
“I’ll begin preparations immediately,” The Wizzrobe said, smiling. The two Bokoblin grunted and left, leaving the half breed alone with the Wizzrobe.

Ketu straightened his back and tilted his head to one side, then to the other, cracking his neck All right, good, sounds like the group is all right, for the most part anyways. The Wizzrobe turned around to face him. The creature placed its feathered palm on Ketu’s shoulder.
“Mm, they were right, I can sense a lot of magical energy within you… You’ll make a fine contribution.” The Wizzrobe said with a vile grin.
“Contribution? To what?” Ketu asked, looking up at the monster.
“To our magic pool,”
“…”
“You see, we used to take residence in the mountains on this island, until one day a dark cloud ascended from a northerly wind, with it brought the black beasts. The black beasts drove us from the mountains, proving to be much stronger than us. The black beasts have been multiplying and growing, thusly taking more and more territory. We’re being driven further and further to the southern most point of the island until eventually we’ll have nowhere to run. They’ll kill us eventually had we not taken action,”

Ketu sat there, amazed by what he was hearing.
“Take action? You mean fight back? Don’t tell me you fought along side the mercenary groups…” He said.
“What?! Fight along side scum like you? I’d rather die, the sooner we’ve rid the island of all of your kind the better, there’s far too many creatures like you in this world,”
“I’d have to disagree…”
“Filthy Rito, the Hylians are no better… Anyways, the mountain used to be volcanic, so since the black beasts reside there as their home base… Well long story short we’re going to blow up the mountain,” The creature said. It laughed, which sounded like a turkey gobbling.
“You’re.. going to blow up the mountain? You can’t blow up a mountain… Unless by blow up you mean cause it to erupt, in which case you’d need a HELL of a lot of magical energy, an unfathomably large amount… Even if you had an army of your kind you couldn’t do it,”
“Oh, not so… See, we’re going to use all of the magical energy in the magic pool and place it under the magma, then because of the amount of pressure underneath it the magma will rise and the erupt,”

Ketu scoffed.
“I’m not stupid, that’s what I meant. You’ll never gather enough magical energy,”
“No? We’re almost complete…”
“Sure… Anyways, if you’re going to devote me to your little magic pool of energy then mind telling me how the other mercenaries fared against those black creatures you spoke of? Are they beatable?”
“The black beasts? Oh, no, the mercenaries never got to them,”
“What?! What happened?!”
“Well, see, we intercepted them as they came into the forest, pick them off one by one, then bring them back to one of the villages. We’d chain the people down and siphon all of the magical energy from their body until they were dried husks. Of course we’d have to give them provisions from time to time to keep them alive throughout the process; it takes a few weeks to complete. Most can’t handle the strain of the energy loss all at once and die. We really should be thanking you, saving us so much trouble by delivering countless resources to us,” The Wizzrobe said. Ketu’s eyes were widened with horror and shock, which the Wizzrobe took great pleasure in and laughed loudly. “You should last a few days though,” The Wizzrobe added through is laughter.

“You.. drained all the life from all of them, every last one… All of those lives for your stupid little cause? Why didn’t you just leave to another island?!” Ketu shouted, feeling himself getting angry. The creature paused, then grinned.
“You know, the thought occurred to me once, but this is much more fun,”

Ketu stuttered, breathing deeply. He closed his eyes, trying to calm himself.
“Anyways, the ritual will begin shortly, so just sit back and relax,” The Wizzrobe said as it took a box of a special white powder and drew a pattern on the floor around the half breed. The pattern glowed and sunk into the floor becoming an embedded symbol in the dirt. At once Ketu gagging, it felt like someone had looped a rope around his neck and tugged back, trying to pull something out of him through his throat. He struggled against the chains unsuccessfully, the Wizzrobe laughed.
“I NEVER get tired of watching this,” he said with a grin.

Ketu could feel the magical energy leaving his body, making it incredibly hard to focus, much less use his abilities to any degree of successfulness. Come on, think Ketu, think… There’s a way out of this… You can’t die here, there’s a way out, just think.. Straining Ketu looked up to the table the Wizzrobe had been at earlier, there were various bottles and potions, one of which was a rather large bottle of sea water used for several experiments, red potions, green potions, even blue potions also lay on the table.

I’ve only got a bit of time before this draining spell takes full effect and I wont be able to focus enough to use magic, regardless of how much I’ll have left in me. Pressing his palm on the ground the half breed shut his eyes tightly, focussing all of his magical energy into his hand, lifting it slightly he hit the ground with his palm. The magical energy traveled quickly along the ground and to the table, shooting up with only enough force to bump one leg upwards. The table rattled and bottle of sea water fell off, smashing onto the ground and spilling everywhere.

“Hey, come on now don’t make a mess…” The Wizzrobe laughed, “Impressive that you could gather energy to cast a spell though,”
The water leaked across the floor creating a puddle around the Wizzrobes feet and towards the half breed. Ketu strained, reaching out and pulling against his chains to reach the water. The water trickled slowly towards him and Ketu strained, swelling up all the magical energy he could in his body. Finally two of his fingers touched the water, the half breed rejoiced self consciously and a wide grin spread across his face.

The Wizzrobe stopped laughing and stared at the cloaked half breed.
“Wait, what are you-” before he could finish Ketu unleashed a massive burst of electricity into the water, which raced along the floor and into the monster. The Wizzrobe screamed in a gobble like fashion, twisting too and fro from the pain. Bringing his hands to the metal chains Ketu used his remaining magical energy to manifest into fire, heating the chains. Tugging sharply he snapped the wakened chains around his arms and undid the one around his neck with his hands.

The spell faded and he was once again in control of his magic. Ketu clenched his fists and grinned, grabbing the smouldering half cooked Wizzrobe around the throat and picking him up. The creature gagged and coughed loudly.
“Now, see the pin you’ve put so many through,” Ketu growled slamming the Wizzrobes frail body onto the ground in the centre of the ritual circle.
“No! What are you-” Grabbing the neck chain he clamped it around the creatures neck and held the lock with his hands, heating it up incredibly hot and melting it so it couldn’t be taken off.

That’s when Ketu saw it, thin florescent green strands leaving the creatures body and going into the design on the floor. Those are… energy roots.. the path which magical energy travels through the body… Ketu felt faint for a moment and stumbled.

As he stood and watched the energy transfer through the strands, Ketu felt a desire come over him, he knelled down beside the Wizzrobe and grabbed one of the roots. The desire was overwhelming, a sudden pain shot through Ketus right hand, he failed to notice it. A long line traced laterally down his palm, like a cut. It opened and revealed a mouth filled with row upon row of tiny jagged teeth. Moving his hand into one of the roots the mouth opened wider and the energy fed into it rather than the design on the ground.

Slowly the energy roots all stopped draining their energy into the symbol on the floor, and every single one siphoned into the mouth. Ketu tried to stop himself, gripping his wrist with his left hand and pulling back, but the hand wouldn’t move. Ketu shuddered in ecstasy as the energy all flowed into the mouth and inside of him. It was bliss, and the hand devoured the energy rapidly, like a starving man who’d been unleashed upon an elaborate banquet. The Wizzrobe gagged as the magical flow sped up, flowing out of its body much, much more rapidly than it had with the ritual. The creature suddenly jolted as the last bit of energy left its body, its mouth opened and tongue flopped out as its eyes rolled into the back of its head. Ketu gripped his hand, twitching and grinning widely with wide eyes.
“De-delicious”

Ketu suddenly bolted back as if he’d awoken from a dream.
“W-woah, what the…” He muttered, staggering. He grabbed his hand and pulled his sleeve back, checking it. It was normal. Was it… dreaming? What was that? He thought as he looked up at the dead Wizzrobe that lay strapped to the ground. The half breed stuttered, griping his head and shaking it. What… wait… how.. A.. a hallucination brought on by loosing so much energy.. of course… that explains it… I better get out of here and find the group… I can only pray their all right.

Ketu ran towards the door when he stopped, he felt.. Different, like he was bustling and overflowing with energy, "I feel, well.. Great!"

As she leaned against the tree, Lyra heard someone yelling “Cover your ears!” Opening her eyes, Lyra saw more Re-Deads. Their screech suddenly rang out through the forest, and Lyra felt herself becoming paralyzed. ‘Dammit, not this again!’ She thought angrily. She suddenly heard sticks breaking behind her. Using her peripheral vision as best she could, she saw the bokoblins coming from the forest.

Lyra suddenly felt something push her from the side. She fell on the ground stiffly and slightly confused. Then, it seemed like someone was tying her arms together, and then her legs. She saw that the bokoblins were capturing the mercenaries! “This is just great,” Lyra muttered sarcastically. Lyra felt herself being picked up and tossed over a bokoblin’s shoulder. “Uck!” She exclaimed as she found out the bokoblins smelled horrible. She tried to fight the bokoblin that was holding her, but the only thing that she got was a smack in the head. Her head bursting with pain, Lyra stopped fighting.

After a while, Lyra noticed two of the bokoblins were looking at her and talking quickly in their strange language. Every so often they would point at her ears. She glared at them, angry. One of the bokoblins stuck out is tongue at her, and the two of them walked away. ‘What was that all about?’ Lyra thought, still confused.

Lyra looked around at the others. A majority of them were being dragged in the mud. However, a few of them, like herself, were being carried by their captors. Lyra saw that Brather was tied to a stick and was being carried like freshly-caught game. And she did not seem happy about it. Lyra wondered silently, ‘Just what is going on? Where the hell are we going? Why have they captured us instead of killing us?’ There questions bounced around in her head as the mercenaries were taken deeper and deeper into the dense forest.