The Secondary Saga

[Dark Link]

Blood. Seeping from the burning cut on her forearm, Lyra was almost paralysed as she looked at her freshly-sustained injury. It's not like that had been by any means the first time she got wounded — she had gone through worse even in her relatively short lifetime. But it wasn't common for her to get injured in combat, primarily because she almost always focused on hiding or running away. The laceration she now bore on her body served as a strong reminder of the serious, potentially fatal, consequences she faced by doing this.

But the whistling of arrows that went past her head kicked her out of her stupor and forced the Hylian girl to hit the dirt. Raising her head, she witnessed the flying pony she had attempted to aid earlier get caught up in a net and plummet to the ground. Every fiber of her being was practically screaming at her, telling her to run and seek cover, to get out of there. But for all the terror she felt, it was overwhelmed by a desire to help this creature. No matter how much her mind was telling her how insane it was to expose herself to danger any further, the resolve in her heart would not yield. And so, after picking herself back up, she sprinted towards the approximate direction of where she saw the creature fall.

She did her best to navigate through the chaos of battle, dodging and weaving through the crowd and ducking to avoid any of the projectiles flying overhead. In any other situation, the teenager girl would have been completely overwhelmed by shock and awe at all the new and unfamiliar things that surrounded her. Metallic objects that made banging noises and fired seemingly invisible missiles, humans with strange and unusual attires, steel automatons that walked around by their own strength...Yet, the environment was so saturated with these things that all that Lyra's mind could only filter out the 'noise' and focus on the dangers that surrounded the archer.

Through some odd combination of speed, dexterity and ample amounts of luck, the blonde lass managed to reach her destination. The net she saw before lied cut up on the ground and there was once again movement in the sky — it seemed that the mare was somehow able to escape her previous conundrum regardless. But what remained of her attackers seemed determined to bring her down in spite of this setback. A group of goblins — short green creatures adorned in animal hide — continued to fire at the brown warhorse, propelling bullets of stone with their slings and throwing their short spears. A look of anger and determination formed on Lyra's face. They weren't going to succeed if she had anything to say about it.

The Hylian girl retrieved another arrow — it was at this point that she was immensely grateful she had 'acquired' a good supply of them prior to heading off on her journey. Trying to pick a target, she noticed that some of the feral midgets were standing right below a tree which carried some form of hardened fruit on its branches. Hoping to distract as many of them as possible in one fell swoop, she took aim at one of the brown nuts and fired away. She was in luck; it seemed that something had already weakened the hold the branch had on the fruits — perhaps something the mare had done — as the impact caused a chain reaction that caused several of them to plummet to the ground. They hit two of the goblinoids, who were unfortunate enough to be standing right below, knocking them out cold.

However, this prompted one of the creatures to turn around, its red eyes meeting the archer's blue gaze. Switching directions, it positioned its short spear in front of itself before assaulting its new target. Lyra was attentive enough that she managed to nimbly sidestep the charge. Using the opportunity, she cried out and slammed into her assailant. But her lack of appreciable body mass and momentum resulted in her attack having little impact, only pushing the goblin a few feet further. She even managed to lose her footing in the process and plummeted face first into the ground.

Finally able to turn around, the spearman flashed a malevolent grin with its sharp teeth, readying its long weapon in an attempt to impale the teenage girl. However, it hadn't paid attention to its massive troll ally, which was fighting a group nearby. When the giant prepared its colossal club for another swing, it unwittingly hit the petite creature behind it, sending it flying into the air.

The Hylian got back up and dusted herself off. But before she could do anything else, another two of the goblinoids approached her, their own spears at the ready. Lyra instinctively reached for her dagger, but knew it was pointless — even with their short size, the goblins had enough reach with their weapons to skewer her before she could get in range to slash at them. She slowly backed away from the green creatures, a hunger for blood shining in their eyes. After a few steps, she bumped into a tree. Scanning her surroundings, she didn't see anyone who could assist her. She was gripped by terror — it seemed like the archer's luck had ran out.

Fortunately for her, there was someone who had noticed her plight — the winged horse she had come to assist. Like lightning from above, it swooped in and slammed into one of the creatures, knocking it away. Before its partner could react to this sudden assault, the armoured mare managed to lift her back hoofs and strike at the goblin's face, causing it to trip and fall. Shaking her green and yellow mane, the warhorse turned to her would-be ally: "Careful there, filly! You don't want to try and take on too many of them at once!"

"Th-thank you!" the lass responded in sheer relief, her mind still failing to process the fact that she was addressed by a talking pony. But there was little time for that. Noticing something, Lyra gasped and reached out for another arrow, aiming it in front of her. Raw Onion was surprised by this gesture, but the Hylian girl wasn't aiming at her rescuer — a goblin was charging at the armoured mare from behind with an axe. The pointy-eared lass felt her hands trembling, but she took a deep breath to steady her aim, her focus solely on the charging goblinoid. Finally, she released the string, sending the missile flying.

In what she could have only considered to be a one-in-a-million shot, the arrow hit its mark, piercing the small creature right through its throat. The wound was fatal — collapsing on the spot, the goblin desperately reached for the arrow. It trembled and choked on the ground for a few moments before its useless struggle finally came to an end, staring at the archer with lifeless eyes.

Having seen the creature's demise, the warhorse turned to the teenage girl with a smile on her face: "Much appreciated, young filly!.......Uh....filly?"

Lyra didn't respond to her. Her visage was pale, a look of horror residing on it, and her body was trembling. The street urchin had been forced to do many things in order to survive. There had been countless she had robbed, deceived or even injured in order to secure her continued existence. But she was no warrior — this was the first time a life had been extinguished by her own hand. Even if she had been justified in her actions, the sight of the goblonoid's limp body filled her with dread. She could not escape it — this was her own doing. This was her own kill.

The Hylian girl felt an immense weight in her chest. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she had been forced to wonder whether she should have ever come to this place.