12-18-2016, 04:08 PM
Malon wept as she concealed the backpack underneath the pile of hay that was laid out to feed the horses tomorrow and double-checked that Ingo was nowhere around. At this time of the day he was probably enjoying some Hylian vintage in the living room, feeling good about himself for what he had accomplished - nothing besides having kissed the right man's boots at the right time. Now Lon Lon Ranch was deteriorating, its fences rotting and its cucco population diminishing every time that the newly appointed farm owner's appetite had him slaughter another of them. She was doing her best to cope with the situation but no amount of chicks could replenish the stock. The same went for the cows which were miserable in their small coops, unable to move and bred as often as possible to produce as much milk as possible and to be fattened up nicely for when they were ripe for killing. He would not last a week without her doing the work.
But today was where this ended... a swift death was a better fate for the cows, cuccos and horses than a miserable life under Ingo's reign, a life that they had now led for six years. Everything she wanted to take along was there, it was ready. She withdrew to her room and locked the door behind herself with a loaf of bread and a pair of carrots, to pretend that she was going to sleep early. She had feigned tiredness as of lately and Ingo had not gotten any suspicions - though he had threatened her a few times should she not meet the work quota for the day. Which is to say all the work on the farm, as Talon was gone and Ingo would have laughed at the idea of lifting as much as a finger anymore. She laid down on the bed while eating the bread, enjoying every mouthful as much as she could. Tonight when the moon was at its highest she would release the Lon Lon ranch animals into the Hyrule Fields, grab those hidden supplies and ride Epona away, far away from the ranch, from Ingo, from Hyrule Castle city. She doubted not that most of them would not survive for very long. They were farm animals not cut out for life in the wilds. Some of them might even return to Lon Lon ranch once they got hungry. The others would get torn apart by the predators of the night, the skeletons and zombies, the Poes and wolves, the Octoroks and Skulltulas and other beings that she dared not even imagine in her wildest dreams. And Ingo? She could only hope that those six years of being lazy, eating meat and drinking wine had left him too slow to accomplish anything on the ranch.
Perhaps she would die out there, before she even got to the Lost Woods. Perhaps she would make it and get lost in the forest, then become a Skull Kid - she had no idea if 20 years of age was too old for that. Maybe the Kokiris would believe her to be a spy of Ganondorf and chase her away. Or maybe, on a small chance, she would muster the courage that the fairy boy, that Kokiri-like kid from six years ago, had displayed, and she could help. There was a Sage in the forest, in the Lost Woods, she knew that. If she could make it to the temple hidden deep within and retrieve them, perhaps they could tell her where to find the others. Perhaps she could become the savior that Hyrule needed.
She wiped a final tear from her eyes knowing that tomorrow at this time most of the dear animal friends that she had made would live no longer. Before she fled she needed just a pair of hours of sleep though... the mechanical clock on her nightstand would wake her up in time...
...
Slowly her consciousness drifted through a black void. A figure approached her... no, it couldn't be. Fairy boy? she wanted to ask, to scream into the distance, but her mouth would not open. She wanted to reach out but her body refused to move. The figure came closer and she saw that it was not the fairy boy after all. A being of dreams, white as freshly fallen snow and with a grin wider than those on the masks that the weird traveling salesman had to offer. Its grin opened wider as it began to speak.
When she came to, a fine trickle of blood ran down her forehead and over her right eye. She groaned. Her body hurt everywhere... and what was with that... had it been a dream? The memories were fuzzy... she reached up and touched the spot where her head throbbed, only to wince and jerk her hand back at the jolt of pain that traveled through her. It seemed like the bleeding had stopped, but it hurt still. She sat up and looked around herself. What she saw struck her as even more odd.
Now Malon was not a sleepwalker, at least she had no memories of such, but this was not her room. The ground beneath her was completely white and featureless, like the clouds in the sky. Like someone she had seen, recently... she tried to remember but trying to focus on the fleeting, blurry images sent more pain through her head. Then she noticed that there was something nearby... something not white. A massive pile of dried hay, smelling like home. The memory made her sigh happily, before it came to her. The backpack! Her items! She rushed forward, ignoring the pain in her knees, and dug her hands into the pile until her hands grasped something leathery. Yes... it was still there. With some tugging and some moving the hay around she freed the pack from its hiding place, until it suddenly popped free and the forceful pull had her stumble back several steps then land on her butt.
That was when she noticed that the hay pile and a stoney structure almost behind her were the only items in a very wide area. Spanning miles in every direction she could see nothing but... emptiness. White blankness that was, in a way, scarier than the monster-infested Hyrule fields. Involuntarily she clutched the backpack closer to her chest. Was this another of the dark ruler's, Ganondorf's, sick jokes? Had it not been enough to plunge Hyrule into death and misery, did he have to... to wipe everything out that the three Godesses had created? Something inside her told her that this wasn't the case, but she could not tell why.
As she got to her feet she noticed that the structure behind her was the fountain that stood in Hyrule Castle Town's town center. And it was not the dried-out and deteriorated one that she had seen two days ago when she had delivered goods to the city - it was the one from over six years ago, splashing with crystal-clear fresh water and with the symbols of Hyrule - the Triforce held by an eagle - intact and for the world to see. The memories made her cry tears of joy as she bent over the edge and washed her face and the injury on her head with the cloth of her skirt, by dipping it into the cool water and gingerly swabbing over the spot where it hurt the most. Then she cleaned the cloth and the water turned red briefly before being drained. She repeated the process a few times and examined her reflection though with the water rippling constantly it was hard to make out anything. This should be good enough... she opened her backpack and pulled out a bandage next. She had hoped to save it for later but with that mentality she would not use it until it was too late. With any luck she could resupply herself with the Kokiris. She wrapped the bandage around her head a few times and cut the rest with the kitchen knife that she had stolen days back. Now to hope that it didn't get infected or anything.
Oh right. The sickles. She pulled both out of the backpack, still in their sheaths, and sat on the fountainside as she pulled the belt off her dress, slid it through the sheaths' holding parts and put it back on. The leather wasn't an ideal way to hold them as they could not just be drawn like a straightsword due to being curved, but they would do the job. Hopefully.
The next order of business was to find out where she was, and making her way... where? To Lon Lon ranch to go through with her plan and retrieve Epona? The Lost Woods, to pursue her quest? No, she needed a mount first... but if she did not find out where she was how could she make her way anywhere?
Her journey was off to a good start.
But today was where this ended... a swift death was a better fate for the cows, cuccos and horses than a miserable life under Ingo's reign, a life that they had now led for six years. Everything she wanted to take along was there, it was ready. She withdrew to her room and locked the door behind herself with a loaf of bread and a pair of carrots, to pretend that she was going to sleep early. She had feigned tiredness as of lately and Ingo had not gotten any suspicions - though he had threatened her a few times should she not meet the work quota for the day. Which is to say all the work on the farm, as Talon was gone and Ingo would have laughed at the idea of lifting as much as a finger anymore. She laid down on the bed while eating the bread, enjoying every mouthful as much as she could. Tonight when the moon was at its highest she would release the Lon Lon ranch animals into the Hyrule Fields, grab those hidden supplies and ride Epona away, far away from the ranch, from Ingo, from Hyrule Castle city. She doubted not that most of them would not survive for very long. They were farm animals not cut out for life in the wilds. Some of them might even return to Lon Lon ranch once they got hungry. The others would get torn apart by the predators of the night, the skeletons and zombies, the Poes and wolves, the Octoroks and Skulltulas and other beings that she dared not even imagine in her wildest dreams. And Ingo? She could only hope that those six years of being lazy, eating meat and drinking wine had left him too slow to accomplish anything on the ranch.
Perhaps she would die out there, before she even got to the Lost Woods. Perhaps she would make it and get lost in the forest, then become a Skull Kid - she had no idea if 20 years of age was too old for that. Maybe the Kokiris would believe her to be a spy of Ganondorf and chase her away. Or maybe, on a small chance, she would muster the courage that the fairy boy, that Kokiri-like kid from six years ago, had displayed, and she could help. There was a Sage in the forest, in the Lost Woods, she knew that. If she could make it to the temple hidden deep within and retrieve them, perhaps they could tell her where to find the others. Perhaps she could become the savior that Hyrule needed.
She wiped a final tear from her eyes knowing that tomorrow at this time most of the dear animal friends that she had made would live no longer. Before she fled she needed just a pair of hours of sleep though... the mechanical clock on her nightstand would wake her up in time...
...
Slowly her consciousness drifted through a black void. A figure approached her... no, it couldn't be. Fairy boy? she wanted to ask, to scream into the distance, but her mouth would not open. She wanted to reach out but her body refused to move. The figure came closer and she saw that it was not the fairy boy after all. A being of dreams, white as freshly fallen snow and with a grin wider than those on the masks that the weird traveling salesman had to offer. Its grin opened wider as it began to speak.
Quote:"My name is Omni. This is not the world you know."
When she came to, a fine trickle of blood ran down her forehead and over her right eye. She groaned. Her body hurt everywhere... and what was with that... had it been a dream? The memories were fuzzy... she reached up and touched the spot where her head throbbed, only to wince and jerk her hand back at the jolt of pain that traveled through her. It seemed like the bleeding had stopped, but it hurt still. She sat up and looked around herself. What she saw struck her as even more odd.
Now Malon was not a sleepwalker, at least she had no memories of such, but this was not her room. The ground beneath her was completely white and featureless, like the clouds in the sky. Like someone she had seen, recently... she tried to remember but trying to focus on the fleeting, blurry images sent more pain through her head. Then she noticed that there was something nearby... something not white. A massive pile of dried hay, smelling like home. The memory made her sigh happily, before it came to her. The backpack! Her items! She rushed forward, ignoring the pain in her knees, and dug her hands into the pile until her hands grasped something leathery. Yes... it was still there. With some tugging and some moving the hay around she freed the pack from its hiding place, until it suddenly popped free and the forceful pull had her stumble back several steps then land on her butt.
That was when she noticed that the hay pile and a stoney structure almost behind her were the only items in a very wide area. Spanning miles in every direction she could see nothing but... emptiness. White blankness that was, in a way, scarier than the monster-infested Hyrule fields. Involuntarily she clutched the backpack closer to her chest. Was this another of the dark ruler's, Ganondorf's, sick jokes? Had it not been enough to plunge Hyrule into death and misery, did he have to... to wipe everything out that the three Godesses had created? Something inside her told her that this wasn't the case, but she could not tell why.
As she got to her feet she noticed that the structure behind her was the fountain that stood in Hyrule Castle Town's town center. And it was not the dried-out and deteriorated one that she had seen two days ago when she had delivered goods to the city - it was the one from over six years ago, splashing with crystal-clear fresh water and with the symbols of Hyrule - the Triforce held by an eagle - intact and for the world to see. The memories made her cry tears of joy as she bent over the edge and washed her face and the injury on her head with the cloth of her skirt, by dipping it into the cool water and gingerly swabbing over the spot where it hurt the most. Then she cleaned the cloth and the water turned red briefly before being drained. She repeated the process a few times and examined her reflection though with the water rippling constantly it was hard to make out anything. This should be good enough... she opened her backpack and pulled out a bandage next. She had hoped to save it for later but with that mentality she would not use it until it was too late. With any luck she could resupply herself with the Kokiris. She wrapped the bandage around her head a few times and cut the rest with the kitchen knife that she had stolen days back. Now to hope that it didn't get infected or anything.
Oh right. The sickles. She pulled both out of the backpack, still in their sheaths, and sat on the fountainside as she pulled the belt off her dress, slid it through the sheaths' holding parts and put it back on. The leather wasn't an ideal way to hold them as they could not just be drawn like a straightsword due to being curved, but they would do the job. Hopefully.
The next order of business was to find out where she was, and making her way... where? To Lon Lon ranch to go through with her plan and retrieve Epona? The Lost Woods, to pursue her quest? No, she needed a mount first... but if she did not find out where she was how could she make her way anywhere?
Her journey was off to a good start.