Next set of chapters, please respond even if you havent read much of it.


Chapter 9: The Maelstrom

“Him again?” asked Tralk in a surprised voice.
“This one of the bullies that beat you kids up?” taunted Dark Link.
“Yeah, he’s the one that survived.” said Myren.
“All the rest of you can go. I just want to have a chat with your feathered friend.” sneered Helvar.
“Good. Hold him off for as long as you can Tralk.” requested Zant. Tralk sighed. He’d had enough excitement for a week. The rest of the group scurried up and over the village walls.
“Link, before I forget, I need to fix your hand. Have you picked out something to attach?” asked Zant. Dark Link handed Zant a hook, like the ones pirates use.
“You’ve got to be kidding me…” said Zant irritably. Dark Link began laughing hysterically. The rest of the group rolled their eyes.
“Oh that was good! Here this is the real thing I wanted!” said Dark Link as he handed him a silver gauntlet with knives for fingers. “I whipped it up myself.” He smiled big. It only took Zant a second to fuse the stump and gauntlet. After that the group split. Dark Link and Saaden heading to Lake Hylia and the Water Temple, and the rest of the group heading to gather up some Boblins to cause trouble.
“Good, now let’s find Helvar and Elrik quickly and get back home.” said Ralph. The group soon made their way out of the woods and sprinted to Karkariko. It was still dark, which made traveling a bit more difficult.
“Hold up.” whispered Vincent. In the distance were two small tents and four Boblins sitting around a campfire.
“Should we go around them?” asked Vincent.
“The less Boblins in the world the better.” whispered Link. The three split up and circled around the camp. The Boblins were obviously very drunk, and had no idea what was happening. Ralph was the first to act. He unleashed a blast of fire which licked up one the creatures. Link lunged at a second while Vincent did the same to the third. The last Boblin raised his war club and swung at Link. Being drunk he lost his balance and fell to the ground. Link finished him with a stab through the neck. The Hylains stood there for a moment to take in victory, and then moved onward.
Tralk and Helvar kept exchanging blows. Neither had landed a hit, and both were so exhausted that one hit would be the end. Helvar slashed Elrik’s blade right for Tralk’s ugly beak. Tralk flung his head back, dodging the blow by an inch, then quickly recoiled and tore across Helvar’s stomach. Helvar winced from the pain long enough for Tralk to stab him through with one of his blades. Helvar’s mind was racing. He remembered his childhood, the times he’d shared playing in the forest with his friends, the cold nights in his small village, and the projects with his father. Then he remembered what was really happening to him. His face grew red his rage rose to levels he didn’t think possible. Before Tralk could react Helvar had grabbed the blade sticking into him, pulled it deeper into his body with Tralk following, and sliced his sword down Tralk’s face. Tralk’s mind raced as well. He remembered the times he’d tried to make friends, but failed. He remembered the hot days in the desert that hardened him into what he was now. He also remembered how supportive his one true friend had been, and he had been killed at the hands of Hylians. Then…..nothing. Both figures fell over dead just as the dawn star rose above the hills surrounding the village.
Two men in dark robes approached the lake that was exploding in the reflection of the sun. They seemed very out of place in such a happy environment.
“Well, I can see the temple, but how to do we get down there without drowning?” inquired Saaden with a puzzled look on his face.
“I can hold my breath for awhile, I should be ok.” replied Dark Link.
“I can try making a small air mask with my sand.” said Saaden.
“Go for it.” was the response. Saaden quickly poured out a bag of sand and molded it into the shape of his face. It was air tight, so there was enough air inside of it for one good breath.
“Race ya!” yelled Dark Link.
“You’re on!” replied Saaden. The race, if you could even call it that, ending in an overwhelming victory for Dark Link.
“How do you do that?” asked Saaden as Dark Link helped him into the Temple.
“I suppose I was ‘born’ with it.” He said with sarcastic emphasis on the born part. The two began walking down the halls of the temple, looking for anything that would hint to a secret weapon.
“Personally, I’d much rather be hunting down some pasta than some old sword.” said Dark Link as he dropped to the ground to take a rest.
“Yeah, but we gotta listen to Zant. Or he’ll throw a fit.” replied Saaden. “You remember anything since the last time you were here?”
“Not really, this place has gotten wore down a lot since I was posted here.” replied Dark Link. “Though, there was one thing that caught my eye. C’mon follow me!” The two headed through a door in the pillar of the temple. The room’s walls were aquamarine blue with strange markings all over them. They headed down a flight of stairs and waded through some water before they reached their destination, a small tomb like room. An elegant treasure chest was seated in the center of the room.
“Ah-ha!” exclaimed Dark Link as he opened it. His hand disappeared then reappeared holding a sapphire blue scimitar with a teal colored gem in the center of the hilt.
“Spiffy.” snorted Saaden.
“I concur.” replied his friend.
“We’ve found this thing pretty fast, let’s get out of here and have some fun.” snickered Saaden.
“I’ve only known you for a month and I can already tell we’re going to be great friends for a long time.” said Dark Link with a grin. The two headed out of the temple and dropped down on the sandy shores of the lake. They feel asleep in minutes.

Chapter 10: Cover of Darkness

A Hylian soldier fell with a cry as the Boblins poured into the village. Soldiers rushed to the gate to stop the onslaught. The soldiers were caught off guard, and no match. The village was soon rid of life. The few that survived ran quickly to alert the surrounding settlements. Zant and his followers entered the village once the main fighting had cleared. Zant breathed in deeply.
“Ahhh….the smell of death.” he said with a wicked smile. Just then the Boblin next to him dropped to the ground, an arrow in its head. A brave bowman had stayed behind to get revenge. He leveled his bow, sights on Zant’s head. The arrow flew from the bow piercing the air. Before the arrow could reach its mark Zant hand lifted his hand and unleashed a wave of electricity, stopping the arrow and frying the bowmen.
“Search the village for others, and gather supplies. We’re going to blitz right through these villages and hit Hyrule Castle.” commanded Zant.
Dark Link and Saaden had awoken from their nap and were half way back to Karkariko. It was almost nightfall and they hoped for a secluded place to sleep.
“Zant underestimated us. He gave us three days to find this thing.” said Dark Link as he handled the Maelstrom. Saaden chuckled.
“Let’s hang out in Karkariko, maybe swipe a few things, get a drink, just relax.” he
replied. They entered the rear gate of the city in darkness and headed up onto a balcony to get a view of the village square.
“Looks like we’ve stumbled upon a heap of fun.” said Dark Link when he saw what was in the square.
“Well, at least he took that son of a Boblin with him.” said Ralph grimly.
“We found them this afternoon. Would’ve done something earlier, but the mayor declared the village in a state of emergency. No one could leave their houses.” stated a guard.
“Any sign of an older looking knight, red hair and beard?” interrogated Vincent.
“Yeah, five minutes from the city. It looks like he was killed by that menacing feathered creature too.”
“We’ll avenge them, we’ll avenge them soon.” said Link solemnly.
“Well, well, well look what we found.” said Dark Link as he leapt from the balcony and landed gracefully a few paces from Link. Link glared at the dark figure.
“Do you have any friends or do you always choose to come alone?” questioned Link as he drew the Master Sword.
“Oh, I see you got a new toy like I asked! I got one as well, actually two to be exact.” he brushed aside his robe to reveal the knives on his gauntlet. “I also brought a friend along this time.” Saaden jumped down next to his friend and emptied his sand onto the ground.
“Vincent, help me with Dark Link. Ralph can handle the other one.” ordered Link.
Link and Vincent closed in on Dark Link slowly, while Ralph and the guards did the same to Saaden. With an amused grin Saaden clapped his hands, which were now glowing with energy, together, sending his sand flying in all directions. The sand smacked the most of the guards in the face immobilizing them. An arrow sailed through the air easily dodged by the quick moving desert denizen. Ralph unleashed a blast of fire that was quickly extinguished by Saaden’s sand. Ralph, not knowing what else to do, continued firing balls of magma towards Saaden. Saaden knew the routine, and countered with his balls of sand.
Vincent stepped back from the shock of Dark Link’s blow. His sword was scratched and tore from the impact of the knives. Link countered with a hack from the Master Sword. His opponent blocked it with the gauntlet.
“What a handy toy.” said Dark Link. “Let’s make this a little more interesting. What kind of weather do you enjoy? Snow? Sunny? How about rain? I know its cliché, but I’m quite fond of it.” He drew out the Maelstrom and stabbed it into the air. Instantly clouds dark clouds began gathering, and thunder was in the distance.”
“W-what is that?!” asked Vincent in a horrified voice. Dark Link pointed the Maelstrom at Vincent and fired a blast of water from it. Vincent was propelled backwards.
“Now that is spiffy!” yelled Dark Link. Link charged at Dark Link and unleashed a storm of steel. He attacked with all his strength, breaking his adversary’s guard. Dark Link stumbled and fell on his back. Link jumped into the air, preparing for a finishing blow, but his face soon grew pale. It’s actually pretty funny how fast you can think when you’re panicked. Link figured that out during the first milliseconds of his ascent. It was too late now, he had to follow through. In the time Link had taken to get airborne Dark Link had activated the Orb of Shadows. His left arm was surrounded by dark energy, surging through his veins. When Link’s sword was an inch from his chest, he grabbed the blade and hurled Link across the square. His hand was cut badly in the process.
“What do you have against my hands?” questioned Dark Link as he rose from the ground. Link rose as well. Vincent began and furious attack, his sword was light, which made it extremely fast and deadly. Dark Link was forced back on the defensive.
After the exchange of sand and fire, Saaden launched his offensive. He rose all his sand into the air and formed needles with it.
“First wave, go!” he yelled. A dozen sand needles flew through the air aimed for Ralph. The latter dodged most of them and blocked the rest with is fire.
“You’re going to have to do better than that hot head.” taunted Saaden. “Second wave, go!” The next wave of needles made their way to Ralph. Again he dodged most but this time his block wasn’t sufficient, and two of the sand needles rammed into his thigh. Ralph grimaced, but didn’t cry out. Instead he returned the favor with a stream of fire. Saaden was caught off guard and was able to dodge most of the stream, but part of it singed across his cheek.
“I heard you people want to take Holodrum. Why is that?” pried Ralph
“Holodrum is the first of many kingdoms we will conquer.” replied Saaden, holding his cheek to ease the pain.
“That smarts.” he thought.
Dark Link breathed heavily, the Orb of Shadows drained his energy very fast. Vincent kept the pressure up with his fast swipes, but Dark Link tore his sword from his hands with the Maelstrom and stabbed him with the knives on his gauntlet. Vincent’s armor took most of the damage, but his skin was still pierced. He punched Dark Link in the face and staggered back.
Ralph took another hit from the needles. He now had seven sand needles sticking from various parts of his body. He fired another ball of fire into the mix just to keep Saaden on his guard.
“Let’s get this over with, I want to relax.” said Saaden as he formed his sand into a whip. He flung the ominous weapon towards Ralph’s face, but it was blocked by the latter’s sword. The whip caught onto the sword, which enabled Saaden to fling it out of reach. Another crack of the whip and Ralph was struck in the face. He jumped out of reach and breathed heavily.
“Consider this an honor. This is the first time I have ever had to use this. I’d like you to meet Furnace’s Tongue.” grunted Ralph. Ralph formed both his hands into one fist, closed his eyes, and crouched. Saaden, with a peculiar look on his face, fired another needle at Ralph. It tore into his shoulder, but Ralph didn’t even flinch. Soon flames began slowly whirling around Ralph, even amid the steadily increasing rain. The flames grew faster and higher, a tornado of inferno shrouded Ralph. Saaden’s eye grew wide with terror. He formed all his sand into a solid block for defense, and then waited.
Dark Link turned just in time to see the flames sever the sand block and plow towards Saaden. In the blink of an eye Dark Link dove for Saaden and pushed him to safety. The flames burst, tearing down trees and damaging buildings. When everything cleared, Saaden and Dark Link had disappeared, and the sky returned to its normal cloudless state.

Chapter 11: Waves of Ember

Saaden’s burns were bad. Dark Link had to find the rest of the group and have Myren heal him. As exhausted as he was he hoisted his companion onto his back and sprinted in the direction the others had headed.
“Did you see him…?” asked Saaden in a weak voice.
“See who?” was Dark Link’s answer.
“Tralk…..his body….was lying next to a soldier’s…..” said Saaden weakly. Dark Link did not respond. Suddenly Dark Link stopped. A rumbling came from beneath them, then out burst the Wyrm.
“Wyrmy…” whispered Dark Link as he collapsed. When he awoke he was in a house. He rose and walked outside to find himself in a run-down village with Boblins running about.
“Well looks like you’re awake.” said Raith coldly. “Can’t say I’m happy about that, but you’d better thank Erda, she was the one that found you guys.”
“Tralk’s dead.” replied Dark Link. Raith sighed.
“I’ll tell Zant.” Raith walked off as Erda walked over.
“Thanks for the save.” said Dark Link
“No problem, I figured something was wrong when all those clouds appeared over Karkariko.” replied Erda. “We have another mission though. You and I have to hang out here to care for Saaden. Everyone else is going to the Ember Fields to get another weapon. Something called the Flareblitz.” Zant walked up as she was finishing her\speech.
“Ok, since Tralk is dead and we’re nearing the assault on Hyrule Castle I’m going to tell you the entire plan. At first we wanted the Master Sword, but then we learned of the other blades. I’ve read that these blades equal the Master Sword in their specific abilities. As you know our goal is domination of Hyrule. If we can control Hyrule we can control all its resources and weaponry.” Zant was a good lecturer.
“Then we go after Holodrum?” questioned Myren.
“Yes, Holodrum is more powerful than Hyrule, that’s why we need all the power we can get. With Holodrum in our possession we can then work our way to Termina, Labrynnia, and then the big prize….the Isle of Ruins.” replied Zant.
“The people that descended from the gods live there right?” asked Raith.
“Yes…we need all the strength possible to take that island. Every inch of that rock is part of a fortress.” responded Zant.
“Well then let’s hurry and get this Flareblitz thing.” said Myren. With that behind them Myren, Zant, and Raith headed towards the foothills of Death Mountain and the Ember Fields.
Ralph awoke in a bed in the hotel of Karkariko village. He had a horrible headache and he was sore everywhere. Link and Vincent were also resting.
“We’ve sent a message to Hyrule Castle. The Lord Protector is mustering all the available forces in the kingdom. We’re preparing to defend the castle.” announced Link. Ralph moaned in response.
“They’ve also started to evacuate the civilians. Probably heading towards Termina.” added Vincent.
“We’ll probably be staying Karkariko for awhile.” said Link.
“Volley!” yelled a sergeant stationed at Karkariko. A dozen archers unleashed a small wall of arrows. They poured down on the advancing Boblins, cutting down many of them. The pikemen at the gate braced for impact as the boar riders closed in. The boars slammed into the wall of steel and wood tearing themselves, their riders, and the pikemen to shreds.
“Sound the alarm! Attack on the east gate!” cried the sergeant. The bell sounded throughout the village.
“Man the walls!” he shouted again. Karkariko was build in between two large and impossible to climb plateaus. A path went right in between them, making it easy to building defenses. A wall in the west entrance and one in the north was all that was necessary. The village was built to be defended by a low amount of soldiers, and could hold out for months. Even the houses were designed for defense. Each house had a tower on the roof, and a seven foot wall around it.
The Boblins unleashed a wave of arrows slamming into walls and soldiers.
“Return fire!!” shouted the sergeant. The archers did so killing another handful of Boblins. Suddenly one of the boars went berserk and charged right for the gate. It smashed through it, killing itself from the impact. The soldiers scattered to find cover and more pikemen took position behind what remained of the gate. The Boblins charged forward, only to be repulsed bloodily by the pikemen. The first company of Boblins fell back behind the others that had accompanied them. The next prepared to charge.
Zant, Myren, and Raith marched into a desolate, tree ridden land. The ground was hard and black, cracks wound all around.
“What a lovely spot for a vacation.” said Zant. The three continued into the fields. Soot and other debris floated in the air, and there was an occasional rumble.
“Volcano?” inquired Raith.
“Well do you see one?” asked Myren in her usual snotty fashion.
“He’s right Myren.” snapped Zant. “We can also see it, look where you’re standing.” Myren’s eyes grew wide as she looked on the ground.
“It’s a flat volcano. We’ll be approaching, and entering, its mouth shortly.” said Zant.
“The Magma Temple I presume?” asked Raith.
“Yes.” was the response. The Magma Temple, like the MountainSide Temple, was one of the lesser known and smaller temples. As they walked farther geysers of steam burst from the ground.
“Watch your step.” warned Zant. “We draw near.”
Saaden stirred in his sleep. His burns were better, but still painful.
“Looks like he’ll be out of the fight for awhile.” said Erda sadly.
“It’s a drag, I managed to get him out the way before the main blast got him.” said Dark Link proudly.
“Who’d you run into?” questioned the girl.
“Link and his friends: a fire wizard and an experienced captain.” he responded. “We did a number on them, but the power of the wizard’s final attack combined with my energy being sucked from the orb made it necessary for a retreat.” The two sat by the sand user’s bed in silence for awhile.
“How many villages have we taken?” asked Dark Link.
“Eight. Most of the villagers slaughtered from each.” said Erda grimly.
“It’s strange, the longer I’m free from Ganon’s grasp, the more sympathy and kindness creep into me.” replied Dark Link.
“Maybe you aren’t so dark anymore.” said Erda with a smile. Dark Link returned the favor.
Zant and his followers stood at the crest of a large pit, and the bottom: lava.
“This is it, use the stairway to the left to get down.” ordered Zant. The three made a slow descent down to a stone structure on a stone island in the middle of the sea of flames. They entered the door and walked into a stone room.
“So they positioned fours stones corner to corner and then dropped another one on top for a roof? Not much of a temple.” said Myren.
“They also carved a door, don’t forget that.” corrected Zant. The three walked up to a stone table with a treasure chest on, but as Zant reached for the chest a voice came from outside the temple.
“Desist.” said the voice.
“Such a simple command.” said Raith, as a red robed figure walked in. The figured removed its hood, revealing long red hair.
“I am Brasena, guardian of the Flareblitz.” said a girl no older than twenty. Myren grinned.
“Deal with it hot head, we’re taking this sword.” said the dark haired woman. Brasena did not respond by using words as one would have expected, but by unleashing an immense ball of fire charging for Myren. She ducked dodging the blast, but the heat singed her hair and completely removed her hood. A large hole appeared where the rear wall of the temple once was. Myren responded with three quick shots from her crossbow. Brasena charred one of them, caught another in her mouth and blocked the last with the arrow in her mouth.
“Impressive.” complimented Zant, as he unleashed a blast of electricity. Raith joined in by firing a wave of energy. Brasena blocked both with another ball of fire. While the three were exchanging presents Myren had quickly snuck behind the red headed guardian and fired and poisoned arrow which met Brasena’s knee with deadly effect.
“That was a poisoned arrow.” said Myren cruelly. “You will die in five minutes.”
“Then I will take all of you with me before a minute is up. I would like you all to meet the move my older brother taught me. Furnace’s Tongue!” yelled Brasena. Fire raged around the girl and grew larger and larger. Myren ran out of the temple followed by Raith. Zant, who was at the far side of the room exited via the large hole in the wall. A second after he left the temple exploded in a fiery blasted of immeasurable magnitude. Myren smashed into the ground due to the blast. Her face began bleeding. Raith was sent sprawling. Zant managed to remain standing, but his over cloak was tore from him and he was cut by the wind blast. When the storm of fire was over the three walked past the now ruined temple and stood around the table.
“We’ve got what we came for. Let’s leave.” ordered Zant. The three walked towards the stairway. Myren spat on Brasena’s body as they strolled past.

__________________
Psalm 62:2
He alone is my rock and my salvation;
he is my fortress, I will never be shaken.