Dark Tidings

Dark Tidings is the 10th chapter of IW Season 2.
== On the Downturn ==
Daurubia/Night 5/Castle Courtyard
He had failed, it seemed. His one job, and he'd let it slip away from him. As he crossed under the ruined arch into the castle courtyard, lightning started spewing and taking out those who had been escorting him. What happened next seemed to be a daze. Monkeys, dolphins, zoras, sheikahs, and some strange form of dark energy surrounding him; this was not the type of escort he'd had in mind.
Luckily, some strange form of luck caused the monkey's charge to be distracted, allowing Daurubia to maneuver Kae away from the attack. Feeling suddenly lightfooted, the next several moments were spent dodging fruitless attacks from a monkey. Whatever it was he was holding, it was causing the bleeding on Kae to worsen. Though by shielding the Scion from the rays, he was exposing his back to it, causing slight burns through the rock-skin and creating several weak points.
But it was enough for the moment. As long as his companions could take out this monkey, Kae would likely live. It was four-on-one after all. But still, more could be done. For the first time in his life, he prayed to a specific goddess other than Din. It was Nayru's love that had gotten them this far, and so he figured it would be Nayru who would see them through.
Finished with his prayer, Daurubia began retreating, attempting to put as much space between the monkey and Kae. As he turned to run though, he caught Jaden's eye in the shadows, motioning for him to come. Daurubia turned and approached him, trying to get as close as possible without drawing attention.
[b]Giga/Ruined Fountain/Night 5[/b]
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For the second time in the last ten minutes, ice encapsulated his body completely. Though this time, instead of growing out of it, he was set free by an explosion. Giga gasped as the air came rushing back to his lungs to see a strange man with some sort of exploding gloves on. But the man paid him no mind as he continued to free the others.
[color=red]"What the hell just happened?"[/color]
"Bugger if I know," responded one of the soldiers.
Giga put his confusion aside to listen to three men conversing. It seemed these soldiers were about to see some action. But one man, who was referred to as "commander" was going to be returning to the castle, towards where Daurubia just ran.
Giga had had enough of the fighting, and he wanted to see what had happened since he had left the castle. He approached the man named Meado tentatively, still unsure of the best way to interact. Twenty years as a giant freak would do that to you. 
[color=red]"Um, excuse me commander, I would very much prefer to go with you. My fri-"[/color] he caught himself on the word. Was Daurubia his friend now? When did this happen? He had let hundreds die due to his arrogance, afterall. But, [i]he did to for our people.[/i] Despite Giga's better judgment, Daurubia had handled this day very well.
[color=red]"Yes, I would like to see where my friend has gone."[/color]
Almost ignoring him, Meado nodded his approval and took off. Giga balled up (loving the feeling of being able to again) and followed, noting how much easier it was to maneuver when he wasn't a giant.
Taden's Ghost / Castle Town Ruins / Night 5
Hothnight's hated head swayed high over the cold and smoldering ruins of Hyrule Castle Town. Beyond the wreckage, the black palace rose high into the night, its silhouette emblazoned on the aura of a growing fire. Malreaux's lightning had struck the flaming belltower over the Courtyard, and the ensuing flame consumed the palace from the inside out.
But the burning palace was only the pyre of a realm already in mourning. The faith of Hyrule had been crushed. The House of Hylia had been severed from the Sacred Realm, and severed by his blunt blade. He looked down on the ice and ashes of the city he had murdered. "Now, for anarchy..." he whispered in the air.
Reaching out over the ruins with his ethereal mind, Taden felt five warm bodies displacing the air in the burning Castle Courtyard, along with the subtle heat signature of two cold-blooded figures. Rising higher, he peered down to see the light of the Castle blaze swirling into a pool of darkness with his Relic Mask at the bottom. Into this compressed void, the seven noble heroes walked like stars into the void. Although these stars fell of their own free will, for the salvation of the weakest heart among them.
And then he felt it. The Scion of Nayru, swaddled in the arms of a monstrous Dinlander. A column of white light splashed from the bowl of the Courtyard, which suddenly sprang into a brilliant blaze as the radiance rejoined its heat. The psychic link with the Relic Mask was broken, and Taden's last impression was of the Scion at the edge of the abyss.
She was the only one whose destiny could restore Hyrule's faith. Taden steeled his mind to give the Scion her final push. He concentrated on the Zora who had stolen his knife, and the newly arrived Sheikah, Lynn Annei.
As if in salute of the dying demigod, the mound of rubble in the center of the wasteland burst into spontaneous flame. The serpent of the Brand on Kinslayer's chest had launched into the skies to challenge Hothnight. His voice came down like so much hot wind.
"...We shalt see thee brought unto thine utter end."
Taden's head rose to meet the dragon eye to eye, his white mane swinging several feet below his chin. His white eyes locked with the serpent's fiery gaze. As Taden cursed the wyrm, a soft blue light behind his eyes began to intensify with his breathing.
"Unto mine utter end? Shall the cryomancer's phantom enlighten the resurrected worm? Before there was the din of light and fire, there was only the cold, empty and serene. And it is the cold that will consume all fire in its serenity at the end of mortal Time. For I am the chaos whence fire springs, and I am the abyss into which it shall collapse. Even a glow worm of your bellowing stature must know that all the heat in Hyrule comes from the same source! But perhaps you have not yet learned the fact of cold behind the fire."
Rays of cold light speared from the floating head's eyes. "The fact is, as I am before you..."
Monkey Taden / Castle Courtyard / Night 5
The small monkey's attack was blocked by a magic staff held by someone he couldn't see. She smelled like fish. Girly fish. The Dark Sun Shard still consumed all of the light from her staff, but his body began to writhe from the electricity pouring through it. Slowly, the shadowy film coating the Sun Shard flaked away, and the bearer of the lightning began to come into view.
Taden saw a freakish woman with black eyes and a fin on her back. Despite her hellish features, he couldn't help but notice something familiar in the curve of her cheek, the narrow eyes curling down into an aquiline nose. Behind her, as the light began to stream from the Shard in sparks, Taden saw a total of seven people in his dark pool. The Goron still held the Sheikah lunar mage, and he had been joined by the fish girl, another Sheikah who called the mage Kae, a Zora General who called the second Sheikah Lynn, and two more Sheikah, a young man and a young woman.
The fish girl sent a renewed pulse of thunder into her rod, and the Shadow burst from the Sun Shard. A fireball of sunlight shot from the purified Shard, blasting Taden to the north of the Courtyard and casting a blinding white light on the gathered warriors. His small body slammed against the far wall, and he fell to the ground limp, but breathing. The Sun Shard lay on the blackened grass, shining faintly at his fingertips.
When the blinding light that had burst from the Shard finally faded, only the smoldering embers lining the Courtyard ruins lit the arena. The six heroes gathered to guard the wounded lunar mage relaxed their fighting stances, lowering the weapons while some attended to Kae. The burst of sunlight had bathed in her greatest weakness, and her anguished body was shoved forcefully to the brink of death.
As the woman with the lightning rod walked with the younger Sheikah woman to help the Goron with Kae, Polaris and Lynn did not turn to the wounded champion. Their feet did not leave the ground, and their hands began to shake as their heads tilted back. The flickering light of the embers and Shard suddenly gave way to rays of blue light that shot out of their eyes.
Lynn dropped to her knees, and clutched at the ground as a groan rolled from her clenched teeth. She fell to her stomach and began to claw through the grass in anguish.
Polaris flew into the sky in a gyre, and his arms and legs stretched out as the light began to stream from his gills. Every scale began to glow cerulean, and a beam of cold light suddenly shot from his chest to the south.
Taden's Ghost / Castle Town Ruins / Night 5
"...thusly am I after you: until the end of Time."
Behind the arc of the flaming serpent's back, General Polaris shot up into the sky and burst with a freezing light. His chest and neck convulsed wildly as his muscles began to contract of their own accord. Taden's Ghost bent the icewater running through Polaris's veins until he was stretched to the limit of his oily skin, his arms raised above him and his legs spread below. Light began to shoot from his limbs and his chest and his entire body seized violently. A garbled moan dribbled from his open mouth as his throat and gills contracted and would not expand.
Taden's Ghost stretched Polaris out horizontally, and the pillar of light impaling his chest gave way to a titanic roar of hoarfrost swirling out in all directions. Reaching through the fluid in Polaris's spine into his mind, Taden's Ghost summoned the awesome dragon Polaris commanded. 'You have been such a generous General, Polaris. First you grant me the cyclone with which I break Hyrule's faith, and now you offer up this mighty beast of your own volition! But you have taken much from me, and your debt is far from sated. You will sacrifice your soul to me, your god without mercy, and I shall claim it in the body that is my vessel!"
Polaris's body righted itself, and his arms swooped down across his chest. The snarling dragon spiraled above the Courtyard and flew to the Ruins. Taden belched an arctic gale through the fiery midsection of the Brand serpent, and his tail was split from his head just as the Red Ice Dragon tore into him from a downward angle. Hovering above the Castle to the north, Polaris's arms lifted up into the air, and the arctic dragon tossed his head to swallow the firewyrm in his icicle fangs. The flames surrounding the ice dragon coalesced into the serpent wrapped tight around its length, pressing the icy wings to its back in a gaseous plume of mist and smoke.
Inside the freezing and flaming maelstrom, the sapphire light of the ice dragon blended with the ruby of the fiery serpent into a blindingly pure, white light. The two worms twisted against each other in a doubled helix of ice and flame. All the ruins of Hyrule Castle were lit from above in wild flashes of crimson, cobalt, and white.
Taden's Ghost clapped Polaris's hands together, and his dragon torqued around to square off with the Serpent Brand above the ring of the ruined Town Square. Taden's Ghost mocked the Serpent as his head disappeared into the icy winds.
Taden's Ghost / Castle Town Ruins to Castle Courtyard / Night 5
While the serpent of ice battled the serpent of fire, the head of Taden's ghost flew on the breeze towards the Castle Courtyard. He swooped under the body of Polaris he held in the air, and bent his mind towards the Sheikah, Lynn Annei. Inside her mind, he felt a seal upon her memory, as if they had been frozen behind a wall of ice. While keeping his eyes trained on Polaris floating above him, Taden's Ghost sent a fraction of his power into the Sheikah's soul. After spending an age broken into four separate pieces, it was child's play for him to bend two minds to his will at once.
Lynn's vision was filled with an all-consuming blackness, and then a shimmering orb of light steadily came into view, like the full moon reflecting on a rippling pond.
"Are you...aware...of what you have done? Do you...remember, Lynn?"
Lynn's own voice cried out into the darkness, responding to the spectral orb. "What devilry is this? Who are you? Answer me!"
"Oh, no no no, Lynn, it is you who will answer to me. The question is not, Who are you? The question is, Who am I?"
As the question rang through the depths of her mind, Taden's Ghost unlocked the frozen seal on Lynn Annei's memory. A spiritual torrent of memories anguished Lynn Annei's soul, as every cold-blooded murder she had committed as Lynn Hothnite racked her noble, faithful heart. The blood of all the races of Hyrule spilled into her mind as her conscience was assaulted with every act of violence she had wrought, and the painful consequences of her acts that had spread all throughout the Realm. But this remorseful wave of guilt was dwarfed by the deluge of self-loathing that poured into her consciousness as she realized the abyss of Hatred she had sown. Every act of murder had been another step towards madness, taking her further away from the allies who once had trusted her. Now, she was alone. An untrustworthy traitor. A monster to be guarded against rather than a warrior to fight alongside. Because everyone hated Lynn Hothnite, there was no one to love Lynn Annei.
Taden's Ghost smirked as he flung the mind of Lynn Annei into the abyss. He exited her mind as the third wave of torment crashed upon her, a soul-wrenching desperation for the cold release of suicide.
When her eyes cleared of their demonic light, they gazed upon the limp body of Whie Malreaux possessed by the demon inside the Relic Mask. She looked down to see the Sun Shard glinting by her hand. A cold pang scratched across her neck beneath her chin, thirsting for the solar blade to rip into her flesh. Her fingers itched to seize the Sun Shard and have done with the deed.
Lynn Annei/The Depths of the Fifth Night/Hyrule Castle Courtyard
Lynn was wracked with the images. She saw her hands slaying countless, the guilty enemy alongside the innocent Hylian. Slain left and right, with no regard, all to raise the ire of those she called friend and ally. She saw the coat, and the clerk murdered in the Vault. She saw Habiki, the golem, frozen to the core. She saw Kae, dropped into the midst of the Twili army, tortured by Lynn's actions. She saw the murders of each Hylian soldier, the deaths of each Gerudo prisoner.
It was too much. She was not the upstanding Shiekah she aspired to be. She was not a credit to the Annei family that had saved her. She was deplorable, no better than the Interlopers. A traitor to the crown.
And one thing Lynn Annei was good at was killing enemies of the Royal Family. Her misty-eyed gaze alighted on the Sun Shard, deadly sharp and brimming with magicks that would destroy the evil inside her. She crawled toward it, sobbing. Her life had been a mistake, but with one act she could atone.
She grabbed the Sun Shard, clasping it in her hand as it burnt her palm with its uncontrolled radiance, and slowly lifted the improvised weapon to her throat. Halfway to her flesh it slipped, slicing open her palm, and instinctively she dropped it, shaking her hand and splattering blood about herself. Looking down, the glow of the Sun Shard was surpassed, in her vision, by something else.
There is another way.
The Light Spirit's Blessing, bottled at her hip. Frantically, she tore it from her belt, smearing blood across the glass as she tore the cork from the top. The coalesced liquid light sloshed as her hand shook. Before it had shut down her mind, sealing away the evil inside her, with just a sip. If she drank it all...
Do not seek death, seek recompense.
Against her lips the bottle paused. The Blessing had weakened Hothnite with a sip. With more, she could master the beast. Take his power, consume him. He had destroyed the Wall of Faith, he had brought General Polaris low and humbled, he had ruined the life of the Ordon farmboy Whie. He had destroyed Senshi Ma, been a constant thorn, and worse, to the whole of the Ma family. He had killed countless thousands, more than that, over centuries. With the memories unlocked, they flowed both ways, and she saw his life as much as he had seen hers.
With the Light Spirit's Blessing, she could consume him, take back her life...
With a new will, she lifted her head, and the bottle, to the sky. While some dribbled over her cheeks and down her neck, she guzzled the majority.
Then she fell to the ground, shattering the glass underneath her, and clenched her gut in pain. She called out, shrieking as light exploded through her body into a corona that engulfed the courtyard.
[b][color=yellow][hl=darkblue]Whie Malreaux[/hl][/color]/Night 5/Hyrule Castle Courtyard[/b]
The Sun Shard beared down on the woman he had faced once before in the Cathedral. He knew he wasn't in control, but if this is what he would be made to do, he didn't mind it. He had targeted this woman already, it felt like some fulfillment. Whisper and Whie were the same, after all, weren't they?
Then needles came flying into the field of shadow and the rhythm of his attack against the woman and her goron protector was thrown off. His eyes turned to glare at the new aggressor. It was...
"[color=yellow][hl=darkblue]Leonora![/hl][/color]"
Whie's mind, what was slipping more and more under Whisper's control, now rebelled against the insidious creature inside him. Seeing Leonora focused him, reminding him of all the suffering that had encompassed his life since he had claimed the mask. He hated it, he hated Whisper, but he would never give up the mask, and could not function without Whisper.
As a contest of wills was fought between a single person, the world without continued to move as normal. The dolphin-esque woman charged him, and distracted as he was by fighting himself her attack caught him unawares. Lightning, which normally he could control and keep from affecting him, streamed into his body when her rod connected with the Sun Shard. The flux of magic crested, and the Sun Shard was purified of its tenebrous taint. 
A fireball of sunlight shot from the purified Shard, blasting Whie to the north of the Courtyard and casting a blinding white light on the gathered warriors. His small body slammed against the far wall, and he fell to the ground limp, but breathing. The Sun Shard lay on the blackened grass, shining faintly at his fingertips. With the last of his consciousness, Whie pulled the monkey mask from his face, changing back to Hylian form.
[b]Summary:[/b] Reactions from Whie's perspective to the explosion of the Sun Shard, and he manages to remove the monkey mask and turn back to Hylian.
[hr]
[b][color=#F0E68C]Lynn Hothlight[/color]/Night 5/Hyrule Castle Courtyard[/b]
As the light faded, where Lynn Annei had lain in pain and sorrow there stood another woman in resplendent serenity. This woman looked as Lynn Annei had, but healed of the former's wounds and emitting a dull radiance. Her hair, once black as the night, shone bright blonde like the day's purest sunbeam. Her eyes, once a deep amethyst, were now a soul-piercing light blue, as pure as clean ice or the clearest summer's day. Her eyes looked down in pity at Whie Malreaux.
She stooped to him, once again picking up the Sun Shard, and reached for the monkey mask at his side. The Relic which housed another piece of Taden Hothnight the Hated. Without warning, the young man sprang to life and attacked her. She cried out in surprise.
[b]Summary:[/b] Lynn survived the Light Blessing, and it has transformed her into Lynn Hothlight. New Bio posted in the Bio Thread. She tries to take the monkey mask, but Whie wakes and attacks her.
[hr]
[b][color=yellow][hl=darkblue]Whie Malreaux[/hl][/color]/Night 5/Hyrule Castle Courtyard[/b]
His vision swam, skipping in and out of dream and reality. With each blink from consciousness, his mind saw another flash of a murder he had committed in Ordon. He didn't bother counting. He already knew the total. He already knew each murder before it was shown to him by his addled mind. They were all carved into his memory, as clearly as the features were carved into the monkey mask that stared at him in the instances in which he saw reality.
In one such flash, he saw fingers curling around the mask and taking it away from him. Suddenly he was focused. The mask was his identity, no one else could have it!
"[color=yellow][hl=darkblue]No! It's mine![/hl][/color]"
It was a blonde woman who was thieving from him, and he attacked her without mercy, launching himself from the ground at her. She jerked in surprised, but he grabbed her arm and bit, hard, on her hand. He tasted the familiar pang of blood on his tongue and she dropped the monkey mask. Immediately he released her and lunged at the mask, scrabbling over it and clutching it protectively to his chest. Luminescent blood dribbled down his chin.
He shot a regretful glance toward Leonora. "[color=yellow][hl=darkblue]I'll come back for you![/color][/hl]"
Then, with a burst of blinding lightning, he fled.
[b]Summary:[/b] Whie wakes up, attacks Lynn, takes the monkey mask, shouts at Elly, and runs the hell away.
[hr]
[b][color=#F0E68C]Lynn Hothlight[/color]/Night 5/Hyrule Castle Courtyard[/b]
It seemed Whie was too far under Taden's control. Even when separated from the Relic he acted to keep and protect it. Lynn cradled her bleeding hand to her breasts as the deranged young man fled in a flash of electric brightness. As her eyes readjusted to the blue-sheened gloom of the arctic night, she caressed the bite mark on her hand. She channeled the inner light granted her from the Light Spirit's Blessing through her fingertips and sealed the torn flesh, healing her hand.
"[color=#F0E68C]I'll deal with that one later. His time will come.[/color]"
As her hand completely healed, she turned to the group and saw the goron slinking away with Kae. She started toward her old friend and ally, speaking to her sentry. "[color=#F0E68C]I will heal the Scion. Bring her to me.[/color]"
Polaris/ Castle Town Ruins/ Night 5
It'd all happened so quickly, the blight of his mind that had been identified as Taden Hothnight, the blight that he was sure he'd rid himself of so quickly and with relative ease, once again reclaimed dominion over his body and mind. Polaris spiraled into the heavens, his arctic powers were haywire, beams of sapphire frost magic erupted from every point of his body imaginable. Polaris' conscience was sealed within itself as the disease of Hothnight seeped back into a seat of power, this time in full control. Polaris found himself at the mercy of the Terminian. Struggling against the icy tendrils that had seeded themselves deep within his own mind, Polaris mentally bucked and reared, banging against the walls of his captivity. He was a prisoner in his own mind, a prisoner to himself. 
As the mighty frost dragon was once again summoned, Taden thanked Polaris again, in this brief instance Hothnights foothold faltered and Polaris' innermost being leapt forth from it's captivity. Still unable to fully control himself, Polaris, whose body was unmoving, mentally lunged at his captor trying oh so hard to push him back. As the Red Ice Dragon danced through the air and brought forth its crimson rime to bear on the Brand Serpent, Polaris chuckled. "You're thanking me? How ripe! Don't be so foolish Hothnight! You've unfurled the ONE portion of my being that not even I have full dominion over. The Red Ice Dragon, although an offshoot of my psyche, is not, nor has ever, been under my full control. You've brought about the means to your demise."
Polaris' funerary markings continued to flash white as his eyes rolled back in his skull, his battle was a battle for his mind once again, while his draconian mount was taxed with all of the heavy lifting of this battle.
Red Ice Dragon/ Castle Town Ruins/ Night 5
Intertwined with the Serpent of The Brand, the Red Ice Dragon lashed out trying to capture the very essence of the fire beast, he intended fully to kill it. Hatred coursed through every inch of it's being. The Hated had summoned him, but it was his true master that released him. Polaris relinquished the hold over the dragons will with a single parting thought, "I now know what it is that you spoke of my majestic companion. I am, at the present, unable to assist you in this task. End the existence of Hothnight the Hated and I will acquiesce your request. Free me from his dominion, kill the bastard if you must, and when the smoke clears, we shall travel together to the land of my father."
The serpentine beast brought it's massive talons to bear and pushed off from the chest of the Brand Serpent, separating the two. With a screeching roar that was rendered even more majestic by the pulsating radiance of the transformation of Lynn Hothlite, the dragon swooped across the night sky. The Red Ice Dragon reached out with it's conscious and touched that of the Brand Serpent, "My flaming brother, lend me your aide. Assist me in this most important task. My Rider has fallen, as has he who bears your Mark. The fool Taden knew not what he did when he unleashed the fury of not one, but two majestic rulers of the skies. Let us end him!" Topping off his request with another skull piercing shriek, he lit up the area with a swath of majestic Red Ice before breaking into a nosedive aimed at the spectral head of The Hated. 
Polaris/ Castle Town Ruins/ Night 5
The General was in awe of the beast, the power that had resided deep within him for countless centuries was now incarnate and was fighting this battle for him. If there were only something he could do, some way to assist in this battle. 
He'd resigned himself to spectating when he felt a familiar consciousness brush against his own..."Lynn?..." Pausing for the briefest of moments Polaris awaited a response, when none came he continued on, "How I'm able to sense your mind, I know not, but if this IS in fact Lynn Annei and you are in fact fully whole once more, know this, it is the Sun Shard that is the catlyst to bringing Taden down once and for all.." The link was severed as Hothnight redoubled his assault on Polaris' mind. The General was left helpless, only able to hope that his Dragon could do the job and that his plea to Lynn wouldn't fall on deaf ears.
Kae/Castle Gates/Night 5
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wb6NKOPtl4Y
Bathed in an antithetical energy once more, her body convulsed and writhed unconsciously. The starmetal grafted onto her flesh did not like being exposed to amplified solar radiance. Kae was so strongly aligned to the lunar paradigm that while she was strongly resistant to sources of shadow, those who drew from daylight could snuff out her life without much effort.
Her flesh began to blister as though she was exposed to an extreme source of heat. It was pathetic to see a Scion suffering from such an unusual weakness, but considering her training it was to be expected that someone would find out sooner or later what really hurt her the most.
It was like someone was ripping out her heart from her chest with how she was positioned. If she was awake, her screams would have deafened even the most stout of constitution.
Jaden just looked helpless, his flesh also sizzling as though it were from a bad sunburn, because his attunement made him susceptible to this too. But with Kae already afflicted it amplified everything on her end. He could shrug some of it off, but it still hurt. 
She couldn't take much more of this. If Daurubia even dropped her at this point, damage from hitting the floor would kill her.
Summary: Kae is on death's door.
Jaden/Castle Gates/Night 5
He was skeptical of all that had unfolded before his eyes. But as he saw his sister getting the life sucked out of her due to exposure to primordial sunlight, his gut feeling was that potions were not going to save Kae from this. 
And now standing before them was a reformed Lynn. Or something. Whatever it was, the best shot at his sister not dying rested with an offer he felt too uncomfortable to take. But he'd never be able to live with himself if he let his sister die due to politics, pride, or reservations. He had to go with what Kae would do. Not turn help away, whatever the source. This situation was dire and there was a chance to help. It could backfire, but to do nothing would mean her death and the effective end of his people's lore.
Since Nora was dead, Kae had the most knowledge of Sheikah history. Jaden couldn't let that die either. Not as their heir.
He looked visibly pained seeing her suffer, tears welling up in his eyes. Jaden looked over at Elly who had approached right after Lynn and nodded reluctantly.
"Please! There's no time; she can't hold out much longer."
Placing his hand on Kae's right arm, he began to pray fervently. Nayru couldn't take her Scion home now. Not when things were this bleak.
Summary: Jaden gives his permission, even though he wishes there was some other way.
Elly/Castle Gates/Night 5
The Sheikah were going through some major changes. Elly could see the pain on Jaden's face, and while it was different than Kae's, it still was a deep wounding. And with Kae so close to death, Elly wondered if she should spill the deepest secret her friend had ever entrusted her with. 
It was one that would really affect Kae's standing among the Sheikah based on a lot of things. Jaden didn't even know. 
Kae had a crush on Lynn and had since she was 14. She never acted on it. And Elly was sworn to never tell anyone. But she agreed, someone had to heal Kae now or else she'd never have the chance to go for it later. Or have any shot at saving Hyrule like she always wanted to do.
Her adventure couldn't end here.
"If she'd want anyone to save her life, it'd be you! Please, for the love of Nayru!"
A confession it wasn't, but it was a well-known fact that Kae looked up to Lynn a good bit, so that would explain what Elly had just declared. Kae's secret was still safe.
Elly put her hand on top of Jaden's, looked over at him, and joined him in prayer.
Daurubia/Castle Courtyard/Night 5
And so here it was. The scion lay dying in his arms, and her only chance was the arrival of this strange blond-haired woman. Why should I trust her? How can I? This is the fate of Hyrule after all.
Suddenly, Jaden approached. "Please! There's no time; she can't hold out much longer."
And then another. "If she'd want anyone to save her life, it'd be you! Please, for the love of Nayru!"
These two trusted the blond-haired woman, foreboding as she might be. And it seemed time he should join the party. As gently as possible, he laid Kae down on the ground in front of blond, then stepped back. Whatever happened next would be entirely up to the heavens. And so, Daurubia joined the others in their prayers.
Taden's Ghost / Castle Courtyard / Night 5
Taden's head rolled from Polaris, hanging in the air above the Courtyard, to his summoned dragon, out in the Ruins. From inside his mind, the Zora General retorted against Taden's curses.
'You've brought about the means to your demise.'
He spun from the dancing lights of the dragons to face Polaris, their eyes level.
'Oh, how right you are, General,' he said, his eyes glowing again.
Taden had positioned himself directly above the Scion. He returned the blue light to Polaris's vision, blinding him just as the Dragon began to charge down from the skies.
Taden's Ghost rounded on the blinded Polaris, then flipped over him to send the Zora flying upward, directly into the maw of the Red Ice Dragon's fangs. The Dragon tried to halt himself, but his momentum was too great, and he and his Rider crashed into the seat of the Courtyard in a plume of freezing flames. They smashed right into the gathered Sheikahs and their subhuman allies.
OOC: Using his control over Polaris's body, Taden throws Polaris into the Red Ice Dragon's charge. The Dragon tries to stop himself, but crashes into Polaris, and then they both crash into the Courtyard directly on top of Kae, Daurubia, Lynn Hothlight, Jaden, Elly, and Felina. Lynn's offer of healing to Kae has been interrupted.
Taden's Ghost / Castle Courtyard / Night 5
"One down, one to go," he said to himself, floating high above the Courtyard. Taden braced himself for the coming onslaught of the Brand Serpent, eager to throw more fire on the chaos far below.
Lynn Hothlight/Night 5/Hyrule Castle Courtyard
Lynn strode forward, cupping the Sun Shard in her hands to shelter the Lunar Children from its glow. Kae was a mess in the kindest of terms, and far worse if one were to be mean. She cast a glance to her erstwhile companions.
"Jaden. Elly. Do not interfere."
Hothlight lowered herself to her knees beside the Scion, scooping her up and cradling her head in her lap. As she did so, Polaris and his Red Ice Dragon crashed down around the pair. The magnificent beast of ice threw up dust and snow, as well as bricks and clods of soil. Lynn blindly ignored the sudden chaos, miraculously avoided by the chaos in a shell of calm, the calm eye of the sudden storm. Her focus was solely on Kae. She saw nothing of what happened to the rest of the group.
"Kae Bryseis." her voice was quiet, but she knew the Scion would hear her, wherever her mind wandered in her pain. "I am sorry for every horrible thing that has happened to you. You counted me as friend, and in turn I betrayed you and destroyed you. I can only hope that as you find solace, I might in some manner repay my debt to you."
Lynn unveiled the Sun Shard, and lowered it toward Kae's throat.
[b][hl=#BA55D3]Penumbra[/hl]/Night 5/Amidst the Inferno[/b]
The fire raged, consuming the remnants of the Shadow-warehouse. The dragon had wrought its destruction, and Penumbra was witness to the power of mayhem. The smoke coalesced around him, protecting him from the heat and flames with its buffer of cool shadow. He cast his gaze around the immediate area. There was no one to proselytize.
And so, mired in a swath of thick smoke, Penumbra waded through the flames, toward the Castle which would surely hold potential converts.
[b]Summary:[/b] Protected in a veil of Shadow and Smoke, Penumbra marches through the flames and advances on the Castle.
[hr]
[b][hl=#F0E68C][color=#1E90FF]Lynn Hothlight[/color][/hl]/Night 5/Middle of Everything[/b]
With the sharp end of the Sun Shard pointed to Kae's throat, Lynn held the item above the Scion's mouth. The Shard glowed with the light of the sun and its radiance draped over Kae's face. Hothlight's eyes were closed in concentration, her magical power mingled with the Sun Shard and realigned it. The Shard increased its brightness, then blinked out. An unnatural darkness spread from the Shard out into the Courtyard, engulfing and swallowing all light.
Kae, however, remained illuminated. Light streamed from her mouth and her veins shimmered unhealthily. Slowly but surely, the luminescence faded, first at her extremities, then working its way up her limbs. Light continued to seep out of her mouth, billowing in a cloud of her breath before soaking back into the Sun Shard. As the glow in Kae's veins faded, her natural skin color returned. With a final rasping cough, the Scion spit out the last of the sunlight, which the Sun Shard greedily absorbed.
As Kae was made whole, the Sun Shard once more took up its natural luminosity. Lynn wrapped her fingers around the Sun Shard and mentally coated Kae with a bubble of starlight to protect her from becoming poisoned once more by an opposing paradigm. When Kae opened her eyes, it was into the face of Lynn Annei that she looked, made new with blond hair and blue eyes as Hothlight and alight with the Sun Shard's sheen.
"[hl=#F0E68C][color=#1E90FF]Kae! I'm so sorry![/color][/hl]"
Hothlight leaned over her old friend, hugging Kae close and coincidentally shoving her face into her chest. A frozen tear left a trail of ice down Lynn's cheek.
Polaris/ Castle Town Ruins/ Night 5
The feeling of complete and utter helplessness was something he'd never wish on another soul. Polaris' inability to command his own body was a burden beyond any he'd ever faced. This was magnified to extreme clarity when, mere moments before the glacial monstrosity of his own summoning came smashing down upon Taden, the ghoul turned the tables and threw Polaris up as a sacrifice. The dragon, unable to halt it's torrid descent slammed into Polaris' mid-section and the pair of them rocketed towards the ground at near break neck speed. 
Try as he might, the disoriented dragon was unable to stop, the unforgiving cobblestone below would be the only means to put on the brakes. The dragon pulled up just seconds before slamming into the ground and landed, flat on it's belly and slid several feet, it's head lolled to the side. Polaris was catapulted forward and sent tumbling and bouncing across the ground. Each time he bounced, the sickening crunch of his jarring bones rang in his ears. On the brink of unconsciousness he rolled to a stop only after slamming into the calves of Lynn Hothlight, nearly bringing her down on top of him.
She was changed, her hair a radiant golden blonde and her eyes that of a piercing blue, but there was no mistaking that it was her. When she looked over her shoulder at him, briefly distracted from Kae, Polaris fancied a smile, and coughed"Hope you don't mind if drop in." The combined pains of the possession and the fall made his head drop to the ground. As he lay there drawing in ragged breath after ragged breath, he steeled himself to finally greet deaths embrace once and for all.
Summary:
Polaris gets f'd pretty hardcore. But he's still breathing.
Red Ice Dragon/ Castle Town Ruins/ Night 5
This moment would be glorious, the specter of The Hated would soon be swallowed up and if there were anything to be crushed, it would be done in his massive jaws. The dragon was giddy with excitement, the joy of the hunt coursed through his body, even moreso, the joy that would come from pleasing his master would be the sweetest of all.
His tongue shot out and tasted the air, it was tinged with the grotesque flavor of evil. But it would only last for a few more seconds. Or so he thought, just before the little runt could be devoured, Hothnight bolted from his path, tossing his Rider, his master up in the path in his stead. Fighting with all his power the dragon worked to stop, but gravity was a foe that could not be toppled. The Red Ice Dragon was unsuccessful and his charge only briefly slowed before he smashed, mouth closed, into Polaris' mid-section. Gripped by fear and out of his wits, the dragon was appalled at what had transpired, what he had done and was still doing to the General. There was no hope of stopping now, all he could do was slow the plummet the best he could by rearing up right before impact. It wasn't enough to keep himself from slamming into the cold hard ground.
This part was always the worst. He needed to get back to his master, to lend him what strength he still possessed, but with Polaris compromised, there was only one means of doing so. A pang of regret shot through him, sorrow for those surrounding him as he burst into countless fragmented pieces that flew in all directions. It was as if a giant ice shard filled grenade had been set off in the midst of those on the ground as pieces of the majestic dragon flew in all directions. Slowly his essence wafted back to the aching Polaris and reabsorbed into him, but the frigid projectiles, they could not be stopped, not without Polaris' doing and that wasn't going to happen, not in his current state. The beast could do naught but hope that none found a fatal mark on any of the surrounding peoples. Once back within the General, he melded what little strength he still held with that of Polaris' waning power, hoping that someone here in this group would hold the key to cleansing his master of his blight. The very ice water that flowed through the veins of the General was his greatest downfall in this battle between mages.
Tobias Pepperwhistle/ Hyrule Castle Fountain Courtyard/ Night 5
The sudden flash freeze had caught Tobias unawares and he was unable to shield himself. As it was, he'd only been covered by a thin layer of frost and only slightly immobilized. It was a few moments before he gathered his wits about him and proceeded to bash his way out of the icy full body shackle. After gaining his freedom he glanced over at Harken and saw t twinkle in Zeiss' eye. The wheels were turning and it all started with the duo freeing the remainder of the soldiers.
After several minutes hard work, the majority of the troops had been set free with only a few casualties. After dispatching the Commander, Hark went to work with his silver tongue, Tobias had always said the man could charm the pants off of a Gerudo princess if she let him speak. And he didn't disappoint this time either. After Hark finished his rousing of the troops, it was Toby's turn to chime in, "Aye mates! 'e speaks the truth! The challenges a'ead are many, but compar'd ta what we've already been through, they're but steppin' stones!"
The troops started to get raucous with excitement, Tobias and Harken were working them up into a furor, which is just what they would need when running into a warzone. To further state his point, Pepperwhistle wrapped gauntleted fingers around the ornate mallard head of his cane and drew the golden blade. Thrusting it into the air high above his head the cockney faux-hero shouted, "A'right boys!! Now's the time for bein' 'eroes! Le's run these Twili bastards back in ta the shadows where they b'long!!"
Turning towards the gates, he bellowed out a ravenous battle cry and charged out towards the city the now frenzied troops falling in behind. They had them, these men would follow them straight into the pits of hell if either Harken or Tobias so much as suggested it.
Daurubia/Night 5/Courtyard
The next moments would be remembered as a blur. As Kae lay on the ground, head cupped by the blond-haired woman, an object that could only be described as a block of ice reigned down from the sky. Daurubia felt something hit him just before the explosion happened, sending him flying back and avoiding most of the harm. But the impact had its effect all the same.
Ears ringing, Daurubia managed to look up at Kae to see that, miraculously, she had been unharmed by the impact. But what was happening might prove to be much worse. The blond was holding none other than that same stone the monkey was using to harm Kae with earlier, and she was going to cut Kae's throat with it. 
Disoriented, Daurubia stood up, and haphazardly made an attempt to run towards them. The ringing in his ears was throwing off his balance, though, and a strange darkness had encapsulated everyone save Kae. The light streamed from Kae's mouth into the stone the blond woman was holding, and slowly light returned all around them as well. Sputtering, Kae miraculously was brought back. Ears still ringing, Daurubia collapsed in a pile or rubble, and stared thoughtlessly into the sky.
[b]Giga/Courtyard/Night 5[/b]
Rolling had its disadvantages as well, the major one being that he had to feel where he was going rather than relying on his eyes. But feelings didn't betray him this time. As he approached the castle gates, likely far ahead of Meado, he instinctively knew that it was time to unroll. Doing so, he was privy to Daurubia just ahead of him laying down some woman, who may have been dead, in front of another woman with the brightest hair he had seen since arriving in the human world.
But Giga could never had foreseen what happened next. As he gazed upward, his eyes saw what appeared to be a dragon made of only ice rampaging downward on top of the Daurubia and the others. In fact, it was heading straight for Daurubia. And so, for reasons unknown to him, Giga again rushed forward, this time in a ball, and hit Daurubia out of the way.
When Giga unrolled, he was met with the dragon inches above his face about to crash into him. After that, Giga saw nothing.
Jaden and Elly/Castle Courtyard/Night 5
What unfolded before them had their hands on their hilts. 
Do not interfere...
There wasn't a choice. Turn their weapons on their fellow Sheikah regardless of what became of her, that was something they couldn't do. And with the Sun Shard held to Kae's throat, it took every bit of willpower to keep Elly from going off the handle. Jaden put his hand on top of her weapon to stop her, and she looked at him very concerned.
They then saw what was happening with Daurubia and everything else. Jaden reached into his satchel for a red potion vial and handed it to Elly, motioning to her to assist their Goron ally.
Jaden stood there watching over Kae and Lynn, with another eye on Daurubia. It was all too confusing for him, but as a future chieftain he had to keep his head on straight.
Summary: The two observe what has been unfolding and Jaden sends Elly to help Daurubia with a red potion.
Kae/Mindscape/Night 5
Sheltered from the psychic shock, Felis had whisked Kae away to a familiar place. A mental projection of Nora's library. Here, her will to live could be kept in check even when things were ravaging her body back in the real world. It saved her last night. It would do its job tonight; these mindscapes would.
They spoke of all sorts of possibilities, but one thing was certain: Kae did not have much time left. She'd have to temporarily abandon the war effort to seek out the Light Medallion. How to get it was a different story, but it was resolved that it would be her next logical step. Whoever chose to join her she'd welcome with open arms.
Suddenly, without warning, Felis began to panic as his mindscape began to blow away as sand on a marble floor. Kae vaporized before his eyes and he was all alone in his blank slate mental sphere.
"Kae Bryseis. I am sorry for every horrible thing that has happened to you. You counted me as friend, and in turn I betrayed you and destroyed you. I can only hope that as you find solace, I might in some manner repay my debt to you."
A familar scent filled her nostrils, and she could feel an immense amount of pain leaving her. Comforting hands and a soothing voice she did not expect to hear. Was she dying? Headed to the Sacred Realm where her most desired things would come true? She wasn't dying of her affliction so maybe she'd have a better lot!
Castle Courtyard
The Scion was not dead. Her first feelings were of convulsive remnants and sputtering her ultimate weakness out of her. It all went into that blasted crystal.
As her pain left her and life began to renew, her left arm once made of clay began to flake away. The starmetal tattoos remained, but in its place was celestial matter. Her arm was glowing brightly, though corporeal, it was transparent. A cloud of fine mist absorbed into the crystal along with what primordial sunlight was blasted onto Kae.
This reformed version of Lynn was undoing all the damage that the monkey had done to her. Undoing the wrongs of the day before also, at least in Kae's mind.
Her eyes flung wide open to see what had been going on, and she was a ball of emotion. The only thing that was happening was her being in Lynn's arms. Nothing else mattered at this point. The world could end and she would die happy.
"Kae! I'm so sorry!"
The Scion wrapped her arms around Lynn, whose head was resting on her chest. She rested her chin on Lynn's head after pecking the top of it with a light kiss, smiling wider than anyone had ever seen. Tears were streaming down her face, and she could feel the frozen one of her friend's melting against her leather halter.
"Thank you! Bless Nayru for you, Lynn. I forgive you; things can be the way they were again..."
Jaden stood on thumbing his chin. She was too naive sometimes. But she'd just been brought back from the brink of death, and perhaps learned the value of one life to live. Felis as her celestial familiar was too fitting. The kid had nine lives with how things had been unfolding for her.
Stroking the back of Lynn's head with her celestial hand, she wished the moment wouldn't end.
"You've changed a lot too...what happened to you since last we met?"
Ayala & Death Angel/Castle Town/Night 5
"[Death Angel!]" Ayala called out as she saw the divine avatar flying head of her at an inhuman speeds. The Angel payed no attention to her an continued on towards the ancient cosmic evil that had called there attentions. "[And he's worse then Sen. This shouldn't surprise me.]"
"The Golem?" the Angel called out with mask surprised has he approached what couldn't only be the Ma's host. "Unfortunate, never the less." Buzzing past Habiki's possessed body the Angel released of fog of black feathers obscuring what little sight the tainted golem could have head in the dead of night. He drew Senshi's flaming sword and the Scythe of Shadow, altering the latter's form to a smaller size batter managed with a single hand. Death swooped down at the Ma slashing across with both blades in a line across where he knew his host had hidden the last artifact of Tempest lost divine might. 
Summery: Death finds Dush first with Ayala not far behind. He recognizes it as Habiki's body and while not really giving a crap about that he is worried that this thing could have Taden's powers. Using a wall of feathers as a distraction he attacks Dusk with a high speed scissor slash trying to cut him in two and freeing or destroying the Storm Coin at the same time.
Seishi/Outer rim of Cocytus/Night 5
"Colonel Ma!" Jarkin yelled out as he saw his battle worn commander approach from the distance. "What the hell happened!?"
"That's what I'm suppose to ask you kid. You're not very good at this soldier thing are you?" Hark starred at him black faced and dumbfounding for a moment. Witnessing hell on earth didn't exactly alleviate itself to an already battle fatigued minds attempts at coherent thought. "Well?"
"Um... Ice." He said pointing the winter field before them.
"Great, thanks. Somebody find Dren before I chock this kid."
"Megumi's still thawing him out. Some we just a bit to close to, well what ever that was. Gen got the worst of it though. He'll probably have some frostbite thanks to all that armor he wears." Len cut in sparing the shell shocked private from having to try and think anymore. "On the plus I think all the twili retreated so I'd say the battle is over."
"Over for you guys maybe. There's still what caused this to deal with but that's out of all of your leagues."
"Oh good," Len plopped down on the cold earth, "if that's the case then I think I'll take a nap now. Wake me up next year."
"Get your ass up Ront, I didn't say we were done."
"Sir... go to hell. I'm injured and I've been fighting none stop since dawn. A point in the day which we should be seeing again shortly I might add."
"That describes every one here Ront."
"My point exactly!"
"Look I don't know if you notice but most of the god damn city is frozen over! Last I checked people live there. Now get your ass off there ground and for up everyone who can still stand. We've got search and rescue to do."
"..." Len laid still for a moment letting his orders sink in, "F***..." He got back to his feet still cursing because he couldn't counter Seishi's point. The fighting was done but there was still a lot of people to save.
Dusk/Castle Town Ruins/Night5
Dusk slid smoothly across the ice, leaving a faint trail of mud in his wake. The wind was picking up now, and he was moving faster. It was beginning to swirl around him in an ever ascending cascade. He could feel the power of the disk. He could use it. The wind seemed to extend his own senses beyond his body as it encircled him, feeling the currents swim through the air.
It was this that saved him as he felt a strong gust push against the current from behind him. A shower of feathers obscured his vision, and there was a sinister downward slash of the air.
Having been warned a fraction of an instant before he actually saw the feathers, he was able to react before the disk was completely cleaved from him.
The scythe slashed downward through his skull and down past his chest, revealing the disk as it unzipped his upper body. But before the scythe could clear his torso, Dusk reached within the bifurcation, grabbed the side of the blade with one hand, and pulled against it. With the other hand he quickly grabbed the disk that still hung in midair, then pulled himself against the blade with all his might.
His body ripped in two and flung backwards behind his attacker. The two halves of Dusk stumbled and staggered until they came back in contact with one another, melting together and working its way up his body, seemingly zipping himself back up. As it reached his chest, he placed the medallion back within himself and let his body pull itself the rest of the way back together. His expression was stern as the two halves of his head became one.
That had been too close. He had almost lost his new talisman. He could not afford to be parted from it, not in this weather. The winds and wet and cold would tear him apart were it not for the Medallion's protection.
His attacker paused for a moment, seemingly puzzled at the disappearance of his prey. Dusk rushed as if to attack, until, as the man turned slowly, his shadowed face was revealed, both familiar and foreign.
Dusk stopped instantly.
"Shini...gami?"
== Death & Taxes Angel ==
Death Angel/Castle Town/Night 5
"So you can speak, and you have access to your host memories. I was not expecting a Ma of the upper castes. No matter." Death stowed his scythe focusing on Senshi's flaming sword. With the Death Angel power elevating the common enchanted sword to the status of the holy artifact, the mere cook flame on the blade exploded into a inferno of hellfire.
A wave of fire flowed forth from blade, rushing at the possessed clay doll to over take it as would a force of nature. Death flew through the inferno slashing at the demonic golem with the force and speed of an explosion, expecting the heat to render the body brittle and unable to reform as it had before.
Dusk/Castle Town Ruins/Night 5
An enormous wave of fire emerged from Shinigami's blade and Dusk leaped back from it, high into the air, only to land on his feet and realize the blaze was still coming, reaching a much greater distance than he'd expected.
The inferno made to engulf Dusk and he crossed his fists over his face, attempting to shield himself. The hail and snow and wind evaporated from the air around him, the flames licked at his body, bleeding it dry of its moisture.
Dusk tried to push forward through the blaze, taking a step forward, stopping himself when he heard an ominous crack ring through his body. His leg was split down the side, ready to collapse if he moved. His arms and fingers had grown brittle. He felt his whole body stiffen, and movement became difficult.
He struggled to awkwardly lift his left hand and point his palm at the blaze, even as the flames caused his fingers to crumble and his exposed eyes to crack. He focused on the blaze, not on its heat, but its light, taking it into himself, his palm, draining it of impetus.
The flames grew dark and Dusk stood there, badly damaged, though now surrounded in a swath of shadow. The storm resumed, but no longer was he protected from the weather by his barrier of wind. Hail and rain began to fall on his dry, broken body, eroding it and taking away small flecks of his body, even as it began to renew his body's moisture. The precipitation swept away the engulfing shadows and revealed him.
He had gone from the handsome featured face of Habiki to something truly monstrous. Spider-cracks spread outward from the eyes of his death-gray, skeletal face. His nose had eroded away, giving him the appearance of a Skull. His entire body was cracked and brittle, and the storm was serving to further disfigure him, though thanks to his hood his terrifying face remained largely preserved.
Dusk painfully, with great effort lowered his arm back to his side.
"...host? My host, you say? What provincial, meaningless concerns. It seems you are not as intelligent as you look, which pitiably wasn't much to start."
He forced himself to take another step forward, this one easier than the last.
"Not very observant, are we? You cut me in two and saw no trace of Habiki's Light Heart, and that didn't alert you to the truth. You've failed to notice the lack of blue steam around my body. It seems you have it backwards. I was Habiki's host. He dwelled within me all this time. And now that he's gone, this body belongs to me, just as I had intended. I have no host. A free Ma!"
He smirked and took another step, now in full stride, despite the painful crack in his leg, toward his opponent.
"But you're not really Shinigami, are you?" he said smugly. "No, it has a different ring to it...a familiar arrogance. The arrogance and hypocrisy of the one who guards the gate of the Ma into this world even as he takes a host of his own. The one who tried to block my own escape into Hylia."
He stopped then, in front of his attacker. "You probably don't remember me, but we've met before...Death Angel."
IC: Felina - castle courtyard - night 5
As the monkey staggered back its aura of darkness faded, as it did Felina was relieved to see the arrival of several allies, but also an enemy.
"Gah... Why is Lynn here? Was she drawn to this place because of Taden's influence." Felina thought to herself as she readied a defensive stance.
Glancing back at the monkey she noticed his aura was oddly similar to Lynn's. Whatever this creature was Felina could feel 3 distinct auras coming from him. Two strong souls fighting for control and a third much weaker aura that couldn't be described as a soul so much as it was the imprinted essence of one.
As the monkey struggled to its feet it began clawing at its face until finally a mask pulled away and the creature transformed back into a human man. "That's Taden's mask!" Felina gasped as she began to peice things together.
Lynn had become possessed when she put on Taden's old clothes, this man now was possessed by Taden after putting on his old mask, now there was also the ghostly spirit of Taden floating around. Remembering the old stories of how Taden cheated death by fragmenting his soul into multiple parts, Felina concluded that his old relics must have been cursed with fragments of his soul before he died. 
"Great, what other crap did Taden used to own..." Felina mused to herself as she noticed a shift in dominance between the mans soul and Taden's control. Scuffling with a shiekah woman for ownership of the mask the man dashed off. 
Glancing back to Lynn she found that she had undergone some manner of transformation and now sported blonde hair and was offering to heal Kae with the light magic of the Sun Shard. To Felina's dismay the sheikah seemed to be in favor of the attempt.
"Stop her you idiots! She is still in Taden's grasp! Healing based on light magic will only poison Kae further!" Felina called out, but before anyone could react Polaris and a massive ice dragon crashed to the ground.
Letting out a cry as she fell back Felina slowly rose back up to see Polaris crumpled on the ground from his injuries. Thankfully it seemed that her concern about Lynn's intentions were unfounded as Kae seemed to have actually been healed. Glancing up at where Polaris had falled from she saw a floating ice sculpture shaped like Taden's face.
"Gah, this just keeps getting better and better..." Felina spoke as she reverted back to her true form and ran up to Polaris. "Sorry, but I have to borrow this." she spoke as she grabbed the Thunder Rod from him.
Clashing the Lightning and Thunder Rods together Felina could feel their power merging again, however this time she alone would have to feed in the magic to fuel the attack. There was no doubt in her mind this would use up what little magical power she still had. 
It was a gamble too, Taden was the Sage of Storms and the original form of the rods was more or less a tool bestowed with some of that power. Unleashed the power of a thunder storm on the Sage of Storms was a very foolhardy idea to say the least.
Felina could only hope that Taden's current situation was similar to the one he was in the last time he split his soul, dividing his power into specific sub-elements. This floating head seemed to be relying mostly on the wind, whereas the one in the monkey mask relied on lightning, and Lynn held the power of ice.
Hoping this wouldn't backfire she aimed the front of both rods at Taden's ghostly sculpture and unleashed a powerful lightning bolt which was followed a second later by the ear splitting boom of a thunderclap.
Daurubia/Night 5/Courtyard
Daurubia sputtered back to consciousness with a cough and sneeze. He opened his eyes to see a woman standing over him, the same one who had vouched for the blond earlier.. As he saw her, his mind began to clear up. "Is...Did Kae make it?"
She smiled, "Yes, by the power of Nayru our Scion has survived. The same can be said for you. Thankyou for protecting her in her time of need."
Daurubia smiled, knowing he had done something good for the first time since his inauguration. Hyrule had a fighting chance again.
"But what of the other goron? The one who pushed you aside before the dragon fell? We should find him."
Other goron? "You mean Giga saved me again? Where is he, that dumb goodie-goodie?" he said smiling.
"He pushed you out of the way at the last second. If he lived, he'll be under the rubble and ice," she said, pointing at the crash site.
"He lived, gorons aren't killed quite so easily as other races," he declared with a booming laugh. He stood up and walked to where she had pointed and started throwing away bits of rock and ice. Come on, where are you you big brute. Despite his playful demeanor, Daurubia became more and more fearful as time continued. The ice that had fallen was humongous, and as a whole would have weighed a considerable amount. In fact, Daurubia's confidence in his people had dwindled considerably in the past two days. For all of their strength, they had still been bested by their enemies multiple times. All except for Giga, that is.
Finally, he reached some goron skin. Excitedly, he piled away everything else, hoping that he was indeed ok. But at last when Giga's body was fully exposed, Daurubia's eyes were met with something he had not expected. The miniaturized Giga lay there, completely and utterly still. Daurubia looked for the familiar heave of his chest as he breathed, but saw nothing.
"You have anymore of that potion?" As he asked it, lightning flashed and thunder boomed.
Death Angel/Castle Town/Night 5
"You probably don't remember me, but we've met before...Death Angel."
"Is that suppose to mean something?" Death asked coldly and unflinching as the Ma stopped inches from his face. The Angel took the moment to stair his prey down and humor it with the banter it so desired. "If you have a name you wish to throw at me then do it. I care little either way so if you only plan is to attempt mind games then save such pointless words for mortals. Nor to I care for the nature of your body. Claim it as your own, it does not matter to me. Nor does it change the truth that your current vessel is a mortal construct and it not your original body reborn. Still there is one point I will humor you on but only because your twist philosophy assumes me. You label the Angels hypocrites for taking host claiming we are the same as you. Know this ma, yours is an act of theft, ours is one of humility. You steal a body at random for your own need, destroy the host soul and in time killing its body. We bind ourselves to a host, limiting our own power so we may protect them from you in harsher battles. We take control only when our hosts can not fight the battle themselves. We heal them when we take control, and we return their bodies as soon as able. In some cases we will even go so far as to not take control when we should should our host truly wish it. Fortunately they tend to be strong enough to handle themselves."
Ayala dived down from the heavens, her spear pointed at Death Angel's opponent knows it must be the Ma. The creature seemed distracted by a conversation meaning she have no problems piercing it's flesh and then "BURST!"
Summery: Death chats it up providing a distraction for Ayala to dive bomb Dusk and attack with a Burst once her spear pieces him. Unless he dodges, but hey that's what back up plans are for.
Seishi/Castle Town/Night 5
"SEISHI!!!!" The fairy yelled as she darted toward her companion.
"Oberon, what the hell are you doing. Where's Ayala."
"She told me to check on everyone else after all this ice stuff happened then flew off. I think something was bothering her."
"That doesn't make me feel any better about this." The fairy responded with a confused look. "Oberon when was the last time you saw something like this?" Oberon looked around for a moment thinking about what Seishi said until it finally hit her. "You know after he didn't appear during that whole Haullam ordeal I really though he was dead for good. Even before that, after what happened to... well Laynnei made me swear I'd give up chasing him. She figured obsessing over that bastard was only going to cause up more misery, and I figured she was right so I had let the other Light Warriors handle it. Except form what Phoenix tells me most of the Light Warriors are kids who aren't ready for someone like him. Since the only fighting I still see going on for miles is that ice and light over by the castle I can guess they're trying anyway, but I can't sit back and leave it up to chance. So what do you say Oberon, up for a reunion?"
Dusk/Castle Town Ruins/Night 5
Dusk recoiled at Death Angel's words. He would not allow his pride to be sullied so easily.
"You speak so much and yet know so little. I will say this again: this body is no theft. This body was promised to me long before it ever came into Habiki's hands. And your own words betray the truth of my accomplishment. We kill our hosts in time. By our very nature we cannot walk this earth for long as the host will be torn apart, leaving us to wander without form until we find another. I alone have become powerful enough to form a vessel that I can retain forever, with no host consciousness to suppress, a body that lives by my will!" 
He sneered at the Angel. "The point is not whether or not this body is my true form reborn, it is the freedom such form allows. This form is mine to use until I decide otherwise. And in that sense, I am free! I can do as I wish with no fear of pushing my host beyond its limits. I am paradox. I am my own host!"
"BURST!"
Dusk leaped awkwardly aside as the spear engulfed in magics pierced the ground where he had been standing moments before.
Dusk landed on the nearby pavement with a horrifying crunch. He felt his entire body groan and shudder, still baked internally by the Angel's impromptu kiln. His cracked leg gave way and he was forced to his knees. A wave of internal cracks began to spread inside his abdomen.
He realized now that he was being careless. He was foolishly revealing his hand to his enemy, allowing himself to be baited into spilling his secrets by the Angel's mere disinterest. It was even possible that this was Death Angel's intention, to goad him into explaining himself by pretending to be unimpressed.
Dusk had been out of the game too long. He had spent so long immobile in the quarries of the Twili territory that he'd forgotten basic strategy. He had grown unaccustomed to the world, and found himself easily manipulated.
That attack had been foolish of the Angel's comrade. They might have gotten some useful information out of him. But her attack had been an unsubtle reminder to him of how he must conduct himself among his enemies.
From the ground where he knelt he looked up at Death Angel with contempt, his hood falling back to reveal his sunken features. His eyes glowed a vivid orange, with lime green irises.
"I grow tired of talking. If you wish to fight me then so be it. My name?" he spat on the ground beside him, then forced himself to stand, supporting himself on his good leg, even as his splintered and useless left leg wobbled dangerously, ready to fall away at the slightest provocation. "Shall not be wasted on blasphemers like you." 
The winds picked up around him, and once again he was cocooned in a wall of wind and hail.
"I am Dusk! That is the only name you deserve! And it is the last name you shall ever hear!"
Death and the Little Lady/Castle Town/Night 5
"[Do they usually talk to much?]" Ayala asked as she landed next to the Angel.
"[Some times.]"
"[What's he rambling about?]"
"[Religion it seem.]"
"[That's actually kinda funny. Anyway I'm gonna attack him now.]" She said with a beaming smile then with a single flap of her Wing of Light took off like a dart for the Ma.
"[Right.]" Death slashed at the ground with his scythe leaving a massive stream of shadow magic it its wake. "Styx"
Ayala's spear collided with the demon's cyclone barrier, held back by the unnatural torrent. "Oh cute, your a wind demon." Ayala grabbed the Sword of Light know its near sage like radiance might allow it the piece the demonic gale and thrust it into the storm wall. The wind barrier was to thick for more then the tip of the blade to make it through but that's all she needed. "[Light Burst!]"
Death slashed upward from the first steam creating a second that formed an misshapen X like figure. "Lethe"
IC: Taden's Ghost / Castle Courtyard / Night 5
Focused on the fiery serpent floating over the Ruins, Taden was caught off-guard when the Dragon he had plunged into the Courtyard detonated itself. The explosion of Red Ice blasted him upward as he weaved through the air to avoid the larger chunks of shrapnel. The solar polarity of the ice made it impossible for him to manipulate the shrapnel as it coated the area. As it settled, his view of the Courtyard below was obscured by a pink cloud of frost hanging over it.
But he could still feel the body of Polaris below, lying prostrate on the ground. Taden had been wreckless, pushing the Zora General to the brink of exhaustion. He felt the spiritual yolk between them slacken as the Zora's mind began to fade. Ironically, dying would have been the Zora's greatest defense against the Ghost's possession of his mortal flesh. But luckily for Taden, the spirit of the Red Ice Dragon entered Polaris's heart, and the cold water pumped vigorously through his veins once more.
As his connection with the Zora increased with his renewed vitality, Taden vividly felt his victim's fingertips lose their grip over the Thunder Rod as it was taken up by someone he could not see through the pink frost. Defenseless above the Courtyard fray, he appropriated the only asset he had left at his command: the revived body of General Polaris. He ripped the Zora from the ground and held him high over the burning parapets, hiding him in the pillar of smoke that rose from the ruined belltower.
Just as a thunderbolt sprayed from the Courtyard, Polaris flew from the smoke to intercept it with his arms crossed over his face. A defensive funnel of electricity shot from the Zora's fins, and the energy of the lightning attack was diffused by his bioelectric field. The following thunderclap blasted Polaris upwards until he was directly beneath Taden's floating head of snow. There, Taden lowered himself over Polaris's right shoulder, and using the layer of moisture coating his scales, Taden froze himself into the Zora's neck. He turned to face his newly acquired neighbor, and turned Polaris's head so that they looked in each other's eyes.
"The body of your Dragon is an incomplete sacrifice. You have abused the Hated as your weapon; now bear witness to the cost of your arrogance, when your own body becomes His weapon!"
Blue light pouring from the heads of both ice mages, Taden had Polaris raise his arms against his will to summon the cloud of frost into a massive pink boulder. As a ghost, Taden lacked the ability to generate his own ice, but he could redirect cold that was already present in the world without the aid of his arctic aura, such as the storm he had fed the pillars or the water in Polaris's veins. It was Polaris who had power over the rare element of Red Ice, but Taden had power over Polaris. Any ice mage powerful enough could spin the Zora's ichor, but Taden's Ghost had established dominion in the Zora's mind.
Clasping Polaris's hands together, he sent a web of cracks through the large pink boulder suspended in the air. Looking down at the people below, he called out to the woman who held the Thunder and Lightning Rods. "You picked the wrong weapon to steal from this Zora. Thunder can be met with lightning; however..."
"Nothing can stop Red Ice!" A hideous croak leapt from Polaris's throat as Taden puppeted his vocal chords. The Zora's hands spread side to side as the boulder of Red Ice split into seven pieces, each the size of a javelin hovering in the air. One by one, the blades shot towards the seven warm bodies in the yard. Using Polaris's knowledge, Taden was able to name them all. One streaked towards Felina, two blasted at the Sheikah siblings Jaden and Elly, one into the Sheikah Light mage Lynn, who had consumed a shard of the Hated to become Hothlight. Two of the bladed chunks ripped through the air towards the pair of Gorons in the rubble, and the largest and fiercest spire of Red Ice dropped directly over Kae Bryseis, the Scion of Nayru, who whispered in Hothlight's embrace. Each of the Red Ice missiles dipped and spiraled through the air, homing in on the warmth generated by their targets' beating hearts.
Castle Courtyard / Night 5
Hyrule Castle Courtyard. A battle swells on the ground. High above, in the frozen stillness of the night, unnoticed by the warriors below, a wooden arrow sails through the air in a long, flat arc. The wooden tip, somehow, easily pierces a stone wall of a balcony only one floor above the ground. A large patch of moss spreads from the point of impact across the stone, and up the shaft of the arrow toward the tail. A vine, covered in leaves, grows out of the tail of the arrow, and stretches across the courtyard air until it reaches the balcony from where the arrow was fired. A small hand grabs the vine. A blue light leaves from the balcony, bobbing toward the other end of the vine. The holder of the vine jumps from the balcony, and just then the vine pulls taut, and then recoils toward the arrow embedded in the wall, dragging the small figure across the courtyard sky to the opposite wall, nearer the fighting. 
Small shoes made from leaves and tree bark land skidding on the balcony above the fighting. The small blue fairy, bobbing behind the recoiling vine, reaches its Kokiri companion once more. He reaches up and removes the arrow from the wall, replacing it in his quiver. 
"Hey! Listen! Koro, what's the plan here? The Deku Tree told us to help the King's forces protect the castle." The fairy circled the boy's head.
"Juno, how are we going to do that if we don't know who anyone below is, or what side they're on? Go down there and check it out... I'll be up here, arrow notched..."
Juno descended, a blue light hovering toward the warriors below...
Polaris/ Castle Courtyard/ Night 5
As the battle raged on around him, Polaris lay there crumpled in a heap at the feet of Lynn Hothlite. The simple task of breathing had become a struggle when yet another explosion rocked the courtyard and sent shards of ice flying in all directions. Polaris tried to shield himself, but there was no need to do so, the source of the explosion became evident as the consciousness of the Red Ice Dragon brushed against his ever so slightly as the two once again melded as one. 
"General, it is of the utmost importance that you survive this fight! I will lend you what strength remains in me, but know this. Until you are whole once more, I'll not be able to become manifest while you stand."
Almost instantly Polaris felt a surge of energy course through his veins, the icy mixture of his blood flowed freely once more. Before he managed an attempt at standing, he felt Hothnight once again seize control of him. His body was yet again, not under his command. He vaguely realized that Felina had taken the Thunder Rod from him only when he was forced to block the mighty thunderbolt produced by the Thunder and Lightning Rods unison attack. The sheer force of the reverberation sent him high up in the air, where the free floating head of Taden Hothnight attached itself to his body.
A whirlwind of thoughts raced through Polaris' overcrowded mind as he realized it was he who was now attacking his allies. There was naught he could do, but grimace at the sight. Over sized javelins of Red Ice were sent hurtling at all seven of his friends in the surrounding area, the largest of which was aimed the Scion of Nayru. "Enough! Polaris growled at the visage of the Hated, "You speak of abuse and arrogance as if you yourself have fallen victim to me! Save the mind games Hothnight. Do you really believe that I wanted any association with you? Fat chance! I should've left your Knife buried in the heart of the bitch I took it from."[/i]
Red Ice slowly began to form around the outstretched right hand of the frost General as he smirked at Hothnight, "At least you can't run from me anymore!" Polaris' red ice encapsulated fist smashed into Tadens face and the duo reeled in midair and started to lose altitude. A truly odd sight to see as Polaris and Taden scuffled, punching and kicking, both with Polaris' hands and feet, neither willing to relinquish control.
Brand Serpent - Castle Town Ruins - Fifth Night
Hothnight's rebuke went unanswered when the red ice wyrm rose up and called to them as though they were its brother. It was staggering to consider, a construct of ice with the audacity, the hubris, to think itself their equal. They were eternal, they were primordial and ancient, they were the very dark, wild, willful fire itself. They were destruction and chaos, rampant and untamed.
The ghost and the serpent, and the Zora General who had ushered it forth, went on doing battle with one another, and the Red Ice Dragon was dissolved back into its master's essence. The Brand Serpent cared nothing for the General, he was an irritant, placing himself in between them and their adversary.
When the ghost implanted itself into the frozen fish, its head protruding from Polaris' shoulder, the Serpent perceived its time had come. Javelins of red ice flew from the Zora, aimed at those who fought at his side. He was controlled, under the command of the ghost, whose mastery of ice outstripped even his. The Serpent, from its place on high, lashed around its mighty tail, and the very last yards of its length morphed from violent orange fire to dazzling azure. Lightning fast it struck this way and that, eliminating as many of the ice spears in the same way it had meant to do in the dragon.
"The cold may have come before, Hothnight..." It was Isaac Kinslayer's voice that called out from the Serpent's horrific, fiery maw. The Serpent, looming high up into the clouds, pulled down the smoke that suffused them and wrapped it around its entire, blazing bulk like a shroud. "But you were just a man once."
The Serpent raised its great head and let out a bellowing roar into the night sky before twisting and diving down nose first into the earth whence it had risen. A mighty explosion erupted on impact as the fire that had comprised the Brand Serpent's essence dispelled in all directions like a tidal wave of flames upon the earth, sweeping that thick, choking smoke behind it, covering the area in a thick blanket that threatened to suffocate those trapped beneath it.
Somewhere, out within that murderous cloud, the Sun Shard was plucked from the fingers of the distracted Lynn Hothlite.
And the smoke and flames stopped their advance, and were drawn back up into the air where they swirled and coalesced once more into the shape of the Brand Serpent, though this time it seemed less solid than it had before, less a manifestation and more a shadow of what it had been. Still, it reared back as it climbed high into the night sky, and when it dove once more, it dove for the Zora General, and the specter he unwillingly housed. The smoky serpent fell upon them, emitting its terrible cry as it opened wide its infernal jaws.
And from those jaws emerged the living image of Isaac Kinslayer, the Brand etched in fire upon his naked flesh as he flew from the mouth of the beast and descended upon Polaris and Taden and drove the Sun Shard through Taden Hothnight's phantasmal face and into the shoulder of the Zora. What little charge remained in the shard was loosed in that moment.
"And I don't need to kill the cold itself. Just the man."
Giga/?/Night 5
Giga gasped as he came awake, to find that he was no longer in the castle courtyard. It was sunny outside, the sky was blue, and he was somewhere on the slopes of Death Mountain. It was perfectly quiet, save for his breathing, and the occasional wind against his face. Why he was here, Giga could not say. He remembered everything, the dragon of ice falling, the sudden decision, and then he dove. He tried to save Daurubia, the one who deserved to live, the one who didn't let his anger get the better of him.
But had he succeeded?
Suddenly, he heard a voice from behind him, startling him and causing him to jump. The voice was familiar though. He turned around, "Father?"
"Yes, my son, it is me."
The former Patriarch looked fantastic, better than Giga had ever remembered seeing him. He smiled with his proud grin and looked into Giga's eyes like he always used to. Then it hit him, he was much taller than his father. He looked down a good twenty feet in order to make eye contact.
"But...why am I here? What happened? Did I save Daurubia?"
"Daurubia? I cannot say. But he is not why we are here."
"Why are we here then?"
"For you, my son, for you. I am here to explain, a messenger of the gorons. Giga, giants are no ordinary gorons, as you very well know. Their hands are deft, and extraordinarily precise. They live longer, are more famous, and are more renowned than any other of our race. But their lives are hard, as you also know. But Giga, the goddesses make everyone with a purpose, a purpose which I believe you have begun to fulfill today."
"I have done naught today but make matters worse. I got captured, transformed, and let her escape." 
"Her? You mean the Twili who killed me? Giga, I never wanted vengeance, nor anger from you. I wanted you to embrace who and what you are. I've told you this before, and I'll tell you again, giants weren't meant to fight. And just so you know, you have helped today. You've killed several large monsters others couldn't have handled, you've saved others by your efforts, and you have sacrificed your safety on numerous occasions. Giga, your part in this story is not yet done. What you do next, though, I leave up to you."
"So I'm not dead then?"
"No, you are not dead. You were transformed because you deviated from your path Giga. You became obsessed with avenging me rather than the greater good. And now you return to your former state. Giga, you must continue."
Giga's father smiled deeply and simply stared with knowing eyes. Giga had nothing to say, and so remained silent. And then his father turned and walked away. Giga made no effort to follow him, there was no need to.
[b]Daurubia/Courtyard/Night 5[/b]
As the young woman was approaching with more potion, Giga jolted awake.
[color=red][hl=black]"Giga? You're awake, thank the gods. I'd thought I'd lost you!"[/hl][/color]
[color=red]"You might want to stand back, I feel strange."[/color]
Suddenly, Giga began to grow. Slowly, at first, and then the process sped up. His arms grew to the size branches, his head to a boulder, and his legs to tree trunks, until at last, Giga was back to normal.
The celebration was short live, though, as several red spears formed from above and started diving straight for them. When all hope seemed lost, a giant snake formed and destroyed the spears, or at least breaking them up. But the pieces of the giant red material were still falling down towards all of them.
Quickly, Giga grabbed Daurubia and formed a bridge over him, positioning his back to act as a shield for the red material. Daurubia understood quickly. 
[color=red][hl=black]"Kae, Jaden, everyone! Quickly! You must get under Giga before those things hit us!"[/hl][/color] 
Koro / Castle Courtyard / Near End of Night 5
Koro crouched behind the railing of the courtyard balcony while his fairy, Juno, flitted into the battle below, dodging energy blasts and red ice. She sent Koro messages from a distance as she gathered information about the fighters and their possible weaknesses. 
Then, her sensors falling on a two-headed thing fighting with itself in mid-air, she stopped cold. 
One of the heads. Only an instant passed, but hundreds of images of this... person... rushed Juno all at the same time. The word Taden rang in her ears, memories of the name being screamed, like voices in a conch... He was familiar, but she didn't remember seeing him before. It was like images from another life. Koro felt it too as she transmitted the images to him. Without knowing who or what he was, they both knew only that he had been a frustrated boy, weakened by sunlight in the past. Juno shot back to the balcony.
Koro stayed in his crouched position, unsure of what to do. All he had were flashes... not even memories... could he truly be sure he knew anything about this Taden, or whether they were friend or foe? He pulled an arrow from his quiver and a vial from his belt. Uncorking the vial, he poured a handful of light yellow powder into his palm and rubbed it on the tip of the wooden arrow and down the shaft. It was a powder ground from Deku Nuts found in the Lost Woods... it couldn't create real light, but it would make a blinding flash upon impact. 
He notched the arrow and took aim at Taden. Before he could release the drawn arrow, a man, naked, leapt from the mouth of a great beast and lodged something through Taden's head.
Koro was unable to see what happened to Taden after that. A blast of red ice had been fired in all directions and hit the supporting posts of the balcony. The ledge crumbled and sent Koro hurtling toward the ground. When he hit the ground, there was a patch of tall grass waiting to cushion his fall. Standing, he brushed himself off, and the grass retracted into the stone. 
Dusk/Night 5/Castle Town Ruins
The conflagration of light ignited the surface of his body on contact, creating an enormous gash across his chest. He lifted his face to the sky and screamed as he was enveloped in a storm of illumination, too bright to reveal the demon within.
His screams were quickly drowned out as the hail and rain filled his lungs, turning his cries into gurgling and sputtering.
He felt an intense pain course through the brand...and a pleasure. He felt himself fed by the energies.
His choked screams began to decay into mad laughter. Soon the water cleared from his lungs, and his laughs grew deafening.
The magics faded, and there Dusk stood, head lowered, fists clenched at his sides.
The wound across his chest glowed a vivid purple. He raised his hands and touched a finger lightly against the brand, then lifted it to his eyes to admire. The purple was on his fingers, a thick, blood-like liquid.
He lowered his blood-dipped fingers onto his right shoulder, and began to trace the shapes of runes onto his skin. Runes similar to those of the Twili, those that had inspired them, the symbols of the Ma.
He lifted his hand away from his shoulder, but the patterns continued to etch themselves onto his skin, then spreading down his arm, across his torso, soon enveloping his entire body in glowing purple symbols. The symbols sank into his earthen body, becoming deep embossments.
He looked at his enemy, Death Angel. His sidekick couldn't have erred more greatly if she'd made it her life's ambition. Out of all the magical paradigms in existence, she had chosen to attack him with the essence that fueled his paradox, and gave him life in this body of clay. So enthusiastically had she fed the demon she was trying to destroy.
He lifted his still dripping fingers towards the sky, where the storms raged, and a bolt of lightning struck his outstretched hands, the intertwining runes on his body suddenly surging for a moment with almost unbearable brightness, breaking their cleanly formed outlines as smaller, more irregular patterns, like veins, began to pulse outward from them, with the regularity of a beating heart. No longer was his body badly damaged by the flames from before. He was filled with renewed vigor.
"It seems your little girlfriend has hastened the process," declared the demon, not bothering to mention what process that might be. "As well as your demise."
He slashed at the air with his outstretched fingers, and an amorphous purple shadow erupted from his hands and hurled itself at the offending Angel, leaving behind a trail of black in its wake where no light penetrated.
Tobias Pepperwhistle/ Hyrule Castle Town/ Late Night Day 5-Early Morning Day 6
As Tobias, golden cane-sword drawn, sprinted into the fray a climactic battle raged around them. The battle was between figureheads of both sides, the icons for light and dark. Tobias however, was not concerned with them. He had but one cause, lead these men and gain their trust, twas the same goal as his compatriot Mr. Zeiss. What they found however was slumping and sagging Hylian forces, and Tobias did his best to rile them as the group passed by, "Oy, mates! Now isn' the time ta rest! I know you're tired and weary, but now, now we got 'em on the ropes an' now is the time ta finish tha figh'." A surprising number of the battle worn soldiers regained their vigor and joined their forces. 
As they pressed onward, Tobias and his men approached a small group of Twili soldiers who were blocked in their retreat by a massive pile of rubble, as the angry mob of Hylian forces under Tobias' charge approached the group the Twili men turned and charged. It was the worst decision of their existence. Tobias twirled the golden sword with a flourish above his head and pointed it at the oncoming attackers, "Now! Get 'em boys!" The Hylians surged forward and the two lines smashed into each other the Hylians overwhelmed them with sheer forces and as the first rays of the morning sun broke the plane of the eastern horizon, Tobias slammed his blast knuckles into the face of the last remaining Twili soldier in Hyrule Castle town.
IC: Felina - castle courtyard - night 5
Felina's gamble was a bust. Taden had pulled Polaris directly into the line fire. Exhausted from the magic requirements of the attack Felina staggered back as Taden toyyed with Polaris like a puppet and unleashed a barrage of red ice spears.
From behind a large goron lurched foward over his smaller ally and beckoned any other allies to take cover under him. Taking the opportunity Felina quick dashed to the Goron as a wave of intense blue fire swept across the sky melting several of the ice spears.
Peaking out from under the large Goron Felina could see the large flame dragon once again attack, only this time Isaac himself emerged from its form... naked, very very naked.
"Gah! God's help me... Give him some pants!" Felina inadvertantly gasped at the sight of one of the lands ancient evils running amok in the buff.
With Taden and Isaac locked in combat against each other Felina took a moment to catch her breath and consider her options. She had used up almost all of her magic already, none of her spirit powers would be useful in a fight like this, at least not with Taden using Polaris as a shield.
Glancing out at the ruined remains of castle town Felina couldn't help but feel that there was really no point in trying to defend the region any further. The town itself as destroyed and the castle itself was in shambles. With two mages of the calibur of the Hated and Kinslayer there was no doubt the battlefield was only go to see even more destruction.
Glancing at Hyrule's defenders didn't instill much more hope either. Even though the soldiers had already been run ragged, they would be little use in a fight like this. Most of the Light Warriors were spent from the day long battle and had little to offer that could combat Taden and Isaac.
"Hmph... I guess it is time to cut our losses and fall back." Felina mumbled to herself as she began to slink away from the fighting and back towards the town. There was no sense getting pulled into a protracted fight against the two mages that would only result in a massive level of destruction to everything around them. The best option seemed to be simply to give them their space and let them have it out until they got bored and moved on like the primal forces of nature they were.
Death and a little lady/Castle Town/Night 5
"[That's cheating!]" Ayala yelled as she jumped back from the claymation reject. "[Absorbing light is my trick you can't have it.]"
"It seems your little girlfriend has hastened the process, as well as your demise," the demon boosted with its new found power boost.
"[Hey what is he saying? I can't remember how to speak modern anymore.]" Death payed no attention to either of them instead focusing on his task at hand. "Acheron" Death called out has he slashed diagonally up in the opposite direction from the previous stream of shadow. 
The sun brink hell spawn wasted no time in using his new found power to launch a tidal wave of shadow at Death Angel. Knowing Death needed a few more seconds Ayala slammed her spear into the ground and used a burst attack to throw a wall of debris into the air. Seeing that meager defense wouldn't be enough she shielded herself with a wings of light to take the blunt of the attack. The wave of shadow smashed into the barrier of light and was briefly held back however the shadow quickly absorbed the wind feeding its own force. Ayala quickly lept back firing off another burst from her spear to increase her speed and hold back the wave for a split second. With no other choice she used a True Light Blade Strike to part the wave causing it to pass her and Death on either side though feeding it with enough power that it was able to demolish a city block behind them.
Phlegethon Death called out having slashed diagonally down from the previous stream in the time Ayala took to divert the Ma's fury.
"[This is bull****! That's just shadow magic, why the hell is it working like the complete Dark Power!? Hell its got weather powers too, what is this Ma some kind of fusion between Tempest and dad?]"
"Cocytus," with one final slash Death complete a pentagon made of streams of shadow. "Flood of the Five Rivers." The streams expended until the the center was filled in creating a swirling vortex of shadow. An army of stalfos, stalchildren, redead, gibos, and dead hands emerged from the portal and marched on the demon to bind him and rend his earthwork flesh. Swams upon swarms of Poe's, ghosts, Ghini, wraiths, phantoms, shadows, bubbles, apparitions, moa pored from the vortex and charged at the demon to consume his soul. "Hasten my demise demon? I command death, I am death. What could you possible do to me?"
Taden's Ghost / Castle Courtyard / Night 5 to Dawn 6
"At least you can't run from me anymore!"
Taden's eyes flared as Polaris's Red Ice fist sailed into his face, only to halt in front of his nose. Taden had seized the Zora's muscles from within at the last moment.
"Run from you?" Taden laughed, turning to meet the Zora's contorted face. "What do I have to flee? Your right to swing your first ends where my nose begins," he cavorted, cackling in Polaris's ear.
Picking up the Zora's other arm, Taden channeled the snow that made up his hair down their left shoulder and into an icy blue fist. The mad glint in his eyes shone with a new acrimony once the shade of his thick locks no longer veiled their luster. The Hated mage turned the Zora's neck to face him, bald and furious.
"My right to swing your fist, however, extends well into your nose."
Taden tore through the air and socked Polaris with true blue ice from the left, just as the warlock launched the Red Ice fist from his paralyzed right into Taden's jaw. The doubled punch sent Polaris's overwrought body careening through the air heads over heels, and the temporary shock made Taden drop them to the ground as the weight of his bobbing head yanked against Polaris's scales.
They landed in the Courtyard just as Kinslayer's serpent crested the arc of the southern gate and let out a roar. Looking up, Taden could see that the serpent was about to dive, but Polaris suddenly gathered his wits and rolled up to his feet. He began to race towards a collapsed pillar with his left shoulder bent forward, threatening to crush Taden's head into dust as he struggled for control. Without any ice or snow left to command outside of Polaris's body, Taden was forced to fall back on his secret weapon.
"ACHOO!!!" A miniature torrent of arctic phlegm sprayed from Taden's flared nostrils all over Polaris's face, fanning out over his right shoulder in jagged frost crystals. With Polaris momentarily baffled, he once again clenched the water in the ectotherm's veins to bring them both skyward just as the serpent exploded at their backs. The vortex of smoke and flame threatened to consume them before they could gain enough altitude, but it compressed once more into the image of the serpent, and flew over them instead to rain down in an inferno from above. Taden and Polaris both felt each other's surprise as none other than Isaac leapt out from its flaming jaws, back from the beyond but reborn in the buff.
"And I don't need to kill the cold itself. Just the man."
Isaac flew towards them with the Sun Shard, but Taden had Polaris draw in a massive breath, lifting back both their heads and exposing his scaly chest. The dimly lit crystal, too drained to emit a constant radiance, stabbed into his sternum and caused him what must have been immense pain. Fortunately, Taden severed their mental link at the last moment, loosing Polaris's mind and magic but retaining his hold over the Zora's ichor. Searing waves of pain electrocuted Polaris's every limb and digit, but to Taden the it was merely a dull and distant ache. A tortured shout would have burst from Polaris, had Taden not clasped his lips together, allowing only a muffled groan to squirm from the Zora's clenched teeth. Taden held him in the air across from Isaac, who stood defiant in the bastion of his serpentine firestorm. 
"I'm afraid you've got the wrong man, Kinslayer," he chuckled, tightening Polaris's every muscle to keep him airborne even while the torment rang through his bones. Taden's iron grip on the Zora's muscles kept the convulsions to a minimum.
'Are you ready, Polaris?' Taden snickered into his mind. He squeezed the Zora's gills until they were airtight. 'Are you ready to sacrifice yourself to me? I'm not a god completely without mercy, you know. To spare you any further pain, we can start with you handing over your head...'
He slowed Polaris's anguished breathing, then brought it to a halt in order to suffocate him until his conscious mind was snuffed out, leaving Taden to control his newfound body unchallenged. He shut Polaris's eyes against his will, leaving him blind so that nothing entered his perception except the agony of his own flesh. With the host thus preoccupied, Taden turned his attention to Kinslayer.
"Do you have any idea how hard it is to take you seriously when you're not wearing pants? I can see Beelzebub spared your buttocks, but I suppose while you were dead your breeches burned in hell? I seem to recall wishing that exact fate upon you once, now that I think of it. Surely a pyromancer of your stature would have had the sense to invest in one of those fireproof kilts the Gorons make, assuming they still make those things these days..."
While clenching Polaris and taunting Isaac, Taden did not notice that the tip of the Shard protruding from his host's chest began to spark with a pale solar gleam, nor that the horizon beyond the haze of smoke coating the Courtyard's battleworn ramparts began to bleed with a band of crimson. Neither, no longer able to read Polaris's thoughts, did he realize that the torture was driving his mind into its fiercest survival instinct, that of a drowning Zora.
== The Sun Rises ==
Polaris/ Dawn of Day 6/ Castle Courtyard
Polaris' eyes bulged and he gasped as the Sun Shard was buried deep into his chest cavity, piercing his heart. A searing heat weaved it's way through the maze of his vasculature, the warmth of the noonday sun spread throughout his body. The pain was nigh unbearable, and to make matters worse, Hothnight had severed many links to Polaris' body, so as to avoid any of the ridiculous pain himself not allowing Polaris to even get the satisfaction of knowing he was hurting too.
In a peculiar turn of events, the change, a change no one possibly could've foresaw began to take place. The frigid ice water that was Polaris' blood, his very essence, underwent a drastic transformation. As the heat began to subside, Polaris, still in shock, gazed at the wound in his chest and was taken aback, for a few fleeting moments, he was awestruck. A thick, crimson liquid had began to seep from the edges of the wound, down his chest and around the shard. He was bleeding. For the first time in centuries, the Ice General actually bled his own blood.
The Sun Shard had brought about a change in him, no longer was he merely an ice magus, no longer would he be easy prey for others who could manipulate the element. For lack of a better term, his blood had been thawed out, he would now and forever after, be known as the Red Ice General. Releasing the hold on the magic, the ice that had encapsulated his fist fell by the wayside. A half cocked grin, not unlike the one Kinslayer so frequently fashioned crept across the visage of the Zora warrior before he reached up and wrapped his fingers around the physical manifestation of the Morning Star, grasping it tightly, and with some effort, Polaris ripped it from his chest and was not surprised even in the least when the flesh, stitched back together seemingly of its own accord, healing the wound both internally and externally. 
"Isaac, I believe I'll take it from here you can put your pants back on now... Oh, and you can't aim for shit. But thank you all the same." Wielding the shard like a knife, Polaris turned to face Hothnight and brought it up before his face. "You see this?..." Taden quickly clamped his eyes shut and made to turn away from the glowing piece of metal, "Oh no you don't!" Polaris quickly grabbed the head with his other hand, palming it, he forced the Hated to turn back to him. " You're going to watch."
Stabbing the shard into the point where Tadens spectral head had attached itself to his clavicle, Polaris began to work the shard back and forth, sawing through Tadens neck, until the two were completely disconnected. Once apart, the duo almost instantly started to plummet towards the ground. During the free fall, Polaris' mangled flesh healed over, leaving no traces of the unholy appendage. Moments before impact, a plume of arctic magicks shot up shot up, bursting through the cobblestone streets. This stream of ice magicks rose up, allowing Polaris to land atop of it and decelerate to the point that he was able to step off of the geyser onto the ground as it shrunk back to the ground. Seconds later the melting head of Hothnight fell in his hands. An unintelligible rebuke came in muddled words as Polaris brushed the ice away from the crown, revealing a perfect place for stabbing.
Polaris, still clutching the shard, reared back as if to stab it deep into the vertex of Hothnights head, but paused momentarily to take in the warmth and sheer awesomeness of the morning sunrise, it was a glorious and beautiful sight to behold. The sun shard flared in Polaris' hand with renewed solar vigor. Snapping back to reality Polaris slammed the piece of sunlight into Tadens skull.
Isaac Kinslayer - Castle Courtyard - Dawn of the Sixth Day
Isaac, standing stock still and watching as the Zora General did what had been his task, seethed. The words of the Zora rang in his ears like the chime of a gong. He watched the Zora take the Sun Shard, his Sun Shard, and plunge it into the spectral skull of the Hated. The miserable ghost would be gone, but not by his hand. It filled him with incredible, boundless rage that he had been robbed of his victory by some ludicrous deux ex machina. His entire naked form quaked with uncontrollable anger.
He'd intended to turn coat, to team with the Light warriors. He'd meant to bring them the head of Taden Hothnight as a gesture of good faith, and to turn back over into their custody the Sun Shard as well. He knew better now. The Light warriors of this generation were less than a shadow of their forebears, they were divided, leaderless and without direction. They lacked coordination, cooperation, and command. It sickened him now that he would have even considered it.
"Yeah." He muttered under his breath as he walked out through the rubble and into the fields of scorched and mangled bodies, both Twili and Hylian, and plucked from the blackened, blood soaked grass his sleeveless long coat and shrugged into it, its long folds falling over his otherwise exposed figure. "You're welcome."
As he walked back into the ruined streets, he held out his hand. Somewhere amongst the devastation, mounds of ash and charred rubble shifted and shook and gave way to the gleaming blade, imprinted with the image of the Brand Serpent upon its length. The blade answered the call of its master as he strode with dreadful purpose through the wreckage, flying across a considerable distance to find itself once more in his waiting fist. The haft of the glaive had shrunk once more to its dagger handle length in the wake of his apparent death, but the blade would do just as well in this form as any other.
There ahead, standing in a cobbled crossroads amidst ruined shops and homes that had once comprised the capital of the realm of Hyrule, stood Polaris. Isaac watched with distinct displeasure as the Zora General plunged the Sun Shard into the brow of the arctic phantom, and approached with a gentle clap of his hands as the folds of his long coat stood open, seeming only to frame his nakedness.
"My congratulations, General Polaris, for your great victory." He declared, his overture spoiled by his mocking tone as he approached. "Your legend lives on."
He stopped in mid-stride, taking a moment to survey the scene as he idly twirled his blade in his fingers. The sheer cliché of it made him want to vomit.
"But not for long." It seemed as if in the blink of an eye the Kinslayer was upon him, closing his free hand around the Zora's throat. Heat, incredible, blistering heat funneled into that hand, searing the somehow now living flesh of General Polaris. "Your new lease on life may extricate you from the clutches of the Hated, but it hasn't saved you from me."
A psychic strike, a telekinetic blast struck the Zora in the stomach and chest and hurled him from where he stood and into the rubble of a fallen bazaar. Isaac Kinslayer, eyes alight with the fires of passion and rage, expression a mask of depravity and madness, loomed over the fallen Zora.
"In fact, I think you'll find it quite the opposite." He reached down and grasped the Zora by the throat again, pulling him to his feet and warding off an attempted blow. He was flame and heat, passion and rage, willful and chaotic. He'd been denied the prize, and his intended olive branch. He'd meant to extend the Light warriors and offer, but he'd forgotten for a time what it was to be who and what he was. He wasn't likely to forget again. "And I think you'll find that my aim, such as it is, is quite exceptional."
After a moment in which he forced the Zora General to look him in the eyes, forced him to face the realization that his stolen victory would come at the expense of his own life, he struck. The blade, his blade, which he had held at his side as he had addressed the Zora, struck low and buried its infernal length into the scaly abdomen. Fresh red blood flowed down its length and over his hand, causing the handle to grow slick. Isaac forced the Zora to look him in the eye until he was satisfied, then wrenched the blade free and loosed a burst of hot, oily flame into the chest and face of the Zora General, hurling him back into the rubble whence Isaac Kinslayer had plucked him.
Craning his neck left and right, eliciting several satisfying cracks and pops, Isaac proceeded to kneel down and pull the Sun Shard free.
"Any other takers?"
Seishi/Court Yard/Dawn 5
"You've got to be ****ing me!" Seishi spat as he arrived at the battle to find the so called new generation of Light Warriors cowering from battle, ready to flee. "You're is the new guard Phoenix told me about. You lot hiding form what, a fish and a second best flamethrower. I'm glad to see all the people taking shelter in the castle, who can't fight for themselves, can rest safe with you kids on the job."
"In the mean time, Kinslayer," he called out switching his attention to the battle at hand. "I'm guessing you're looking for a decent fight since everyone except that fish seems to be content with watching I think I'd be willing to grant your wish. Just tell me one thing though, who made all this ice?"
Lynn Hothlight/Pre-Dawn 6/Ruins of Castle Courtyard
Shards of Red Ice rained down from the skies. Lynn moved to cover Kae and protect her from the slicing shower of slivers. A harsh tinkle began as the shards impacted the ground, seemingly aimed for the pair.
"Kae, Jaden, everyone! Quickly!" called a deep voice. "You must get under Giga before those things hit us!"
Lynn dared to look up as the cascading blades fell around and onto her. She saw a giant goron leaning over the other Light Warriors, protecting them. Lynn's decision was quick. She lifted Kae, apologizing for the rough handling, and ran toward the giant as quickly as her legs could carry their combined weight.
And she almost made it.
A large shard of Red Ice careened downward, its aim set for Lynn Hothlight. As she ran, it tracked her, guided by the magic that had targeted her. She cried out as it hit her, piercing through her calf and shattering her shin on its way through. She fell, but only down and not forward. Kae tumbled from her arms, and with an extra push Lynn managed to toss her enough to roll Kae under Gigagoron's sheltering rock body. Lynn, however, was left out in the open. The Red Ice Shard pinned her leg to the courtyard's pavement.
And more Red Ice was readying to perforate the rest of her.
[b][hl=#BA55D3]Penumbra[/hl]/Pre-Dawn 6/HCT[/b]
Penumbra continued through the desolate arctic wasteland of Hyrule Castle Town. There was naught but emptiness and destruction surrounding him. If he had a mind for such observations, he would have called it eerie or haunting. But his mind had been imbued with The Dusk, and paid no heed to such simplicity in this world of life. His main concern was the mere lack of people. Without people, there was no means to spread the word of Umbra.
But the Castle ahead was still a hub of activity. He continued his march toward it.
[b]Summary:[/b] Just letting you know Penumbra is still around.  And headed for the Castle, at that.
[hr]
[b]Harken Zeiss/Pre-Dawn 6/Hyrule Castle Town Streets[/b]
Harken fought alongside Tobias, allowing his partner a moment to shine in the limelight, leading the troops in clearing out the last stragglers of the retreating Twili forces. After their latest scuffle he patted the man on the back.
"Well done, I'd say, Pepperwhistle. Well done."
He turned back to the soldiers under their wing.
"Very well done, indeed, boys! These Twili scum turn and run when faced with a real fighting force, like us! Seems a much different picture now, rather then when those bastards at the Castle kept everyone back to cover their own asses... Put up a barrier? Phuh! Send the troops out piecemeal? Phuh!"
He shook his head. "And how much have they been helping the people rebuild after that damn glacier? Eh? Not very ****ing much, from what I've seen! You know I've spent every waking hour of my life since that disaster helping people clear out destruction? Of course, after today, all that went straight to hell! Because those bastards at the Castle decided to allow the fighting to reach the streets before they took their thumbs out of their asses and did something!"
He skimmed the gathered crowd. "How many of you have family, here in this very city? Hrm?" A lot of the men raised their hands, or gave a shout to affirm. "You know the Castle didn't even wait to properly evacuate everyone before the Wall went up? They left women, children, and the elderly to [i]die[/i], because they wanted that shield around their own 'precious' hides! And you know what? You want to know what I had to say to that!"
The men growled a shout, hanging on his words. So, he gave them more. "I saved those the Castle decided weren't worth saving! You have family? Chances are I've saved their lives! They 'evacuate' everyone to the biggest target in this whole war!" He pointed to the Castle for emphasis. "The place they are most likely to be attacked, the place they are most likely to die!"
The rumble of discontent among the men turned into a peal of angry shouted. His oration was spot on, as usual. "But, my friends, but! I took those I could, and I hid them away from the fighting, away from the targets of the enemy! I put them where they would be [i]safe[/i]!" He pointed past their feet, to the ground. "I secreted them beneath the cobblestones, in the bedrock of our home, the safest place there is! Under the ground, where no attack, no matter how devastating, has managed to reach in the whole of this war!
"Would you like to see them! I will take you to them, to reunite separated families! I only pray, I pray to the goddesses, that they haven't forgotten the people! That they still care for us, their chosen! I pray, with all my heart, that you find your families in my safehouse! With my every fiber of being I pray that your loved ones are safe underground, and were not ensnared by the false promises of the Castle!"
The soldiers roared out, shouting dissident remarks at the Castle. Some tried to proclaim loyalty to the throne. They attempted to talk sense into their fellows. But Harken had sparked a boiling fire in their guts, he had raised their adrenaline and stirred their bile. Those who did not follow the flow, those who revolted against the pack mentality, were turned upon. Hylian struck Hylian, and scuffles broke out among the group. Harken gave a moment to allow more to start, and then spoke to interrupt them.
"No! No, my friends! No! There are those who still cling to the Royal Family! There are those who will support the man, and not the goddesses behind him. Their own ignorant flaws will kill them, they are doomed if they maintain allegiance to one who would sacrifice them thoughtlessly for his own gain. Let them go to their king, let them turn their backs on their people. We will send them to the Castle, to see the folly of their ways. We will go, and we will see our families, and we will remain here! In the streets! To help those who need helping the most! Not the Royal Family, but our! People!"
Another cheer rolled across the street. A handful of battered soldiers were kicked from the group, sent stumbling towards the Castle. As they limped away, insults were hurled at them. After a minute, they began to fade into the icy mists and hazy snow. Then Zeiss spoke once more.
"If they go, the Castle will be alerted to our presence. The King will see us as a threat, a threat to his own safety, to his power. He will not abide that, men such as he are obsessed with what they have, and nothing else. Those who leave will return with others, and they will kill us, and they will kill our families and our loved ones for being associated with us."
His expression became dead serious. And he gave his first true order to his rebel forces. "Kill them."
His new subordinates turned, swords in hand, and slowly they melted into the mists.
Harken smirked at Tobias.
[b]Summary:[/b] Thus forms the rebellion.
[hr]
[b][color=yellow][hl=darkblue]Whie Malreaux[/hl][/color]/Pre-Dawn 6/Hyrule Castle[/b]
High above, on the rooftops of Hyrule Castle, a young man peered out from the ramparts and looked down on the fighting. He cradled in his arms a chunk of wood, which he both cherished and loathed. Tears slinked their way down his cheeks as he rocked on the balls of his feet. He felt powerless, but empowered.
It was not his own power that fueled him, yet he used it. He was distinctly aware of a ruined life laid behind him, and looked fondly on the past.
[color=yellow][i]It doesn't matter! Kill them all and nothing can hurt you![/i][/color]
[color=darkblue][i]Nothing can hurt you.[/i][/color]
"[color=yellow][hl=darkblue]Nothing can hurt me.[/hl][/color]"
He finally turned from the view onto the courtyard as red shards rained down. As the first few impacted the stone, he was already gone into the dark hall beyond.
Daurubia/Pre-Dawn 6/Courtyard
Giga's face was as static and determined as a statue as shards of red ice continued to rain down upon the courtyard. They came for him, for Kae and Jaden, for the dolphin, and for the blond. But Giga's composure and steadiness was unfaltering. Again and again the shards hit upon his back, only to do little-to-nothing against the hard skin of his back. And it seemed that all those who would join them would be safe as well.
Daurubia felt a tremendous sense of pride at that moment. Pride for his race, for the elders, for all patriarchs before him, and especially for Giga. The resilience of the Gorons would not falter again during this war. Of this Daurubia was certain.
But other matters were pressing at the moment. As the strange aquatic creature slinked off into the darkness, the blond-haired woman holding Kae came for the shelter, but her efforts were for naught. Kae flew under Giga as the blond lay on the ground with a chunk of the ice stabbed through her leg. We all have our parts.
Daurubia gauged the sky before leaping out from under Giga, standing strong next to the blond. 
"I don't know you, nor am I completely sure if I should trust you. But you saved the scion, and for that Hyrule owes you its thanks. I swear to you, I shall not let another piece of ice touch your body."
Paying no mind to any pieces heading towards him, Daurubia prepared to use pure brute force to destroy any ice that drew near to the blond. He could only pray that his own skin was as hard as Giga's.
Summary: Daurubia leaps out to protect Lynn until the ice stops falling.
[b]Eddard/Pre-Dawn 6/Golem Hole[/b]
Volvagia pulled slowly and gently as he dragged his master out of the hole and into the open air. Eddard stirred at the change, and slowly opened his eyes as he regained his senses. He didn't remember much, something about a Twili, and a golem. Yes, there had definitely been a golem. It had hit him against the wall, and he must have passed out.
But then how was he still alive? And what strange fate had agreed to lead him here?
The Twili he had been with was nowhere to be seen. He was still immensely interested in how a member of that race would have had any contact with gorons, let alone have a genuine patch of goron skin, but that would be solved another day.
For now, he needed to get away from the city, and the fighting. His plan could still work, but he would have to be alive. But all the same, he felt much safer knowing that this dog of his would protect him so fiercely. He looked at it again, black, and it held a happy-go-lucky look on its face as it wagged its tail ferociously. But he had seen it get angry, and the result could not be farther than what he was seeing right then. He remembered it had barred its teeth and hunched his back, giving him an almost deranged look. If he was to survive this ordeal, he would have to keep this dog on his good side.
He gripped the hilt of sword, if only to remember that he still had it. His skill with a blade was sparse, almost non-existent in truth, and he would never hold up long in a fight with any foot soldier. But this dog gave him an advantage now. For once, his tongue could have a break from constantly talking his way out of situations.
But for now, it was another tongue he heard being used. From around the corner, Eddard could hear a speech being made to a responding crowd. He followed the voices until he could hear better. 
"No! No, my friends! No! There are those who still cling to the Royal Family! There are those who will support the man, and not the goddesses behind him. Their own ignorant flaws will kill them, they are doomed if they maintain allegiance to one who would sacrifice them thoughtlessly for his own gain. Let them go to their king, let them turn their backs on their people. We will send them to the Castle, to see the folly of their ways. We will go, and we will see our families, and we will remain here! In the streets! To help those who need helping the most! Not the Royal Family, but our! People!"
This man was good, very good. His oratory skills were fantastic. He was loud, clear, concise, resolute, and was clearly winning this crowd over. Not many went back to the castle, that was not surprising after hearing the speech just given. What was surprising though was what happened next.
"If they go, the Castle will be alerted to our presence. The King will see us as a threat, a threat to his own safety, to his power. He will not abide that, men such as he are obsessed with what they have, and nothing else. Those who leave will return with others, and they will kill us, and they will kill our families and our loved ones for being associated with us."
He looked at the crowd, preparing himself before he uttered the final two words. 
"Kill them."
Eddard watched in amazement as the people turned and began to chase after the people they had just let go with swords in hand. Two men now remained, the one speaking and another who Eddard had not noticed until just now. He approached swiftly and confidently, making sure to keep both Volvagia and his sword hilt in full view the entire time.
He stared as the men turned their heads to see the visitor, and spoke the words he hoped would help him get rich beyond even his wildest dreams. [color=white][hl=blue]"It seems we have something in common, my good men. We each have a certain...animosity for the Hyrulian royal family,"[/hl][/color] he paused for a moment, [hl=blue][color=white]"[i]and[/i] their sworn allies. My friends, my name is Eddard Langston, and I believe we can help each other out.[/color][/hl]
Isaac Kinslayer - Castle Courtyard - Dawn of the Sixth Day
Isaac's dark glare reverted to the amused, malignant smirk that he traditionally wore at the approach of the Paladin, and his subsequent dress down of the other Light Warriors, who had taken to a retreat and watch plan. He straightened back up and tucked the Sun Shard into a pocket on the inside of his coat, all the while holding out to his side his blood soaked blade. He quirked an eyebrow at the old soldier.
"To be frank, Paladin, I'm not that interested in another fight just now. I remained simply to rectify a few wrongs." He knew that it was doubtful a member of the lineage of Seishi Ma, let alone the man himself, would back off at his request, and so he prepared himself for combat. Still... "As for the ice, there seems to be a plethora of cryomancers gallivanting about Hyrule these days, and since I do recall that you had something of a fetish for chasing after wayward snowflake mages I would think you'd be off after them."
Isaac struck as the words left his lips, his free hand flying forth to loose a volley of compacted fireballs, each of which struck the cobbled street and erupted into great, whorling pillars of flame as the pyromancer raised his blade before him and prepared for the inevitable counter-assault.
Through the towering inferno, he called out to the adversary whom he intended to immolate. "It's nice to see you've grown as a person." 
Darrel Mytura - Main Twili Army Encampment (Imprisoned) - Dawn of the Sixth Day
He'd lost all sense of time. He could only assume that he hadn't been held for a long time, but the methods employed by the Twili interrogators, methods both mundane and magical, had left him teetering upon the outermost borders of his sanity. Their dark and shadow magicks, whatever powers they'd used to heal his bodily wounds so that they could carry on their tortures, had left him without the strength to rebel, and barely possessing the presence of mind to be able to think at all.
The wretched ruler of the Twili, the leader of their horde, looked in on his sessions one or twice, only to suggest some small alteration in the approach of those working on him. Darrel had, in one of his few moments of true coherence, vowed that he would visit tortures not unlike those that he endured now upon the body and soul of his captor. It was Grem who was the root of it, it was Grem that would assume the blame. To say nothing of the punishment.
"He can hardly open his eyes." He heard one of the Twili protest to his partner. He turned his head, tried to see through the fog of agony who spoke. All he could see were silhouettes, vague, blurry shapes on the edges of his vision. Everything swam before him, nothing was solid.
"It doesn't matter, do it." Another replied. He wondered what they were talking about.
[color=orangered]"I love you so much."[/color] He whispered, his mouth but inches from Helen's ear. He couldn't see it, but he could feel her smile as the words left his lips. He smiled too as he buried his face in her long, luxurious golden locks and breathed the sweet fragrance that clung to them. His hand gently caressed the soft skin of her left leg as he leaned over her in the tall grass. The gentle warmth of the sun's rays beamed down upon them, lighting the particles that floated in the air all around them, giving the place and time an almost surreal quality.
"I love you too." She whispered back. He pulled away and drank in her every feature, from the sharp, intelligent eyes to the soft curvatures of her figure. He thought, in that moment, that if he never looked upon another woman but her for as long as he lived, he would be more than content.
[color=orangered]"I can hardly believe that we have time to be alone."[/color] He muttered, leaning in and giving her a quick peck on the lips. They were so soft, so welcoming, he could have lost himself in those lips and never looked back. Every touch, every smile, set his soul on fire in a way he'd never known before he'd met her. [color=orangered]"I don't know how much longer I can do this."[/color]
"Darrel, my love..." She breathed, leaning forward and placing her forehead against his own. "You know as I do, our lives are never wholly our own."
[color=orangered]"I know."[/color] He admitted after a moment. [color=orangered]"But at least for now we can be together, without the threat of a catastrophe."[/color] He pushed himself back with his palms into a sitting position and frowned at the woman that he had come to love. In all his life he had been with women, thought he had loved a few of them. But the moment that he had met Helen, he had come to realize how empty he'd been. She was his other half, the side of himself that he'd been missing. [color=orangered]"I've been thinking... we've given centuries of our lives to Hyrule and the Royal Family, what more do we owe them? We could go, we could melt away into the shadows of the world and never again have to devote ourselves to anything but each other."[/color]
Before he said it, he'd known what her reply would be. Still, her answer could never make him regret the suggestion.
"Dear heart, you know that we can't. What would the world be if those who could fight, those who could stand for those would cannot, simply stood by and let evil happen?" The way she looked into his eyes, it was as though her gaze pierced into his very core. There was no man or woman the world over who could look upon him in that way. It was almost unfair, he thought, that he would give anything to appeal to that gaze. "We are Light Warriors, for as long as we are able to be.
"After all, what would Hyrule do without the Sunrise Knight?"
[color=orangered]"I know, love. I know."[/color] He muttered, running his fingers through her hair. He couldn't help but smile as he looked upon her, she was flawless, an image of perfection in an imperfect world. She was an angel, both literally and figuratively as far as he was concerned. [color=orangered]"But you can't blame me for trying."[/color]
[color=darkred]"I wouldn't dream of it."[/color] Bliss gave way to alarm as Darrel recognized the voice of the speaker. Without thinking he twisted and reached for the hilt of Morning's Edge, which lay just feet away. His fingers entwined around the hilt only to find that it would not pull free.
One booted foot had been placed upon the scabbard. Darrel looked up into the depraved stare of Isaac Kinslayer, known here and there by that name, or as Isaac the Kingslayer, or Isaac Ignatius. Few knew him by the name he was born with, Isaac Telmar. Darrel happened to be one of those precious few, as was Helen. 
[color=darkred]"I know that it's not exactly a time of war, but I thought to find you on your guard."[/color] He practically purred as he looked down upon two of his mortal enemies. [color=darkred]"I confess myself disappointed. Though admittedly it's not an unwelcome development."[/color]
[color=orangered]"What do you want?"[/color] Darrel demanded of is infernal foe, glaring up at him and preparing himself for what he couldn't help but feel was coming. He couldn't help but wonder how Isaac had come to return to Hyrule so soon after the defeat of himself and his allies. It was bold to say the least, suicidal was more like it. In this case, however, it seemed to have provided him with exactly what he'd desires. The element of surprise.
[color=darkred]"Just to send a message."[/color]
What happened next happened so quickly that it was less than a blur. Isaac's hand whipped forward, hurling his dagger from point blank range as Darrel rose to his feet to impede him. One hand clutching a fistful of fire met another sizzling with radiant energy, the detonation hurled them both from their feet. Darrel was knocked senseless for a moment by the sheer force of the eruption, only to regain his senses and find that everything he'd come to know had been taken from him. Isaac Kinslayer was gone, vanished back to wherever he'd come from. Darrel had only assumed that Helen would ward off the worst of the blow as had ever been the case. This time, however, he went numb as he looked down into a circle of scorched earth that had once been a bed of grass and flowers, only to find that the beautiful creature to whom he'd devoted himself now lay limp in the dirt. The blade was gone, but the gaping wound it had created in her breast remained. Blood pooled about her in the dirt, soaking into the parched soil.
He was on his knees a moment later, probing the wound and checking for a pulse, checking her breathing, checking for any sign that she might have survived. After minutes of desperate pleading and attempts to revive her, he threw back his head and let out a wail of despair. Tears flowed freely down his cheeks and dripped from his chin and jaw.
[i][color=darkred]"Never forget that I'm out there, somewhere, oh mighty Sunrise Knight."[/color][/i] The voice of Kinslayer mocked him as it echoed in the vaults of his mind. Darrel remained hunched over his lifeless love, his wife, the angel Helen, but his jaw clenched as his sudden grief gave way somewhat to a kernel of resolute hatred. In all of his years, in all of their ages of struggle, he'd never born a personal hatred for any of the Darks, only a disgust and mistrust at the things they'd perpetrated against the people. He'd remained and fought for so long partially out of duty, and partially because his wife had wished it for them. Now, however, he found he had a reason beyond simple altruism to remain and to stand against the votaries of the dark.
Vengeance.
[hr]
[i]"What the hell did you do? You were supposed to apply the pressure gently!"
"You're one to talk! You have the subtlety of a Megaton Hammer!"[/i]
As his captors argued between themselves how best to torture him, Darrel simply lay on his back, bound hand and foot to the table atop which he rested, and wept.
Seishi/Court Yard/Dawn 6
Kinslayer answered by beating around the bush as was normal for the dark warrior, much to Seishi's annoyance. He also answered with a barrage of explosive fire balls. "It's nice to see you've grown as a person."
Seishi used a well timed short Nayru's Love to bounce the first fire ball that would have hit him into the next behind it setting off an explosion that caught the next few afterward. "No, I really haven't," He yelled out from behind the smoke screen his defense had caused. "Truth be told I had people saving to do but I had a hunch these kids would need to be saved from Taden, so here I am. The problem is I got here after the sun started coming up, so to little to late right. Of course I can't stand not knowing for sure, and I can't trust these kids to tell me the through because if it is Taden someone already told them the lie to me. So that leave me with you, and of course you just have to beat around the bush and I've gotta say Kinny, I'm disappointed. I always though you were the only bad guy who wasn't a manipulative megalomaniac. Hell you're a brawler, a trophy fighter if I remember right. Not some jack ass kid who gotta little more magic then most an started thinking he was a god. So please can we cut the bull**** and talk strait. I promise you'll get your fight either way."
Seishi stepped out from the smoke screen walking calmly towards Issac with his sword ready. "Damn it, I guess I'm the one rambling on like a jack ass with a good complex now. Oh well." Seishi vanished in behind a magic yellow spiral and green aura only to reappear a half second later right behind Kinslayer with the tip of his sword less then an inch from his jaw. "Don't bite you're tough, I still want an answer. BURST!"
Polaris/ Castle Courtyard/ Dawn of Day 6
It'd all happened so quickly. Isaac. Kinslayer. Polaris had known it was unwise to trust the man, knew that he'd only play nice for a time. Apparently Isaac felt slighted in some way because it wasn't he that landed the killing blow on Taden. What the fool didn't realize...or maybe he did...was that, by removing the Sun Shard from the Dead Heart, he was ensuring that the specter of the Hated would again return once the sun set. 
All that aside, Polaris had let his guard down, and that's what landed him here. In a pile of rubble, with burns to his chest and face and gaping wound in his gut. In a turn of luck, if it could be called luck, the blast of flames had cauterized the wound and stopped the bleeding completely. The burns, they could be dealt with, the pain was manageable, but he needed to get the hell out of here and recuperate. Not before sending a message to both Kinslayer and the paladin.
Polaris drew in a deep breath, coughing a bit as he did so, and slowly began to extricate himself from the rubble. After several long moments filled with him fighting to gain his freedom whilst listening to the back and forth banter of Ma and Telmar. Frustration mounted and in an act of rage, Polaris unfurled a torrent of red ice. His element exploded outwards in all directions, clearing the area of rubble and when the smoke and dust and debris cleared, there he stood, battered, but not beaten. "Seishi Ma, it's nice to see you again. And keep in mind, that some of these kids you keep referring to, have been around as long as yourself. It's a shame that we don't have time to...reminisce, but I've got to go."
Grimacing as he strode forward, he had to clench his teeth so tight that his jaws ached just to keep from succumbing to the pain that wracked his body, Polaris reclaimed the Thunder Rod from Felina who was still seeking refuge under the massive Goron. Briefly unclenching his teeth, Polaris flashed a pained smile as he nodded to his former traveling companion. 
Just before exiting the courtyard, Polaris turned back and shouted, "Oh, and Isaac, you won't catch me with my guard down again. Your time will come, friend." With that final parting jab, Polaris' disappeared into the city. 
As soon as he felt he was a safe distance away, Polaris relaxed a bit and a pronounced limp was visible in his gait. 
Isaac Kinslayer - Castle Courtyard - Dawn of the Sixth Day
"BURST!"
Isaac Kinslayer was already launching himself forward away from the edge of the Paladin's blade, throwing up what small telekinetic barriers he could as the crackling orb of energy erupted from its point. Even despite his attempts, as he turned to roll over his shoulder and come back up to his feet, he felt some part of the magical blast strike him in the back of the shoulder and neck. The site of the impact burned even as the Brand did, and the strike screwed up his fluid motion. Instead of rolling, he flipped in the air and landed hard on his back some paces ahead of Seishi Ma.
What happened next was akin to a storm of red ice shards erupting outward in every direction. Stunned and staring up from atop the uneven cobblestones, he was at least shielded from most of the ice by the body of the Paladin. The Zora spoke his piece and then made to depart, leaving him alone with his enemy once more. After a moment in which he caught his breath, he rolled over onto his stomach and clambered to his feet, brushing the dust from himself as he rose.
"I forgot how much I hated teleporters." He said, looking around. He was alone, surrounded by Light Warriors who would become emboldened by their numbers if he remained. He relished a challenge, but was far from suicidal. "We'll have to do this again sometime." 
He could tell that Seishi had no intentions of letting him leave so easily, but Isaac luckily had an advantage that most Light Warriors lacked. He feinted forward as though he meant to meet the Paladin blade on blade, but when Seishi moved to defend Isaac instead crouched and launched himself into the air, sweeping an integument of flames in his wake.
"I'll be seeing you." He called down to the collective of Hyrule's champions. Not waiting to see if any of them took to the air after him, he contorted and streaked in a line of bright flame through the gray of the early morning, turning west.
Seishi/Court Yard/Dawn 6
"Damn it!" Seishi yelled as he shield himself from Kinslayer's initial launch flame. "I promise no one else will get involve. The fish ran way and these kids are two scared to move. He shouted sarcastically to Kinslayers fading trail. 
"Oh well, it's better off. Alright as for the rest of you. If you can still stand start sweeping the city for survivors and left over Dark Warriors. Anyone who can't, well get your ass up anyway we're checking the castle."
Taden's Ghost / Castle Courtyard / Dawn 6
Taden winced as Polaris slapped him across the jaw to turn his face towards the gleaming crystal in his right hand.
"...You're going to watch."
His eyes burning in the Sun Shard's radiance, Taden fixed one last murderous glare at the Zora before going completely blind. He would not be watching Polaris's sacrilege.
The Zora plunged the Shard into his own frostbitten clavicle, healing his scales even as he ripped Taden from his shoulder. Silhouetted against the eastern sky, Polaris hoisted the head into the sky just as the first beam of morning light passed between their severed wounds.
When they fell to the ground, Taden was helpless in Polaris's grip, an idle skull disintegrating in the sun. He did not see Polaris raise the Shard with a flourish in the blinding daybreak, but he felt the serrated solar edge as it penetrated his skull and shattered the compacted ice of his crown into a flurry of frost that scattered on the wind.
Thus, with a scoop of his own cranium missing and the Sun Shard plunged into the depths of his mind, Taden clunked to the cobbled ground with eyes shut and dull gray tongue hanging out. His face began to melt away until only his slackened jaw was left. But as the encroaching dawn spread its gown over the decimated Courtyard, now nothing more than a crumbling ring of ashen frost, the slackened jaw of Taden Hothnight curled into a wry smirk.
The light of dawn left him invisible, and the disembodied smirk disappeared. The Sun Shard was stuck inside the cracked Dead Heart, through the same mortal wound through which Taden's Dagger had plunged. Inside the black orb, Taden's mind concentrated on the sunlit razor that now imprisoned him in his own Heart. But when Isaac Kinslayer retrieved this protrusion, the lock of his prison was lifted, and no trace of Taden Hothnight was left in the Courtyard. He had vanished completely, invisible from Dead Heart to Phantom Lantern.
After Isaac assaulted Polaris, Taden was far from surprised to hear a familiar voice cry out. With direct sunlight flooding the yard, Taden knew he was invisible. He could walk right up to Seishi Ma without his knowing.
As the paladin engaged Kinslayer, Taden relished the anonymous proximity to his old nemesis. He wondered if the swordsman could sense his presence, either through the air of cold or the aura of hatred surrounding him. Before he could test his limits, Isaac unleashed a barrage of fire, and Taden was forced to slink back lest the dancing shadows reveal his position. As an empty shade, the light of the sun was his only refuge even as it deadened his cryomancy.
But before hurling the Courtyard into another disastrous battle, Kinslayer flew away in a plume of flame that carried him westward, away from the rising sun and into the lingering stars.
With Isaac gone and Polaris nowhere to be found, Seishi was left alone while the remainder of Hyrule's zealots cowered under a gargantuan rockbiter. He cast one glance at Lynn Hothlight and the Scion of Nayru, bitter at their fortune in surviving his violent return to this fateful Realm. The light of day would not protect them for long. After centuries trapped in his Relics, Taden's patience could tolerate a day.
He left Hyrule Castle through its main gate, taking the path most well-lit by the sun and thus most central to the area, but not before passing one ghostly hand through the back of Seishi's head. If the soldier looked in the right direction, he'd glimpse Taden's Ghost as it passed under the thin shadow cast by the damaged arch standing at the entrance to the Castle Grounds, but only for an instant. After all these years, Taden still remembered how to haunt the Ma clan.
Tobias Pepperwhistle/ Pre-Dawn 6/ Castle Town Streets
There was a certain swelling sense of pride that came when a well laid plan comes to fruition. The men heeding Zeiss' order to kill, proved it to be working beautifully. Tobias nodded at the still grinning Harken when the stranger approached speaking of a possible mutual usefulness.
"Is tha' so? 'ow d'you, propose ta 'elp us Mr. Langston?"
Tobias flexed and unflexed his knuckles, not really trying to intimidate, but wanting to make the newcomer aware of the danger of jerking their chain. The intensity of Tobias' glare lasted only a few fleeting moments before, with a jovial grin, he extended a gauntleted hand, "M'names Tobias, Tobias Pepperwhistle."
IC: Felina - Castle Courtyard - dawn 6
In a fortunate turn of events Isaac had used the Sun Shard in such a way as to free Polaris from Taden's clutches. Free of the ice spirits grasp, Polaris wasted little time moving away to try and recover from his wounds.
"Hm... That's one problem down. Now if only he would put on some pants..." Felina grumbled to herself, relieved that Hothnight could no longer hide behind his zora sheild. 
As Isaac ripped the Sun Shard out of the Dead Heart it began to fade from everyones view. Only Felina with her power to see spirits could still make out Taden's dark aura, however in the light it seemed dramatically weakened by the Hated's old weakness.
In a overly dramatic entrance Seishi had arrived, denouncing his allies for their seeming inaction and challenging Isaac to fight. Felina couldn't help but grit her teeth at his arrogance. From the stories she knew that he had an almost obsessive desire to put King and country before all else, but Felina couldn't help but be irritated by his seeming disregard for safety of Polaris and the injured Kae. 
It had always been a sticking point between the two families, going all the way back to the Imprisoning War. The Ma family put the kingdom first to the exclusion of friends and family, whereas the Xiphias family took the opposite approach placing their priority on those they cared for regardless of what it meant for Hyrule itself. The simple fact that at the time the Princess of Hyrule was family, was the only real factor that compelled the Ma and Xiphias families to work together.
Thankfully as Felina had theorized, with Taden gone and Isaac alone among the allies of Hyrule he quickly lost interest in remaining and departed. As he flew off, Seishi once more took a jab at his allies, and this time it was more than Felina could let slip.
Walking up to him in normal form, "Hmph, perhaps you could refrain from denouncing your allies who were escorting the injured when Taden ambushed them. Think what you will of our hesistance, as we chose not to go full bore against a foe who relied on using a hostage to sheild himself from counter attack. If not for your tunnel vision you might also have realized that provoking Isaac to continue fighting could have ended with yet another castle being reduced to a simmering lava pool." she snapped as she approached him.
Stopping nearing him she watched out of the corner of her eye as Taden's aura passed near Seishi before moving away out of the courtyard. It would be best not to mention it for the time being, as there was little anyone could do to stop Taden's departure.
There were still many things left to take stock of. Felina needed to find out if any of the other lights had completed their missions to retrieve the ore fragments, as well as figure out how to retrieve the Sun Shard from Isaac. Seeing the rest of the group nearby she noticed the injured Lynn. Her own souls aura seemed to be holding dominance over Hothnights aura for the time being.
"So what is your story?" she asked, still deciding how to treat the cursed sheikah.
Hey that last part wasn't a jab, it was a motivation call to arms.
Seishi/Court Yard/Dawn 6
The Syzan stand in decided to give her own two cents about the verbal lashing Seishi had given the junior lights. In a way it was nostalgic but didn't quite meet the same standard as the original pain in his ass. "Hmph, perhaps you could refrain from denouncing your allies who were escorting the injured when Taden ambushed them. Think what you will of our hesistance, as we chose not to go full bore against a foe who relied on using a hostage to sheild himself from counter attack. If not for your tunnel vision you might also have realized that provoking Isaac to continue fighting could have ended with yet another castle being reduced to a simmering lava pool."
"So it was Taden." Seishi called out in surprise. He had guessed as much but he figured he new he was quick to jump to that conclusion and he true though the others would only try to cover it up. The fact that the one person here who should have known better then to tell him. He was suddenly distracted by what felt a chill from behind that seemed to run down his spine and through his soul. He turn around but saw nothing but dancing shadows and glints of light as the rising sun reflected of the field of frost. "He just can't stay dead can he.
He snapped his attention back to the matter at hand but found the Felina had already walked over to the injured Shiekah. "Hold on there little girl, don't think for a minute you can just walk away after saying that." He called out as he walked towards the others. Ne noticed the red ice shard stuck in the Shiekah's leg. He switched to his silver haired form and started casting his Lightning, Fire enchantments on his sword to create an effect similar to blue fire. 
He gently place the end of his blue burning sword on top of the shard to slowly melt it the continued ranting at Felina. "Ignoring for the moment that you kids some how got ambushed by a overly showy attention whore who never shuts up, you clearly have no idea what your talking about when it comes to fighting these bastards. Dracon was the one that made the lava pool, and while he was a complete jackass and no where near the threat good old Kinny has turned out to be his fire magic was much more potent, even then he was only able to do it because he was beefed but by something Kokume did to him. Even if Kinslayer could do something like that, not fighting him would stop him from doing that. Kinslayer is a trophy fighter. If your strong you can't avoid fighting him other wise he'll kill someone weak to cox you, or to deal with his boredom. Not to mention that you've got him out number and there are Goron here, I think you could have found away to divert his attacks form hitting the castle. Most Light Warriors are weaker then the Darks, the way we've managed to stop them from acts of genocide is because we out number them and work together instead of hidding while one fish tries to bail us out. If you want anyone left alive in the country when the war is over you'll learn that."
"Try not to move, I'm not very good at healing other people." He said briefly returning to a calm voice as he knelt down and began slowing healing the hole in Lynn's leg now that the ice had been melted. Even though he was less the proficient with healing others he still manged to split his attention to continue barking at Felina. "As for your hostage dilemma, what hostage? I don't see any normal people here, just Shiekah, some over sized Goron, and you. Well and that fish that took off but he was actually putting up a fight. Are you trying to tell me one of you kids was the hostage, you're light warriors helpless babies. Break yourself free. Hell if you can't then act like the hero's you're suppose... Damn it."
He stopped realizing the hypocrisy about what he was about to say. After all this time he still hadn't forgiven his son for doing what he was about to suggest when his brother said exactly what he was about to tell them to say. "If you were captured and it was keeping the others from stopping someone who would end up killing well everyone. A hero, a real hero would not hesitate to demand that he be sacrificed. And I know, I know better then you can imagine that you won't want to do it. Hell if your luck and their are enough of you who are strong enough maybe you can find another way, but some times you've just... Look I'm not saying don't worry about protecting the guy fighting next to you, but saving all the people who can't fight is more important. Sometimes that means your friends get killed."
He stood back up having done the best he could for the Shiekah. "And by the way, you're ancestor use to argue with me like that too. The thing is he was a lot better at it and knew what he was talking about so as much as he was a pain in my ass, I eventually learned to respect his opinion. My point being, if you're planning doing the same thing you need to get better at it fast. I may need it to keep me from making a stupid decision one of these days."
Harken Zeiss/Dawn 6/Hyrule Castle Town's Deserted Streets
Harken turned to the newcomer, and as he did the shards of crystal embedded in his flesh sparkled and glinted in the newly dawning sunlight. He skimmed the man and his canine companion. After Tobias introduced himself, he did the same.
"Harken Zeiss, servant, and leader, of the people.
"Now... answer my friend's question."
Summary: Seriously? Just read it.
[b][hl=#F0E68C][color=#1E90FF]Lynn Hothlight[/color][/hl]/Dawn 6/Courtyard[/b]
Lynn bit her lower lip, drawing blood, as her shinbone grew from both sides to knit itself under Seishi's influence. The pain was worse than when the shard had shattered the bone, and she was unable to restrain whimpers of pain as the flesh spread in a giant scab over her shin and calf.
Thankfully, the process ended in short order, though to her it felt quite longer. She was vaguely aware of someone talking during the process, but heard none of it. When it was all said and done, she laid on the freezing stone of the courtyard and panted, regaining her focus after the ordeal.
Eddard Langston/Dawn 6/HCT
He cordially shook each man's hand in turn, smiling and nodding at their words. The first one's butchery of the common tongue was disgraceful, and the second one declared himself a servant of the people, as opposed to the Royal Family. These weren't Hylians, that much was for certain, and his trust in them skyrocketed once he realized this fact.
But the question still remained: could these two be the keys to his plan?
"First thing's first. I happen to be the owner of a rather substantial amount of money. Through long years of work and toil I have gathered this fortune, and I am prepared to give every last penny of it to you two."
He knew this should, at the very least, catch their attention. Besides, if everything went according to plan, he would have three times what he had now.
"I don't care how you spend it, hell, use it to keep some of your new subjects loyal, would be my advise. But trust assured, it is a very large amount. Second, I happen to have a friend with a very rare skill-set. A Rito, very rare now-a-days, with the ability to render himself completely invisible. Over the years, I have used him to my advantage, and he has since become a rather valuable spy. As a present, and sign of my devotion to your cause, I will give you my slave, for no added charge."
This might be a bit more risky, as he could have no idea when he might need that rat later on down the road. But for the money he was envisioning, it would be worth it.
"Now, how you can help me. It is clear that you have no love for Hyrule. You look to be rebels, and none of you trust the Royal Family. All of this indicates to me that we are on the same mission, so to speak. Listen, I don't know what you men are planning to do, whether it be all out war, or guerrilla tactics, or whatever. I don't care. All I need is chaos in Hyrule. Because the more chaos there is, the harder it will be for the mountain-men to ignore their duties to the realm. And gentlemen, I want those gorons to fight." 
[b]Daurubia/Dawn 6/Courtyard[/b]
Daurubia knocked away the last of the red ice, thankful that it was finally gone. Giga eased up, allowing for sunlight to hit the group directly for the first time in what seemed like ages.
As two newcomers had their verbal battle, Daurubia retreated to where the Scion lay and looked down at her. He wanted no part in this battle of those who called themselves "light warriors."
== Oh Crap! Vykos! ==
Kae, Jaden, and Elly/Castle Courtyard/Night 5-Dawn 6
Lynn did everything in her power to make sure Kae was safe. While the embrace Kae had been longing for was cut short, she was safe from the red ice. This was a phenomenon she did not think was possible. But this conflict continued to reinforce that everything is possible. She cringed, taking refuge under Gigagoron. Cringed from the pain and also from what fate she saw about to befall Lynn.
"No! Lynn! Not after what's happened now!"
Jaden cradled her and kissed her on top of the head. Elly kept watch at her feet. They weren't going to even give her the thought of trying to save her.
"Don't even think about using your powers right now! You think fate's going to keep rubbing salt in it?"
Kae was sobbing a bit. Whether from pain or worry was unknown, but Daurubia's heroics eased her concern.
"Thanks for the save, Giga! Once the red ice rain stops, we'd better make a break for the castle. This is a cataclysm for sure!"
The Scion also liberally thanked Daurubia for saving Lynn. Jaden still wouldn't let her out of his grasp though. He kept telling her to stay still.
Splinters of red ice were landing all about. One fragment rolled under the cover, and Kae began to look at it, reaching for it. Elly kicked it away.
"She's delirious, Jaden. This is two days in a row she's been on the brink of death. It can't be doing good things to her head."
"I appreciate your concerns, but I'm quite here. And once we can make a break for it, someone should probably carry me."
Shifting her weight to her right side, Elly caught another glimpse of Kae's left arm, mesmerized by its transparency. It was corporeal, but otherworldly. It didn't appear to have any adverse effect on Jaden, as he was in direct contact with it whilst cradling his sister. Elly leaned over to put her hand on it out of curiosity. It had an odd texture to it. This was what celestial flesh felt like; smooth as marble and very soft, but quite firm. Still warm, but there was virtually no give to it at all. 
Kae acted as though it was normal. She'd experienced this feeling yesterday, only now it was permanent and spreading from her shoulder, down into her armpit and up her collarbone in veins of light. And while it was normal, it hurt like hell. Her body was stuck in a very awkward limbo. Half-celestial, half-mortal, and it was slowly tipping in a very lethal direction for the Scion. Din was forcing her hand at this point. She had to find a way to save herself now. And her mind was already starting to work.
With her rigorous training, her brain was compartmentalized. She could have multiple thoughts going at once. Often at very high speed. And when her mind was going that fast, her face would glaze over. It would look like she wasn't paying attention to anything, but she was very alert. Elly noticed the glaze begin to form, and forgot that this was normal for her. 
Unfortunately, the answers were locked away in Nora's library. She'd have to get back home to really know. Was there an opportunity to do this? With her affliction accelerating, she'd be lucky if she had more than 3 days to save herself from her estimations. 
"Where in the name of Rauru did they hide that thing..."
Muttering quietly, Jaden raised an eyebrow. 
"Kae, what are you talking about?"
"The one thing that will keep me from being banished from this realm. The Light Medallion. I know where I can start my research. I have to get home, to Nora's shop!"
Elly and Jaden both looked at each other as though she wasn't making any sense. Absolute chaos was raining down at every turn and her main concern wasn't getting to safety when it died down. It was getting home, which was very hard to reach at the current time. 
It was then that Seishi healed Lynn, causing Kae to snap out of her deep thought pattern and gasp, looking concerned again. And then another she hadn't met yet began to speak with her. 
They only saw her as the lich. Not the girl she grew up with. If only they understood like she did...
Kae looked over at Daurubia, thanking him again as most of the action began to slow.
"Old grudges never die. We all have Hyrule's best interest in mind. In the end, I just want a Hyrule left to live in. The heroes destined to save it should save their deep-seated reservations for after the enemy has been vanquished. Even if my most hated enemy were to be my ally at this point, I would work with him to save this land. Divided, this effort will fail."
Jaden nodded and agreed.
"We're too new to this cycle to really form any grudges. But I agree. A triage tactic would stop the bleeding this land faces."
Summary: The three Sheikah react and respond to the events swirling around them. Kae begins to consider her own mortality and how to prolong her lifespan in the mortal realm. Elly is mystified by Kae's celestial arm. Jaden's trying to hold his sister still and make sense of the blur in front of him. And Kae is relieved that Lynn did not meet her end from the rain of red ice. 
Vykos/Castle Town/Dawn 6
His army began to sate their urges when the walls of ice collapsed. Straggling peasants, fractured Twili forces, anything that moved except for cats, which put them at unease, well, it was dinner. And the other two meals of the day, because they were hungry.
Vykos dismounted his chariot cart at this point and began to blight the ground. Everything was nice and frosty, so his otherworldly diseases clung to the ground in gaseous clouds. 
Technically, he was part of the Twili army. But he was so angry that the assault inflicted so much collateral damage on his plan that he lashed his wrath on anything in sight. They weren't going to know he attacked his own men, so to speak. And if they did, were they going to reprimand him? His phylactery was in parts unknown. If they killed him, he'd just keep coming back until he ran out of replacement bodies. And he had a dozen of those with the potential to create more. 
As the warpath of blood, bone, sinew, pus, and viscera ensued, Vykos spotted a large detachment of Hylian forces. They were all still very hungry...
"Go forth, my minions. Feast on their flesh!"
To set the table, he began to fling a few skull-shaped clouds of desiccating vapor-blight and festering boil-plague at the troops. At his warcry, six hundred undead of all sorts charged. Stalfos, Stalhounds, Redead, Ghini, and hastily animated zombies moved at varying speeds. They felt no emotion, and all they wanted to do was lay waste to all living things. 
Dusk/Night 5/Castle Town Ruins
An army of stalfos, stalchildren, redead, gibos, and dead hands emerged from the portal and marched on the demon to bind him and rend his earthwork flesh. Swarms upon swarms of Poes, ghosts, Ghini, wraiths, phantoms, shadows, bubbles, apparitions, and more poured from the vortex and charged at the demon to consume his soul.
"Hasten my demise, demon? I command death, I am death. What could you possibly do to me?"
The undead army, as one, let out a bellowing cry and charged him. 
"I don't know," Dusk admitted, then cracked a smile. "Why don't we find out?"
Dusk began to retreat, still facing the army, flicking wisps of shadows off each his individual fingers as he backed, slowing the advancing army ever so slightly as the front line was picked off. Then he turned tail and ran.
He ran down a side street to escape from them, but found that it lead to a dead end. They caught up with him quickly and began to close in on him, pinning him into the alley.
Luckily this back alley was narrow, so he threw himself against one wall and jumped nimbly between them until he was at the top. He pulled himself over the edge even as the stalfos and redeads began to climb over eachother to reach a nearby ladder.
Now fleeing on rooftop, he was running at full-tilt. The land enemies had no chance of reaching him if he stuck to the roofs, but already a few stray Poes and a Bubble were gaining. The Bubble gnashed its teeth at him. He grabbed the top of the Bubble in his hand and slammed it into the stone roof at his feet and kept running, not even stopping to examine the crushed skull. 
He reached the end of one building and prepared to leap to the next, but a Poe came up from below and blocked his path. It slashed at the wound Ayala had made with its scythe, but Dusk leaped to the side, only for another Poe to rush him from there. Its scythe cut at his flesh, then he turned and found that all the undead creatures of the air had caught up to him. He was surrounded on all sides by a giant dome of the swarming dead and undead.
Every time he tried to move he was pushed back by a wave of attacking teeth, claws, hands, scythes, so he stopped for a moment and ran to the center of the roof, where he had the most space to regroup. He would have to brute force his way out.
He focused his rage all into one hand, and the clay began to reshape itself, his hand elongating, his fingers growing long and sharp, until it was a disgusting clawed caricature. He waited to see a weak spot, an opening where the ranks were thinner and he could see the city beyond and another platform to jump to. 
Seeing his opportunity, he rushed the nearest weak point then, his hand extended, and then prepared as the onslaught came onto him all at once. 
He leaped into the air with his clawed hand extended and swiped, a wave of darkness ripping through all those that descended upon him. The air around him sizzled and lightning struck his hand, burning up his attackers and furthering his onslaught. In an instant he was had punched a hole through the dome of enemies and was hurling toward the nearest rooftop.
Unfortunately his jump had lost all its momentum from the cascade of bodies in his path, and he fell back to the city below.
He landed with a sickening thud.
If his situation was bad before, it was even worse now. He was beneath not only a wave of flying enemies, but from either side of the street, the undead things, the stalfos, the gibdos, the redeads, the dead hands closed in on him. In an instant they were upon him, ripping his earthen body apart. He fought for a moment while he could, a few dead hands wrapping their limbs around him, him shredding them and getting free of their grip, only for more to close in. He clawed at them in vain, poisoning those around him with his shadow, but that only lead to freshly rekilled corpses piling up on top of him, the still active forces burrowing their way beneath the bodies of their comrades to reach him.
He closed his eyes and forced the fear out of his face, becoming unsuitably calm as they pulled his body apart and began to devour him as if he were something especially delicious.
The pieces of his body were slowly spread through the inner circle of the army. Loose dirt began to snake its way out further, further into the uncountable swarm.
Suddenly he smiled. "Yes, feast on me, devour my soul!" he laughed as the last of him, his head, crumbled into dust. Dust filled the spaces between the mound of undead, even inside their own bodies.
It happened all at once. Like an enormous balloon of water ripping and then spilling its contents, a wave seemed to rush through all of them, their bodies bursting as the soil pushed outward from inside their corpses. Even the apparitions were ripped apart by black smoke as the whole spectacle, like some black firework, filled the streets.
The dust cleared, and while the army still stood, their numbers were noticeably thinned, and the streets were littered with them. The loose dirt around the battlefield all moved together toward the epicenter, growing muddy as the hail continued to pour from the sky. Soon Dusk reformed, whole, in the center. His clothing had been destroyed, leaving him bare before the legion.
He gasped before collapsing onto his knees again as his attackers, which had been rendered momentarily timid, found their courage again.
Dusk felt his strength waning. Their intention had been to devour his soul. Luckily his soul was diffused throughout every particle of earth that made up his body, making this a difficult task. But they had partially accomplished their goal. They had drained him. They had rendered him weak. And he wasn't sure if he could fight them for much longer. He held up one arm and watched as the hand he had formed into a claw fractured under the strain of its own weight. He could barely hold himself together anymore. And the hail wasn't helping. 
He could only be thankful that no one had seen fit to bring the rain.
Death and the Little Lady/Castle Town/Night 5
"[Well that was cool and all but it didn't work.]"
"[It worked, he just regenerated. I never expected an artificial body would suit a Ma so well. This will require an alternate strategy. I will need time to prepare, you will need to distract him for me. Use this.]" The Angel tossed his hosts sword to Ayala.
The flaming sword returned to its normal form once it was away from Death Angels nevertheless it still felt awkward in Ayala's hands. "[Way do I need this? I'm have my own weapons and I'm not really good with swords this size. The only reason I can use the Master Sword is because it doesn't way much to people it lets wield it.]"
"[It would seem fire damages his body. He may have less a chance of regenerating if you use that sword.]"
"[Ok then.]" Ayala jumped down for the roof tops landing inches from the soil demon. She glared up at him with a playfully menacing grin "[Please try and die this time, ok. ^_^ ]" Wielding her brothers sword with two hands, she slashed upward at the tainted construct with stone cleaving force. 
Death Angel hoovered above the battle field his scythe in hand. Slow he began drawing any ambient shadow magic into the weapon augmenting its already inexhaustible shadow power. Pieces of the shredded dead, corpses from the battle, dark amber the remained form Dusk's early profane wave of destruction, undead that had found its way unto the battle field, shadow energy from all of these gradually began to gather in the Death Reaper.
Summery: Ayala distracts Dusk with Senshi's Flaming Sword (which her tiny ass needs to hands for) while Death charges up the Scythe for something by drawing in Shadow energy from all over this city. This will likely have an effect on Vykos's army because I'm an ass.
Seishi/Courtyard/Dawn 6
"Hahahaha!" despite his best efforts to hold back his laughter after the young shiekah's little speech. "Sorry, sorry. It's not that you're wrong, It's just I think I miss judged the lot of you. Here I though you were all cowards but I guess you're really just kids. I guess this is how people can turn out when they grow up in peace time."
He took a deep breathe to regain his composer. "Look this isn't about grudges for any of us... Ok maybe it is a little but I've never met the light warrior that joined a fight just because he though he might get a crack at some old foe. Hell we'd all rather the Darks never showed up but they always do. Sure we could step aside when it came to fighting the ones the get our emotions flaring and maybe let you kids take a shot at them, but those grudges didn't last so long because the Darks are weak. Fact of the matter is us old hats have a better chance of killing them or at the very least surviving the fight because we've been fighting them so long."
Seishi stopped for a moment realizing he probably wasn't making a whole lot of sense. "Damn it, um... in other words we can't not fight them but of old farts know how to so you kids just try to survive until you can stand on equal footing. Yeah that sounds about right. Oh and as for the teaming up with them crap, no. I don't know what this enemy of my enemy bull**** they teach you kids these days is but allegiances like that can bite you in the ass. Besides when it comes to the darks they're our enemies friends not ours so if any of them come claiming they're switch sides don't trust him. Especially Taden, that *astard is a master at playing both sides and not helping anyone but himself while he's at it."
"What about Davus' split personality twin brother or... well what ever it was." Oberon called out.
"Davie? Well he's a special case but only if Ithan's around. Otherwise it might be Davus putting up an act."
"Davus acting good? I think we're more likely to see Taden where a dress."
"Where, where do you come up with this crap?"
Dusk/Castle Town Ruins/Night 5
Dusk still clutched at the stump from where the claw hand had broken away, unable to support its own weight.
He tried to force his hand to regenerate, but it was difficult. The legion had drained his energies. Slowly, the stump began to grow, taking some slight density away from the rest of his body as small digits began to poke out from it. 
He looked up and saw the faces of the undead closing around him in a circle. He spun and saw that he was surrounded on all sides. He couldn't escape this time. He'd have to fight. And he didn't know how much longer he could keep that up.
Suddenly the undead began to drop of their own accord. Black vapor seemed to be flowing from them, to some source in the distance. He could feel small amounts of Shadow escaping from his pours, weakening him further. He stumbled, then turned to see where it was coming from. Up on the roof stood Death Angel and his little slut girlfriend.
"So you've called off your minions, I see!" Dusk yelled up at him. "Ready to fight me yourself, you coward?"
Death Angel merely floated up into the air, while the girl jumped down off the roof in front of Dusk.
"[Please try and die this time, ok. ^_^ ]"
Dusk looked at the sword in her hands, then back to her. It was the same sword that Death had used on him moments before.
"You little biiiAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!"
Before he could finish his sentence the flames were upon him. No sense trying his trick from earlier. This flame was too powerful, drawing the light from it would be impossible, not to mention useless even if he could.
The inferno seemed to roar like a foul beast released from its cage as it bled him dry. His insides were burning as the kiln baked him to the core.
Soon the flames died down, and Dusk was revealed, immobile, lifeless. The purple tatoos had faded, leaving only a mundande, if crude, eroding sculpture. It was impossible to say if he was still alive within, but he had been paralyzed to his core.
***
"[Well that was cool and all but it didn't work.]"
From it's place in the shadows behind them, th blackness listened intently to their conversation.
"[It worked, he just regenerated. I never expected an artificial body would suit a Ma so well. This will require an alternate strategy. I will need time to prepare, you will need to distract him for me. Use this.]" 
Of course, the Angel still didn't get it. This body was no more artificial than the host Death occupied. He'd baked into the clay eons ago, and hadn't even needed Habiki's creators to forge this body, he already dwelled within. All he'd needed was the energy source from the Light Heart to pull himself together. Them sculpting a human form had merely made his job easier.
The flaming sword returned to its normal form once it was away from Death Angel.
The little slut spoke then.
"[Why do I need this? I have my own weapons and I'm not really good with swords this size. The only reason I can use the Master Sword is because it doesn't weigh much to people it lets wield it.]"
"[It would seem fire damages his body. He may have less a chance of regenerating if you use that sword.]"
Curses, thought the lump of clay behind them. They're winning!
"[Ok then.]" The girl jumped down then to assault Dusk. It was too late to stop the flames now.
The fragment, which had been the battle hand Dusk had forged to escape, separated from the rest of its body in the battle with the legion, now forced itself to take shape, becoming a small imp in Dusk's image.
Death raised himself up above the scene and began to drain the ambient shadows. Whatever it was, the fragment had to stop the coming attack before it was unleashed and destroyed Dusk completely.
"Hey, why don't you pick on somebody your own size?" said the imp in a hissing high pitched voice, then leaped as high into the air as it could to hopefully attack the Angel. 
???/Hyrule Castle Roof/Pre-Dawn 6
Atop the last stronghold of Hyrule, high above the warzone, away from the brunt of the storm, stood a man.
He was garbed in a dark green tunic and black cape, with spiraling bands of vines and leaves covering his fore-arms, and a long black armored skirt covering his legs. His pale skin was tattooed with all the symbols of the Twili. His face was partially concealed by a wooden helmet. The rest of his light armor also appeared to be wooden.
He looked out from his perch at the chaos that had been Castle Town.
"Look at it," he said, as if to himself, "How easily the mighty Hyrule falls at the hands of the Twili. The Castle Town that has stood immovable for generations, with its supposed divine favor, torn down in a single day...how utterly pathetic.”
His eyes flitted between the various battle-grounds that remained.
“Wouldn’t you agree?” he called over his shoulder. 
Turning now, he walked toward the center of the roof, his heavy boots crunching against the recently fallen snow, light flakes still falling from the sky.
He looked up at the center of his focus. An enormous tree stood atop the castle, many meters tall. It was encased entirely in a thick casing of ice.
The man put his palm flat against the ice, cold against his fingertips, and shuddered.
“Are you still alive in there?” he asked the tree.
There was a great groaning creak from within the ice as the whole of the structure seemed to shiver.
“Gooood, good.” he grinned. “Then you can be of use to me.”
His smile faded, as if he was eager to get down to business.
“Hikaru, awake!” he shouted at the thing.
Again there was a groaning from within, but this time it did not stop. The roof of the Castle began to shudder as the Tree cracked and wailed from within the ice. The tiling of the roof began to fall away, and small cracks were forming along the roof. Small chunks of ice fell away from it.
Then a curious thing happened. The tree began to shrink. It pulled away from the surface of the ice from within, collapsing itself, its branches and limbs all pulling together and folding in on themselves. The leaves that hadn’t been stripped away when the tree had been frozen or scraped against the ice fell away now as it grew smaller, and soon a bed of leaves lay on the floor beneath it.
The tree now had collapsed itself tight enough that stone structures were visible inside it, the tree growing around them. It folded its roots and branches along these structures, and began to take a distinct shape. It looked rather like a man.
In fact, it was a man, or something like one, its back facing the stranger that had awakened it. Soon it had enfolded itself completely over its stone bones, many of the branches receding into its chest and lining its insidein a circle, its rib cage closing around them as if to protect something that had been removed. Its eyes glowed a bright yellow. The creature was something like a redead or zombie, shrunken, skinless, its bark reminiscent of some undead goul.
It was a strange sight, a tree-like man surrounded by a bed of leaves and trapped in a wide cavern of ice.
“Hello in there!” The stranger yelled through the frozen wall, addressing the creature with a hungry grin, eyeing his prize.
Instantly the creature, hearing the voice behind it, snapped to attention, spinning to face him and extending its one arm, its fingers elongating into dangerous spikes and hurdling towards the unknown man from a distance, its arm like some wooden hookshot.
He leaped quickly out of the way as the weapon pierced the ice where he had been, puncturing a hole in the cavern. The creature then pulled back its arm and it retracted into position, seemingly a normal human limb again.
The stranger dusted himself off and stood cautiously, but no further attack came. 
"Feisty little thing, aren't you?"
He looked into the hole the creature had made and saw that it was standing motionless, only bothering to breathe, swaying slightly as a breeze filled the frigid room.
Suddenly a hoarse whisper issued from its mouth.
“Soooooooooooooooouuuuuuuuurce.” 
== Revival Pitch ==
Rukh / Hyrule Field to Gerudo Desert / Night 5
Rukh summoned a stampede of winds under his wings to propel himself towards Faron Woods. Cracks formed in the aquiline armor coating half his face and spread from the force of his flight. A single, red eye glared where the Wall of Faith had rended the Celestium of his mask.
On his back, Mirra lay limp across the Dominion Rod locked along his hollow spine. The vacant darkness of her mind left Rukh without an option. He tore through the night air on instinct, making his way to the Light Spirit of the southern swamp.
But when he arrived over the putrid forest, he found it overrun by a Twili encampent. The Interlopers had penetrated the sanctuary of Farore, sinking their nocturnal tendrils into the fertile soil of Courage. Even at this height, he felt the ominous radiance of Courage slowly decaying into Horror. The bleak ambience seemed to suck the zephyr from his wings. Flying over Faron's Spring, he saw no lustre in the cascading pool. Either its steward had concealed himself, or Rukh would have to destroy the one who had banished him from this Realm. He cursed the swine who had corrupted this sylvan paradise, and rounded from the south onto a northwesterly breeze.
With the Faron Fountain out of reach, there was only one place in Hyrule he could turn to. As the trail of emerald following his wings reflected over Lake Hylia, he steeled himself for the sacrifice that was to come.
"Courage, Rukh...," he muttered to himself, as he entered the Gerudo Desert for the second time that night.
Rukh / Gerudo Desert / Night 5
A green comet carved a long arc through the starry sky of Gerudo Desert, the first pallor of sunrise blurring in the east. Its trajectory fell right over the high column of a well that had been dug into a wide mesa, then disappeared into its stonework depths.
Inside, the narrow column of the well eventually expanded into a large cavern, and in the center of this cavern lay a crystalline lake that shined with a light other than that of the Light Spirits. Rukh landed at the lip of this vast pool, and bowed as low to the cold ground as he could without dropping Mirra.
In the center of the lake, the moon reflected down the well from high above in a pale disc. This small circle began to widen, and when Rukh rose from his dutiful bow, the circle of the moon began to ripple from within. Then, the light seemed to bend around itself until it gathered into a mound on the lake, then rose above its surface into an iridescent cocoon. The lunar chrysalis gradually began to unfold, until eight gossamer wings blending a spectrum of colors together unfolded to reveal a young girl standing on the water. Her hair fell to her waist in pale, green strands, and she seemed to blush under pouting eyes and lips as the curve of her breasts was exposed. Rukh averted his single, crimson eye.
"You owe us a debt," Rukh began, without formality.
"I owe you...nothing," the Great Fairy replied, her voice veiled behind a dreamlike mumble.
"I make this sacrifice with a willing heart. You are bound to carry it out at our command."
"A willing...heart?" the Fairy sighed, looking down at her own reflection in the water, its surface smooth as glass. "...Look at yourself."
Rukh trained his eyes on the shimmering lake, and for the first time saw what the Wall of Faith had done to him. In his rampage to retrieve Mirra, he had permanently compromised himself for the rest of this Realm's cycle. For the first time in centuries, cycles upon cycles, Rukh laid eyes on his own unmasked face. He no longer recognized the half of a grim stare and austere frown that glowered back at him. He had forgotten himself.
"How can a willing sacrifice be made by a machine?" the Fairy groaned, her tone darkening steadily. "No contraption of the Oocca wizards can lay claim to me, and not to summon Hylians back to Hyrule. Take your debts to the City in the Sky," the Queen of the Fairies spat, a droplet of rainbow fluid spouting from her lips into the depths of her fountain.
Rukh's temper flared, as did his enormous wings. He dwarfed the flimsy rags of the Fairy with bladed sails that scraped the cavern's slimy ceiling high overhead. He saw her childish eyes flash with a moment of fear.
"The celestial covenant binds us all to the continuity of the Realm. If you do not oblige this sacrifice, you know to whom you will answer." Rukh's emerald incandescence filled the entire expansive cavern with a dull and sickly green light.
"So be it. The Queen of the Fairies shall touch the Rod of the Heavens."
Folding in his wings, Rukh bowed once more, and the Great Fairy reached down to pull the Dominion Rod out from under Mirra's prone body. As she held up the Rod, Rukh suddenly snapped to attention, and the Fairy began to walk him out into her fountain. Her voice swung from its shallow meanness into a broad crescent of oracular song.
"The forces of Twilight have risen in the West, and taken the Sunrise Knight as their captive. The Guardian of the Sacred Realm was brought into this Kingdom to liberate the imprisoned, and lift the burden of the oppressed. As the sun set on the desert this night, your aviator Mirra Lemeris resuscitated the last Gerudo of the Arbiter's Grounds, a prisoner in her own temple. As the sun returns to the desert this morn, she shall release a new prisoner, and they shall be called the Alliance of the Breaking Day."
When he was up to his wings in sparkling water, the Great Fairy lowered the Dominion Rod into the pool, and sank down into it until only her bare shoulders and neck remained above it. Her hair flowed out in a wide radius that swirled with the cloud of green light that blossomed up from beneath them. Wrapping the strands of her hair around Rukh's body, the Great Fairy squeezed the Dominion Rod until he dunked himself beneath the water, leaving Mirra floating above him. Walking closer to the two, the Great Fairy slowly passed the Dominion Rod back and forth over Mirra's body, the dark viridian of the healer's thick locks interweaving with the Fairy's thin curls.
Beneath the surface, the Queen of the Fairies pulled a long needle from behind the belt supporting her loincloth, and felt for Rukh's face. Her fingers traced the jagged edge of his mask where it met his face, and carefully touched the tender skin of his exposed eyelids, the bridge of his nose, his expressionless lips. Then, the Great Fairy pulled him close to her stomach, and slipped the long needle into the side of his neck, just beneath the corner of his jaw where the mask was intact.
The armor on Rukh's face, body, and wings began to glow brilliantly, until the Fairy could no longer work by sight. Closing her eyes, she let her intuition guide her through the cold water that suspended them in its enchantment. Dipping the Rod beneath the rippling waves, she touched its head against the tip of the needle stuck in Rukh's neck, then pulled it back in a wide arc.
"May the Daybreak Alliance cast out the Interlopers, and Enlighten a Realm lost in darkness."
The Great Fairy swung the Rod of the Heavens like an axe, and hammered her long needle deep into the thin seam diving the remnants of Rukh's face plate from the flesh of his Gigaoocca head.
IC: Rukh / Cave of Ordeals / Night 5
A low howl rolled across the desert sands as Rukh cried out in pain from within the Great Fairy's mesa.
He was blind. Darkness. Then, one eye opened. His right eye, where the mask had split. Blurry field of red. Figures moving through it. Feminine. A needle coming into his only good an eye. Darkness. No pain.
He was in water. Cold water. Someone's hands touching his face. Mirra? The hands presented the Dominion Rod. Rukh bowed under the water to greet it, bubbles of air flushing from his nostrils. His Celestium mask had been removed completely. Fingertips stroked his hairless scalp. He felt the hands press down on his eyelids, their palms warm in the water's coolness. His eyes had not been closed in centuries. Blood ran from them, over the milky hands of the Fairy Queen, in swaying clouds of red under the waters of her fountain.
She stared into the glow of the severed mask hovering before her, the polished Celestium reflecting in her wide eyes. Raising the Dominion Rod, the Queen of Fairies thrust Rukh to the distant shores of her underground lake, and sank deeper into its depths with the Celestium fragment in her grasp. As Rukh washed ashore in a bloody heap, the body of Mirra Lemeris slowly sank down further, the black gore tarring her face, chest, and legs crumbling away in the cold abyss.
Mirra Lemeris / Great Fairy Fountain to Desert Province / Night 5
Mirra opened her eyes to see a young girl with her back turned to her, six enormous wings sprouting from her shoulder blades. There was no light to see their surroundings by, but the girl seemed lit from within. Her wings sparkled magnificently.
Mirra reached out to touch her shoulder, but the girl seemed to move farther away. They were both standing perfectly still, but the farther Mirra reached, the farther away the winged girl became.
She began to run towards the girl, and found herself running away from her with each rapid step.
Frustrated, Mirra stomped to a halt, cupped her hands at her hip, then shoved a spiral of air at the girl from behind. She did not turn when the wind hit her back, but her wings were parted to reveal red blood coating her hands. Mirra saw a long, violet needle hanging from her left fingers, and firmly in her right hand...the Rod of Heaven.
"What have you done with Rukh?" Mirra cried out to the Fairy Queen. The sight of the Dominion Rod had brought her to her senses. At the sound of her voice, the young girl turned around to face Mirra.
The Great Fairy's eyes were rich with tears. 
"...Only...what he asked of me." She dropped her violet needle and the Dominion Rod, and fell to her hands and knees, sobbing into the pool of water she stood upon.
Mirra stooped down to console her, but found herself without hands. She stumbled forward, and in the water rippling from the Great Fairy's tears, Mirra saw her reflection. She was a floating ball of green light. She attempted to touch her face, and two long, gossamer wings spread out from her shining center. She had been transformed into a fairy.
Mirra bathed the Great Fairy's tears in her new emerald light. "Do not cry, my Queen," she whispered, supplicant to the girl. "You have done your part for the Unity of the Realm. Fear not, my child. Now, for your next part in the story."
Rising into the air, the weeping Fairy Queen rose with her. As her anxiety cleared, so too did the dark of their surroundings. As the Great Fairy's tears flowed through the pool they stood upon, its waters glowed with a pale starlight.
Mirra spoke to the young Queen in a low, soothing tone. "You must tell me where the winds are blowing."
Obliging, the Great Fairy spread her many wings, and the glowing pool of light began to rise. A round plate of water sprinkled starlight downward in streams as Mirra and the Great Fairy levitated upward. Soon, they were high above the Desert Province, directly above the Queen's enchanted mesa.
"Feel the winds wandering into the east," the Great Fairy's prophecy began. "A cold front in the fields of Lanayru draws all warmth into its empty heart. Rain will come from the West as the Haunted Wasteland succumbs to the Lanayru Freeze..."
Mirra followed her words carefully. 'Rain in the Haunted Wasteland? That would mean...'
"Three foul winds follow the Haunted Rain, a sorcerer, a general, and a thief. The sorcerer, Taden, has used the curse of a Twili mage to plunge Lanayru into darkest winter. The Lake and the River freeze even now, coating the heartland in veins of frost. The autumn harvest is soon to be lost, and all the wildflowers have faded. But no ordinary freeze is this. With the curse of the Twili, Quell, the dark cryomancers have poisoned Lanayru with Black Ice, whose origin I cannot see. Without knowledge of its source, I know not its purpose, nor the greater part of its danger. The stars have not revealed their true arc yet."
The Great Fairy spread her wings and arms towards the stars high above them in the desert night, crystal clear. Mirra felt a new attachment to the patterns of the firmament, as if the new emerald light that radiated from her were akin to those distant eyes. She found the Phoenix of Hyrule rotating proudly in the center, its beak oriented always towards the Triforce constellation. And looking far to the Northern rim, she could indeed see a new star rising, but barely. It was a faint light, obscured by its own dark tone. And it was a cold light. An icy comet, hurtling across the skies on an arc that seemed to drag along slowly. Mirra tried to calculate when the comet would reach its apex, but was drawn from her reverie when the Fairy resumed her prophecy.
"The general, Grem, has established a Twili fortress deep in the Haunted Wasteland, far to the West of the Arbiter's Grounds. There you will find the leader of the Knights of Hyrule, Darrel Mytura, imprisoned in their dungeons. Find also the Morning's Edge, the prisoner's blade, for the Interlopers must not have access to its power. Go there with caution, for the Haunted Wasteland plays tricks on one's mind. Many ghosts and spirits haunt its dunes, and lead the careless traveler astray. The Light of Hyrule is weak in the Western Wastes, and those who become lost are said to turn into monsters."
To the West, Mirra looked for the Twinrova constellation, but its autumn house was obscured behind a pallor of black smoke. A dark haze hung over the West like a shadow, and in its heart, Mirra knew she would find Darrel Mytura.
"Finally, the thief. You have already met Ganondorf Dragmyre, the Exile King of the Gerudo. Through his infiltration of the Sheikah, Taden has murdered all but the last of the Gerudo, Telma. Telma and Ganondorf now wander this desert, nursing their rage at the Hylians who imprisoned them and the dark sorcerer who beguiled the Gerudo King. He will stop at nothing to assemble the Sage Medallions now that Taden has planted the idea in his mind. I fear her will attempt to open a portal into the Sacred Realm."
Mirra gasped as the dark night of the Desert evaporated into the bounteous golden sky of the Sacred Realm. Far off in the distance, she saw the Temple of Light shining brilliantly from a mountaintop, the Triforce itself beckoning all around to have their deepest wish fulfilled. But before her eyes could adjust to the radiant gold of that eternal day, the Queen of the Fairies warped them back into the Realm of Hyrule.
Looking up, Mirra saw the Boar constellation tilting in the South, in the progression of circling the Phoenix that had begun the night before. The Blackened Rova, the Circling Boar, and the Comet all surrounded the Phoenix of Hyrule and the Triforce at its beak, coming in from the West, the South, and the North respectively.
Only in the East was the Phoenix unthreatened, in the canyonlands of Eldin. With her fairy's senses, Mirra felt the Spring of Eldin flowing peacefully, unperturbed by the tides of war.
And here, in the clear eastern skies, Mirra saw a new constellation coming together. Distant planets, stars, and asteroids swirled round one another: four planets, five stars, and two twinkling asteroids. They were slowly but surely coming into perfect, vertical alignment, arrayed along the red stars of the Phoenix's eastern wing.
"The only way to banish these assailants from this Realm is to assemble the components of the Daybreak Sword. The Four Ores must be anointed with the Five Blessings of the Light Spirits, and the blade inlaid with the Shards of the Hyrulean Sun and the Stars to complete the Realm-splitting Blade. They will call it Daybreak, and Realm Splitter, and Unifier of the Realm. But it is not known whether the Sword will coalesce before the demons of Hyrule unleash annihilation. Only the Daybreak Alliance, led by the bearer of the Morning's Edge, the Sunrise Knight, can bring this destiny to fruition..."
Mirra looked up at the moon as its light suddenly began to expand blindingly, until it began to clear, and Mirra found herself back in the dampness of the underground fountain. Her hands were raised above her head as if in praise, and between them hovered a smooth, white disc. From the remnants of Rukh's shattered facial mask, the Queen of Fairies had constructed a Fairy Mask. Two red jewels stared up from the mask like eyes, which bore no other markings on its flawless surface.
"Your spine was shattered in the Battle for Hyrule Castle, as was the sovereign city itself. I cannot repair it without severing the bond between you and Rukh, which I am not permitted to do. You must appeal to a higher authority if you wish to walk again. But for now, Rukh has sacrificed the Celestium guarding his own eyes to provide you with freedom of movement. He is blinded forevermore."
Mirra looked down to find herself seated on her knees, cradling Rukh's head in her lap. Two gaping holes stared out where his eyes had been. Tears came to Mirra's eyes, and a tightness to her chest, as she pulled Rukh close to her and nuzzled his face with hers. "Oh, Rukh..." she whispered, kissing the flesh of his forehead.
"Mirra...," Rukh said, recognizing her without sight, "...I would do anything to protect you."
Mirra clasped her arms around his large head and shook violently with sobs. As she wept, a green light emanated from her chest and hands, and bathed Rukh in its luminous embrace. As Mirra's tears flowed over his wounded face, it began to glow as well. The light absorbed Rukh's face, and then expanded into a long beak, and stretched backward into a long crest of bladed feathers down his neck. When the light cleared, Mirra pulled away from her companion.
Where once he had been shielded by an obsidian Celestium mask, now Rukh's mighty avian features were restored in a lunar white. The body of his armor was still a blend of plates in darkest bronze, viridian, and black, but now his face was a glowing crest of white with leather patches over his eyes. He rose to his full height, health and dignity restored.
The Great Fairy handed the Dominion Rod to Mirra on the ground, and Rukh lowered his head in a deep bow to accommodate her. She climbed into the saddle, and patted his neck firmly. The Great Fairy smiled at them, tears gushing down her cheeks, and kindly caught a series of them in a vial to hand to Mirra. "The Sunrise Knight will be deep in agony. Use these to restore his vitality, and augment his natural powers tenfold."
Mirra nodded to the Queen in thanks, then buckled the vial on her waist, under the Fairy Mask tied to her belt. She fastened the Dominion Rod to her back, then picked up the reins and clapped them down on Rukh's wings.
"Onward," she cried suddenly, "to the Twili Fortress!"
He spread his wings and splashed them down into the fountain with a tremendous gust of air, and he and Mirra launched out of the Fairy's sanctuary and into the Desert Night. Mirra steered her companion to the West, where the binary stars of Twinrova should be, but for the darkness blotting the skies. She gathered her memories of the vision given to her by the Queen of the Fairies, and communicated them to Jaden and Polaris, her only allies in this war.
'Polaris, Jaden, I have had a vision of the Triforce. We must liberate the Sunrise Knight held prisoner by the Interlopers. He is being held in the Haunted Wasteland, in the Far West of the Desert Province. Alone, I can only heal him, but together, we can rescue Darrel, retrieve the Morning's Edge, and escape before they can overpower us. If there are any survivors of the Battle whom you can trust, they must come to our aid. I fear the fate of the Realm may balance on the breaking dawn.'
As Mirra entered the mystic haze of the Haunted Wasteland, the light of the area faded except for a band of sunlight cresting over the horizon all around. Above her and below her, darkness reigned supreme.