“Forest of Autumn Twilight, Chapter II”
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Forest of Autumn Twilight
By: Fado
Chapter II: Artemis
A bright and gleaming Sun arose the next day; it looked like an orb of magical light. The magnificent light filtered in through the many stained glass windows of Hyrule Castle. Some of the images on the glass depicted of ancient battles and confrontations with mythical beasts such as dragons, or with that of an evil wizard that threatened the land of Hyrule.
“Is it true about Coran?” a cold, malicious voice rang out across a brightened throne room. “My scouts say that him and his command were slaughtered last night in the Gerudo Valley by those ill-tamed desert rats,”
“Yes, your highness,” another voice rang, answering the question that was given. “Apparently the fool didn’t listen to well to your instructions, sir,”
The cold eyes of a man narrowed under his dark and furrowed brows; his thin lips were in a straight line above his graying beard that matched his equally graying fine, wispy hair. His nostrils flared warningly, but remained slits like that of a snake. A red and gold robe clothed him with one of the many symbols of Hyrule, the red phoenix. Atop his head lay a golden crown with many jewels sticking out. The king of Hyrule was sitting on his throne, conversing with one of his best watchers or Ranger you could say. He was wearing a dark robe with a hood that mainly hid his face. Stringy silver hair lofted down across his thin silver eyebrows that housed below bright and attractive violet eyes. A sword rested at his waist, sheathed in its blue case.
“Hmm. I never really liked that fool of a Knight anyway. But, what I do think is that finally, those desert rats have taken a commander off my shoulders that I wasn’t very fond of. They actually did me some good,” the king eyed his servant carefully. “But,” he continued. “This doesn’t go well with my plan for annihilating every race that doesn’t help us in our affairs...”
“I definitely agree, sir. One as powerful as yourself should wipe away every race on this earth that doesn’t comply with us,” the servant agreed slyly, a thin smile coming to his face.
Still, hearing this, the king eyed his servant, but began, “I know. But lets try something different this time, Draken. Let’s say, a race that can’t really defend itself to an attack.”
The servant known as Draken raised his silver eyebrows curiously, wondering what new plan his master could be hatching. “What do you have in mind, sir?”
The king smiled disturbingly, then confessed, “My idea is the Kokiri Forest.” This caused Draken’s brows to raise higher. The king could tell that Draken was pondering this carefully.
“For what reason?” Draken asked.
“Simple. They never come out from within their little, let’s say—forest sanctuary. Think of it, Draken. The name fits it what we Hylians have given it, Gwn Nerkdessha—the Forest of Sorrow. They never supply us with any type of material at all, think about it Drake—What is it?” the king cut off abruptly, angered by a sudden interruption.
A small stout man walked slowly down smooth red carpet up towards the throne. Draken moved to the side and noticed it was a messenger. In the man’s hands rest a quill and a piece of parchment. Something was written, but Draken couldn’t see it from where he stood; the writing however, was very scrawny. Draken glanced smugly from the servant to the king, changing his expression from smug to curiosity.
“Y—Your highness!” he shouted unexpectedly, obviously nervous from coming before the king. But he wasn’t the only one. Just about a month ago, Draken was in conversing with the king over a tax reduction plan for the main villages of Kakiriko and Hyrule Market Town. A man—messenger just like this one, came in very suddenly, bringing forth the results of this plan, seeing who voted for it. And of course, the conclusion was very likely—several voted yes. The man stood before Draken and the king, sweating like mad. It took him about ten minutes just to get out the first paragraph. Of course, most of the veteran guards and servants had already quelled their fear and were brave enough to tell of news or something else.
Draken checked all nine fields on this person just to be sure it wasn’t an assassin of some kind, but soon declared it safe.I An imp or monster could easily shroud itself with blindness to the eye under a Concealment spell; or a person either way.
“Get on with it!” snapped the king irritably. “As you can see, I’m in the middle of a conversation with somebody, and make it quick!” This act caused the man to jump and stammer more. Draken smiled cruelly. Useless waffle. This boy had obviously no idea who he was dealing with here.
The king that sat upon his throne was more than a king; he was a rightful ruler. All should obey his every command and quiver in fear. Of course he cared for his people greatly, which some didn’t really think so, but he despised all who cam against him with force or not helping around. Two good examples would be the Gerudos, selfish, thieving desert rats that were mostly rebellious against the king’s command and, the Kokiri, young children who won’t help with the other races outside of their dingy, little forest.
But Draken was full of mystery. Always clothed in a dark robe and face hidden from anybody except the king. He was always in contact with the king; feeding him information and spying on the other neighboring lands that surrounded Hyrule. He was a very good servant, quick wits and cunning, a good match for a Ranger.II Draken had been abandoned long ago by his family and set out on his own, to take up the class of a Ranger. Just a few years earlier he had come to the king, requesting to ask for his demands of setting him out. The king was amazed at this request and accepted it. For after they had met, both found out that they were both alike each other in a number of ways.
“I wish I knew what that dream had meant, Saria,” Fado said to her. They were sitting on a brown and white checkered blanket in the wet almost dewy-like grass. Fado sat with his cap off and legs and arms crossed, pondering the dream he had last night. “This dream really concerns me though,” he said cryptically.
Saria frowned slightly. Fado was always a strange person. For as long as she knew him, Fado was always quiet and would barely speak to anyone about his emotions and feelings. She had assumed it was for privacy, close, but not quite. Some of this had changed though, once he and Saria had become friends. But still, he kept quiet at times as well. “Maybe it was just a dream,” she insisted, trying to make him less concerned about this matter. “Besides, what was it even about? Oh...Please Fado...You never tell me anything these days...” she whined, trying to get information out of him.
Fado looked at her and was surprised to see her actually trying this time. Usually she would try to get information, but then Fado would yell at her and that was the end of the matter. She was really determined this time; he could see it in her eyes. To her plea, he actually smiled somewhat. Hopefully this is a good thing, she thought. He finally sighed and then confessed, “Okay, you got me this time,” Success! “But just because I’m telling you, don’t think that I’ll tell you any other time!” he said almost playfully, but mostly serious. Saria nodded slowly with an emotionless face. She too was now taking it seriously. This was her chance; she wasn’t going to blow it.
“Okay,” he began slowly, “It goes like this...”
“Sir!” the servant peeped out to the king. “I will gladly start!”
Miserable fool, Draken thought smugly in his dark robe, finally! You’ve already wasted enough our time with your sniveling!
“L—Let’s see then, r—right!” the messenger began. “It seems that there is a message from the Kokiri,”
“Hmm?” the king pondered out loud. Why would the children, the Kokiri, send a message? “Please continue...” he said briskly.
The messenger cleared his throat and began again, “It seems that there is a message from the Kokiri. This particular message came from the council of the Kokiri,” the messenger unfolded a piece of pale yellow parchment and began to read:
Dear loyal King of Hyrule,
It has come to our attention that you have been angered by our lack of helping with your affairs. As you very well know, we children, the Kokiri, believe it in our best interest to stay as far away from Hyrule and its beings as possible. The reason you ask? We believe that if one of us Kokiri steps out from this forest haven, then that child shall die. As of this notice, we are indeed afraid of what might happen if one of our tribe steps out of our sanctuary. In this case, we fear that our whereabouts to a possible unknown tribe, monster, or person will be revealed. We are sorry that we could and can not help in any further way possible.
Sincerely,
High Council of the Kokiri
Draken glanced up at the king when the messenger was finished. But this time, he seemed to speak up. “Well?” he asked, his tone icy.
The King groped his beard and stroked it for a second, bewildered by this message. Then he glanced down at Draken and blinked, but turned his attention back to the messenger. He raised up his hand, queuing the man to leave. The man bowed and marched off behind and out of the throne room. Now, both of them had the room to themselves.
“What do you think of it, Draken?” the King said out loud, avoiding Draken’s gaze. “The message, I mean. I’ve pondered my decision already and think it’s clear...I’m just curious what you think...”
Draken smirked slightly, but then replied, “Your highness, I believe that since these little ‘parasites’, as you call them, should be watched first before making your decision. Of this, I do not know myself; you could call it intuition if you wanted to. But, quite frankly, I believe there is a possibility that they may decide something else...”
“Oh?” the King said, suddenly interested. “What else could they decide? And, why spy on them?”
“Like I said, I have no idea why, but I have a feeling that as such, if we watch them, and, if they make a move, we can trace them. Follow them, basically. They may choose to hide out for this particular reason, you see, sir,”
“I never though about that...” the King drifted off, pondering Draken’s reply. After a fraction of a heartbeat, the King nodded slightly as if his mind was made up and called upon the Ranger. “Draken,”
“Yes, sir?”
“I’m going to leave it up to you...you may use any of your tactics...but please, come back and give me information about the Kokiri’s situation, got it?” the King added, more scornfully.
“Yes, sir,”
“Good, you may go about your business...”
Draken nodded slightly and turned on his heal, heading towards the entrance to the throne room. After closing the door behind him, Draken found himself in the center of many hallways, all leading off to many different rooms and vice-versa. He then decided to get to work. “Artemeria Nevadra,” he hissed under his breath. The oil lamps that were hung along the white-stone walls flickered violently, as if a strong wind blew though. Draken continued walking; the tapestries of Kings that ruled in the past seemed to become covered with ice. Becoming hard, they stuck against the wall like being melted to them. The bottom of Draken’s cloak whirled up vertically around him. His face was revealed from the sudden rush. The walls themselves started to creak, shifting slightly. The glass that surrounded the oil lamp shattered, scattering shards everywhere. A slight coldness wept through the hallway. The hallway, everything around, was wrapped in power, like a cloak wrapped around a body. A slight tingling sensation ran up Draken; he didn’t seem to notice and care less about it.
Continuing on, Draken turned down the hallway that was opposite to the throne room. This particular door was silver with a gold handle; instead of being one-sided, it was double-sided. The power that hung around him opened the door itself. Draken walked down white stone steps and out into a little clearing, then stood still. Several of the branches around him popped and cracked from the power; it seemed nothing could escape its wrath. The smell of brimstone filled the area; it clouded Draken almost haze-like.
Draken glanced up at an old and gnarled oak branch to see what looked to be a Skull Kid. The monster giggled at him. Draken frowned and gritted his teeth in anger. The brimstone smell was lifting from the clearing, fresh air pouring in. Draken eyed the monster carefully. He should’ve known this would happen.
“You will come down here now,” he began threateningly. “Or, I will banish you to the Shadow Realm...”III
With this said, the Skull Kid became suddenly quiet and started to get nervous. Draken smiled at the sight of this being quivering before him. Nobody made a fool out of him and he got what he wanted. Finally, after a few heartbeats, the monster flipped forward from the tree and transformed before touching the ground. What once was a monster was now a boy that stood before Draken.
He was fairly handsome; probably attract the girls if he was in town. His shoulder length blonde hair was straight and was combed finely. Sparkling white teeth showed in a broad grin. His outfit was that of a casual pair of jeans and that of a white tee shirt with a navy blue light jacket over top. On his feet were leather shoes that were laced up tightly. At his side rest a blue leather sheath, and sticking out the end was a silver handle with an emerald that was carved into the end of the handle. Overall, this boy’s appearance was different then anything Draken had seen. The clothing was the strangest thing; never had Draken seen anything like it.
“Where did you get that clothing, Artemis?” he asked, addressing the Djinni. What peculiar clothing...The boy’s grin broadened.
“Like it, do ya?” he said cheerfully, forgetting the threat that was given to him. Obviously Draken had forgot too and was mixed up in curiosity at the site of the clothes. But suddenly Draken realized the trance he had fallen into and then the remark that the Djinni made to him rang in his head.
“Think your funny do you?” he snarled, almost spitting; his tone changed almost abruptly.
“No,” Artemis shrugged. “But, do you want to know where I got these clothes?”
“Hell if I know...”
“I got them from a human. I was actually summoned by a human a few months earlier, and during the time he commanded m-”
“A—Human?!” Draken asked, disbelieving the very thought itself. “You were summoned by a human? How is that possible?”IV
“Your guess is as good as mine...” Artemis shrugged again. “But, they do have a ‘fashion sense’ if I may say...” Draken continued to look in disbelief, but shoved the thought away for now. “Your command?” Artemis said patiently.
“Ah, yes,” Draken said calmly, gladly getting down to business. “I command you to spy on the children of the Kokiri Forest, and report back any information that you get possible, is that clear?”
“Yes,” the Djinni yawned, bored by having to do yet another sit and wait mission, but, he had no choice. “How long?”
“A long as I want you to!” snapped Draken.
“Okay, okay...Fine,” with that last sentence, Artemis immediately transformed from a boy to a jet-black raven, taking flight high above the tops of the trees in the clearing. Draken stood and watched the raven go, but soon retired back into the castle, waiting for Artemis’ message to arrive sometime...
After hearing Fado’s story about the dream he had, Saria sat, staring at nothing, bewildered by this dream. But, just like Fado, she too began to grow concerned as every minute went by. And, alas, the same question rang in her head: Was this a premonition? Or, was it just simply a dream? She too was dumbfounded by what the dream might have meant. The Kokiri Forest on fire...But that didn’t seem possible. Could it indeed happen? And, what of the Deku Tree? What had happened to him? Fado said he couldn’t see it from the view he was at, but still...What happened to him? she thought uneasily.
“Saria?” Fado’s voice rang in the clearing. Saria suddenly snapped back into the world. She had been in a kind of trance, from Fado’s point of view. She looked at him, blinking. He closed his eyes and smiled. “Please...Let’s try not and worry about this...Here,” he offered her a bowl that was filled to the brim with salad. “Let’s eat! I’m starving!”
“Okay!” she smiled back, accepting the bowl.
Author’s Note: This next part is from Artemis’ point of view. In this case, for those who do not know, Artemis’ point of view will be classified as a first-person view, like in certain video games (examples: 007 games, Metroid Prime, ect.) Since the switch to this view, now this is where the words me, I, us, and so forth come in. Just a little background on Language Arts a.k.a. English!
I sat, perched on a small branch, an itch just on the top of my marigold-colored beak. I attempted to scratch the area with a long, jet-black wing, but, to no avail, the attempt failed. This tree was fairly young, a young willow as a matter of fact. Below my perch I could see two people who I presumed to be part of the Kokiri race. V
One a boy, the other a girl. Their clothing to me was shocking: all green, the greenest of fields. You’d think they were brother and sister. But the girl stood out; her hair was green itself! Gee, I thought, you must be pretty desperate to have your hair green! Or, maybe it was the fact that she wanted to be different, or simply the fact that she was born this way, alas, I do not know.
Both of them appeared to be having lunch. They were sitting on a comforter with a brown wicker basket and a few bowls, along with a bag. Among the food they were eating was salad (in one bowl), sandwiches that were pulled out of the basket wrapped in plastic, a couple of glasses, a carton of milk and a variety of fruits.VI I sat silently, watching them devour the many different types of foods and was curios of how the Kokiri acted. Never getting old. Never growing up. All wearing the same color...Strange. What was the truth behind this race? I’d have to look into that some other day, for now, I had work to do.
I took off, feeling the wind caressing through my black feathers. My beady black eyes scanned the ground before me as I entered what I thought looked like the center of the forest. Many small hut-like houses were rested on the ground. They appeared to be made from simple wood and straw. Before I made my descent into the lower part of the forest, I checked all nine fields, checking to see if a guard of some sort may be out, watching for intruders. This turned out to be the latter, no guard at all. This to me was a scary idea, no defense in case of intruders or an attack? Or was it simply that the Kokiri did not have very much or no magical abilities or properties?
I landed in a small clearing, out of sight and earshot. Making sure nobody was watching, I quickly transformed into that of a sandy haired boy with a green tunic and leather belt with equally leather boots. Slowly and cautiously, I walked out into the crowd of the children. This guise seemed to fit me nicely.VII Many were talking and laughing over some conversations that I heard and didn’t hear. After browsing around the village, I froze from the sound of a voice, directing his attention to me.
Slowly, I turned and looked to see a red haired boy with freckles peering at me, eyeing me up and down. His apparel was obvious: green tunic, leather belt and boots, and lastly a real small green cap. Sweat trickled slightly down across my temple, my heart pounding.
“Who are you?” the boy said smugly, glaring at me. “I don’t recognize you, where do you live? What’s your name? Answer me!” You filthy rat, I thought, he must be their leader...
“Huh?” he asked impatiently. “Did you not hear me? Do I have to spell it out? W-h-a-t i-s y-o-u-r n-a-m-e?” He was really starting to bug me, in fact, irritate me. He had no idea how much power I had in my hands. I could easily squash him simply. Already I could feel the stares of many children, watching this conversation with interest.
“And may I ask what is your name?” I replied icily, anger filling my body.
“So, you want to know what my name is, do you?” he sneered. “It’s Mido, and I’ll have you know that I am in charge of the Kokiri Forest. I’ll ask again, what is your name?”
A crowd was already surrounding us. I glanced at the child faces and was hesitant about speaking any further. I growled softly, thinking of a way to get out of this predicament. Then, the thought came to me abruptly. Why not use a Memory spell on him? Slowly and silently, I raised my right hand and held it in front of Mido’s face. Many of the faces watched with more interest; Mido however, had a fearful look on his face.
“W—What are you d—doing?” he gulped. To my amusement, I grinned slightly. He didn’t know my name, but he and the others would soon. A faint blue glow shrouded my hand, with the color of flesh that looked almost drained from his skin. Mido’s eyes widened shockingly and started to shake uncontrollably. “You, Mido, in charge of the Kokiri Forest,” I began calmly. “Will now remember that, I, the one who stands before you was never here. The same goes for the rest of you...” I continued, glancing at a few of the children’s faces. Then, very suddenly, a blinding flash of blue light illuminated the entire area, while a jet-black crow flew off from the middle of the village. All the Kokiri stood stiff for a moment then returned to themselves, not remembering anything about a boy who just stood before them...
“What are you all looking at?” Mido glared at them all, sneering. Not remembering anything that just happened. The Kokiri just simply shook their heads and went about their business.
Well, I thought, Hopefully this is good enough for Draken. I was sitting once again on a branch, eyeing the Kokiri from my perch. Cause, if he’s not happy, what else? Upon the returning of the bustling and jostling, I noticed that the two Kokiri that I saw in the clearing were approaching the village. One thing I noticed that I didn’t before was that each of the Kokiri had their own fairy. This was strange to me. Never, had I seen a fairy next to another person in my life. There were all sorts of colors of small floating orb-like fairies. Greens, blues, light blues, pinks, everywhere!
Starting to get bored, I decided it was time to head back to Draken to tell him of my ‘information’. I stretched my limbs for a second, relieving my body of stiffness and then bound forward in a dive and flew up above the tops of the forest. In the short distance, I could see Hyrule Castle looming over the market.
Draken paced back and forth, awaiting Artemis’ return. Finally, he stopped and looked towards the sky, determined to find the Djinni. After all, being a Ranger gifted him the abilities to see through the nine fields. He wasn’t too concerned about Artemis pulling a move on him. After a few moments Draken became impatient and decided to summon the Djinni to him instead of waiting. He closed his violet eyes and cleared his mind of all thoughts, focusing his magic on Artemis. Slowly, an image of a black raven came into his mind. Like a mime, he began to tug at him with his thoughts and magic, trying to bring the raven to him. The smell of brimstone once again filled his nostrils a second later as he opened his eyes to see the Djinni in the Kokiri form.
“Tell me what you saw,” Draken ordered.
“Dismal, I’ll tell you. No action at all. Nothing happening, just sitting on my a-”
“Answer the question!” Draken barked fiercely. “Unless, you wish to pay a visit to the Shadow Realm!” This apparently caught Artemis’ attention, but he replied a little forcefully.
“I’ll tell you what I saw,” he began coolly. “Nothing! Absolutely nothing! Satisfied know are we?”
Draken glared at him and snarled under his breath. “Well, that’s good to hear! At least there’s something you can do! Good, now I can go tell the king about this...” his voice trailed. Artemis eyed him carefully. What was he hiding that he didn’t know? Was he being used for something that dealt with force? Bloodshed maybe?
“Well?” Artemis said impatiently.
“What?”
“Am I free to go?”
“What? I—Yes, yes. Go!” Draken spat. “Good riddance!”
Artemis’ clothes began to dematerialize. Soon only his head was left with a slight grin on his face. Once again came the smell of brimstone to Draken, who snorted. Just something for you to remember me by, Artemis thought slyly. Draken turned on his heal and walked back into the castle, free of Artemis.
Fado sat on his bed, cross-legged and thinking hard. His dream still rattled in his brain. This he couldn’t shake out of his head. It really concerned him. He slowly closed his eyes for a second and reopened them; except now they looked like the time after the council, his eyes half open. His thick blonde hair wafted in the light breeze, rustling his tunic and causing his cap to fall loosely on his woolly comforter beside him. This, Fado didn’t seem to care; he was to lost in deep thought over his dream. After some time he gave up and sighed. Why am I worried about this so much? he thought irritably. Something seemed to bother him. In fact, this time he really considered that the dream was a premonition. But, where was the proof? Fado sighed again and got up off his bed. Usually he went over to Saria’s and ate dinner with her. He glanced outside to see the Sun going down, the twilight.
Almost limply, Fado aroused himself from his train of thought and walked away from his bed and walked outside. While walking, he continued to glance at the twilight and all of a sudden, a surge of images from his dream came back to him. In his dream, it was exactly at the time of the twilight, in fact, just about this time. Remembering this caused him to shudder and left him with disturbed thoughts and emotions. Fear, anger, hatred, sadness...All very powerful emotions. But soon the smell of soup poured from Saria’s side window and came to Fado’s rescue. He approached her door and looked at the twilight once more, still remembering the terrifying images. Managing to shrug the thought off, he knocked on Saria’s door and walked in.
