Catro the Writer
Sorin High Baby!
It was a day like many others in the desert, with scorching hot heat, dry air, and sand blowing wherever it pleased. But this was nothing new to the Gerudo people as they had always lived in the desert. The sea of sand had been their home for as long as anyone could remember and even before that, it was and always had been home to the band of female warriors.
Unlike most races in Hyrule that had both males and females, the Gerudo people consisted of just females for the most part. Which no one complained about, not even the outsiders. The last time a male was born, they were under the old tradition that the male would be made their chief and leader. And their previous male chief was named Ganondorf who had not only led the Gerudo people into a senseless war against the first king of Hyrule but he gained a powerful relic known as a secret stone and tried to take over the world. So the Gerudos changed their policies concerning males, they got treated like ordinary members of society and they weren’t just thrust into the throne and given power. No, it took a lot of guidance and learning to be a true leader, not just someone born a certain way.
Which Riju was learning in stride as she paced around the throne room, going everywhere besides her large stone chair that sat in the middle of the room. The place she was supposed to be sitting, but she couldn’t do all this organizing sitting down. It had been three years since she and the other sages had helped Link take down Ganondorf and had been able to focus on rebuilding her town. The place had taken a huge hit by the monsters that suddenly came with the reappearance of the once chief.
Weird monsters that Riju had never seen before invaded not just the town but all of the Gerudo desert, along with a crazy sandstorm. The sandstorm made it almost impossible to travel in as the storm made it almost impossible to see, and it messed with compasses so using them to travel was about worthless. But with the monsters hiding in the storm it wasn’t like people wanted to travel. The monsters were almost indestructible as normal weapons didn’t do any damage to them, shooting them in the head did stun them and knock them down, but it didn’t kill them. Only elemental attacks did anything to them and elemental weapons were hard to come by, so it was safer to hide than travel around the desert. But thankfully she and the Hyrule warrior known as Link were able to stop the monsters, the storm, and Ganondorf. Leading to a time of peace everyone was still enjoying. But that didn’t mean the renovations weren’t taxing and taking forever.
The monster attack had done a number on the walls and interior during their free rampaging of the city. But that wasn’t so bad in itself, as they could just fix everything that was broken. Or so they thought, but the more they tried to fix the damaged walls and floors the more stuff got broken. A quick patch job turned into having to fix everything from the walls to the streets and even the houses. So after the first three years of construction, the city had just finished rebuilding the wall that surrounded and that was in the city. It was durably, nice and smooth, and looked nice, though you couldn’t say it exactly looked new as it immediately took the beating of the desert weather. Now they were working on the buildings in the town, and this was all taking a lot more time and resources than Riju would’ve liked. More than they had in the surrounding area to use, so they had to outsource supplies from other regions.
“The Hydromelons need to be kept downstairs in the ruins to stay fresh.” The teen said, her heels making a click click click click sound on the brown hard floor. “The resource delivery should be here at some point today. The Rito are going to drop it off at the Oasis, so if we could have a caravan ready to go so we can meet them there that would be great.” She said to the Gerudo servant, having to look up at the woman as she was about twice Riju's height. The young princess had grown a foot since the events with Ganondorf, meaning she was well past the height of most grown Hylain men. But even the shortest fully grown Gerudo was taller than the average Hylian, so her new height wasn’t anything to write home about. She still wasn’t near being at her full height. “Speaking of which, I’m going to head to my chambers and get ready. I do not wish for the chief of the Rito’s to see me like this.” She said, pausing and turning to her guard Buliara, a tall muscular Gerudo woman who was standing beside the thrown, a stone-cold look on her face, and holding the golding hilt of a claymore in her hand. The warrior was also Riju's most trusted advisor, knowing that she could trust the women with anything, from fighting hoards of reanimated corpses like monsters or being there when the chief needed a shoulder to cry on. “I trust you to take care of getting that ready while I get ready.” She said before turning and heading out of the throne room, heading up the stairs to her bedroom. Where she was greeted with the sight of her stuffed sand seals that sat on her bed awaiting her return.
Some would argue that at seventeen years old, and being the chief of her people, she should put away her stuffed toys. But the little ruler didn’t have it in her heart to put them away, the stuffed seals were the only thing she had to remember her late mother. The blue one, which was the biggest of the three plushies, had an extra special place in her heart as it resembled her best friend and the best sand seal in all the desert, Patricia. Her blue sand seal had always been there for her whenever she needed a ride. So the stuffed animals stayed right where they were.
Riju quickly got in a shower, not wanting to look sweaty and clammy when meeting the chief of the Rito people. Probably not the best way for one ruler to meet another one, or at least that's how she thought. Even if Rito wouldn’t be there for long, since the scorching heat would be too much for the feather-clad people, she wanted to leave a good impression on her allies. It had been a few years since she had seen a Rito, not since after they finished off Ganondorf, so seeing her as a wreck was not a good idea.
So quickly disrobing the girl stepped under the shower of cool water that was constantly flowing through a pipe in her room, in the corner with a curtain to hide from any prying eyes. The water was refreshing and clean good for showering and getting a refreshing drink in the middle of the night if she got thirsty. Standing there Riju let the cool water soak her amber skin and scarlet red hair and listened to the calm sounds of the town entering through her window. The sound of kids laughing as they ran around and played, the solider’s blades crashing against each other as they practiced, and even the sounds of people haggling in the marketplace. It was much better than the sounds of distress and war that had plagued her home when she was first sworn in as chief. The guards fighting about monster hoards, people being rushed in hurt from the monsters of followers of Ganon, or missing reports of people going out in the desert to never be seen again.
Now it was laughter, cheers, and good times for the foreseeable future. But if she wanted for that to continue then she needed to make sure everything was running smoothly. So breaking away from the sounds of the town the girl grabbed her soaps and washed herself clean until she didn’t smell like she had just run around the desert. The sweet Volfruit scent coming off of her thanks to the soap now was a much better smell than sweat in her opinion.
Once she was satisfied with her quick shower she grabbed a towel and dried herself off before getting dressed. Her outfit hadn’t changed much over the years, she didn’t have time to worry about the newest fashion trends, plus it looked a lot like the Gerudo Champion Urobosa’s style. Why fix what wasn’t broken? So she started by putting on her chest plate, the black metal warm due to the outside weather. But the gold threads that outlined the flower petal-like design on it still glowed even in the dark. She then put her skirt on, which was black and white with gold coins hanging from it, being held on by a golden belt with the Gerudo symbol engraved on it. She then slipped on her shoulder pads past her hands and up her arms till they sat comfortably on her shoulders. Next, sitting down on her bed and moving the red sand seal, which was the smallest of the three, she slid her two leg rings past her ankles and then put her gold-colored flats on. And finally, she put her crown on, which this part took a bit off effort as she had to put her hair in curls and dreads, but after a few minutes of fighting with her scarlet red hair, she managed to finally get the large golden crown to sit on her head. Three golden wings sticking out of each side of a hair puff on the front of her head, two arches sitting on top of her head with the Gerudo symbol branded on the top. She then made sure to put her makeup on, looking in a mirror that was almost twice her size, she dabbed her eye shadow and mascara on before getting a tube of red rich lipstick and painting it on her lips. She didn’t bother with her nails, wanting to make sure everything was ready so they could leave, plus who would notice that she wasn’t wearing fingernail polish? Besides hanging from her ear was the amber-colored tear-shaped stone, known as a secret stone. That was the only accessory that mattered at the end of the day, as it showed she was the electric sage.
“Alright, is everything ready?” She asked as she walked down the steps to where she expected to see some servants ready to lead her to the caravan. But to her surprise, there wasn’t anyone in the throne room. No servants to lead her away, civilians needing something done, or visitors taking in the view like she had come to expect whenever she entered the throne room. But nope, for the first time in maybe ten years, the young girl was by herself.
“Well, while I’m waiting,” She said to herself with a smile, giving a relieved sigh as she walked over to the stone throne that sat in the middle of the room and sat on it. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath in and out enjoying the moment of solitude. Which only lasted for a moment as she heard a flap flap ring in from behind her.
“Hiya, Riju!” A male voice called out. It was kinda high pitched but low enough that Riju could tell it was a male voice, probably that of a male teenager or young adult. Hearing this made the chief's eyes shoot open as males weren’t allowed in the city. The Gerudo people were mainly female and didn’t usually welcome any male visitors and anyone who snuck in was either tossed out or thrown in jail. The young ruler didn’t want to have to dismiss anyone from prison. She already had enough on her plate, adding a trial wasn’t exactly on her list of things she wanted to do.
“Who dares,” The redhead snapped, jumping to her feet, ready to chase the person off before it was too late and they got caught by the servants. But when she went around her throne she paused, seeing a white feathered Rito boy with intense sea blue eyes standing beside a sandstone statue of Patricia, well the head of the trusted sand seal anyways. He had on a brown leather tunic with a green poncho hanging off of him. His left wing was also covered in leather, though this was more tempered than his leather shirt, clearly, it was a piece of armor of some sort. The three feathers on his head, which were longer than the rest, were tied into a ponytail of sorts with a piece of brown string, and the feather on the sides of his face was tied back and together by green ribbons. Then tied onto his brown-clawed feet a green glowing stone in the shape of a tear bounced. It was a secret stone that belonged to the Wind Sage, the magical stone that increased the power of the wearer. Riju’s increased her electrical power, while the green one increased the power of the Wind Sage’s control over the wind.
“Hiya, Riju.” The boy said, putting one arm on his side and waving with the other. “How ya doing?” He asked, giving a wink, making the young Chief give a roll.
“Tulin, you know you are not supposed to be in the city.” She said walking up to her friend, and stopping him before he could walk any further in the throne room. She could have thrown him in a jail cell just for being there, but she figured she could let this slide just this once. For a friend's sake, plus it would be super awkward to have to tell the Chief that she had just thrown his son in jail.
“I know Zappy.” The teen Rito said, not stepping forward, calling the girl by the nickname he had given her when they first met. “But I just wanted to see you, it’s been so long!” He said, shooting both his arms out and wrapping the girl in a hug.
“Tulin, we’re not children anymore. I think we’re a bit old for nicknames.” She said, not fighting the hug as she returned it. Burying her face into the boy's soft feathers for a few seconds. “Hey if you flew here that means your arm is doing better!” She exclaimed, letting go of him and grabbing his left arm, and looking at it, stretching it out. Though she couldn’t get a good look at it from the armor that covered it. But the last time they saw each other the young Rito had sprung his wing and no one was sure if he would ever be able to travel long distances on his own ever again. The Rito’s wings were a lot like a horse's leg, very important to them, and were needed for their survival, but apparently, very tricky to heal if they got damaged.
“Eh yeah, I guess.” He said, trying to sound casual about it but blushing a bit as he held his wing out, stretching it a bit. It took a long time for the wing to fully heal, months at the very least. And when it was healed he couldn’t fly for as long as he liked without risking damaging the wing again, which was torture. He was the Wind Sage and he was forbidden from traveling in his element for more than like 30 minutes! But with enough time he was able to get back to full speed and flying around the icy mountains like when he first started his adventure. But he wasn’t going to let anything hurt the wing again, hence why it was armored up. Even if things were technically at peace he still had his job of protecting the village. Yes, the monsters may have been gone, but there were still wild animals that needed to be chased off, people that got themselves stuck on the mountains that needed to be saved, and whatever else he could help his dad do. So a bit of extra protection never hurt. “Anyways, I needed to tell you that your delivery is here. And everyone else is where you instructed them to go. At the Oasis area, right?” He asked, freeing his wing from the chief's grasp and pointing forward to where the Oasis was.
“Yep, that’s it, Feather-Head,” Riju said, taking the chance to call Tulin by her nickname for him. Giving a little giggle as she walked away. “Now I recommend you leave before my guard comes and throws you in jail. I don’t think you’re flying out of the jail cell underground
“Oh, and I thought we were too old for nicknames.” He said with a smirk, crouching down, raising his winds, and flapping them down that shot him straight up. “But yeah I don’t think I would enjoy being in your city jail cell. Despite how hospital you might have made it.” He said before pushing off into the air, making the sand in the room puff up like a smoke screen.
“And that should be it, Zappy.” He said to her, watching as a group of fifteen large amber-skinned warriors carried crates filled with wooden planks and rocks. He had a checklist in his hand, making sure everything was there. They were now in the cool oasis that was a few miles away from the city. Unlike the city men were allowed to come and stay in the cool lush oasis area, not that they were exactly wanted there. They were more or less just tolerated in the area, which was nice. Since they could fill up the canteens in the cool body of water and relax in the shade instead of dying out in the hot desert sun. Though even with the cooler temperature of the area Tulin was still feeling toasty thanks to his fluffy white feathers. But his fellow Ritos were taking a few minutes to relax in the shade before they had to fly through the scorching hot air again. “We’re probably going to hang out here until the sun starts to go down. I think my feathers almost caught on fire during the flight in.” He joked
“I appreciate you risking spontaneous combustion and I thank you for getting them here so fast,” Riju said, giving him a quick bow, which made Rito scoff and eye roll.
“Aw you don’t have to do that,” He assured her, “No need to be so formal around friends.” He said with a chuckle. “But I guess it’s only fair to treat me with respect. I did save your life after all.” He said, a smug grin on his face as his right arm dropped back to his hip. And hearing that made Riju shoot straight up, frowning.
“Excuse me, you must have feathers for your brains if you think that’s how it went down.” She said, both her hands going into fists. One also dropped down to her hip and the other let her pointer finger out as she pointed it at him. “Cuz I remember it was you who needed saving!”
“Only because I saved you!” He said with a laugh, holding his left wing up. “My poor wing suffered from it.”
“Yeah suffered is right.” She said, suddenly dropping the volume as she noticed the eyes of her people and the Ritos on them. She should’ve felt guilty about Tulin’s wing since she was the reason the boy almost lost the ability to fly. But they had joked about it so many times, and Tulin was back to normal, both of them didn’t bat an eye when his wing is mentioned. “Your handwriting was that of the children in the town who are first learning to write.” She said, referring to the letters she had received from the boy, even thinking about the stack of handwritten notes she had received over the years. It was how the two managed to stay in touch and was probably the most efficient that they could have stayed in touch. With the distance between their homes, her having to run a city, and him unable to fly or go in the city, there was no other option but to write each other notes. And at first, they were sending each other notes at least once a week, learning about each other's lives and homelands. But as time went on and they got busier the letters slowed down. But they still made sure to get at least one out a month.
“It may have been rough, but not as rough as some of the words you choose to write down.” He said, “I don’t know how many times I had to ask my dad what a word meant. But I guess that's what happens when you grow up in a palace. You learn all those fancy words.” He said with a chuckle. Tulin was a Rito of simple things and that included his dictionary, but in their letters the Gerudo girl seemed to love using words with four symbols that he never heard. But the letters sounded just like how the ruler talked and he wouldn’t have them any other way.
“Laugh all you want. But in all honesty, I believe we were both in need of saving that day.” She said, jumping on the last remaining crate. “Let’s see, where did it start?” She asked thinking back on that day.
“Come on! What are we waiting for?” Tulin asked, throwing his arms up and down, as he stared at the group around him. They were all standing outside of the Lookout Landing, a makeshift base where a group opposing Ganon stayed. They weren’t right outside the castle, about a mile or so away, but it was still a lot closer than they probably should have been. Since the creature who had been plaguing Hyrule for over 100 years was somewhere in the castle, and casually being this close to something with that kind of power probably wasn’t a good idea. “He’s up there right now, taunting us!” The young Rito said, thrusting his left arm and pointing to the castle as he looked at his fellow sages and the Shekiah Purah.
“It would be ill-advised to go up there without Link.” The red Zora Prince, Sidon, said looking down at the white feathered boy. Sidon stood a foot taller than the rest of them, meaning he was about eight or nine feet tall, and his shadow was cast down on all of them and he had to look down at all of them. “So the best course of action is to wait until he shows up. He does have the sword that seals away darkness after all.”
“Y-yeah! We would probably get our butts handed to us, goro.” The Safe of Fire, Yunobo said, shifting from foot to foot nervously as he fiddled with his thumbs. For someone who looked like a boulder, like the Gorons normally did, the sage's skin was not hard as stone. Tulin would’ve figured that the Goron that would have been able to hit like a truck, would have been on his side concerning going up to where Ganon was and trying to take him down.
“Mm…” The Rito boy growled and threw his wings to his side. “We don’t even know where Link is!” He pointed out, which was true. After he had found the fifth sage, the Sage of Spirits, they had all gathered at Lookout Landing and were told that Link had one more important thing to do. But when they tried asking questions they didn’t get any answers, as no one knew where the Hylian knight had disappeared to. “What if he starts to attack? Then it’ll be too late to stop him before he does any more damage.” The boy tried again.
“As much as I hate to admit it.” A new voice chimed in, Riju walked beside Tulin and stood there staring at the other Sages. Her green eyes practically glowed as she looked at everyone, making sure she had everyone's attention. “But the Sage of Wind is right.” She said, one hand hanging limp at her side with the other planted on her hip closed into a fist. “If Ganon brings the fight to us there is no telling what will come with him. This man made the Blights that invaded our Divine Beast while he was incapacitated in the abscess beneath Hyrule Castle.” She reminded them. “Do we really wish to take him on when he is prepared and comes to us?”
“True,” Purah said, a closed paper fan in her hands, tapping her chin with it. A purple secret stone hanging on a necklace around her neck. The Shekiah woman had been chosen to use the power of the rock by the Zoni woman Mineru. She was probably the smartest out of the five of them, which gave Tulin hope that she would see why they should go on the offensive. Maybe she would even be able to come up with some battle plan on the spot. But his hopes were quickly shattered when she sighed and started talking again. “But anything he can bring down here he can have up there.” She said, pointing her fan up at Hyrule castle. It had been a few hours since their enemy had announced his presence up there. Which somehow made the shadow that the raised castle cast down on them feel colder and more threatening. As if their enemy could reach up out of the ground at any moment and grab them.
“Yes but at least it would be up there.” The Gerudo Chief countered, “We would keep damage and injuries to a minimum.”
“But we have backup down here. Men and women ready to sacrifice themselves to finally rid their homeland of this evil!” Purah sighed, pacing around. “Plus if you’re concerned about not losing lives, then we need to wait for Link. We all had visions of what happened when our ancestors fought Ganon. They all feel like they were just bugs he could squash under his foot!” She pointed out. But before either of the young sages could argue the earth beneath their feet started to rumble. A vrrrrrrrrrrrrm going along with it as well as the sound of pots and plates breaking as they fell to the ground.
“Perhaps you all thought I was joking.” A gravely deep voice said, sounding like it was slightly echoing with every word, and a chuckle followed it. “You fools wish to face a god that walks among you, then come at me. My patience wears thin with all this waiting. Or maybe you all… doubt my power.” He said, with more rumbling as a red and black smog, that they had all known as Gloom, started to rise out of the abyss that Hyrule Caster stood above.
“M-Monsters!” A Hylain soldier called out from the watchtower, “Lots of them!” He informed them all as he grabbed an arrow out of the quiver and knocked his bowstring back. This made the sages run to the edge of the wall and look over at where the man was pointing, and indeed an army of monsters was coming right at them. Monsters of all shapes, sizes, and colors. The small bokoblins, little monsters with pig-like faces, reached their base and immediately started whacking the wooden walls with their clubs and tossing rocks up at the soldiers on the guard towers. The soldiers guarding the four entrances to the landing barely had time to shut the gates, soldiers having to stab monsters with spears just to make sure they didn’t get through. It was like the monsters had appeared right on top of them. There was no way all the people at the landing would have missed this many monsters!
“He must have summoned them.” Purah said, walking back, “Protect the landing but don’t let yourselves get hurt. This is just the beginning of the final battle!” She announced.
“Ritos!” A green Rito man said, his wings in the air, “Time to attack!” The man said, his brown leather cap with a white and brown striped feather on it showed he was a captain. “To the air, protect the landing!” He said before flapping his wings and flying up in the air, a dozen Ritos of different colors followed him. As they circled the landing they shot down arrows on the hoard of monsters, looking like a rainbow raining arrows down on their enemies. They held their bows in their talons, pulling the strings back with their beaks, and letting go to watch the arrows fly through the air. Which worked as enemies started to fall as the deadly rain met their marks making the monster fall as their skin turned black before they disappeared in a small puff of smoke. But sadly the monsters weren’t going down fast enough and soon the Moblins, tall lanky creatures with long trunk-like noses, grabbed the bokoblins and tossed them over the gate.
“Zoras, charge!” A high pitched voice said, their voice bubbling a bit as if they were underwater, the sound of weapons unsheathing following. And with a battle cry, the fish-like people rushed toward the monsters and slashed them with their silver swords and spears.
“This isn’t good.” Purah gasped seeing this, reaching behind her and pulling out a ray gun she had built, ready to start shooting, looking around and trying to think, putting her golden mask over her eyes. If the mask did anything special Tulin didn’t know but he wasn’t going to judge her for wanting to put some sort of armor on for this battle. The dark green gun was also big, almost the size of one of Tulin’s wings. It was a wonder how the tiny lady could even hold the gun much less than use it. “We need to clear a path for the Gorons, if they can get out that would turn the tide.” She said, sounding like the battle had been going on for hours instead of a couple of minutes. But things were looking pretty dire already, as there was an army of monsters surrounding the camp, which went past the moblins and bokoblins. There were lizalfos, large lizard-like creatures, shooting arrows at them, spitting large blobs of water, and even trying to jump up in the air to get over the wall. Weird blob creatures known as Chu-Chus also tried to hit the wall, but they were just blue blobs of jelly they just bounced harmlessly off the wall. Now if they had been the orange fire ones it would have been a bit more serious since they caught everything they touched on fire. But they were spared that fiery fate. “We just need to open the gates without the monsters entering, do you think we could manage that?” She asked, looking at the other sages.
“Don’t worry, leave it to me. Or I should say… us.” Riju said, getting a cheer from the other sages, Sidon even flashing a smile. But Tulin noticed that the Gerudo Chief had her eyes on him specifically, “How much can you carry, Tulin?” She asked him.
“What?” He asked before thinking, “I don’t know the exact weight, but I can carry something about my weight. Why?” He asked, watching the girl smirk a bit as she turned to Buliara.
“Buliara,” She said, making the warrior stand even straighter which Tulin didn’t think was possible since the lady was, “Help the Hylians open the gates when the time comes. I’ll trust you’ll know the sign. Once the gates are open you order the other soldiers as you see fit.” She said, “Tulin fly us in the air!” She instructed, “Then shoot an arrow at the enemies in front of the gates, I’ll take care of the rest. We’ll start at the north gate and go left from there.” She instructed.
“Wow, you’re bossy.” He said with an eye roll, but it was clear she had an actual plan past just ‘killing the monsters’. “Get ready.” He said as he flapped his wings and flew forward and grabbed the girl by the shoulders before flying up.
“We’ll help with the gates, goro,” Yunobo assured them as he and Sidon went to separate gates, teaming up with the Hylians and Gerudos, ready to quickly get the gates open. Gorons curled up in balls and ready to roll out.
“Get ready,” Tulin said, focusing as he spun and making another gust of wind appear under him and pushing him up, sending Riju's hair up in the air. As they got higher up in the air, to the point the enemies looked a lot smaller now. “Letting go… Now!” He said.
“Wait, what?” Riju asked, her eyes going wide as she felt the boy's talons let go of her. Maybe she didn’t think that part through, but Tuling did need his talons to hold his bow. So he cocked an arrow and let it go, sending it flying at the head of a moblin. Thankfully Riju was quick to recover from the shock of being let go and in her free fall she pulled out her two scimitars. The two long silver blades with golden handles were her chosen weapons and were how she channeled her powers. Narrowing her eyes she watched the arrow flying through the time seemingly slowing down for her. And as soon as the arrow hit the back of a moblin’s head she pointed her sword at the arrow. Feeling electricity coursing through her veins, making her eyes glow neon green, she flicked her wrist, and a bolt of lightning crashed down from the sky, striking the arrow. But the blast instantly vaporized six or seven enemies and sent a dozen flying.
Riju couldn’t hear anything, but she assumed that everyone understood that's what they were waiting for. As soon as she saw four Gorons roll out of the gate with Gerudo soldiers running after them, now that they had some room to move around they charged. Seeing this made Riju sigh, glad to see they made some progress.
“Hey, good job, Zappy!” Tulin cheered, swooping down and catching her.
“Thanks.” She said, raising an eyebrow at being called that. “Zappy?”
“Cuz you zapped them!” He said with a smile as he looked down at her as he got some more air so they could open the next gate.
“Makes sense I guess.” She muttered but squirmed a bit in her grasp, “Do not call me that. I am the chief of Gerudo. I do not get nicknames.”
“Then don’t zap stuff.” He said and let go of her again, making her epp as she flew up a few more feet before she started to free fall again. Like last time she watched the arrow fly and when it met its mark she aimed her sword again, sending another bolt of lightning. This time Sidon led the charge, following after the Gorons as they rolled out like boulders.
“Hey Feather-Head, how about a warning next time?” She asked as she was grabbed again.
“Sorry!” He apologized and looked ready to say something else, but he went wide, “Hold on!” He said, closing his wings and sending them straight down, making the girl let out a high-pitched scream not fitting of the brave ruler she was supposed to be. But before she could ask the boy what he was thinking a high-pitched scwaaa filled the air as four lime green scaly monsters with pink wings darted through the air.
“Oh great they can fly now,” Riju sighed seeing the monsters zipping through the air where they had been a few seconds ago. “We can’t let this stop us!” She said, looking up at Tulin who nodded his head as a new gust of wind pushed them forward.
“Kay, Zappy. I’m letting go now!” He said, giving her a warning and he let go of her and launched an arrow. Riju got her blades ready, but when she focused on where the arrow was flying she wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings. Meaning she didn’t see anything coming when it felt like she was slammed by a brick wall. With a thud one of the flying monsters slammed against her, sending the girl spiraling to the side. “Riju!” Tulin cried as he dove down, having to stop, spin, and zigzag as the other flying monsters tried to slam into him. Which slowed him down.
“Tulin!” Riju cried, her hands still holding onto her swords still as she had her hands extended forward as the ground started to get closer, and closer… and closer! The wind roared in her ears and stung her face as she saw the grass coming closer to her face and she could feel her heartbeat in her throat. Was this how this ended, taken down by some winged monster? She closed her eyes as the ground was a few feet in front of her she shielded her face with her hands, not wanting to look at the ground as her life ended there.
“I…. Gotcha!” Tulin cheered, swooping down, grabbing Riju by her foot, “Don’t get grounded yet Zappy!” He said as they flew up, though he did let go of her and grabbed her by her shoulders. “We still have to open those last two gates.” He said, looking down at her and giving her a wink.
“Yes, but with all these air-born creatures it’ll be impossible.” She said with a huff as she scanned the air, it only seemed like more and more monsters had filled the air. Giving them no opening to strike.
“Don’t worry, backups here,” Tulin said, pointing his head forward where the flock of Ritos that had started their counter-attack were getting close to them. And Tulin didn’t give the captain any time to ask any questions. “Clear the skies, we need a clear shot at the monsters on the ground in front of the gate.” He ordered, getting a head nod from the older Rito.
“You heard Tuiln!” The captain yelled, “Clear a way to the gates!” He ordered and drew his bowstring back and shot at one of the flying monsters, making it let out a high-pitched scream as it started to fall. The other Rito warriors followed his lead and started to shoot at the other monsters. When she saw the flying beast start to fall it made the girl's heart and spirits raise. But sadly her raised spirits didn’t stay that way for long. Sadly a dozen arrows being shot every few seconds wasn’t enough to clear out the sea of monsters blocking their view.
“Ok, plan B,” Tulin muttered, flying to the ground and dropping Riju off, not stopping as he did. “I’ll be right back, Zappy! Get ready for another thunder shock” He assured her as another gust of wind boosted him forward he went straight up into the air, soaring higher and higher until he disappeared into the white fluffy clouds. After a few seconds, the young Rito flew back down out of the clouds, heading straight down, using his wind ability to make himself go faster. Making it so the boy was nothing more than a white streak dashing through the air.
When he got to the place he almost hit the ground the boy pulled up, spinning like a top. Going so fast that Riju felt the wind starting to move toward him, and he must’ve still been using his powers to go even faster. And soon things started to fly toward him, sticks, rocks, and mushrooms all flew past Riju and towards Tulin. Even the Gerudo Chief had to brace herself as the wind started to suck her up. And soon the boy had created a tornado, and not a little whirlwind, but a full-sized tornado that reached fifteen stories high. Not only did the tornado suck up the random bits of trash from the area but also all the airborne monsters, the Rito warriors seemingly knowing to have gotten out of there. Even a few of the lighter grounded monsters got sucked up in it as well. Sliding out of his spin Tulin flew backward, he pushed the tornado towards the entrance they were trying to open, and pulled his bow back. When the tornado was close enough to the gate he let an arrow fly, landing near the bottom of the the gust of wind.
“Now!” Both of the younger sages said at the same time, Riju drawing her blades, pointing one at the arrow, and flicking her wrist. A bolt of lightning flew down the middle of the tornado, frying every monster in the tornado, and striking the arrow with a BOOM! Making the tornado vanish and all the monsters rain down in soot black bodies that vanished when they hit the ground.
“Yeah!” Tulin cheered as he flew next to Riju, landing and standing beside her, wobbling a bit. “Whew, that was cool. But I’m sure things aren’t going to stop spinning for next year.” He said, his eyes spinning in a circle.
“Don’t worry, I think I can handle the final gate,” She assured him, putting her hand on his shoulder to steady him, helping him to the ground. The Rito boy would be safe here away from the battle since all the monsters were either trying to get into the landing or were being preoccupied by the warriors slashing at them. “Just rest up, we have one more stop after this.” She said before dashing forward. Her blades bounced off the ground as she ran to the final gate, making her way toward the monsters. “HEYA!” She cried, thrusting a blade into a bokoblin’s back, pushing up on it, and sending herself flying in the air, pulling her blade out of the monster as it started to crumble to dust. Jumping from one monster head to the next the little Gerudo leader quickly made her way to the front of the hoard of monsters. Then lifting one of her swords in the air, she shoved it down the head of the silver-colored moblin she landed on. Raising her other hand she smirked and snapped her fingers, making lighting crash down on the hilt of the sword. Making one more explosion, clearing out the monsters there, and also sending her flying backward. Maybe she didn’t think the plan all the way through, as hitting herself with lightning would not have been a plan she normally went with. But to be fair, in the moment it was probably the best way she could aim her lightning strike.
“Wow, that was really shocking!” Tulin said, swooping up and catching the girl by her arms.
“Is a year up already?” Riju groaned, slapping the side of her head as a nice riiiiiiiiing filled her ears. Smoke rose off her body and she had to pat a small blaze on her head out. But other than that she was ok.
“Yep, good morning. You’ve been asleep all this time.” He said, flying up as they watched the final gate open up. Unlike the other gates, the Gorons weren’t the first to exit the gate, but a beam of light shot out, making a small explosion as the light hit its target. Purah walked out with her gun smoking, she spun it in her fingers and looked up at the two, smiling as she gave them a peace sign. But it quickly disappeared as she watched them going high and further away from the landing. “You know, there are better places to take a nap than on the ground.” He continued with a chuckle.
“Whatever Feather-Head.” She said with an eye roll as he turned around and headed towards Hyrule Castle. “Let’s finish this.”
Unlike most races in Hyrule that had both males and females, the Gerudo people consisted of just females for the most part. Which no one complained about, not even the outsiders. The last time a male was born, they were under the old tradition that the male would be made their chief and leader. And their previous male chief was named Ganondorf who had not only led the Gerudo people into a senseless war against the first king of Hyrule but he gained a powerful relic known as a secret stone and tried to take over the world. So the Gerudos changed their policies concerning males, they got treated like ordinary members of society and they weren’t just thrust into the throne and given power. No, it took a lot of guidance and learning to be a true leader, not just someone born a certain way.
Which Riju was learning in stride as she paced around the throne room, going everywhere besides her large stone chair that sat in the middle of the room. The place she was supposed to be sitting, but she couldn’t do all this organizing sitting down. It had been three years since she and the other sages had helped Link take down Ganondorf and had been able to focus on rebuilding her town. The place had taken a huge hit by the monsters that suddenly came with the reappearance of the once chief.
Weird monsters that Riju had never seen before invaded not just the town but all of the Gerudo desert, along with a crazy sandstorm. The sandstorm made it almost impossible to travel in as the storm made it almost impossible to see, and it messed with compasses so using them to travel was about worthless. But with the monsters hiding in the storm it wasn’t like people wanted to travel. The monsters were almost indestructible as normal weapons didn’t do any damage to them, shooting them in the head did stun them and knock them down, but it didn’t kill them. Only elemental attacks did anything to them and elemental weapons were hard to come by, so it was safer to hide than travel around the desert. But thankfully she and the Hyrule warrior known as Link were able to stop the monsters, the storm, and Ganondorf. Leading to a time of peace everyone was still enjoying. But that didn’t mean the renovations weren’t taxing and taking forever.
The monster attack had done a number on the walls and interior during their free rampaging of the city. But that wasn’t so bad in itself, as they could just fix everything that was broken. Or so they thought, but the more they tried to fix the damaged walls and floors the more stuff got broken. A quick patch job turned into having to fix everything from the walls to the streets and even the houses. So after the first three years of construction, the city had just finished rebuilding the wall that surrounded and that was in the city. It was durably, nice and smooth, and looked nice, though you couldn’t say it exactly looked new as it immediately took the beating of the desert weather. Now they were working on the buildings in the town, and this was all taking a lot more time and resources than Riju would’ve liked. More than they had in the surrounding area to use, so they had to outsource supplies from other regions.
“The Hydromelons need to be kept downstairs in the ruins to stay fresh.” The teen said, her heels making a click click click click sound on the brown hard floor. “The resource delivery should be here at some point today. The Rito are going to drop it off at the Oasis, so if we could have a caravan ready to go so we can meet them there that would be great.” She said to the Gerudo servant, having to look up at the woman as she was about twice Riju's height. The young princess had grown a foot since the events with Ganondorf, meaning she was well past the height of most grown Hylain men. But even the shortest fully grown Gerudo was taller than the average Hylian, so her new height wasn’t anything to write home about. She still wasn’t near being at her full height. “Speaking of which, I’m going to head to my chambers and get ready. I do not wish for the chief of the Rito’s to see me like this.” She said, pausing and turning to her guard Buliara, a tall muscular Gerudo woman who was standing beside the thrown, a stone-cold look on her face, and holding the golding hilt of a claymore in her hand. The warrior was also Riju's most trusted advisor, knowing that she could trust the women with anything, from fighting hoards of reanimated corpses like monsters or being there when the chief needed a shoulder to cry on. “I trust you to take care of getting that ready while I get ready.” She said before turning and heading out of the throne room, heading up the stairs to her bedroom. Where she was greeted with the sight of her stuffed sand seals that sat on her bed awaiting her return.
Some would argue that at seventeen years old, and being the chief of her people, she should put away her stuffed toys. But the little ruler didn’t have it in her heart to put them away, the stuffed seals were the only thing she had to remember her late mother. The blue one, which was the biggest of the three plushies, had an extra special place in her heart as it resembled her best friend and the best sand seal in all the desert, Patricia. Her blue sand seal had always been there for her whenever she needed a ride. So the stuffed animals stayed right where they were.
Riju quickly got in a shower, not wanting to look sweaty and clammy when meeting the chief of the Rito people. Probably not the best way for one ruler to meet another one, or at least that's how she thought. Even if Rito wouldn’t be there for long, since the scorching heat would be too much for the feather-clad people, she wanted to leave a good impression on her allies. It had been a few years since she had seen a Rito, not since after they finished off Ganondorf, so seeing her as a wreck was not a good idea.
So quickly disrobing the girl stepped under the shower of cool water that was constantly flowing through a pipe in her room, in the corner with a curtain to hide from any prying eyes. The water was refreshing and clean good for showering and getting a refreshing drink in the middle of the night if she got thirsty. Standing there Riju let the cool water soak her amber skin and scarlet red hair and listened to the calm sounds of the town entering through her window. The sound of kids laughing as they ran around and played, the solider’s blades crashing against each other as they practiced, and even the sounds of people haggling in the marketplace. It was much better than the sounds of distress and war that had plagued her home when she was first sworn in as chief. The guards fighting about monster hoards, people being rushed in hurt from the monsters of followers of Ganon, or missing reports of people going out in the desert to never be seen again.
Now it was laughter, cheers, and good times for the foreseeable future. But if she wanted for that to continue then she needed to make sure everything was running smoothly. So breaking away from the sounds of the town the girl grabbed her soaps and washed herself clean until she didn’t smell like she had just run around the desert. The sweet Volfruit scent coming off of her thanks to the soap now was a much better smell than sweat in her opinion.
Once she was satisfied with her quick shower she grabbed a towel and dried herself off before getting dressed. Her outfit hadn’t changed much over the years, she didn’t have time to worry about the newest fashion trends, plus it looked a lot like the Gerudo Champion Urobosa’s style. Why fix what wasn’t broken? So she started by putting on her chest plate, the black metal warm due to the outside weather. But the gold threads that outlined the flower petal-like design on it still glowed even in the dark. She then put her skirt on, which was black and white with gold coins hanging from it, being held on by a golden belt with the Gerudo symbol engraved on it. She then slipped on her shoulder pads past her hands and up her arms till they sat comfortably on her shoulders. Next, sitting down on her bed and moving the red sand seal, which was the smallest of the three, she slid her two leg rings past her ankles and then put her gold-colored flats on. And finally, she put her crown on, which this part took a bit off effort as she had to put her hair in curls and dreads, but after a few minutes of fighting with her scarlet red hair, she managed to finally get the large golden crown to sit on her head. Three golden wings sticking out of each side of a hair puff on the front of her head, two arches sitting on top of her head with the Gerudo symbol branded on the top. She then made sure to put her makeup on, looking in a mirror that was almost twice her size, she dabbed her eye shadow and mascara on before getting a tube of red rich lipstick and painting it on her lips. She didn’t bother with her nails, wanting to make sure everything was ready so they could leave, plus who would notice that she wasn’t wearing fingernail polish? Besides hanging from her ear was the amber-colored tear-shaped stone, known as a secret stone. That was the only accessory that mattered at the end of the day, as it showed she was the electric sage.
“Alright, is everything ready?” She asked as she walked down the steps to where she expected to see some servants ready to lead her to the caravan. But to her surprise, there wasn’t anyone in the throne room. No servants to lead her away, civilians needing something done, or visitors taking in the view like she had come to expect whenever she entered the throne room. But nope, for the first time in maybe ten years, the young girl was by herself.
“Well, while I’m waiting,” She said to herself with a smile, giving a relieved sigh as she walked over to the stone throne that sat in the middle of the room and sat on it. Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath in and out enjoying the moment of solitude. Which only lasted for a moment as she heard a flap flap ring in from behind her.
“Hiya, Riju!” A male voice called out. It was kinda high pitched but low enough that Riju could tell it was a male voice, probably that of a male teenager or young adult. Hearing this made the chief's eyes shoot open as males weren’t allowed in the city. The Gerudo people were mainly female and didn’t usually welcome any male visitors and anyone who snuck in was either tossed out or thrown in jail. The young ruler didn’t want to have to dismiss anyone from prison. She already had enough on her plate, adding a trial wasn’t exactly on her list of things she wanted to do.
“Who dares,” The redhead snapped, jumping to her feet, ready to chase the person off before it was too late and they got caught by the servants. But when she went around her throne she paused, seeing a white feathered Rito boy with intense sea blue eyes standing beside a sandstone statue of Patricia, well the head of the trusted sand seal anyways. He had on a brown leather tunic with a green poncho hanging off of him. His left wing was also covered in leather, though this was more tempered than his leather shirt, clearly, it was a piece of armor of some sort. The three feathers on his head, which were longer than the rest, were tied into a ponytail of sorts with a piece of brown string, and the feather on the sides of his face was tied back and together by green ribbons. Then tied onto his brown-clawed feet a green glowing stone in the shape of a tear bounced. It was a secret stone that belonged to the Wind Sage, the magical stone that increased the power of the wearer. Riju’s increased her electrical power, while the green one increased the power of the Wind Sage’s control over the wind.
“Hiya, Riju.” The boy said, putting one arm on his side and waving with the other. “How ya doing?” He asked, giving a wink, making the young Chief give a roll.
“Tulin, you know you are not supposed to be in the city.” She said walking up to her friend, and stopping him before he could walk any further in the throne room. She could have thrown him in a jail cell just for being there, but she figured she could let this slide just this once. For a friend's sake, plus it would be super awkward to have to tell the Chief that she had just thrown his son in jail.
“I know Zappy.” The teen Rito said, not stepping forward, calling the girl by the nickname he had given her when they first met. “But I just wanted to see you, it’s been so long!” He said, shooting both his arms out and wrapping the girl in a hug.
“Tulin, we’re not children anymore. I think we’re a bit old for nicknames.” She said, not fighting the hug as she returned it. Burying her face into the boy's soft feathers for a few seconds. “Hey if you flew here that means your arm is doing better!” She exclaimed, letting go of him and grabbing his left arm, and looking at it, stretching it out. Though she couldn’t get a good look at it from the armor that covered it. But the last time they saw each other the young Rito had sprung his wing and no one was sure if he would ever be able to travel long distances on his own ever again. The Rito’s wings were a lot like a horse's leg, very important to them, and were needed for their survival, but apparently, very tricky to heal if they got damaged.
“Eh yeah, I guess.” He said, trying to sound casual about it but blushing a bit as he held his wing out, stretching it a bit. It took a long time for the wing to fully heal, months at the very least. And when it was healed he couldn’t fly for as long as he liked without risking damaging the wing again, which was torture. He was the Wind Sage and he was forbidden from traveling in his element for more than like 30 minutes! But with enough time he was able to get back to full speed and flying around the icy mountains like when he first started his adventure. But he wasn’t going to let anything hurt the wing again, hence why it was armored up. Even if things were technically at peace he still had his job of protecting the village. Yes, the monsters may have been gone, but there were still wild animals that needed to be chased off, people that got themselves stuck on the mountains that needed to be saved, and whatever else he could help his dad do. So a bit of extra protection never hurt. “Anyways, I needed to tell you that your delivery is here. And everyone else is where you instructed them to go. At the Oasis area, right?” He asked, freeing his wing from the chief's grasp and pointing forward to where the Oasis was.
“Yep, that’s it, Feather-Head,” Riju said, taking the chance to call Tulin by her nickname for him. Giving a little giggle as she walked away. “Now I recommend you leave before my guard comes and throws you in jail. I don’t think you’re flying out of the jail cell underground
“Oh, and I thought we were too old for nicknames.” He said with a smirk, crouching down, raising his winds, and flapping them down that shot him straight up. “But yeah I don’t think I would enjoy being in your city jail cell. Despite how hospital you might have made it.” He said before pushing off into the air, making the sand in the room puff up like a smoke screen.
“And that should be it, Zappy.” He said to her, watching as a group of fifteen large amber-skinned warriors carried crates filled with wooden planks and rocks. He had a checklist in his hand, making sure everything was there. They were now in the cool oasis that was a few miles away from the city. Unlike the city men were allowed to come and stay in the cool lush oasis area, not that they were exactly wanted there. They were more or less just tolerated in the area, which was nice. Since they could fill up the canteens in the cool body of water and relax in the shade instead of dying out in the hot desert sun. Though even with the cooler temperature of the area Tulin was still feeling toasty thanks to his fluffy white feathers. But his fellow Ritos were taking a few minutes to relax in the shade before they had to fly through the scorching hot air again. “We’re probably going to hang out here until the sun starts to go down. I think my feathers almost caught on fire during the flight in.” He joked
“I appreciate you risking spontaneous combustion and I thank you for getting them here so fast,” Riju said, giving him a quick bow, which made Rito scoff and eye roll.
“Aw you don’t have to do that,” He assured her, “No need to be so formal around friends.” He said with a chuckle. “But I guess it’s only fair to treat me with respect. I did save your life after all.” He said, a smug grin on his face as his right arm dropped back to his hip. And hearing that made Riju shoot straight up, frowning.
“Excuse me, you must have feathers for your brains if you think that’s how it went down.” She said, both her hands going into fists. One also dropped down to her hip and the other let her pointer finger out as she pointed it at him. “Cuz I remember it was you who needed saving!”
“Only because I saved you!” He said with a laugh, holding his left wing up. “My poor wing suffered from it.”
“Yeah suffered is right.” She said, suddenly dropping the volume as she noticed the eyes of her people and the Ritos on them. She should’ve felt guilty about Tulin’s wing since she was the reason the boy almost lost the ability to fly. But they had joked about it so many times, and Tulin was back to normal, both of them didn’t bat an eye when his wing is mentioned. “Your handwriting was that of the children in the town who are first learning to write.” She said, referring to the letters she had received from the boy, even thinking about the stack of handwritten notes she had received over the years. It was how the two managed to stay in touch and was probably the most efficient that they could have stayed in touch. With the distance between their homes, her having to run a city, and him unable to fly or go in the city, there was no other option but to write each other notes. And at first, they were sending each other notes at least once a week, learning about each other's lives and homelands. But as time went on and they got busier the letters slowed down. But they still made sure to get at least one out a month.
“It may have been rough, but not as rough as some of the words you choose to write down.” He said, “I don’t know how many times I had to ask my dad what a word meant. But I guess that's what happens when you grow up in a palace. You learn all those fancy words.” He said with a chuckle. Tulin was a Rito of simple things and that included his dictionary, but in their letters the Gerudo girl seemed to love using words with four symbols that he never heard. But the letters sounded just like how the ruler talked and he wouldn’t have them any other way.
“Laugh all you want. But in all honesty, I believe we were both in need of saving that day.” She said, jumping on the last remaining crate. “Let’s see, where did it start?” She asked thinking back on that day.
“Come on! What are we waiting for?” Tulin asked, throwing his arms up and down, as he stared at the group around him. They were all standing outside of the Lookout Landing, a makeshift base where a group opposing Ganon stayed. They weren’t right outside the castle, about a mile or so away, but it was still a lot closer than they probably should have been. Since the creature who had been plaguing Hyrule for over 100 years was somewhere in the castle, and casually being this close to something with that kind of power probably wasn’t a good idea. “He’s up there right now, taunting us!” The young Rito said, thrusting his left arm and pointing to the castle as he looked at his fellow sages and the Shekiah Purah.
“It would be ill-advised to go up there without Link.” The red Zora Prince, Sidon, said looking down at the white feathered boy. Sidon stood a foot taller than the rest of them, meaning he was about eight or nine feet tall, and his shadow was cast down on all of them and he had to look down at all of them. “So the best course of action is to wait until he shows up. He does have the sword that seals away darkness after all.”
“Y-yeah! We would probably get our butts handed to us, goro.” The Safe of Fire, Yunobo said, shifting from foot to foot nervously as he fiddled with his thumbs. For someone who looked like a boulder, like the Gorons normally did, the sage's skin was not hard as stone. Tulin would’ve figured that the Goron that would have been able to hit like a truck, would have been on his side concerning going up to where Ganon was and trying to take him down.
“Mm…” The Rito boy growled and threw his wings to his side. “We don’t even know where Link is!” He pointed out, which was true. After he had found the fifth sage, the Sage of Spirits, they had all gathered at Lookout Landing and were told that Link had one more important thing to do. But when they tried asking questions they didn’t get any answers, as no one knew where the Hylian knight had disappeared to. “What if he starts to attack? Then it’ll be too late to stop him before he does any more damage.” The boy tried again.
“As much as I hate to admit it.” A new voice chimed in, Riju walked beside Tulin and stood there staring at the other Sages. Her green eyes practically glowed as she looked at everyone, making sure she had everyone's attention. “But the Sage of Wind is right.” She said, one hand hanging limp at her side with the other planted on her hip closed into a fist. “If Ganon brings the fight to us there is no telling what will come with him. This man made the Blights that invaded our Divine Beast while he was incapacitated in the abscess beneath Hyrule Castle.” She reminded them. “Do we really wish to take him on when he is prepared and comes to us?”
“True,” Purah said, a closed paper fan in her hands, tapping her chin with it. A purple secret stone hanging on a necklace around her neck. The Shekiah woman had been chosen to use the power of the rock by the Zoni woman Mineru. She was probably the smartest out of the five of them, which gave Tulin hope that she would see why they should go on the offensive. Maybe she would even be able to come up with some battle plan on the spot. But his hopes were quickly shattered when she sighed and started talking again. “But anything he can bring down here he can have up there.” She said, pointing her fan up at Hyrule castle. It had been a few hours since their enemy had announced his presence up there. Which somehow made the shadow that the raised castle cast down on them feel colder and more threatening. As if their enemy could reach up out of the ground at any moment and grab them.
“Yes but at least it would be up there.” The Gerudo Chief countered, “We would keep damage and injuries to a minimum.”
“But we have backup down here. Men and women ready to sacrifice themselves to finally rid their homeland of this evil!” Purah sighed, pacing around. “Plus if you’re concerned about not losing lives, then we need to wait for Link. We all had visions of what happened when our ancestors fought Ganon. They all feel like they were just bugs he could squash under his foot!” She pointed out. But before either of the young sages could argue the earth beneath their feet started to rumble. A vrrrrrrrrrrrrm going along with it as well as the sound of pots and plates breaking as they fell to the ground.
“Perhaps you all thought I was joking.” A gravely deep voice said, sounding like it was slightly echoing with every word, and a chuckle followed it. “You fools wish to face a god that walks among you, then come at me. My patience wears thin with all this waiting. Or maybe you all… doubt my power.” He said, with more rumbling as a red and black smog, that they had all known as Gloom, started to rise out of the abyss that Hyrule Caster stood above.
“M-Monsters!” A Hylain soldier called out from the watchtower, “Lots of them!” He informed them all as he grabbed an arrow out of the quiver and knocked his bowstring back. This made the sages run to the edge of the wall and look over at where the man was pointing, and indeed an army of monsters was coming right at them. Monsters of all shapes, sizes, and colors. The small bokoblins, little monsters with pig-like faces, reached their base and immediately started whacking the wooden walls with their clubs and tossing rocks up at the soldiers on the guard towers. The soldiers guarding the four entrances to the landing barely had time to shut the gates, soldiers having to stab monsters with spears just to make sure they didn’t get through. It was like the monsters had appeared right on top of them. There was no way all the people at the landing would have missed this many monsters!
“He must have summoned them.” Purah said, walking back, “Protect the landing but don’t let yourselves get hurt. This is just the beginning of the final battle!” She announced.
“Ritos!” A green Rito man said, his wings in the air, “Time to attack!” The man said, his brown leather cap with a white and brown striped feather on it showed he was a captain. “To the air, protect the landing!” He said before flapping his wings and flying up in the air, a dozen Ritos of different colors followed him. As they circled the landing they shot down arrows on the hoard of monsters, looking like a rainbow raining arrows down on their enemies. They held their bows in their talons, pulling the strings back with their beaks, and letting go to watch the arrows fly through the air. Which worked as enemies started to fall as the deadly rain met their marks making the monster fall as their skin turned black before they disappeared in a small puff of smoke. But sadly the monsters weren’t going down fast enough and soon the Moblins, tall lanky creatures with long trunk-like noses, grabbed the bokoblins and tossed them over the gate.
“Zoras, charge!” A high pitched voice said, their voice bubbling a bit as if they were underwater, the sound of weapons unsheathing following. And with a battle cry, the fish-like people rushed toward the monsters and slashed them with their silver swords and spears.
“This isn’t good.” Purah gasped seeing this, reaching behind her and pulling out a ray gun she had built, ready to start shooting, looking around and trying to think, putting her golden mask over her eyes. If the mask did anything special Tulin didn’t know but he wasn’t going to judge her for wanting to put some sort of armor on for this battle. The dark green gun was also big, almost the size of one of Tulin’s wings. It was a wonder how the tiny lady could even hold the gun much less than use it. “We need to clear a path for the Gorons, if they can get out that would turn the tide.” She said, sounding like the battle had been going on for hours instead of a couple of minutes. But things were looking pretty dire already, as there was an army of monsters surrounding the camp, which went past the moblins and bokoblins. There were lizalfos, large lizard-like creatures, shooting arrows at them, spitting large blobs of water, and even trying to jump up in the air to get over the wall. Weird blob creatures known as Chu-Chus also tried to hit the wall, but they were just blue blobs of jelly they just bounced harmlessly off the wall. Now if they had been the orange fire ones it would have been a bit more serious since they caught everything they touched on fire. But they were spared that fiery fate. “We just need to open the gates without the monsters entering, do you think we could manage that?” She asked, looking at the other sages.
“Don’t worry, leave it to me. Or I should say… us.” Riju said, getting a cheer from the other sages, Sidon even flashing a smile. But Tulin noticed that the Gerudo Chief had her eyes on him specifically, “How much can you carry, Tulin?” She asked him.
“What?” He asked before thinking, “I don’t know the exact weight, but I can carry something about my weight. Why?” He asked, watching the girl smirk a bit as she turned to Buliara.
“Buliara,” She said, making the warrior stand even straighter which Tulin didn’t think was possible since the lady was, “Help the Hylians open the gates when the time comes. I’ll trust you’ll know the sign. Once the gates are open you order the other soldiers as you see fit.” She said, “Tulin fly us in the air!” She instructed, “Then shoot an arrow at the enemies in front of the gates, I’ll take care of the rest. We’ll start at the north gate and go left from there.” She instructed.
“Wow, you’re bossy.” He said with an eye roll, but it was clear she had an actual plan past just ‘killing the monsters’. “Get ready.” He said as he flapped his wings and flew forward and grabbed the girl by the shoulders before flying up.
“We’ll help with the gates, goro,” Yunobo assured them as he and Sidon went to separate gates, teaming up with the Hylians and Gerudos, ready to quickly get the gates open. Gorons curled up in balls and ready to roll out.
“Get ready,” Tulin said, focusing as he spun and making another gust of wind appear under him and pushing him up, sending Riju's hair up in the air. As they got higher up in the air, to the point the enemies looked a lot smaller now. “Letting go… Now!” He said.
“Wait, what?” Riju asked, her eyes going wide as she felt the boy's talons let go of her. Maybe she didn’t think that part through, but Tuling did need his talons to hold his bow. So he cocked an arrow and let it go, sending it flying at the head of a moblin. Thankfully Riju was quick to recover from the shock of being let go and in her free fall she pulled out her two scimitars. The two long silver blades with golden handles were her chosen weapons and were how she channeled her powers. Narrowing her eyes she watched the arrow flying through the time seemingly slowing down for her. And as soon as the arrow hit the back of a moblin’s head she pointed her sword at the arrow. Feeling electricity coursing through her veins, making her eyes glow neon green, she flicked her wrist, and a bolt of lightning crashed down from the sky, striking the arrow. But the blast instantly vaporized six or seven enemies and sent a dozen flying.
Riju couldn’t hear anything, but she assumed that everyone understood that's what they were waiting for. As soon as she saw four Gorons roll out of the gate with Gerudo soldiers running after them, now that they had some room to move around they charged. Seeing this made Riju sigh, glad to see they made some progress.
“Hey, good job, Zappy!” Tulin cheered, swooping down and catching her.
“Thanks.” She said, raising an eyebrow at being called that. “Zappy?”
“Cuz you zapped them!” He said with a smile as he looked down at her as he got some more air so they could open the next gate.
“Makes sense I guess.” She muttered but squirmed a bit in her grasp, “Do not call me that. I am the chief of Gerudo. I do not get nicknames.”
“Then don’t zap stuff.” He said and let go of her again, making her epp as she flew up a few more feet before she started to free fall again. Like last time she watched the arrow fly and when it met its mark she aimed her sword again, sending another bolt of lightning. This time Sidon led the charge, following after the Gorons as they rolled out like boulders.
“Hey Feather-Head, how about a warning next time?” She asked as she was grabbed again.
“Sorry!” He apologized and looked ready to say something else, but he went wide, “Hold on!” He said, closing his wings and sending them straight down, making the girl let out a high-pitched scream not fitting of the brave ruler she was supposed to be. But before she could ask the boy what he was thinking a high-pitched scwaaa filled the air as four lime green scaly monsters with pink wings darted through the air.
“Oh great they can fly now,” Riju sighed seeing the monsters zipping through the air where they had been a few seconds ago. “We can’t let this stop us!” She said, looking up at Tulin who nodded his head as a new gust of wind pushed them forward.
“Kay, Zappy. I’m letting go now!” He said, giving her a warning and he let go of her and launched an arrow. Riju got her blades ready, but when she focused on where the arrow was flying she wasn’t paying attention to her surroundings. Meaning she didn’t see anything coming when it felt like she was slammed by a brick wall. With a thud one of the flying monsters slammed against her, sending the girl spiraling to the side. “Riju!” Tulin cried as he dove down, having to stop, spin, and zigzag as the other flying monsters tried to slam into him. Which slowed him down.
“Tulin!” Riju cried, her hands still holding onto her swords still as she had her hands extended forward as the ground started to get closer, and closer… and closer! The wind roared in her ears and stung her face as she saw the grass coming closer to her face and she could feel her heartbeat in her throat. Was this how this ended, taken down by some winged monster? She closed her eyes as the ground was a few feet in front of her she shielded her face with her hands, not wanting to look at the ground as her life ended there.
“I…. Gotcha!” Tulin cheered, swooping down, grabbing Riju by her foot, “Don’t get grounded yet Zappy!” He said as they flew up, though he did let go of her and grabbed her by her shoulders. “We still have to open those last two gates.” He said, looking down at her and giving her a wink.
“Yes, but with all these air-born creatures it’ll be impossible.” She said with a huff as she scanned the air, it only seemed like more and more monsters had filled the air. Giving them no opening to strike.
“Don’t worry, backups here,” Tulin said, pointing his head forward where the flock of Ritos that had started their counter-attack were getting close to them. And Tulin didn’t give the captain any time to ask any questions. “Clear the skies, we need a clear shot at the monsters on the ground in front of the gate.” He ordered, getting a head nod from the older Rito.
“You heard Tuiln!” The captain yelled, “Clear a way to the gates!” He ordered and drew his bowstring back and shot at one of the flying monsters, making it let out a high-pitched scream as it started to fall. The other Rito warriors followed his lead and started to shoot at the other monsters. When she saw the flying beast start to fall it made the girl's heart and spirits raise. But sadly her raised spirits didn’t stay that way for long. Sadly a dozen arrows being shot every few seconds wasn’t enough to clear out the sea of monsters blocking their view.
“Ok, plan B,” Tulin muttered, flying to the ground and dropping Riju off, not stopping as he did. “I’ll be right back, Zappy! Get ready for another thunder shock” He assured her as another gust of wind boosted him forward he went straight up into the air, soaring higher and higher until he disappeared into the white fluffy clouds. After a few seconds, the young Rito flew back down out of the clouds, heading straight down, using his wind ability to make himself go faster. Making it so the boy was nothing more than a white streak dashing through the air.
When he got to the place he almost hit the ground the boy pulled up, spinning like a top. Going so fast that Riju felt the wind starting to move toward him, and he must’ve still been using his powers to go even faster. And soon things started to fly toward him, sticks, rocks, and mushrooms all flew past Riju and towards Tulin. Even the Gerudo Chief had to brace herself as the wind started to suck her up. And soon the boy had created a tornado, and not a little whirlwind, but a full-sized tornado that reached fifteen stories high. Not only did the tornado suck up the random bits of trash from the area but also all the airborne monsters, the Rito warriors seemingly knowing to have gotten out of there. Even a few of the lighter grounded monsters got sucked up in it as well. Sliding out of his spin Tulin flew backward, he pushed the tornado towards the entrance they were trying to open, and pulled his bow back. When the tornado was close enough to the gate he let an arrow fly, landing near the bottom of the the gust of wind.
“Now!” Both of the younger sages said at the same time, Riju drawing her blades, pointing one at the arrow, and flicking her wrist. A bolt of lightning flew down the middle of the tornado, frying every monster in the tornado, and striking the arrow with a BOOM! Making the tornado vanish and all the monsters rain down in soot black bodies that vanished when they hit the ground.
“Yeah!” Tulin cheered as he flew next to Riju, landing and standing beside her, wobbling a bit. “Whew, that was cool. But I’m sure things aren’t going to stop spinning for next year.” He said, his eyes spinning in a circle.
“Don’t worry, I think I can handle the final gate,” She assured him, putting her hand on his shoulder to steady him, helping him to the ground. The Rito boy would be safe here away from the battle since all the monsters were either trying to get into the landing or were being preoccupied by the warriors slashing at them. “Just rest up, we have one more stop after this.” She said before dashing forward. Her blades bounced off the ground as she ran to the final gate, making her way toward the monsters. “HEYA!” She cried, thrusting a blade into a bokoblin’s back, pushing up on it, and sending herself flying in the air, pulling her blade out of the monster as it started to crumble to dust. Jumping from one monster head to the next the little Gerudo leader quickly made her way to the front of the hoard of monsters. Then lifting one of her swords in the air, she shoved it down the head of the silver-colored moblin she landed on. Raising her other hand she smirked and snapped her fingers, making lighting crash down on the hilt of the sword. Making one more explosion, clearing out the monsters there, and also sending her flying backward. Maybe she didn’t think the plan all the way through, as hitting herself with lightning would not have been a plan she normally went with. But to be fair, in the moment it was probably the best way she could aim her lightning strike.
“Wow, that was really shocking!” Tulin said, swooping up and catching the girl by her arms.
“Is a year up already?” Riju groaned, slapping the side of her head as a nice riiiiiiiiing filled her ears. Smoke rose off her body and she had to pat a small blaze on her head out. But other than that she was ok.
“Yep, good morning. You’ve been asleep all this time.” He said, flying up as they watched the final gate open up. Unlike the other gates, the Gorons weren’t the first to exit the gate, but a beam of light shot out, making a small explosion as the light hit its target. Purah walked out with her gun smoking, she spun it in her fingers and looked up at the two, smiling as she gave them a peace sign. But it quickly disappeared as she watched them going high and further away from the landing. “You know, there are better places to take a nap than on the ground.” He continued with a chuckle.
“Whatever Feather-Head.” She said with an eye roll as he turned around and headed towards Hyrule Castle. “Let’s finish this.”
