Riku floated in the sky above the town square. It was the night of the Festival of the
Guardians. All the mortals were gathered
in the town square gorging themselves on food and drink. There was also dancing, there were prayer
slips to be offered to the statue, there were carnival games, there was just
about everything. Riku and seven other
Guardians were charged with watching over this festival, for as history has it,
monsters usually try to sneak in and attack the village, but the Guardians were
always there to make sure that the monsters never even set foot inside the
village. After they defeated all the
monsters, they generally would then go to the Guardian statue and collect the
great amounts of prayers within them.
Usually this night brought in a boatload of prayers, and it was always a
good step towards opening the door to the Golden Power. Riku was given this post because he was the
Guardian of the town. He was bored out
of his skull. The other Guardians were
chatting up about how it reminded them of the times that they did things like
this when they were alive. When anybody
would ask Riku what he remembered from these kinds of celebrations, he would
only respond by saying,
“Nothing I want to remember.” Of course,
everybody would ask him why he didn’t want to remember such a happy time and of
course, Riku told them to shut up and not talk about it. He grasped his sword hilt waiting for the
monsters to appear. Aqua was one of the
Guardians on patrol with him, and floated towards him. Placing her hand on his shoulder, she told
him,
“Battle is not the only path in life.
You need to remember what it was like to live to truly understand why we
do this.”
“What I remember from when I was alive, is not pleasant. I only had one joy in my life, and she is
already amongst the stars. When she left
this world, I wanted to die. And when I
died on the battlefield twenty mortal years later, I finally got my wish. However, I was dragged back into this dark
pathetic world rather than being reunited with the one I love.”
“You think the rest of us don’t feel that way Riku? I am waiting to be with my family again, but
this is the destiny that has been given to me.
I’m sure my family is proud, so that is why I am willing to wait. I am willing to push to make this place a
better world if it means that I can share it with my family.”
“How pathetic. You talk because you were
given a gift at birth. You were an
elf. You were gifted with a good
life. I was stuck with that of a
half-elf. You don’t know of the horrors
that I was born with. A child, born for
a life of nothing but slavery and servitude?
You have no idea, so save your pity.
I have had nothing but pain my whole life, and it was the greatest day
of my life when I finally died. But then
I was pulled back into servitude. To
protect this pathetic world of darkness.”
“What of your descendant down in Feather Falls you told me about? Isn’t he worth fighting for?”
“He still has to prove himself worthy of the legacy I left him.”
Link was sitting down at one of the many tables for the
great feast in the town square. He was a
nervous wreck. Malon said that she would
meet him around this general area and she still hadn’t shown up. He was contemplating heading back home, and
started to get up.
“Oh come on Link. You don’t have enough
patience. I mean, just because you guys
just put on a shirt and some pants and you are good to go doesn't meant that us
ladies feel the same way!” Link whirled
around and saw Malon in a flowing blue dress, with her hair flowing rather than
in her traditional hair knot, with the best shoes that her family had to
offer. Since her family were ranch folk,
she didn’t have the best of clothing compared to those who lived in the town
perhaps, but to Link, she made the goddesses wish that they shined with more
beauty. Link was at a loss for words,
and didn’t know what to do, but the band suddenly started a song, so Link did
the only thing he could think of doing, and he bowed, and it was a rather
clumsy bow. Malon smiled, then curtsied
and they began dancing around the band. Traditionally, bands would play on a stage
outside the dancing ring to allow for more space for the dances, but during
this particular festival, the band was in the very center to help project the
sound, and give the idea that the Guardians gave their help to all, and that it
went out in all directions. Link and
Malon danced around for about three songs, and then a slow song came up. Both felt slightly awkward about that kind of
dancing, so they both decided to get some food together and try out some of the
other festivities around town. After a
good solid hour of walking around, they sat down to watch some of the
performers do a stand-up comedy act.
After that was done, Link and Malon decided to take a break from it all
and have a snack. They then decided to talk
about several different things. They
joked about things from their childhood, some of the embarrassing things Link
did back when they were still in school, and some of the hilarious moments
where Malon would take bad falls off of Epona’s back and brush it off like it
was nothing and get right back on. They
were having a great time, but then Link asked,
“Say, have you heard from your father?”
Malon’s smile disappeared entirely from her face. Link began to kick himself because he had
forgotten why they didn’t bring up that subject in the first place. Malon’s father, Edward Lon, had left his
family and the ranch life behind when Malon just began schooling to sail on the
oceans of the world. He at first sailed
with a group of merchants in an attempt to bring in more revenue for his
family, but then his ship was attacked by the fearsome Star Pirates. However, rather than kill him, the pirates
took him in when he showed his great love for the sea and everything about
it. Since then, he had been the second
mate to the captain of the pirates, and disgraced his family’s name with the
many exploits that the pirates pulled off.
He would send back some of the loot they obtained back to his family in
order to help them financially, but they would always give it to the town
charity because they were ashamed about how the money was obtained.
“Crud, I’m sorry Malon. I forgot. I was just having a great time, and well, it
slipped my mind.”
“It’s fine Link. Let’s just go back to
what we were talking about before.” The
mood was not as bright as it was a second ago, but they managed to put it
behind them and move forward with their evening.
“…so you were one of the many families that wished to free
the slaves I see.”
“Well, yes. I mean, your story as the
first half-elf really intrigues me Riku.
But back then, we had human slaves we had captured from the wars. Other than that,”
“Master Aqua!” cried one of the few Guardians that were occupied with their
jobs. “Here they come!” As Riku looked up, he saw a whole horde of
monsters rushing towards the village.
“Larger group this year” said Aqua drawing her sword. “Usually only one or two monsters come down
from the mountains.”
“Finally,” said Riku as he drew his own sword, “the thrill of battle.” The Guardians dove down and began cutting
down the monsters right and left. It was
usually impossible for a Guardian to lose to simple minded monsters, but these
monsters seemed to know a bit more about fighting, for Aqua was struggling to
take down a monster that had gotten hold of a sword. Aqua was knocked off balance, but before the
monster could do any damage, a sword appeared in the head of the monster, and
he fell dead. Riku flew over to the
monster and took the sword out of the monsters head.
“I think we might need backup master.
I’ll fly back and bring back some more Guardians.”
“Okay Riku, that will work. We’ll hold
the fort here and… NO!” Riku looked over
to where Aqua was looking in fear. A
monster had broken through the lines and was about to get into the
village. Riku didn’t even give it second
thought. He flew straight towards the
monster, but realized he wasn’t going to get there in time before he got into
the town square.
Link was marveling at some of the new blacksmithed items
while Malon adored over some of the jewelry.
Suddenly, Link heard several screams coming from the town square. Screams were not common at Feather Falls,
especially on the night of the festival.
He looked back at the blacksmith’s table, and saw a new sword sharpened
and ready for battle. While there was no
real army for Galor, there were still weapons manufactured for travelers that
needed to go through the monster infested mountains. Link picked up the sword, and rushed to the
square. As he reached the square, he saw
a large monster with two big axes chopping up booths and just barely missing
people. Link decided that rather than
rush to his doom, he would play smart.
He grabbed an abandoned ladder in an alley, climbed up to the roof, and jumped
right over the head of the creature. He
placed the sword right in the forehead, causing the monster to die
instantly. The monster slowly fell to
the ground, and the people were dumbstruck.
Not because Link did a magnificent job of defeating the creature, but
that a monster managed to get into the town in the first place. Never before in the recorded history of Galor
had this ever happened to any village.
Malon rushed over to Link and embraced him. She was scared for him. Since things like this was rare, she didn’t
know what would happen. Link returned
the embrace, and then after they finished, Link walked over to the blacksmith
and said,
“Thank you for letting me use your sword on such short notice. I now return it to you.” The blacksmith took it, cleaned it, returned
it to its sheath, then held it forward to Link.
“It would honor me if you kept this sword young one.” Link was surprised, but accepted the
sword. Malon chuckled a little bit, and
Link as well back at her. Then the crowd
started laughing, and went back to business as usual. They all came together and helped rebuild the
broken booths and the band picked up their instruments again and decided to
play a slow song. Link and Malon were thinking
of just going to the Guardian statue and say their prayers then go home, but
the crowd pushed them into the dancing group, and they then got into a rhythm. As they danced for a while, Malon told Link,
“I thought I was going to lose you back there.
I guess you turned out just fine.”
“I was scared too Malon, but if I didn’t do anything, who would?” Malon giggled slightly when he said this.
“Same old Link. Always trying to be Mr.
Hero.” Link laughed a little bit at
that, and they continued dancing. As
time wore on, the music stopped and the magic missile light show began. The few who practiced in the magic arts in
Feather Falls would put on a light show every year to signify that it was time
for all the citizens to make their prayers to the Guardian statue then go home
for the night. The order of the prayers
were separated by family rather than everybody go up at once. When Link and his family got to the statue,
they all said their prayers and then began their walk home. On the way back, Link walked over to Malon
and wondered if she would like to hang out a bit more during his day off.
Riku and the Guardians had more prayers than what they knew
to do with. They flew back to the
Observatory and offered the prayers to the Goddess statue.
“Riku,” said Aqua, “You had a clear chance to destroy that monster when he was
in the square. Why did you hesitate?”
“I wanted to test his worth. I wanted to
see if he had the guts to fulfill my legacy.”
“A legacy of pain and hate? A legacy of
nothing but battle? There is more to
life than just that Riku. You need to
learn this.”
“How can I learn it? My whole life I
have been in servitude, fighting wars, and killing things. This has been my families legacy ever since
the dawn of the New Gods. I find it
pathetic that a descendant of mine is nothing more than a ranch boy, and only
knows how to feed horses. However, I do
see my blood in him. He showed it when
he killed the creature. Yes, maybe I
will watch him further and see what develops.”
“Hopefully, you won’t have to worry about it.
Look at the statue!” The statue
was glowing a dim green color. This was
a sign that it was almost time for the great doors to be opened. The path to the golden power was nearly
complete. Riku suddenly realized that
his servitude was almost over.
“Soon my beloved, soon.”
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