World Tree MUSH

  The mysterious metallic man known as 'Thanatos-4' had requested that his payment for services rendered take a different form than a favour owed. He had requested knowledge, and so for that, he has been directed to a particular place on the outskirts of Hyrule. It's far enough away from both civilization and the twilight that they should be relatively safe, and undisturbed.

  It's late night, and moonlight gilds the canyons and gorges outside Kakariko Village in stark silver. Cold radiates up from the stones, and a cold breeze stirs what few tough, scrubby plants grow in the barrens.

  Under a broad arch of stone, there is a campfire burning; beside that is the same horse tied to a dead tree, picking at the dead grass. The familiar cloaked figure crouches in front of the campfire, absently bobbing something on the end of a stick, from which smoke rises. It smells like it might be some kind of nut toasting on the fire; a fragrant earthen, woody smoke.

  Her rapier, as well as her bow and quiver, are laid out beside her within easy reach. You never know, after all.

    Hyrule is not a land known for its technology, and that means Thanatos has learned several things. His ship and its transmat systems are not as effective as they should be. And he's going to need a better way to get around. 
    Thankfully, his Sparrow is still functional, and after transmatting that down from orbit, and a brief ride later, the warbling sound of anti-gravity repulsors approaches the stone arch that serves as the designated meeting point. The speeder bike decelerates and hovers to a stop a short distance away to leep from spooking the horse, and with a thumb he kills the engines, letting the Sparrow lower itself to the ground before dismounting. 
    The floating spheroid Ghost, Dis, is already free of Thanatos' coat before he even sets a boot on the dead grass and zips over for the Queen-Regent. 
    "Your highness! We're here! -I call you Your Highness, right? That's how it goes? I've never met a princess before, they don't exactly exist back at the Tower and-"
    And Thanatos gently wraps his fingers around the Ghost from behind, and stuffs her back into the folds of his coat. 
    Moonlight reflects, gleaming, off the Warlock's faceless helmet as he inclines his head. "Princess."

  Although Zelda has her hood drawn, she can still hear everything around her. She doesn't pick her head up at the strange sound of that foreign mchinery, but she does shift a little so she has a clear line of sight. If she has to, she can always flick a burning ember at the intruder. It wouldn't be expected, and it would also give her an opportunity to arm herself with one of her own weapons...

  Oh. It's just Thanatos and his chatty companion.

  The stick lowers slightly, turning to toast the other side of the nut speared on the end. Her head turns to regard the Exo and his Ghost. He might see a gleam of light reflected from an eye in the shadows of the hood.

  "Have a seat." The stick is waved at a fallen log not too far from it. Although it's halfway covered in moss, it isn't wet. Dis earns a bittersweet half-smile, revealed as she reaches up to sweep the hood back from her face. "While you are correct in the technical sense, I am no longer a princess."

  The stick is turned again, just in time to glance over and watch Thanatos stuff Dis back into the pocket from whence she came. One can almost imagine muffled chttering; the mental image brings a fleeting half-smile to her face. There's something almost charming about the outgoing... whatever she really is. A fairy is the closest analogue she can imagine.

  "Master Thanatos." Zelda inclines her head, politely and respectfully. The title she gives is one more of general respect than technicality. "You wished for information in the stead of material rewards, and so you shall have it."

  A hand is flicked in the direction of the closest border of twilight, which is still some miles away. "Although the records pertaining to that are now largely destroyed, I have always been something of a scholar, and perhaps I can remember whatever it is that you need to know."

  "I will not keep this information from you, but before I begin, I am obligated to warn you that this--" And here Zelda waves a hand in the direction of the nearest boundary, "--is extremely dangerous, as you saw last night."

    "Ooooh! Mean!"
    The Ghost's protest from inside the pocket is muffled, but she gets the basic idea. Thanatos lets her emerge, but she is CALMER when she does. "Ahem! I apologize, I must have gotten a little over-excited again." She says, and takes her appointed position of floating a lazy orbit around her Warlock.
    The fallen tree is regarded for just a beat, before the man lowers hims weight to sit on it once bidden. "I do want information." He confirms, helmet-clad head dipping in a nod before his attention is drawn to the Twilight.
    "A Guardian's life is never a stranger to danger. But I'll bear that in mind when I resume my investigation." Because he does intend to find out more, first hand if he has to. "So let us begin. That is Darkness. It's a form I've not seen before, but it's Darkness all the same."

  The Hylian regards the Ghost levelly for a moment, although she doesn't seem put off by the rampant curiosity. If anything, it must be amusing; the faintest hint of a smile flickers across her features. Her attention quickly returns to Thanatos when he speaks.

  "That much I believe; you handled yourself well last night." Zelda cocks a sapphire eye at the Exo to study him thoughtfully. If his physical appearance unsettles her, she's good at hiding it. "However, it is not you that I am overly concerned with. I do not believe you are in any overt danger. My people, however, are. I would not draw any unwanted attention on them from the Twilight King's quarter. My people are helpless against this threat."

  She seems to consider for a moment. Darkness? "That is not an inaccurate description. I was not aware the twilight was ever a malicious force, but there is an unmistakable taint to it. There is a hopelessness and an evil in it. My people are transformed wherever this darkness spreads, but they do not know that they have become as spirits. They cannot fight back against the twilight, and dwell in fear; fear of an unknown evil." Zelda sets her mouth in a thin line. "I am unaffected, but it does little good. I cannot challenge the Twilight King as I am now."

  She sighs and shakes her head, deftly shaking loose the roasted nuts from the branch onto a waiting piece of cloth. Those can be wrapped up for later. The rest of the stick she carefully uses to prod at the embers. "I am sorry. You did not come here to hear of Hyrule's troubles, but I'm afraid they are entwined with the Twilight Realm."

  "Are you familiar with the history of this place? I would not presume so," she adds, "but neither would I rule out the possibility that you have travelled through this place before, with this mingling of worlds."

    The ghost of a smile on Zelda's face earns a curious tilt of the ghost. Though Dis remains silent for the time being. Thanatos' head dips in a solemn nod. Avoid bringing harm and danger to the people. Do not draw the ATTENTION of the Twilight and its denizens upon them. He mulls it over. "I'll not bring any danger nor harm to your people. That would be against what I am. There will be no trace of my coming or going in my studies." He assures.
    But there. Tainted. Zelda says it. Not malicious by itself, but another force has taken the Twilight and twisted it to a much more sinister purpose. "And that's the Darkness I sense. The taint that stains it." Murmured as his helmet shifts angle- a clearly appraising look at the Queen-Regent. "But you do intend to fight back." The Warlock surmises.
    "Hyrule's troubles and the twilight are linked. I would be blind as a scholar if I ignored the bigger picture for scraps of knowledge."
    "It's a Guardian's duty to push back the Darkness when they can." Dis adds in, softly.
    Thanatos rests his elbows on his knees and prepares for the long haul. "I'm not familiar with the history of this world. Travelling beyond the reaches of my known universe has taught me many things, but there's always more. I'll listen if you'll tell."

  "We have an understanding, then. So long as your research does not draw the attention of the Twilight King to my scattered people, do as you will." Zelda pokes at the embers one last time with the stick, letting her eyes slip out of focus. That assessment probably includes 'making the twilight worse,' but he seems to have his priorities in the right place... if what he says is true.

  She prods at the embers and watches the fire leap high. "Something drives the Twilight King. I know not what, but I know that he is a coward and an opportunist; he is not clever enough by half to do what he has done. He has usurped not only Hyrule, but his own Twilight Realm as well; he is not its rightful ruler, and is not descended of its royal family."

  Thanatos asks whether she intends to fight back. She looks over to him, calmly, expression a lovely but cold mask of neutrality. "The usurper-king has murdered my family, put quite a number of my people to the proverbial sword, rendered what remains helpless, and put my citadel to the torch. I do not intend to let this lie until I have removed that /filth/ from my /throne/." There is an undertone of cold fire to her words; of anger carefully kept, fostered with a frightening clarity of purpose.

  She will visit Hyrule's fear and pain on him tenfold. It might not be the gentle or merciful thing to do, but after what's happened she's feeling neither gentle nor merciful.

  Zelda lowers her head, voice gentling. "A Guardian... I see. May I? Hyrule's history is closely interlinked with this spreading corruption. It is born of Hyrule's own past, after all. I will begin, naturally, at the very beginning..."

    It is, perhaps, the mention of this Twilight King that makes the Guardian and his Ghost share a glance. Though attentions quickly return to the Queen-Regent. Her intent is plain and simple. She will fight; they can see it as clear as day, hear it plain and pure in the ice of her voice.
    "Where we come from, there was one who sounds a lot like this Twilight King..." Dis whispers, eye glimmering before she emits a thin beam of white-blue light. Where it lands in the middle of the fire, a hologram rises. A horrible visage; chitinous and almost insectoid in nature, but the figure is humanoid nevertheless.
    "The Taken King. Oryx." Thanatos says.
    "Ancient enemy of the Light, and horrible usurper. Many Guardians and innocent people lost their lives fighting him, before a fireteam of six Guardians managed to put an end to his reign." The Ghost continues, before letting the hologram fade.
    The Warlock lightly pats at his knee. "It looks like our work is cut out for us already." The Exo mutters grimly before dipping his head. "Please, continue."

  The hologram earns immediate interest from the Hylian. She leans forward to stare into the flames, brows arching in clear surprise. Well, what have we here? What strange witchcraft is this, and how can she do that? The figure is studied intently, repulsive as it is; details filed away for later. If this taciturn stranger is telling her this, it must be important, and his candidness is taken in good faith.

  "So you are no stranger to betrayal, then. That is... not fortunate, but it does allow you to understand Hyrule's situation." Zelda leans back and considers for a moment. He bids her to continue, though, and she ducks her chin, eyes lingering on the leaping flames.

  "In the beginning, the three Golden Goddesses created the world. When they left, a relic was created at the point where they departed the land. This relic, the Triforce, the Power of Gold; it has the ability to grant the wish of whomsoever touches it, whether they be hero or villain; whether their intent is noble, or wicked." Zelda huddles into her robe. "For its power it was hidden in the Sacred Realm, but the hearts of men grew jealous. There were some who desired it for themselves, and wars were fought over the Power of Gold."

  "The Sacred Realm was invaded by a tribe of sorcerors, whom history names the Dark Interlopers. They possessed dark magic, which they used to devastate those who would stand in their path. But the gods would not suffer such evil to come to pass. They were not worthy of laying hands on the Power of Gold."

  Zelda takes up the stick again, poking at the base of the fire. "The four Spirits of Light shattered their power and banished them to the Twilight Realm. Time passed. The Dark Interlopers passed out of memory, and into history; from history, in time they became myth, but the royal family remembers." Her eyes hood. "This Twilight King is the descendant of these Dark Interlopers. So too are his people, but they have been peaceable up until now, unwilling to repeat the mistakes of their ancestors."

  "I have met the Twilight Princess. She is one of the two allies whom I seek... she understands that repeating history will only doom her people, and wishes for peace. The usurper-king, though... he is power-hungry. But he is also a coward, and not half as cunning as he styles himself. I believe something drives him, a nameless evil... but I cannot see it. That does not mean it is not there. Even you sense it," she adds, lifting her eyes to the Exo. "An outsider."

  Zelda lets her eyes slip out of focus. "The first order of business is to free the provinces from the twilight that binds them. I hear the entreaties of the Light Spirits, but they grow faint. The Twilight King's forces have robbed them of their light, and in so doing, cast Hyrule into twilight. It should not be malicious... in fact, the Twilight Realm is said to be quite peaceable. But there is a wrongness in this twilight."

  "It is driven by malice," she says, softly. "It does not care what it destroys in its passing; it wants only to spread and corrupt, because that is what is in the heart of the Twilight Realm's sovereign."

  "That is what we are facing. I have another truth." She looks up, regarding Thanatos in quiet sobriety, holding up her right hand to show him the back of it. "The reason why I am not affected by the twilight -- why I am not rendered a helpless spirit -- is because I bear the Triforce of Wisdom. The Triforce... it is not a singular entity. I suppose the Goddesses thought it safer that way."

  "It protects me from such effects, and grants me clarity of mind. The Triforce of Wisdom has been passed down, from queen to princess, since Hyrule's very founding. We of the royal line are descended of the Goddess Hylia... my blood is divine, and it grants me some protection from such effects. It is also why, if you are sensitive to the supernatural, that I must seem strange to those senses." Like a floodlight among candles, really. Her very presence practically screams, 'YES HELLO I AM DIVINITY AND/OR MAGICALLY ABSURDLY POTENT.' "It does not, however, make me invulnerable. But it does allow me to move freely through the twilight, which will be of considerable aid when the time comes to march upon my own castle."

    "It wasn't betrayal." The Ghost says gently. "Oryx was always of the Darkness." Dis states. But there are clear parallels anyway; at least from the Guarian and Ghost's point of view. But the pair fall silent and listen as the Queen-Regent begins to recount the tale of the land of Hyrule. Of invaders wielding dark power in hopes of forcibly and wrongfully claiming that of the light, and their subsequent banishment- and their descendants.
    "Mmh." Thanatos mutters; a hollow, throaty sound. It's a situation that strikes too close to home. Although the descendants of the Hive are still the Hive, and just as vicious, plotting and dark.
    "When the Traveler came, it brought the Light." He murmurs, as though reciting to himself, more than to the princess. But he's pulled from his own internal thoughts and back to the moment easily enough. It is clear, to him, that wrongness that twists the twilight is a result of Darkness- or some agent of Darkness using it for ill, but he draws another conclusion.
    "We are alike, then, you and I. Wielders of the Light, seeking to push back the veil of Darkness wherever it may be. Even from afar, I can feel it. You're like a beacon; radiant and bright."

  "So it was the Darkness all along." Zelda's observation is soft, and her eyes linger a moment on Dis, thoughtful. "The opposite is true in Hyrule. The light has been a part of it all along, and is woven into Hyrule's very essence. The goddesses made certain of that. However, this is the first time I have ever heard of Hyrule coming under the threat of the Twilight Realm."

  The stick is taken up and poked at the coals, sending a swirl of embers skyward. Light gleams from the delicate crown over her brow; flares in the facet of its central sapphire. She frowns, tilting her head and regarding Thanatos curiously. "Wielders of the Light?" One slim hand gestures toward the Exo, her expression puzzled. "What you were wielding certainly did not look it. It looked like darkness in your hand."

  "I will agree that our goals would appear to be the same." Those calm sapphire eyes settle on Thanatos again, unflinching at his mask-like helm. She has to wonder, though; is he made of metal? Stone? She's never seen someone like him before. His observation does earn a fleeting half-smile, vaguely bittersweet. "Then you feel the light of the Goddess Hylia. I carry her blood, as my mother did before me, and her mother before her; and so on and so forth. It is our proof of lineage as female descendants of the royal line... our legacy, within Hyrule. Our blood marks us as worthy bearers of the Triforce of Wisdom, and with that, we are obligated to rule our people wisely."

  Her expression falls, just a little. Such a calm face can also be such a sorrowful one. "Although, if I am honest, I do not feel very wise right now. This promises to be a difficult battle. We are not equipped to resist the twilight, and for all of his faults, the usurper is both cunning, and also desperate not to lose the power he has secured." One hand pokes the coals with the stick again; when the tip of the branch ignites, she tosses it into the fire. "We must free the Light Spirits if we are to have any prayer of victory."

    Thanatos upturns his palm. And from his hand the air ripples, shifting a dark purple as he summons a darkly pulsing surge of energy. It sits in his hand, placid and rippling visibly, dark mist wafting off of it like vapor from dry ice.
    "Void. Not Darkness." He says matter of factly. "That which is misunderstood is not always evil. Shadow is just as much an aspect of Light as is the bright and radiant. The nothingness between stars, the empty spaces between everything, there is Light there, too. Hidden. Waiting to be sought out. Waiting to grant a spark of its power to those that know how to find it. Light is in everything, everyone, and all Light is connected. We Voidwalkers would know that the most, always grasping for it in the dark places of the universe."
    He shakes his hand, dismissing the mote of pure Void. "You carry the Light of your goddess just as we carry the Light of the Traveler." Dis interjects. And the Warlock falls silent for a beat.
    When he does speak again that faceless helmet is squarely locked upon the princess, his gaze clearly locked upon her with a boring intensity that can be felt even through the visor. "You could very well be killed. Along with any who follow you in your task. Cut down, your Light fading away into nothing, and devoured by that very twilight. But if you're willing to risk that for land and your people then you're just as much a Guardian as I am. And you need a fireteam."
    "What Thanatos is trying to say in his special way is that he wants to help." Dis translates.

  Void, and not Darkness. The Hylian tilts her head, studying the orb above Thanatos' hand with obvious interest. This small piece of energy isn't nearly as ominous as the bolts he'd been flinging at the shadow beasts. Zelda leans closer to study it, and its inherent darkness swallows the firelight that should be reflecting from her eyes.

  "What a curious energy." She doesn't quite reach out to touch it. That would be unwise. She shakes her head, risking a quick glance back at Thanatos' face. "No, it does not feel like the corruption of twilight. I do not know what it feels like."

  It vanishes, and she blinks a few seconds, refocusing her eyes. It's hard to look at that stuff directly.

  "If I am cut down, it will be in service to my people." Zelda lifts her chin incrementally. There is some royal pride there, but more than that, there is determination. She is too proud to cower or to give up. "I am obligated to protect them, and I have failed them in that duty. I have let the twilight in by my own actions; it is my responsibility, then, to cast down the usurper and restore peace."

  She looks to Dis, somewhat owlishly, blinking slowly at the Ghost's explanation. Her eyes turn back to Thanatos. "I appreciate that, Master Thanatos." Zelda looks down, toward the fire. "I fear my list of allies is a short one, and Hyrule will have need of all the help it can come by."

  There's a brief pause.

  "But, um..." Her eyes flick back to the Exo. "What is a 'fireteam...?'"