Legend of Zelda: The Templar Crusade reboot IC

[Colonel Caboose]

ALWAYS OPEN

MAP:

What is Time? A measurement, a concept, or simply nothing? Demoko had pondered this many times before, always questioning his very existence. Demoko had been created before Time even existed, when Hyrule was created along with the world it was flawed, missing a certain aspect to it. Time was what it was missing, but certainly to make such a thing as powerful as Time, there would need to be a watcher, a guardian over its powers. As the purest and most righteous being, Demoko was given ownership over Time. More like cursed, Demoko thought to himself as he sat in the corner of the grotto dungeon and watched two fish swim around each other in the small pond. It had been a week since the heroes to be arrival at the Gerudo's Fortress, the men had been shoved into this pit of a dungeon to live and wallow in filth. Demoko was all machine, cogs and pistons nothing more. The filth bothered him little if it got on his hard outside shell of armor, just as long as it avoided his internal mechanics. Demoko and Sophos had their time meditation to speed up the process the patience game, but Kalama, Link, and Erid had to keep themselves occupied other ways. More male prisoners had been thrown into the pit like dungeon, there had been a few brawls with the other prisoners, but Demoko's group had their weapons still with a little help of his magic storage abilites, so the brawls died down rather quickly. Demoko wondered how Link was doing after being down here for so long without seeing Nayrin. Demoko hoped Nayrin and Aadab were alright, he couldn't sense Aadab for good reasons, but he sensed that Nayrin was at least alright and that made his oil pumping motor for a heart a little relaxed. Demoko could hear the Gerudos over head again, it was either meal time, or they were casting more prisoners into the pit.

[Mogtaki]

The days had droned on day after day after night after day, depending on whether the concept of night and day existed in this hell of a dungeon. This was supposed to be a short trip in and out, but now everyone had been stuck in the sewer of this forsaken complex known as the Gerudo Fortress, a sewer that holds the title for 'Sorry Excuse for a Dungeon'. It felt closer to death than it was made out to be, especially when there was men all around and even wildlife inside the place. This place was definitely the worst environment for a young 'hero' of sorts to be stuck in, unsure about the future and tormented by a power that was never going to be his own, no matter what Demoko might say. Link may had been the hero, but when it comes to situations that appeared to be an unending torment being stuck in a place like this, there was no way he could keep calm and see it through like the others probably could. There was multiple problems they had to face and being stuck in a dungeon was not something they should had been doing when others were potentially dying.

Link hadn't eaten much if at all in a place like this, the men in here acting like the starving dogs that the women saw them as. Everyone was practically a little play toy for these women and Link was pretty thankful that he was still not quite old enough to understand what these women did to the men they had captured when some disappeared for a while. Thoughts were beginning to feel drained as to whether they had been forgotten about or if the girls really were doing anything productive and not just getting into the pirate spirit the rest of the women up top had. It was stressful to know that Nayrin was up there potentially split up from Aadab, but even more so when it felt as if she had completely forgotten Link was down here all alone despite being surrounded by other people. It was a difficult thought to bare, but hardly anything compared to the other problems he was having to face that no other incarnation of him could had possibly needed to fight against.

The corruption Link had been suffering from was already fairly high when the pirates had captured them, but now it was beyond levels that should had been considered an emergency for his soul. His shadow magic was powerful and the Happy Mask Salesman had given him a great deal of control over it too, but corruption was something that was uncontrollable when he was so emotionally unstable. He had been warned not to let his emotions get the better of him, yet he blatantly ignored that on account of being stressed out over everything that was going to happen to him in the future; he was going to become a monster anyway, so there was no reason to fight against the inevitable.

Despite the corruption, Link's body had remained normal looking and so did his eyes remain their usual colour, nothing like the Fierce Deity that had been foretold that he would become. Link was looking as thin and as short as usual, although for a kid with tanned skin he was looking a little paler than what he normally appeared. Link hadn't taken part in any of the brawls that happened over the month, he had forced himself out of such events while keeping mostly to himself as he tried to fight the corruption. There wasn't many thoughts running through Link's head as he remained in the dungeon, only worries over Nayrin and his father, why the Gerudo had taken interest in him when he was first captured and who he is.

[mast3rlinkx]

Kalama sat not too far from Link, with his back against the wall. He had long since shifted his metabolism so he wouldn't have to eat as often, because what the Gerudo usually threw down wasn't the best quality food ever. However, he still had to eat at least once every couple of days to avoid severe discomfort. He looked up when there was a commotion heard from the surface. Must be feeding time. He'd have to stay out of this as best he could. Brawls often started over the food, and what brawls weren't over food were usually started with him getting ganged up on because of his draconic appearance. After a while, he gave up and just shifted to a human form. The brawls involving him were less common, but the smarter prisoners put two and two together and decided he was still the same person, and would try to beat on him again. These "brawls" often ended with several prisoners getting badly burned. But what brawls weren't started because of racial qualities he couldn't help he managed to stay out of.

Like Link, he was beginning to doubt whether their friends topside were doing anything useful. It had been a week, and still they had no news on their objective. Kalama was getting cramped in this smaller form, after being in it for two days already. At this point, he didn't care if his appearance started brawls. This was getting really uncomfortable. His appearance seemed to blur as he began the shifting process, and anyone that looked at him while it was happening would feel their eyes begin to ache slightly. After a moment, and a change from the fleshy color of human skin to a medium blue color, his appearance sharpened and took on definition. He'd returned to his original appearance, and he felt a lot better because of it. With a crack of his neck, he settled down and relaxed a lot more. Holding up a hand, he summoned a ball of flame and looked into it for a while before beginning to toss it up and down, trying to find some way to pass the time.

[Colonel Caboose]

Fiona watched as new recruits came in, the women and girls looked scared and confused. She watched as the men were seperated and sent off to the pit, "The Gerudos and their women superiority is sick and disgusting. The Templar Order is the only way to peace and harmony between all." She whispered under her breath. The women and the girls were forced to line up in front of Fiona, the older recruits were already in their barracks, they got the day off from training while she intergrated the new members. "Hello ladies and not gentlemen, I am Lady Fiona and I shall be your new commander and trainer for becoming part of the Women's Society that our lovely Gerudo caretakers have created for us, away from the abusive ways of men and their twisted behaviors." Fiona began to walk down the lines as she talked and babbled on about the Gerudo's and how they were loving and caring and going to make them all strong without the need of men. Some of the women and girls liked the sound of it, others were afraid, still attached to their loved ones who were going off to the pit, even more were undecided. "If any of you have special talents than I would suggest you speak them now, lest we find out later and a punishment will have to be given for disobedience. You are among friends ladies, there is no need to be afraid."

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Demoko watched as Kalama shifted back to normal, some of the other prisoners were getting riled up about it and moving towards Kalama. Demoko had let Kalama deal with them before, he needed practice targets for his fire magic, but Demoko was growing tired of their continuing pestering with his friend. Demoko threw a teleporter underneath the two moving towards Kalama, they fell through and came falling down from the ceiling and smashed into the hard rocky ground on the opposite side of the pit. The other prisoners looked to Demoko which had spoken very little since his arrival and only to the others, never anyone else. "Leave my friend alone, or else the next time you travel through one of my portals it will be into the empty void of a black hole. Not that your simple minds can even comprend what a black hole is." Demoko said not even lifting his head from the two fish circling around each other. It was also a bit on the aggresive side for even Demoko, but it just goes to show even those with the most patience struggle sometimes.

"You wouldn't be so tough without your magic powers wizard man." One of the prisoners said, but didn't dare make a move on Demoko.

"Without my powers I would be a man made of metal with robotic strength, and could surely crush your small bald head with one hand if I wanted to." The prisoner grumbled and went off to his corner trying to comprend what robotic strength even meant. Demoko was coming very close to making the decesion to pack up and head out, he could easily teleport everyone out of the pit and they could easily sneak out of the fortress with a little more wave of his hands, but he had to give it at least a couple more days. They couldn't assume Nayrin and Aadab had they easy part of the mission.

[Droneboy]

Alzan was standing somewhere in the prison. He was very angry with the gerudos. They took advantage of his kindness and locked him in this place. Not that he wasn't used to smelly caves. He was always wandering through abandoned parts of the city he comes from and the slums of it too, and those places were worse than this. But the one thing he had in here were the shadows. He had no trouble surviving here, for his magic was at it's best in caves, not only due to shadows, but due to the fact he was taught in a cave. He had started to explore some of the sewer, and had a good amount taken fro himself, what with the fact he could see in the dark due to his race, he took out all the lights in that area, and no one but he could operate and he also had his shadow magic to use illusions to scare the others away. He was good at hunting, and he had good hunting grounds that only he could use, so he was better off than most.

But because he was better off than most, he couldn't help but to think about why they would go all that way to just capture a male? all the way from here to Hyrule. They must really think males as savage beasts. In his society, the wedded male's word was law. The man said, the woman did. Most of the time, anyway. With his family, they believed the female is equal to the man in their own ways. He sighed, and started to walk around 'his' area. Started thinking about maybe sending more into darkness. He explores into the places that you could say are lighter, and soon he sees Link. He stops, and puts his hand in a way that would make it look like he had a sword. He approaches, and says "Hello? Might you, in any case, be friendly?"

[Mogtaki]

The men that Demoko had managed to clear away had completely passed Link's mind, all the violence that went on down here was so regular that Link had learned to ignore it and keep to himself. He hadn't received much bullying, it was a wonder that anybody had actually noticed him at all because of how small and strange looking he was in a green hat and tunic. He really had no need to show off his strength or to exercise his shadow abilities on nobody, there was no point on showing off to a bunch of guys who would probably want to challenge him seeing as how it was so unusual for a kid to have such strength and abilities; he did know that it took many years of training to master Shadow magic, but saying that they could easily mistake him for a Kokiri or something. Giving Demoko only a momentary look as if expecting him to take action and get them all out of here, he slowly looked away again when his hope was only met with the same disappointment that he had received throughout his long and difficult stay down in the dungeons.

Despite keeping to himself and his eyes largely off the strange number of men in such a strange place, it seemed Link couldn't actually avoid somebody finally wishing to confront him, despite how quiet he was being. At first he didn't even look to see who it was until he realised they were talking to him and proceeding to stand over him like they purposely were looking to engage him in casual talk. Looking up quickly at first before down again, he shifted his seated spot while looking oddly uncomfortable all of a sudden, "W-What...? Why you ask? I didn't ask...uhh, for violence..." he mumbled, sounding oddly jumbled and confused, "I'm not even supposed to be down here with these people...I-I was just dragged along so I'm...I-I'm not one of these violent people..."

At his worst, his mind would play tricks on him and he would see horrible shadowy monsters popping up and howling at him so for now he kept his eyes off this stranger. He thought if he stared at the floor for a reasonable length of time, none of these strange images would show their faces. They had been keeping him up for most of the nights spent here, they were making him rather tired and a little confused, especially when the last time he had seen them was when danger was near and they were in a tight corridor of a tunnel. He didn't know how to handle them at all, the only thing he knew that would keep them away was to avert his eyes and keep them focused on something that wasn't a person, especially when a lot of the men here appeared just as evil as the shadows he saw in his mind.

[Vaius Arkollos]

Erid leaned against one of the smoother walls of the cave, twirling a small flame between the first two fingers on his right hand as he used the light to inspect his left hand. Due to the chaotic nature of the brawls that often occurred down here, he had in one way or another ended up in quite a few of them, and his knuckles had begun to form calluses through his gloves. He had resorted to his fists as his primary weapon down here, for he found early that his pick-hammer was a good measure too slow to be effective against such a group, and Erid didn't feel the need to waste any of the ammunition of his rifle. Most of the brawls he partook in were over the occasional morsels of food the Gerudo dropped from the same hole they dropped new prisoners into. It seemed that though the number of prisoners that had been dropped in grew steadily, the amount of food they dropped down didn't change at all, and sometimes it seemed like it decreased. Putting his left glove back on, he slid down the wall until he was sitting, moving his gaze across what little he could see of the pit. Kalama seemed to have shifted back to his normal form, which in turn angered a few of the prisoners. Another brawl? Erid though to himself, sighing. The would-be-combatants were soon dispatched by Demoko, who teleported the two prisoners to the other side of the cave, where they landed with a satisfyingly audible crack. Erid smiled slightly, amused by the failed combat attempt of the prisoners. Another prisoner was quick to challenge Demoko's "toughness," though he was soon shut up by Demoko as well.


Turning towards the area Link sat in, it seemed he was still being his usual self. He hadn't done much but sit against the same wall in the month they had been captured, and had eaten little. Demoko had acted much the same way, though considering what he was that wasn't too surprising. He couldn't see Sophos from his viewpoint, though he was most likely either meditating or reading something out of the book that Demoko had gifted him. Remembering the gift he had received, he reached into one of the pouches on his belt, pulling out the crystal containing Din's Fire. It still looked the same way it did when Demoko had first given it to him, when any other crystal would have shattered or at least cracked while in the conditions this one had been though. The light from the flame Erid held shone unevenly and dimly through the crystal, and he placed it back into the pouch he stored it in. Looking around, it didn't seem like there was anyone in the vicinity that would have seen it, apart from those who already knew about it. Looking back to Link, it seemed that someone had approached him. The dim light made it difficult to make out the stranger's figure, though he didn't look too dangerous. Erid stood up again, leaning against the wall and watching in case anything happened.

[mast3rlinkx]

Kalama heard footsteps approaching, and knew what was happening before he even looked up. His shift had angered some prisoners. Weren't there other Shifters here that they could bother? Looking up, he saw a small group of prisoners approaching, with a violent look in their eyes. He stood, and enlarged the ball of flame he'd previously been tossing up and down. However, just as he was about to throw it, portals opened beneath two of them, and they were transported to the other side of the cave. They came out of the ceiling, and hit the ground with sickening thuds. Kalama, however, wasn't sickened, knowing he would have done much worse to them. The others backed down, except one challenged Demoko's toughness. Demoko was quick to reprimand him, and the prisoner backed down. Kalama relaxed and extinguished the ball of flame, giving a thankful nod to Demoko. Looking around, he noticed that Link had finally managed to attract attention down here, after laying surprisingly low the whole week. The whole time Kalama had known the Hero, he'd been getting himself in trouble a good bit. Hopefully this prisoner would prove to not be one of the violent ones, and his only crime being the state of masculinity. The young Shifter sat down once again, and closed his eyes, leaving them just open enough that he could see if any other prisoners wanted to try to get at him.

[Droneboy]

Alzan looked at Link, and says "I never said you asked for anything, I only asked if you were less violent than the others have seemed to be." He then says "I'm Alzan Kamarizo, May i ask as to who are?" He said, being careful with what he said. Link was much darker-skinned than Alzan, which said he was from either hyrule or terminia. He sighs, and leans against the wall, and says "You want some food? I could easily get some from those fools, they are weak, I could easily use the shadows to defeat them."

[Colonel Caboose]

"You will do no such thing Allornian." Demoko said rasing his head for once to look at the newcomer. He stood up and walked across the shallow part of the pond doing his best not to disturb the peaceful ecosystem taking place inside of it. Demoko then took a seat perpendicularto Link and leaned up against the wall. "These men are weak compared to some of us yes, but would we be any better than them if we resorted to violence to take what we wanted?" Demoko wanted to avoid all fights that were unnecessary with the other prisoners. Demoko had already watched enough brawls take place and he was getting very tired of them. "You have jouirneyed far from your homeland Alzan if I heard correctly? The lust for adventure? searching for your destiny? perhaps the promises of riches? Please stop me if I am getting too personal, it's just that it has been at least a couple thousand years since I have seen someone like you this far away from home." Something was obviously special about this man, Demoko had barely stirred for a week, the fact that he moved from his original spot was bound to raise questions. To the group Demoko's knowledge of their lives was nothing special, they knew he was the Sage of Time, and could see past one's past, and where one was headed. The newcomer might be a little started by Demoko's knowledge of his race existence, or how far he is away from home, or it might interest the newcomer, many possibilites Demoko saw taking place, but only one would actually happen.