LoZ: The Rift - Part Two

As I round the backside of the rift, I fully expect to come face to face with either the Other Me or Ganondorf himself. I'm slightly disappointed, but admittedly relieved, when it's neither. Just a handful of moblins trying to regain their balance. As I jump forward to cut them down, I realize why they're on their knees still and also where the rumbling is coming from. The air around the rift is vibrating violently, so much so that it's no longer porous.  As I bounce off of it, I note unhappily that it's neither weighing on me nor slicing me. Meaning this is a new thing. Great.

Staggering to my feet, I watch as more moblins claw their way through the rift. But I can't get to them. One finally manages to gain its feet and stumbles forward. When it reaches the edge of the shaking air, which I notice is also where the dead grass ends, it can't seem to move forward anymore. Well alright, so they can't get to me either. I guess that's fair.

I feel a hand on my shoulder and turn to find Zelda standing next to me. Oddly enough she's wearing the same face she gets when she talks about the Zoras and the Gorons. I look back at the moblins, some of which have stopped struggling to stand and are just laying on the ground. Her pity seems to be directed at them.

"Are they… dying?" the Captain shouts over the noise.

"I think so!" Zelda shouts back. "Ganondorf must be sacrificing them to further open the rift!"

Oh. That makes sense. He would do that. Good thing I had the presence of mind to get the hell away from it. But as I look back at the hole, and feel the headache race down my spine all the way to the balls of my feet, I notice that the dying monsters don't seem to be making it any bigger. If anything, it looks more unstable, but I can't tell if that's just the air around it or the thing itself.

The last moblin finally collapses onto the pile and the shaking subsides somewhat. But the air still hums and the pounding in my skull and joints is worse than ever.

"Well, that's that then," I say and start back towards the castle. I don't even make it a step when one of my knees gives out and I stumble forward. Zelda's there, trying to help me up, but I notice she's not looking much better.

Several pairs of hands help both us back inside. The healers appear and fuss over us for a bit but they can't seem to figure out what's wrong with us.

Finally, Zelda waves them away. "There's nothing you can do. We're just dying, that's all." She says it so matter of factly.

"But why you, your Majesty? Why is it affecting you so much?" one of them asks helplessly. Zelda just shrugs.

"Because we've gotten the closest to it," I respond. "I mean, for Din's sake, I stuck my face in it yesterday." Knowing that doesn't seem to make them feel any better about not being able to help their Queen.

Zelda sags into me. "How do we stop this?" she asks. I feel like it's a rhetorical question. If she doesn't know, how am I suppose to? But she looks up at me with tired eyes, waiting for an answer.

"Sorry, I'm all answered out. Come back in an hour," I respond wearily.

As we sit in one of the oversized, plush chairs in the entrance hall, I realize I've never really sat in them before. And whether because I ache all over or because Zelda's squished into it next to me, I decide it's the most comfortable chair in the world.

Since it's clear we're not moving, for awhile anyway, the Captain makes the executive decision to have lunch. He does his thing where he orders people around, which mostly just culminates in a rotation of guards at the entrance. I watch without really watching. Food's brought to us. More stale bread and cheese. Distantly, I wonder what happened to my servants. Hopefully they were evacuated.

Then there's more rumbling. The Captain orders some men outside to keep an eye on it. They probably hesitated for a bit, because over the rumbling I think I can hear him yelling at them.

As I eat, I feel slightly rejuvenated. Which is good, because we can't just sit here. We have to do something. "Hey." I nudge Zelda.

"Hmm?" She sounds like she was sleeping.

"Why don't we fight fire with fire?"

"What?" she asks, sitting up and rubbing her face. "How would being near the rift when the moblins come through help?"

"Huh? No. I mean using magic," I reply. She stares blankly at me. I don't think her nap did her as much good as my food did, so I hand her some bread. "We need to cut off the rift's life supply somehow. And the only way I see to do that is to cast a spell of our own on it. Maybe reverse it so it feeds from the other side?" I start to just think out loud as Zelda nibbles on her bread. "Or maybe kill everything close to it on this side and seal the area off. Block up the front of it so there's no where for the moblins to land when they come through."

"I thought of that, blocking it up," she says. Of course she did. "But I didn't think that would work, especially not after witnessing the air move like that. There's no telling what it could do to a stone wall over time. Forget building it in the first place. But turning it inside out? That's not a bad idea. Then again I don't think either of us has enough strength to oppose Ganon on such an intimate level. You know he'd fight back."

"So we do it together."

She purses her lips at me. "I meant together we wouldn't have the strength. We're dying, remember?"

Suddenly the rumbling stops. At least I think it does. It's hard to tell, there's still so much sound coming from outside. But it feels like the ground's quit shaking. I help Zelda up and we wander towards the entrance. The guards didn't come back.

The first thing I notice when I step outside is that my aches increase tenfold. Then I see the rift. Even not having been out here to witness it, it's easy to tell it has grown twice the size. The ground underneath it has started to deteriorate into nothingness. The remains of the monsters have mostly disappeared, probably absorbed by the hole when it expanded. There's only bits of them left, a hand here, a leg there. The deep humming is now definitely coming from the rift itself. We help each other over to where the guards have congregated. At least they're okay.

As we push our way into the circle, Zelda starts to ask what happened. But she doesn't even get a word out. In the middle of the men lies a woman with flaming red hair and very brown skin, like she's spent too much time in the sun. Her wild eyes lock on me the instant I see her. Something about her cold stare roots me to the spot. But her breathing is ragged. She looks far worse than me and Zelda.

"They came out of the rift," Balik explains.

"They?" I choke out. She's still staring at me, unblinkingly, like I'm the sole cause of her suffering.

"Yes, there were others. But they… didn't survive. We managed to pull her out before it ended. I don't think she's going to last long though."

"She's Gerudo!" Zelda breathes next to me.

Her statement tickles something in my memory. "…King of the Gerudo. But wouldn't that make her one of Ganon's people?"

Zelda nods. "Yes, I suppose so. But it's said his people were completely destroyed in the First War."

"Well obviously not." But that does explain why she's staring at me like that. Somehow she recognizes me as the Hero of Time, her mortal enemy. Then something clicks into place in my brain. "Wait. Ganondorf pushed those moblins through, effectively killing them. But that didn't expand the rift. Now he sacrifices his own people and for some reason it does work?"

Zelda leans down and gently brushes a stray hair out of the woman's face, earning her the privilege to be stared at next. The Gerudo starts to move her mouth up and down, like she's trying to talk, but no sound comes out. Zelda hushes her by putting her fingers to the woman's lips. "I think the life force of the moblins is no different than the black magic he used to create the rift. After all they're just monsters, created by Ganondorf. But the Gerudo are real people, he was born to them. Well … I think. Weren't they all women?" She scrunches up her face as she tries to remember.

That's ancient lore, what happened before the First War. Before Ganondorf had touched the Triforce, back when he was just a man. I've scarcely heard bits and pieces of it from Zelda herself. Only the royal family is allowed to touch the decaying scrolls that tell the story. But there's not much left for her to read. She admitted to me once most of what she 'knows' is only guesswork paired with what little is left and a few tales that have been passed down verbally through the ages. Hardly much to go on.

As we watch, the Gerudo's breaths become more ragged, coming in short gasps. She starts moving her mouth again, locking her gaze to mine.

Help them, she mouths at me. And then she stops moving all together.

---

I try several times to assist in burying the Gerudo woman. But every time the guards shoo me away, kindly reminding me that I shouldn't overexert myself as I've had the most exposure to the rift. But it's plain to see that it's starting to take a toll on them too.

After about the fifth attempt, I give up and return to where Zelda sits in the entrance hall. As I approach I'm surprised that I can hear her seriously discussing something with someone. Two someones. She usually only does that with me. As I round the corner, one looks like Balik. Then my surprise turns to distress when I see the other is Fado. Why didn't he leave?

"Oh! There you are." Zelda beckons me. But she doesn't make eye contact. "Come, we have things to discuss." She pats the chair next to her.

As I sit down, I catch Fado's eye. He grimaces, since he obviously knows what's coming. "I thought I ordered you to leave with the rest of the household. What are you still doing here?"

"I'm doing my duty, Sir," he answers.

"Yes, and he's been most helpful," Zelda says cheerily. It seems a bit forced. But despite my misgivings, I guess if he's somehow helped her to come up with a solution there's no way I can punish him for disobeying me. Not that I would anyway.

I settle back into the chair. "Oh? So what's up?"

"Well, I took what you said about magic and kind of ran with it," Zelda starts. There's no way Fado and Balik know anything about magic. I barely understand it myself. "And I think we've come up with a… plan of sorts." She sounds like me when I come up with a plan. That is I'm seriously grasping at straws, if I'm even thinking ahead that far. This isn't going to be good. "But you're not going to like it."

I grunt in reply. Figured as much. "Well, lay it on me. What's this great plan?"

"You agree we have to do something. Ganondorf must have other Gerudo he plans to sacrifice." I think back to what the woman was trying to tell me. This seems like the only logical explanation. But leaving them in his clutches when he's so obviously abusing them doesn't seem much like help to me. The reason she couldn't talk had nothing to do with her near death state. She had no tongue. "And we have no way of knowing how many or how few he needs to finish the rift. So we need to plug it up, now, like you said. The only problem is, we don't have the strength to do so. And Nayru knows we're not going to go pass through it and fight him on his own terms."

"Yea, I know. We've been over this," I say impatiently.

Balik chimes in. "So you need help. Other mages."

"And that's where we come in, Master Link," Fado adds. "Because we're, um… well we're Sheikah." He pauses, looking guilty. "T-That's why I was chosen by her Majesty to watch over you."

Before my brain can even move on to the fact that Zelda may have lied to me, I'm stuck on the image of him getting lost repeatedly in the woods. Fado? A Sheikhan? This does not compute.

Zelda watches me for a moment, trying to gauge how I'll react. When I remain stone-faced, she launches on. "Anyway, as Sheikah they have a rudimentary understanding of magic, even if they can't wield it themselves. Not being Triforce Bearers and all. So the plan is to gather as many Sheikah as we can in the next few hours and then give them the ability to wield magic. Together I'm sure we'll triumph over Ganondorf, just like in the old days when there were sages still."

But I don't really hear her. I'm too absorbed in my own thoughts.

Fado didn't misunderstand Zelda's orders. I did. And as much as I'm trying not to let it do so, because there isn't time for this, I'm wounded. There are never secrets between us. None. I told Zelda from square one I loved her and I was going to marry her. And she told me no, that I couldn't be the Hero of Time and the King of Hyrule at the same time. She didn't hide it from me that she'd already picked a king. And he wasn't me.

But she kept me in the loop. She told me about every little thing that happened. I was practically the first to know everything. I even knew before he did that Zelda was pregnant with his child. She apparently didn't keep any secrets about us from him either. Not even when he was laying on his death bed and could have probably died happier had he not known. But he deserved to, so she told him.

Maybe that's when the secrets started. Whenever I would visit after that, she'd send her son away. She didn't want him to know how close we were. Since I could never be the boy's father, she didn't want to confuse him I suppose. He'd been so young when his real father had died, after all.

But she never lied to me. At least I thought not. How many other secrets has she kept from me? In the grand scheme of things, my pride is of little importance. Fado secretly being my own insanely talented bodyguard isn't of much consequence.

When I come back from my thoughts, they're all staring at me.

But then, as if she can read my mind, Zelda answers my unspoken questions. "There aren't any others. Just this. I was weary after… after everything. I didn't want to fight you on it. But I couldn't lose you too. No, I especially couldn't lose you. It allowed me to move on, to know you would always be safe."

We stare into each other's eyes. She's telling the truth. I need to let this go. She's probably right anyway. But I don't think I can. So I bury it deep inside. Not now. There's no time. Ganondorf comes first. Then I can get mad at her. And we can yell and scream and refuse to see things from the other's point of view. Finally she'll shut me out of her life until I'm begging for her let me back in.

I break our gaze and look back at Fado. He shifts nervously from foot to foot. "So… what was this plan again?" I ask, trying to get my brain back on track.

Zelda leans back and releases a relieved, if troubled, sigh.

"We gather all the Sheikah we can, give them the skill of magic, and close the rift," Balik answers simply. He seems unfazed by all the drama.

"Oh." It's hard to concentrate. I have to mull over his words for a few moments. When I finally comprehend what he just said, I think I must have heard wrong. "Wait, what? 'Give them the skill of magic'? What is that suppose to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounds like," Zelda states. "All trained Sheikah have a basic understanding of magic, to enable them to effectively fight it. So I'm going to fill in their gaps of knowledge for them."

She seems determined to confuse me today. "What! In a single afternoon? Has my house suddenly become the one and only Magical Training for Sheikhans: A Crash Course?" I pause for a second. "I don't have to attend, do I? Can I sleep through it?"

But Zelda's just dropped her head into her hands, like she always does when I'm purposefully being difficult. "Ugh, no Link," she says through her hands. "Remember what I said? We can use magic because we hold the Triforce."

She patiently waits for me to put two and two together, but for some reason I'm refusing think it through, refusing to cooperate. And for some reason, she won't just tell me.

Footsteps echo in the hall. A guard appears at my shoulder. "They're beginning to arrive, your Majesty."

"Direct them to the rear gardens." Without a word to me, she rises and retreats into my castle.

I glare after her. I shouldn't be this angry. She just wanted a safety net for me. To help me. Din, I'm almost as bad at burying things as letting them go.

---

It takes less than three hours for all the local Sheikah to gather at my castle. In that time, Ganondorf has twice more sent through a handful of Gerudo women. I haven't gone near the rift since it first expanded. I can only imagine how ridiculously large it must be now.

So I focus on the scene unfolding before me. From my vantage point, hanging out my bedroom window, I can see that you'd never be able to tell these people are Sheikah. Most of them are so plain. Not even half of them bear the distinctive red eyes, Fado and Balik among those.

Since Zelda left me to stew, I haven't said a word to her. I haven't even been in her company for more than five minutes. She's busy doing her thing anyway. When Fado brought me dinner, he was fidgeting so badly I thought he was going to break his own wrists. He thinks I'm being childish. Maybe I am. I sent him away.

As the last of those that were called assemble, I can see Zelda's getting nervous. I refuse to allow myself to care, settling instead on curiosity. How exactly is she going to teach 50 people in an afternoon to wield magic when she couldn't teach me after three years? And I've technically got the gift. The people fall silent as she moves to stand on an upturned crate.

Unexpectedly, Zelda looks up, directly at me. I didn't realize she knew where I was. The Sheikah begin to whisper amongst themselves and slowly turn to look up as well, to see what it is their Queen is staring at. Uncomfortable under their questioning gazes, I retreat from the window.

There's a knock at my door. "M-master Link?" It's Fado. I really don't want to talk to him. I remain silent, hoping he'll just go away. He waits a few moments and then continues. "Queen Zelda requests your presence in the gardens."

Then why doesn't she come get me herself? And then I realize why I'm so mad. This actually has nothing to do with Fado. Well it does, in that Zelda bothered to go behind my back to protect me. But the real center of this, the real stab in the back, is that she needed me enough to lie to me. But she never told me she needed me. In fact, she kind of tossed me aside. She married some deadbeat as far as I was concerned. That should have been me. The kid spending a pleasant afternoon in Kakariko should be my son. Zelda did what she had to do for her people, for herself. But not for me, never for me.

"Please? She says she can't do this without you." No of course she can't. But did she ever consider the things I couldn't do without her?

I rack my brain, trying to assemble a list. But it comes up woefully short. In fact, it's not really a list so much as a single thing. Happiness. I'm never really happy unless I'm near her. But so often I go for weeks at a time without even so much as a peep from her. It's like… running up and down a flight a stairs, chasing a feather caught in the breeze. You can only do it for so long before it's ground so much of you away there's hardly anything left.

"Sir? Are you… even in there?" Just shove off already.

"Maybe he died." It's the Captain.

"That's not funny." A voice I don't recognize.

"I didn't mean it to be." A pause. "Link if you don't open this door I'm going to assume you're rolling on the rug in the throws of death. And I'm going to kick the door in."

Oh for crying out loud. I cross the room, unbolt the door, and jerk it open, wearing my best glare. The Captain returns a scowl of his own. Then he's pushing me backwards into the room, shutting the others out.

"What do you want?" I ask testily, shaking him off of me.

"I want you to get your sorry ass downstairs and support the woman you love." I turn and stump away from him, resisting the urge to plant my fist in his face. I can't believe I'm hearing this from him. "I don't care what it is that happened between you two, there just isn't time for it. At any moment Ganondorf could finish that portal and walk through it. And I don't have to be a doctor to know you're not fit to battle him. That cannot be allowed to happen."

I pivot back to glare at him. "Well it's not like I'm stopping her. She knows what she's doing, she can go ahead and do it. Without me. Like she always does."

The scowl drops from his face. "Is that what this is about? You're jealous of a dead man?" His clear grasp of the situation momentarily jars me from my rage. "You should count yourself lucky that she even returns your sentiments. That she relies on you so heavily."

"What?" I sputter.

"She will always do what's best for the people. That's just who she is. No matter how mad you get, or how hurt, she can't change herself." He cocks his head sideways and regards me critically. "I've come to terms with it, why can't you?"

He's come to terms with… I step back and really see him for the first time. Just a man. Fiercely loyal to his Queen. Ensuring that all the Hylian Guard remains so as well. But who cracks the whip over him? Certainly not Zelda. She hardly says two words to him a day under normal circumstances.

He continues to study me. "You've got it good, Link. She honestly loves you. She can't help it if she doesn't know how to care for you. Count your blessings instead of your bruises. You'll be much happier at the end of the day, I promise."

I can feel the fight being leeched right out of me. It's true, despite everything we've been through, our love for one another has never wavered. Which is more than I can say for her late husband. When I glance back at the Captain, I realize he loves her too. But she only acknowledges his existence as her Captain of the Guard, nothing more. Maybe he's right. I've known for a long time Zelda is incapable of giving her whole self to someone. But I've got all the best bits.

"Now get downstairs. She's waiting for you."

I try to stoke the rage in me that burned so hot a moment ago, but I can't find it. I feel like I've lost somehow. I want to go downstairs, to wrap her in my arms and protect her against whatever is troubling her so much. Which is probably me.

I grab my hat and ram it onto my head. "That's better," he says, and turns to lead the way.

As I stare at the back of his head, trying to figure out how it's possible that we're so similar and yet so different, I realize something. "Hey, I… I don't think I even know your name."

He ignores me for a moment. I imagine the scowl's twisting up his face again. "It's Clyde," he says finally. Captain Clyde. That has a nice ring to it.

---

When I approach Zelda's little crate, I can see she's analyzing me. Somewhere down inside of me I'm still mad at her. I'd managed to suppress it for years though, so what difference does another day make? And who knows, maybe we'll work it out like adults later. Well, probably not.

I stop in front of the box, not stepping up to join her. This little act doesn't go unnoticed. "So, what do you need me to do?" I ask a little more coldly than I intended.

"I need you to get up here and tell me I'm making the right decision." Her voice trembles, like she's been holding back a good cry. Damnit, I did that to her didn't I?

So I climb up next to her. When I do, I'm suddenly aware again of the Sheikah, staring at us. The way they're all lined up… reminds me of a wedding. "Don't tell me you're finally going to marry me?" I joke humorlessly.

She punches me lightly in the chest and then worms her way into my arms. "No. Worse." She swallows and looks up at me. The nervousness has returned and I get the feeling it has nothing to do with me.

"Link, I'm going to shatter the Triforce of Wisdom."

She might as well have just pushed me through the rift into Ganon's waiting claws. I don't understand how that could ever help us. My face must show this because the nervousness in hers has bloomed into something entirely new. I open my mouth to object, to say NO, ARE YOU OUT YOUR MIND?

But I stop. I think. She was trying to tell me this earlier, when I was all angry. What did she say? That we can use magic because we have the Triforce? But by destroying it… I'd be left to fend for myself. No I must be missing something here.

I focus on her face and try to calm myself. "And that would accomplish what, exactly?"

"Well hopefully it'll disperse itself into everyone gathered here." She gestures to the waiting Sheikah. I can't tell if they're eager or anxious. "With their pooled strength we should be able to force the rift closed."

"'Hopefully'?"

"I really don't know. But I don't see any other way out of this." She buries her face in my chest again. "Is it… the right thing to do?"

She relies on you so heavily. Man, Clyde wasn't kidding. I look over the sea of faces. There's Fado and Balik right at the front. Both of them are definitely eager.

I weigh our options.

If Zelda's wrong and the Triforce just disappears, we're screwed. There will be no coming back from that. There's no point in wondering if in a hundred years it'll reappear because Ganondorf will have won. I won't stand a chance against him in combat, not when I've lost so much strength to the rift already and Zelda will literally be completely helpless.

On the other hand, if Zel's right and we suddenly have 50 willing and able mages, there's a seriously good chance we'll plug up that hole for good. But then what? I doubt we'd be able to stick the Triforce of Wisdom back together.

Well considering the alternative is eternal slavery, it's a chance I'm willing to take.

"Yes. Do it."

Slowly she unravels herself from me and faces the crowd. Holding her hands out in front of her, she calls the Triforce of Wisdom into a visible state. I didn't know you could do that. Focusing her entire body, she seems to press into it without actually touching it.

For a moment, nothing happens. Then like the shattering of glass, the Triforce of Wisdom explodes in a delicate shower of blue twinkling lights. It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. They hang in the air for a split second and then fade into nothingness.

Suddenly Zelda's collapsing into my arms. She's completely still. This was not something I considered. Instant death. I am not ready for this. I panic, pulling her down from the crate with me to lay her on the ground. I barely notice the score of people that gather around us as I try to pump life back into her still form.

This can't be happening. I didn't even get the chance to apologize. No, Farore please!

And then she's gasping underneath me, trying to catch her breath. I scoop her up and hug her to me, not realizing that it probably doesn't help her at all. She weakly pushes against me until I let her go so she can breath.

"Did it… did it work?" she gasps.

In answer Balik squats down next to her. In his hand he holds a small blue flame. It casts a faint glow onto Zelda, illuminating her with life. Now that is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. I brush him aside and scoop her again, smothering her with kisses.

"Ahem." Captain Clyde's standing over us. "Don't you have to go save the world or something?"

Oh alright. Still holding her tightly, I carry Zelda through my castle back out to the courtyard. The Sheikah silently follow, although the blue glow behind me continues to grow in intensity until all of them are probably holding a flame of their own. It seems fitting.

When I step into the light again, I have to set Zelda down. The drain from the rift is too much. I can barely walk on my own. Hands come forward to help us.

Zelda orders everyone into a circle around the rift. But even standing an arm's length apart, there aren't enough of us to completely surround it. Although there's plenty of space for us. The rift has demolished most of the outer wall and face of the castle. We've waited to long to do this. As I gaze around the circle, taking in their faces, I realize the Sheikah aren't the only ones standing to support us. Clyde's there, and his men.

And then more people start appearing. Farmers. Wanderers. Soldiers. Bandits. Just regular folk. Silently they take their place in the circle until there's easily over a hundred of us. I turn a questioning gaze to Zelda. "I guess the Triforce touched more than just the Sheikah," she answers. "It looks like everyone in about a mile's radius around here was-"

Rumbling. The ground and the air shake violently. I can't hear anything anymore, the rift is so loud. I lock hands with Zelda on my left and Fado on my right, to steady myself as much as anything. Around the circle, everyone does the same.

As I focus all of my attention on the rift, I realize that I get magic. It's not a struggle. It makes complete sense, as easy as breathing. Time to close this hell hole. The rumbling continues. Through the rift I can clearly see an enraged Ganondorf. It looks like he was preparing to step through. Whelp, no time like the present to fix the fabric of the world. I bend all of my thought towards one goal: shutting him out.

I can't help but yell in excitement a little when the rift begins to shrink. But the trembling of the ground increases. There's a roar in my ears that wasn't there before. I recognize a crushing darkness bearing down on me. He must be fighting back. The shrinking slows down, but it continues. We're beating him back!

And then I can't stand anymore, but not because of the pressure or the shaking. It takes all of my concentration to ignore my body as it screams in pain. Zelda's down beside me, struggling to remain even kneeling. The glow of life is gone, she looks absolutely ghastly. I know I must look the same.

To open the rift, Ganon murdered. To close the rift, we must die. It's as simple as that.

I squeeze Zelda's hand, getting her to look at me. I'm sorry, I mouth at her. For everything.

She squeezes back. Me too.

---

The bandit boy ambled around the edge of Castle Town, having been released after the Queen departed. At first he'd wandered aimlessly, just taking in the sites. It'd been years since he'd set foot here. By next morning, he was making good on his heritage. He'd stolen all three of his meals and even a gold necklace. Of course, the shopkeep had noticed and set the guards on him. But he was too fast for 'em.

Now he was eyeing a similar stand, littered with small jewels. They looked cheap, probably fakes. But the merchant was an old man and wouldn't even notice. He waited until a woman approached and started to chat up it up before sliding up next to the table. He reached out slowly, so as to not catch the geezer's attention.

Suddenly there was yelling and people were running. The boy grabbed the biggest gem there and melted into the crowd, lost in his excitement. But as he was jostled along, he became distracted, wondering where everyone was going in such a hurry.

Then the crowd halted at the edge of town, on a hillside facing north, and he got his first look at what those taller had seen from the streets.

They sky was black and billowing. It was like no storm he'd ever seen. It seemed to be gathering over a castle set in the fields. Hero's Castle. Even from here, he could hear the roaring. And then all at once, it stopped. The darkness was contained completely above the castle. Not a sound, not a stir.

And as the people watched, it exploded. Sweeping over the fields towards them came a terrible force, knocking everyone to the ground. Chaos ensued. People scrambling to find loved ones. Soldiers pounding down the road, towards the castle. Dogs howling.

When the boy finally escaped the disorder, taking refuge behind a house, he ventured a look back north. Rubble from the castle stretched for at least a mile around the crumbling walls. But that's all there was within that mile. No plants. No animals. Not even the withered stubble of grass.

Just death.