Chapter 9
Diablo
The sand storms were hovering above, grains of sanding bombarding Poder's body. He tried to keep low until the sand storms died down. His face was planted in the burning sand. The sun's rays had made the sand unbearably hot, but Poder was to endure the heat until it was safe to walk back to Castle Town. Hours passed, sand storms still raged on. Poder began to fall asleep, exhausted from the countless hours of laying face-first in the sand.
---
Day turned to night, and the scorching desert became frigid. Poder poked his head out of the sand to check if there were any more sand storms. A man in a dark cloak stood over Poder, his blood red eyes glowing eerily under his hood. He looked like a man of 23. His cloak suggested that he was perhaps a worshipper of the cult. His appearance was even more terrifying than Poder's, his blood-red eyes glued to Poder's.
"Hello, stranger," the cloaked man spoke in a smoky, monotoned voice.
Poder stood up and let out a yelp at the hundreds of redead that stood behind the man. The redeads all seemed dormant, their glaring red eyes were not upon Poder's. Ancient bandages were wrapped around some of the redeads' bodies. Each one held a black, demonic blade with the right arm, but all was silent. There were no traumatic moans coming from them. The eerie cries that came from the redeads were not present here.
"If you were wondering about my friends behind me, they are my loyal subjects. I am Diablo, King of Redeads," the man spoke in his raspy voice.
Something about Diablo's voice deeply disturbed Poder, and he, of course, was not a man easily daunted. As Poder looked closer at the redeads in the dark night, he noticed a few poes and stalfos among the crowd. Diablo seemed to command a massive army of the undead, perhaps an army that he could use to his advantage.
"Hello, Diablo. I am Poder, the leader of the cult," Poder replied.
"Ah, I have heard of your conquests. May I say that you're quite a man, Poder. I come from the Haunted Wastelands, further west of here. As I stated before, I control these redeads, poes and stalfos. They are my dear children, and I treat them like so. Perhaps... I may assist you?"
Poder smiled his sinister smile and nodded. This was just what he was waiting to hear. "Yes, you may. I will reward you well if you help me raise the great Ganon from the unholy abyss in which he is held."
Diablo remained still, his scary eyes and expressionless face glaring at Poder. He was rather chilling. Every time Poder looked straight into Diablo's cold eyes, it sent a chill down his spine. Diablo's face contorted with pain, his eyes screwing up. Poder stepped back, hoping nothing bad was happening to his newfound companion. Diablo fidgeted and spazzed uncontrollably, then remained still. His head ws bent down, then he raised his eyes until he made eye contact with Poder.
"What?!" Poder was completely disgusted by Diablo's horrific display.
"Nothing happened. There are souls in my body that are in constant agony, but I usually suppress it. I have devoured many souls, those who I have devoured will become part of my undead army. Sometimes the souls will try to break free, briefly controlling my body. No big deal," Diablo didn't seem to be concerned.
"Well, good..." Poder said, trying to stay silent afterwards.
The two did not speak for a while, but instead got lost in each other's eyes. Diablo was most interesting, his eyes were full of uncertainty and emptiness. Diablo sensed something deep in Poder's eyes, the feeling of suffering. Diablo closed his eyes, and Poder soon snapped out of his trance.
"Anyway, friend... I will show you to where my undead army resides," Diablo said. He began walking westward.
The desert seemed like it stretched endlessly, but finally a dark mist began to surround the area... Poder knew they were getting close. Out of the mist appeared thousands of redeads, all deactivated. Poder smiled, his grin widened more and more as he speculated the astounding number of redeads. He would put them to use very soon...
Chapter 10
Death in the Sacred Forest
Link journeyed southward into the unknown forest. The elders in the village always used to tell the children never to go into the forest, for the eye of the beholder may never see another sight again. The forest south of the village was strictly forbidden - no one knew what wonders and dangers awaited there. As he made his ascent up a large hill, he began to see a dark light poking out of the other side. He climbed and climbed and climbed until he stood atop the hill - and he couldn't believe his eyes. There lay a dark woods, consumed by evil. Redeads lurked around every corner, their sickening red eyes unmoving. Link shuttered and tried to shake off the fear. He slid down the other side of the hill and unsheathed his sword as his entered the dark forest. Immediately multiple redeads took notice of Link, each turning their horrific head around. They let out an awful screech, and Link coud not move his body. He fidgeted and struggled to moved the slightest bit, but it was to no avail. The redeads came closer, raising their gigantic black blades. As the one closest to Link attacked, he gained control over his body and rolled out of the way. Link retaliated by slashing the redeads over and over - the ghoul shrieked in pain, its face becoming freakishly contorted. Finally the redead fell to the ground, dead. Several more advanced - this was trouble. Link knew he could not handle so many fearsome enemies. He ran towards the crowd of redeads, hoping he could slip through without being caught in their menacing glare. That was a dumb idea - he was frozen in the middle of a pack of redeads, every single one raising their swords, ready to strike. He was paralyzed from head to toe, but he new he would have just a split second to react and kill them. Upon being freed from the paralyzinbg glare, Link performed spin attack, wounding al the redeads that circled around him. He lunged and stabbed through one redead's body, pulled out his sword and slashed blindly at another. As he looked back, he realized he had taken out two redeads. The fourth one attempted to hold Link with its gaze, but Link quickly rolled behind it and stabbed it in the back. The redead let out a shrill shriek and slowly fell to the ground.
"Hey, you..." a voice called, but there was no one to be seen.
Link looked around feverishly, trying to scope the area... but all was dark. He could not see a thing. The voice called him yet again and Link started to panic.
"Who are you?!" Link demanded, his sword held high in front of himself.
A ghostly man in a black robe appeared from the gloomy shade of the trees. He had bright, red eyes and his face was hidden by a hood. He had an otherworldly appearance.
"I... am Diablo," spoke the man in a deep, chilling voice. "I have come to kill you."
Link stared at him in surprise. "You're probably why those redeads are everywhere!"
"Hmm... you're smarter than you look."
Link stood still, his boots glued to the ground. Diablo approached him, the only thing visible under the dark robe were his glowing eyes. At the snap of his fingers, the ground began to rumble and several redeads emerged from the ground. Link dashed towards the redeads and slashed all of them before they had a chance to attack. Diablo stepped back and raised several stalfos from the ground. They were large skeleton warriors armed with a rusty sword and shield. Blue rags covered certain parts of their bodies as well as metal shoulder blades and a helmet. The stalfos began to circle around Link, blades held high. One attempted to break the circle and attack, but Link blocked its strike with his sword and stabbed its ribcage. The stalfos died and fell apart into a pile of bones. Three more tried to attack Link at the same time, but he simply used a spin attack to fend them off. The stalfos blocked Link's swordwith their shields. Before the next stalfos attacked, Link jumped on top of it and stabbed its head, causing it to fall into a pile of rubble. Link fell with it, but a sword lunged at him while he was on the ground. A stalfos was attempting to stab him, but he simpy blocked it with his own sword and pushed the undead warrior backwards into another stalfos. In the midst of the confusion, Link stabbed through one and penetrated the other with the same thrust. Both fell to the ground. There was one left - it hid in the shadows, waiting for the right moment to strike. Link knew better, but kept his head turned in the opposite direction. The stalfos jumped at Link, but he stabbed the stalfos behind him when it approached. Diablo stood silently, unwavered. Link walked up to the robed man, his footsteps echoed in the silent forest.
"Well, are you going to finish me off, great hero?" Diablo didn't sound scared at all - he was actual mocking Link. "Do you think I'm done yet?"
Link held his sword to Diablo's chin and chuckled. "How do you hope to defeat me?"
Diablo simply stared at the ground. His stretched his arms out, then blades suddenly flew out from his long sleeves. The two blades were unsheathed and sticking out of his sleeves. Link stood left leg in front of the right and ran towards Diablo. The robed stranger blocked every single attack. He then began to thrust his own two blades towards Link. He slashed his way through the forest, Link struggling to block Diablo's blades of fury. He moved at exceptional speed, and his blades were moving so quickly they appeared to be blurs. Diablo kept on pushing Link to the edge, his rapid attacks causing Link to stay in his defensive mode. Finally, Diablo left a gap between his strike and Link swung at Diablo's body. Diablo jumped above Link's blade and attacked from above. He had no choice but to roll out of the way. Diablo stabbed his blades into the ground. While he was struggling to pull his blades out lf the ground, Link saw it as an opportunity and jumped towards him, slashing his back in midair. Diablo grunted and fell to the ground, his blades still lodged in the dirt.
"You... haven't seen the last of me..." Diablo seemed to utter the words with very little energy left, then disappeared ominously into the darkness.
Link shrugged and continued southward, hoping to find the first fraction of the tablet.
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Link walked through an eerie tunnel, the sides covered with moss and vines. Through the opening he could see light. As he walked into said light, a magical world had opened up in front of him. It was a beautiful forest with the sun's golden rays shining down on the trees' canopies. In the middle was a large triforce symbol, just as there was in the Golden Land. Link stepped into the triforce symbol out of curiosity, and he felt as if he was being lifted up. Once again the triforce turned blue, and he was being pulled toward another light... a light that would go to an unknown place...