Comforts of the Sky

Chapter 1: What is Family?

Had Legend known that the day was going to go to shit, he would've slept in. He would've cursed the Goddess under his breath and stubbornly refused to leave his bedroll. He wished he'd stubbornly refused to leave his bedroll.

They were in Twilight's Hyrule, and the rancher had been leading them through an open field. It was only thanks to Wild's inhylian hearing that they had any warning at all about the ambush.

He grunted as he blocked another strike from the lizalfos that was attacking him. "Just die already!" He swiped his blade, bringing up a shield with his right arm to ward off the bokoblin to his right. These monsters were working together, so they were probably infected.

Two lizalfos and one bokoblin. He could handle those numbers—he'd handled worse, after all. They didn't call him the veteran for nothing. He spun away from the second lizalfos' strike as he gave a strong thrust with his shield, stunning the first lizalfos. He wasted no time in stabbing his sword through the pesky bokoblin, making sure it was dead before moving his attention fully away from it.

Now it was just two against one. So long as no other monsters decided to join the party, he'd be fine. He swiped the viscous black blood from his blade as he readjusted his stance, ready for the next attack.

"Twi!" Wild's call set Legend's nerves on edge, but he knew better than to let himself get distracted in the middle of a fight. If Wild had called out to Twilight, then the rancher already had someone helping him out. There was no need for Legend to risk his own neck when help was already on the way. He parried a spear with his sword, twisting it to redirect the spear into the dirt. The lizalfos made a sound of surprise as it desperately tried to remove its spear, but Legend wasn't going to let such a beautiful opportunity pass him by.

He let the second lizalfos' spear glance off his shield as he attacked the first lizalfos. It gave a loud cry as it died. Legend turned towards his final opponent with a smirk. "You going to just stand there?" He taunted. The monster gave him one of the dirtiest glares he'd ever seen. It was so strange seeing monsters with this level of intelligence. Only in Wild and Hyrule's lands had they encountered monsters like this.

Either way, it wasn't his problem. Monsters were monsters, and that's all he needed to know. The lizalfos charged him with shocking speed as the monster gave an angered cry. Legend went to block it with his shield, but the monster leapt to the side. The spear caught his arm, forming a long gash. He clicked his tongue with irritation and spun around to face the monster.

It was a bit smarter than he'd given it credit for. He saw its eyes flicker towards the dead lizalfos, and he got the oddest feeling that the two had been close—ridiculous, since when were monsters sentimental? He pushed the thought to the back of his mind and ran at the distracted monster.

He knocked the spear away with his shield, ignoring how his right arm throbbed at the movement, and pierced the monster through the chest. The lizalfos glared at him until the light in its eyes died out.

"Guys! I need potions over here!" Hyrule's voice had his feet moving before he'd even told them to. He idly noticed that the fighting had wound down as he came upon the scene. Twilight was cradled gently on Wild's lap as Hyrule was trying to heal a horrible wound on the rancher's side with magic. The familiar pink light of Hyrule's healing magic was flickering dangerously, telling Legend that he was almost out of magic.

The last time Hyrule had run too low on magic, he'd passed out for three days with a dangerously high fever. Legend had no intention of going through that again.

"I've got a potion." Legend dug it out of his bag with a grimace. "It's my last one." He'd need to restock. He hated being low on potions, and being out always made him antsy. Too many years of adventuring and close calls had made him paranoid. Better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it, after all.