The Fierce Deity

Oni, the Brawler

The air was dry in Gerudo Desert. I looked around me and saw nothing but sand and the occasional Leever. There was no grass, I felt so out of place, as if I should have never set foot in that wasteland. Then I thought about my father, he was never uncomfortable about going to some alien place, he just did as the King commanded. I continued with that thought in mind. Impa gave me a glance every so often to see how I was holding up. I was a little scared because I've never left Hyrule before. Impa could tell.

"What's the matter?", she asked. I just looked at her. "I know, leaving Hyrule for the first time is a little scary, but you'll get used to it.". It was like she knew what I was thinking the second I looked at her. I had almost forgotten that she was a Sheikah, and assumed that was just a skill they were adept in. I looked forward and continued scanning the horizon for any sign of civilization. I saw a small plume of smoke rising in the distance.

"Impa, there's smoke that way.", I pointed in the direction of the smoke. Impa turned the wagon and went in that direction. I could overhear the soldiers in the back talking about Gerudo women. I was only 5 at the time, so I didn't know what the big deal was. When we got over the dunes, a small town full of sandstone houses came into view. There were brightly colored tents littering the town, women were rushing from one tent to the other, every time with some new piece of jewelry, decoration, etc. It was obvious that they were approaching a marketplace.

"This would be a good chance to restock our supplies.", Impa said. We parked the wagon and let the horses eat and drink. The soldiers piled out, chuckling and fumbling over one another. They all went their separate ways and began hitting on the Gerudo. Impa and I parted paths and went into the market. I walked past a couple of stands with cheap trinkets, weapons, and materials. I saw one shop that caught my eye. There was a tall man, a large grin on his face. There were several masks on display behind him. I approached the stand. He put his hands together.

"Good morning, young man," he said, "Are you interested in my masks?". I nodded a little, something felt very strange about this man. I realized it wasn't just the man, it was the masks behind him. "Well, I have many interesting masks in my collection! Just point to one that catches your eye." I looked around at them, he must have had at least 50. There was one that I saw that made me feel like my heart was going to stop. It was a mask shaped like a purple heart, it had multicolored horns and spikes sticking out from the sides, and two glaring yellow eyes. I gulped and pointed at it, the mask man's smile faded slightly. "Oh... I'm afraid that mask isn't for sale..." he said, "But, I can tell you the story behind it if you'd like." I nodded a little. "This mask is called Majora's Mask, it was found by an ancient tribe eons and eons ago," he stated,  "It's said that those who wear the mask will have anything and everything they desire... Eventually, the mask grew full of hate and malice which ended up with it being sealed away forever... I managed to find this mask along with this book of music sheets..." He handed the book to me. There was only one song in it. "It's yours," he said, "I don't have any use for it." I smiled and put it in my pouch. I bowed as a "thank you" and made my way back to the wagon.

Before I could make it out of the marketplace, I heard people screaming and running, I heard horses from the direction of the mask stand. I started pushing through the crowd to see what was going on. There were about 7 Iron Knuckles on huge, black horses in front of the mask stand. I approached them.

"It's the orders of Lord Ganondorf, peasant!" the Iron Knuckle in front said, "You must relinquish the mask to us this instant!"

"It's not for sale!" the mask man replied, "I'm not giving the mask to anyone, lord or not! This mask is too dangerous!"

"Defiance of Lord Ganondorf is punishable by execution!"

"I refuse to give up this mask!" The instant he said that, the Iron Knuckle hopped off its horse and grabbed the mask man by the throat, throwing him to the ground. It took out its axe and held it high above its head. The mask man's eyes filled with fear as the Iron Knuckle prepared to strike. When I saw this, I drew my sword and dashed towards them. The Iron Knuckle let the axe fall. Impa and the soldiers ran up to see what was happening when I blocked the axe's blow with my sword. The mask man's eyes widened with surprise as he scurried away towards Impa and the others. They were all shocked to see that a young boy was about to take on a warrior that would normally take at least 20 Hylian soldiers to kill. I pushed its axe off my sword and jumped onto it. I ran up the axe's handle and thrust my blade into the eye hole of the helmet. The Iron Knuckle staggered and threw me off. I recovered quickly and dashed towards it again. I slid underneath its legs, then jumped onto its back where I launched myself into the air and fell back down with a tremendous swing. My sword cut through the armor, flesh, and bones of my foe, cutting it clean in half. Everyone's eyes widened with horror. The other 6 Iron Knuckles escaped as fast as their horses could manage and disappeared.

After that night, everyone seemed to take me a little more seriously......