The Archaeologist

Chapter 2

Wind howled in the darkness of the desert. Roars sounded from the horde of archers. Feet ran frantically through the desert. The wall of sand was quickly approaching the camp.

Ahura clutched her cloak closer to her body. She was facing away from the impending storm towards the corner of her cell. Her face was buried in her knees, and her eyes were clenched shut. She bit her lip to keep a whimper from sounding out as the winds grew stronger. She knew she could very well die from the sandstorm if her crumbling cell collapsed on her. That, and she would most likely be blinded by the sand particles.

A gasp escaped her mouth when she felt a hand tug on her arm. She looked up seeing a glowering man. Quickly, she got on her feet and followed him out of her cell. Ahura stumbled from the sharp gusts of wind. Her smaller body was no match for it, unlike the man leading her towards a towering building.

"Arbiter's Keep," Ahura said in awe before being pushed inside the sacred grounds. She turned around and looked up at the worshipped prince of thieves. Her hands automatically clenched her cloak tighter to her body. "Why are we here?"

Lord Ganondorf glanced down at her before walking further into the ancient building. He glanced back and smirked before saying, "If you don't follow me, a ReDead may just get you." His smirk widened when he saw the girl freeze and then run after him. "There are many undead beings, so you should stay close."

"Staying with a phantom to keep away the zombies, like that makes sense," Ahura mumbled under her breath while glancing at the various fading artworks on the walls. No, it wasn't art, it was more like hieroglyphs. It wasn't ancient Hylian, she deduced, but it was more likely to be from the Gerudo tribe. This very fact caused her to stop in her tracks. Her heart started hammering in her chest. It couldn't have been possible.

"What are you gawking at?"

"This was the Spirit Temple when the Hero of Time was around, wasn't it?" Ahura questioned. She received a curt nod in response to her question. The only issue with that wordless response was that it caused a plethora of questions to rouse. "Can you read these hieroglyphs?" Another nod, and more feelings of frustration stirred within the curious archeologist.

Instead of asking more questions, she wandered closer towards the wall paintings. However, after only a couple of steps later, she found herself unable to move. Ahura looked down and gasped. Her legs were quickly becoming invisible. She tried moving with all of her might, but they weren't budging.

"Step out of the sand," Lord Ganondorf commanded.

"I can't." Ahura began to panic. "I'm pathetically weak!"

"Worthless girl." In an instant, the dark warlock gripped the hood to Ahura's cloak and yanked her out of the sand. "Watch where you step next time."

Ahura feebly nodded her head before uttering her gratitude towards the large man. Her eyes traced back to the pit of sand and then towards the rest of the room. It appeared as though there had been some recent renovations done to the place, but there were still potentially fatal areas.

She glanced towards her savior and followed him through a couple of rooms. Finally, they came to a room where four torchers possessed blue flames. Ahura stepped forward with interest, but stopped once they started to dance about the room. The flames stopped immediately and went back towards their original positions once Lord Ganondorf stepped forward.

"Were those Poes?" Ahura barely managed to get out her question, finding it nearly impossible that they actually existed. Lord Ganondorf ignored her questioned and continued forth. Ahura gulped and followed him, not wanting to see if the Poes would continue their mocking dance.

Finally, the pair came to a stop. Lord Ganondorf looked over his shoulder before saying, "Stay here. I have to retrieve something." The man passed through a door before it slammed shut.

Ahura whimpered ever so slightly and shot her head back and forth. Screams sounded from the depths of the dungeon. The darkest parts of her imagination said that those bone chilling sounds came from the monsters of the world's nightmares: ReDeads. She hugged the corner of the room and sunk down to the ground. She began counting quietly to herself in an attempt to calm her nerves. Never before has the world of archaeology been so terrifying to her.

Suddenly, a bright light appeared before her. Ahura shot up from the ground and held a defensive position against the light. A deep voice chuckled, softly. Ahura's eyebrows quirked upwards out of curiosity, and she slowly made her way towards the light. As she grew closer, the light took the shape of an odd man. His face was protruding away from his head, almost as if it were a mask. She gasped, recognizing the figure as a tutor for the Age of Twilight's Princess Zelda.

"You're a sage," Ahura managed to whisper. Her eyes lingered to the medallion around the man's neck. "The Sage of Spirit."

The man nodded his head slowly before speaking, "You travel with one consumed by hate, foretelling the ever coming cloud of darkness to fall upon Hyrule. Chaos, war, and death shall consume the land of light unless hatred is expelled from this world. Time is a pressing matter, and already Her Grace and Her chosen hero have risen to once again defend their land from its demise. But beware, the two may not be needed, for a new fate has been given upon us. One, that can turn hate into not its opposite, for the opposite lacks an equal passion, but of its more harmonious cousin. Trust in thyself, and this fate may save the lives of those in Hyrule. However, caution must be used, for you could succumb to the hatred that consumes him, or you could feed his rage. This prophecy falls unto you, from the Sage of Spirit. If guidance is ever needed, look towards my other parts."

A single tear drop fell from his face before solidifying in midair. The man raised his hand and the tear fused into Ahura. She gasped from the sensation it sent through her. Before she could question what just happened, the man faded and the light disappeared from the hallway. Ahura stood with her mouth gaping open. Her mind raced with thoughts that didn't make any sense to herself. She tried to reel in all of what the man was saying, but she couldn't understand any of it. Right then, she swore to herself that she would write down everything he said to try and comprehend the puzzle he bestowed unto her.

A door slammed open, causing Ahura to jump and spin towards the noise. She looked up towards Lord Ganondorf. In his hand resided a large sword with glowing red symbols on it. Ahura swore she could hear whispers coming from the sword, but she considered herself crazy for it. It was at that moment of fearing for her sanity that she met Lord Ganondorf's eyes, perhaps for the first time since she's seen him. Her heart stilled at what she saw. Hatred swam around his amber eyes. However, if she looked deeper than that, she saw something else. It was that something else that gave her a determination to follow this man and to walk down the path fate had paved out.

A/N

  I am running a fundraiser for the organization ALTA! ALTA stands for the Amur Leopard and Tiger Alliance. It is a fantastic organization that is saving these amazing animals from extinction. Did you know that there are only 70 Amur leopards left in the wild and only 500 Amur tigers left in the wild? That's why they need our help more than ever. If you would like to donate to my fundraiser, you can buy something from my RedBubble page for the rest of September (2016). Or you can donate directly to my PayPal.
RedBubble: http://www.redbubble.com/people/sydneyludwick?asc=u
PayPal: paypal.me/SydAce
I will also take commissions for writing and artwork. Commissions require a minimum $3 donation.