Dying Embers

Chapter 1 - Tragic Morning (Present)

Her head pounded and her arms ached as she propped herself up from the ground. The smell of smoke was overpowering, filling her lungs and burning her eyes. As her vision cleared, she could see the remnants of what were once buildings that belonged to her village. Water droplets still dripped from her palms. She had put that fire out.

As she sat upright, running her hand through her red hair, she glanced to her right. Timothy was lying a yard away from her feet, clutching something. She didn't have the strength, physically or mentally, to move toward him at that moment. She was dehydrated, that much she was sure of. That and her whole village was ransacked and burned because of her existence. Tears started to slowly run down her cheeks and she let out a little sob, but stopped herself from breaking down.

"I can't cry right now. Not when times are at their worst," she thought to herself.

Timothy had heard that little sob, and came to. He crawled toward her, one hand against his chest.

"Aspen... *cough* Aspen, look what I snatched off of one of the bokoblins before they left." He held up a worn piece of paper, with faint writing on it.

"Let me see that," she muttered, wiping the tears off of her cheeks and taking the paper. Her eyes flew from word to word. "... This was meant for me... after they found where I'd be hiding and after they burned my house to the ground." Her body started to shake out of either anger or fear.

"What does it say?" he asked, leaning closer to see what was written.

"It says that once I surrender to them, they'll let everyone free," she said. "I know it's a trap, but I've got to do something."

"We could try to set them free using... you know." He held up his hand and summoned a chunk of dirt to appear.

Aspen let out a defeated sigh. "I guess we're going to need to if we want to rescue as many people as we can."

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Yay! A little bit of mystery going on here! As the story goes on you'll see why they, the bad guys, wanted Aspen to surrender to them and why Timothy was able to summon something (which, by they way, isn't normal for them. They're plain old Hylian, not wizards or witches... technically). So let me know what you guys think of it so far!