The Guardian Slayer (botw fanfic)

13. Devan

"Devan... DEVAN!" Someone shook him awake. His eyes snapped open and he saw Granoli leaning over him, grinning in amusement. He rubbed his eyes and hurriedly sat up.

"Wh-What's happening? Are we being attacked?!" He asked looking wildly around. Everything seemed fine within the encampment, as people were eating breakfast and talking.

Granoli laughed loudly. "No, of course not! I just had to wake you up! I can't remember the last time you've slept in this late. It's 8:30 by the way."

Devan heaved a sigh of relief. "Don't scare me like that. And I'm sorry I slept in. It won't happen again."

"Don't be sorry!" He clapped him on the back. "It sure looked like you were having fun last night. Little hard for the rest of us to get some sleep with you two jabbering around though." Granoli pointed to where Akkami was.

He laughed sheepishly and stood up. "Thanks for the wake up call. Well, back to business. Plan to leave in 10 minutes."

He joined the rest of the battalion in breakfast. A lot of them were recounting memories of training in the Military Training Camp, since they were camped out there.

"This place makes me feel like a kid again." One soldier remarked. "Boy, did that climbing wall shred me to bits every day."

"What did it for me were the archery drills." sighed another. "miss just one target, and you had to drop and do 50 push ups. Those were the good old days."

Devan enjoyed hearing stories from the older soldiers in his battalion from before the Calamity. He had been recruited when he was 15, a couple years after it struck. Unlike most people, he was trained at Fort Hateno, not at the official training camp because it had already been overrun by monsters. It made him feel like an outsider and 'not an official soldier' because he wasn't enlisted the normal way, plus, even though he was the commander, everyone else was considerably older than him and had more experience. After the Calamity, the Hyrulean Guard required every able bodied man to join the army because of how many former soldiers they had lost in the original attack. He was lucky enough to be sent to Fort Hateno, one of the stronger bastions with hundreds of soldiers. His trainer was also incredible and taught him everything he knew, from fighting styles to strategy- but she died in a devastating battle.... He pushed the thought out of his mind. Stop it! Focus! He scolded himself.

After breakfast, he laid out the plan for the day. They were going to use the same strategy that they used in the Lanayru Wetlands: divide and conquer. They would spread out throughout the area below Death Mountain. The volcano was a breeding ground for monsters and he figured they could intercept any emerging from the mountain and moving towards Akkala. He dismissed everyone and ran to Akkami, who was saddling her horse.

"Partners again?" He asked holding out his hand.

"What a gentleman." She said teasingly, then straightened up. "But... no. I'm going back to Crenal Hills. There are still many guardians there that I didn't get to fight yesterday."

"Ok." He affirmed. "Do you want me to-"

"And I'm going alone." She noticed his face fell as she said that. "Don't worry, it's nothing personal. I did fine on my own yesterday, and I have a feeling there'll be lots of monsters in the valley. She mounted her horse. "I'll come back to the encampment at sundown."

"Be careful!" He called as she galloped down the road.

Devan joined Granoli's group, which included Cara, the arm wrestling champion and an archer named Hattie. They were assigned to patrol the deepest part of Trilby Valley. They left their horses behind and walked on foot.