Arc 5 (Continental): Hearts, Minds, and Souls

[Dirty Chai]

Tantalis

The mage frowned at Torgo. Rather, he grimaced, bearing his teeth slightly in irritation.
He knelt back down suddenly, coming back to face Torgo again.

The hand was removed from his left eye, revealing a bleeding eyesocket.
The source seemed to come from inside the eye or from the pupil, as if pouring down from the pupil and then out of the eye socket like tears.
Looking closely, there were strains visible on the pupil.

"Do you know what I am, Torgo?"

Tantalis began to feel an deep, itching pain in his mind as he desired to know exactly why this tiny imp was so important.

"Why are you so important? What have you been doing?"

[Brihentin13]

Onirix

Onirix was not all disturbed by Alia's approach. At first, he thought she was just a random doctor, but he felt an odd twinge as she got closer. Despite Tavia sort of overwhelming the senses of any magically inclined person nearby, Alia was a powerful woman herself, so the Law of Greater Power lessened a bit a close range.

"Hello Alia. Did Ash get you a good view on the boulder trick? He's a nice bird."

Onirix stroked Ash's head approvingly.

"I love birds, except for the demon cuckoo and Wizzrobes. Those are bad birds. I like horses too. I have a horse. I think she's magical, because she only shows up when I-"

A horse snout tapped Onirix from behind. It was Jesse. The Onirix Disaster Mitigation Team could be seen in the background, taking notes. A magical horse was probably bad.

"Oh. Look at that. Hi Jesse. Good horse!"

The madman lovingly pat his horse.

"Tweets, meet Jess. She runs the cavalry in our army. Oh, by the way, Jess, we have an army now."

The horse made an indifferent huffing sound. Her master said a lot of strange things, so an animal army was pretty par for the course.

"Jesse, what have you been eating these past few days? I've been sort of busy, so I never came around to feed-"

The horse spit a blob of half eaten carrots into Onirix's face.

"-you. Well, good, you can take good care of yourself when I'm not around."

Onirix took a quick, magical shower with water magic.

"Hmm. Not bad. Lon Lon carrots are great!"

[Mister Scarecrow]

Alia


She suppressed a laugh at the mention of the Wizzrobes. Oh, if only Onirix knew her origins...

"That's Tavia? She's... overwhelming; aren't Hyrule at war with the Kokiri though? Well I doubt these soldiers can even touch her, but for them not to try at all..." She trailed off, the Kokiri had the strongest wind-based signature she ever see. In a way, it reminded her of herself at the old times. Only after her first switch that she fully understood the side effect of switching bodies, in which none of her later host had the capability to store even a fraction of her full potential. That's probably why liches prefer undeath instead.

Alia shuddered a bit. There was one occasion where she overload the host body with a large amount of energy, saying the backlash is terrible would be an understatement.

At least the tiny magic pool allow me to stay undetected. I do kind of miss the air of superiority though...

She didn't realized that she mumbled the words instead of keeping it in her head, although Onirix was probably too busy with his horse to catch it. Still, it was quite a dangerous slip up if someone could saw the relations with the small bits of information she occasionally told...

[Brihentin13]

Onirix

Alia's voice was somewhat muddled by the sound of whooshing water, but he did notice the odd mumble. It was something about "air superiority", which Onirix now held as a one man airforce for the rebel army.

"You alright? You look twitchy. When I twitch, I often kill people by accident. Mages should be careful about twitching. What was that about "air superiority"? That sounds fun. Killing people from the sky is an exciting new field of combat. I bet those Labrynnans will make a working flying machine one of these days. Mark my words, great steel birds will one day do battle in the skies over Hyrule, twisting and turning through the danger zone with lightning speed. They won't even have time to think. If you think, you're dead."

Onirix was a forward thinker, or just insane, or perhaps a forward thinker who was so progress oriented because he was insane. Often times, progress came from people insane enough to try something new.

"Beric, my shiny friend, I was thinking. You have really nice armor. You also have a Zuna working for you. The last time we did this, Zelda hired some Zuna to make me some awesome stuff to kill Majora with. Yes, this has happened before, and no, you weren't actually there. There was a guy who looked just like you, but he was like two feet shorter, twenty years older, and had a great, big, bushy beard. I think his name was Grant? Sherman? Maybe Lee? No, wait, Lee was Ordonian. It doesn't matter. I want something Zuna made. I want a bad-ass cuirass that makes me look Onigami. I'm the closest thing to him around here anyway. It will make Agahnim crap himself when he sees me."

Onirix's voice suddenly shifted a few octaves higher.

"Oh no, we actually summoned the Fierce Diety and now he's come back to kill us! Pew! Boosh! Bang! Bang!"

Onirix grabbed his own neck and pretended to strangle himself.

"Oh, please spare me, your fierceness! I'm sorry I murdered everyone you've ever loved!"

Onirix shifted his voice to a tone much lower than his own.

"No, foolish mortals! This is your divine punishment! To Termina with you!"

Onirix made more childish noises and made a show of creating a small explosion on the ground.

"I'll do the same thing to Majora too. You should hear the speech I have prepared for when I kill Iemanis. I've never made so many cooking puns in my life, and I've lived for over two hundred years, you know! Three hundred if you count the one dream with the hot princess and the Fierce Diety's sword and am I rambling? I ramble sometimes. Can I have a cuirass? Please! Pretty please with sugar and gohma sprinkles on top? I'll be your best friend forever! Well, second best friend, Legato wins the best friend award. Sorry, but it's hard to compete with a mustachioed composer ghost."

[Mister Scarecrow]

Alia

Did I said it out loud? I sure hope I didnt... oh well.

"Giant steel bird? I showed you one yesterday. She'll have trouble flying properly with metal skeleton, I'll have to kludge some cloth or leaf to make it work. But she could fly, indeed." She stopped before she derail the topic even further. Decades without meeting a fellow mage made her quite chatty.

"Since you're here, I assume you're a part of the Kakariko Kickass team? Onirix named it." That was addressed to Beric, since Onirix started babbling random stuff. "How many are coming?"

[Athreon]

Torgo, the ancient child

The Kokiri elder stared up at the bleeding man unflinchingly, seeming unfazed and unsurprised by his condition, and his questions.

"You are a Sheikah bloodmage, sent to hunt and capture me. Likely to bring me back to the leader you were deceived by, Agahnim. And, as it is with all bloodmages, your power has begun to consume you. As for who I am... I am a simple messenger, sent to seek peace in a time of war."

Torgo spoke quietly, but firmly. His eyes never left the Sheikah's.

~~~~~~~~~~
Mariel, the scorched leaf

The child frowned and tapped her chin once more.

"Well.... a lot of stuff. She teaches me to use my magic better... and... well, we help people. I do a lot of healing, and back when we were fighting at home, I did a bit of that. But mostly learning how to use my magic."

[VictorAYorke]

Lord Beric Ador

While Onirix continued to do... whatever he was doing, Beric turned his attention to Alia. A woman dressed for a particularly virulent epidemic, whom he didn't think he had seen before, approaching the commander in chief as an amiable equal, and friendly with Onirix. His prognosis - another mage.
"Rayleigh..?" He muttered in the direction of his entourage. Duralia coughed.
"Mercenary, sir. Sepkinor handled the contract, no mention of bringing assistance."
"Thank you."
"Sir." Beric considered the masked figure again.

"Milady. We haven't met." The prince paused for a moment to order his thoughts. This woman knew Onirix and appeared to have spoken with him rather recently. Therefore there was a decent chance the mad mage had recruited her for his upcoming suicide mission. "There are five members at last count. Harkan of Zunayus, Legato (the Poe), Onirix, and a siege engineer and healer from my retinue." Technically they were from Aldrich's retinue, but that wasn't very important just now.

"What are your skills, may I ask? Every additional soldier means more effort Onirix must spend to teleport, and increases the chances of fatalities during the process." That last was a total guess but it made sense, given what Beric imagined teleporting multiple people mght be like. He wouldn't put it past Onirix to simply forget to rematerialise a given ally, or to try and combine his fellows both physically and psycologically to create a monstrosity with double the muscle mass along with the skills and knowledge of both victims.

[Avatar of the Ice Wolf]

Nero

By the looks of things, it didn't seem Mariel had much of an idea about the specific plans the group had. Still, it appeared they had more direction than just wandering around randomly and learning about magic. Perhaps Tavia kept that information to herself? Who knew what went on in the minds of the elders...

"Do you have any... umm... goal in mind? What's the whole point of all this training?"

[Mister Scarecrow]

Alia

"Myself, I'd say I am a Stalfos expert. Aside from that I can do a bit summoning if we need expendable fighters. I can also provide scouting and medium range communications." She do realize the vague nature of her explanation, but there was no point to freak out the prince. Well, not now anyway. Demonstration can wait.

"As for Rayleigh, he knew a lot about the Sheikah. They'll want his head if they know how much he know. Probably a little outdated, but I doubt they have a lot of change in their structure. His information should be accurate." Again, she left a bit of the details out. Giving out too much to someone in Beric's position could be disastrous, Alia learned the hard way.

"There is no need for everyone to go at once, really. Onirix can bring us one by one, it wouldnt take a minute to get everyone across. Of course, getting left in the Shadow plane will rip anyone apart without exception, but that's the risk of this trip. We could only hope Onirix dont screw up the process."

[TheHylianJuggalo]

***Ashinon cultists***

It was a tense moment for those in the tower. It was no doubt a scuicide mission they were on - locked away in an inescapable tomb, a swarm of troops ready to bash their skulls in with the nearest blunt weapon they could find. Still, not one cultist faltered - or at least showed any sign of wavering. Perhaps it was the zealous mindset, or the fear. Perhaps Majora had directly brainwashed them. Regardless, they knew, that at all costs, those against Him must die.

The room was no larger or smaller than the last, and all the furniture was set against the door. Slightly to either side, and a foot or so away from its wall stood two pillars parallel to the portcullis. Within these small crevices hid the two blademasters, ready to strike from behind when their opponents would miss them, blindly charging the archers. The crossbowmen, at the far end of the room, held firm behind an overturned table, ready to unleash a barrage. A fifth and final, a mage, many decades younger than the last, stood suspended in the air at the center of the atrium, very near the ceiling. He would, in His name, rain Termina upon them once they breached the room.

[Brihentin13]

Onirix

"Hey, I got this! Besides, the Shadow Plane isn't always a death sentence. I've been in there before, and I turned out alright."

There was a moment of silence.

"Okay, it's not a fantastic place, but the main problem is getting put halfway between planes. A person can not be in two places at once, so yes, that would result in instantaneously being turned into pudding or reappearing without all of your limbs. Regardless, I still have to disagree with Alia about ferrying one by one. Yes, moving a mob will be risky, but what happens if we're spotted too soon? I don't know how it happened, but Legato and I once fought a rogue Great Fairy who somehow cut off access to the planes, for a time. What if that happens to us? We get spotted poofing, the planes get blocked, half of our team is stuck inside, and the next teleport fails catastrophically. The operation fails, Aggie survives, you run out of wizards, and I probably fall into another dimension. That's bad. Sort of hilarious, but bad."

Onirix suppressed a giggle. He'd wanted to die striking down a god, a pile of corpses at his feet and a defiant roar in his throat. Instead, he might just sort of explode in between planes, somewhat poetically killed by the primal forces that he strived to control. It was kind of funny, at least to him. The others might not share his joking demeanor towards life and death, but humor and arrogance were his only ways of dealing with stress without going more insane.

"Ive got this. Check out my glowing veins. I took a blue potion from that shop as payment for killing the owner's murderers. It doesn't even hurt much to cast spells right now. I am well-rested, flush with mana, and at the top of my game. I have a perfect memory of several areas in the Shadow Temple. We don't just have a way in, we have options."

How great is it that Agahnim's own experiments are coming back to haunt him? The rebel army would have no way into the temple without us. The mighty, invincible Sheikah Cadre, toppled by one of their own mistakes, a half-blood, no less...

Onirix chuckled, unable to hide his murderous glee any longer. Being a hated "mutt" made the situation all the sweeter.

"Don't raise more Oni than you can put back down..."

[Mister Scarecrow]

Alia

"You got a point on that. Well, I trust you enough to teleport the team. You're capable enough when it come to magic. Anyway..." She turned toward Lon-Lon. "Rayleigh will be here soon. So, when can we move out?"

I can bail through the Spirit Plane when it goes sour anyway... If it goes sour.

[VictorAYorke]

Lord Beric Ador

"You'll be best placed with Onirix then. You and Rayleigh will be quartered with... With the Crimson Dawn mercenaries until you are all ready to begin your mission." Stalfos expert, summoner, with some magical variant of scouting and possibly even telepathy. She seemed like a warrior tailor-made to engage the Sheikah directly from their own catacombs.

Which was suspicious in and of itself. If the Sheikah wanted a woman on the inside they'd probably do something like this, sending an experienced diplomat with some magical skill to walk right up to the Rebel commanders. Whether a Sheikah in this position would value information more highly than assassination was an open question. This plague doctor was in the perfect position for both. No matter - if he died now then he died now.
"Attacking the Sheikah and their allies will require precise timing across multiple forces. You'll move away from the main army when the rest of our assets are in place, to support you or be supported. My advisors will find you when we are ready to commence."

"If we need to know the dangers and limits of ferrying people around by teleportation, we should ask the expert. If Tavia still in camp, find her. Onirix, I'll need to talk to you in private."

[Athreon]

Athreon

The Darknut stopped as he came upon the door before him. No doubt there were more enemies beyond it. And if they followed any sort of tactical placement, these would be stronger than the rest. Nonetheless, he knew they couldn't stand against him and his allies. He stepped closer to the door, and kicked it. The door splintered and cracked, but did not yet open. There was a weight behind them. They had barricaded it. A useless endeavor. With a grunt, he kicked it again. The furniture would begin to scatter, the door splintering further. Finding a long piece of wood that had broken off of the door, he hefted it like a javelin, and readied himself. He could see the crossbowmen and the mage through the cracks in the door. Making a quick decision, he took a few steps back, and charged full on into the door, busting it open and sending pieces of furniture flying in all directions. Not missing a beat, he quickly threw the piece of wood straight at the mage, sending it hurtling through the air with all his considerable strength behind it. He quickly dodged to the side and behind a pillar as soon as he did, hoping to avoid any more cultist bolts. Of course, this put him next to a blademaster. With a roar, the Darknut brought down his sword on the man in a diagonal swing.

~~~~~~~~~~
Mariel, the scorched leaf

The child frowned and looked back at Tavia. What was their actual goal? After thinking for a moment, she turned to Nero.

"I think it's to stop people from fighting eachother, and to beat Majora."

[Dirty Chai]

Tantalis

The Sheikah scoffed, grinning at Torgo. "You know much, then."
Tantalis' eyes narrowed as he paused in speech.
"Peace. Peace with the Kingdom?"

He almost suppressed it, but a laugh came out and he stood up.
"There is no kingdom except under the Cadre, scion of Farore.
Why do you not treat with this kingdom? The town of Hylia Marine is an apostate - a rogue, that will be flogged and beaten before it can be re-accepted as part of the kingdom."

[Brihentin13]

Onirix

"Sure thing, boss-man. Ash, Tweets, fly off for a second. Jess, you mind them roosting on you?"

The horse ignored the statement, nibbling on some weed that looked tasty.

"I'll take that as a yes. Go on, now, my feathered companions, Beric wants privacy."

Onirix pat Beric on the back. If the man wanted privacy, he would get privacy.

"We'll be right back."

Before Beric had a chance to respond, he was hurtling through the planes at lightspeed, and unwitting guest along for the ride to Onirix's house. What met Onirix and the rebel prince was a place that could best be described as a living room. Several well-made bits of furniture were arranged in an odd yet cozy bit of feng shui. Some looked ancient, others freshly carved. The room was nearly pitch black, save for a little light coming in from the cracks in the ceiling.

"Welcome to Chateau Onirix. Flame on."

Onirix casually clapped his hands and a series of torches lit up with a blue flame. The extra light illuminated the large, rectangular room well, allowing anyone present to better understand the origins of the architecture. The room itself was large, about half the size of an American football field. The building was truly ancient, it's worn white stone betraying centuries of wear and tear. Oddly enough, the walls themselves were remarkably clean, save for a few impossible to scrub out stains. A few burn marks were visible, where the mad mage had apparently tried to burn the filth away. It hadn't worked. A worn down, golden crown molding was present on the walls at both the ceiling and the floor, and it rose up to form door frames at four points in the room, one for each cardinal direcion. Mismatched artwork adorned each wall, most of it probably taken from other ruins and brought back for Onirix's personal enjoyment. At least one piece appeared to be an Onirix original, a crimson blood picture of Onigami kicking a non-descript Sheikah in the groin, finger painted onto a white canvas. A worktable filled one corner, covered in spare parts and half disassembled Labrynnan gear, mostly muskets. Several feet to the left of the table was a gigantic sack, overflowing with black powder. A warning was scrawled into the wall next to it, decreeing, "GUNPOWDIR DO NUT TOUCH". Close to that pile was a motley assortment of rusty weapons, labeled "Bandit Weapin Pile". Clearly, the self-taught wizard's spelling skills left a little bit to be desired.

"Take a seat, my friend, if you like. I'm afraid there's no floating wine tray, but me casa, su casa. Let me give you the tour. That door goes to the library, that one leads to a foyer containing a gigantic stone door and a gauntlet of traps, that one goes down to the tunnel where I had to collapse the roof to stop the dodongos from coming in, and that one leads to the room with the gigantic, broken telescope. The telescope requires some glass work to fix that I'm just not equipped to do, but damn it if it aint pretty. I sleep in there most of the time, unless I find a good book, in which case I'll pass out in the library. Most of the crap here is garbage though. It's a bunch of vague, prophetic nonsense about some guy named "Link". Who names their kid that?"

Onirix made a show of pointing to each door, giving his guest a moment to appreciate the craftmanship on the half-broken Armos statues flanking each one.

"The architecture on this place screams "Wind Tribe", as do the Armos. Well, that's not entirely true. The Armos usually scream something like "Hur-da-dur", but that's only when they activate, which is seldom. I got one in working order and gave it to Miss Tavia, but the rest of these are pretty well shot. You would think that, between this many broken Armos, I would have the parts to repair a few, but no! Each of these things is apparently custom made, so no arm matches anything but it's original owner! I've made some custom parts out of wood, but anything less than thick Deku tree wood will eventually snap under the weight. Naturally, Deku trees are less than willing to give out pieces of themselves to strangers, and I'm not going to murder a sentient being that hasn't done anything wrong, even if it is a talking tree. I occasionally just luck out and find a dead one laying in a grove somewhere."

Onirix laid back in his chair.

"You know, despite the Wind Tribe architecture, they weren't the only ones to use this place. Besides the prophetic crap in the library, there are a ton of more of recent works in there. There were some magical manuals, history books, and even fiction! What's more, those tunnels must go on for miles! Dodongos don't come from this area. I'd love to clear the rubble and explore them some day, but I just don't have the time."

Onirix directed Beric's attention to his newest piece of art, a painted poe woman that he had yet to find a place to hang. It was lovingly leaned against the sofa, by Onirix's foot. The poe, in question, wore a lovely green dress and bore a torch sporting a green flame.

"See that? Definitely not Wind Tribe. I found this beauty a few miles west, close to the Forest Temple. I have no idea why, but it was surrounded by arrows. It looks like someone was trying to shoot it! Who would destroy such art? I swear, these woods are full of crazy people. Regardless, this place is like bones upon bones, history on top of history. And now, it's all mine, at least since I cleared out the local Stalfos infestation and reset all of the traps. Now I don't even have to keep deactivating and reactivating the front door! I can just poof in and out at will! I missed you, sofa!"

Onirix hugged the ancient pillows. Despite being stained beyond recognition, one could notice that someone had attemmpted to clean them with soap and water. The old red shade was more pink than anything, but it would do for a crumbling ruin. Really, the place was in very good shape, all things considered. Onirix, for all of his faults, was at least a decent interior designer. Relaxed, the wizard turned back towards Beric.

"So, let me guess, you're afraid that Alia is a spy or something. I admit, she has me a tad worried as well. Her bird, for instance, constantly relays information back to her telepathically. It's like a feathered picto box, with sound to boot! Of course," Onirix stopped to pull on the skin below his eyes, "as long as we're worrying about potential spies, I'm surprised you let me join up. I mean, I'm literally an actual Sheikah. Look at the red. I may not be "pure" like my inbred cousins, but I still have the eyes. Perhaps we should give Alia the same chance. Maybe she, like me, is someone who doesn't get along with all of their relatives."

Onirix took a few a tea leaves off of a nearby table, put them in a pot, filled it with magic water, then set his little cooking spit on fire.

"I'm making tea. Would you like some? A Horonian caravan ten kilometers north of here got waylaid by some bandits a month back. I killed the bandits, quickly realized that there were no survivors to return the goods too, and ended up with a cart full of tea. Please take some tea."

The magi's eyes pleaded as much as his voice did. It was truly a mind boggling amount of tea, completely filling up one of the great closets in the ruins. Why, why in the name of the Three had anyone ordered so many tea leaves?

[VictorAYorke]

Lord Beric Ador

Taken off guard (and put off of eating for the next day or so) by the force of teleportation, Beric bit down on anything he might have wanted to say until Onirix had finished. He endured the tour too, taking mental note of the surroundings and the quantity of ancient material.

The ruins in which the mage had settled were a mismatch of forgotten relics, treasures that were long ago jealously guarded, and the cruder items he had scavenged, looted or built for himself. The layout of rooms was enlightening on their own - a private library, a rather useless gauntlet of lethal traps, a collapsed tunnel, a central day room and a ruined observatory that served as a bedroom. Onirix hadn't contracted the space available, as someone desperate to keep their bolthole under personal surveillance might have done. He hadn't taken down the traps, or followed the Dodongo infestation to its source to reclaim that tunnel. The mage had only moved in, tastefully arranged his things and settled amongst the rubble.

Beric wanted to be angry at his host for the sudden intrusion, but the mood of the ruins weighed down on him.
"Link... Whenever Hyrule was under threat of destruction, before Majora came, the Goddesses would give a boy named Link the skill and courage to save the world single-handed. It's a hero's name. I heard it used to be common in Ordona and East Hyrule Field." The prince picked a chair and eased himself onto it. He wasn't in his full armour, but even then the weight of his heavy mail was more than most soft furnishings were ever meant to bear.

Back to business. Beric mentally catalogued the name Alia - she hadn't ever identified herself to him directly.
"The simplest test for Alia would be to catch her without her mask. If her eyes and skin tone match the Sheikah type, then the mask is to conceal them and we can make some assumptions on her allegiance. If not, the the plague gear is probably an affectation or fashion choice and we can be more confident in trusting her.

"Even if she was a Sheikah agent, she'd have the skills and martial philosophies of the Shiekah. The same with you, Onirix. If you were fighting for the Sheikah then you'd be doing what best suits their methods, not throwing multicoloured messages into the sky or putting on a display of stage magic. And yes, I'll have some tea." Free tea was not exactly what Beric had expected from the visit, but it was welcome.

"Onirix, we need to agree on what to do with the Sheikah."


Lieutenant Erika Homewood
Erika made it to the door a second or two after she heard it being knocked from its hinges. Athreon's blood-soaked campaign against interior furniture continued, unsullied by such complications as the dorway being barricaded anyway. She resolved to try and change their tactics a little.
"Hey, why don't-" And then the Darknut was through, roaring and throwing stray lumps of timber. "Seriously..."

Just before following, Erika took a brief glance at the room. Two crossbows and a mage, the same disposition as last time. Chances are there would be two swordsmen (or swordswomen, this being the Gerudo homeland) lying in ambush either side of the door too, since they did it last time. Erika put her back to the wall, switched to a two-handed grip on her axe, and span the corner.

Chaos, mainly furniture-related. A pillar either side of the door. A flash of a blade, definitely a sword, and zuna-forged armour behind it. Erika slipped her left hand up to just behind the axe head, flipped the blade around and made a short, controlled bash with the blunt counterweight at her target's chest.

[Athreon]

Torgo, the ancient child


The Kokiri sighed.

"We did not treat with you because we were not at war with you. And whether they are the legitimate rulers or not doesn't matter. We were fighting them, and they were fighting us. The killing needed to stop. Thus, I sought them out for peace."

[Brihentin13]

Onirix

"Observant of you, my prince. I'll admit, if had I intended to kill you, I would have made a move a long time ago. I'm quite impatient! I suppose it's fortunate that I'm a half-blooded pariah. I would be horrible as an assassin. They'd have to deploy me somewhere where they weren't concerned about leaving evidence. Great big piles of burning evidence..."

The tea became ready, and Onirix poured some for his guest in the good china. It was much newer than the ruins and immaculately clean. The alabaster cups had golden trim, and were painted with beautiful Horonian swans and lettering.

"My Horonian is bad, but I think that one was says "peace". These also came from the caravan. Somebody really rich really liked tea time. It was probably a Sohei. Now, to business. I assure you that no one will hear us here, with the possible exception of the Armos. It's why I chose this place and left the birds behind. I'm actually glad that we had an opportunity to speak, alone. Now, I assumed we would walk in, open some forbidden chambers, and kill Agahnim. Without his leadership and without a headquarters, the Sheikah falter if not outright collapse. But..."

Onirix grimaced.

"Tavia filled in some pieces of the puzzle for me. I think we have a worse problem than potential spies. You saw the tin cans at Lon Lon? The Sheikah don't field a lot of armored infantry. I've heard of certain agents, used for special ops with heavy fighting, like clearing a particularly valuable ruin or taking out a target who is too paranoid to be practically assassinated, but those fighters would be few and far between. You look at the bodies, you notice that most of those people were Hylian, with a smattering of the other races of men. They marched mindlessly, in Sheikah produced armor. They weren't just idiot fascists, they were brainwashed. I've only seen one being pull that kind of magic off on her own, the Great Fairy I helped kill. No Sheikah should have that kind of ability. Which means..."

Onirix pulled a well-read book from beneath his pillow. It was an ancient tome, bound in tough leather. The front was emblazoned with the symbol of the Sheikah Cadre. He handed the rather heavy book to Beric, pointing at the Sheikah eye on the front.

"Are you familiar with the symbol of my people, Beric? I call it, "the Eye of Truth," but that's not entirely correct. The real "Eye of Truth" is an artifact, once used by the Hero of Time himself. It allows it's wielder to perceive the myriad truths of our world, and beyond. The practical effect is looking through a lens and seeing right through fake magic walls and the like. There are some "leap of faith" walks in certain ruins, consisting of a path over an abyss that is invisible to the naked eye. The Eye is simply a magic lens for the Hero and most people, but it could have another use, for a mage..."

Onirix sighed, flipping to a certain page for Beric. It bore information on the Eye of Truth, along with sketches and diagrams.

"Truth is more than perception, but that's more of burden to understand than the average man could bear. For a wizard, who spends his whole life bending what he perceives to better fit his will...maybe, maybe that kind of person could use the Eye as a focus with which to bend the perceptions of others. For a sufficiently dumb, sheep-like individual, the result could be total brainwashing. A stronger sort would not break, but his mind might suffer as a result. What if Agahnim has used the Eye to recruit Hyrule's unwashed masses of peasants? What if anyone strong enough to resist ends up like me, a babbling maniac? this is cause enough for concern, but it gets worse. Notice the single, red eye in the middle of this lens."

Onirix sighed again.

"Read the inside cover. That book, which I found in this ruin, in the middle of the damned Lost Woods, is full of notes by a man named "Rix". Rix is the name of my father, who has been dead for two hundred years. He left these notes, hoping that I would find them, that anyone, anyone with the cajones to face my ancestor's sins might find it. Rix left the Cadre for more than his Ordonian lover, it seems. It was because he discovered evidence of corruption in the ranks. He feared Druthilidic influence, and I think he was right. The Shadow Temple is full of experiments with push the boundaries of what is acceptable to the Goddesses which they claim to serve. I'm one of them, and monsters that you faced at Lon Lon were as well. Check it out."

Onirix directed Beric to another page, covered in diagrams of several Sheikah monstrosities, including the Devoured from Lon Lon and Bongo Bongo itself.

"Notice the single, red eye on each beast. That's not a coincidence. Tavia confirmed that it was the "Eye of Dethl", which the page here can demonstrate."

Onirix flipped the page again, coming to a grotesque sketch of the same, red eyeball, surrounded by tentacles.

"I thought that she was a myth, an old wive's tale to scare children, but if those monsters serve Dethl as well as the Sheikah, what if the Eye itself is corrupted? What if Dethl is using the Shiekah? They're supposed to serve the Royal Family, but here they are, usurping the throne. Maybe the Hero was protected by the Goddesses, and that's why he was immune, but Agahnim wouldn't be. His actions don't make sense, without that in mind. Maybe Dethl is influencing him? He's acting worse than the Sheikah who were the Dark Interlopers of legend! Termina, what if that was also Dethl's doing? Blast it all, how are we supposed to handle three of the most manipulative Druthilidi at once? At least Demise has the courtesy to not be so sneaky!"

Onirix's eyes illuminated with rage, an odd contrast to how calmly he subsequently sipped his tea.

"This would explain why I even exist. Whatever they did to me was...reckless. Tavia could tell you, my magic has a chaotic vibe to it. While it isn't from Dethl, it's almost..."

Onirix struggled to bring the words forth, disgusted at what he was.

"...Terminan, maybe pre-Majoran. Termina is a chaotic place, but it was already mad before Majora was banished there. Those idiots wanted to summon the Fierce Deity, which anyone could tell you is simply impossible! If they wanted to find a way through to Termina to a whole separate state of existence and play with the universal will, they were going to pay for it! Dethl kept pushing them, wanting them to try more and more dangerous things, just hoping that somehow it would backfire and allow her pets to run amok and escape the Shadow Temple!"

Onirix took a moment to breathe and sip his tea. Getting upset wouldn't do him any good.

"Forgive me, I may have rambled. I just wanted to bring this issue to your attention. Together, we may yet be able to stop these pretender gods. How would you like to proceed? I still believe that my plan to release some of Dethl's pets may be our best bet. We may have to bring this conflict to a head in order to resolve it. After all, the Sheikah aren't totally under her control. A house divided cannot stand..."

[SilverLich]

Yurak the ancient

Despite his earlier calm demeanor, the moment he was back over the battlefield, Yurak didn't even know what he was doing when he allowed himself to fall down into the battle. The closer he got, the more his face contorted into one of fury and hate. Aran had believed that monster had not purposefully killed Ahiga, that they couldn't have possibly prevented any of what had happened in advance, and still they lost several of their comrades and almost lost his friends. He had his chance to avenge all of that, and he was unable to succeed and fulfill his promise to avenge them.

He crashed into the Stalfos line not far from the advancing blins, crushing one beneath his feet and sending several of them into their brethren. Roaring his challenge to the soulless abominations, he began hacking into them, hoping to work off his frustration on this army before they had to move out.