Metroid Interface Ch. 5

Metroid Interface Ch. 5

5. Heartache and Bloodshed

The large sapphire orbs watched the chaos below with hurt stuck on her youthful face. She gripped her chest in pain, sorrow welling up in her eyes.

Her people were dying.

The Sage of Time turned away from the large window and put a gloved hand to her forehead. She couldn’t take it. She needed to do something before more of them died. Her assistant watched her with a somber expression.
“What’re you planning to do Princess?” asked the older female in a low tone. Princess Zelda looked to her with concern. She had to go back. She knew this time, if she went back, she couldn’t leave. Her people were always in danger, and although she left to get away, it was still her duty to protect and guide her people. They needed their queen of Hyrule. She couldn’t run away anymore. Although her heart was aching, she just couldn’t stand by and watch as her land, the fruit of her ancestors, generations of labor, fall to the hands of this new threat.
Zelda was quiet, hesitant in her reply to the question. Impa knew the answer, it was painted on the Princess’s face, but it was not her place to say it aloud.

Link did not love her.

At this realization, the Princess had tried to keep to her castle in the sky, tried to use the Triforce as an excuse to stay away, to just watch over her people from above. Zelda knew it was safe, and yet she could never stay. The princess looked to the white haired female, gripping her fist with determination.
“We have to go back.”

Link watched the outside as night fell. The sounds of chickens and horses filled his ears, and as his gaze fell on Malon, he was quiet. Samus studied the primitive stables with curious glances, waiting just as Link was. Malon cradled her toddler in her arms and smiled weakly.

It had taken the hero and hunter until night to reach Lon Lon Ranch. Having left just before the sun set, they made it to the small ranch just before night spread his wings across the land. Link was still as he watched the small child in front of him, his eyes strangely full of ache as he saw the mother’s beaming expression.
“Why are we here, Link?” questioned Navi with whispers as she danced about his form.
“Rumors,” Link replied back.

It made sense. Lon Lon Ranch produced milk for Hyrule Market. The townspeople bought their milk and even gossiped around the merchants, as they went to sell their produce. The duo would have gone to the castle and asked around in the town square, but by the time they were passing the ranch, the draw bridge was already up and closed the town in for the night. So, they decided to go to the ranch, in hopes of gaining some knowledge, assuming anyone knew about the pirates the hunter spoke about.
“Talon, be careful,” Malon spoke, looking up to Link and blushing in embarrassment. “I’m sorry for the wait, Ingo should be home soon.”

In the last eight years of peace, after Ingo returned to being a farmhand, Lon Lon Ranch had changed drastically. Talon, Malon’s father, had died, leaving the ranch to his daughter for keeping. Strangely, Malon had fallen in love with Ingo despite his mutiny all those years ago. When Link found out he often wondered what she could see in the man, but she merely stated, as if reading his mind, that Ingo was a hard worker and loyal always, helping her after her father’s death to keep the ranch afloat. And so, they soon fell in love and got married. They gave birth to the son that stood before Link, whose name was Talon. This was in honor of Malon’s father.
“Link, we can’t stay here much longer,” Samus interrupted with impatience. “We can’t just wait. We have to head back.” Malon glanced to Link with confusion, not understanding Aran at all. Numerous times she had peeked looks at the hunter, obviously wondering about her clothes and appearance. Link didn’t care to explain. He didn’t want to.
“I’m so sorry! I don’t know what’s taking him so long,” Malon stood up from her position and picked up Talon. “I’ll go and see if he’s coming in.” The hero stopped her.
“No, I will. It’s dark out there. I’ll go find him.”

Link moved to the door and stepped out, silently closing it behind him. He stood in the middle of the pathway, between the stables and the family’s room, looking down towards the entrance of the ranch. Night was thick around him, and Navi bounced around him, giving him some light under the stars. The air was cold and still. Link felt the hairs on his neck stand on end.
Something wasn’t right.
Drawing his sword, the hero silently made his way towards the entrance, watching with determined eyes as a shadowy outline crept its way just around the corner. It slowly came into view, sluggish and stumbling. Link gripped his sword and waited, trying to get a better view.
“Link, it’s Ingo!” Navi hissed, “It’s Ingo! He’s hurt!”

The hero rushed forward to meet the injured Ingo, hearing the man’s moans of suffering when he reached him. Ingo fell into his chest, breathing heavily, mumbling to himself. Link looked down to see where he was hurt, and in Navi’s light, as she buzzed about in the excitement, he saw it. Ingo’s leg was torn off.
The blood gushed from him as Ingo cried, literal tears streaming down his face.
“A-attack – village m-monsters – AHHHWWW,” The male shrieked in pain and let his good leg give way, in which Link gently set him on the ground, spying the long trail of blood as he had entered. Samus was right.
At her husband’s cry, Malon rushed out, fear and bewilderment on her ghost-stricken face. Running ahead as her child attempted to keep up, Malon stopped suddenly at sight of Ingo’s missing leg and jumped back to cover her baby’s eyes.
“I-Ingo,” she choked, tears dropping on her child’s head, “I-Ingo…”
“G-Go back…in Malon, don’t let T-Talon see…” Growled out Ingo gradually, gripping on Link’s tunic in pain. He clenched his teeth as Link moved his body closer to him.
“Ingo, what happened?” he urged, his eyes large. Quickly, with his right hand, Link dug into a pack on his belt, pulling out a small bottle. A glowing, relapsing pink orb danced about comfortingly within.
“Horrible…m-monsters,” Ingo stammered with difficulty, crunching his eyes closed, “K- Kakariko …m…massacre…”

Malon, who had went to put her son in his room, came back and knelt with a stressed countenance at her husband’s head, letting him rest it in her lap. She stroked his hair and looked to Link.
“H-He was delivering milk to Kakariko; it wasn’t supposed to take that long.” Link opened the bottle as she spoke, putting the glass jar to Ingo’s lips. By this time, Samus had joined with them, staring down at the male with seriousness. The small pink fairy encased in the bottle escaped, whirling around the man’s figure with quick movements. This caused the bleeding from the male’s legless wound to stop, giving him little relief in pain, but a chance at life. Malon continued, “He was going to be paid extra for the personal delivery…and we needed the money.” Malon put her lips to her lover’s forehead, kissing his softly before resting her wet cheek on his head. “I shouldn’t have pushed you to do it. We should have just let them buy it at the market…”
Ingo breathed in heavily, “Town square has been…ah-attacked too.”

Link turned swiftly to look at Samus, who merely stared at him with sad eyes. Link, careful as to not further injure Ingo, slowly moved away from the man and stood up, crouching down to pick up the hurt form. Ingo let out a scream of pain as Link rested him over his shoulder and walked to put him to his bed. After the man was safely in his bed Link nodded with determination at the sight of the injured male. He would go see the town square.

The horse’s gallops pulsed in the hero’s ears as he and the hunter left the ranch. Link had told Malon to stay in her home, just in case the monsters came their way. Once out into the open field, Link pressed on, urging his horse to hurry to the castle.
Everything was quiet when they arrived, and Link dismounted to scan the area. It was just as it always was, but the male could sense the panic and tension in the air, and uneasiness settled on his spirit. Samus looked down at him.
“Link,” she said, glancing around, “I need to get back to my ship. By now, with all these apparent disruptions, it can tell us where these mutations are.” Link nodded, moving to his horse and petting the velvet nuzzle.
“You can take Epona. I’m going to stay here and find out what’s going on.” Samus interjected.
“Are you sure you can handle this? These are a different type of monster altogether. I don’t know if mere magic can work against them,” she said, moving her form to grab hold of the reins.
“Easy girl,” Link whispered as Epona let out a nay of distress, comforting the animal as Samus watched him. “She should be okay once you get going.” The male continued, “She’s just not used to having anyone else ride her and she’s anxious…there’s definitely something wrong.”

Stepping away, Link watched as Samus reared the horse around and rode back in the direction of the forest. She would probably get her suit, he thought as he turned his attention back to the quiet castle. Pulling his hook-shot from his belt, he attempted to find a place the small claw could grasp onto. After many tries, he found one just at the top of the wooden drawbridge, feeling as the metal impacted with the molding wood. Letting the strong chain pull his body up, his hands gripped the top of the door as he swung his form over and jumped to the other side, rolling his body on the stone ground to avoid injury.

What his eyes saw next made his stomach turn.
Blood everywhere, limbs everywhere. The eyes were wide and staring, blaming him for his late coming. And there, in the light of the torches ablaze around the town, was a creature. Huge in stature, it wrangled with a Hyrulian’s flesh, tearing it apart with large, overruling claws. Link took a step back, gearing his sword, preparing his shield. At the sound of his boot barely scraping along the stone floor, the monster wrenched its head up in alarm. It whipped it’s large, muscular body and an eyeless face stared at the young hero.
Remembering Samus’ words, Link quickly, never taking his eyes off the beast that was still, thrust out his sword, holding it slightly horizontal to the ground. A steady glow began to appear on his blade, pulsing with life. As he quietly moved his shield in attempts to gather more magic to his weapon, the monster jerked its attention and raised its head to the sky. Emitting a loud cry, the beast charged.

Samus hopped lightly from Epona and carefully made her way through the trees and thicket to her cloaked ship. However, when she got to the clearing, her ship was anything but invisible.
The hunter saw with complete shock the damage done to her vessel. The guns had been torn from the very ship, thrown carelessly aside like garbage. Sparks shot out from various places where wires hung down. The gunship, barely able to hover, let out a loud hum and buzzing, as if crying to Samus for help. As Aran drew closer, she noticed that the top of the ship, the entrance, was ripped apart just as easily as paper, leaving a large, gapping hole that was effortlessly accessible.

Silently making her way inside, she was relieved to find that whoever was here was now gone. Now Samus was left to calculate the damage.
Indeed, the individual who was able to find, and not only that, destroy the hunter’s any chance for getting off the planet was definitely a threat. Obvious, as Samus checked her unusable computer, and to her broken heart, picked up the pieces that were her suit, this was someone quite knowledgeable about her and her capabilities. Samus picked up her busted helmet, noting the large chunk missing from the view. How would she fix this? The female didn’t think anyone in this region had any sort of technological genius. They lived off the very land. Samus sighed, thankful that at least that person didn’t get to her scanner data that was stored inside the head covering. This was good news, very good news as Samus was glad she had upgraded her ship and its computer. This meant, as Aran thought again, that whatever her ship’s findings had made before the attack was now stored in her visor data in the suit. Samus smiled with hope and was thankful she had taken the extra time and money to ‘deck out’ her ship. She released the small, exterior drive from inside the damaged helmet and clenched it tightly in her hand. Samus frowned as she went to her cryogenic chamber, pushed a button near the base of the small area, and watched as the floor opened up to reveal another, more simplistic suit. This was her standard. This was her first hunter’s attire.
Samus sighed as she undressed and fit herself into the basic costume. It was nothing like her other one, and couldn’t do even half of the things she now realized she had taken for granted, but it was something at least. It would help her beat these strange monsters that were now plaguing this wonderful land. As the hunter put on the helmet, she was disappointed to find that she could not access her visor data in this suit. It had a scanner, but this didn’t have an external drive. She hid the small device in a small pocket way she opened up in her suit. With arm cannon intact, Samus leapt from her ship and looked back at it dismally. There was nothing she could do to conceal it anymore, and so, she had to leave it as was. Now, if only she could find someone to help her acquire the information she needed.

Link let out a loud, frustrated yell as his sword whirled about and impacted with the monster’s opened mouth. The beast was thrust back at his attack and skid across the stone floor, where it stopped a few feet away full of snarls and growling.
“I don’t know anything about this monster!” Navi yelped out with fear. She hid in his hat, as Link huffed with sweat dripping from his features. The beast attempted to regain its composure and got up, shaking itself off. Link’s eyes were wide as he saw that the monster’s bottom jaw was missing. Emerald blood pooled on the floor as the figure let out an injured growl. Bracing his body again for a charge, Link was startled when the monster suddenly leapt into the air, its massive form and clawed feet coming down on him with intense speed. Link stumbled back and shoved his weapon up with both hands, feeling as the metal lodged itself in the beast’s stomach. The hero was brought to his back, and just before his sword’s hilt impaled his own insides, Link felt as arms wrapped around his form. He no sooner opened his eyes, only to see Sheik staring down at him. As the hero sat up and hurriedly got to his feet, the other, taller male joined him and turned to the monster. At the moment, greetings and questions of why Zelda was there didn’t matter. Link just wanted his Master sword.

Having a blade impaled in its intestine, the monster tittered and stumbled towards the duo. Link grit his teeth, watching as the large beast tried to roar. Despite Sheik’s warnings, the hero ran forward whilst reaching into the pack on his belt, feeling a stone in his hands. Fumbling a second, the stone grew warm and as Link advanced on the monster, who stumbled back in fear, dripping its blood on the ground with the scratch of the sword’s hilt sounding in the male’s sharp ears, the hero skid his form to the floor, using his right hip as the point of impact, and let the force and smoothness of the ground carry his shape straight under the creature. The monster, thoroughly confused, made to claw and dodge only to feel as Link pushed out his hands. The rock, known as Din’s Fire, erupted like a large explosive volcano, the fire dancing up and entering the wound of the monster. The beast screamed in agony as Link’s eyes reflected the flames, watching as the fiend was burnt alive. The smell of burnt flesh and dried blood entered his senses, and as Link observed the monster’s form being gathered up by the dangerous flames, its outline rising up from the intense heat, he reached and yanked his sword from the stomach. Soon, the creature’s charred outline landed near Sheik, who stared in complete astonishment. All was quiet as Link swung his weapon and felt the metal enter its sheath.

But, it was too late to celebrate.

Just when Sheik mouthed a word, the monster began to stir. Instantly, Link grabbed his sword. He watched as the monster’s back heaved. He saw as the top of its back broke apart, and he gasped as something came from inside.
A small, insignificant parasite uncoordinatedly danced up. It was a deep green with red membrane flashing in remaining energy, seemly hurt from the attack on its host. Link saw as it hovered in the air with drunkenness and did a ballet around the dead beast beneath it. Then, catching sight of the Hyrulian, it emitted a loud cry as two pairs of large fangs twitched. It swung back and flew forward. Link, acting on impulse, grabbed his hook shot and aimed the claw at the small monster. Gaining his footing, he forced the tiny outline to obey his shot’s chain, and freeing one hand from the handle, the hero took his sword, whirled the beast around, and let his weapon impact with the top of the monster’s noticeable head, pinning it squarely to the stone floor. The parasite shrieked and continued to move and squirm. Link was shocked when the monster slid up the blade and into the hilt, where it then took hold of his hand. Screaming in pain, the male felt as his hand began to shrink, being drained of energy, he let go of his sword was surprised as he took the monster with him. A bizarre tissue began to crawl up his arm from the small parasite’s mouth. Sheik made to grab at the monster when Link yelled.
“STOP, GRAB MY SWORD.” Sheik did so, taking the hilt in his hand as Link began to dance backwards, as if trying to escape the pulsating tissue on his limb. With determined eyes wracked with pain, he outreached his left hand, beckoning Sheik to throw him the weapon. This the male did, and soon, a piercing screech rang through the air. Sheik savagely disposed of the monster with pain and anger in his eyes. When silence fell on the massacre, the male’s red orbs looked from Link, on his knees parallel with the cold floor, to the discarded appendage on the ground.
Dark crimson liquid mingled with the various other colors on the stone while the hero curled up, his face on his knees, grasping his sliced wound in hurt.