A 'Peaceful' Day in Ordon
The village of Ordon is a tiny farming town that is situated behind the lush forests of Faron. The village itself was peaceful, with a scattering of houses, and a variety of goats, cuccos and pumpkins. A stream filled with clear, sparkling water and fat, gleaming fish ran through the village. A tall tree was bent over the village, seemingly overlooking and protecting the villages and its people. On one of the trees branches, there perched a boy, curled around the branches as if he were a cat napping on a comfy chair. His short black hair blowing softly in the breeze. Contentedly, the boy looked over his village, a lazy smile across his lips. Everything was peaceful, everything was calm. The stream was trickling gently, the village children were playing happily, the breeze carrying their joyous shouts, one in particular was shouting. But not joyously, no. This ‘child’s’ shouting was more gruff and angry than high-pitched and happy. The owner of this rather loud voice was a short, dark haired boy, with skin the colour of dark chocolate and annoyed reddish brown eyes. This boy was furiously marching towards the black haired boys tree.
“HEY EGBERT GET YOUR ARSE DOWN HERE, YOU’RE, VERY SUPRISINGLY, NEEDED. LIKE RIGHT NOW. THERE’S SHIT TO BE DONE.”
(John’s P.O.V)
I was broken out of my reverie by my cranky best friend Karkat, who was shouting angrily up at me from my position in my tree. I grinned sheepishly and slid down the trees trunk to join him.
Karkat spoke (or rather shouted) a lot for such a short person but he speaks enough for the three of us (Me, Karkat and my sister, Jade, even though Jade talks quite a bit too, and I don’t technically, but I still make plenty of coversation). We all became friends when we were six. I played a particularly funny (Karkat says that it wasn’t funny) prank on Karkat. Needless to say, the boy didn’t like my attempts to lighten him up and then tried to beat me up. Jade, being the loving, protective sister she is, came to my rescue by beating him up. We were inseparable ever since.
‘Hey Karkat what’s up?’ I signed, bounding towards him, enveloping his small form with a big hug. Karkat grumbled a little, before gently pushing me away. “WE HAVE WORK TO DO. WE NEED TO HEARD THE GOATS IN SO THEY CAN BE MILKED, FIX THE MAYORS FENCE, HELP YOUR NANNA BAKE SOME SCONES AND PREPARE TO SEND THE VILLAGES’ GIFT TO HYRULE CASTLE.”
‘Well we don’t seem to have anything that important we need to do...at all’ I rolled my eyes, and begun heading towards the nearest goat. ‘Come on Karkat, we should start with the goats.’ Herding the goats was a two man job. The job consisted of us flailing our arms about and yelling (well Karkat yelled, I just flailed my arms about) trying to scare the goats into their pen, and accidently scaring some of the village children in the process.
When all the goats were in the pen (which took way longer than it was supposed to and involved a whole lot of angry goats trying to ram us and laughing children) I turned to Karkat as we began heading down to the Mayor’s house
‘Well now that we goat that over and done with, we should really fix Mr Mayors fence. I mean, it kinda is our fault it’s broken’
“ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME EGBERT, GOAT PUNS? I HAVE TO PUT UP WITH ENOUGH PUNS AS IT IS FRO-NEVERMIND. JUST. NO PUNS. THEY’RE TERRIBLE”
‘But Karkat, you did one yourself! A kid is a baby goat’
“OH FOR FUCKS SAKE. LETS JUST GET THIS FENCE OVER AND FIXED OK?” Karkat sighed angrily before gesturing towards the Mayors house, and the short, black skinned man outside it.
I waved happily at the Mayor, and he waved back. I like the Mayor. He’s mute too (although he was born like that) and was the one who taught me to sign. Apparently I took to it easily, ‘like a natural, as if you’ve done this before’ he had signed to me. Some of my fondest memories would be of the two of us sitting on his floor, just signing to each other, the scent of my nanna’s cooking wafting throughout the village. He was short, even shorter than Karkat (and that was saying something, because that guy was short) and black skinned. And I don’t mean really dark brown, I meant literally black. Blacker than one thousand emos eyeliner.
Extracting the items we needed out of my sylladex, we set to work, hammering away at the collapsed fence that we may or may not have smashed into accidently whilst riding billy carts.
The Mayor signed happily at us and joined in on our casual banter (more like Karkat yelling, pausing to look at our hands, then yelling some more). Even though he can sign, the Mayor prefers not to, so Karkat more looked at my hands then his. After around an hour of this (and some pumpkin juice the Mayor made for us), we were finished. We stood back to admire it.
‘So how do you like it Mr Mayor?’ I asked
The Mayor replied by excitedly clapping his hands together
‘I think he likes it Karkat’
“OR HE COULD JUST BE CLAPPING AT HOW SHIT A JOB WE DID”
I shook my head, chuckling quietly
‘Goodbye Mr Mayor, I hope you like your fence’ I wave him goodbye and Karkat and I headed off to Jade and I’s house, just outside of town. Before we could knock on the door, it swung open, revealing an enthusiastic tan-skinned girl with bright green eyes and black hair.
Jade was the oldest in our group (and I’m the youngest) and also the tallest (which Karkat absolutely hated, because he was the shortest, and he had an Edward Elric Height Complex). Jade was a kind, incredibly smart and enthusiastic girl, but you would never want to see her angry. A lot of people say we look similar, and I agree. Tan-skin, black hair (except mine was short and messy, and hers was long and messy), similar face shapes, one major difference was our eye colours. Hers was a bright, emerald green, and mine was a darkish blue.
Jade grinned a buck-toothed grin and enveloped us in a bone-crushing hug.
“Hey guys! You ready to cook with nanna?” She let us go, merriment in her eyes.
‘Not really, you know I hate baked confections’ I pursed my lips into a thin line and shrugged.
“YEAH. YOUR NANNA IS A GREAT COOK AND ALL, BUT HER COOKIES AND CAKES TASTE…WITCHY”
‘How does something taste witchy that makes no sense’ I signed exasperatedly at him and followed Jade inside, Karkat in tow.
We were greeted with a face full of whipped cream.
“Hoo hoo hoo, hello boys, glad you could join us”
I wiped the cream from my eyes frustratedly and gave the short, chubby old lady standing in front of me an exasperated sigh.
My nanna is great, but she can be a little overbearing sometimes, but she is a truly kind and caring woman. I inherited my love of pranks from her, the same way Jade inherits her skills with a gun from her grandpa. It used to be the five of us. Nanna, Jade, Grandpa, me and…dad…but then dad died, and Nanna and Grandpa had to deal with the consequences left behind of that…incident; a dead son/nephew and a grandson who refused to talk ever again, due to trauma. Then, in a cruel twist of ironic fate, a few months later, grandpa died in a hunting accident, trampled to death by his favourite animal. We all try to keep our spirits up, but even though it happen 10 years ago, it still hurt.
“HELLO MRS CROCKER IT’S NICE TO SEE YOU STILL HAVEN’T REALISED HUMAN BEINGS DO NOT GREET EACH OTHER WITH CREAM PIES TO THE FACE.” Karkat grumbled, wiping the cream off his face and scowling.
‘Karkat! Don’t speak to nanna like that!’ I signed at him whilst Jade told him something along the same lines.
“Hoo hoo hoo dears it’s quite alright, although Karkat has quite a mouth on him, he is just like a puppy.”
“I AM NOT A PUPPY OLD LADY. I WILL FIGHT YOU.”
‘Karkat! You are not fighting my nanna!’ I signed frantically, attempting to hold him back. Nanna just laughed, before patting his head lightly, and then he passed out.
^ ^ ^
After Karkat came round, we had a pretty great time. The day passed in a bunch of laughter, cream pie throwing, a waste of batter (in trying to throw it at each other), terrible puns and Karkat screaming.
Unfortunately, it had to end soon.
“John dearie, you have to go to Prospit Castle to deliver the villages gift soon. Are you up for it?” Nanna asked, handing me of satchel of supplies for the one day trip to the Castle.
‘I’ll be fine nanna, I know the way’ I signed back. She looked down at my hands before bringing me into a hug.
“That’s not what I’m worried about. You know that-“She was cut off by the sound of children screaming and a horse in a panic. The three of us looked at each other and raced outside.
We were greeted with the sight of the screaming village children and a large black horse with a ginger cat bolting around the village, tearing up pumpkins and sending the animals into a panic.
Karkat dropped the tray of muffins he was holding and started ‘quietly’ babbling to himself. “WHAT HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE WHY ARE THEY HERE THIS DOESN’T MAKE SENSE THEY SHOULD ONLY BE HERE IF…OH…WE’RE ALL FUCKED”
Jade and I however, leapt into action. We bolted towards the panicked horse. I grabbed its reins and Jade leapt onto its back whilst Karkat was screeching at us not to.
Eventually, after around ten minutes of Karkat screaming, Jade nearly falling off the horses back, an angry ginger cat and my feet being bruised badly, we managed to calm the horse down. Unfortunately, my feet were heavily bruised and I would not be able to walk to Prospit Castle.
‘Guys, I don’t think I’ll be able to walk to Prospit Castle today. My feet are bruised and aching and it hurts to walk. What are we gonna do?’ I signed desperately, looking at Jade and Karkat. Karkat sighed angrily and turned his attention behind me.
“LISTEN HERE YOU ANNOYING PIECES OF SHIT. NOW SINCE YOU BOTH FUCKED US OVER BIG TIME, AND, SINCE YOU’RE HERE YOU HAVE TO HELP THIS KID HERE IN ANY WAY YOU CAN. CARRY HIM TO PROSPIT CASTLE, PROTECT HIM FROM HARM AND MAKE SURE HIS MISSION IS COMPLETE. UNDERSTOOD?” Karkat finished, drawing himself to his full height of 1.25 metres (4’11”). The horse and cat seemed to nod sheepishly. The cat jumped down from the horses neck and slunk towards me, proceeding to tacklepounce into my lap. I laughed and patted her curly ginger fur and her olive eyes looked up at me excitedly. My attention was drawn to the collar around her neck.
‘Nepeta? Is that your name?’ I asked her, and she opened her mouth as if to reply, but Karkat quickly interjected.
“YES. HER NAME IS NEPETA AND THE HORSE IS EQUIUS.” he spat out, glaring at them as he introduced them. Jade rounded on him
“How do you know that?” she asked, throwing him a suspicious look.
“R-REASONS HARLEY. REASONS THAT YOU DO NOT NEED TO KNOW RIGHT NOW.” Karkat shot back, and I swear I saw a glimpse of nervousness in his eyes. That was weird. Karkat was never nervous. And he NEVER stuttered.
Equius whinnied and nudged me, successfully breaking my train of thought and reminding me that we had to get going.
I stood up, gently nudging Nepeta off me (who jumped atop Equius again) and tugged on Karkat and Jade’s sleeves, stopping their argument.
‘I have to go now’ I hugged them both and then hopped atop Equius’s back. ‘I’ll miss you guys. Have fun without me’ I smiled at them sadly.
“Bye john! Keep safe! We’ll miss you too!”
“BYE FUCKASS, DON’T DIE”
I laughed, waved goodbye and headed off
^ ^ ^
Everything was peaceful and calm as the three of us trotted through the sun-drenched path that went through to Faron Woods. As we passed the Ordon Light Spirit’s Spring I swore I saw a flash of red dart past me, but after a few minutes of looking, I narrowed it down to a trick of the light. But I still couldn’t shake the feeling I was being watched, but I had a feeling they weren’t unfriendly.
Soon after that, we arrived on a wooden bridge covered in flowers.
Karkat and I had thread some flowers on the bridge for Jade’s 8th birthday 8 years ago in an attempt to attract some animals. It’s been a monthly tradition for us since. We’d spend the entire day down at the river, with nanna’s snacks and chains of flowers.
When we were younger, we all had a theory that the bridge was magical, and granted wishes. We’ve since grown up, but I still somewhat believe in its wish-granting abilities.
As we crossed the bridge, I could feel the presence just behind me and I smiled to myself. The presence felt comforting, and it was nice to know someone was looking out for me.
I was so caught up in thoughts of the presence that I didn’t see the wall until Equius reared in terror.
It was shadowy black, with shining purple in patterns of spirals and suns. Equius and Nepeta were freaking out; whinnying/mewling frantically. I reached a hand out to comfort them, but they bolted off in a panic.
I felt a red blur whirl past me and disappear inside the wall. A few seconds later, a similar black hand, but with bright red instead of purple reached out to me, as if offering its hand. It beckoned towards me, as if saying ‘come on, what are you waiting for?’ With shaking but determined fingers, I reached out and touched the hand. Immediately, I was whisked inside the wall.
Looking around, I realised that the red figure was gone, and, ignoring my disappointment, I took in my surroundings. The first thing I noticed was the temperature change. It was freezing! It looked like the normal Faron Woods…I think. I couldn’t see anything, only basic shapes. Everything was entrenched in shadow that seemed to quietly whisper things at me, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying.
Suddenly, I felt a great pain all over my body. I felt myself changing, turning into something not human. Fur grew where skin was previously, my teeth lengthened and sharpened, I could feel my eyesight sharpening and my bones cracking as my shape changed.
In a haze of confusion, I stumbled around, trying to clear my head. I think I was probably crying. My newfound paws carried me clumsily further into the shadow. I still couldn’t really see anything and I was really distressed, so you can’t really blame me when I bumped into a group of hideously disfigured monsters. They had somehow been altered by the Twilight around me, as their bodies were black as night with lines of faintly glowing purple twisted around their mutated bodies. In the back of my mind, I wondered if I now looked like that.
I leapt into action, attacking as many monsters as I could. But, I was growing weary. I had just transformed into a hideous beast, and was feeling drowsy and disorientated. I could feel my strength leaving me. I was done for.
Suddenly, the flash of red was back, and he was cutting down monsters left and right. I wanted to reach out, talk to him, but I could feel myself losing consciousness.
And then I did.