Lost with Life Chapter 4
#4 of Lost with Life.
Link is a guard, busy dealing with the odd and strange people in the markets. He is one of many guards, but often at night, he gets a strange feeling as if he is missing something. Throughout the story, he will regain his memory of the life he once lived long ago. He will meet the strangest people, fight the deadliest beasts, and perhaps find what he was missing.
Link let out a brief yell as he quickly stumbled back, but when he saw what startled him, he felt embarrassed. He saw a sort of floating imp, clearly female, and wearing nothing but a large smile on her face. She did however appear to have some sort of stone ring around her hair, holding it in a pony tail. "You're what's scaring everyone?! I thought you would be...well, scary."
The imp let out a small giggle. "For a moment, I thought you were going to have a heart attack! You handled seeing me better than anyone else has so far. Hmm..." The imp slowly floated around Link in a full three-sixty, examining him.
"With the way everyone talked about you, I was expecting something a little bigger." Link did feel a little uncomfortable with her floating around him like that. He kept his eyes locked onto her the entire time, looking over one shoulder, and then quickly whipping his head to look over the other shoulder. Even though he felt like she wasn't that dangerous, he didn't feel like it was wise to completely drop his guard.
"Didn't anyone ever tell you that it not the size that counts?" She said to him as she floated around to face him once more. She thought this guy was kind of handsome, much better looking than the villagers that kept on pestering her.
Link didn't feel threatened by this imp in the slightest, although he guessed that he should be cautious seeing as he had never seen anything like her before in his life. "Only my friends, when they're trying to make themselves feel better." He replied with a smile. The imp giggled in response, but soon after, she quickly vanished into seemingly nowhere. It was then Link heard a familiar voice.
"Right, now the dead weight is back home, let's go kill ourselves a demon!" The captain happily said with a spear in his hands.
Link didn't feel like killing that imp. After listening and talking to her, it sounded as if she was just trying to survive, while the villagers were overreacting. He wouldn't feel right about killing someone who was just trying to live their life. That is why he then said something that was quite risky. "Err, the demon is already dead. I killed her." He lied, hoping that the imp stayed out of sight for now.
"Phahahaha! You're joking...right?" The captain asked Link. The captain highly doubted that just one soldier managed to vanquish a demon with such a reputation for standing up to anything anyone can throw at it.
The guard simply shook his head. "I'm not joking at all. I killed it, but, it kind of vanished when it died." Link told the captain. He knew he was taking a big risk, standing up for this strange creature, but he felt like it was the right thing to do. What else was he supposed to do? Just hunt her down for being different? He could be wrong, but it sounded like her only crimes were being different, and defending herself.
"That's rather convenient..." The captain said as he stared right into Link's eyes. "And not a scratch on you..."
Link stared right back into the captain's eyes. "Take a look around if you don't believe me. It is no longer here." He firmly said.
The captain then proceeded to check the entire area, walking around quietly. After a few minutes, it became clear that there was nothing here, or whatever was here was quite good at hiding. "Hmm, right, I guess our job here is done." The captain mumbled, not happy that he came all the way out here for pretty much nothing. "We better go tell the villagers that their demon problem is over." The captain said as he walked on ahead of Link.
Link took a moment to look back up to that home in the tree, almost expecting to see her up there, but she was nowhere to be seen. He hoped that she heard him, and that she stays out of sight from now on. He followed his captain, informing them that the demon was dead. The captain made sure to let everyone know that Link was the one who said he had killed her. The villagers cheered and thanked him. Link couldn't help but feel a little sad that they would celebrate her death as if it was the greatest thing that ever happened to them. He put on a smile, knowing that he may have just saved that imp's life by lying to his captain. The villagers had a massive feast to celebrate. They brought out wooden chairs and tables and lit up nearly the whole village with torches, lanterns and candles. As Link sat down, another villager sat next to him. It was a blond haired woman with blue eyes. She looked to be somewhere in her mind twenties, wearing a simple off-white dress.
"Is it true you're the one who killed that monster?" She asked him, almost sounding sad.
"Yeah, I am." Link replied, having to go along with this.
"Couldn't you have found another way to get rid of it? Maybe talk to it?" She asked him as someone else sat down next to the woman, a younger man with brown hair, and bright green eyes.
"Speak to it?! Hah! Monsters don't understand peace! You can't make it go away by asking it! The guard had the right idea! Just stick a spear into it's heart and force it to go away!" The younger man said with a big smile on his face, before a pebble hit the back of his head. "Ow!" He quickly looked behind himself, looking around.
"What's wrong?" The blond woman asked with an annoyed look on her face.
"Someone just threw a rock at my head." The brown haired man told her.
"That's what you get when you're heartless." She simply replied to him with an unamused look on her face as she crossed her arms.
"Wow, and you call me heartless." The brown haired man responded as he rubbed the back of his sore head.
Link was glad at least someone here didn't want the imp killing off. He also couldn't help but wonder who threw that pebble. "I wanted to solve the problem peacefully, but I couldn't." He told her.
The blond haired woman didn't say anything more. She just sighed, and continued to eat, whilst the brown haired man began talking again.
"I knew the guards would sort it out!" He happily said with a smile on his face, before the captain then jumped into the conversation.
"We could use a few more smart lads that know how to handle themselves. Why don't you sign up?" The captain asked the brown haired man.
"Huh? You think I could be a guard?" The young asked the captain.
"Of course. We will train you up, give you your gear, and if you're really good, you'll rise through the ranks and get paid to stand around and look good." The captain said with a chuckle.
Link couldn't help but notice how easy the captain made it sound. The captain never did waste an opportunity to bring in new recruits. He then looked back to the blond woman as the other guys talked to each other. He had a few questions for her. "You know that house the imp was living in? Who does it belong to?" He asked, curious about that home in the tree. He got such a strange feeling from it.
"Oh, it was abandoned a long time ago. People say the man who saved all of hyrule used to live there." She told the guard, before she was rudely interrupted by the brown haired man.
"Oh come on, everyone knows that's just some fairy tale." The young man mockingly said.
"Is not! It's true! My relatives knew him! He was real!" She quickly argued. "Haven't you ever picked up a history book?!"
"The only thing a book is useful for is starting a fire!" The brown haired man cheerfully retorted.
Link sighed, staying out of the argument as the two of them yelled at each other back and forth. After having something to eat and drink, he was welcomed over to a newly built tavern. It was built as a resting place for travellers, but tonight, it was going to be a resting place for the two guards. Link walked into his room for the night. It was a simple room, with wood floors and walls. There was a small dresser drawer next to a small single bed. In the corner of the room, there was a small wooden ovel shaped wash basin. On the nearby drawer, there was a lantern which lit up the whole room. It provided most of the light in the room, along with the single nearby window. It had been a long day for Link, so he sat down, and began taking off his armor. It felt good to get all that heavy gear off himself. He pulled off almost every shred of clothing except for his trousers and boots. He let out a small yawn as he walked over towards the window, and looked up to the moon. He wondered if that strange imp was alright.
"Psst."
Link immediately spun around, only to see the strange imp woman in front of him. "You? How did you manage to get in here?" He whispered, not wanting anyone to think he was in here with anyone.
"I hid in your shadow." She casually replied as she floated in mid air, crossing her legs. "Did you see how happy everyone was when they thought you killed me?"
"Yeah, I did. By the way, I noticed rocks being thrown at certain people from seemingly nowhere." Link said to her with a curious look on his face. If it was her throwing those rocks, then he was very lucky that no one spotted her.
"I wasn't just about to let them enjoy my death, even if I didn't really die. Oh, that reminds me...why? Why stick your neck out for me?" She questioned him, wondering if he wanted something in return. In her experience, no one was nice without having some kind of ulterior motive.
"It just wasn't right... I like to think I do the right thing most of the time, and trying to hurt you, that just didn't seem right." He told her.
"You do realize that I can't go back to that place in case they see me, right? If they see me, they will try killing both of us." She was very thankful that he spared her a fight, but now, she was homeless. She brought her fingers up to her chin, stroking it with half lidded eyes as if she were thinking. "Do you have a home?" She asked the hylian.
Link wondered what the imp was planning, but he answered truthfully anyway. "Yes, I do. Why do you ask?"
A wide smirk spread across her face, exposing her teeth, and a noticeably sharp fang. "Cause you just got yourself a new roommate!"
Author's note: Midnaaaaa! Yeah! Now here come the really fun parts of the story! XD Not saying the rest of it wasn't fun but...well, every chapter needs more Midna! Thank you again to BigBossSonic for editing this once again! And thank you readers for reading!