1109 Performance.

Well… my search for the Gatcha Skyward Sword Link is not going well. I am swimming in OOT Zeldas now. I also have another OOT Link. The irony that I keep getting my least favorite characters is not lost on me. That said, I have been having a strange urge to try the 3DS remake of Ocarina Of Time. If ever I see a clearance version I may purchase it. In spite of never wanting to play it again every time I hear music from it… It’s like a siren’s song to me. I 100% completed OOT. That is fairly rare for me. I didn’t even 100% Skyward and I loved Skyward, but I know I could beat the boss rush, there’s just no point to it apart from being able to say I did, and the second quest isn’t a significant difference. Although I might play it at some point just to have a slightly different experience. Once I’ve been away from it for a while. It’s kind of ridiculous to go back and play remakes when I have original games waiting for my attentions. This problem has only been compounded by the lack of cheating devices for current gen systems. I understand that it ruins the achievement thing, but it sure would allow me to get through some of these stories in a more efficient way…

There’s no solving that unfortunately. All those companies suck now and can’t produce a quality product. They have been left behind in shame. The golden age of game cheating is over.

Hows about some more story?

“What is she to you?” Asked Alina.

“Family.” Julius replied. “Having lost our originals we made out own.”

“So, how did you come to find her?”

“As I’m sure you’re aware,” He began. “There are settlements all around the wall of the capital. Really just the city spilling out of its border. I was an apprentice to a locksmith. While the master was out on more complicated jobs I took care of day to day problems. On the day of the siege I was on the very outskirts, installing locks for a new shop. A weaponsmith named Burns was the client. He was an ex soldier. Nearly seventy, but built like an oak. He pestered me all day with small talk. I think he was nervous about starting a new business. Just talking to hear himself talk. I listened to his whole life story. Really it was the story of his whole family. Right down to his granddaughter who was studying magic. If it had been any other day I wouldn’t even be able to tell you what he looked like now… but it’s all burned into my memory.
I was trying my hardest to escape when his wife and granddaughter came running up the street. It was only then that I noticed the plumes of smoke starting to rise all around us. The alarm bells began to sound and the amplified voices of guards told everyone to make for the gates as quickly as they could. I turned to run, but the old soldier put his hand on my shoulder. ‘You’ll be safer with us.’ he said. I stood there for a few moments with his granddaughter while he and his wife armed themselves. That was the first time I met Twig. Standing there as chaos closed in around us.”

“I was standing in a training room when the first alarms came in. We were the advanced class. ‘Those who have shown exceptional skills in combat situations.’ I hated it. I only joined because I had a blazing row with my parents, but once you’re in, you’re in. The fact that I was exceptional at something I hated made it so much worse. I started as a healer. That’s it. No combat classes at all.”

“How did you learn to fight?” Julius asked.

“Niona needed extra sparring time once we got into the advance group.” Alina replied. “Basically all I was doing was reading books with occasional field tests. So I was getting really… plump. It’s good to be like that as a healer, so you have some extra reserves to draw from, but you have to balance it with being fit enough to move with a team. I was starting to tip the scales. It comes so naturally to me I didn’t have to try… So I volunteered to help Niona. I actually know all kinds of fighting styles because of it. Not well enough to have mastered them, but I can make due if the situation calls for it. I only favor the mace because I have some kind of affinity for it.”

“You certainly use one more effectively than anyone else I’ve seen.”

“Heal with one hand harm with the other… but I interrupted you. Please, what happened next?”

“Oh, uh, well Burns was only gone for a moment. When he emerged from the shop he was fully armored and ready. As was his wife, though after the fashion of a mage. He gave me bastard sword and Twig a rapier. I had my daggers, but he had told me earlier he didn’t care for the look of them. Which is fine, but I couldn’t use a proper sword to save my life at the time. Twig however held hers as if she’d been using them her entire life. And that was it, we ran for the gate like maniacs. Of course so was everyone else by that time, so the streets were choked with people. They were doing as much harm to each other as the invaders. Crazed panic had taken hold. Which exploded when the skeleton army caught up. It was bedlam. We were stood there between the insane mob trying to escape and a relentless army of the dead.”

“How did you survive?”

“We ran along the rooftops. Burns smashed in a door and told me to run along the roofs to the gate. He said he couldn’t make the jumps. He told Twig to watch me and do exactly as I did. Then he took me by the shoulders, looked me right in the eyes, and said ‘Protect her.’ So I did. We sprinted across the tightly clustered building, avoiding fires, until we were nearly to the gate.”

“But the buildings spread out towards the market circle…”

“Exactly. We couldn’t cross to the gate once we got there. And we weren’t alone other people had the same idea as us, but we were all stranded above a lake of destruction. We watched the elite guard fall and were sure it was over for us. Once the fighting stopped in front of the fountain they turned toward the buildings and started torching the ones with people on. I had no idea what to do. I was even worse at shadow walking then, so that was out. I was at the point of suggesting a suicide charge, just so we could go out on our feet, when the far side of the plaza exploded.”

“It was us…”

“It was. The multitudes pivoted to see what had caused the commotion and woman strode out of the dust. A wild mane of red hair blazed against the backdrop of gray smoke. She raised her club and brought it down with such thunderous fury that the very ground roiled and shattered like glass. Before the dust had settled again I watched her come rampaging out of the cloud. Every wide arc sweeping aside attackers as easily as one might sweep a floor.”

“Everyone else was lost in those ridiculous clouds I kicked up. They were backing me the entire time.” Alina said almost apologetically.

“Well, in the confusion you caused I chanced a run for it. Compared to you we were so minor a threat we barely encountered any resistance. We sprinted through the alleys to the wall, then made a mad dash for the gate. Of course it was sealed, but I gambled that I could shift through the crack with Twig. The guards inside were stunned when I fell onto the ground out of nowhere, nearly dead, with a young girl clinging to me for dear life.”

“So you managed to shift through the gate with another person? That’s impressive.”

“Only just, like I said I nearly died in the attempt, but it was a better chance than standing there waiting for a near certain death. Several people who followed us were overwhelmed in spite of you turning back the tide.”

“I couldn’t save them all. If I moved that way there was a risk I might accidentally bring down the doors. They’d already declared the outer settlements lost before we got there.” The apologetic tone had crept back into her words.

“You don’t need to explain it to me.” Julius replied. “The needs of the many and all that… We got lucky, they didn’t. Nobody wanted it to be that way. It just was.”

Alina nodded solemnly.

“I woke up a few days later in a hospital. Twig was curled up in the bed with me. They told me she went totally feral if they tried to separate us, so they just let her stay. I didn’t know it at the time, but her father and mother were with elite guard when they fell. She had already tried to contact her grandparents. Her grandmother invented those little stones she uses to talk over distance. But when she made an attempt the stone just fell to the floor. So… Since I agreed to protect her, and there was no one left to end the contract, I remain her protector.”