Commander, Adzy, Skuhoo and SilentStormSix had been shoved into the back of a floating monorail.
The monorail was made entirely out of an unknown, silver metal. The car in which they were in was rusted, and the sides of the wall were peeling. Strange stains also splattered the wall in what Commander hoped wasn’t blood. The four of them sat in silence, only the thrumming of the monorail below piercing the silence.
Nothing but ruined buildings and fields of dry grass lay below them.
Commander thought to himself about what had happened.
Preksak somehow travelled back in time to prevent Cryptite from winning the Battle of the Spire. He did this by killing him somehow and Freyjia wasn’t able to save him in time. But how did he kill Crypt? What happened after the battle? Why was everything the way it was?
And most importantly what role did that piece of the knife have to do with all of this?
They had taken away the knife when Commander and the group had been taken by the artifices.
Commander buried his face in his hands, wishing that all of this was a horrible nightmare. That bottle of mead had given him bizarre dreams before.
Instead of feeling sorry for himself, Commander lifted his head back up and looked straight ahead at Adzy who was sulking just the same as him. Commander tapped with his foot and Adzy looked up at him.
“How’d your eye get like that?” Commander asked
Adzy looked at Commander with a face of disbelief but swallowed his pride.
“Well, when I was a slave to Preksak, I tried escaping once… as punishment they struck me down and scarred my eye. An eye for an eye they said. They promised not to be as lenient as next time, whatever that means in their sick, prevented minds.”
“Do you know what happened after the Battle of the Spire?” Commander asked
Skuhoo then decided to speak up.
“Yes… nothing was the same ever again…”
…
After the Battle of the Spire, Skuhoo went on to explain, Preksak successfully set off his world bomb. Not only did he destroy all of Loka, he killed everyone, except for a select few he decided to save.
This wasn’t out of the goodness of his heart, but he intended to use them as slaves. His final plan was unknown and was only known to him.
The select few he chose to save were MagPieMan, his son Drixan and a few others whose names Skuhoo did not know.
Skuhoo, Adzy and SilentStormSix were born into this world of darkness as slaves to Preksak. They did not know their parents and were raised under the torture of the artifices.
Slaving away for what felt like centuries, they were forced to mine obsidian all day to build this mysterious tower.
SilentStormSix added in at this point, the purpose of the so-called Dark Tower, as the other slaves had called it, was unknown.
Adzy said it reminded him of the original Spire but there was something different about it. Preksak didn’t want to destroy everything or create something new, he wanted to go somewhere.
Commander thought about the words Tee had told him the night before about journeying beyond the First World. Maybe Preksak sought to go there as well. Skuhoo went to explain further, he, Adzy and SilentStormSix managed to escape after Adzy’s first failed attempt to escape. He also said the details of how they escaped didn’t matter.
Soon, they formed a resistance against Preksak and his artifacts. Others escaped, but it was a losing battle. Those who used to be part of the resistance were either killed, forced back into slavery and became cyborgs like 36s or were in hiding. The monorail came to a halt and the back doors to it opened. 36s stood in front of them, his cyborg parts twitching in the red light of the artifices.
“Grab them.” 36s said. The artifices grabbed all four of the men, despite Commander trying to resist by kicking.
“There’s no point. We must face down whatever fate has in store for us.” Adzy said
…
Days before Commander arrived, Adzy, SilentStormSix and Skuhoo were travelling among the ruins of the Third World, looking for something. Something that could possibly help them defeat Preksak. A long lost weapon missing the Battle of the Spire.
The sword of Hyrule. After the Battle of the Spire, Freyjia took the body of Cryptite to parts unknown, but the sword disappeared from the battle.
Adzy, SilentStormSix and Skuhoo were now at the former battle site to look for any sign of it.
Standing before them was the original Spire, with its long gray pillars and shattered glass at the top. Skeletons and armour from the battle lay across the field. It was a massacre.
“There’s no way we're going to find the sword you know. It’s been long since pillaged and probably disappeared into the realms of legend.” Skuhoo said
“But there’s a slight chance we’ll find it. I don’t care how small that chance is, hope will still be alive.” Adzy
Adzy knew that this was a pointless exercise and they had no chance in finding it, but some tiny part of him hoped they would find it. They still had to try. They had come here many times over the years, but they never found anything.
Moving towards the bottom of the Spire, there were fewer and fewer bodies. Then they came to the bottom. At the bottom of the Spire laid the casing of the World Bomb. SilentStormSix spat at the ground, cursing the thing.
“Evil blasted things. It’s responsible for the way things are.” SilentStormSix said
But something out of the corner of Adzy’s eye caught his attention. From within the World Bomb casing, a golden shimmer appeared.
No, he thought to himself. It can’t be… We’ve looked inside the casing so many times.
All three men stepped up inside the casing of the world bomb and gasped. Lying before them in the bottom of it, was the Sword of Hyrule. Adzy’s heart swole up with hope. This one weapon, they could use it to defeat Preksak and free the world from his evil grasp. As he stepped down to reach for it, suddenly he felt a knife to the back of his throat.
“Why betray me now, brothers? After everything we’ve been through?’
But Adzy quickly realized that it wasn’t Skuhoo or SilentStormSix. They stood behind the figure with their weapons drawn. A figure wearing a black robe held the knife to Adzy’s throat.
“I must have that weapon,” the figure said. “It is not time for you to wield it yet,”
Feeling the blade of the knife tighter against his throat, Adzy asked:
“And who might you be?”
The figure released Adzy from his grip and walked down and picked up the sword.
“It is not important who I am, but I have come to guide you to the right path.”
The figure pulled down his hood and showed his face to everyone. It was an older man, looking world-weary and tired.
“My name is Wizardteepot. Things are not as they're meant to be. Have you heard of a world called Grimdale?”
“Well no shit, mister. We live in a nightmare world. We deserve better than this.” SilentStormSix said.
Adzy was vaguely familiar with the portal that led to another world, Grimdale. It was a method used to escape Loka before it was shut off mysteriously over 50 years ago. People had starved to death waiting by the entrance to it, waiting for an escape that would never come. The thought of it made Adzy shutter.
“Yes, I am vaguely familiar with the portal that leads to that world. But it’s been shut off for decades.”
“Well, there is a person coming who will key in finally defeating Preksak once and for all. He'll do something that you’ll need.”
“Who is this person and what does he have?” Adzy asked
“ I cannot reveal more as it may cause the upcoming battle to have a less favourable outcome. I must also take the sword, as it will be needed for a critical moment in the future.”
“But wait, we can use the sword, here and now to finally defeat Preksak!”
“I’m sorry, old friend. I must take it now. It will appear in your moment of greatest need.”
And then the figure disappeared, slowly fading out of existence.
“Wait! Wait! Wait! Give to us! No, no, no!” Adzy yelled
But Wizardteepot had fully disappeared. Sighing in frustration, Adzy sat down on the casing of the world bomb.
“What do we do, Adzy?” Skuhoo asked.
Adzy, standing back up said:
“We go find this person coming out of the portal from Grimdale. See who they are and what that thing they have is. And then we kick Preksak’s sorry ass out of his obsidian tower. Enough is enough.”
…
The monorail was made entirely out of an unknown, silver metal. The car in which they were in was rusted, and the sides of the wall were peeling. Strange stains also splattered the wall in what Commander hoped wasn’t blood. The four of them sat in silence, only the thrumming of the monorail below piercing the silence.
Nothing but ruined buildings and fields of dry grass lay below them.
Commander thought to himself about what had happened.
Preksak somehow travelled back in time to prevent Cryptite from winning the Battle of the Spire. He did this by killing him somehow and Freyjia wasn’t able to save him in time. But how did he kill Crypt? What happened after the battle? Why was everything the way it was?
And most importantly what role did that piece of the knife have to do with all of this?
They had taken away the knife when Commander and the group had been taken by the artifices.
Commander buried his face in his hands, wishing that all of this was a horrible nightmare. That bottle of mead had given him bizarre dreams before.
Instead of feeling sorry for himself, Commander lifted his head back up and looked straight ahead at Adzy who was sulking just the same as him. Commander tapped with his foot and Adzy looked up at him.
“How’d your eye get like that?” Commander asked
Adzy looked at Commander with a face of disbelief but swallowed his pride.
“Well, when I was a slave to Preksak, I tried escaping once… as punishment they struck me down and scarred my eye. An eye for an eye they said. They promised not to be as lenient as next time, whatever that means in their sick, prevented minds.”
“Do you know what happened after the Battle of the Spire?” Commander asked
Skuhoo then decided to speak up.
“Yes… nothing was the same ever again…”
…
After the Battle of the Spire, Skuhoo went on to explain, Preksak successfully set off his world bomb. Not only did he destroy all of Loka, he killed everyone, except for a select few he decided to save.
This wasn’t out of the goodness of his heart, but he intended to use them as slaves. His final plan was unknown and was only known to him.
The select few he chose to save were MagPieMan, his son Drixan and a few others whose names Skuhoo did not know.
Skuhoo, Adzy and SilentStormSix were born into this world of darkness as slaves to Preksak. They did not know their parents and were raised under the torture of the artifices.
Slaving away for what felt like centuries, they were forced to mine obsidian all day to build this mysterious tower.
SilentStormSix added in at this point, the purpose of the so-called Dark Tower, as the other slaves had called it, was unknown.
Adzy said it reminded him of the original Spire but there was something different about it. Preksak didn’t want to destroy everything or create something new, he wanted to go somewhere.
Commander thought about the words Tee had told him the night before about journeying beyond the First World. Maybe Preksak sought to go there as well. Skuhoo went to explain further, he, Adzy and SilentStormSix managed to escape after Adzy’s first failed attempt to escape. He also said the details of how they escaped didn’t matter.
Soon, they formed a resistance against Preksak and his artifacts. Others escaped, but it was a losing battle. Those who used to be part of the resistance were either killed, forced back into slavery and became cyborgs like 36s or were in hiding. The monorail came to a halt and the back doors to it opened. 36s stood in front of them, his cyborg parts twitching in the red light of the artifices.
“Grab them.” 36s said. The artifices grabbed all four of the men, despite Commander trying to resist by kicking.
“There’s no point. We must face down whatever fate has in store for us.” Adzy said
…
Days before Commander arrived, Adzy, SilentStormSix and Skuhoo were travelling among the ruins of the Third World, looking for something. Something that could possibly help them defeat Preksak. A long lost weapon missing the Battle of the Spire.
The sword of Hyrule. After the Battle of the Spire, Freyjia took the body of Cryptite to parts unknown, but the sword disappeared from the battle.
Adzy, SilentStormSix and Skuhoo were now at the former battle site to look for any sign of it.
Standing before them was the original Spire, with its long gray pillars and shattered glass at the top. Skeletons and armour from the battle lay across the field. It was a massacre.
“There’s no way we're going to find the sword you know. It’s been long since pillaged and probably disappeared into the realms of legend.” Skuhoo said
“But there’s a slight chance we’ll find it. I don’t care how small that chance is, hope will still be alive.” Adzy
Adzy knew that this was a pointless exercise and they had no chance in finding it, but some tiny part of him hoped they would find it. They still had to try. They had come here many times over the years, but they never found anything.
Moving towards the bottom of the Spire, there were fewer and fewer bodies. Then they came to the bottom. At the bottom of the Spire laid the casing of the World Bomb. SilentStormSix spat at the ground, cursing the thing.
“Evil blasted things. It’s responsible for the way things are.” SilentStormSix said
But something out of the corner of Adzy’s eye caught his attention. From within the World Bomb casing, a golden shimmer appeared.
No, he thought to himself. It can’t be… We’ve looked inside the casing so many times.
All three men stepped up inside the casing of the world bomb and gasped. Lying before them in the bottom of it, was the Sword of Hyrule. Adzy’s heart swole up with hope. This one weapon, they could use it to defeat Preksak and free the world from his evil grasp. As he stepped down to reach for it, suddenly he felt a knife to the back of his throat.
“Why betray me now, brothers? After everything we’ve been through?’
But Adzy quickly realized that it wasn’t Skuhoo or SilentStormSix. They stood behind the figure with their weapons drawn. A figure wearing a black robe held the knife to Adzy’s throat.
“I must have that weapon,” the figure said. “It is not time for you to wield it yet,”
Feeling the blade of the knife tighter against his throat, Adzy asked:
“And who might you be?”
The figure released Adzy from his grip and walked down and picked up the sword.
“It is not important who I am, but I have come to guide you to the right path.”
The figure pulled down his hood and showed his face to everyone. It was an older man, looking world-weary and tired.
“My name is Wizardteepot. Things are not as they're meant to be. Have you heard of a world called Grimdale?”
“Well no shit, mister. We live in a nightmare world. We deserve better than this.” SilentStormSix said.
Adzy was vaguely familiar with the portal that led to another world, Grimdale. It was a method used to escape Loka before it was shut off mysteriously over 50 years ago. People had starved to death waiting by the entrance to it, waiting for an escape that would never come. The thought of it made Adzy shutter.
“Yes, I am vaguely familiar with the portal that leads to that world. But it’s been shut off for decades.”
“Well, there is a person coming who will key in finally defeating Preksak once and for all. He'll do something that you’ll need.”
“Who is this person and what does he have?” Adzy asked
“ I cannot reveal more as it may cause the upcoming battle to have a less favourable outcome. I must also take the sword, as it will be needed for a critical moment in the future.”
“But wait, we can use the sword, here and now to finally defeat Preksak!”
“I’m sorry, old friend. I must take it now. It will appear in your moment of greatest need.”
And then the figure disappeared, slowly fading out of existence.
“Wait! Wait! Wait! Give to us! No, no, no!” Adzy yelled
But Wizardteepot had fully disappeared. Sighing in frustration, Adzy sat down on the casing of the world bomb.
“What do we do, Adzy?” Skuhoo asked.
Adzy, standing back up said:
“We go find this person coming out of the portal from Grimdale. See who they are and what that thing they have is. And then we kick Preksak’s sorry ass out of his obsidian tower. Enough is enough.”
…