The shadows around you condense into the form of an ornate door, with glowing gold etching on the frame depicting unintelligible stories, incomprehensible, yet somehow full of meaning just beyond reach.
The door opens, and out pours the scent of freshly baked cakes, and warm tea. A clear invitation
Looking at the door seems to make the world around you hum with a strange energy, and causes a faint ticking to be heard in your ear, barely audible, but undeniably there.
Whatever is behind the door is strong enough that their presence can be felt across time and space, yet it doesn’t feel malevolent
- @bunnynotravioli
Well, this is the most friendly other-worldly portal I've ever encountered.
It's not like I was doing anything important, anyway. (The machine he was fiddling with drops to the ground.)
(Beth grabs a few of his typical gadgets, such as a strange-looking compass, a geiger counter, and a sonic screwdriver, and heads into the door.)
When Marilyn awoke, there was a steaming plate of food waiting for her. She sadly ate it and considered her options.
I’ve already tried casting Stasis and Recall on the door, that didn’t work. I could try climbing out through the vents… No, they’re too small. What can I do…
After finishing her food, she went over to the desk and rummaged through the drawers. Unfortunately, it wasn’t fruitful, other than some pieces of drawing paper, but it did have some pretty rocks in it.
Wait a minute. That’s amber. Why does amber seem important to me?
Oh! Xauren crushed a piece of amber before using his magic!
She grabbed the amber and walked over to a small plant she had in her room. She crushed it, ignoring the pain as it shattered into sharp pebbles, and then reached out and pushed on the plant with her magic.
Her time magic put it into Stasis temporarily, but other than that, nothing happened.
Marilyn frowned, then got another piece of amber and tried again. This time, she threw it at the stone base of the plant.
The amber shattered on the pot, and there was a flash of energy. Marilyn went to jump into the plant, but she just ran into the wall and fell. When she got back up, rubbing her head, the plant was larger, which seemed to be something, but a larger plant wouldn’t help her.
She started to rummage through the drawers again, looking for more amber, when there was another flash. She startled, and then was thrilled to see Xauren.
“Hylia above! This is where you’ve been! I’ve been looking all over for you.”
“Xauren, you need to get me out of here! You were right. Beth Unico is not who he seems. He trapped me in here and sealed the door. Come on, let’s go.”
Xauren hesitated.
“What? Is there an issue?”
“Listen, if I get you out of here, the Duke will come after me. I can’t risk that.”
“Wait, what are you saying?”
“I’m sorry, Marilyn.”
With that, there was another flash of energy, and Xauren was gone.
“What? No! Don’t leave me!”
She ran over to the overgrown plant and tried to jump into it after him. She only knocked it over, and she started to scream again. She tore up the plant, threw the branches all over her prison, and then collapsed into a puddle of helplessness.
As Marilyn stared at the massive machine, the rings started to activate. She wasn’t exactly sure what was happening, but certain gems on the rings that she hadn’t noticed before were lighting up, casting a dim golden light around the giant cavern.
The rings began to turn.
She looked around the cavern, but she couldn’t see any reason as to why this was happening. The rings started to orbit around the center, accelerating quickly, and the gemstone in the center started to glow, gradually getting brighter.
As the massive rings started to blur together from their speed, the wind blowing off of it was strong enough to make Marilyn struggle to keep her footing.
I-I need to stop this somehow! I need to do something!
She concentrated on the outermost ring as best she could and tried to cast Stasis.
As she had practiced, spectral chains stretched towards the metal ring. However, the moment the chains connected, they were immediately disrupted, warping and distorting. The spectral remnants of the chains were then pulled into the core, which continued to glow brighter and brighter.
The gemstone in the core started to make a strange high-pitched humming noise, which just got louder and louder. Marilyn pressed her hands to her ears, which did nothing to dampen the noise, as it penetrated everything. She felt a tugging around her neck, and she realized with horror that her Charge Stone was being pulled towards the whirlwind.
She tried to cast Stasis again, but the same thing happened. She shot off spells again and again, trying to stop the machine, but it just made the pull around her neck stronger.
The gemstone in the center seemed to expand, and spectral runes started to float around it. It continued to get brighter and brighter, and the humming became louder and louder, and the pull around her neck became stronger and stronger…
Suddenly, the rings halted. Marilyn dropped to the ground, and the core collapsed back to its regular size, with a horrible noise that she couldn’t begin to describe, other than it sounding like something terrible dying.
As the ringing in her ears faded, she looked around dazedly.
Someone was standing right behind her.
She jolted upright and whipped around, remembered the dagger in her hand, and went for a slice right at their neck.
She was stopped mid-strike by the dagger halting midair. She tried to follow through, but a blue glow surrounded it, and it was completely stuck in place. She looked back at the perpetrator, and their arm was slightly raised with a blue glow around their hand. She also noticed a blue gem glowing in his upper arm.
It was Beth Unico, but she couldn’t see his face. His entire body was covered in Bethylium armor, and it wasn’t the same armor she had seen him wearing around the manor. This armor was fully covered with weapons, and it made him significantly taller. His helmet had no discernible emotion on it, to the point where she wondered how he could see through it.
The dagger was suddenly ripped from her hand and shot to Beth Unico’s. He gripped it, and it disintegrated into blue energy.
“Beth, I can explain—”
He spoke in a voice that was completely unfamiliar to her.
“I told you to stay out of my lab.”
His arm shot out at her, and she felt a sudden burst of energy throughout her entire body. As she looked at her hands, they glowed blue, and she screamed as she was ripped apart into blue energy.
She reformed in her room, and she collapsed, shaking.
The man she knew as Beth Unico materialized in front of her from a collection of blue strands of energy and stepped out of her room.
“Be glad I took mercy on you.”
He slammed the door shut, and Marilyn scrambled to her feet to grab the handle. However, by the time she got up, the edges of the door glowed blue, and where there was once a door, there was now a wall.
She screamed and banged on the stone wall, over and over again, before sinking to the carpeted floor.
She was trapped, with nothing but the Charge Stone hanging around her neck.
Finally, Unico Manor was restored. It now had a full defense system, with UnicoBots surrounding the perimeter. Furthermore, it had Beth Unico defending it.
On the top turret, a platform extended, and Beth Unico stepped out onto it. He was wearing his Mark IV armor, which completely covered his body, leaving him practically impervious to damage. He extended the wings from his back and jumped.
The wings automatically adjusted to catch his fall, and then he was soaring.
He looked over the grounds at the defense systems that he designed. The UnicoBots were corruption-proof, and they would follow only his orders. It was the most perfect defense system in Hyrule.
He alighted upon a clifftop, and his helmet unfolded. He surveyed the area and nodded to himself in satisfaction.
Just then, the ground shook, and he lost his footing for a moment. He fell, but caught himself and flew back up to the cliff.
He couldn’t make out the details clearly, but there seemed to be a giant glowing monster in the middle of Hyrule Field. He re-equipped his helmet, which allowed him to focus on the action.
There appeared to be a young man riding a horse around it, and it kept on shooting at particular points on the beast. The beast itself was a colossal boar, and its flesh was made of a viscous purple and red substance, which Beth Unico recognized as Malice. Just as he realized this, the young man rode a paraglider up to its head and shot it with an arrow of pure light.
There was a flash that blinded Beth Unico for a few moments, but when the spots in his vision cleared, the beast was gone.
That night, Marilyn struggled to get to sleep. Despite Beth Unico giving her strict orders not to enter his personal chambers or his lab, she was just dying to know what was going on behind the closed door.
Staying barefoot, she crept out of her room with her dagger in hand. She made sure to stay in the shadows of the hallways, just in case anyone was patrolling the halls.
Eventually, she came to the great stone door again, which she knew held Beth Unico’s lab. Placing her hand on the door, she concentrated on the locking mechanism inside and cast Recall.
The door rolled open, and she braced herself for Beth Unico to attack her. However, the lab seemed to be deserted, leaving her to investigate the massive chalkboard occupying the opposite wall.
As she read over it, she tried again to decipher Beth’s jagged handwriting and scientific jargon, but she yet again ended up failing. However, she was able to confirm the note, which did indeed say, ‘have to stop the girl from leaving’.
As she looked around the lab, at the strange devices littered around, she noticed a staircase cut into the wall. It looked to be a relatively recent installment, as the cut marks were still visible.
With nothing better to do, she started to descend the stairs. It was a dark staircase, only lit by the occasional blue lamp, which gave the entire stairway an eerie glow.
After descending for a while, she started to wonder where it could possibly lead. Just as she thought that, she rounded a corner and found herself staring into a massive room.
The room was just about completely occupied by a massive structure suspended from the ceiling. This structure was made up of rings, each one getting smaller and closer to the center. In the very center floated a glowing golden gemstone.
Upon a closer look, Marilyn realized that the gemstone was made of Temporal Fluid.
The next few months were a blur to Beth Unico. They were primarily spent rebuilding the Manor, but he spent a large amount of time in his lab. Previously, his objective was to help people out, but now he was just about entirely self-focused. He reasoned that he needed to make sure he was safe before everyone else. Therefore, over the next few months, he spent his time developing defense systems. This is when he developed the UnicoBots, and he continuously upgraded his armor, preparing himself for anything. This is also when he got into the habit of wearing armor all the time.
One day, he was adjusting the wings on the Mark IV when the construction Gorons outside started yelling. He rolled his eyes and stepped outside, just as a wall collapsed next to him.
He instinctively activated his armor, which put up shields around his body. Fortunately, it was only a small accident, so nobody was hurt, but Beth Unico was still furious.
“What were you doing!? Why weren’t you more careful!? That could’ve caused the entire Manor to collapse! Even then, no walls should be collapsing at all! That wall collapsing sets us back a week! You absolute morons!”
Beth Unico then realized that the Gorons were staring behind him, and a blue glow was projected onto their faces. He whirled around and stared into the cave that had opened up in the wall behind him.
The blue glow slowly faded as he stared in amazement at the stalactites and columns of the hidden grotto. From the stalactites dripped a blue liquid, which pooled on the ground underneath.
As Beth Unico’s rage faded, so did the blue glow of the Bethylium and Ancient Energy. He slowly turned back around and addressed the Gorons again.
“Good work. Open this up a little more, but don’t let it happen again. Understood?”
The Gorons nodded, grabbed their pickaxes, and got to work.
Marilyn hated studying. Or reading in general. She had enjoyed school when she was younger, but once she realized it was mostly sitting still and looking at words, she grew a distaste for it. Now, this person Xauren just handed her a book, expecting her to read it.
Typically, she would try to verify what she was told, but this time, she would just take his word to be the truth. Meanwhile, she had more combat training with Beth Unico.
This time around, she paid more attention to his appearance and demeanor, trying to detect if something was off.
He had an effeminate, wiry appearance and a swagger to him that put off the impression of complete confidence. He wore armor at all times, even around the Manor. The only time she had seen him without it was in his lab, and even then, his clothes closely hugged his figure and appeared to be made of a strong material. He wore his hair in a short crop, but long enough to cover a scar on the back of his head and neck. His right arm was entirely mechanical and had a Sacret Stone glowing in the upper arm. It was made of the same material as the rest of his armor, which he had informed her was Bethylium. Right now, his pale face contrasted nicely with the black and silver of the armor.
His voice could change in speed like the wind; sometimes he would talk very slowly and elegantly, putting emphasis on every word, and sometimes he would talk so fast that he tripped over his own words. He was extremely eccentric, sometimes to the point of absurdity. However, underneath all of these facades laid a steel core.
Marilyn had only seen him lash out at her once, but that was enough for her to know that he was not who he seemed. Now, during her combat training, it was obvious to her that Beth Unico was restraining himself. He would go in for an attack, give her tips while attacking, and then he would back away. However, when she repelled his attacks, she could see bloodlust enter his eyes, even though it was just for a moment. This in itself was enough to convince her that Xauren was right.
Before he even realized what was happening, his armour folded up around his head and back, protecting him as he landed hard on the ground. He jumped up almost instantly, and activated the rest of his armour.
It only took a few seconds for the lightweight metal to encompass his body, folding out from his back, onto his left arm and down his legs. He clenched his fists, and twin blades extended from each of his wrists, his newest favourite weapon. They also doubled as small shields, as they had some width to them.
No sooner than these blades had been extended before he was knocked back slightly by a machine landing in front of him. He looked up at his opponent, and saw what looked almost eerily like Mineru’s Construct, except a bit smaller and covering Bondra’s entire body.
“You like it, huh? Well, let’s see you try to take it!”
His voice echoed slightly, similar to Beth’s, and he charged at him. Beth automatically moved to intercept his blade, but he quickly realized that Bondra wasn’t holding a sword. Instead, the moment before his fists made contact with Beth Unico’s chest, he noticed that the knuckles of the armour were rippling with electricity.
Beth flew much farther back than he should’ve for the distance of the windup, and he struggled up. The armour was much more difficult to move now, likely due to the electricity, but his arm-guards were still activated, and he caught Bondra’s next blow and managed to push him back slightly.
Beth unfortunately wasn’t used to playing defense, so he decided against his better judgement to try to attack Bondra Nume head on.
He launched up into the air and fired off a few shots with his arm cannons as he charged at him, and he switched back to his arm-blades the moment before he made contact, piercing into Bondra’s armour.
He didn’t seem to be injured, though, and if he was he gave no indication of it. He instead pushed Beth Unico off of him, then raised his hand. A green glow surrounded it, and a shadow fell over Beth.
The dark-armoured combatant looked up to see a set of bombs, green in color, falling onto him. He snapped his wings, and dove out of the way and swooped up right before they detonated.
The detonation reminded him of his home getting blown up. Unico Manor, the pride of his family—
He was slammed downward, equally slammed out of his flashback. He caught himself before he hit the ground, and reoriented himself, to see the green armoured warrior flying above him. Unlike Beth’s spectral wings, Bondra flew by Zonai Rockets attached to his arms.
Beth Unico flew straight up to intercept him, and blades clashed. It seemed that he had also managed to develop spectral swords similar to Beth’s own, but they were weaker than his.
They transitioned into trying to push each other into the ground, and Beth quickly tried to formulate a plan.
So dragon scale comes from Sacret Stone, Sacret Stone has cooldown, therefore dragon scale has cooldown? Shard, so less power, so more cooldown, so if I can get him to, yeah that could work.
He continued to batter against Bondra Nume’s blades, trying to break them again. Every time he broke one, it took longer to reform, and eventually the blades flickered out.
Bondra then lost the battle to the ground, and hit it hard, but as Beth smiled in victory, his own spectral wings and blades faded. He checked his Ancient Energy reserves, and they were detrimentally low.
Oh right. If he would run out of energy reserves, then it would make sense that I would, too. And I have a longer cooldown…
Beth started running to the factory, desperate to get there before Bondra’s armour recharged. However, he recharged much faster than Beth Unico had anticipated, and Beth barely ducked to the side as his energized fist slammed into the ground where he was. Beth’s own armour had recharged slightly, so he used all of the recharged energy to shoot a stunning bolt, and continued running.
Fortunately, he had prepared for a situation like this, so running would cause his armour to recharge slightly, but it was still very low. He continued this pattern of trying to stun Bondra Nume, and then run, but Bondra was starting to get better at dodging.
Beth fired off a stun bolt, and Bondra sidestepped, the blast passing him. Beth barely got to the door of the factory as he flew at him, and the door dented from the impact.
Beth Unico waited as long as he could afford for his suit to recharge, which was about 5 seconds, and then coated the edges of the door in Bethylium. Then, he sprinted across the factory.
The door did not hold. Completely ignoring the sealed edges, Bondra Nume ripped through the steel door, and tumbled into the factory. Beth ducked behind a machine, trying to quiet his breathing and desperately trying to recharge his armour.
“Oh, hiding now, are we? Come on Beth, you’re better than this! Come out and face me like a man. Actually, it figures that you’re hiding, since you’re actually—”
Beth was waiting for Bondra Nume to walk past where he was hiding, or at least for his armour to charge up more, but he didn’t let him finish that sentence. He jumped out onto his back, and redistributed his weight so Bondra’s head would fall to the floor. Barely thinking, he clenched his hand, fingers still extended, over Bondra Nume’s head, and a blue spectral ring connected his fingers. He slammed his spread hand onto the back of Bondra’s neck, and black metal encased the green and connected to the floor. The black metal spread across the floor, and jumped out around his wrists and ankles, restraining him further.
Beth took half a second to blink about what he just accomplished, but immediately made a break for the back of the factory, launching himself up the rickety stairs. The door was locked, but that didn’t mean anything as Beth Unico broke through the glass.
There in the back of the room was the small box containing the dragon scale. He lurched forward, grabbed it, opened it, and ripped out the shimmering gemstone. He waited for a moment, waiting for something to happen, but nothing did.
Oh, it’s probably touch activated. Wait a minute, it’s not a piece of technology, this is a magical artifact! …still worth a shot though.
The gauntlet on his left hand unfolded, and he tapped the gemstone with his index finger. Nothing seemed to happen, but it almost seemed like the gemstone was getting warmer. Well, not warmer, that wasn’t the right word. It seemed to be producing more energy.
His right arm beeped, indicating full power, and Beth nodded to himself, folding his gauntlet and helmet back around him.
No sooner had he done this that he heard a horrendous sound of metal scraping. Clutching the dragon scale in his right hand, he stepped out through the shattered door and looked where he had imprisoned Bondra Nume.
The spot was vacant, with only a ripped piece of Bethylium laying there. Beth instinctively activated his blades as he descended the stairs, and no sooner had he reached the bottom before Bondra fell on him.
Pinned beneath his grasp, Beth Unico struggled futilely. The green armoured hands clutched around his throat, and the rest of the heavy armour held him pinned. Bondra’s dragon scale began to glow as a sick smile covered his face, and Beth could feel something entering the kinks in his armour. It began crushing him from the inside, and Beth clenched his fist tight.
Beth Unico’s eyes flew open, and he pushed, with what he didn’t know. A burst of energy blew Bondra Nume and the Zonaite off of him, and Beth got to his knees, gasping for breath. No sooner had he caught it than he was flying away.
