Long had the sorcerer of winds, Vaati, wielded their wrath as a tool. In a bid for power, for self preservation, however foolish. A thousand years later, after having been sealed in the four sword for a third and final time, the sorcerer was unleashed one last time. No fanfare, no princess to be seen, and no wrath. With no one left to remember their name or reputation the sorcerer attempts to take on a new role. But where does wrath go when it's left no foes at which to bare it's fangs. When there's no one left to give consequence, no one, just you.
finally, here's the pmv I spent the past... 3? 4? months on, with that I hope it'll give me the motivation needed for some actual substantial writing done and get folks interested, for now tho I hope y'all will give it a watch, and enjoy
This follows the story of Astor (AoC) and his sister, Ciella Knightford(OC) who is unbeknownst to them all the true successor of the Demon K
https://archiveofourown.org/works/86512236
Chapter 1: any way the wind blows
It took him a while to relearn how to ride a horse and even longer to learn how to draw a bow and arrow and hit a target with efficiency but anything for sweetest Ciella, the brightest star in all of Hylia’s sky. Ganondorf kept him on a strict quota of at least 5 Poes a week which was a struggle at first but Astor began to manage, easily slipping to and from the castle with the captured souls in bottles, the flames of purple, green, and gold whispering to him to them free, that’d they give him whatever he wanted. The only issue is what Astor wanted only their souls could help him achieve, so off to Hyrule Castle they would go and Ganondorf and his mothers would devour them in the goriest way someone could without spilling blood and guts. It had only been 5 weeks, he had 75 more souls to go and he had begun to exhaust the resources in the grassy fields of Central Hyrule. Still, when he told his master, the Calamity was unforgiving and cruel. He spoke of how little he cared but his mothers, Kotake the ice witch and Koume the fire witch, convinced their son to let Astor take a longer trip to hunt so long as he came back with the amount of Poes he owed. He packed plenty of bottles and arrows and money. With Hyrule’s abundance of fresh water and vegetation, he knew well that starvation and dehydration would not be a problem for him or his horse. He finally found an updated enough map.
You got a map!
Open it with — to see where you’re going! Add new locations when you visit ones that aren’t there by pressing A and B at the same time and mark your map by going into Stylus Mode.
He took off at 5 in the morning, riding off to the East, planning to head to the Woodland Stable so Midnight, his horse, could get some rest she desperately needed since the last hunt. It took him about 4 hours, since he stopped along the way to scavenge spicy peppers, and Hyrule herb. He fed some of the apples he had picked before to his horse as he cooked up some veggie rice balls that would hold him until nightfall. A tired man worked the counter, a waitress swept the floor and a patron was sitting at the table with the newest Lucky Clover Gazette issue. The headlines were ‘REMEMBERING THE FALLEN’, ‘THE PRINCESS’ STANCE ON CORONATION’, ‘BUY FROM THE BEST!’ and ‘MORE ANIMAL ATTACKS OR VAGABOND CANNIBAL?’.
In the meantime, he took interest in the gossiping stable hands.
“I heard of a mysterious woman that’s been luring children out of villages and when the kids come back… they’re lifeless husks!”
“Please, that’s just a silly rumor. I bet those parents sold their kids and now the poor things are traumatized.”
“What if it’s some sacrificial soul selling? I mean, Kakariko’s been awfully prosperous as of late, unusually so.”
“Agents of the Royal Family? They would never…”
“But the rumor does say a woman in purple with hair as white as a Sheikah’s has been spotted lurking in the graveyard.”
“It’s probably a g-ghost!”
He collected some bright-eyed crabs on the sandy path that divided Hylia River and Zelo Pond. The elixir he could make out of it would help to give him a second wind which could be the difference between him meeting his quota or not. It was 6 in the afternoon, the sun fading fast and he was only just finally happening upon Zora’s River. Even worse was the fact that it began to rain. Hard. He took the Northeastern path in hopes to find some sort of shelter but the most he found was a covering high and wide enough for him and his horse, although it wasn’t against a wall and thus he was forced to sleep flat on the hard ground. It wasn’t awful, he supposed. He awoke at sunrise to his horse nudging him.
“Midnight… hungry are you? I’ll give you some swift carrots.” As the mare chomped down on the orange vegetables, Astor checked the map to see how far he had to go. “Up to Tornio Trail and then around to South Lake Akkala…” He climbed up on his horse and rode off across Lanayru. Eventually the trail became stone and harshly uphill. Midnight had to gallop quickly in order to not slide down or slip. Once Akkala Citadel came into view, the hill plateaued and then plummeted down to the parade grounds. Trees popped up red and yellow and orange, the birch bark of white and brown reminding him of the earlier days of awakening. He arrived in Tarry Town by late afternoon. He cooked up a meal of crab stir-fry for himself, paid for a room at an inn and parked his horse outside. He’d wake up at the arrival of the setting Sun and hunt for Poes by nightfall. Riding out of town and down Kaepora Pass he started his hunt in the East Akkala Plains. He managed to catch five of them before heading up to the stable and taking a short rest there with Midnight. His amber eyes enjoyed the painting of Octorock Lake inside for a fleeting moment before he began to ride up to the tech lab he knew would be awaiting him at the very edge of Hyrule’s territory. Day began to break over the hillside when he reached his destination at last. It looked as if a tornado had hit the lab and strangely enough, moblins were actually rebuilding it stone by stone, placing it carefully. Astor knew for a fact monsters of that low of a rank were not capable of building planning like this. Who was controlling this? Friend or foe? He knew he simply had to inquire about what was going on. Ciella, brazen and bold, certainly would’ve! He hopped off his horse, a dagger in his hand, looking through gaps in the stone for any sort of sign that someone else was behind this work. A figure of purple hues in fine robes, walking as if he were doing so on air as a strange wind swirled around his light purple hair and his silky robes. He was content in watching until whoever the hell this idiot was picked up the remains of a decaying guardian and tossed it about carelessly, screws and gears falling out. “Hey! Be careful with that, it’s a precious piece of ancient technology!” He shouted.
The figure with rather mousey features turned around, cursing in a language Astor couldn’t understand. You know, Astor was getting real tired of not being able to understand the words going on around him. Prophets were certainly not supposed to be left in the dark, that was a fact. “Who’s there?” The voice, definitely male, stumbled over the modern words, as if his tongue had not run over them before.
Still outraged at the man’s carelessness, the boy continued. “Me! And you’re fucking up a perfectly good guardian, have you any shame?!”
The man opened his mouth, sharp double canines shining and dull red eyes closing as he let out the world’s haughtiest laugh. “Oh! A human! How funny you are, little human… and such a heart on you too!” For a moment, Astor feared the… whatever this was was going to rip the organ out of his chest. His knife raised. “Do stop that.” A sudden gust of wind knocked him off his feet and the knife out his hand. “I don’t mean to steal your heart, I’d have no use for such a thing. I’m merely interested in the darkness in the hearts of men like you, my boy.”
“You should clarify next time.” A frightened whining turned his head in the direction of his horse, who was getting quite fed up with the bokoblins trying to climb her. “Hey! Get off, get away! I am an agent of Calamity Ganon, and I—”
“Oh, that old bird beak?” The stranger piped up, flinging the little monsters away with powerful gusts. “I should’ve known by the Gerudo symbol on the back of your cloak that he was behind your arrival. Ganondorf works in such strange ways. He grows stranger and stranger, more mad than the last era.”
“Who are you? What are you? I can sense I’m in the presence of something, someone truly ancient.”
“I am Vaati, the greatest wind mage to ever live. I’m a Piccori, or Minish. People tend to use both terms.”
Astor raised a brow equally curious and confused. “A what?”
“Have parents ceased to tell tall tales to their little ones about the helped creatures that made the holy Piccori Blade, the Four Sword?”
“Never heard of it, unless it’s some other name for the Master Sword. I’m, uh, Astor, by the way. I used to be a devout sort of follower of the Calamity, I worked with the Yiga. How do you know about the Demon King?”
“He freed me long ago.” Vaati said, looking off into the distance. “I failed him and I’ve been avoiding him ever since. It was easy for a time but I had this nagging feeling as of late that I’d be caught and dragged back to his side like a bad dog.”
“I don’t intend to do that.” He clarified quickly. “I’m done with his business as soon as he gives me what I want.”
“Ganondorf never gives people what they want. He likes his puppets on strings.”
No matter the fact this was some ancient creature that cared not for priceless artifacts, he felt somewhat inclined to listen to him, tell him of his plight. “Truly? He seems eager to get rid of me.”
“If so, you’d be dead.”
“He tried that already.”
His red eyes widened. “So how do you stand?”
“My sister told me of a puddle of Malice that I lay dead in, perfectly preserved, skin as supple as the nightshade petal. She wept over it and the tears soaked my shirt and dripped into the gloom, I awoke with a startle. The Lord himself said he orchestrated his death myself, said that he was surprised I was walking about.”
“What does he have to hold over your head?”
“My sister.” Vaati winced with some sympathy, the little bit of it that he had. “I’m out collecting Poe souls in exchange for her release.”
“What would he want with that?”
“Something about Life Force.” Astor could see the male’s eyes lit up, pointed ears shooting straight up in excited alarm.
“You don’t say? Your sister doesn’t so happen to be a spirit maiden or the Princess herself, right?”
“No!” The seer exclaimed in some confused shock. Vaati was sorely disappointed. “My Ciella… She's a normal girl, really. Maybe a bit wise beyond her years but I hardly count that as anything noteworthy for a demon such as…” His lips stopped moving. He was spiraling again, wasn’t he? Then again he’d not been able to tell a soul about what had happened. “Forgive me. I’ve been lonely for the past few weeks.”
An elegant hand with finely trimmed nails rang through his slicked back hair. “And I for the last few… centuries? Perhaps longer.”
“I can get out of your hair. Though…” Astor eyed the guardian.
“I’ll allow you the parts so long as you tell why you’re here.”
He swallowed sharply. “I’m collecting Poe Souls. My Lord needs 100 of them and once he has all of them, I’ll get my sister back.”
“100…” Vaati repeated. “A fool’s errand. He’s sending you out in hopes that you’ll die and he can take what he wants… the clever bastard.”
“I’d recommend you flee the country.” Knightford commented. “He’s begun to spread his eyes across the land.”
“Say, my boy, I’ve become endeared to you. I’ll help you if you, of course, help me.”
“What’s the job?”
“Help me rebuild this lab.” The boy didn’t question why, instead taking off his cloak and hood, getting straight to work. The warm sun was a welcoming feeling on his bare arms and shoulders, a feeling he had no idea he missed until that moment. Now, Astor may have looked scrawny on the outside but his upper body, mainly his arms, were toned quite nicely from his living years of working on ancient tech, tinkering with it. Occasionally, he’d have to take a break to cough up some bile, to which the Minish was a tad concerned but didn’t dare go near the muck, for when he tried, he began to find it hard to breathe. The monsters also instinctively avoided the substance.
The boy was interesting. A creature of pure Malice and malice, Darkness and darkness. His heart pumped it into his bloodstream and it sang out its evil dreams like a bird up on a line. Vaati was drawn to it. The darkness that lay in the hearts of men… he found it so intriguing. The concept had found him when he was just a youth under the ever so cruel and righteous Ezlo. Hatred… a damn near foreign idea to the Piccori. If the Minish were supposed to be good and kind, helpful, ‘then why’, he pondered, ‘why under Hylia’s great sky do I feel this way? As if I need more, deserve more’. And that cap, that cap! How was he not to take the cap if it offered all he desired? He was made the greatest mage to ever live with it, a master of winds. With the scraps of power of Life Force he gained from Zelda in the Era of Swords all those years ago, he could stand an encounter with the Demon King long enough for him to flee to Labyranna. Alas, he did feel slightly guilty for permanently ruining such a pure and holy bloodline. He even felt partly to blame for the difficulty this Zelda had awakening her powers. In some capacity, he wanted the maiden to be his. He knew not why he did nor where such feelings originated, but it made him realize the true reasoning behind the darkness within the hearts of men. Power, control, lust, ownership, possession, love… it plagued every inch of them, crawling on their nerves, whispering in the inside of their ears and now it followed him as well.
However, Astor was not truly evil, or at least not as cruel as his master. He stopped to give his horse food and even spared some to the lowly red Bokoblins who weren’t quick or strong enough to grab food from their camp’s rations. His heart was plated with darkness, covered by it but not covered in it, not quite. The seer was kinder than he seemed when no one was looking, when the glistening sweat of back breaking work dropped off his temples. They didn’t finish the lab ere the setting Sun but Vaati felt a strange pang in his heart, complexed to help the boy out either way.
“What is it you need most? What do you desire, truly?” He asked, staring him down as he was waiting to catch any deceit.
“My sister. I know you can’t do that but I suppose something to better catch Poes would be of significant help.”
Vaati produced a green medallion that shifted into purple at certain angles in the palm of his hands with a small whirl of wind. “Here.” Astor lowered his head and felt the cold metal of a chain grace his neck.
You got the Wind Medallion!
Vaati gave you this medal in exchange for your hard work! Equip it with ^, <, or > to your arrows for a powerful and fast straight shot!
“This will allow your arrows to fly swift and true.” Vaati said. “I imagine it’ll move faster than the Poes and help you to catch them much easier. Why do you try it out now?” The Minish floated some pots into the air, moving them about in all sorts of patterns. Drawing his bow, Astor could feel more powerful behind his arrows and loosed with a quickness that he didn’t expect, breaking the pot in the dead center. He was able to do the same to the other three.
“Thank you… I can’t tell you how much this will help me out and I can’t thank you enough.”
“You’ll have much time to think of such a thing, I’ll likely see you around very soon.”
“How ominous.”
Astor was sent on his merry little way, now certain this was only the beginning of what would be a tale for the ages, something that would change the way he saw the world as he knew it. It felt like the weight of the impending griefs and betrayal was slammed against his chest. The very hair on his arms stood tall, as if electrified, and a familiar voice in the back of his mind told him that more than Vaati was out there. Others, many of them, from past and present, from different lineages would come crawling out in the presence of the Demon King like helpless moths to a white hot flame. Just as the wind mage promised, it was much easier to catch wandering Poes in the hills. Astor began to return to the castle with plenty of Poes to spare, one of which intrigued him. The spirit of a girl with vitiligo with white hair with a red streak on each side. Her intense golden eyes caught him off guard. Midnight was slowly walking down the path when he first heard her in the deep recesses of his mind.
“Do not take me to your lord,” She said, “and I shall tell you where the remaining Poes reside.”
“How can I trust that you’ll keep your word?”
“You’ve trusted worse, you’re trusting worse.”
“How would you know?”
“Because…” She purred. “I know Ganondorf for the pitiful old fool he really is. Whatever he’s offering, there’s a catch, he’s a liar. He doesn’t intend for you to actually do it. He’ll keep you like a dog, treat you like a bad one too.”
“You speak as if you met him.”
“I have.”
“I assume that didn’t go too well.” Although she could be lying, Astor was interested in what she had to say. One Poe soul hardly mattered to him when he had this many and he could always just catch her again, she stood no chance against his bow should she run.
“Let me out.” He uncorked the bottle and watched as she unfurled in splendor befitting a sage. Her golden eyes pierced his as her brown and white hand pointed to the direction of Herba. “There. Somewhere in the cold fog lay the Hall of Poes. You have the eye of truth, your mind’s eye completely trained. I don’t doubt you can get there on your own.” She drifted backwards. “I sense something so powerful from Hyrule Castle… and it’s not my king nor his ladymothers. Who is it?”
He felt somewhat inclined to tell her. “My sister.”
“Poor soul… poor thing.” There was rustling in the bushes. The girl looked frightened. “I must warn you, my body wanders Hyrule aimlessly, searching for its soul. She devours any in her path, only stopping for a moment at the mention of her name. Such is the existence of hollow ReDead.”
“I supposed I should learn your name then.”
“It’s Kana.”
“Kana. A pretty name. It’s a fusion of Gerudo and Sheikah, isn’t it?”
“Not a word to your master, not a word…” With a laugh and twirl, she disappeared.
Kana left a mark on your map.
Important places you still need to visit will be marked with a glowing yellow dot. Go into your Traveling Guide settings and toggle them to have them appear in the overworld. Thank Hylia you made a Slate of your own.
How on earth was he to ensure his lord would let him go all the way to the Hebra Mountains? Would he be suspicious? That of course was not the most troubling thing she mentioned. Her body wanders the land, devouring any in her way… could that have something to do with the recent attacks he saw in the newspaper? Then again the stable hands from early spoke about a woman with hair as white as the Sheikah’s that did not have two red streaks in her hair. Could they be different people? Day began to break behind the imposing figure of the castle and his loneliness washed over him. Perhaps keeping Kana around would’ve been nice.
