Isaiah McAuthor here. Got a new chapter of Ikana: The Fall ready for you guys. I would have had it out sooner, but I'm currently in my first week back in college, and have been incredibly busy. I'm going to try and update this story at least once a week until it is finished, but please understand if I fall behind at any point. Anyway, thanks for all the reviews, and once more, I proudly present...

Ikana: The Fall

Chapter 2: Light in the Darkness

Igos could not help but admire the young intruder's reckless courage. No matter how many times his warriors fell to the boy's blade only to return to life moments later, the boy never backed down or showed any signs of surrendering. Igos knew the boy's efforts were futile. The darkness of Ikana would engulf the boy's life, all while continuing to strengthen his warriors.

The fighting continued, but neither side could gain the upper hand. The boy was clearly more skilled in the ways of combat, but the undying warriors could not be kept down. Once more, the boy put down his foes, but he needed a moment to rest. Even as the bones of the skeletal warriors began to pull towards each other, the boy grabbed the skulls of both his opponents and threw them as far as he could. He knew this would not stop them, but it would at least give him a moment to catch his breath.

The skulls vaulted across the hall until they collided against the surface of the wall with a soft Thud. The boy immediately looked to where the skulls had impacted. Bone thrown against a stone wall would have made a much louder and sharper noise. Dust flew from the impact site and the boy realized the skulls had not slammed against the wall, but rather a curtain.

Wasting no time, the boy drew his bow. Igos pondered the boy's foolishness. Arrows kill their targets by puncturing arteries and vital organs. My warriors and I possess neither. It is a shame that one so skilled in swordsmanship should be so foolish in...

The boy muttered something under his breath and the arrow he had strung became engulfed in fire.

One so young who knows the arts of sorcery. This is no mere intruder. Who exactly is this boy?

The arrow released with a loud twang and soared across the chamber and into the curtain. The flames from the arrow quickly spread and engulfed the entire curtain. As the ancient fabric disintegrated, light flooded into the chamber from the long forgotten outside world.

Damn this child, raged Igos in his head. This chamber is the tomb of both my kingdom and its king. Light here is blaspheme. Damn the light... Damn the light...

*

Prince Igos cursed the darkness that blanketed the Ikana countryside. The only illumination that lit the night sky came from a nearby village that was engulfed in flames. Igos and his men had arrived too late.

The survivors told Igos the attack had come without warning. The operator of the gate doors had been found with his throat slit just outside of his post. Soldier rushed to find the assassin, but they were too late. The gate doors fell from their hinges and onto the ground. The soldiers found him, but the assassin merely laughed and pulled something out of his robe and screamed, "Death to Ikana! May you find no peace in this life or the next!" The assassin looked at the object and said in a solemn and dignified tone, "To die without leaving a corpse, that is the way of the Garo." The object fell to the ground and engulfed the assassin in flames.

But he had carried out his mission. Dozens of shadowy warriors emerged from the nearby forest and stormed into the village. The Ikana clamored to defend themselves, but to no avail.

It was a massacre.

The survivors of the battle told the prince that the attackers had fled back into the nearby woods after the battle.

The king had been right, and Igos cursed himself for dismissing his father's concerns. The Garo were very real and had returned once again to Ikana. And now it was his duty, both as the future king and as a warrior of Ikana, to track down and destroy the murderers.

"Prince Igos!" shouted a soldier, breaking the silence of the hunt, "Look ahead, there is one of those wretched snakes now!"

"Be ready, men!" roared Igos, "Cavalry, we will give chase to the Garo dog, archers and infantry, watch our backs and be ready to join fighting at a moment's notice."

Igos and his mounted warriors rode ahead of the other soldiers in pursuit of the Garo. These were the fastest horses in the valley, but Igos wished they were just a little more swift. The woods were not comfortable terrain for a horse to run in, and the Garo moved with unnatural speed. The darkness was nearly making the Garo impossible to follow. Only the occasional glint of its swords allowed Igos to stay on the right path. However, they would never catch the Garo this way. In desperation, Igos drew his bow and fired where he thought he saw a sword shimmer. A loud groan confirmed that it had hit its target.

Igos and his men quickly descended upon the wounded Garo. The Garo tried to pull an explosive from his robe, but Igos caught his hand and seized the explosive before the Garo could act.

A warrior surveyed the surrounding area and informed the prince that there were no other Garo in the area, and that this one was probably a scout. Igos had his men hold down the Garo while he examined the explosive. Not wanting to accidentally maim himself, he threw the explosive into a nearby clearing, where it combusted. The men dragged the Garo back to their camp, where Igos began the interrogation of his captive.

"There are many legends of the Garo in my land," said Igos, "but none tell of their ability to summon flames without fuel or ignition. Now I have questions, and if you want to hold onto a few more hours of life, you will answer them."

The Garo said nothing.

"I said you will answer me!" Igos ripped the hood off of the Garo, revealing a pale young man with sunken eyes and cracked lips. "Why have you returned to Ikana? Who is your Master? Answer me!"

The pale man's lips cracked more as the formed into a wicked grin. "Knowledge is only of value to those who are alive to make use of it. I will give answers to you, prince of the damned, for the master has told me of this land's destiny, but only if you agree to my one condition."

Igos eyed his captive cautiously. "And what one condition might that be?"

The man gestured towards the campfire. "You will throw me into the flames when we are done. To leave behind a corpse is shameful. Grant me this mercy, and I will reveal to you what I know."

Prince Igos looked back and forth between his men and the captive. "I will grant you your request. But for now, you will answer me. Now, what are you?"

"I am a warrior of the Garo, and your enemy. My kin have lived as wanderers ever since your ancestors cast us from the river valley. Now we have returned. Consider that fiery village a warning of things to come."

"And an invasion, is that what you're planning? Are your people going to murder countless innocents to extract a petty revenge? Or do you seek to reclaim my kingdom as your own?"

Mad laughter erupted from the pale man. "You are destined to rule this land, Igos du Ikana! You will rule this land for hundreds of years. But in your reign you will find no happiness! Your land will wither, your people will flee or die, and your armies will be defeated from within. Ikana will not be defeated by the Garo, or any invader. Ikana will destroy itself."

Igos punched the Garo across the face, but the Garo continued to laugh.

"Monster! What is it your master is planning. Where does this false prophet draw his lies from?"

The Garo kept his grin and said, "The Garo follow a new master, one who has promised us untold power and prosperity. We have no interest in your doomed lands. As for where he draws his prophecy from, it is written upon the walls of the Stone Tower itself."

Rage came over Igos as he grabbed the Garo by his robe and lifted him off of his feet. "Now it is time for my end of our deal," said Igos.

He threw the Garo into the flames of the campfire. The Garo did not struggle or try to escape the fire. He merely folded his arms over his chest and quietly said, "To die without leaving a corpse, that is the way of the Garo." The flames then quickly consumed the body.

Igos turned to look towards the mesas that loomed over the river valley. The tallest of them was crowned by an ancient structure. The massive edifice had always been visible to all of Ikana, but rarely did anyone dare to speak of it. There are many evils in this world, but only one place in the world was said to house them all. It was an indestructible shrine of blasphemes.

It was the Stone Tower.

*

Author's notes

I would like to make a quick comment on something that could be seen as a slight continuity error thus far in the story. In the first chapter, Link destroys one of the skeletal warriors with a bomb, which surprised Igos because he didn't know that it would cause the explosion. In this chapter, the Garo carry explosives to destroy their bodies in their ceremonial hara-kiri. However, I believe that the bombs carried by the Garo were not quite the same in appearance or affect as the modern Hylian (and Terminian) bombs, as the more modern bombs are constructed in shops in both games (refined from bomb plants in OoT), and implied to require more of an understanding of engineering than the ancient Garo likely possessed. Also, the more modern bombs seem to be much more powerful. I believe the explosives carried by the Garo were more reliant on magical means than scientific ones. True bombs were likely only carried by Garo Masters (as seen in Majora's Mask in any of the Garo Master battles).

Review Responses

Fryas14: I'm planning to show a bit of transition in Igos himself that reflects the fall of his country. This chapter saw him take on more of a angry and violent personality due to the attack on an Ikana village, both of which mark the beginning of worse things to come. Also, the question mark at the end of the prologue was indeed a typo. It should be fixed by the time you read this. Thanks!

SGarrison: Hope I brought to light some of the information on the Garo you were hoping for. However, remember what Igos said in Majora's Mask upon his defeat. Ikana did indeed destroy itself, although it may have been given a few nudges along the way.

Rampaging-poet: I've always thought Ikana was a very intriguing place in the Zelda universe, particularly the stone tower. The present/Link segments will probably grow shorter as the story progresses, since I need to adhere to what is in the game, and certain elements of the fight will have to correspond with things from the past (The Elegy of Emptiness will have a connection to Sharp and Flat, the composer brothers, and other things of the like).