The ball of flames popped like a bubble when Rhyss touched it, but it re-formed a foot above Seth's head, with two small, red slits in it, almost like eyes, looking down at the theif.

Interesting vision, boy. A premonition? Or perhaps I put it in your mind, without your knowing....Heh he he...Your feeble, mortal minds are so fun to torment...perhaps I will destroy this land...or maybe my host will finish his mission before his time runs out...and I gain control. It is inevitable...This is the third time that I've been sealed away...and yet I always keep coming back.... Sovel said into Seth's mind, so as to keep Rhyss from knowing what was said.

Rhyss was a bit disappointed that nothing more happened but continued to gaze at Sovel with a hint of longing in his eyes.

What mission? Seth said with his mind, barely louder than a whisper as he gazed up into the flames, cringing and making sure he didn't come into contact with it. And I bet someone will find a way to seal you away forever he added harshly, sounding braver than he really felt. When Kobas comes back he'll find a way to kill you. You never know though; I might be the one to do it.

Rhyss noticed the hard look in Seth's eyes. "Alright, Seth? See, it's not scary. Why don't you try and touch it?"

"You'd have to kill me first," Seth muttered aloud.

To restore the Order of the Tempests. That is my mission. Sovelis said mentally to Seth as the small ball of black flames floated back to him, setting on his shoulder, but not even burning the cloth of his outer cloak. After I was apointed High Lord, a day before the destruction of the Tempests, I was told, that I was to bring about the destruction of the Order, and to bring it back to its former glory, but only if I could master the dark powers of the demon sealed within me.

"So...Rhyss...What do you do for a living here in Hyrule? I've heard of almost every mage that live here, yet I have yet to hear of you." Sovelis said, looking at the mage. "Who taught you magic? Where did you study? Have you registered with the Royal Magic Commitee?"

That doesn't make any sense!Thought Seth angrily. You would destroy your Order and then say it's your job to bring it back? What's the point?

"A living?" Rhyss said. "Eh, that's right, I've been broke for a while-"

"Cuz the only way you made money was by freeloading off Kobas-!"

"Shut up, Seth, you obviously have no idea that I helped put bread in your mouths at least 50% of the time. I'm not surprised you haven't heard of me though; you don't seem the type to hang out with thieves or assassins," said Rhyss. "By associating myself with Kobas, who had connections everywhere, I became known by a majority of rogues and the like. An old friend of mine, a sorceress by the name of Mirielle, started to teach me magic when I was around 5 years old; Never studied in any fancy school or academy, and have no intention of joining that blasted Commitee. Waste of time, and frankly, I don't often like to associate with a bunch of old people who claim to know magic when the best they can do is what I had mastered when I was 10 years old."

"He's exaggerating, but not lying," Seth said.

"I was planning on regestering, but I'm not to sure. The members of the Royal Magic Commitee are alowed into the Records of the Library, and to some rooms of the Library that are off-limits to the public. The books in those rooms could hold many valuable clues to helping me on my mission." Sovelis said, ignoring Seth's coment.

"I don't regularly associate with thieves and Assassins, but with Arrika, its different...although she did try and take my sword....I'm going to try and teach her magic, alchemy, and a few Tempest techniques." he said as the small ball of flames on his shoulder disapeared in a puff of smoke.

"He's not very social....Sovel would rather be killing than sitting around listening to use talk..." Sovelis said on the demon's behalf. "He's not that bad....exept for the whole 'Kill-everyone-in-sight-and-devour-their-soul' buisness."

"Pah, I don't need to register to get to the Records. What do you think Arrika and Seth are for?" Rhyss said, waving his hand dismissively in the air. "And what's this I hear about you teaching Arrika?"

"For some reason I didn't see it coming 'til just now," Seth muttered. "Lucky."

"I don't mind if you teach her your techniques; I'm going to be direct and assume you're doing this for free? I've heard of apprenticeships where the guardians have had to pay the teacher," the mage said, and he obviously had no intention of spending any money on the thief girl.

"Hey, why do you wanna teach her anyways? Wouldn't you rather teach me?" Seth said, relaxing a little now that Sovel had gone. "I mean, at least you know I'm pretty good at magic. And she did try to steal from you. I can't believe you caught her though, she must have gotten worse."


"Seth, can't you just learn to accept something without questioning it a hundred times? I told you, your chance will come soon enough," said Rhyss, sighing. "If you keep at this, no one will ever teach you. People hate annoying little kids like yourself."

Seth scowled and muttered curses under his breath.

"A third pupil....sounds interesting...." Sovelis mumbled under his breath. "You don't need to worry Rhyss. I'll pay for all costs, since I don't have much need of money..." Sovelis tossed the mage a small bag containing a few hundred rupees. "Thats to feed yourself. And so that you'll not need to worry about either of them."

Sovelis stood up and stretched, groaning loudly as his back popped. "As my student, you'll have to put up with Sovel as well, Seth. He's as much a part of me as my Automail is, exept I can't get rid of the demon even if I wanted to." the Tempest said, putting his red cloak on. "And yes...This is modeled after the one Edward wears...or did wear while he was an Alchemist..." Sovelis said to Seth before the bot ask him. "Been meaning to track those two down for some time...catch up for old times sake...Exept that I'm stuck in Hyrule..."

Walking to the door, Sovelis grabbed his Deku Staff from next to the doorframe. "Arrika is a good thief...Its just that she was unfortunate to meet someone who can teleport."

"Goddesses!" To just throw money away like that... he must be filthy rich!Rhyss said, still looking awestruck as he stared at the bag of money in his hands.

"Are you serious? You'll teach me?!" Seth said, then jumped up and down with joy. "Sorry, Rhyss, but I guess I have to go," he said gleefully. "Don't miss me too much."

"Sure you're not too scared of Sovel?" Rhyss taunted. "And don't try and pretend that you saw that one coming."

"Hah, that demon is dead once I get the chance! See 'ya, Rhyss!" Seth skipped happily after Sovelis, but stopped at the doorframe. "I didn't see it," he said more seriously. "For some reason, the rules of fate don't seem to always apply to him." A grin erupted on his face once more as he called to Sovelis, "Hey, do you live in a mansion? If you can throw away money like that to a bum like Rhyss! Do you have maids and servants and feasts 5 times a day and tons of books and your own lab and-"

"Hah, Tempest, he's your problem now," Rhyss laughed. "Thanks. Take care, Seth, and you and Arrika make sure you visit some time."

"Yeah, well, next time make sure you actually cast a barrier spell. You probably didn't notice, but the one you actually cast was specifically made to keep out only Gorons. Bye!"

Sovelis smiled and waved at Rhyss. "I know what'll shut him up, my friend. Even if it isn't Sovel...All I'll need to do is conjure up a floating ball of black fire, and he'll probably quiet down...and freak out if it actually is the demon's physical manifestation." he said as he walked out of the house, the young,green-haired hylian behind him. "We'll need to hurry if you want to get to my house before the Stalchildren come out to play." he said to Seth. And I KINNDA do live in a mansion. Its in a small two story house, but the doorway leads to my house...which is actually an extra-dimensional storage rift. Rather handy, since I can just add on more rooms when I need the space, or get bored.

"That sounds sooo cool oh can you teach me how to add rooms? Can I get my own room too? Cuz before I ran away I used to live in this 1 story house and it was really cramped cuz my mum had like 6 kids and we all had to share a room cuz she saved the other one for whenever she had a boyfriend over! I usually ended up sleeping on the floor because we had to let our sisters take the bed and-" Seth took another deep breath- "I dunno, I'm just really happy!"

Rhyss chuckled at Seth's babbling and shut the door, sitting down again by the fire and tossing the bag of money up and down. I'm afraid Seth's powers might be swayed towards the dark once the Tempest begins to teach him... He's wild and impulsive, so who knows what will happen once he summons his first demon? Can't say I'm too worried though... I'm sure Seth has foreseen his own death, and if it includes losing his soul he'll stay away from dark arts. The mage yawned, stretched, and headed off to bed.

A voice echoed in Rhyss's head, and his head alone.

I won't be teaching Seth or Arrika anything of the Dark Arts, so don't worry about them turming to darkness like I'm starting to...I promise.


Sovelis let Seth chatter as they got closer and closer to the forest's edge. "Rauru is just beyond this thicket's thin part. You'll see Arrika agian when we get there...But YOU won't be allowed to mess with my home's structure until I train you. For now, you'll just have to sleep in one of the larger guest's rooms. Alright?"

The Tempest held his lanturn over his head, lighting the path before the Human hand the younger Hylian as they ventured towards the home of Sovelis, the Last Tempest.

It was 7 days after the Tempest's visit; Rhyss was in high spirits. Seth was gone and would not bother him for a good long while, obviously going to be preocupied with learning from Sovelis. Arrika was under Sovelis's watch too, probably under even tighter security; after all, didn't Sovelis say he had caught her trying to steal from him? And best of all, he'd made around 400 rupees for doing absolutely nothing (well, he had to put up with Seth for one night, which had been horrible, but completely worth it!). Kobas would have loved a deal like that. He would have said something to the effect of, "Well, hang it all, Rhyss, guess you being a lazy bum finally worked out! Now gimme the money." A few pangs of guilt did hit the mage, though, that he would so easily give up two of the people he had spent a good portion of his life looking after. In a way, he sort of sold them to Sovelis; then again, if money were to pass between he and another when considering the two thieves, he had imagined that he would be paying the other person to take them away.

Now Rhyss had planned to spend his free days (in the dark depths of his heart he knew that these days wouldn't last, and before he knew it the two would be back again) maybe doing a bit of gardening in the back, summon a couple of minor spirits to ask on the goings of a certain deceased person's ghost he knew, work on a bit of alchemy (he had been inspired by Sovelis), figure out how to finally make that dratted time travel warp, and at the end of the day have a nice mug of tea. A pretty average day, but Rhyss had learned to treasure all normal days; Kobas used to get them all in trouble one way or another and they had had to keep moving to avoid being hunted down from revenge-seeking thugs. Other times it was Seth's fault, who just couldn't keep his hands off the fish in the market stalls in town and kept getting caught (fried fish are his favorite food).

After feeding rats to the huge venus fly traps he kept in the back, he went back to his main work room to light the candles he used for summoning the dead. Rhyss shut the curtains and completely darkened the room, arranging the candles into a Triforce on the floor. He sat in the very middle triangle, the empty space in the middle of where the Triforces of Courage, Wisdom, and Power joined and placed his hands on the floor. He spoke in a hollow voice an old incantation he had created when he was 8 years old for the possession of spirts; in other words, he would offer himself as a host body for a ghost or demon for a limited amount of time.

"Those of death, whether untimely or not
Free souls to roam as your bodies rot
Here I offer myself, an open door
For you to tread upon this earth once more"

Rhyss opened his eyes slowly, expecting the spirit to speak through him. Silence. "What?" he muttered. "Did I get it wrong? No way! Well, I guess that's possible... I haven't used that one for years." He ran his fingers through his hair impatiently. "Oh! Right, I forgot the blood, maybe if I catch a cat or something-"

There was a small POOF! and a blue feather appeared, floating down into his lap. He looked at it curiously, turning it over in his fingers. "Mirielle? Now? Oh goddesses, this place is a mess and she's coming???" Rhyss shot up, knocking over a few candles in the process, and waving his hands threw open the curtains and attempted to straighten out the clutter in the room with magic. Before he could finish his front door slammed open to reveal a silver haired mage dressed in midnight blue and white robes and matching witch's hat. She had silvery eyes as well and a confident smile.

"Mirielle!" Rhyss grinned, shaking her hand. "What brings you here?"

The witch-mage kissed Rhyss on the cheek and looked thoughtfully around the room. "Were you trying that old spell again? For summoning souls? I thought I told you to use a different one! That one is really childish."

"Sorry. Couldn't help it... I was curious. What are you doing here though? I thought you were adventuring overseas for the next 3 years?"

"I was. Came back a few days ago. It was utterly boring! Half the other people on board got sea sick! I spent my days making new air freshening spells, can you believe it?"

"Is that why you came back so early?"

With a whirl of her skirts Mirielle settled down in one of Rhyss's comfy chairs. "Yes... and no. Thing is, I missed you," she said honestly. "It's not the same if you're not around; we were always a team in everything we did. It didn't feel right going off without you so..."

"Hah, told you you would miss me. Didn't I?" Rhyss said triumphantly. "So what next for the great Mirielle?"

"I don't know. Maybe I'll open that apothecary shop again in town. Maybe I'll become a valiant wanderer helping all those in need. Maybe I'll finish working on that path to the Twilight again. Or... maybe I'll just hang around with you!"

"What?" He was slightly speechless. "Since when did you decided that?"

"Just now! Got a problem with it?" She asked sharply.

"N-n-no!" Rhyss stuttered, because after all these years he was still scared of her power. "I was just... wondering. You said you hated being around thieves and-er- rogues- and..." he trailed off.

"Stop mumbling, Rhyss. This time I have a reason. Where's Kobas? I need to talk to that sinner."

"Why?" Rhyss said suspiciously.

"Because. Where is he?"

"Gone. Been gone. Disappeared, without a trace for a year or so now. Why?"

"What?" She looked stunned for a moment but recovered quickly. "It's alright. You'll do."

Rhyss was still confused. "What do you want now, Mirielle?"

"To give you this. The real reason why I came here." The witch-mage pulled a chain necklace with a large flat emerald in the middle out of the depths of her robes. "Know what this is?"

The necklace would seem harmless to common magic users but Rhyss's superior abilities told him that something was amiss. It radiated the tiniest hint of a demon's aura. "You've sealed a demon in there, haven't you?"

"Well... I didn't do it personally, but I helped. It was overseas; apparently it's as ordinary in some countries to have demons running left and right. Some places have serious problems with them though, so jobs as demon hunters pay well, although to me most of them are no more than pest exterminators. This one was exceptionally powerful, and the hunter I was with let me have it as a souveneir. So now I give it to you, because I know you've wanted one for so long." She made it sound as if Rhyss was a little kid who was pining away at a silly toy in a store window. Mirielle tossed him the necklace; that alone was worth a few thousand rupees as Rhyss weighed it in his hand.

"Woah... thanks," Rhyss said, his eyes flashing with ambitious thoughts of how to harness the power of the demon inside the jewel. Mirielle noticed and smiled. "Gonna rule Hyrule someday? Or blow it up?" She joked, although she knew it was a possibility. "Happy birthday," she said, kissing him on the cheeks again.

"Hah. You're the only one who remembered, you know?"

"Not even Arrika or Seth?"

"I'm sure they know. They'll show up again in a month or so with one excuse or another," Rhyss said, although he wasn't disappointed. The demon he held in his hands would keep him content for a long time. A very long time.