The eerie call of a Wolfos hangs in the air of the forest as A young boy and a small Deku exit the trees, and step out onto the Greens. The boy yawns, and sits down on a stump. He's quickly accompanied by the Deku, who sits down, and leans against the stump. The night air was cool, and the young boy was thankful. Looking out at the stars, the two beings calculated their distance from the Goddesses that rested in the cosmos above.

"Not a cloud in the sky..."

The Deku muttered just loud enough for his companion to hear.

"Its truly beautiful out tonight. Why can't I have a girlfriend on romantic nights like these?"

The small wooden being turned his head away.

"I've never even kissed a girl..."

There was a bit of a silence in the air- before all hell broke loose. The night air was shattered by the piercing scream of a man somewhere near them. The both of them nearly jumped out of their own bodies. The young man reached for his bow, but couldn't seem to find it on his back. Finally, he wrapped his fingers around it, and knocked an arrow. The Deku grabbed a tome from his pack, and held it close.

"W-... w-what the hell was that?!"

The Deku managed to mutter between his short breaths. There was some snapping twigs, some more shrill screams, and a man darting from the forest. He was a bloody mess, and seemed to have an injured leg. He limped towards them, and past them. The young man darted towards the man, the Deku hot on his heels.

"What in Nayru's great gales happened to you?!"

The man fell to the earth, and turned over, his eyes darting every which direction, as if trying to make sense of a falling cloud. The Deku bounded on top of the man's chest and grabbed his shirt. The man was dirty, and had a full-grown brown beard that hid his lower face. He was in a regular peasant's garb, and wore what looked like sewn together potato bags for pants. He was a bit overweight, and was carrying an empty sack.

"Get a hold of yourself! What happened!?"

The young archer knelt down next to him, and inspected his tattered clothes. They were riddled with rips and tears, and blood seeped from his body. The man's shaking was so turbulent that the Deku nearly lost his balance. Finally, the man opened his mouth to speak, but swallowed hard before doing so.

"Them things!! I-I-I always heard'v em, but I never spect'd them to b-be here-" *gulp* -"Here in these here woods!"

More twigs were snapping behind them, and the young archer knocked a flaming arrow in his bow, holding his quivering hands as steady as he could. He held the arrow in firing position for what seemed like hours, before finally, something limped from the brush. The Deku suddenly felt light-headed upon realizing what it was making it's way towards them. The young man's mouth hung agape as what was clearly identified as a re-dead made it's way in their direction. Finally, the boy came to his senses, and sent the arrow soaring. It nailed the creature right to the tree it was standing in front of, and set it's carcass a-flame. It moaned, and cried out into the night. Suddenly, the man began clawing at the earth, trying to gain a footing so as to sprint away from the accursed place, but kept tripping on his own feet. Another creature suddenly emerged from the trees.

"Where are they coming from?! Re-deads don't reside in the Deku-woods! I've lived there half my life!!"

The Deku screamed into the night stillness, before conjuring a spell. A strong blaze of fire shot from the wooden being's finger-tips, and engulfed the abomination. It kept it's pace, but was roasted to a cinder before reaching their position. The night was still once more. Quiet. The man took a knee, and began to cough. The young man stared at the trees, but saw no more movement among them. The boy lowered his bow, and took a few steps back. "Hey... Lets get the heck out of here."

The Deku turned to the boy, and hopped up and down in a panicked gesture. "B-But what about anyone else in the forest? Worst we ever had was Octoroks! When did re-deads start showing up?!" The boy looked down at the Deku, and sighed. "We could get killed in there..." He muttered, taking another long look into the forest. "besides..." He continued. "Word has probably already gotten out about it. A few of them must have escaped the gates to the underworld, thats all." The small wooden creature turned to look at the man, who was still catching his breath.

"You."

The Deku exclaimed, as he approached the man.

"Where did you see them? How many were there? When did they attack?"

The bearded stranger turned over on his back, and stared into the sky.

"I waz out collect'n mush'ms like a normally do, when all'v'sudden, I wuz surround'd by them beats... They came at me, s'pozzin they could get a quick bite t' eat." He breathed heavily again. "But I'ws too fast for 'em! I reckon there'r about 12 of em... course, it wuz a bit dark t' tell fersher." He held up his empty bag in the moonlight, and inspected the tattered old sack. "Looks like they got all'a muh shrooms..."

The young man and Deku exchanged glanced, and it was certain that they were both thinking hard. "We have to go alert the people back in Rauru to remain in their homes until Knights can arrive to rid the forest of those creature before its too late." The Deku exclaimed, obviously hell-bent on his decision. The young archer sat down in the grass, crossing his legs. "But Hollow... if we go through there with just us, we'll be torn to bits... you know the both of us aren't close ranged fighters... We need distance between us and our enemies... and our blazing attacks could set the whole woods aflame..." The Deku knew his partner had a point. "Well... we can't just sit here and do nothing about this."

"W'tever ya do, be caref'l. They're out fer blood, mmhmmm, no doubt'n that. Ima make fer North Cast'l n' stay in one of them there Inns. Like I said, do be caref'l."

The man got to his feet, and began jogging in the direction of the castle. The torches were lit in the distance, and were visible from their position. Suddenly, fire erupted from their position, and shot into the sky, illuminated the entire area. The young man jumped, before realizing it was his partner. "What are you doing?!" He cried out above the roar of the volcanic eruption. "I'm sending off a flare. Maybe people will see it, and come to help." The boy half smiled at his friend's smarts, and placed his hands on his hips.

"Well I'll be..."

Considering it was a gorgeous night and his stomach was still empty, Aureliano decided an hour ago to come into the forest and look for sustenance. The low wage he recieved as a part-time stable boy wasn't enough to sustain his still-growing body, but luckily there was plenty of food in the forest. In just that one hour he managed to catch two rabbits and several wild herbs. He felt confident today under the cloudless night, and decided that even though he had enough food for a day or two, it would not hurt to hunt some more and dry the extra food.

In the distance he spotted some of his favorite spotted mushrooms, one of the best he had seen in a while. He walked toward them, his mouth already watering, his imagination running. Just as he bent over to pick them from the floor, an intense flash of light was burned into his retinas, making him see hues of red, purple, and finally a dull pink. The flare had startled him, and he froze for a few minutes, not knowing whether it was an attack or a call for help. Finally he picked up the mushrooms off the ground and quickly stuffed them in his rucksack, realizing that the flare was important and that he would not be able to eat anytime soon.

He ran in the direction of the light at an average pace, sword in hand. On his way, his imagination went wild thinking for possible explanations for the flare.

"Maybe it's a trap! Or maybe someone's caravan broke down. Maybe an attack from an exotic being? No, it can't be that. There are only octoroks here. I know! Maybe a celebration! I haven't heard of any though.....Maybe someone just needs help."

Just as he thought his last thought he passed the last trees and appeared in the "Green". Though it was dark, he could make out an outline of a small Deku and what seemed to be a human.

"Was that light yours?" the young Hylian asked wearily, not knowing if he could trust these figures yet. "My name is Aureliano. Do you need any help." He held his sword in a striking pose and stood taut in case they were hostile.

Kobas shifted the heavy rucksack from his left shoulder to his right. "Give me that," he said to Arrika, who had accompanied him on his simple burglary. He took the bag she was carrying and slung it over his shoulder as well, the priceless tomes and jewelery clinking together. All at once the sky had been illuminated for a split second so brightly that it temporarily blinded them.

Arrika cursed and stumbled over a rock, but Kobas caught her arm securely before she could crash to the ground.

"What was that?" The girl asked, frowning, once she could see again.

The half-Sheikah's forehead creased with indecision and annoyance. "A call for help," he replied, looking from the stolen goods to the direction of the flare. Rhyss's house was still too far away- the thieves could either risk their loot and help whoever was in trouble, or turn home and pretend they hadn't seen anything.

Kobas sighed. "Let's go," he said finally, speeding off into the night, Arrika close behind.

"Hey!" Arrika called, walking towards the young man and the Deku once they had gotten closer. "What's wrong?"

The older thief lurked farther into the shadows, reasoning that the two strangers would react more calmly if a teenage girl suddenly appeared before them, instead of a seasoned rogue.

The Deku stopped the inferno, and stared at the man that had so suddenly been thrust out of the night air.

"Was that light yours? My name is Aureliano. Do you need any help."

The Deku nodded. "My name is Hollow. As you could have guessed by now, I'm a mage as much as I am a Deku." The young boy didn't move from his position, but introduced himself. "Hello Aureliano. Yes, the intense light you saw was produced by my friend here. My name is Jacko, but everyone calls me Sharpe." Hollow nodded. "And what your assumptions are accurate. We're definitely in need of some assistance." Before the Deku could say anymore, a voice cut through the night like a sharp sword through paper.

"Hey! What's wrong?"

"I'll explain it to her, and you can explain it to Aureliano. It would cut the time it would take in half." The Deku put his hands on his hips. "You just want to talk to her because she's a girl!" The archer folded his arms. "Come on, thats ridiculous." Sharpe left to explain it to the mysterious girl grumbling all the way. Hollow rolled his eyes, and turned to face Aureliano. "Sorry about that." Clearing his throat, he pointed a tiny wooden finger towards the woods. "If you've ever been to the Deku woods, you'd know that the worst we see out here is Octoroks."

The tiny wooden being paused, and took a few steps towards the forest. "However..." He continued, looking back at the man. "Whether you've been to the western wood or not, you know there's never been sitings of anything like a re-dead." He stared at the man hard, the red intensity of a thousand fires blazing in his Deku eyes.

"What we have here tonight... Is unthinkable. A monster like that has never been spotted in the Deku Woods, much less 12 or 13 of them. A man came screaming out of the wood, scared out of his wits. Hot on his trail, was not one, but two foul beasts of the undead. If it weren't for my friend and I, he would have been a late night snack for two hungry abominations. We have to alert Rauru Town before innocent people get hurt, and if we can, find the reason for these creatures being here."

Hollow stared hard into the woods. "I grew up in this forest... I can't stand to see it slowly being tainted by evil. I used to wander those forests when I was younger, never fearing such a creature. The man we met said he saw them while he was picking shrooms, and that there were about a dozen of them. I know these woods like that back of my hand, and I know all the shroom patches. If we can avoid them, we might be able to make it to Rauru without a hitch. I hope I've brought you up to speed. If you've got any questions, feel free to ask me."

OOC: Pretend Sharpe brought you up to speed Arrika, I don't want to type that all again XD

"Re-deads?" Kobas burst out unexpectedly in the middle of Sharpe's explanation, appearing so suddenly he was sure to have startled the archer. At the moment, though, he didn't care- the situation was as serious as he had anticipated. Arrika made a face, remembering the time Rhyss had accidentally summoned a horde of similar creatures.

"Here? That's not just weird, that's crazy," Arrika said.

"Almost unthinkable," Kobas continued. While he knew alerting the people of Rauru Town would be the right thing to do, he couldn't help but feel boxed in. There was no way out now and he knew he and Arrika would have to stick with this mission until the end. Arrika seemed to sense his discomfort and gave him a disapproving look, which he countered with a twitch of his mouth.

Arrika wasn't sure what she should do- Kobas did not seem as enthusiastic about creeping around outside now that he knew that Re-Deads were around, and if he fled she would most likely end up following him.