[Musical theme]: Koume and Kotake (open in new window)

As you wander through the forest, you come across a sea. Not a sea of water. But a sea of dead, wilted trees...

Blank wandered through the forest. It was cold out, and seemed as though it could begin to rain. He shivered breathlessly and began to jog, and then he took off at a quick run. Judging by the map Dogura had been carrying after the underground journey in Parapa, the stone he was seeking was somewhere in this general area. Pyralin and Dogura had headed off to their respective regions - high in the mountains, and lost in the desert. Blank had chosen the location he referred to as “deep in the woods.” Looking back on the choice, it wasn't the best decision. The desert was probably warm and sunny at the moment, and the highlands was probably at a neutral weather type - being directly above the nomad, and a bit north.

Bursting from the thick, green shrubbery of North Forest, the nomad found himself in a desolate, wasted region of the woodland. His jaw slackened, and dropped a bit as he looked at where he was standing. All around him, as though it were a realm of nightmares, the forest had shifted to what appeared to be a scene of death and dread. The trees... they were not of the glorious type that North Forest held. He looked above him; lightning overhead, and a clap of thunder sounding amongst the thick grey clouds. Looking back at the trees, he examined them carefully. It seemed as though he had stepped into an illusion. How had he never noticed the crippled patch of trees? His foot snapped a twig as he exited the true safety of the forest. A Hoot! rasped ahead of him, and an owl could be seen flying off.

A fog seeped in from behind the man; he chanced a glance behind him, and found the arms of the trees standing tall, as if pointing him forward and telling him that there was no turning back. The Hylian gulped and stepped further into the undergrowth of dead, phantom trees. Each tree seemed to tell its own story; one was imbued by a pair of initials, in that obvious yet sentimental signature of passion only distinguishable as a sign of true love. There was a thick cut through the letters, however, and it seemed that at some point a creature had scratched the tree in contempt for an openly present love. Perhaps this was before the trees had withered, before this portion of the forest became unbearable to be near.

It was then that the nomad caught sight of the cave. It was the Mines Entrance, and he now recalled the one time he had come to this haunting place. He felt inside one of his pockets, and ran his fingers across the gritty North Iron Ore that he found there. After such a long time, he had never found a use for it, and so it remained in his inventory. This caused a slight twitch near his lips; a smile? The memory of the ore brought back pleasant recollections of his early days in Hyrule. Back then, there had been no perilous underground battles against towering Stallords; those were the days of truly heroic deeds. The grateful smiles of the dedicated Goron slaves as they were freed brought much greater light to his heart than booting helpless Stalchildren around.

More thunder, and a few more bolts overhead. Perhaps the flats were suffering weather just as gruesome. Goosebumps formed on the back of his neck and his hair stood on edge; a bit of cold sweat in the mix made him even more uneasy. He tried to shake off this feeling of malcontent, and stepped further into the small abyss of once proud trees. He knew not what he was seeking; Dogura had not been specific on the matter. This probably spanned from not having asked the Stalchild in Parapa what the trio was to expect in their respective areas. Blank had no idea if the sacred stone was going to be just laying there on the ground, or if there was a shrine or monster-filled lair he would have to pillage to find it. So long as he didn't have to find it in one of trees; he really didn't feel like touching them. They had that ghastly image that could make one think, “Hmm, that tree could stretch out its limbs, pick me up off the ground, and eat me whole.” It wasn't a pleasant feeling, but this wasn't a pleasant place. The nomad began to search around for clues on exactly what he supposed to be looking for.

As Blank looked around for clues, something strange happened. Something poked him from behind. Oddly enough, there was nobody there, rather one of the dead tree's branches had poked him. Normally, this would frighten anybody, however, it was particularly windy in this area. That was more than enough of an explaination for the tree poking him. Suddenly, the branch jutted into his side, and another in his back. Turning around, Blank would notice something extremely odd about this particular tree.


It had a face.

Blank had begun to relax his chilled nerves when it happened. He ignored it for a moment, that rough prodding, but such a phenomenon in such a bonechilling setting was not something he was going to so easily let pass. His sweat instantly froze, and his spine straightened as he lifted himself out of a hobbled stance - he had been searching the grass near one of the liveliest trees. It was at this point that a terrifying scream would have been heard for miles in diameter, but Blank was not that easily frightened. He gasped, however, and decided that it would be best to turn and look.

What he saw did not particularly confuse him. In truth, he had expected something like that to happen. The nomad gave the branch a disgusted look, and aimed a hefty kick in hopes of shattering its weak wooden structure. Missing altogether, he watched as that same branch flung itself at his side, scratching his ribcage and knocking the breath from his gut. He groaned and rubbed the injury, looking down at the small opening where he had been stricken. A sigh escaped his lips; at least the trees were old and decrepit enough that not too much pain was inflicted by a single lashing. The Hylian was thankful that the branch's assault was not multiple in variety...

Until the second limb struck him across his spine. “Oof!” came the disgruntled, shocked sound as he fell forward. He turned himself over on the ground and started to kick at the incoming branches, when he saw the tree. Or, rather, saw the face. A look of sheer “What-the-hell” hung over his face, unrelenting even as more branches continued their ruthless tirade. He ignored these, and found himself standing , looking straight into its eyes. Normally, he would attack like a dog, but he had learned from his experiences recently that that tactic could result in unwanted conflict. Perhaps he could talk to the creature? Unlikely, and so he drew his swords in preparation for a fight, still hoping to not need the weapons.

“What... I mean, who, are you? Why are you attacking me!”

The tree grunted, and snarled, lashing out with it's branches. Suddenly, another voice broke through the tension. "Hey kid... over here." The voice cried weakly. Another withered tree seemed to have called out from the other direction. "Leave him alone, he's been consumed already!!" The voice was raspy, and tired. "I said get away from that tree kid! He's not himself anymore! I need to talk to you!" It would seem as though another living tree, would have useful information...

Blank grabbed an incoming branch and tried to snap it between his fingers, failing to do so and being struck in the chest. More branches were beginning to swat him ruthlessly, and it appeared his question was going unanswered. The tree's chaotic snarl made this point all the more obvious, and Blank couldn't help but yell at it's ugly, bark-covered face. “Well, fine! Be like that!” He kicked up off the ground and looked in the best direction to run to - away from the merciless tree. He tripped on another of its weapon-like limbs and fell back to earth, a grunt escaping his lips as more lashed his back.

Another voice, this one much weaker than the grunt of the assailant had been, rushed to his ears. He cocked an eyebrow and turned over, scrambling away from the seemingly ill-content tree and towards this voice. Its words placed a haunting sense of foreboding over him. “Leave him alone, he's been consumed already!!” He began to shudder as he scrambled to his feet, now out of reach of the first tree. The Hylian took off at a run, crashing through branches of other trees to reach the other. It had said that talking to Blank was one of its immediate needs; he peered around to find it, so that he could prevent both of them from being disappointed.

“What's going on here!” he yelled as he caught sight of what he considered to be an informant. He slowed to a halt at its roots and bent double, catching his breath while flicking pieces of wood and grass from his jerkin and hair. “Okay. Firstly, where's the sacred stone? I just want to find it and get out of this place. And... what do you mean 'consumed?' What has happened to you people... er, trees?” The nomad's face was a mixture of shock, terror and befuddlement as he attempted to interrogate this humanoid tree.

The tree's face would remind one of the great deku's. It was aged, and saddened. It seemed to be in a thinking position. "The sacred stone... Maybe I was wrong to stop Rufus from killing you..." An angry look swamped his entire expression, and he immediately returned to his saddened state. "That damned stone! If it weren't for that cursed stone, I wouldn't... We wouldn't be in this mess." The tree shook all over in an uncontrollable fury. "Let me tell you the story of what happened to us..."

The trees of this side of the wood... We all lived happily, watching the ages come and go. Men passed by us all the time, and we would resume our treely activities... Until that Magic Stone showed up... After that, things changed. Men came around with shovels digging various places, obviously desiring the stone. When we figured it couldn't get much worse... He showed up." The withered tree's branchesmoved a little, as he pointed to the ground. "He said he knew that a stone was buried beneath this land. He said he was looking for a powerful stone, and if I didn't tell him where it was, he would force it out of me. I knew it was around here somewhere, but I had no idea where! Then... as if he thought I weren't telling him the truth, he went right over to floyed, and touched him. Floyed turned gray, as he withered. And his soul was sucked right out of him!!"

The old tree began to quiver again, and whimpered. "One by one he syphoned the souls out of all the trees in this part of the forest. And to be cruel... He left me with my soul, so that I could feel terrible about what I had done... But I never knew exactly where it was! Then... He yanked a young tree out by it's roots, and dug his way through the ground with it! He forced it into the ground time and time again, until finally he struck something solid. Again and again he plunged the young one beneath the dirt, using the only leaves it had to dust off what he had found. It was a door knob! And he uncovered what seemed like a safehouse. Our roots spread far and wide, and never did we strike anything like what he found. He opened the door, and went right down into the earth! He hasn't come up since." The tree extended a branch, which pointed to what seemed like a broken stick. "Thats all thats left of Wilma's child.. Ohhhhh the agony!!" The tree began to weep, and sob. "Please! I'm beging you! Go down and show that man what for! You're young, you can do it!" The old withered oak looked at the nomad with hopeful eyes...

Blank's face masked an expression of sheer horror as the elderly tree mentioned its intention to let 'Rufus' continue beating him. Those branches - despite being corrupted and weak - were actually quite painful. Even worse was his expression of fear as he listened to the story. What kind of people are we dealing with! Dogura, you never mentioned anything about soul-suckers! He began to panic, and when Blank panicked, he would sweat. A few steady lines of the warm, salty sweat ran down his face, and the tree could probably assume that it had done a good enough job at scaring the man.

“Show me the way, treeface!” he grinned triumphantly, although that particular expression was only made to mask that distilled sense of anguish he felt, knowing he would actually have to go underground and fight. He gulped, whilst wiping the sweat from his face and preparing for the trees to grant him passage. He wondered how the enemy had found this place so fast - the party consisting of Dogura, Pyre and himself had gained maps, and still they were behind. Still, at least this unidentified man had not come up yet. Blank felt confident enough in his agility that he could escape an almost certain soul extraction.

“So, if you gents could just... show me the way... Id' certainly, well, uh, appreciate it... Thanks?” Blank was clearly having trouble speaking to the tree at this point - how many normal Hylians could communicate with vegetation and actually find something interesting to say? He thought for a moment about saying something like “So, how 'bout those lumberjacks?” or maybe even “How many sheets of paper can I make out of you?” but decided against these seemingly unoffensive questions. “Alright. I'll do it,” he finally confirmed. “But when I get back, you'd better have ole Rufus there apologize. I have to visit a tailor almost every week, and now I have to go again, all because of you peop- er, trees.”

The tree finally smiled, and shook about. "Now that is the spirit of Hyrule's youth!" It then looked over at Rufus who was still screeching angrily, and raking the ground in attempts to uproot itself, and chase after Blank. "I'm sorry to say... that my friend is nothing but a mere shell of what he once was. Where jovial laughs and good memories once were, now only hate and aggression exist... He's a lost cause." The tree turned sad again. "I'll allow you to chop me down and sell me for rupees... I would rather die a horrible death than continue to live in agony... My name is Denuk, and you have my graditude." The tree finally extended one of its branches towards the middle of the sea of dead trees. "The door is still open. Proceed with caution... May farore guide you safely..." The door was indeed still open, and a bit of light emanted from the inside. The stone stairs led down a torch lit hallway...

The fleck of light called out to him, pulling him toward its warmth and away from the expressionless faces of the once living trees. It was now Blank's responsibility to bring redemption to the oak-folk... even if these trees were of a Deku make. He knew he'd be in for the thrashing of a lifetime as soon as he entered the confines of the hidden underground crypt; just how many of these little tombs were scattered around Hyrule? And why could he never find the convenient ones? You know, those ones with jolly thieves with excessive amounts of spoils. That was Blank's kind of hole in the ground.

Without a word to the two surviving, cursed trees, Blank descended into the lit stairway. Inside, he began to look around at the surrounding architecture, the possible routes, and even more importantly, for small treasure chests and articles of interest. The nomad had come for one treasure, why not leave with more? Not expecting to find anything useful, he kept his eyes straight after a few nervous glances around, and continued further into the crypt to find the enemies he was sure were after the very same stone.

As Blank looked around the dimly lit room, two particular objects shined brightly upon two beautifully carved pedestals. There was a blue orb on the right, and a red one on the left. One shined like the morning sun, contradicting the other, which next to it, glowed like the luminous moon. Not much else could be seen of the room, aside from the patches of the wall that were illuminated by the dim torches that looked as if they would burn out at any second, and leave the nomad in an eerie darkness. This thought would be best shaken however. A door sat on the other side of the room, with nothing but a few torches revealing it's presence. A spherical shape was engraved into it, as if something round had struck it with muscle truck force.

Already Blank wanted to turn around and run back out into the dead forest without taking a look behind him at the eerie globes on the pedestals before him. Of course, he knew that the tree known as Rufus would probably hammer him to a pulp if he was caught abdicating his promise. Gulping down the tension, Blank shook his head and continued towards the red and blue orbs.

He really couldn't put his finger on exactly what he was supposed to do. The spherical imprint on the dimly lit door gave him the impression that one of the two spheres could fit inside, but the accompanying question to that thought was “Which orb would it be?” Unable to come up with a partial answer, and afraid of the repercussions of a failed guess, Blank did nothing. Instead, he tried to attune his senses to the dark room and find a clue in his surroundings.

As of now, he could see two pedestals. One held a red orb, and the other held blue. There were two torches dead ahead, which gave very little light and only allowed him to catch sight of the door. This situation would not help Blank prevail in solving his dilemma. He began to look around the tomb-like room for even the smallest of noticeable details. Anything to help him understand the rules of this puzzle that much better.

[Awareness Check]

Blank scanned the room, only to find nothing but dust. However, there was something odd about this dust... there is.. something under it? It looked like something was on the wall beneath the layers of dust. As Blank wiped the dust from the wall, a painting appeared... a chilling one.



What could it mean? What purpose could it have? How could this hold the key to answer?

OOC: I lost the map I drew out for both of your guys's dungeons. Thats right: I'm desperately searching for them, and going through these dungeons by memory.

It sure is dusty in here... thought Blank as he gazed around the room. A few tufts of the coarse grey mites came too close to his nose, and he found himself sneezing uncontrollably. Wiping away that dust-infected area under his nose, the nomad continued to look around, sniffling due to the few molecules that had entered his sinuses. His eyes watered as another sneeze echoed throughout the odd room, which just wouldn't be complete without wall paintings...

His heart skipped a beat. He hadn't noticed that wall painting before, and he felt particularly frightened as he peered through squinted, watery eyes at it. Horror crept through his veins as he jumped away from it. At first it appeared to be a simple image of a friendly Zora, but there was something odd going on... Wiping the rest of the dust away and uncovering the remainder of the painting, a feeling of sheer terror struck his nomadic instincts.

Re-Dead.

Whirling around, Blank began to panic. There was no way he could take on a horde of Re-Deads if they were actually present. He had to find an exit from this room! Realizing that just running around aimlessly was not doing much for the situation, Blank stopped himself and looked back to the picture. How can this help me! he wondered in his head, becoming frustrated. In his irritation he struck the painting with one of his swords, turning away from it afterwards to sulk as he tried to find answers in the crypt.

And then it came to him. Going on simple color match-up, he related the blue orb in the room to the Zora in the picture. The Zora was being chased by Re-Deads, it seemed. And if the two entities - Zora and blue orb - were related at all, touching that orb could prove fatal to Hyrule's favorite nomad. Blank decided that he would interact with the red one, to be safe. It reminded him of the sun, and everyone in Hyrule knew that Light was a surefire repellent for Re-Deads.

Of course, by this point he was good and frustrated, rather than just touch the orb, he took a good, hearty swing at it with his sword, a hateful grin on his face. It looked tough enough to take the blow, but this would at least provide him with some much-needed stress relief.

OOC: Blank is dumbtarded. The End.

OOC: *sigh*
I miss Blank...
Well, whats done is done. You can go ahead and lock this when you find it RG.
I had such big stuff planned too