Hyrule Adventures 2

A lone man walked from the entrance of the desert. He had removed his cloak due to the heat, and was carrying it folded over one arm. Walking in his typical long strides, he reached the peninsula.

He stood, watching the waves lap the shore with white foam. The man heaved a deep sigh. The waves always calmed him; the sound of the shore seemed to clear his mind. Eyes on the water, he got out the letter. He was in the right place.

William put the letter back in his satchel and reached for his back. The harp, in all its glory, still strapped on his back. He detached it and held it in his hands. Remarkably, it was cold to the touch; it had obviously escaped the desert heat.

William looked away from the waves for the first time. Checking that his harp was not scratched or dented, a futile action considering that the harp's magical properties prevented such blemishes. He plucked a string, and a hollow sound vibrated, like an taut line hit with an empty log. William shook his head; it was not the sound he wanted. Trying again, he hit the right sonance: a sea gull's cry.

Meanwhile, Victor lurked in the shadows of large rock. He watched his father ready the instrument in awe. Victor was still amazed by the instruments flexibility; not as much as Arco or Alpha had been, but surprisingly close. Victor had his dagger half unsheated, and his hand rested on the hilt. He was ready, probably, nay,hopefully for nothing. He continued to peek around the corner of the boulder, able to see his father fully...

Unaware of his son's gaze, William jumped right into his melody...

Improvising with what little inspiration he had, William's song was of the sea. It began with the sounds of the shore and the calling of gulls, calming any listeners into a state of relaxation. Hanging on to this introduction for a few measures, the bard softly tranistioned into a steel drum tune, playing a full chromatic scale. About halfway into this part, William began on the other string with a vibraphone's voice. He repeated only the steel drum's part, letting the vibraphone begin its own melody. The vibrapone's ring sounded like the sea in itself, as if someone was playing on a whale's bones.

The vibraphone began a crescendo to forte, ending with an accented note. The string that had once played the sound of the gulls was strummed once again, this time with a sound of winds blowing into sails. The steel drums died competely to be replaced with the sounds of a ship's crew working and shouting. After a pause to allow these sounds to be heard completely, the string that had once been a vibraphone was now a tuba, with deep, dull notes playing a true pirate's melody. This continued for a few measures to be joined with some more brass, trombone and baritone to be exact. These instruments played for a short while, but were soon stopped much like the vibraphone. The wind began to blow harder, and the crew died out into the sound of thunder. A storm was brewing on the high seas...

The once brass string had just finished vibrating to be strummed again by Williams skilled fingers. This hair played the sound of allegro strings and trumpets, showing the intense storm. With plenty of accented notes and even slurred measures of waves rising and falling, William was just getting into his melody...

Before he could finish his beautiful song, however, a sand storm formed out of nowhere, as if on cue. When William immediately stopped playing, Victor squinted through the fine sand, just in time to see a silohuetted figure tackle his father!

Victor began to run towards the attack, but suddenly saw a glint of metal out of the corner of his eye. Turning towards this shine, he saw a rain of arrows falling towards him. Quickly putting up his shield in defense, he managed to deflect a few of the arrows; one of them, however, tore his sleeve and grazed his arm.

Running towards his father once again, Victor arrived just as the wind began to clear away the sand. He saw his father entangled in a furious struggle with a heavily cloaked figure- strange attire for one who was in the desert. Realizing that his cover had been blown (quite literally), the unknown person jumped up and began to run. William got up and reached to grab the assasin's leg, but just then the person turned and stabbed a dagger into William's hand!

Shouting with pain, William withdrew his hand quickly and began to tug the dagger from the bleeding wound. Using this momentary distraction to his advantage, the bandit made his escape.

Victor would have given chase, if not for the fact that his father was in wretching pain. Running to his side, Victor knelt down next to his father.

"Father, how badly are you hurt? Who was that person? What just happened?!?!"

William, having pulled the dagger out succesfully, lay on the ground and began to close his eyes.

"I don't know, son. I don't know..."

He then slipped from conciousness.

Standing up and cupping his hands around his mouth, Victor shouted:

"Someone help! My father is hurt!"

OOC: Sorry for the long delay, but it's finally here! Wilma delayed me for a couple of days, so I missed my weekend date. But, still, it's here, and I hope you liked it! (And yes, I welcome posts very much. Even if you haven't been following the story thus far, post. I, or should I say we, will gladly fill you in!)

Alpha pulls his cape around his body even tighter as a sudden sandstorm blows over him. 'This storm...it isn't natural - what!' He starts as he notices a blue light surround his right eye. 'My scar!'
As suddenly as it had appeared, the storm subsides, as does the light from Alpha's scar. He throws back his cape and spots Victor and his father by the ocean. "Victor! What's going on?" As he draws closer, he realizes that William is hurt. Rushing to his side, he nods to Victor. "I've got him. Life!"

Victor grimly smiles in Alpha's direction.

"Thank..."

But before the words can leave his lips, a loud shriek is heard. It spills forth from William's own mouth as he writhes in pain as soon as the life spell begins to affect him.

"That's not gonna work."

Suddenly, to Victor's surprise, a cloaked woman appeared out of nowhere. Waving her hands mystically in the air, the life spell dissipated. William is calmed once more, and although the life spell didn't quite work, the pain thoroughly awoke him:

"What was that?"

Victor is too stunned too speak. He is staring at the woman, clearly admiring her beauty. She was pretty in a classic sense: a slim, athletic frame and flowing, long black hair. She giggles at Victor's apparent lust. The younger bard blushes and returns to the matter at hand:

"I'm not too sure myself, father. That spell should have healed you..."

The woman spoke again, this time in a very matter-of-factly tone:

"The spell should've healed him, but it didn't."

Then she reached to the ground by William and picked up the dagger that had pierced his hand. It glowed faintly.

"This dagger has been enchanted. Someone must have put a spell on it to make any wounds unhealable."

With a deeply pained look, she turned to William:

"In other words, you can't heal it magically. You may have to wait weeks for it to heal normally."

Then she turned to Victor and handed him the dagger. As he held it for her, she took out a roll of bandage, a vial of water, and a soft cloth. She cleaned William's wound and neatly dressed it. Victor found the courage to speak to her:

"How...how do you know all this?"

After finishing with the first aid, she turned to Victor.

"I am a student of Sage Artorius, training to be a mage. You've got to know this stuff, you know!"

Victor nodded in understanding, then turned to Alpha once more.

"Thanks for your help, Alpha. You see, my father was attacked. I knew this was a trap! Damn! Now there's someone after my father..."

William stood up shakily and turned to his son.

"No, Victor. They were after the harp."

At Victor's confused expression, William elaborated.

"When the assasin first attacked, he managed to grab the harp. I kept it from him, but as you can see." He held up his hand, the bandage absorbing still more blood, "It didn't turn out too well."

He smiled faintly, then turned to Alpha.

"Thank you so much, Alpha. You would have saved me, had the circumstances been more favorable. Tell me, what do you think of this incident?"

Alpha grinds his teeth together as he forces himself to concentrate. When he finally speaks to answer William's question, it is with the utmost seriousness. "There is definitely something evil in the works. I believe you mentioned earlier that your harp had incredible magical properties; not surprising since its strings are the hairs of the goddesses, so I can't really say that I'm surprised that someone came after it. As for your wound..." Alpha bends down to get a better look at it, then glances at the dagger in Victor's hands. Now that he's focusing in on it, he can sense the dark energy that subtly surrounds the blade. "As for your wound and the dagger, it's obvious that whoever took it is quite afraid of what you will do to get your harp back. In their strategic planning they have revealed this much. If they weren't afraid they wouldn't have bothered making you incurable. They must have some sort of respect for you and your abilities...or perhaps..." Alpha pauses, knowing that he's going out on a limb here.
"Tell me, sir...do you have some sort of connection to the harp? Not merely as its player or owner, I mean, but a...magical...bond of sorts? If so, then it's possible that the thief’s reason for enchanting the blade was so that you would be unable to focus on finding the harp via your bond." He sighs again. "I'm sorry, William, but in order for me to truly help you, I'm going to have to ask you to reveal any secrets that you have kept concerning the harp. We'll be needing every piece of information we can get."
He glances at the woman. She's pretty, he notices, but he feels no need to dwell on that fact. "Thank you for your help. I hate to be blunt, but is there any way that we could find out what spell was used to enchant the dagger? If so, it's possible that we can find out a counter spell, and thereby get William back on his feet much quicker. We'll certainly be needing his help to rescue his harp." With all of that said, Alpha finally stops and takes a deep breath, filling his now empty lungs and letting his vocal cords rest. Saying so many words at once is very tiring, and the fact that he feels uncertain about bluntly issuing orders and questions. In past years of his life, he recalls, he would have been doing all of this work by himself.

William smiles for the first time in a while, revealing his pearly whites again.

"That would be a problem Alpha. That is..."

Then he reached into the folds of his cloak and pulled out a glimmering object.

"if they had gotten the harp in the first place! Like I said, I kept it from him."

William then attached the harp to his back, finally feeling whole once more. He continued to answer Alpha's questions.

"The harp does have a special bond with me, but none that this attack could have taken. Unless..."

William pondered the possibilities for a while, until it seemed that he had dawned on something.

"Unless they wanted my blood! You see, the harp can only be taken by someone with my blood, unless I give it up at my own will. To prevent theft, of course. So, it would be logical that this assasin was trying to get some of my blood, perhaps to work it magically into their own? I wouldn't know, as I am no mage."

He then looked to the cloaked woman.

"I think she should be the one to answer this question."

The girl nodded.

"It is very possible that this attacker was attempting to steal some of you blood along with the harp itself. They must be amateurs, as this would be a pretty simple job."

The woman then turned to Alpha, noting his serious expression.

"An enchantment such as this has only been used once before, and that was only in fable. Until now, I thought it only to be myth."

Then the woman shook her own head.

"And like I said before, there is no counterspell. I doubt that any respectable alchemist or mage would spend valuable time trying to find an antidote to a spell previously thought to be nonexistent. To be quite honest, even Arkkon the Great, hero of the legend I spoke of, had to overcome the wound without magic. And he had Schnocry the Potent, greatest mage any legend has spoken of!"

Realizing her sudden outburst of literary knowledge, she blushed.

"I've often dabbled in the realm of the scribes."

Victor was staring again, but quickly regained his composure as the woman turned to him. Seeing her slightly pink cheeks, he smiled.

"I actually find it to be quite interesting. So you say this Arkkon couldn't find an antidote either?"

The girl was relieved, and so continued her explanation:

"Yes, that's right. So to think that there is an antidote now would be foolish. I'm afraid your father will not be able to help us as of now...Victor, is it?"

Hearing the girl speak his name made Victor smile and fall once again into the realms of lust. Quickly snapping out of it, Victor thought:

"Ok, Victor. This is your chance. Don't mess this up!"

"Uhh.....yes, me Victor......I mean, you...no...he....no...I'm Victor."

Victor's face now resembled a turnip.

"And you be.....are?"

The girl smiled and stretched out a dainty little hand.

"Celine. Pleased to meet you!"

Victor eagerly shook her hand, a little too hard perhaps; she was almost lifted off the ground. Celine waited for Victor to release his grip and then tried to regain her balance. She turned to Alpha.

"Anyways, I'm sorry, but I just don't know anyone who could perform such a spell. Perhaps something more.... physically present could help. The dagger, perhaps?"

She then lifted her hand and rubbed her chin thoughfully.

"I didn't get your name, Sheikah."

Victor was quick to introduce him.

"This is Alpha. He spoke with my father back at then Ornery Cucco. He's here to help. Now then...tell me more about Arkkon the Great..."

As the two were engrossed in discussion about literature, William picked up the dagger. He examined it carefully, taking in every little detail. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, save the strange glow and the...

"Wait a minute," he thought. "I know this symbol."

Engraved on the dagger's hilt was an unusual picture. It seemed to depict a rock, with a single sprout growing from the top and wings on each side.

"How strange." He muttered. William then proceeded to hand the dagger to Alpha.

"Take a look at this, Alpha. What do you think of it. I can't seem to put my finger on it, but I remember it from...somewhere... Take a look, see if you know it..."

A feeling of both embarrassment and relief flows through the hooded Sheikah as he sees the harp, safe and sound. 'They were after his blood? That's really weird, even if it is the only way to get his harp.' He smiles at the history that Celine has 'dabbled' in. "Arkkon the Great, huh? You'll have to tell me that legend sometime; I haven't had much time in the past years to study his stories...or any others for that matter." He sighs. 'Such is the life of a warrior, though...'
But as Celine begins to tell Victor about Arkkon, William begins asking Alpha questions. So rather than get the history lesson he would love to receive, he concentrates on the image engraved on the dagger. After studying it carefully, he says, "I think I've seen it as well, but I'm having trouble placing it. With all the symbols I've seen in my lifetime, I'd need to look it up in a library or something." A thought strikes him. "Perhaps Celine knows what it is. Celine!" he calls to the woman, "Have you ever seen this emblem before?"

Victor and Celine are quite engrossed in conversation when Alpha calls her over. Victor frowns slightly, but Celine takes no notice. She walks over.

"What is it?"

William holds the dagger so that Celine can see the symbol.

"We found this on the dagger. I know I've seen it somewhere, and Alpha thinks he has as well. How about you?"

Celine takes the dagger and holds it gingerly. With a professional eye she examines the symbol, reaching into her memory for some kind of explanation. After a minute or so of thinking, she frowns.

"No, I've never seen or heard of such a symbol. William, if you have seen this before, then it may be pivotal that you remember..."

Meanwhile, Victor kicks sadly at the sand. His subconsious begins to speak to him.

"See what you've gone and done! Now she's gone forever!"

"I'm sure she'll come back in a second..."

"No! You obviously repelled her with your idiocy."

"Hey..."

"Forget it! You've got to get her back, fool!"

Victor nodded his head and whispered:

"Yeah, I'll go talk to her."

He then walked over to the other three, listening as Celine spoke with WIlliam.

"... As I said, you must try to remember! Your very well-being could be at stake!"

Victor tapped on her shoulder. She turned:

"Yes, Victor?"

Victor stood silently. What would he say? Clumsily, he tried to lean casually on another boulder.

"I was just wondering: do you have any Hylian in you?"

Celine looked baffled.

"Yes, why?"

Victor smiled.

"Would you like some more?"

*SLAP!*

Victor was on the ground, his blushing face almost hiding the hand-shaped mark on his cheek. Celine turned back to the group, a friendly smile hiding her disgust. Luckily, no one else had heard the comment.

"Anyways, are you sure you can't think of anything, William?"

The older bard rubber his chin thoughtfully. He began to pace, but soon stopped. He had felt a slight lump in his cloak pocket. Confused, he removed it, only to find that it was the letter. He had crumpled it up, and the pointed corners had poked his sides. He noticed something in the upper left corner of the note...

"That's it!" He exclaimed. "Here, look..."

William held the paper out so that both Alpha and Celine could see. In the corner was a symbol; the exact symbol from the dagger!

"That's where I saw it! Obviously, the same people who sent the letter also sent the assasin."

Victor was standing, his hand behind his head. He was still red, but the mark was fading.

"I think we knew that already, father. But now we have one less clue... Maybe we can decipher what the symbol means?"

He turned to Celine, eyes on his shoes.

"Celine, you're the best candidate for this. What do you think it is?"

Celine smiled and lifted Victor's chin with her hand.

"You don't have to be embarassed. I've forgiven you already."

Back to her prefessional demeanor, Celine looked at the letter.

"Now then, this seems to be some kind of coat of arms. A strang one at that. I've never ecountered a similar symbol, but it shouldn't be to hard to figure it out. In my experiences, it seems that coats of arms usually symbolize families or foundations. Sometimes the symbol itself can show how long the family has been around, or even how many people are in the group, as in a foundation. But even then, I'm stumped. Alpha, you seem like a smart guy. Maybe you have an idea?"

OOC: To be honest with you, I actually had to search online for slap-worthy pick-up lines. Sorry if it's a little too.... well, you know. It was the best one I could find.

Anyways, this is the part where I know the answer, but you don't! Haha, losers! ... Just kidding. So, you guys have to figure this one out on your own. It's horribly easy, so I shouldn't have to wait too long...

Alpha quietly looks over the symbol again, making a mental note to look for anything...irregular in it and its parts. 'Let's see...a stone with a sprout sticking out of it, and wings on the side...hmmm.' He raises his head back to look at the others. "Well, I'm no expert at deciphering pictures and their meanings, but if I had to guess..." he raises his hand to his chin in the gesture most people associate with a person in deep thought. "I would say that the rock depicts strength, or at least the group's belief that they are strong and powerful. The sprout I would think would mean that this group is very young. The wings...I'm not so sure about that one. Perhaps it symbolizes the Rito? Maybe they are, or at least live near, Rito." He lets out a long breath, forcing most of his anxiety over this matter out with it. He hopes that something that he has said is somewhat near the truth, or that it sparks an idea in someone else.

Celine pondered Alpha's suggestion for a while. It seemed perfectly logical, but still...

"I don't know if the attackers would be smart enough to put such... deep meanings in their emblem. Unless they work for someone more intelligent. As for the Rito... that would make much more sense!"

Victor had the same thoughts:

"My sentiments exactly. The Rito have wings. They even deliver letters! Why, that fits perfectly! But still....the sprout and the rock. I mean, so much more could be used to signify strength. And I wouldn't want anyone to think I was young if I was evil. What else could it be?"

William has been in deep thought for quite some time. Suddenly he lights; that little lantern is hanging over his head...

"I have an idea! If the wings signify Rito, well, couldn't the rocks symbolize the mountains? They live in the Ruto Highlands, after all. And the sprout.... the sprout could signify an uprising! The start of a rebellion, the start of new ways."

Victor jaw hangs slightly at his father's sudden brilliance. Usually he was a simple man with simple thoughts. Maybe that hand wound did him some good.

Celine only partially agreed, though:

"The rock could very well symbolize the mountains, but like Victor said: no one wants to seem like a novice. Back when I had just joined Sage Artorious's class, I lied to the others. I said that I had attended another mage school for a few years, but had recently moved to Hyrule to continue my education. I didn't want to look like a beginner, so I doubt that this...whatever it is would feel any different."

Victor was in awe. Such a smart girl had agreed with his idea! He was ecstatic.

"Yeah, that's what I said!"

Then, turning to Alpha, he said:

"Good work with the Rito thing, but we're gonna need some more opinions about that sprout... I sure wish someone else were here to put their two cents in..."

Victor and the others were thinking about the symbol throughtfully when a Zora poped out of the water, It was Alex, seeming to perfectly understand what they were talking about in the last minutes
Sorry for being spying you but i couldn't help to hear that you were talking about the symbol; let me tell you that it may not only represent the Rito, but also the gorons and the dekus. These is one of the tales that go and come thorught peoples voices only and are not written anywhere, it goes before Ganon made South Hyrule a wasteland,when he was joining his forces(he took seat and began):

They say that when the King of Evil was seeking for assailants he went with many main races of Hyrule, and many of the most hated members of the society accepted his call ...
Some of this "Generals" were each from the Goron,Rito, and the Deku races and they formed an aliance (an underground force formed by their army ).

Of course, they thought they were more powerfull than Ganon himself so they continued secretly their own "plans" for Hyrule, but as Ganon was defeated they realized that it was yet too soon to conquer Hyrule...

They left the ones who would continue their task doing background tasks,(things could go unnoticed to the royalty) like this one, wich slwly granted them power enough to continue their plot to destroy Hyrule...

Alex took a deep breath after the tale,"This leaves some questions as , what can they do gain power? and what can that harp help them to do it?

Victor lit up at the sight of another friend.

"Hey Alex! Nice to see you!"

But after hearing his tale, Victor's demeanor was somber.

"An underground army, eh? Damn! If that's true, then we may be up against more than petty thieves..."

Celine, meanwhile, had a doubtful face throughout the entire story. After Alex was done, she kept stroking her chin in thought for a while. Finally, she spoke:

"Certainly a valid explanation, but I highly doubt it. If this attacker was some sort of 'elite' who had worked for Ganon himself, then he could have stolen the harp easily. No, we are dealing with amatuers here. In fact... I myself have never even heard of your story. But I guess, being that it was passed on by word of mouth, it's very likely that I missed it..."

Celine dropped her hand to her side and reached out to grab the letter from Wililiam. She poured over the letter again before re-examining the emblem.

"It seems reasonable that the sprout would signify Dekus. And the rock could symbolize both the mountains and the Gorons, but since the wings do have a relationship with the Rito, then it seems more likely that the Gorons would be involved. Good work....Alex, was it? Well, we've figured that out. But still..."

She read the letter silently once more.

"This just screams 'inexperience'. I mean, they even emphasized the 'come alone' part. Who did they think they'd fool?"

"My father. Duh!" Victor thought. Celine continued:

"Yes, you could very well be right about the three races being identified. And though I highly doubt your Ganon theory, your questions are valid. They are obviously seeking power, and the harp could very well provide them with the power they seek! I mean, the magical properties of the harp alone could be used for unspeakable evil! Just think: the power of the goddesses themselves in the wrong hands! Why, I would think..."

And while Celine began a long, boring discussion of the possible ramifications of such evil deeds, Victor couldn't help but think:

"Man, she's hot! Dyamn!"

He snapped out of it and turned to Alex and Alpha.

"You guys sure helped a lot. I mean, those theories could very well be correct! But, I would like to get some second...erm, third opinions, or even some entirely new ideas..."

OOC: Yeah, we're almost done here. Just a few more posts, hopefully one or two more newcomers, and of course we wouldn't want to exclude weienw! Hang tight, people!

Alpha gives Celine a hard look as he listens to her calmly throw away some of the Zora's ideas. "I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss the idea of an underground group, Celine. Trust me, I know about such things, and they do exist." A shudder runs through him as he thinks of the Hakiems tribe, the underground group of assassins that have chased him for years. 'Well, if it involves Rito, Gorons, and Deku then it can't be them. The Hakiems are all Sheikah...and Zaboorak...' He quietly reminds himself that he can't dismiss the possibility - that would make him a hypocrite, considering what he had just told Celine. "And it's quite possible that the people in charge do not consider William a big enough threat to waste their time on. They could have given the task to a couple of inexperienced weaklings." His expression remains cold. "We can't discount anything here."

With that said, though, Alpha's demeanor brightens back up to how he normally seems...which isn't much, of course. He turns to look at the Zora - Alex, if he'd heard Victor correctly. "Thank you for your help. It's a pleasure to meet you; any friend of Victor's can be a friend of mine." Despite his solemn look, his warm smile sends out a message of friendship. He holds out his hand, saying, "I am called Alpha."

Alex was happy to meet old friends and make new ones, but this was not the time to seat and have tea; as he was listening things seem to get worse minute by minute
Hi Alpha, as you may already know I'm Alex of the Zora, survivor to the war and native from lake Hylia.It will be a pleasure to help you on anythingi can do.
Alex couldn't stop notice that Victor didn't stop lookind at the black-haired Hylia(?) with a strange looking and he said to himself " well she IS hot"

Victor smiled at the Zora.

"Glad to have you on the team, Alex. We can use all the help we can get..."

As Victor said this, Celine turned to Alpha:

"Sorry, Alpha, but I highly doubt that we are dealing with anything that powerful. I mean, how many underground organizations do you know that have their own emblems?"

She held up the letter to prove her point.

"It's just not right. No, we are dealing with amatuers. But it maddens me! I mean, to think that novices would go after such a powerful magical object! It's...it's..."

But before Celine could continue, she stopped herself. She had begun to get flustered again. She blushed slightly, then tossed her head back to move the hair out of her face.

"Sorry. It's just... the harp is so powerful. To think of it in evil, not to mention incapable, hands makes me furious..."

After she said this, William stirred for the first time in a while. He looked up at Celine with a puzzled expression:

"Wait a minute... How do you know so much about my harp? You weren't there when we talked about it..."

Celine turned to face the older bard.

"Surely you realize that your harp is quite famous? Many a scholar has been in your audience, and quite a collection of literature has been written of your harp. Being a mage, I've studied it's magical qualities. The instrument if very powerful..."

She then turned once more to face the Sheikah.

"Anyways, I'm sorry, but I just can't imagine that we are dealing with experts. They botched up the job to easily. But I must agree with something: anything is possible. For all we know, this group could be a monitored by a larger, more powerful one. Perhaps the emblem itself is a hoax. Perhaps the attacker stole the knife from the person who sent the letter..."

She shook her head.

"I just don't know... But keep those ideas coming, people! At least we're getting somewhere..."

'How many underground organizations do you know that have their own emblems?' Alpha turns back to Celine. "I know of several organizations like that...one of which is still after me to this day." He quietly stands by as Celine continues to speak...
'Wait a second...the harp is famous? Then why haven't I heard of it before now?' Alpha crosses his arms, no further ideas coming forth to his mind. But his thoughts continue to fly. 'And how can we be so lucky to have it so a student of Sage Artorius just happens to find us immediately after the attack? Suddenly, this Celine seems a lot more suspicious...but if she's evil, then why hasn't my scar reacted yet?' He considers this for a second. 'Well, it's probably because she's not behind it, but...' He glances around the desert, seeing only sand and water. 'If there is a Golden One nearby, I don't see him...'