eberVSharu AND garrinVSkoku

The deeper the dungeon crawled, the more demonic it seemed to become.  The next group of tunnels and chambers were far more wild than the somewhat uniform halls Kalak experienced previously.  This one was really a piece of work—A grove of wicked trees twisting into an endless black sky and swirling clouds.  A miserable drizzle dripped down the branches, causing an eerie shine to reflect off the flora.  A chilling wind cut through the trunks, causing even the intangible twili to shiver bitterly.  

The first figure to catch Kalak’s eye was the Scoundrel Garrin.  Kalak had noticed him before.  It seemed that he had been trapped in the dungeon before, as the twili caught on to Garrin’s immediate distaste for his iron companion, Blaze.  

Garrin seemed disgusted by the scenery, haunted branches constantly whacking him in the face for all the wind.  In a final frustration the Hylian began to viciously attack the clawing branches with his dagger, growling impatiently.

“Garrin.” A female voice interrupted his flurry, approaching behind slowly.  Garrin looked over his shoulder to see Ankoku standing behind him, blade drawn.  His face fell as he realized his opponent.  Turning to face her he began to speak.
“Now look here,” he began.  But the woman cut him off.

“Don’t say another word, Garrin.  We both know the routine and stalling isn’t part of it.”  Ankoku said shortly, assuming a fighting stance.  
Garrin rolled his eyes and pulled his dagger in front of him defensively.  He had forgotten about his skirmish with the branches, however, and free from his blade’s resistance they swung at his face without warning.  Shielding his eyes with a yelp, Garrin staggered back.  Like a bolt of lightning, Ankoku attacked Garrin while he struggled off guard.  Her blade slashed across his chest, ripping through his tunic and flesh.  

“Argh!” Garrin bellowed, grasping his wound delicately.  He bounded out of the way of Ankoku’s continued attack, rolling to the side and holding up his dagger ready to strike.  Ankoku repositioned herself and lunged again.  This time, the scoundrel was ready for her.  His blade met hers in a splash of sparks.  He kicked her away from him with a grunt.  Ankoku slid across the marshy ground, using her free hand to balance herself.  

Reaching into his pouch, Garrin pulled out a deku nut.  He wearily looked at Ankoku, awaiting her next attack.

“Those silly things won’t work against me, Garrin.” Scoffed Ankoku as she carefully readied her stance.
“That’s what they all say, kiddo.” Said Garrin, hurling it to the ground.  Ankoku shielded her eyes, but was met with the unexpected slash of a blade across her forearm.  The woman quickly raised her blade to redirect the rest of Garrin’s attack.  Garrin stumbled slightly, thrown off balance by the change in weight.

“Sorry about this.   You’re not a bad guy but there are more important things about to be unfolded.” Ankoku said solemnly before driving her dagger into Garrin’s lower back.  Garrin bellowed out in pain as her steel was buried in his flesh.  As he staggered wearily, Ankoku ripped her blade back and kicked Garrin to the ground.  She allowed her gaze to linger on his broken body for a moment before turning her back and leaving him in the shade of one of the haunted trees.

Kalak crept closer to the wounded Hylian.  He noticed raspy breathing coming from Garrin.  So the fool was still alive… what a pity.  The Twili slided through the shadowy forms to seek out the next blood match.
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Kalak soon found the next battle ground. He crouched breathlessly within his shadowy refuge.  The dim junction between pathways Diabolus and Mihi loomed before him like a twisted nightmare.  The room was much more…hellish than the previous arenas Kalak had witnessed.  A cavity of the deepest pits of the underworld  unwilling to release its wretched prisoners.  Lit with a blood red hue, wicked spikes and blades twisted out of the walls and floor, dripping with an unknown substance.  The air reeked of rotting flesh- hot and humid.

A chill twitched down the Twili’s spine.  The surrealism of the arena was not the kind of horror he was accustomed to.  As much as he enjoyed bloodshed and misery, the hell from which he hid was more than he preferred.   Kalak wondered from whose dark mind this chamber spawned from.

Hollow footsteps echoed into the great hall from one of the pathways.  Kalak instantly recognized the young Hylian Haru.  With bow strapped to her back, and a bright Hylian shield strapped to her forearm, she looked much different than when she first stepped into the Myriad Path.  Her once fair golden locks were now hampered with blood and dirt, and her face no longer shined with optimism.  Instead, an expression of brooding intensity clouded her eyes.  She seemed deeply disturbed by the room she had entered.  Stepping into death’s maw, it seemed, she carefully watched her footing along the dank floor.

Haru’s opponent had yet to show itself, which added to the Hylian’s discomfort.  She clutched her bow desperately, a tinge of fear clutching her heart.  
“This room doesn’t please you, my dear?” A sickly voice suddenly cracked the silence.  Haru jumped, and whirled around to see the madman Eber sitting casually on a large horizontal spike.  He was looking down at his filthy nails, picking them absently.

“You!” Haru choked, taking a step back and pulling an arrow from her quiver.
“Come now, woman, surely this battlefield isn’t all that bad.” Eber smirked.  He sighed and looked around the dark room longingly.  “It is actually quite lovely once you get passed the oder…”

Haru fired the first arrow at Eber without warning.   She panted breathlessly as she quickly drew another arrow.  But as she aimed it at her target, she noticed that he was gone.  The arrow she fired had lodged its self in the spike where Eber once sat, free from blood and flesh.  Haru quickly withdrew an ancient clawshot, and held it up ready to counter the madman’s next move.

Before the Hylian could react Eber appeared before her, knife in hand.  He slashed at Haru with a bestial snarl.  Haru fired the clawshot, redirecting Eber’s attack from her.  His twisted knife skidded across the ground, the sound of echoing metal filled the hall.  

“Clever girl.” Eber smirked, reaching behind him and pulling out an ridiculously large device.  “If you want to play games, then by all means let’s play!”

Haru instinctively raised the Hylian shield to block Eber, but she was unprepared for what he had for her.  He giggled slightly as he pulled the trigger of the strange device, launching an armed bomb at an alarmingly close range.  The explosion threw both beings back, Eber sliding in a crouch while Haru fell on her backside.  The shaken Hylian quickly unattached the smoldering shield from her arm and clutched her burning flesh desperately.  

“Now wasn’t that fun? Shall we do it again?” Eber laughed mockingly.  He walked over to his forgotten blade and picked it up deliberately.  Haru scrambled to her feet, pulling out her own dagger.  She lunged forward with a shriek, but her steel met Eber’s with a loud clang.  He parried her attack and dug the tip of his blade into her wrists.  Haru’s eyes bulged as the unforgiving blade sank into her flesh.

“Yes, my dear…bleed for me!” He cackled as he threw her back.  Haru trembled as she clutched her bleeding wrist.  Eber towered over her as the Hylian woman desperately tried to scuffle away.  He snatched at her throat and lifted her brutally above him.  
“I’m curious, woman, what kind of failures have you experienced?” He said with an ugly smile, beady eyes baring into Haru’s bewildered gaze.  The air around Haru became instantly cold and thin, as if a sudden gust of wind enveloped her.  The blood red lighting changed to an aqua blue and black.  The echoes of thousands of voices overwhelmed her as visions of her past forced themselves upon her.  Visions that Haru had hoped to forget now stared her in the face.  Fighting to shut her eyes, Haru began to whimper helplessly.

“Don’t close your eyes, swine!  Look!” Eber shouted, taking his free hand and forcing her eyes open.  Tears blurred her vision, and she let out a desperate shriek before Eber threw her to the ground in a crumpled heap.  She stared blankly into the space before her, ghosts of her past still flashing before her eyes.

“I’ll leave you alone to your thoughts, child.”  Grinned Eber as he licked his teeth and walked away.

Kalak stared at the trembling figure of Haru, still paralyzed.  Whatever horrors Haru was experiencing was enough without the Twili’s interference.