Chapter Two: Unity is Won
The battle on Hyrule’s green fields raged on. These men fought with everything they had, knowing that everything was at stake. For the Hylians, if they fell, the Mukri’ would take the remainder of their women in children who resided near Lake Hylia and make slaves out of them. For the Mukri’ they would lose their home, and watch as their land was defiled. Each side had a reason to die, and indeed in this dark hour each and everyone of the soldiers on the field was prepared to be a martyr, in the hopes of winning the battle.
Every single time one side had an advantage they were rid of it in minutes, and it seemed that the battle was at a standstill. The Hylians were surprisingly resistant to the magic that the Mukri’ tribe practiced, and likewise, the Mukri’ were much better at sword fighting than any had previously thought possible. Harkinarian was working his way to the back of the enemy lines as quickly as he could, trying to reach Oni, for he knew that killing him would be the only thing to truly stop the war. The man was well protected however, Mukri’ soldiers literally throwing themselves onto Harkinarian’s blade to keep Oni from being attacked.
A large group of Mukri’, somewhere around thirty, had split up and were now attacking the rear of the Hylian army, where the young boys and lower soldiers were placed. Indeed it was a bad situation, as these young men had little experience. Boys that were not above the age of thirteen were slain in the most terrible of ways, the Mukri’ biting into their throats or dismembering their bodies, laughing all the while. Out of this group to attack the rear, only two had been killed, and it seemed an effective plan.
However the Mukri’ did not expect what happened next. Melaki, sword drawn, a vicious smile on his face, charged through the back of the line, smashing his hilt against a Mukri’s face and then stabbing another through the heart. He stood his ground and performed a spin attack, knocking aside four more of the crazed men. One beat him in the back with a heavy stone however, and the Hylian fell to his knees, out of breath. The Mukri’ raised the stone once more with a smile, ready to smash the Hylian’s head open.
Melaki sat still, and right as the Mukri’ brought the stone down he held his Hylian shield over his head, then rammed the pointed edge into the man’s chest. He stood slowly, stabbing the Mukri’ in the forehead and reclaiming his weapons, then charging at the next group. Frightened at the blind rage of Melaki the Mukri’ men whipped and twirled their blades around, each attack bouncing harmlessly off the metal shield. Melaki forced them back, then stood in the middle of the group with a psychotic grin.
A Mukri’ uttered something in his native tongue, then stabbed at Melaki, who ducked, then laughed as the blade intended for him pierced another tribe member in the throat. With a profuse amount of blood and a muffled cry of pain the man fell to the ground. Melaki, still close to the ground, charged into the first man’s legs, toppling him to the ground. The Mukri’ stabbed at him with his short sword, but Melaki dodged the attack, quickly slitting the tribesman’s wrist. With a cry of pain he looked at his hand in shock, a foolish decision, for Melaki took this moment to grab the man by the hair and bash his head repeatedly into the ground. The man struggled with all his might to break free, but could not fight the power Melaki had in this moment. He continued to pummel the man’s head against the ground, blood all over the ground from his cracked skull. With a smile, Melaki picked up the rock that was intended for him in the last fight and with one heavy swing, crushed the man’s skull.
He removed the rock from the twisted mass of cracked bone and bleeding organs that used to be a face, and stood with a grim smile, his entire left hand covered in blood. He tossed the rock up in the air and caught it repeatedly, all while the tribesman watched with frightened expressions.
“Who’s next?” Melaki asked grimly. A very thin tribesman stepped forward. He was tall with long arms, and his ribcage stuck far out from his chest. He pulled a small knife from a leather scabbard. Melaki threw the stone with all of his might at the man and it left a bleeding wound on his chest, cracking his bone. With a cry he fell to his knees, and Melaki stood before him. The Mukri’ attempted to stab him, but Melaki grabbed his wrist cracking it, the dagger dropping to the ground. He took the man by the face with both bloody hands, and slowly spoke.
“It matters not who you are…for no one holds you in any esteem anyway. Your entire existence is as a hive mind, you work as an army. Without the army, you would be no one, and so you rely on those powerful enough to make a name for themselves to carry you along. Well allow me to say, I am your angel of death, and even if you were a figure of any importance you would still die in this moment,” Melaki said angrily, snapping the man’s neck.
Quickly, a Mukri’ man stabbed Melaki in the back, blood spurting from the wound. He reached behind his back, breaking the spear which the man had used, and turned slowly, a smile crossing his lips. Melaki ran at the man quickly, kneeing him in the chest and flipping him to the ground, falling to his knees and delivering a heavy deathblow to the man’s throat with his armored gauntlet. He stood, and three Mukri’ ran at him, swords drawn. With a single stroke he drew his blade and arced it to the left, slicing the chests of all three men open. One fell to the ground instantly, and the other two continued to attack. Melaki was cut in the shoulder by one’s blade while parrying an attack from another, and he quickly punched the first man in the face, then stabbed the second in the gut.
Melaki quickly kicked the body off of his blade and then brought it whirling around, and with one swift motion cut the head of the last Mukri’ clean from his shoulders. He looked around him slowly, seeing a pile of bodies before him, and the back line of Hylian soldiers with hopeful looks on their faces. Melaki, his hands covered in blood, sweat dripping from his face with every breath he took, nodded at the young boys, then slowly strode off to the front of the line. He had gotten a taste of revenge, but why didn’t he feel any better?
Now in the front of the line, where most of the battles were taking place, Harkinarian was finally just mere feet away from Oni, the last thing standing in between him and victory. The Hylian generals and higher ranking soldiers all fought to the best of their skill to clear a path for Harkinarian, and at last the Hylian got his chance. He ran at Oni, swinging his blade around, a blow directed toward Oni’s neck. The Mukri’ man held up his blade, blocking the blow, and countering with a punch to Harkinarian’s chest. The Hylian man clutched his chest, out of breath, and Oni slammed his elbow against the Hylian’s back, cracking it and sending him to the dirt ground quickly.
“You will not take land. You will unite nothing. You will die!” Oni yelled, kicking Harkinarian in the chest as he lay on the ground in pain. Oni readied his blade to stab the Hylian in the chest, but Harkinarian would not be defeated. With a single stab, he pierced the chest of Oni, and so passed the last resisting tribe in Hyrule. With a shocked look the tribesman fell to the ground next to Harkinarian, and the Hylian slowly stood once more, wiping the blood off of his blade and sheathing it once more.
“I was not about to let my young daughter and the rest of my people have to live in fear of you any longer…you already took my wife,” Harkinarian said angrily, spitting before the corpse of Oni. The Mukri’ ran full speed away from the battlefield, crying out in terror. They had never lost a leader before, and it was a new and frightening experience for all of them, but one thing was for certain. The Mukri’ did not run toward the Temple of Time. That was now the land of the Hylians. Unity had been won, and thus ended one of the darkest chapters in the history of Hyrule. But little could anyone know of the fact that some who escape that night alive would shape the fate of Hyrule for many, many years to come.