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The portal was shrinking further. There was no time left. Only Hyrule and himself were left on this side. They were both running but neither would make it at this rate. It was just luck that they’d found one, being as deep underground as they were. But of course, their luck never held out. The portal wasn’t stable. It was fading. The others had been further ahead, and were already through. But Legend and Hyrule had fallen behind thanks to a few rocks from the ceiling having fallen earlier. And now it was only them.
With the horde right on their heels, and their only means of escape about to disappear, Legend made a choice. He exhaled, and then used his Pegasus boots, dashing forward.
When he was right next to Hyrule, he grabbed him, grateful he still had his strength gloves on from earlier.
“Legend what-!”
“I’m sorry.”
It was only when he had a good grip on Hyrule that he pivoted on his heels and swung him around before releasing him, throwing him toward the portal. The last sight of Hyrule’s face was one of shock, disbelief, and maybe even horror, right as he went through. He’d been reaching for him it looked like, but maybe that was just wishful thinking. The portal was then gone, sealing Legend in this time with the monsters, and sealing the rest of the group away from him.
If he’d been alone, he could have made it. But there wasn’t a chance in hell he’d leave Hyrule behind. No, if only one of them could make it, he’d rather it’d be Hyrule. Hell, he’d have done it for everyone else too if he was being honest. Better him left behind. The veteran. The most experienced. He was the golden three’s ‘favorite’ after all. He had the highest chance of survival of them all.
Or that’s what he told himself.
However, now that the weight of his decision had time to sink in, he closed his eyes, letting himself feel fear for a moment. The monsters behind him got closer and closer, stopping a short way away from him in confusion at seeing him just standing in the dark. He could hear them, the rattling of their shabby armor. The clank of metal on metal when they bumped their weapons into each other. The snorts and stamps from being restless, the need to attack ringing in their very blood and thrumming through the air.
He inhaled, held his breath for one more moment, and let his fear go as he exhaled.
It was only then that he turned to face them, his face twisting into anger and disgust. The beasts near him started to clamor in excitement, sensing that there was a fight to be had. That blood was about to be spilled. It might be his, but he’d take his pound of flesh in exchange he decided.
The amount of hatred he forced into his voice dripped like venom into a beating heart, his voice low and soft as he spoke, “Come on then. Come and see how a legend dies.”
If he had fangs they’d be on full display as he raised his sword, holding it at the ready. He’d lost his shield earlier, but that wasn’t a problem. He had other items to take its place if needed. Plenty of choices to ensure that he’d take as many of them down as he could before it was all over. And his best bet was always his sword. As long as he still had that he had a chance even if in this situation it was a very low chance.
As much as it irritated him to admit even just to himself, he knew he’d be at peace when it happened, because the others were safe.
Around him the mob of monsters all began clamoring, upset that most of their targets had gotten away. The shadow in their midst was the only one to stand silent, watching the hero who’d been left behind. But then, he couldn’t make out the monster that did it, but he could hear the crossbow fire above the din of the crowd.
He focused, trusting his hearing. The arrow let loose at him whistled through the air, and he waited. It felt like the world slowed as he concentrated. Closer. Closer. When it was about to strike, lightning fast he swung his sword and bat the arrow out of the air. He remained unflinching as the monsters began to run at him then, the arrow acting as the spark to the flames of this fight.
One roared, the closest to him and he could hear the clattering of its armor as it raised its sword. Legend flipped his blade in his hand, using a reverse hold to first knock the blade to the side, then reversed his swing to slash across the monster’s chest and when the monster fell to his knees, he reversed his slash once more, this time angling the blade into a stab. The monster tried to gurgle, but muscle memory told him that his blade struck true, and the throat of the monster was what he’d stabbed.
Three strikes and down. He needed to do better if he was going to survive.
Viciously he ripped his sword the rest of the way through the monster’s head, and started moving in earnest, meeting the rest head on.
Another tried the same move on him, raising its sword. But before it could even begin its downward swing, he struck the hilt of its sword, knocking it off balance, and then pivoted on his heel into a spin, feeling his sword gut the monster, and it fell to the ground dead. Immediately, he had to block another sword, but held the block for a breath, gathering his strength, and then plunged the blade into the chest of that monster.
He ripped his sword out once more as he heard movement behind him, and dove forward into a roll and heard a sword strike where he’d been. He then turned around, still in a crouch, and held his blade up for another block, using his arm to support the flat of the tempered blade. It halted the swing of an axe this time, and he retaliated by pushing the axe wide with all his strength, and slashing twice on each side of the monster’s neck, rising as he did so to ensure the cuts were deep.
He then immediately had to turn around Raising his blade high and stopping yet another swing in its tracks, but this time, he reached forward, and jerked the blade from the monster’s hand before running it through with his sword. He then turned and used the monster’s sword as a javelin, throwing with all his might and spearing one of the other monsters through the gut while pulling his sword free of the other monster.
On and on it went.
Behind him he could hear even more of the crowd and with a snarl on his face, reached into his pouch, pulling out a fire rod. With a flick of his thoughts the flame rod came to life, a billow of fire causing the crowd to back away, the heat of the flames keeping them from overwhelming him.
“Wait your turn,” he gritted out, though he knew how likely that was.
Those on the other side of the wall of flame with him he focused on, and fell into a pattern. Be quick, he coached himself. Block, strike, turn. He spun through them in a dervish of steel and strength. He spun through the crowd, and could feel himself tiring. As he fought, he got sloppier.
A monster managed to slash him on his left shoulder. Block again, stab through the neck. Another managed to stab him right below his ribs, and he’d barely managed to avoid it hitting anything important. Duck and slash behind the legs and swing down, cleaving its head. One with a club managed to hit his right hip. Ignore and stab though the chest.
A gash on the leg, returned by being burned alive. This would be so much simpler if he could risk his medallions. But unless he wanted the cave brought down on them all…
That would be a last resort. If he was going to die here, then they could all come with him.
Three charged at him and he deflected one of their strikes, letting the momentum from the swing spin him to face another, bringing his sword up into another slash, getting its neck. Quickly he then stabbed the monster and pulled his sword out into an overhead swung, bringing his sword down on the third’s head, and then he spun again, blocking the first once more. But as he did so, the monster retaliated by flat out swinging a punch and knocking him off his feet.
Mildly disoriented by the metal gauntlet striking his temple, he paused to breathe. There were still too many. And if he concentrated, he could see the shadow was gone. He grit his teeth as he got back to his feet, reaching into his pouch once more and igniting what enemies he could. But there were more even further back in the caverns. Arrows launched at him, and he had to stop the fire rod and dodge.
He got back to his feet immediately, and launched himself back into the fray with his Pegasus boots. The wall of flames he’d created didn’t have time to burn him with how fast he ran through. He drove his sword into the first monster and then started moving again. He blocked a monster that slashed at him and forced it back. He put both hands on the hilt of his sword, and let magic flow into his blade. He then spun into a great spin, multiple monsters falling with the force he put behind his strike.
Keep going, he could feel something whispering in the back of his head. Stab, spin, strike, dodge. He felt hazy as he gathered more injuries, but did as the whisper asked. Block, strike, down. Until when he turned to look for the next enemy, there wasn’t one. He thought he was seeing things at first. But there really was nothing. Just the dissipating bodies of the monsters, and the remaining flames from his fire rod.
He collapsed to his knees and then let himself fall backwards to lay on the floor of the cavern. He tried breathing as deeply as he dared. There was a dagger stuck in his chest at some point, frighteningly near his heart he realized. As he mentally began to catalog the injuries sustained, he gave up half way. There was… a lot. And he needed to move but now that the danger passed, he couldn’t bring himself to. The energy that had kept him moving was gone.
He just needed to rest he decided. Healing could wait. With the last of his strength, he pulled his sword up to rest on his chest, the side without the dagger, and let himself drift.
He wasn’t expecting the sound of a portal opening near him.
He nearly groaned, of course this would happen. Part of him hoped that if he just lay there that any monsters that came through would just leave him where he lay, thinking he was dead. He let himself go limp, though that wasn’t very hard, and stopped breathing the moment he heard a footstep through the portal. When in doubt play dead his mind said, and mentally he thought he was funny.
“Vet!” The voice was accompanied by running footsteps.
Now he was hearing things the thought. He could have sworn that was Hyrule. Then there were more footsteps.
“Is he alive!?” A panicked sounding Warriors asked.
“Legend!” There were hands on him then, one touching him on his neck and another on his wrist. Monsters weren’t smart enough to check for a pulse. Part of him realized then that the others might be there. But how?
He dared to open his eyes, and looked around at the group. They were there. Not far behind them was a portal not of darkness, but one with light. He snorted as he realized what happened.
“Their favorite indeed…” He muttered as the others began to fuss over him, some more panicked than others. “Would it have killed her to bring you guys back sooner?”
“Hey! Hey you damned idiot, keep your eyes open!” He could feel someone sharply smack him on the arm, anger in their tone. He knew who it was and didn’t bother listening.
Maybe the next time he woke up he’d listen to Hyrule a bit better. He owed it considering he must have scared him. But that was later. Here in the present, he allowed himself to rest, trusting the others to get him out of there.