Categories > Games > Zelda > The Black Mist
The Black Mist
-A Junctioner: Hylianis Story-
DISCLAIMER: The Legend of Zelda, and all related characters, places, concepts, ect., mentioned within are property of Nintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto. All other original concepts presented within are property of me, myself, and I.
viii
Myriad voices passed through Mireille's ears as she came to. A groan escaped her lips as a splitting headache blanketed her mind like a haze. The sound of footsteps coming towards her filled the air, which only served to intensify the pain in her head. Her eyes flickered open, and several faces peered over her with fear, intrigue, and wonder.
Around her was a cavernous room, with small makeshift lights hanging from above. Various monitors hung from the walls of the room, displaying varying types of data on their screens. The light above where she lay was blinding; the faces of the crowd of people looming above her served as her only respite from its onslaught. Small tiled walls separated the distinction between the cavern and the underground portions of the building which she found herself in.
Startled by the sight of so many faces, Mireille screamed and darted off the gurney she found herself on. She fell onto the floor as the pain in her head intensified. Holding a hand to her head, she stood back up onto her feet. Amidst the agony of her head her vision blurred, and she found herself only vaguely able to make out the shapes of people in front of her. The sounds of gasps filled the air as she backed into the nearby wall.
As her vision continued to shift in and out of focus, Mireille caught a glimpse of the tunic that covered her torso. Her expression shifted to one of shock and horror as a startled cry escaped her lips.
I thought I got rid of this outfit! Why am I dressed like this again?!
The sound of guns being cocked tore her from her thoughts. As she looked toward the group of people staring at her, she saw three men aiming pistols at her. Dread welled up inside her as she held her hands up in surrender. The trio wore denim vests with white shirts as well as blue jeans. Withered features were etched onto their faces, as if they appeared older than they really were. They gazed as the woman before them with prudence and aggression.
"Don't shoot!" Mireille begged in an exasperated tone, her gaze shifting between the armed men and herself, "Please don't shoot... I mean you no harm... It's not what it looks like!"
As one of the men moved closer, Mireille began to panic.
"Look, I'm sorry about your wall. That was totally an accident, I swear!"
"Who are you, and why have you come here?" One of the gunmen shouted.
Mireille blinked.
"I'll tell you everything you want to know, just please put the guns down!"
The gunmen ignored her pleas and cocked their pistols towards her. Fearing for her life, Mireille felt a familiar pair of lights materialize in her hands. The onlookers let out a startled gasp as a sword and shield manifested in her hands. The young woman held it in front of her body as she began to tremble. Expressions of shock formed on the faces of all who witnessed this event.
"Did he just...?"
"How... how is that possible? You can't just summon weapons out of nowhere!"
"Just who the hell is this guy?"
"Christ, he even sounds like him...."
Mireille gazed over her shield and at the group of people in front of her as a fearful expression crossed her features.
Oh God no....
As the tension in the air increased, Mireille's stressed mind could handle the situation no longer. The sound of a gun firing filed the air, and Mireille found herself instinctively raising her shield. It ricocheted off of the shield and buzzed pass a bystander's head before hitting a nearby monitor. Furrowing her brow, she watched with anger as they backed away from the now broken monitor. Frustration replaced her anger as she turned her attention to the trigger happy gunmen before her.
"Why does everyone want to kill me?!" Mireille shouted indignantly, "What the hell did I do to deserve this?!"
Silence filled the room as Mireille continued.
"Is it my face? Look, I hate my face just as much as you do, but that doesn't mean you should shoot at it. Didn't your mother ever tell you not to judge a book by its cover?! Why don't we put the guns down and talk this out like rational human beings for once!"
The gunmen blinked in a confused manner as the woman continued to rant and rave. As she did so, a pair of double doors opened up, and a woman in a lab coat surrounded by more armed men showed up in the room. Sitting on her nose was a pair of glasses as brown eyes peered into the room, a disgusted expression crossing her features. Black hair remained tied up into a bun while a white dress clothed her body. Covering her feet were a pair of matching high heels. Just as they began to raise their weapons at Mireille, the woman held up her hand.
"He raises an excellent point," the woman began, "Lower your weapons, all of you."
"But Dr. Phillips-"
"He hasn't hurt anyone. If anything, all you've done by waving your weapons around is scare him. Look at him, he's trembling for God's sake."
Mireille found herself peering up from behind her shield at the newcomer. As the men around them lowered their weapons, she breathed a sigh of relief. There was a rational person among these people. Knowing that she was not going to be harmed for once, the young woman's heart lept with a cautious joy.
"Oh, thank God...," Mireille said as she lowered her shield and sword, "I was beginning to wonder there for a second...."
The doctor looked at the green-clad woman with both curiosity and caution. Mireille, too, found herself peering back at her with mixed emotions of solace, gratitude, and vigilance. As the two looked on, the doctor turned toward the large gathering of people.
"I wish to speak to this man alone."
"But what if he does something to you? He summoned a sword and shield out of thin air, for crying out loud!"
"I will be the judge of this person, not you. If I feel I am in danger, I will call you. Now, please leave."
Hushed voices filled with confusion and displeasure filled the room as everyone made their way out. Mireille closed her eyes as her sword and shield vanished into light. When Mireille and the doctor were alone, the doctor paced around Mireille, her eyes never leaving the strange woman before her.
"You have caused quite an upset, you know," the doctor stated.
"I'm sorry," Mireille replied, "I didn't mean to make such a scene...."
"A scene would've occurred regardless of your actions, so think nothing of it. However, I will not lie- like the other survivors, I, too, am unsure of what to make of you. You are quite the mystery to us."
Mireille said nothing as she continued to listen to the doctor speak. In the face of the monsters that lurked above, she seemed unflappable. She gazed at the transformed woman with a wary glance of her own, unsure of her intentions. The woman smoothed a wrinkle in her labcoat as she addpressed the stranger before her.
"I do not know how you have managed to survive in the mist, nor how you managed to dispel the mist that has surrounded the portion of town above us—"
"Wait...," Mireille interrupted, "the mist is gone?"
The doctor nodded.
"When we found you just outside the entrance to this fallout shelter, the mist was dissipating. For the first time in weeks, the townspeople have been able to leave this place without fear of the mist or the monsters it spawns. As a researcher and scientist, this situation we have found ourselves in is nearly impossible to explain...."
A confused expression formed on Mireille's face as she continued to listen in silence.
"This mist is not natural. At first, townsfolk spotted shadows lurking in the outskirts of the city. Days later, the first monster was spotted. That was when I was called into the town to research what was going on. As more and more people vanished, more and more monsters appeared in their place. Eventually, the military was called in to evacuate the town and exterminate the creatures, but even they could not stand up to them. After taking countless lives, monsters that spawned a vile black mist appeared, and the town became as you see. Only those of us who managed to escape into this abandoned fallout shelter managed to survive.
"On that note, allow me to introduce myself. I am Dr. Matriona Phillips, head researcher for the Department of Parapsychology at the Center for Paranormal Research. Now, before I continue any further, I must know some things about you. Do you have a name?"
Mireille sighed.
"Of course I do. My name is Mireille Donovan."
"You have a woman's name?"
"I am a woman."
Dr. Phillip's eyes widened in embarrassment and surprise. She traced Mireille's figure, not believing what she had just heard. It was then that she realized her mistake- despite the broad, masculine features present in her face, there was a feminine softness present. Dr. Phillips had seen this sort of thing elsewhere, and wondered if the person standing before her was transgendered in some fashion.
"I apologize. I was not aware... but now, I am intrigued. For a woman, you certainly have a very unfitting voice. Your voice is very—"
"—masculine? I know, Doc... you don't need to tell me...."
A tint of sadness crept into Mireille's tone. Mireille found herself unable to hide the shame she felt toward the sound of her voice. Even now, she did not know why her voice had shifted to such a massive degree, only that the deep, confident, and energetic masculine voice masked the terrified girl underneath. It was another painful reminder of the force that had warped her.
Dr. Phillips picked up on this as she continued. It was clear that the teenager felt disturbed by the sound of her voice. As her eyes scanned her long, pointed ears, and the otherworldly, medieval garb that clothed her body, she wondered if there wasn't more to this than the girl was letting on. Out of concern and curiosity, she decided to pursue Mireille's story further.
"You seem deeply troubled by this."
"Doc, I have something to confess. I wasn't born this way. This isn't what I really look like, much less sound like."
Dr. Phillips returned a puzzled gaze. She found herself confused by Mireille's words. It was not uncommon for a transgendered person to undergo treatments and surgery to satisfy their conflicted gender identity, but this situation seemed the complete opposite. A shift of the magnitude the transformed woman seemed to project did not occur overnight. The researcher raised an eyebrow at the green-clad girl.
"What are you saying?"
Mireille closed her eyes as a torrent of emotion began to manifest itself. The events that had lead her to this point played in the teenager's mind. It was a matter she had spoken of to no one- not even her grandfather. She did little to restrain her tears as she mulled over how to convey her horrid tale to the scientist.
"I... I really don't know how to explain this to you any better, or even where to begin... but here goes. I used to look normal, Doc... I used to be normal... that was, until roughly a month ago. I was at a party with some friends at a hotel. I really wasn't having much fun there, so as I'm watching people dance to the DJ there, I'm sitting over a balcony inside the main lobby, wondering when my ride home is going to show up. That was when I heard someone's voice calling my name, almost like a whisper beckoning me to follow. I tried to ignore it at first, but it kept on getting louder and more desperate. Needless to say, I found myself... disturbed by this event.
"So I went into my friend's hotel room and out onto their balcony, you know, to get some air. I saw this eerie light hanging overhead, and when I looked up, there was a comet streaking through the night sky. I... I honestly don't remember what happened after that. When I came to, I found myself in a hospital bed, being questioned by some detectives. It was awful... they told me all of the other guests present were slaughtered by some sort of monster. That was when I first saw this mark on my hand."
Mireille removed her left gauntlet, revealing not only the rest of her sleeve, but her bare hand. On its back was the mark of the three triangles, darkened like a birthmark that had been there her entire life. Dr. Phillips held her hand, examining the mark with excruciating detail as Mireille continued.
"At that point... everything just went to hell. I couldn't concentrate in school... couldn't focus on anything... it was like I was only half there. I wasn't sure what was happening to me anymore... I... I felt something inside me, like some sort of other presence that wasn't there before. It was small at first, but as time went on, it kept on growing, like some sort of parasite that was feeding off of me. I wasn't sure what to think, or what was going on anymore.
"Then, a few weeks later... some blackened monsters show up at my school and started attacking everyone. I hardly remember what happened... it was like I was in some sort of trance... when I came to, I found myself standing over a bunch of bodies holding this sword in my left hand."
She held out her left hand as her sword manifested once more.
"I felt so horrified... I ran home that day, unable to shake what had happened. I refused to leave home for several days, scared to death of what I might do. Days later, I tried to run away from home. I didn't want whatever this thing was to hurt my friends or family... when my best friend tried to stop me, we were attacked by another monster. I tried to protect him, but I was tossed aside like a ragdoll into a nearby building. As I heard the roaring of the monster and the screaming of my friend, I cried out in terror. That was when it woke up.
"I don't even know how to describe what happened next... it was like I was being torn apart from the inside out. I don't remember what happened after that... but when I came to, I found myself in some sort of lab... looking like this... sounding like this."
Mireille fell onto her knees as she began to weep.
"I managed to escape from that place... and I've been trying to get back home to my grandfather ever since. Doc... I can still feel it there... it's so powerful now... I'm scared... I'm scared that this thing is going to consume me completely. Whatever this thing is... I want it gone... before I'm no longer myself...."
Dr. Phillips stood there with a shocked expression on her face as Mireille covered her face with her hands while crying. In the depths of the researcher's heart, she felt pity for the transformed woman before her. Unable to console her, she kneeled and allowed the girl to embrace her as she wept into her shoulder.
It seems one mystery begets another... as I attempt to unravel one, another falls squarely into my lap/, Dr. Phillips thought, If I unravel this mystery, will we finally be able to escape the black mist that traps us here? Or will this child bring death to us all...?/
-A Junctioner: Hylianis Story-
DISCLAIMER: The Legend of Zelda, and all related characters, places, concepts, ect., mentioned within are property of Nintendo and Shigeru Miyamoto. All other original concepts presented within are property of me, myself, and I.
viii
Myriad voices passed through Mireille's ears as she came to. A groan escaped her lips as a splitting headache blanketed her mind like a haze. The sound of footsteps coming towards her filled the air, which only served to intensify the pain in her head. Her eyes flickered open, and several faces peered over her with fear, intrigue, and wonder.
Around her was a cavernous room, with small makeshift lights hanging from above. Various monitors hung from the walls of the room, displaying varying types of data on their screens. The light above where she lay was blinding; the faces of the crowd of people looming above her served as her only respite from its onslaught. Small tiled walls separated the distinction between the cavern and the underground portions of the building which she found herself in.
Startled by the sight of so many faces, Mireille screamed and darted off the gurney she found herself on. She fell onto the floor as the pain in her head intensified. Holding a hand to her head, she stood back up onto her feet. Amidst the agony of her head her vision blurred, and she found herself only vaguely able to make out the shapes of people in front of her. The sounds of gasps filled the air as she backed into the nearby wall.
As her vision continued to shift in and out of focus, Mireille caught a glimpse of the tunic that covered her torso. Her expression shifted to one of shock and horror as a startled cry escaped her lips.
I thought I got rid of this outfit! Why am I dressed like this again?!
The sound of guns being cocked tore her from her thoughts. As she looked toward the group of people staring at her, she saw three men aiming pistols at her. Dread welled up inside her as she held her hands up in surrender. The trio wore denim vests with white shirts as well as blue jeans. Withered features were etched onto their faces, as if they appeared older than they really were. They gazed as the woman before them with prudence and aggression.
"Don't shoot!" Mireille begged in an exasperated tone, her gaze shifting between the armed men and herself, "Please don't shoot... I mean you no harm... It's not what it looks like!"
As one of the men moved closer, Mireille began to panic.
"Look, I'm sorry about your wall. That was totally an accident, I swear!"
"Who are you, and why have you come here?" One of the gunmen shouted.
Mireille blinked.
"I'll tell you everything you want to know, just please put the guns down!"
The gunmen ignored her pleas and cocked their pistols towards her. Fearing for her life, Mireille felt a familiar pair of lights materialize in her hands. The onlookers let out a startled gasp as a sword and shield manifested in her hands. The young woman held it in front of her body as she began to tremble. Expressions of shock formed on the faces of all who witnessed this event.
"Did he just...?"
"How... how is that possible? You can't just summon weapons out of nowhere!"
"Just who the hell is this guy?"
"Christ, he even sounds like him...."
Mireille gazed over her shield and at the group of people in front of her as a fearful expression crossed her features.
Oh God no....
As the tension in the air increased, Mireille's stressed mind could handle the situation no longer. The sound of a gun firing filed the air, and Mireille found herself instinctively raising her shield. It ricocheted off of the shield and buzzed pass a bystander's head before hitting a nearby monitor. Furrowing her brow, she watched with anger as they backed away from the now broken monitor. Frustration replaced her anger as she turned her attention to the trigger happy gunmen before her.
"Why does everyone want to kill me?!" Mireille shouted indignantly, "What the hell did I do to deserve this?!"
Silence filled the room as Mireille continued.
"Is it my face? Look, I hate my face just as much as you do, but that doesn't mean you should shoot at it. Didn't your mother ever tell you not to judge a book by its cover?! Why don't we put the guns down and talk this out like rational human beings for once!"
The gunmen blinked in a confused manner as the woman continued to rant and rave. As she did so, a pair of double doors opened up, and a woman in a lab coat surrounded by more armed men showed up in the room. Sitting on her nose was a pair of glasses as brown eyes peered into the room, a disgusted expression crossing her features. Black hair remained tied up into a bun while a white dress clothed her body. Covering her feet were a pair of matching high heels. Just as they began to raise their weapons at Mireille, the woman held up her hand.
"He raises an excellent point," the woman began, "Lower your weapons, all of you."
"But Dr. Phillips-"
"He hasn't hurt anyone. If anything, all you've done by waving your weapons around is scare him. Look at him, he's trembling for God's sake."
Mireille found herself peering up from behind her shield at the newcomer. As the men around them lowered their weapons, she breathed a sigh of relief. There was a rational person among these people. Knowing that she was not going to be harmed for once, the young woman's heart lept with a cautious joy.
"Oh, thank God...," Mireille said as she lowered her shield and sword, "I was beginning to wonder there for a second...."
The doctor looked at the green-clad woman with both curiosity and caution. Mireille, too, found herself peering back at her with mixed emotions of solace, gratitude, and vigilance. As the two looked on, the doctor turned toward the large gathering of people.
"I wish to speak to this man alone."
"But what if he does something to you? He summoned a sword and shield out of thin air, for crying out loud!"
"I will be the judge of this person, not you. If I feel I am in danger, I will call you. Now, please leave."
Hushed voices filled with confusion and displeasure filled the room as everyone made their way out. Mireille closed her eyes as her sword and shield vanished into light. When Mireille and the doctor were alone, the doctor paced around Mireille, her eyes never leaving the strange woman before her.
"You have caused quite an upset, you know," the doctor stated.
"I'm sorry," Mireille replied, "I didn't mean to make such a scene...."
"A scene would've occurred regardless of your actions, so think nothing of it. However, I will not lie- like the other survivors, I, too, am unsure of what to make of you. You are quite the mystery to us."
Mireille said nothing as she continued to listen to the doctor speak. In the face of the monsters that lurked above, she seemed unflappable. She gazed at the transformed woman with a wary glance of her own, unsure of her intentions. The woman smoothed a wrinkle in her labcoat as she addpressed the stranger before her.
"I do not know how you have managed to survive in the mist, nor how you managed to dispel the mist that has surrounded the portion of town above us—"
"Wait...," Mireille interrupted, "the mist is gone?"
The doctor nodded.
"When we found you just outside the entrance to this fallout shelter, the mist was dissipating. For the first time in weeks, the townspeople have been able to leave this place without fear of the mist or the monsters it spawns. As a researcher and scientist, this situation we have found ourselves in is nearly impossible to explain...."
A confused expression formed on Mireille's face as she continued to listen in silence.
"This mist is not natural. At first, townsfolk spotted shadows lurking in the outskirts of the city. Days later, the first monster was spotted. That was when I was called into the town to research what was going on. As more and more people vanished, more and more monsters appeared in their place. Eventually, the military was called in to evacuate the town and exterminate the creatures, but even they could not stand up to them. After taking countless lives, monsters that spawned a vile black mist appeared, and the town became as you see. Only those of us who managed to escape into this abandoned fallout shelter managed to survive.
"On that note, allow me to introduce myself. I am Dr. Matriona Phillips, head researcher for the Department of Parapsychology at the Center for Paranormal Research. Now, before I continue any further, I must know some things about you. Do you have a name?"
Mireille sighed.
"Of course I do. My name is Mireille Donovan."
"You have a woman's name?"
"I am a woman."
Dr. Phillip's eyes widened in embarrassment and surprise. She traced Mireille's figure, not believing what she had just heard. It was then that she realized her mistake- despite the broad, masculine features present in her face, there was a feminine softness present. Dr. Phillips had seen this sort of thing elsewhere, and wondered if the person standing before her was transgendered in some fashion.
"I apologize. I was not aware... but now, I am intrigued. For a woman, you certainly have a very unfitting voice. Your voice is very—"
"—masculine? I know, Doc... you don't need to tell me...."
A tint of sadness crept into Mireille's tone. Mireille found herself unable to hide the shame she felt toward the sound of her voice. Even now, she did not know why her voice had shifted to such a massive degree, only that the deep, confident, and energetic masculine voice masked the terrified girl underneath. It was another painful reminder of the force that had warped her.
Dr. Phillips picked up on this as she continued. It was clear that the teenager felt disturbed by the sound of her voice. As her eyes scanned her long, pointed ears, and the otherworldly, medieval garb that clothed her body, she wondered if there wasn't more to this than the girl was letting on. Out of concern and curiosity, she decided to pursue Mireille's story further.
"You seem deeply troubled by this."
"Doc, I have something to confess. I wasn't born this way. This isn't what I really look like, much less sound like."
Dr. Phillips returned a puzzled gaze. She found herself confused by Mireille's words. It was not uncommon for a transgendered person to undergo treatments and surgery to satisfy their conflicted gender identity, but this situation seemed the complete opposite. A shift of the magnitude the transformed woman seemed to project did not occur overnight. The researcher raised an eyebrow at the green-clad girl.
"What are you saying?"
Mireille closed her eyes as a torrent of emotion began to manifest itself. The events that had lead her to this point played in the teenager's mind. It was a matter she had spoken of to no one- not even her grandfather. She did little to restrain her tears as she mulled over how to convey her horrid tale to the scientist.
"I... I really don't know how to explain this to you any better, or even where to begin... but here goes. I used to look normal, Doc... I used to be normal... that was, until roughly a month ago. I was at a party with some friends at a hotel. I really wasn't having much fun there, so as I'm watching people dance to the DJ there, I'm sitting over a balcony inside the main lobby, wondering when my ride home is going to show up. That was when I heard someone's voice calling my name, almost like a whisper beckoning me to follow. I tried to ignore it at first, but it kept on getting louder and more desperate. Needless to say, I found myself... disturbed by this event.
"So I went into my friend's hotel room and out onto their balcony, you know, to get some air. I saw this eerie light hanging overhead, and when I looked up, there was a comet streaking through the night sky. I... I honestly don't remember what happened after that. When I came to, I found myself in a hospital bed, being questioned by some detectives. It was awful... they told me all of the other guests present were slaughtered by some sort of monster. That was when I first saw this mark on my hand."
Mireille removed her left gauntlet, revealing not only the rest of her sleeve, but her bare hand. On its back was the mark of the three triangles, darkened like a birthmark that had been there her entire life. Dr. Phillips held her hand, examining the mark with excruciating detail as Mireille continued.
"At that point... everything just went to hell. I couldn't concentrate in school... couldn't focus on anything... it was like I was only half there. I wasn't sure what was happening to me anymore... I... I felt something inside me, like some sort of other presence that wasn't there before. It was small at first, but as time went on, it kept on growing, like some sort of parasite that was feeding off of me. I wasn't sure what to think, or what was going on anymore.
"Then, a few weeks later... some blackened monsters show up at my school and started attacking everyone. I hardly remember what happened... it was like I was in some sort of trance... when I came to, I found myself standing over a bunch of bodies holding this sword in my left hand."
She held out her left hand as her sword manifested once more.
"I felt so horrified... I ran home that day, unable to shake what had happened. I refused to leave home for several days, scared to death of what I might do. Days later, I tried to run away from home. I didn't want whatever this thing was to hurt my friends or family... when my best friend tried to stop me, we were attacked by another monster. I tried to protect him, but I was tossed aside like a ragdoll into a nearby building. As I heard the roaring of the monster and the screaming of my friend, I cried out in terror. That was when it woke up.
"I don't even know how to describe what happened next... it was like I was being torn apart from the inside out. I don't remember what happened after that... but when I came to, I found myself in some sort of lab... looking like this... sounding like this."
Mireille fell onto her knees as she began to weep.
"I managed to escape from that place... and I've been trying to get back home to my grandfather ever since. Doc... I can still feel it there... it's so powerful now... I'm scared... I'm scared that this thing is going to consume me completely. Whatever this thing is... I want it gone... before I'm no longer myself...."
Dr. Phillips stood there with a shocked expression on her face as Mireille covered her face with her hands while crying. In the depths of the researcher's heart, she felt pity for the transformed woman before her. Unable to console her, she kneeled and allowed the girl to embrace her as she wept into her shoulder.
It seems one mystery begets another... as I attempt to unravel one, another falls squarely into my lap/, Dr. Phillips thought, If I unravel this mystery, will we finally be able to escape the black mist that traps us here? Or will this child bring death to us all...?/
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