The Mask of Ka-Chiri

The air didn't feel right. The intense feeling of power and darkness was suffocating the tiny flame of goodness that leapt within Nodin. The dancer in the red satin, the small man laughing merrily, the blond princess clapping gloved hands together. None of this was right to Nodin. Let alone the boy who stood face to face with him wearing a wooden mask with paint worn thin through abuse and neglect. The boy's blond hair fell in rivers across his shoulders, as uncombed as the hair of any animal.

From behind the mask, the electric blue eyes narrowed suspiciously. Who was this stranger in the land of Plit? Was he someone dressed up, just as he was, for the festival? No. The costume wasn't right. Too medieval.

The soft green and red hues of Nodin's eyes seemed to trap the boy in a hypnosis spell, for he was nearly ready to fall asleep before this stranger, until his name was called out by a familiar voice.

"TMS!" Smash shouted, Mewd standing close behind him.

Nodin jumped backwards, startled, and drew his sword from under the brown cloak draped across his back. TMS reacted with intense speed and summoned the mighty sword, Hloran. Nodin backed away like a caged animal, ready to pounce any minute. Then the unexpected. Though TMS was quite good with the sword, he could not have expected this boy's first move. A seed was thrown at him and he became frozen as a blinding light flashed.

"What have you done to him?!" Smash grabbed the boy by the collar, but soon found that he could keep no hold on him. Nodin spoke not a word, but dashed out of sight. He scurried up a tree and sat, breathing a sigh of relief.

TMS gasped for air and held his head tightly immediately after coming out of the spell of the seed that had been thrown. "That boy's full of fight... what a strategy. Why had I never thought of it? Stun spores? Ingenious! I shall have to purchase some immediatley!"

Nodin's small hands reached into the pouch that hung at his side, attached to the belt that was tightly fastened around his middle. The tunic he wore had a great tear along it's side from scrambling up the tree. He counted out five Deku Nuts, decided it wouldn't hurt to mend the popped seam of his tunic, and then cracked one open. Inside was a fibery substance used as string by Hylians and Hyrulians. He took the string and pressed it against the ripped piece of his tunic, and it magically fused the seam back into place. He hummed the soft lullaby of his memories. His only memories of his Mother.

TMS removed his mask, its black and white paint peeling, the wood underneath smooth with wear. He smiled for he had worn this to many a festival, his hair flying out behind him as he had performed. It would often look like a cape. He turned as two hands clamped down on his back. The claws dug into his shoulders.

"What are you doing, boy?" Bowser growled angrily, having recognized the festival costume TMS had worn 20 years ago when he himself was a child of 13. How he envied the nearly eternal child. Life was quite the game to TMS.

Nodin awoke from the gentle slumber the night had brought him to the beautiful playing of a flute. He didn't recognize the boy from last night, sitting with his hair combed back and pulled into a loose ponytail, who was making the beauty that had caused him to arise.

TMS's shoulders complained and he nearly dropped the flute. He stopped and finally realized the sleeves of his shirt were soaked in blood. He was startled as Nodin jumped down from the tree, landing right in front of him. The flute clattered to the ground.

TMS opened his mouth to say something, but was silenced by the younger boy, who pulled a glass bottle out from under his cloak, still fastened tightly around his neck. Inside the bottle was a glowing pink light. Nodin opened the bottle and the fairy instantly began to heal TMS.

Nodin no longer felt the dark presence pressing around him, even as TMS opened his mouth to do more than thank him.

"Thank you... we met last night at the festival... I was the boy wearing the mask... it's part of the Ceremonial ritual," he flashed a white smile and his electric blue eyes once against met Nodin's red and green.

Nodin backed up slightly, then in a voice that was solid and firm he responded, "I am Nodin Caldain the Third, son of Tobi Caldain, Descendant of Nodin Caldain the Second.

"Well I'm Chimu 'TMS' Kasara-Chiri, Son of the late King Edward and Queen Amilia. I guess that makes me a Prince, eh?"

"My lineage rises to the royal family. The First Nodin Caldain in my line was the half brother of the Princess and Prince of Hyrule. But he had the power of a full fledged Sheikah. He died at age 15. The second died at 16. So it is destined that I must be rather careful," he smiled a bit.

"Well, my family is cursed with long life. I shall live to be 128. No less. Maybe more. I'm currently just barely over 390,000 Earth years. That's 13 for me."

"We have a lot in common." Nodin pulled himself on to the fallen tree trunk that had been close behind him. A blood curdling scream was let loose just moments later. Nodin flinched, TMS did not.

"Stupid buffoon will get her... Bowser'd make a much more suited husband if he didn't get so jealous." TMS lifted his left sleeve and showed the deep gouging wounds in his shoulders. They had stopped bleeding, but they hadn't been healed. "Don't worry about what that jealous reptile does to me, though. Not to much at least. As long as it's not cursed, I'll heal on my own."

Nodin nodded, then pulled back his cape. A small green fairy rose and flitted about the boy's head. It'd obviously been bugging him for a while. Something was bothering Nodin beyond the tiny green light, though. There was something inside tugging him toward a dark and ominous castle to his right. He could hear the goddesses in his ear, but they seemed as though they were whispering. Their words were a jumbled mess, impossible to unscramble, but he made out one part. 'Go now, brave son of Din! Death is at hand!' He began to run toward the castle.

"Wait!" TMS cried out, tossing Nodin a piccolo, "Keep this, for I fear you may need it! Bowser's Keep is a very dangerous place, and Princess Peach may be in danger this time!"

Nodin nodded, then took off at his fastest speed. Shola, the green fairy, complained that she couldn't keep up. Wishing to travel lighter, Nodin unfasted his cape while he ran. Beneath it he was slightly muscular for a boy of his age. A shield and sword were strapped across his back, both with a green theme and a pheonix crest.

TMS's mind raced back toward a memory of a younger day, a day when the teacher, who spoke only the ancient language of his people, had been teaching him. 'See-Kor syu sa fer Fen ar Fel, Gouy wa se nanca,' the teacher had said. "When the Light of the Sun gently touches the Bird of Fire, Destiny is at hand," TMS translated, whispering. "Good luck, Bird of Fire. May your quest bring peace and happiness."

Nodin came to a halt before the door, dust flying. A trail of blood was leading into the castle. The path was full of struggles and as he followed it, Nodin realized there were faint marks where tears had hit the ground every so often. This was the death Farore, goddess of courage, had been speaking of. He knew this, for along side the blood, clawed footprints were laid heavily in the ground, and they did not feel right. Nodin gripped the piccolo the boy had given him and was suddenly taken into a psychic vision.

He saw TMS sitting on the tree trunk solemnly. 'If you're hearing this, you're holding the piccolo I gave you. I'm going to clear up some of this confusion you probably have. The Mask Of Ka-Chiri is my Family Mask. It contains the Evil Sins from long ago. And when worn by some one with fear in their heart... no matter how slight... the Seven Sins of Chaos will arise from their cell in the mask and control the wearer. Only one of Virtue may set them back in the cell by giving himself to the mask. It must be me. For I am the last. Please... bring the mask to me. I will set things straight. It is my destiny. Plit is depending on you. When you need me... play this song. (The notes A D B A D B F D are played here.) It is the Melody of Flame.'

Then it ended, and Nodin knew that this would be a mission of death, no matter which way he went. He walked forward, more cautiously now, and opened the door. He could hear crying and begging coming from eight different voices. This was the dungeon. A holding cell for prisoners.

"Please! Help us!" a girl wailed.

"King Dad's not himself today! Oh, Koopa! What did we do wrong?!" Another voice, this time male, cried out.

"Help us... please..." a young man whispered in a grave voice. He wore torn blue and green overalls and had brown hair, matted with blood. "Bowser... he..." he burst into tears.

Nodin breathed in. He didn't know if he was trained well enough to do this yet. He'd been training under his distant relative, a descendant of the Prince of Hyrule, for only a short time.

'Ok, Nod... try it now. If you can manage to control your wind powers, you can break anything, stone or steel.' Link had said once. Nodin had failed though, as he always had.

"Oh, Din, please help me!" Nodin pleaded to the goddess of power as he began his attempt. He became aware that he was in a cyclone as his hair was lifted straight above his head from the wind's whirling speed. He unleashed the power and heard many a satisfying crack as chains broke left and right, but he dared not open his eyes yet. He waited for the cyclone to leave. As he heard it fade into nothingness, he forced his eyes to open.

The obvious eldest of the seven reptilian children he had freed stepped forward. "I am Ludwig von Koopa, and I thank you for breaking the bondage our father bestowed on us for unknown reasoning. Even I, the family genuis, can not figure why he would commit such acts."

The young man vomited blood and stood up. He had been the victim of Animosity, the Second of the Seven Sins Of Chaos. His older brother, the victim of the First sin, Vengeance, had been killed.

"Oh, Luigi! I'm so sorry for you! King Dad is not feeling well today!" Another blue-haired Koopaling, smaller than the one who had spoken, ran to the young man and hugged his leg.

"Not so hard, Larry," Luigi managed between clenched teeth.

"It's the mask." From the shadows, the brilliantly red-haired man stepped forth. His lower face was covered by a black scarf. The tight-fitting outfit he wore was also deep black, concealing all but his hair in the shadows.

"Who are you?" Nodin called out in his firm, yet childish, voice.

"You may call me Kawaii Cookie Boy, though I am obviously not a boy. I have come to teach the Song of Fragmentation to you, Nodin Caldain of Sheikah, Prince of Hyrule. Yes, I know you. Your journey will be hard, and Death comes on Swift Wings where Fear resides, so do not fear me, young Sheikah. I have much to teach you, if you will listen. I am a Shadow Master. I am currently but an illusion. I will be such until necessary. Now... I must teach you this song..." The man began to whistle a melody. (The notes A F D A F D B D are played here.)

Nodin followed along. Ludwig, thinking quickly, threw another Koopaling's glasses as glass shattered all around them. The stained glass pictures of Bowser crumbled and flew away in a swipe of air that carried them out of harm's way. The glasses shattered, the plastic warping into a gruesome black lump of undistinguishable material. The air around KCB (Kawaii Cookie Boy) and Nodin began to swirl faster and faster, causing their hair to go flying, making KCB's eyes show more. As he opened them, Nodin thought something was different about them, but KCB pulled his hair back before them.

"I must go now," KCB turned around and ran out the door.

"You have something to charm animals with?" Wendy asked.

Nodin nodded, putting on a mask that looked like a chicken.

Wendy laughed. "What IS that?"

"The Bremen Mask."

"Ok. We're going through a snake pit... You better pray to DAD that the mask works."

Nodin began to play a sweet march tune as he marched along wearing the mask. He followed behind Wendy. They walked on, and as the snakes rushed at them in the pit, the slithery serpents began to follow Nodin, hypnotized. As they came to a point where they could walk, Nodin marked time, still playing, while Wendy looked for an escape.

"Ok Pied Piper, we're gonna have to jump."

Nodin nodded as Wendy jumped, but he continued to play until she was safe. He quickly put away the piccolo and jumped. He landed easily, unlike the unstable landing Wendy had made.

"Have you done this before?" Wendy asked, laughing.

"No. I just do a lot of jumping."

"You don't stomp lizards, do you?!"

"Nope. I jump to safety a lot. A lot of enemies are bigger than me."

"One would only hope..." Wendy cut the conversation short and continued her trek. Nodin removed the mask and continued. He then rushed ahead of her. He jumped as the walls collided in front of him. Tthis was going to be tougher than he'd thought! He put on the speed and ran until he got to the end of the route, where a tiny hole allowed him a view of the throne room.

"Ah! No! No! No! No!" Nodin pounded his fists against the wall and felt it move.

Wendy waited patiently for the compression walls to draw backwords and walked through. "You know, if you didn't rush through things, you might actually be considered a good warrior."

"I'm trapped in your universe and have to save it to get back to mine, and you're complaining about how I do things?! Give me a break! Now help me shove or I leave your planet for dog food!" Nodin responded angrily.

"You two sound like a married couple," the imp-like creature said from its position on the compression wall. The wall did not move, as if the creature weren't really there. "My lord and master sent me. He told me not to mention his name, but I bet you already know who he is. I'm supposed to warn you that beyond this wall lies Bowser's throne room, and upon the throne sits a man who is not a man who lives yet is not alive and who's face is not a face."

"What exactly is that suppose to mean?" Wendy cried out.

"It means what you want it to!" The imp laughed childishly, then disappeared.

"Who's face is a mask..." Nodin mumbled to himself.

"Huh? Did you understand that garbage?"

"I think so. Atl east some of it. A Koopa isn't a man, it's a reptile. But it can be used by the mind of a man. A mask is not a face, yet it is. But I don't understand how he can be living and yet not be alive."

"We Koopa have a saying. Though the body may wither in essence and we may call them dead, in the eyes of DAD, life has just been given."

"We must journey on, nevertheless." Nodin tilted his head toward the wall and Wendy obliged by putting her hands on it. "On the count of three. One... two... three." They both shoved with all their might, and the wall came unlodged.

"So you will grace me with your presence finally. My vision has been clouded by a power unknown to me. Who is helping you, child? I know it is not a Koopa power. It's too powerful." The form that stood before them was twisted nearly into the shape of a human, yet still it was Bowser. It had risen from a throne of intricate Jet. The precious mask Nodin sought was melted into the face of the hideous creature.

"Who are you and what have you done to my father?!" Wendy cried out.

"I, my sweet child," the creature smiled, "am the seventh Sin of Chaos, a sin of pride and death. I am Racku Kasara-Chiri."

"I feared as much," the voice echoed on the walls, "It is true. A Power does protect the child that walked into this room unknowing of your evil ways. My power." His eyes closed, KCB stepped forward.

"I know you, child... from a distant past. Tell me, child, was it you who's parents died at my hand?"

"Yes. I feared you would remember me well."

"You have great power, child, but you can not save this boy. He has come to face me with this... this Koopa girl."

"This guise does me no good then. I shall discard it." With that, KCB threw off the scarf and transformed. He became a young man with his blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. He wore a white and blue suit. His eyes became the electric blue Nodin had seen only once before.

"It's you," Wendy scowled.

"How is this possible?" Nodin questioned.

"Simply," Racku responded, "but why spoil his fun?"

TMS gave Racku a cold stare, then threw the glass ball that contained the holographic image of KCB. It was indeed a clever guise, but now it shattered into a thousand fragments against the cobblestone floors of Bowser's castle.

"Very clever, dear nephew. You've nearly matched my skill. Too bad it was merely a transfiguration and not at all permanent. Red rather suits you." Racku clapped his hands together softly a few times before giving TMS a wicked smile.

"I'm not at all thrilled by this. You know that I believe family fights should stay in the family." TMS crossed his arms.

"You of all people!" Wendy finally stepped forward, and before Nodin could stop her she slapped TMS.

"Charming girl this... King Koopa... has." Racku laughed.

TMS merely spoke in a near whisper, "I deserved that, I admit it. You must listen to me, though. I am not from your time, nor your dimension. I come from the future of a dimension where you failed. Let me show you my dimension, my time." In a single motion a new glass ball sat in his hand.

Racku laughed again. "A glass master? We haven't had one of those in our blood in over..." he quickly thought, "50 Generations! Impossible! I thought that we'd rid ourselves of them. It's a small miracle that you're of that power."

"Silence!" TMS's voice echoed and Racku fell silent. "In the year of destruction, not long from now, the castle Koopa was destroyed." He shifted the piece of flawless glass and it showed a black castle situated in the middle of rubble. The mountain it sat upon had litterally been defaced,
for Bowser's face was no longer carved into it. "Peach Toadstool was enslaved." As it rolled onto another side, the glass showed Peach chained to the floor. "Racku Kasara-Chiri destroyed Bowser." He shifted the fragile sphere once more and a man with red hair was seated on the throne of Jet. He was perfectly human, no traces of Koopa.

"My face!" Racku reached toward the glass. "If I defeat you, I will be what I was once more, not this hideous creature!" He knocked the glass out of TMS's hands as it reflected what a hideous sight he was. "NO! That's not me!"

"It's your fault, Racku! You made yourself a demon!" Wendy hissed. "Give him back to me Racku! Give me my father!" With rage, Wendy leaped upon Racku, catching him off guard.

"NO!" Racku cried out as he went tumbling with Wendy. He rose to his feet after Wendy hit the wall with a loud crack.

"Oh..." Wendy moaned, barely coherent.

"Wendy," TMS whispered softly, then bowed his head in defeat.

"Roy... Larry... Lemmy... Iggy... Ludwig... Morton," Wendy called out in a voice so soft that even Nodin's long and pointed ears barely picked it up, "Help..."

***

"Whoa..." Roy looked up from the project Ludwig was working on to get them out of the castle, "Did you guys heard dat?"

"What? I didn't hear anything," Lemmy looked back down, trying to assist Ludwig.

"Musta been me," Roy shrugged it off.

"No, I think I heard it too." Larry squinted in the darkness, hoping that would help him. "Was it... Wendy?"

"Yeah. "

"I heard as well," Iggy nodded.

"Yes?" Ludwig looked up, then turned around. "That's strange... could of sworn Wendy was calling me."

"Holy Koopa! She's in trouble! C'mon guys!" Roy ran into the passage Wendy and Nodin had gone through. The snakes moved away, realizing it was the Koopalings. This triggered the switch that turned off all the traps.

***

"Racku… you can just give up," TMS smirked. Racku and TMS had been exchanging insults and such as this had been going on. Nodin had unsheathed his sword and was prepared to battle Racku.

"NEVER! I'll never give up!" There was a noise like a million sponges being drained of water as Racku's body rearranged, becoming more human. His flesh turned a peach color and the mask melted away. Standing before them as he truly was, it was no surprise why he was such a good killer. He didn't look the part at all. In fact, he looked almost like he could be a white knight. His eyes were pale red, and flickered as if lit by a million candles.

Roy came to a halt, causing Ludwig to fall backwords from the collision that happened when inertia took effect. "Dis is da guy?"

"Ah. Welcome, children. Roy, Ludwig, Iggy, Lemmy, Morton, Larry... I am ready to fight, are you?" Racku's voice gave Larry the chills. It was evil beyond comparison.

"That is most certainly the foul creature we have come to battle," Ludwig announced to his younger brothers.

"No, do not battle him!" TMS cut through the thick silence that had spread across the room as Ludwig finished speaking. "It is Nodin's job."

Nodin nodded knowingly.

"FIGHT!" TMS stepped back as a fire ring encircled the two combatants.

"An anti-magic barrier... this shall make for a fair fight." Racku laughed once more before assuming a fighting stance

"I shall fight with honor." Nodin then charged forward.

The battle raged on, Nodin skillfully dodging Racku's every attack, Racku blocking Nodin's. It seemed all was lost as Racku disarmed Nodin. Then, in a quick motion, Nodin used his jumping skill as a fighting technique. Racku, surprised, had no time to block it, and so he went flying across the battle area, right into a flame wall.

"Oh..." Racku muttered, then got up, still ready to fight. Nodin cast aside his shield as Shola cheered him on from her position outside the ring. Ludwig was circling about her, collecting data on her strange mythical species.

Nodin motioned for Racku to step forward and fight. "For the Koopa..." The young boy no longer looked harmless as he pulled the bow out from behind his shield. The arrows that he would use glimmered blue.

Racku recovered fully and realized that an arrow was heading for him just in time, snatching it out of the air. He cringed as the freezing cold it eminated came over his hand. He snapped it in two and threw it to the ground.

Nodin was not prepared to give up with the arrows as a red one came flying toward Racku. Very weary, the evil Kasara-Chiri nearly missed it heading straight for him, yet dodged just in time.

The young elf-earred boy pulled an arrow that glimmered brighter than the others in a luminescant yellow from his quiver. "May the winds of magic guide my hand to be steady." And then he fired.

As the arrow exploded before his eyes, Racku cried out in agony. The blinding light was filled with white magic.

"Get him, Nodin!" Shola cried out, bouncing up and down with her wings beating frantically.

"Finish him," TMS ordered.

The barrier dispelled as Nodin used an entrapment spell.

"Nooooo!" Racku screamed as the mask once again over came his face and began to suck him in. It clattered to the floor like a wooden bowl. Bowser stumbled backwards, then fell over.

"Fascinating..." Ludwig blinked, trying to take in all the information.

Shola bobbed up and down as she annoyingly announced, "Woohoo! Good job, Nodin! You got the 'Mask of Ka-Chiri'! Now take it back to TMS!"

Wendy rose to her feet amazingly. "I... I'm ok? I heard my spine break though."

"(echoeing) The effects of the mask are fading away… just as I am." TMS's image was becoming faint as was his voice. "Please... be well." He dropped a final glass ball before disappearing completely. Blue light streaked up from the floor where the ball shattered.

"Oh my... it's a teleportation device," Ludwig circled it.

Nodin bent to pick up the mask as several Koopalings attended to their sister and father. "I shall be leaving soon now."

"Take me with you," Wendy begged.

"I can't. What would my people say? The only lizards they've seen are evil." Nodin strapped the mask to his back, then picked up his sword and shield, replacing them, "Goodbye... I shall not forget you." He stepped within the blue light and was transported to the tree not far from the castle he had been in.

"You have the mask, right?" the young TMS who sat there waiting asked. Nodin pulled it from his back and handed it to the older boy. In return, TMS handed Nodin a delicately carved piece of glass. It depicted the battle as it had been, except for one thing: no young man stood at the corner of the battle arena. "Words can not thank you. You have made a friend through eternity." With that, TMS put the mask on himself and dissipated into thin air.

Credits

Inspiration comes from Majora's Mask.

Author: TMS.

Helpful Commentary: Mewd, Jon, Smash, Matthew, Makina.

Special thanks to Mewd for his long toleration of the author.

Dedicated to friendship, both long and short.

Special Mention: Nodin Caldain is officially a Zelda Fan Character and may only used with permission of TMS.

Thanks to ALL the readers and I hope you read the sequel! -TMS