The Shadow of Amulets

The Arc Cliff

Link's POV

"Hey, Link, where exactly are we heading to," Alaan asked quite tired.

"To a place where we have a better chance of finding out where the other Amulets are" I replied.

We were travelling for quite a while now and I was feeling somewhat tired.

"You really think it's gonna work?" Elvia said as she caught up to me and started walking at my pace with Alaan slightly back. "What do you mean?" I replied in confusion.

"I mean going to the Cliff at the Arc to try and find the most sunlight" she replied back.

After hearing that, I looked at her in surprise. "Wow. Didn't think you would know where I was leading us considering I never told you" I said surprised.

She looked at the ground and started to talk.

"I would always venture near the Arc when I was younger. It's what we used to do when exploring. The Arc lays just outside the Forest and has always been desolate. We would always play 'who could get to the Arc first'. It also wasn't far from where we lived" she said in a sort of reminiscing tone.

I was quite surprised while listening. "I guess I'm not the only one who knew about the Arc after all" I chuckled.

"It was a place I found when I was younger too. Only visited it a couple of times but I figured it would be the best location for direct sunlight" I say.

Elvia nodded with a smile.

I explained the plan to Alaan and we headed to the Arc. It took us a few hours but we finally arrived.

"Well, Alaan here we are," I said nudging him on the shoulder. "You mean the place we're trying to get to is here or at the top of that GIANT mountain," Alaan said raising his head to view the top.

"Well this part hasn't changed huh," I said. "Probably the reason why no one ever goes here" Elvia added. We all chuckled.

"Alright...you know what we have to do now guys," Alaan said slowly. We both looked at him.

"A race to the top!. Winner gets eternal glory forever!" Alaan said with an evil smirk. "Oh, you're on dude," I say.

"I can't let you two have all the fun" Elvia added.

We put on our game faces and concentrated on the mountain figuring out our plans.

"Alright...are you both ready to lose to the Alaan Apocalypse!" he exclaimed as he looked me straight in the eye. "I wouldn't be so sure...no one can defeat Lethal Link!" I respond back matching his fiery energy whilst staring into his eyes"

Elvia was standing behind us looking confused. "Yeah, are you two done with your intimidation game so we can start," she said face-palming.

"Oh right!," me and Alaan I both said as we were getting ready. We all positioned ourselves equally and waited for my signal to start.

The silent wind blew over the area as we were ready to start. "GO!!" I shouted as we all launched ourselves up the mountain. I was climbing pretty fast but I noticed Elvia and Alaan were ahead of me. "Hah, your falling behind Linkith," Alaan said in a mocking tone. "How about you concentrate on your own progress kid!" I replied putting more strength in. I was closing the gap between us but then I saw Alaan reach for his sword.

He pulled it out and started stabbing the wall to pull himself up.

"Hey! YOU CAN'T USE WEAPONS!!" I and Elvia shouted at the same time. "We didn't say anything about not using tools muahahaha!" Alaan shouted back with an evil grin.

"Alright fine! You asked for it!" I said as I pulled out one of my arrows and tried to pierce the wall to pull me up just like Alaan. I couldn't use my bow and arrow since I had no free hands to hold the bow. I was climbing at the same level as Elvia with Alaan much further upwards. "Looks like Alaan played us huh," Elvia said. "You got that right. Didn't think about that" I reply. "But there is something we can do...," she said. "We can use our arrows to push us both up each time. Doing this might actually beat Alaan" Elvia said. "Hey, not a bad idea...okay let's do it" I reply agreeing with the plan.

Elvia started by stabbing the arrow into the wall. "Okay Link, now!" she shouted. "Right!" I reply as I grab her hand pulling me up so I could launch myself much higher for me to hit the arrow to the wall above. I lifted her up and we repeated the cycle.

Alaan noticed we were getting very close to him. "Ah so the two archers are conspiring against the great Alaan huh," he said. He kept on ascending and so did we.

Climb after climb we were nearing the top and we hurried.

Elvia gave me an extra-strong throw which made me level with Alaan and to win the race. I was a few feet away from the top of the mountain. "Not gonna happen Linkith!!" Alaan said quickly as he reached in his sidebag, pulled out some dirt and threw it at my face, straight into my eyes. "AAAAH!! MY EYES!!!" I shouted as I was temporarily blinded. Alaan climbed the top and stood there raising his arms and screaming a terrible evil cackle. "AND THE WINNER IS THE ALAAN APOCALYPSE" he shouted.

Realising I had lost, I helped Elvia to my level and we climbed to the top.

"YOU CHEATED!!" I shouted to Alaan.

"All is fair in love and mountain climbing" he replied.

"That's not even the saying," Elvia said in the background face-palming.

"I guess we should have made some rule beforeha---wait a second, when did you pack dirt in your bag?" I asked quite angrily. "Oh right, when you were busy getting ready for the race, I snuck away and put some in. Guess it came in pretty handy huh" Alaan replied with a friendly nudge to me and Elvia. I stood there with an annoyed face rubbing my eyes to get the dirt out. "You know if I decided to go to the top instead of Link I would have got smashed with dirt" Elvia mentioned. "Yup and you would be destroyed just like poor Link" Alaan replied with a high smile.

"I started laughing and then Alaan did too which made Elvia laugh. We made it to the peak and we walked to the cliff which was a bit further.

"Wow is that the cliff you were talking about?" Alaan said with shock. "Yeah. The Arc Cliff is its name and it has been a forgotten ruin for decades.

"Well, I have no idea why it's a ruin because it looks fabulous" Alaan replied with wide eyes.

"It's always gonna be the same old cliff," Elvia said reminiscing.

The cliff was at the edge of the far side of the mountain. It peeked a bit of the mountain which served as a walking platform. That place was where most of the forest and land could be seen in a gorgeous view. And most importantly it was where I was hoping for the right angle of sunlight.

"It's amazing! Wow, you can see everything from up here" Alaan said with wide eyes. "This brings back some memories," Elvia said with a cheerful expression. I tried reminiscing of the time I was up here but it wasn't particularly the best thing to think about right now. I brushed it off.

"Alright, let's hope this works," I said while pulling out my Amulet.

"Woah, why do you get to do it?. It would make sense for me to carry out this task" Alaan said. I look slightly confused. "Well I mean I did find this Amulet so it kinda makes sense for me to do it" I replied. "Well, I'm the eldest here so I think I'm the man for the job" Alaan replied back. "Hey, I'm older than you bro!" I said. "Well what if Elvia is older than you hehe," he said with a grin. I looked at Elvia realising I didn't know her age. "Oh yeah, I forgot to ask you that haha," I said rubbing the back of my head. Elvia jokingly smiled back. "Haha, it's fine. I'm 17" said Elvia. "What! Why is everyone older than me. Looks like you're the same age as Link at 17. I'm just behind at 16 and 10 months" Alaan said quite annoyed.

"Oh...well I guess since we're both older, Link should do it then," Elvia said. "You got that right haha" I replied smiling back at Elvia.

We walked to the edge of the cliff and I stepped onto the walking platform. It felt surreal to be this high up, but it felt soothing. "Alright, here it goes," I said as I held up my Amulet upwards.

The sunlight was thankfully shining in our direction so I reflected it onto my Amulet. I waited a few seconds and hoped for something.

A few moments passed and nothing happened. I adjusted it in different angles but the results were the same.

I stomped the ground in annoyance.

"I don't get it. Why doesn't it work?! I was hoping so much for this to work" I said in disappointment.

"Try to move it around more" Alaan requested. I moved it in every angle and nothing occurred. I felt a sense of giving up and I stepped back.

"What if we're thinking about this the wrong way" Elvia spoke out. I was surprised at her reply. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"I mean it seems like your Amulet won't work...but we haven't tried mine" she replied. Both my eyes and Alaan's widened at her deduction.

"Oh wow, I didn't even think about that!" I said. My disappointing frown turned into a smile. Elvia noticed that and smiled back. "Alright looks like you know what to do," I say.

"Right!" she replied.

She walked on the walking platform and into the warmth of the sun's rays. I watched as the shine of the almost soon to be setting sun sparkled on her. She pulled out her purple coloured Amulet and directed it into the sunlight. There was silence in the air and Alaan and I hopelessly waited for something to happen. A short wind breeze brushed over us.

"Man I really thought that was gonna work," Alaan said. "Wait! Something's happening!" she said quickly as she started witnessing something.

My eyes widened at her reaction.

Her Amulet started to light up and surround itself in a violet glow!.

A few moments passed and Elvia stepped backwards onto the cliff.

"What did you see??" I asked quickly.

She looked back at me with a serious face. "I saw another Amulet and it looked like it was in the abandoned low-lands," she said sternly.

My face turned serious as I heard her answer.

I was quite shocked that the next Amulet would be there. "The Abandoned Low-lands! My dad mentioned that area a few times. 'A place of despair. Strange events occur within that area and it's been abandoned ever since'" Alaan said slowly.

We decided to get down off the mountain and headed into the forest for shelter as the sun was setting.

About a few hours had passed and we were at the edge of the forest seeking shelter for the night.

"We should stay here the night and leave in the morning," I said to them.

"Dude...are we really going to the low-lands... My dad would probably forbid us from going there if he knew another Amulet was there" Alaan exclaimed. I looked slightly puzzled, wondering why that area was so disregarded as a place.

"I don't know much about it either but if we want to collect the next Amulet, we're gonna have to travel there" Elvia proposed.

"We'll discuss it over the fire. The sky is turning pitch black, pile up the wood so we can start the fire Alaan" I asked. "Sure thing boss" Alaan responded as he got up and went to pick up the wood logs near him. "How many logs do you need Lin---" Alaan stopped speaking.

"Sorry, what did you say?" I asked him.

He stood still and it looked like he was looking in the direction of the trees.

"Hey what's up?. What are you looking at?" Elvia said while walking up to him.

Elvia looked in the same direction and stood still. I was quite confused at their actions so I stood up and called for them. "Guys, what are you looking at?" I confusingly asked.

"There's... There's someone standing near the trees..." Alaan said coldly.

My eyes widened at his response. "What did he mean? Someone was there?" I said to myself.

"I see him too...dressed in black" Elvia said with a slight chill in her voice.

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