Zerius opened his eyes. It wasn't much of a change, as his cave was pitch black. Darker, really. There was no light shining in the cave, except for his glowing red eyes. Zerius "walked" towards the central cavern. How long HAD he slept? The ReDead Knights he had set to guarding him had decayed and were now mere stalfos. And more pile of bones than animated corpses at that. Ikana was truly a wondrous place. There were undead everywhere, he did not even have to summon his own. And unlike his own creations, which became inanimate again after a time, these were carried through the centuries by some great power.

Zerius smiled at the thought. If only he could convince the generals to fight for him... He had met them, of course, and they had consented to letting him stay. But if he could harness the power of Ikana and make it his own... Well, he'd worry about that another day. For now he had to go and see how long he had slept, what forces of evil were attacking now. For there WOULD be evil. He felt it in the air. Who would it be this time, Zerius mused. Ganondorf? Vaati? He wondered what had happened to all the classic lords of evil. He really needed to get up and find out what was going on in the world. His sleep was long enough.

He also felt his magic brimming around him. It had to be centuries, then. His magic felt incredibly strong, He exercised a tendril of power and gripped the rock. He strengthened his 'arm' and threw the rock over. Moonlight poured in, illuminating a grand hall, sculpted out of plain rock, and as many dusty skeletons as you could ask for, all in rusty armor with old weapons. He HAD slept for a long time. He looked at a strange symbol in the ground. A lantern sat in the exact center of it. He grinned eerily. He stepped in the circle and began muttering, while casting spells of darkness and making a connection with the dead. Here, it was not hard. Even hylians could feel the dead pressing on them, whispering.

He began the ritual, feeding on the cursed nature of this place to trap a soul into the lantern. After nearly half an hour he stopped, and an evil cackling sounded. He let a tendril of power grab a ratty purple cloak and cast it onto the lantern. It rose up and two glowing eyes could be seen. A clawed hand reached out and gripped the lantern. Zerius smiled evilly, "Let's go. Onward... To Hyrule."

Zerius and the poe left under the soft moonlight, South towards the swamp.
*Zerius + minion to Path between swamp and Faron*