Well, I couldn't hold out for the reviews. So here's the sequel to "Pathway to Destruction." Yes it will be more Dark-based, he's just to unbelievably fun to write. :D Enjoy!
"Pathway to Absolution"
Chapter 1: Devil Unleashed
A sealing mirror is one of the few artifacts left in Hyrule from the "old world" or the time before time began.
A sealing mirror is not the strongest of what's known as "ancient magic" or "dead magic." It is capable of sealing creatures of darkness and of shadow, of any descent. Like most old magic, a sealing mirror's power is lost on the beings of the more modern world, mainly because most modern beings have forgotten the tongues of their descendents.
Its sealing powers, while capable of sealing any descents, have limitations to the levels of strength of the ones it can seal. In other words, if the being proves to strong, becomes too strong, or changes from the original design for the mirror's seals, than the seal is no longer capable of containing said being.
Such then, it can only be assumed that a certain sealing mirror, known as the Golden Light, has proved quite incapable of containing one particular being of darkness, one particular being, with glittering red eyes.
00000000000
SLAM.
Dark looked up, startled from his bitter rhythm reverie by the sound of…well, sound. Dark floated forward. At least, he floated in the direction he perceived as forward. There was no such thing as forward in the Realm of Nothing; there was no such thing as direction in the Realm of Nothing. There was only Dark.
SLAM.
Again, Dark heard the sound. It sounded like something was pounding against the walls of gloom and misty darkness that surrounded him. But that was impossible. In the Nothing there was only him, only Dark. And that was all that there would ever be.
SLAM.
Dark clamped his steely fingers close over his Hylain-shaped ears. The sound was increasing. He could almost feel it now. Almost feel it inside his temples, pulsating just beneath his wintery skin. It moved up the sides of his head, still pulsating, making his brain pound.
Dark cried out, he just want it to stop. Dark, after so long in the Nothing, couldn't handle the smallest tremors of the sound, nevertheless the increasing tempos that splintered his brain and body like cracked glass. It was so loud, so loud it physically hurt. Hadn't he suffered enough? Couldn't those damn goddess loving Hylains leave him the Hell alone?
SLAM.
"Stop it! Damn you!" Dark screeched at the sound as it rocked his body hard before dissolving back into the Nothing's misty depths. It was as if the sound were intentionally seeking him out. As if the sound lived only for him, only to torment him. Wait.
SLAM.
Again Dark's body was swung back. It was like he'd been hit hard in the face. His body bent backwards in a way only a being of shadow's could, and not break. Then it suddenly, and forcefully, slammed forward, so far that Dark heard cracks all the way up his spine, not that it would be damaging to him in this form. But that didn't mean he couldn't feel it.
But Dark knew then what was happening, and it made him smirk wickedly through his pain.
SLAM.
Dark felt his body stretch back to its breaking point, before he again slammed forward. Dark uncovered his ears, and instead began to extend his wiggling fingertips forward. He couldn't see what he was reaching for yet, but he was patient. He had to be, or else he'd never have survived this hellhole, twice.
SLAM.
That was it. Dark was certain.
Dark felt the sound hit him hard, and when it did, Dark grasped onto it. He felt his body slam forward one last time. This time however, Dark held tight, fingers wringing the sound as if it were someone's neck, as if it belonged to him.
Dark was flung forward on the vibrations of the sound. He paid no attention to the endless stretches of Nothing that whipped past as he flew. He didn't care. Dark had seen quite enough of the Nothing to last him until the coming of the Second Age, and then some.
Dark's red eyes, lifeless pools aside from their constant darkening and lightening, glittered. Yes, they actually glittered, in a way that was only possible, in the light.
Dark fell forward, hard. He hit the stone of the floor, his body shaky from the ride. Dark blinked slightly, eyes trying desperately to adjust to the blinding glints of light in them. The room was barely lit, really only enough to prevent eyestrain; but for Dark, any light was too much.
"Welcome my lord Dark Link. We have been waiting for you."
Dark glanced up to see a tall, dark-haired woman. She wore a sleek black mask over her face, preventing Dark from discerning any noticeable features from her, outside from her eyes, which were pale gold. She was adorned in the fine attire of someone of obvious importance, or at least of someone who believed they were of obvious importance. She almost looked like a sage, although Dark was certain that she was none of the Hero's precious friends.
Dark ignored her comment. It required no response. At least it required none from one such as him; he didn't care how important this woman believed herself to be, no mortal would ever be above him, again.
Dark pulled himself to his feet. It was then that he became acutely aware of the very same. Dark looked down at himself, red eyes gleaming, face smirking in a way only he ever could, unnoticeably slightly.
For you see, Dark's body was, for the first time since his battle with the Hero of Time in that stupid Water Temple, solid. There were no misty wisps of darkness swirling about his silver head or his slender midsection. There were no dying hues in his skin. There were was not even the barest fading tint to his hair. No, everything was distinctly, pleasantly and sharply defined. No, Dark smirked superiorly, this was him, this was Dark as Dark.
"We hope you find the body to your liking my lord."
Dark glanced up at the woman, giving her the first sign of any real sense of acknowledgment since he'd arrived. "What the heck," he thought amusedly, "She's earned it."
Dark felt his eyes fully adjust to the light, and he found that in this form, in this body, he could feel the light's touch without large amounts of pain and necessary shadow-like shifting. It was then, peering out from these new eyes, that Dark realized that the woman wasn't alone. There were seven of them total, seven Hylains sporting the same attire and adornments as their leader. Like her, they all wore sleek black masks that prevented him from deciphering any true features. But he could tell that four of them were men. He could also tell that they all appeared to be from different ages; but he doubted that was of any particular importance, at least not to him.
"We chose a strong one for you. He was Hylain, just as you are. He was a young man in his mid-twenties; still full of the vibrancy of youth, but beginning to possess the wisdom of age. How does he suit?"
She was sadistic and straight to the point. Dark couldn't help himself, he liked her. If only that little bit that meant he would be using her obvious magical talents later, and then giving her the mercy of a quick death instead of a slow one. "Perfectly."
Dark turned away from her and moved forwards out of the circle that he presumed was used to summon him. He felt the apprehension in the room spike, a sealing circle? Clever.
"You want something." Dark frowned darkly at the woman, who nodded curtly. "Well then, hurry up and spit it out before I decide you aren't worth any more of my precious time. I have a great many lives to ruin, and little time."
"You will have your chance, what we require will not take long. In fact," the woman gave him a dark smile, "I think you'll enjoy it."
Dark raised one slender eyebrow and felt the sides of his subtle lips upturn in his traditional smirk, "Indeed?"