Author's Notes:
Welcome to Perpetual Darkness! This is a story of a mercenary, who kills his employer's enemies for a living. Never did he question the ethics of his actions, nor the motives of his employers, but he begins to do so when he's instructed to kill a girl no older than him, even if she is the ruthless tyrant of Hyrule. Delve deep into a subculture of thieves, murderers, and dark agents, who thrive in the darkness of Hyrule Castle Town. The darkness of the city plans to overthrow the princess - and that mercenary is their pawn to defeat her.
But what happens when that mercenary starts to think for himself?
Perpetual Darkness is a rather dark story. It focuses on moral problems, and Link's decisions. It's a Twilight Princess AU. Although it does have the same setting, Link is certainly no hero in this story. Instead, he's more of an anti-hero, in a way. And Zelda is a cruel tyrant. But what I think will make these characters so interesting are their back-stories. There is plenty of action in this story - I hope, at the very least. I am genuinely making this up as I go.
This chapter is written in third-person (largely because Zelda nor Link is featured at all in this part), but the rest of the story is written in their perspectives. I still haven't decided whether or not the perspective will switch regularly or not.
"The only thing necessary
for evil to triumph is for
good men to do nothing."
-Edmund Burke
~Prologue~
Dark clouds loomed over the dark skies of Hyrule Castle Town. Thunder and lightning repeatedly hit the city - or the area - but this was of little concern for Pasco. He was a middle-aged man, who loomed over everybody else around him, with black hair and menacing eyes. Ordinarily, a person would not go anywhere near him, for fear of upsetting such a strong man.
In the streets of Hyrule Castle Town, a man twice the size of an adult would typically abuse his power, but that was rarely the case with Pasco. Strangers saw him as a menace. Those who knew him saw him as a friend. Everybody saw him as borderline crazy, however, since he was nonchalantly walking through the streets in the midst of a thunderstorm, with no hurry in his step. He planned on visiting his sick grandmother, and no storm would stop him. I've weathered a thousand in the past; no storm's to stop me now, he thought to himself. "Promise me, promise me," his aunt kept on repeating the last time they visited."Promise that you'll visit again."
That day, Pasco gave a wary smile to his ailing grandmother, who withered in her bed. "I promise," he said, holding her hand. Father's dead, so is mother. That was the day he realized that he was the last thing Old Nana had. "I promise," he'd said, and Pasco intended to keep his promise.
However, he stopped in his tracks from the sight in front of him. About a dozen orphans were all huddled together in an alleyway, holding each other for warmth. He wanted to keep on walking forward... but his feet would not budge. Instead, he walked towards the orphans, step by step, who were eyeing him for the past few moments. They were all clearly malnourished, and their clothes were little more than rags. Yet these children were out in the unforgiving cold, and not a single one of them appeared older than ten. The eyes of the orphans watched his every move, and Pasco had no doubt that a few more were watching from the tall buildings of Hyrule's capital city. Why don't they help out these kids? The children appeared scared. Perhaps hopeful.
Eventually, Pasco confronted the orphans. "Do you need any help?" The orphans did not respond, but kept on looking straight at him. He signaled for them to follow him, and all of them eventually got the message, and stood. However, one boy, with dark, brown hair that was fairly long sat upright, with his back against the stone wall. He clutched at his knees, and only looked down. Pasco went to bring the boy to his feet. "Boy, stand up," Pasco commanded the boy. "There's an abandoned clock tower close to here. You'll be warm and dry."
He gently tapped the boy's shoulder. No response. Then he lightly clutched the boy's thin, fragile arm. Again, no response. "He's been like that for two days," one of the kids responded, "I think he's sick."
Pasco turned his head to look at the child. No doubt that the two bared resemblance. "Are you his brother?" The boy nodded slowly, cautiously. "What's his name?"
"His name?" the boy turned his head. "We don't know, mister. Our parents didn't give us names. We call him Tian."
The boy, muscular man looked at the sick boy again. This time, the boy looked at him, in the eyes. Eyes crying of fear, mercy, regret. "Can you walk?" Tian slowly shook his head. Pasco lifted the boy up from his back and knees, and carried the brown-haired boy in his arms. The water was at their ankles already, and the air cold, but he kept them walking. The children clearly struggled, and one fell halfway. But step by step, arm locked with arm, the orphans marched, like soldiers in the dark.
Eventually, they approached the abandoned Clock Tower, which was now the property of Pasco and his friends. Only one person was actually there, however. That man was slightly older than Pasco, and put finally put the book down to look at the surprise that Pasco brought him. He had graying hair, and somewhat of a beard.
The Clock Tower was huge, and also doubled as a storage room for the residents of Hyrule Castle Town. Many crates were found there, but most contained simple things, like watches. For the past few years, nobody had ever come back to reclaim the items, perhaps because the entrance was hard to find. Or maybe the contents were not valuable anymore. Sendro eventually claimed the abandoned building for himself, and moved the boxes aside and placed tables instead, on every floor. The entire building was made of solid wood, except for the bell at the top and the gears that kept the clock moving.
Sendro was rather confused, but Pasco paid him no heed. Instead, Pasco placed the sick boy on the table, and inspected the boy's body. The boy was sick with a terrible fever, and the ring finger on his right hand appeared to have something like frostbite. The other orphans watched from a distance. Pasco placed his hand against the boy's forehead, and the boy was cold to the touch. One of the boxes had fresh, clean water in it, and he forced small amounts down the sick boy's throat. Eventually he lit the fireplace, and set the boy down on a table closer to the warmth of the fire. "What are you doing?" Sendro asked, raising an eyebrow at his friend's sudden acts of generosity. "This isn't a hospital, and much less a place for children."
"He's sick!" Pasco mildly shouted, inspecting the boy. He then placed a blanket over the boy. He looked his dear friends in the eyes. "Why are you here?"
Sendro told Pasco the whole story. The other members of the group left a while ago, when they heard that it was going to be a thunderstorm. Sendro decided to stay for a little while longer, as he was about to finish the novel he was reading. By the time he was done, however, the storm kicked in full force and he'd been waiting it out. Pasco shook his head disapprovingly, but Sendro paid no attention to the act. Instead, he spoke, "why did you bring these kids here?"
"Did you see the storm outside?" Pasco retorted, "they'll get sick like this one!"
"This is our home. Not their's. We are not a charity," Sendro responded, "they'll have to leave once the storm subsides." Pasco nodded, and glanced at the sick boy. Eyes of a dying boy.
"But the sick boy stays with us until he gets better. Mind you, that may be hours, days, weeks, perhaps months. But I'm not going to let him die."
Pasco's act of kindness had somewhat moved Sendro. The kids seemed unfazed by Sendro's harsh decision, and accepted it immediately. He eyed at the sick boy, and the man doing everything he can to save the oprhan. "He's sick," Pasco announced, holding the boy's rotten finger, "his right hand's ring finger has to come off to prevent the infection from spreading." After hearing that, a number of the children, especially the five girls among the thirteen orphans, cringed. Sendro decided to help out, and tried to force the orphans to turn their head to avoid watching the amputation.
Sendro's attempt was mostly successful, but one of the boys continued to look at the sight. "Look away, boy." Tian's brother did no such thing. He couldn't look away, no matter how much he wanted to. Sendro placed his hand on the boy's head, and attempted to turn the boy away. However, Tian's brother resisted.
In front of him, a stranger brought all of them in to this dark place. Now that stranger held his older brother on a table, mere feet from a raging fire. The stranger held up a sharp knife and placed it above his brother's infected finger. The boy wanted to look away. But he couldn't. Instead, he watched. With one swing, the stranger brought down his knife on his brother's finger, and both brothers let out cries.
"No!"
~End Prologue~
That's a small taste of this story, and largely sets the mood and atmosphere for this story: dark, gritty, and morally ambiguous. Neither Link nor Zelda actually made appearances, but will do so next chapter.
An appropriate song to sum up this story is this (search it up on Youtube): Zack Hemsey - "Facing Demons"
If you liked this, or my style of writing, I'd recommend you skim through my other story, The King's Last Words. It's essentially a giant battle where the whole of Hyrule wages war against Princess Zelda. Admittedly, the beginning chapters aren't too good, but the writing, dialogue, and story gets better as time goes on.
Please review! I'd love your opinion about this.
