Genre:
Dark | Supernatural | Suspense
Summary:
Investigating Kakariko's Graveyard for any clues on his search for the Len's of Truth, Link finds himself before the Royal Family Tomb. After opening the tombstone, he begins a descent into a darkness that he wasn't prepared for.
THE TOMB
Chapter I
A cold, gloomy night to shun the light of Hyrulian; shadowy graves hunched over slopes of gravel and stone walk ways. Feelings of ill-willed presences – seeking harm and bleeding malice to living nodes of Life herself. The courtyard of old, now resting place to the dead of Hyrule. Never at peace, only to the null spirited. But for those of strong senses, deep connections to good and evil, and unbridled passion for light in the dark; be warned for the weary spirits of Hell are ever watchful.
As the full moon waned high, beyond the clouds of shadowy blue, red with haunting power... A cave above the tallest tomb shown with purple light.
The wind picked up, bringing with it a presence of goodness, valiance, and courage. In the center of Fire's Circle, upon the pedestal of Shadow Priest, a boy spawned from invisible doors. His image becoming fully visible from the transparent force. Golden locks, ocean blue eyes, long sharp ears, and strong yet ironically fragile body.
He bore clothes of forest folk, green tunic and brown boots with matching green hat. On the lad's back, a short blade with ancient history forged in the hilt. His eyelids closed, he filled his lungs with precious air.
The torches, mysteriously lit from a future yet to happen, crackled idly. A thought to ponder later, of how future fires could traverse time and mock him in the past. Opening his young eyes, his sharp gaze penetrated the thickly fog beyond the cave entrance. Behind him, the doors to eternal darkness remained opened; again, a thought to ponder later.
To save time and energy, the young lad decided it best to detour through the silent, eerie graveyard to reach Kakariko Village, waiting with her cozy houses and humble folk. Best if this way, than run from Gerudo's Desert and face another legion of Stalchildren. With each encounter, his number of scars were increased.
Normally, he welcomed such challenges as opportunity to better his craft and skill in the sword. Such experience was deemed valuable to one in his line of duty.
But alas, this young lad has grown tired of his long midnight runs against armies of animated bones and red glares. To mark this night with his own blood yet again, was not his wish to be true. Walking out of the familiar, yet mysterious cave, the young lad found himself on the edge above the graveyard, at the base of a dark and looming mountain, opposite of Death Mountain.
He scanned his surroundings; to take a page from withered old soldiers, never let your guard down in territories of unknown...things...
This lad did not fear the dead, his usual wars with the Stalchildren were proof enough of this. However, a sense of dread nibbled at his conscious, a warning of care whilst walking these ancient and dead grounds, once holy by Hyrulian hand. Alas, the old priests have long since decayed in the very grounds they once blessed.
As he analyzed his surroundings for stray Poe's, waiting to attack an unknowing traveler recklessly passing by without caution, he wondered of the many legends surrounding these lands. the mountain was known for its dark history, yet unknown to the world around it. Very few alive could recognize the name, shudder in fear and shiver with memories. Memories this young crusader questioned the nature of, what could have been so terrifying of this place?
The Shadow Temple – the gateway to the Netherworld and pathway to eternal darkness – lie beneath the massive, sky-touching peaks of the mountain. Of what little this boy knew of such old and forgotten, perhaps hidden, legends were courtesy of the Shadow Priestess, who taught this boy to read and write in Sheikah. Within the blood-drenched, horror-filled halls of blackest history, riddles of this land's true past was revealed.
A feeling of hysteria pervaded him. Paranoia crept in as his gaze rested on each and every peak of the mountain. It was as if all of Hell had their gazes locked on his young, pure body. Silent screams in the ever lifelessly stillness of the Graveyard scratched at his soul with blood lust and hunger.
There was no doubt in his already wizened mind that this place remained Evil, even after what many millennium had past since the last blood drop had touched this beholden earth of dead. Invisible fires flared in his vision... there, but not at once... These are the signs of unnatural life, of uneven and unknown forces. Things to be feared, and rightfully so by nature unto thine incarnation.
Despite these feelings, these urges to be distant from such haunted grounds, the boy was not without purpose. Of the legends he has perceived in the Shadow Temple, one speaks of a man who once could see past lies. He, who lived where the Kakariko Well of Three Features stands now, rests somewhere in this Graveyard.
It was the boy's task to locate that means to see past the lies of illusion. However, much to his chagrin, there was so little known of what this "means" happened to be; a spell, a tool, a trick of the mind? It mattered not. He needed that "means" to advance in the Shadow Temple. The furthest he has perceived was a room with a bird statue and a the chasm known simply as the "Valley of the Dead".
He remembered gazing down it... thousands upon thousands of souls – hungry and lurching, driven to madness in their rotting shells – roaring and growling in a sea of decaying flesh that was ever moving like the waters of Lake Hylia. It was such a large chasm, the line of souls were bound in an invisible bubble, as if it kept the Damned within the bowels of the underworld by a mere window.
To say he was frightened, would not justify his true feelings on the sight. The chasm radiated unholy energies that made him the sickest he had ever felt, and shivers that pierced his soul with razor edges. The cold gloom of the temple combined with the searing heat from the chasm had sent waves of disharmony to his very bones.
It was no riddle to him, such malice and darkness existed in the land he stood on. The young warrior was not blind to things beyond his own control. He knew, the grounds he stood upon were close, very close to the gates of Hell.
Climbing over the fence, he calculated the drop's effect on his younger, less tougher legs. Hesitation set in, he never jumped off this spot as a child before... But he was Link, the Hero of Time. Already on several occasions, he has proved himself to be mighty and unwavering.
Taking a deep, quiet breath, Link pushed himself off the fencing and landed roughly on his feet. Almost immediately upon contact, he dropped to his knees to help absorb the impact. Pain hit his ankle in his right leg, Link grabbed it with a grunt and held it tightly in reaction. He failed to time the landing, and thus paid a price in that of a weakened foot.
Waiting for the pain to subside, he twisted his foot to test his ankle's condition. Slightly sprained, but not so bad. Surely, it would not affect his ability to move, but he must watch his weight shifts. A bolt of lightning struck nearby, hitting the mountain side with deadly force. Link looked up, seeing the clouds overhead moving to cover the Graveyard.
Drops of rain began coming down, medium force. Link breathed a desolate sigh, he had enough of water for now, especially after just returning from the Water Temple... Yet, fate plays another act of cruelty in his honor. His tunic grew heavy from the water it absorbed, the ground became muddy and hard to walk on without slipping.
The same heavy feeling of otherworldly presences remained, taking in the decibel rains that bowed to the source of this disturbing energy. No doubt, the darkness of the mountain had spawned this murky rain to douse the lands and continue to hide all of its secrets... Or reveal them all to an unfortunate child with an unfortunate fate.
It was now that Link noticed the rather large tombstone beside him, lonely on the highest level of the resting grounds. Its only company being two normal graves with short inscriptions etched in on either side of the level, several feet from the center of his attention. On the ground before his feet, was the Triforce emblem in the grass. Below it was a plaque, dirty and dissolving, that read "Royal Family Tomb: Here lies the members of the Royal Family of Hyrule. May the Sheikah forever bless their lost bodies and watch over their souls, to guide them from this world to the next. R.I.P"
Despite the inscription, Link knew this tomb was meant for more than just burying the dead members of the Royal Family. The Triforce emblem only ever appeared when he was to play Zelda's Lullaby. He was granted the rank as Hylian Royal Family Messenger by Princess Zelda herself, then taught the sacred melody by her attendant, Impa the Shadow Priestess.
Reaching for his Ocarina of Time, treasure of the Royal Family and keepsake of Princess Zelda's legacy, Link placed the tip to his lips and began to breathe life into the instrument.
Over the dead atmosphere, slicing through the cold silence and the light-less dark, the beautiful song of Zelda's Lullaby was heard dancing among the graves. In a night of gloom and sorrowful spirits, the Goddess of Time smiled down on the boy at the completion of the tune.
The storms overhead grew more violent as Link replaced his instrument in the safety of his pouch. His eyes wandered over the black skies, across the red moon, and among the peaks of the mountain. In caution, Link took a step back from the grassy emblem, the bolts grew in numbers and a sense of danger quickly set in.
Out of instinct, Link threw himself back, twisting in mid-air to land chest-down as a huge power surge crashed down with the force of a meteorite. The ensuing explosion sent shards of shrapnel in all directions. Link felt a few hit him in his legs, piercing his skin and staking themselves in his muscles. The breath in his lungs left him in split seconds as the pain shot through him like the electricity that just bombarded the Royal Family Tomb in lethal force. It was all he could do to suppress a whimper upon feeling a piece within his sprained ankle joint...
Turning on his back, watching the dust settle, Link began to gingerly rid himself of any concrete remains. The pain was so severe, he felt tears drop at each tug and pull on every single piece he set his eyes on.
His leg was raw in some points now, deep cuts having released small amounts of blood, drenching the ground he sat on. The very moment the blood touched the dirt, a sudden gust of wind that carried a thousand screams, blew through the Graveyard.
Something had just awoken. A great evil clouded all other presences from the remaining spirits. The clouds grew thicker and the rain poured more and more down. Link knew in his bones that he had made a grave mistake in allowing himself to bleed on these unholy grounds.
That wind... It was so foul, and the sounds it carried sent shivers through him. Clutching his figure in an attempt to warm his freezing body from the unnatural and otherworldly cold, Link kept weary eyes on his surroundings. Fear was gripping him with its icy claws. No thought within his mind was pure and his. Many images of slain people – women and children all, killed in the most violent and painful ways – flooded his mind.
His hands left their embrace of his body and gripped his head in an attempt to ease his conscious. There was so many intrusions on his mind that he was on the borders of insanity. Such demonic will wrecking havoc on his judgment. He pleaded to Farore for the courage to face the fear he was engulfed in, to Din for the strength to repel the forces pushing his soul from his vessel, and to Nayru for her motherly love and protection.
He had to be strong, for all of Hyrule who, unknowingly, depended on his power. He had to survive, to save Zelda from the hand of Ganon. There was no other option for him to take. He had to fight back. He must fight back.
After a long moment of him rocking back and forth with his fingers holding his head tightly, and his will pushing at the evil invading him, the images and intrusions thinned out. Was it the will of the goddesses? Or of his own integrity? He simply didn't care, all he knew was how thankful he had become to have peace in place of the chaos from moments ago.
Taking deep breathes to calm his raging heart and silence the ring in his hearing from the explosion, Link raised his head to see a huge passageway leading beneath the surface. It was dark, cold, and the wind pulled at him to enter. Squinting his eyes, in suspicion at the dark entrance, he tried to make out any dangers waiting for him.
A faint flicker of fire could be seen at the end of the stairway. Perhaps signs of life? But who would be lurking at the bottom of a sealed off tomb filled with dead members of the previous generation of Hyrule's Royal Family? Suddenly, the light changed to a sickly green before fading eerily out of sight. The wind carried an ungodly moan, and he swore to the goddesses that he thought he heard moaning from within the underground chamber...
Something told him not to enter that tomb. Something dark lurked within its corridors that he did not trust. Some evil force with such sinister will. Whispers warned him that slaves with no will haunted the tombs. A strong stench flowed from the passage, the smell of a hundred rotting corpses. He felt the wave of sickness wash over him again, stronger this time.
Holding in his digestive system, Link pulled himself off the ground and wiggled his ankle, great waves of pain shot through him, forcing him to limp and rely on his other leg for support. The dust from the shattered tombstone gradually cleared as the rain continued to pour. As the young hero approached the foreboding stone passage, he could almost hear the screams of tortured souls; warning him of the dangers within the path he walked now.
But he was chosen to face these dangers. Who would if not him? There was no way he could turn back. Though he wished he could, he simply couldn't stop now. As if against his will, with a hand holding a gash on the other, he began his descent into the darkness.
Into the grave, to brave what sickness and macabre horror was set upon this unfortunate world...
A/N: Chapter 2 in the works!