"A long, long time ago, there was once a man in this very village they said could see the truth … and he was completely and totally insane."

"Oh, shut up, Emison!"

"He hunted little girls in their sleep – especially the pale blonde ones that lived in windmills –"

"Shut up!"

"Emi, you're scaring her. Now light the rest of the candles."

One by one, the candles in the small attic were lit, bringing into contrast the figure of a tall, fair-skinned, red-headed boy. As the eldest son of the richest family in town, he held a lot of authority among the group of teenagers. "I was only trying to bring a little excitement into her life." Upon his friends' glares, he shrugged.

Impa, the tomboyish daughter of the Lead Elder, Gabriel, sat down on an old box. "Criss, don't listen to him."

"I'm not a child," Criss complained. "You and Dampé are only a year older than me."

The son of the grave keeper finally made his way up the ladder – the hole in the floor was a little too small for his awkward, disfigured body – and collapsed onto an old trunk, panting. "What? Did someone say my name?"

"No, fat ass, you just were hearing things," Emison spat. "The only reason you're here is because Impa convinced me to let you in."

"Emison Skulltula, be nice," Impa scolded again. "He is a Sheikah, too." Emison started to complain about Dampé's father not being an Elder, when a voice called from below.

"What is all this yelling I hear?"

"Nothing, Sheik," Impa called down to her older brother. Criss shifted uncomfortably in her seat, growing noticeably redder; this did not go without Emison's notice, and he smirked.

"Can I come up?" A blonde head popped up from the hole, followed by an incredibly lean and muscular body in traditional Sheikah clothing. Sheikah culture required for the firstborn or most capable child to leave at the age of eighteen to serve the Royal Family. Sheik fit both of these categories, and with his eighteenth birthday coming up in only two weeks, he was preparing to leave. "So what are you all doing?"

Criss piped up, "Emi was telling us about the insane man who can see the truth!"

Sheik gave her a weird look, and she blushed, sinking down. "You mean Viktor Blaire?"

"Yeah, that one," Emison said offhandedly. "He's a basket case."

"Emi, Mr. Blaire is one of the most prominent Elders. You ought to respect him." Sheik lifted himself out of the hole and sat with his legs dangling down below, his hereditary red eyes flashing in the candlelight. Criss flushed the color of Emison's hair.

"Why bother? Everyone knows he's crazy. They're all just too afraid to admit it because he's so –"

"Important," Sheik finished. "He can see the truth. He helped to build the Shadow Temple, and now he watches over it with the other Elders. He is vital to Kakariko Village and should be respected as such." With those harsh words, he glanced around the room at the other occupants. "Now, I am going to sleep. The Elders trusted me to watch you all while they were gone, so don't do anything stupid." He dropped back down into the Skulltula's family room.

There was silence for a moment after the young man's departure, then Dampé asked, "So, what was that legend?"

Emison glared at him. "Oh. Well, they say that Mr. Blaire's house is the entrance to a system of tunnels that runs beneath Kakariko. They say that before the King unified the country and made a pact with the Sheikah, it was used as an abattoir for any Hylian that passed the village borders."

A shivering silence ran through the group of adolescents. "It sounds really grotesque," Impa murmured.

"Ah, but we Sheikah have always loved the hunt," Emison said mysteriously. "Say, Criss."

She jumped. "What?"

"I dare you to go into Mr. Blaire's house and bring back … a book from his shelves."

"What?!" she cried. "No! He never lets anyone into his house, much less into his library! He will catch me and tell my parents!"

"Oh, come on. He's in the Shadow Temple – he won't be back for another two hours!" Emison urged.

"Emi, I don't think –"

"That's ridiculous," Impa spat. "She could get us all into so much trouble –"

"What, Criss, are you scared?"

There was silence for a few moments, broken only by Dampé's short huffs. Criss glanced to the attic entrance where Sheik had just disappeared, and she swallowed hard. "Fine," she told him. "I accept."

Fifteen minutes later, standing outside of the run-down House of Blaire, Dampé gave Criss an incredulous look. "I cannot believe you are about to do this."

"I cannot either," she breathed. The old wooden door stood ominously in front of her. "I mean, did we ever consider that it might be locked?"

"Just try it," Emison soothed.

Her pale hand found its way out of her long sleeve and onto the doorknob, and sure enough, it swung open without any resistance. When had Dampé, Emison, and Impa left? Her entire body trembling, she stepped across the threshold and onto rotten wood floorboards. They creaked with every step she took. Why was she so afraid? There was nobody home to hear her …

With a sigh of relief, she spotted a bookcase across the room. She scurried over to it – did this guy ever need light? – and grabbed the first book she saw.

With a rattle, the entire bookcase slid upward through the ceiling, leaving her facing another wooden door. Her pulse raced – all the books were gone! How was she supposed to –

But then, she scared herself by finding her hand on the doorknob. As if her body was being possessed like in some of Emison's old stories, she found herself opening the door and stepping into a dark corridor.

Without knowing why, she strode forward to the door at the end of the hall. A mouse scurried between her feet. Water dripped somewhere above her.

Then, without warning, she plunged feet-first through the solid floorboards. Screaming, falling, crying – forever it seemed until she hit the ground, knocking her head against the wall of the pit and sinking into unconsciousness.

Viktor Blaire lead the group along the dark, damp corridor, stepping aside to allow the Lead Elder, Gabriel, to deal with a Stalfos that jumped down. After the monster had been taken care of, he stepped back. "The Shadow Temple has never been so rife with demons. Hyrule is descending into a deep pit of greed and hatred, and it all gathers here."

From the back of the group, Skulltula added, "How unfair that we, the Sheikah, must deal with their misery."

Another Elder rounded on him. "As the Sheikah, we are bound by the laws of nature to watch over this place. We are proud to have this duty."

Skulltula grimaced, choosing instead to gaze into the murky darkness that surrounded them. "This place has gotten so filthy. When we first built it, it was a true palace of the undead … but now …"

Blaire continued forward, his magical Lens of Truth in front of his face; the rest of the Elders followed him. They rounded a corner and were attacked by a pair of Beamos; they were quickly disposed of. However, when the group moved to carry on, their guide was gone.

They didn't question it. He was too important to bother.

Criss initially awoke because something was cutting into her wrists. The metallic taste of blood was present in her mouth, and there was a foul stench upon the air. When she finally opened her eyes, she screamed – or, at least, she tried to. She was in some sort of cell on an X-shaped crucifix. A spike was stuck through each hand and foot, and to each spike was attached a metal chain that connected to the tips of the crucifix. The walls of her cell were spattered with blood, and there was a pool of it by her feet; hers? The pain was unbearable; she screamed and screamed, but nobody came.

When finally she started to lose hope, she saw someone round the corner. Her vision was too blurry to make out who it was, but after she saw the staggering limp, her worst fears were confirmed.

Viktor Blaire lurched forward to her. "Oh, dear, what have you done now?" he hissed. "The windmill-keeper's daughter is a little too curious for her own good, I would declare. But as they say, curiosity killed the cat …" He let out a short barking laugh, and Criss screamed so hard she thought her lungs might've collapsed. He swayed closer to her, his fingers dancing on her collarbone and up her neck, finally to rest on her cheek. "So young, so naïve … it is a pity that she must die tonight."

With the side of his palm, he struck her temple, and she slipped into unconsciousness once more.

"Sheik, Sheik!"

"Help!"

"Sheik, you must help!"

"Heard her screaming –"

"It was all my fault –"

The young man, startled by the loud shrieks of the teenagers, sat up quickly and cried, "What?!"

Impa stepped forward. "Brother! Criss is in Mr. Blaire's house, and she is –"

"Why is she there?" Sheik demanded.

"It is my fault," Emison called out. "I dared her to go in and get a book –"

"You what?!"

"Mr. Blaire! Mr. Blaire! Viktor!" Sheik pounded on the door with his fist once more, but after receiving no response, he turned around to face the three teens behind him. "Listen to me carefully. If what you say is true, Criss may be in serious danger; thus, I cannot afford to wait until my father gets home. If I do not return before my father, alert him of the situation immediately. And, no matter what happens or what you hear, I do not want any of you in this house. Do you understand? Are you listening to me, Emison? Stay out."

With that, he opened the front door and stepped into the house.

At first, nothing seemed out of the ordinary in the House of Blaire. There was a round wooden table in the center of the room with piles of dirty dishes on it; only one chair was tucked beneath it. In the corner, a fire crackled merrily in the fireplace. Beneath the only window lay a shoddy bed with crumpled grey sheets – it was a typical residence for a single male Sheikah.

But then, his trained eyes caught something.

In the back corner of the room, a door was tucked away in the shadows. The walls around it were a darker color, almost as if … he bent down by it and picked up a book. His fingers traced the title: Hylian Legends, Part IV. How odd that there would be a single book from an obviously-long series just sitting out in the open …

But then he remembered. Criss had been sent to fetch a book. He tossed it onto the bed and opened the door.

He took slow steps forward down the hallway, testing the ground everywhere before pressing his full weight against it. It didn't surprise him when his foot went completely through the solid floorboards; instead, he dropped to his knees and felt around for the metal ladder on the side of the pit. Then, he hoisted his body over the side and began to slowly make his way down into the darkness.

Some time later, he found himself in a dark tunnel. The water in the trench he was following was a deep red in color, and the scent of iron on the air didn't lead him wrongly – blood had been spilt. He held back nausea and continued forward, his hand sliding along the wall to keep himself steady. Suddenly, the wall beneath his fingers disappeared, and caught off guard, he fell forward.

When he picked himself back up, he gasped. Caught in a shaft of light in front of him, on an X-shaped crucifix, was Criss. There were bloodstains under her mouth and on most of her lower body. Even from his distance, it was quite obvious.

Criss was dead.

Tears spilled down his cheeks and blinded him as he staggered toward the corpse of his good friend. Then suddenly, he fell through the solid tile, screaming, "Criss!"

It is said that the entire town could hear Sheik's screams of agony as his flesh was burned away by the deep pool of stomach acid and blood that he had landed in. However, nobody did anything; there was nothing they could do, for they all lived in fear of the man who could see the truth.

the end

Notes

1. Impa named Zelda's Sheikah disguise after her older brother. In this story, Sheik is not, in fact, Zelda.

2. Criss is the daughter of the windmill keeper, whose nephew grows up to be the present-day OoT windmill keeper.

3. The X-shaped crucifix in the story that Criss is chained to can actually be found at the bottom of the well ... it's pretty gross.

thanks ...