Before I start this I want to give a warning. This is only loosely connected to the game. And by loosely I mean there is a character named Link, a character named Illia, plus a few more names I've borrowed from the Twilight Princess game. This is really an edited version of a story I started to post on FictionPress. But I quickly discovered that no one reads anything on that site and I don't any motivation unless someone is actually reading my story. So I hope you'll forgive me for this, but I have a really good feeling about this story and I don't want it to fade away because I never had the motivation to finish it.
For anyone who is interested in the story/my writing/or just plain loves me enough to actually read this. Thankyou! Thankyou so much I promise to make it interesting. Please just keep reading so I can keep myself writing.
The dead leaves crackled beneath his stumbling feet. Ahead of him, the forest seemed to stretch on forever. Far above him the canopy filtered the light, casting a dim atmosphere over the whole world.
And that is exactly what it would be like from now on. This forest, devoid of civilization, empty of familiar faces. This forest was his home now. Just him and the animals, and though he may look like them sometimes, he wasn't one of them.
He couldn't believe it all fell apart so fast. Just one slip up and his whole life was torn apart. Shredded before his eyes while he watched. Who knew, maybe he could have lived simply and contentedly until he died. But no, because of his damn curse, Link was an outcast. Thrown out of his own village and there was no way he could ever go back now.
He screamed as loud as his lungs will let him. Rushing against a nearby tree he threw a single balled up fist against the thick brown bark. His knuckles cracked painfully as the tree shuddered and swayed. A few loose leaves fell from the distant branches, joining the legions of their fallen comrades.
There was a drop of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. He pulled his hand from the tree to wipe it away. Seeing the crimson stain there on his hand, it brought back the memories of what happened before.
He couldn't control himself when it happened, it controlled him. He had no way to stop it from taking over, it just did. He'd never fully seen what he became, only bits and pieces of the beastly body. The long thick nails on the ends of his hands, thick and stained with blood. The hands themselves were pale and the skin leathery, veins popping out through the tight skin.
He couldn't control himself when it happened, and that was why he was here right now. Alone in the woods. He didn't even know where he was going, just wandering aimlessly, hoping he would drop dead here and now or that maybe, just maybe it was all a dream and he would wake up soon. But he had a long time to go, and it was all too real to be a dream.
He could still hear the screams, taste the hot blood in his mouth. Feel the soft flesh and brittle cloth being torn away by his teeth and claws. He could remember it all too vividly, especially the look of terror in his victim's eyes. He was a killer. He'd killed so many people. All of them in cold blood. And a thief too. He'd stolen people away from their families. Parents away from their children, children away from their parents. He was a monster.
But it wasn't him. Really, truly, in all but the most skewed sense of reality, that killer was something else entirely. Something had happened a long time ago, and that was why he was cursed. Cursed to change, to lead two lives in two bodies. One life was that of Link, just a kid really. Only seventeen.
But the Other, that was the burden he bore. The Other was what killed. The Other was what murdered all those people. It sickened him, it really did. But it had always been a part of him. Throughout all of his memories, even when he was a young boy.
Somehow he'd always thought he would learn to control it someday. Learn to rein in the beast and stop the killing. But it had never happened. Once he changed, once he become the Other, he lost everything. Everything that made him who he was. Everything that held him back and everything that pushed him forward. He became an animal. An animal whose primary urge was to hunt.
He didn't remember much of what happened, just that there was no going back. One minute he was lying in bed, exhaustion gripping his eyelids. The next thing he could remember, he was in the forest. There was an arrow in his shoulder and the wound was bleeding pretty badly.
He'd pieced together some of what happened, and it ate at him. He guessed that he transformed into the Other shortly after he fell asleep. Wandering the streets of the city, the Other attacked someone. But this time, it was clumsy and the victim called for help. Within seconds there were five or six people surrounding the Other. They chased it through the streets, the mob growing by the second. There were torches lit, and many weapons had been accumulated.
The Other knew that if the crowd caught up, it would be killed. So it kept running. Running, running all through the night. He guessed that the Other escaped, because he had woken up this morning in the forest with the taste of blood in his mouth.
At first he had thought about going back to the town, but soon his fears took hold. It must be at least eleven in the morning. What would they think if they chased a murderous humanoid thing into the woods last night, and this morning he returned inexplicably from the very same woods.
That was when he knew that he could never go back. They would know it was him. If they didn't know now, they would. And then they would probably kill him while he slept.
So here he was, alone in the woods. No one knew he was there, and being an orphan, no one cared enough to look for him. But he didn't know what he was going to do. He had nowhere to go.
Maybe he could just curl up here, wait for an animal or something to kill him. That would be fitting, he decided. So that's what he did. He stopped walking and sat down with his back against the nearest tree. Burying his face in his pink-with-blood hands, he waited.
Around him the forest was silent. Nothing moved. No birds were chirping, and no squirrels chattered. The wind wasn't even blowing. No sound at all, not even the gradual settling of dead leaves. He just sat there in the dead quiet and waited for his own death.
Offhandedly, he hoped it was painful, just to somehow atone for all the pain he had caused in the form of the Other.
"Well that's a morbid thought." A voice purred.
He jerked his head up, and found himself looking straight into a pair of emerald green eyes. Where had they come from? "What do you mean?" he asked flustered. How had she heard that? It was just a thought, inside his head.
"You whispered it to yourself just now."
He stood up and found himself standing next to a girl. Long black hair flowed over her shoulders framing a pale and smooth face with deep set eyes.
She was striking, enchantingly beautiful.
"Oh," he muttered, "Who are you? What are you doing out here?"
She laughed and said, "The same thing as you I suppose. People like them don't like people like us. Even if we're really nicer than they think."
He averted his gaze, staring off into the distance instead of into her beautiful eyes. "I'm, "he started, "I'm not nice, not really. I seem nice, and I act nice, and I really am nice sometimes. But sometimes I'm not."
"Oh I know," She said, "I'm something of the same sort. Seem nice, act nice, but inside I'm really terrible." She finished with a little chuckle.
He was unsure of what to say so he remained silent.
"Why don't you come with me?" She said, "Just because they don't want us, doesn't mean we have to be lonely, does it?"
"I guess not."
"Excellent, "She said with a thrilled smile, "Let's go."
Before they had a chance to go anywhere though, Link began to speak again.
"I, uh, who are you?" he said, flustered.
"I'm Eldwin."
"Oh, my name's Link."
"Now that we're friends," She said with a silken voice, "You might as well stay with me. It gets pretty cold at night, and you don't want to get sick do you?"
Link just shook his head
With a smile, she took his hand and began to lead him off into the forest.
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