"Why am I here? And you are there?"
Pale fingers traced along the surface of shallow water, barely bringing a ripple to the liquid; careful not to effect the image of the blond man, sleeping soundly in the world of the living.
"Link."
With disgust he slapped the image, trying to shove it away, only causing a splash – the ripples distorting the picture before finally fading.
"I'll get you this time Link."
A small smirk played across his lips.
"This time I won't let you go."
Link awoke with a start, gripping the blanket tightly as he sat up, blue eyes shifting around the dimly lit room. There was nothing within the small room but the sunlight slowly pouring in from the windows. He was certain that someone was there – he had heard a voice, calling his name, saying things that would make any sane person cringe and wonder if there were such things as demons. Yet there was no sound at all, minus the birds chirping and singing.
Running his hand through his sandy hair, he pushed the blankets aside and swung his legs over the edge of the bed. Elbows on his knees, his head dropped into his hands, rubbing his fingers over his temples. Attempting to make sense of the voice he heard was harder than one would think. Of course he could blame the dream, but it seemed too real. With a sigh he stood, stretching out and dressing for the day – along with putting his sword and shield onto his back to complete the look.
Monsters still roamed around even after his long journey of defeating Ganondorf. Most of them wandered out at night now, though a diseased one would venture out and try to take down a few Hylians before a knight got to it. Of course there were bandits that would try to attack the travelers in the field as well, although they are smarter than the few creatures lingering around. No one could be too careful out there.
The Hylian moved to the water bin, leaning down close to it and splashed the cool water onto his face, rubbing over his eyes before straightening up and looking to the mirror in front of him. He gasped, hand quickly reaching back and gripping the hilt to his sword and almost yanked it out, taking a few steps back. However, after he took one blink, the image in the mirror disappeared. The image – it was him, though, with pale skin and black hair; but the eyes: a horrible glow of red. Link had seen that face before, around a decade now, but there was no mistaking it was the copy of him in that temple – but instead of the mere shadow he had encountered, the thing had actually gained the details of an actual human. He had killed that thing; certain of it. Perhaps he was still half asleep. His hand slowly unclenched the sword, dropping it back down to his side and breathed in deeply to try and calm his racing heart. No need worrying over a dead monster.
He could see him. That reaction was all he needed to know that he could finally be seen. After all these years of desperately trying to pull off enough strength to get his reflection seen on the other side of the mirror or puddles or the lake, the day had finally come. There was no point in showing himself to the hero for long. After that blink he dispersed the image and looked towards the door – locked for him but not for Link – with a creeping smile.
"The day has come at last. The day when I end you."
If he killed Link this time, then maybe that door to the other side would finally open for him and he could leave the damned void of a room; and even take the place of Link, only this time do things differently rather than keep the world free of darkness. All this time, all he wanted, was to be free. No more watching from the side lines. That hero was going to experience the life he had been living all his life. A life filled with nothing but the frigid chill of the room, only a dead tree for his companion, the feelings of being trapped and desperation – everything.
Once free, perhaps he would feel the thumping of a heart, warmth of his skin, the air of life, everything and anything that one would feel on the other side of that door. Perhaps he would truly be alive. Of course, he was alive now, was he not? His ashen hand clutched at the fabric above his chest, feeling no such thing as a heartbeat. He wasn't dead or alive – he was just there. A being with no more of a task but to kill Link; but who was the one to decide that? There had been a voice, nothing but a whisper in his head, telling him what to do and why he was suddenly there. He had not heard that voice for so long now; maybe Link had killed his master.
Only knowing of one task to complete – he planned to do it right this time. He was more of an equal now and he wouldn't dare fall for the tricks Link had played on him last time. He had his own movements, he could mimic the hero still, but he now knew of the other options he had. He was too weak last time and after he took the last hit from the cursed sword, he dropped down into the waters safety, and that's where he stayed for many years, recovering from just that one fight. The being had watched Link from beneath the water's surface, the clear liquid acting as a mirror for him to the other side. He watched and learned the way of the other and as soon as he felt as though he had enough strength to affect him – he did; whispering his name into his head, trying to show himself to the Hylian, doing anything he could until he could manage to drag him through the mirror itself.
"You'll be the one to disappear this time, Link."
He made his way out from his small house within Kakariko Village. The Kokirians were more than happy for him to stay, but with them not growing older in appearance, he felt out of place once he grew and couldn't stay there any longer; though visited there often. Kakariko Village was just of a nice place to live in like Kokiri Forest with friendly residents and such. Even with the evil force gone from the village, the well still gave him chills. It really didn't seem that long ago he was last here, with the village aflame, monsters still roaming and trying to overtake the land, and Shiek appearing from nowhere to help him along. Shaking his head, he carried his way to the small stable that housed Epona. It was always nice to take her out riding in early mornings.
Saddling Epona was quick - it was obvious she wanted out, and after minutes they were out from the stable, and on the field, galloping along the hills of grass. The sun was slowly moving its way up in the sky, warming the temperature as it did. The ride was smooth, no monsters heard or seen throughout the area he could scout out. After some time of roaming around the field, he wound up stopping at the lake. They might as well take a break and let Epona rest and drink if needed.
Link climbed off the back of his horse, striding over to the shore and sat down, leaning back and glanced over to the horse. She was staying her distance from the water, but she had to be thirsty from the running she had just gotten done doing. Glancing out across the water, there didn't seem to be anything wrong – no monsters from what he could see, and he didn't think a simple fish or even a Zora would frighten her badly enough that she wouldn't near the edge of land to liquid.
"Something wrong, girl?"
A snort and shake of her head was the only answer he got right off the bat. He didn't understand what was wrong with the lake today as she's had no problem with it any other day. Or maybe she just wasn't thirsty. Whatever it was, he had no animal instinct or the capability of understanding what she could be saying through her sounds, and could only be left in the dark.
The hero went back to resting; however he was slowly noticing something was off about the day. The birds that normally flew around and chirped were nowhere to be seen or even heard relatively close to the lake. No animals were around or even insects for that matter. There was nothing but silence and a still to the air that was almost disturbing. Something was wrong, but he hadn't a slightest clue why, and asking Epona would just grant him another grunt from her.
A small splash destroyed the silence. He quickly peeked over to the water, seeing ripples as close to the shore as it could get. It was too close for comfort when everything was off in normality. Link shifted forwards, leaning in closer to see if he could see down the water to see if it was a fish that finally gave way that things were still lively in the lake or some Zora playing a trick. Epona whined and stomped her front hooves into the ground, trying to get his attention, but still wouldn't go near it.
"It's fine, girl. I'm just seeing what it is."
Basically looking as though he was about to dive in now, he narrowed his eyes, straining his sight to look for something that couldn't be seen. All that could be seen clearly was his faint reflection on the surface. Furrowing his brows and allowing his eyes to relax after a minute, he started to lean back until something showed its face. Red eyes peered back at him instead of his blue ones – just like what happened with the mirror just earlier. Except this time when he blinked the image wouldn't go away. It was still the menacing face staring back at him, only this time it wasn't matching Link's facial expressions, a smirk crawling across its face.
There was no mistaking that this was creature he killed in the temple. The room was filled with shallow water and a small island with a dead tree. The man was there sitting against the trunk and only moved when he had gotten closer to the island. Then they fought; only it was like a fight against himself. The other disappeared down in the ground then appeared back up on the surface in an utterly different spot to try and strike Link down. It was a haunting fight – to fight against someone who knew your every move and could mimic it perfectly right back. Using items had gotten the best of the thing and he eventually struck it down, but the body had just sunk back into the ground and there was no say to what truly happened to the creature.
Should he even be calling it a creature though – it had his face, but, it clearly wasn't necessarily a human. It was something else. Something dark; but a creature isn't the right term to call something that looks human and like him.
"What are you?"
His hand slowly reached down towards the lake, pointer finger held out a bit farther than the others. Just as he was about to touch the water where the other was being shown, something tightly gripped his wrist then pulled. Everything faded to darkness and Link was suddenly hit with freezing air and the ability to breathe was nonexistent for a split second, even though it felt more like many minutes had passed.
He gasped for air as soon as the possibility to came again. He had closed his eyes which explained the darkness, and opening them soon seemed like an awful thing to do. The hero was dripping wet, down on his hands and knees in shallow ice cold water, the air around him freezing as well, and the air was impossible to breathe in quickly; but breathing didn't seem much of an important task now that he shifted his eyes around. All the water, the cold temperature, and he hadn't dared check to see if there was an island in the middle baring the dead tree. It was already too obvious.
A shadow soon hovered over the kneeling man and eyes bore down on him. It was almost like a dream – for the shadow, a dream come true to finally meet the green clad hero again. This time things would be set right. This time he would be set free after proving he was indeed the stronger one now. This time the events would end differently.
"Oh, Link."
Link's head turned to the side, looking at the boots in front of him before finally gazing up to see the face of the being.
"You don't have any idea how long I have been waiting for this day!"
The being crouched down to match the heroes current height, his pale arms wrapping around his knees and rested his chin atop of them, all the while smiling devilishly to the blond.
"So tell me something, Link." He paused, an arm adjusting to stretch out towards his face, slender fingers curling around his chin, and grinning when he felt the cringe in the other knowing his touch would be freezing for him. Head tilting to the side and leaning slightly closer to the Hylians, he spoke again. "You thought I was dead, didn't you?"