Chapter 2: Silence Before the Storm
Link woke at dawn the next morning with ingrained punctuality. He always tried to catch a few extra hours of sleep on his rare days off, but he was so used to the rhythm of getting up with the sun that he just naturally woke up at this time every morning. He pushed off his blankets and stood in the cool morning air, yawning as he stretched his arms up to the sky, working the stiffness of yesterday's work out of his muscles. He thought of the day's plans and realized he had at least an hour to kill before Ilia would want to go anywhere. Looking around his small house he searched for something to pass the time.
Link didn't keep much of interest on the main floor of his house; the village kids came poking around far too often for him to leave anything valuable or dangerous where they could get their hands on it. He essentially had several chairs, a table, a bookshelf, and what functioned for him as a kitchen on the main level. His room was much smaller, leaving only enough room for a bed, dresser and desk. The basement was where he kept anything interesting, and at the moment it was a mess.
When he'd finally made up his mind and climbed down both ladders, Link moaned at what the lantern light illuminated. Piles of things he'd picked up on his adventures and stored lay strewn on the floor in the midst of other things he'd acquired and stashed down here over the years.
"Next time I go on an adventure I'll have to make sure I clean up after myself." Link grumbled, wading through stacks of junk. He cursed as his boot collided with something sharp and metal that lay in the only semblance of a path there was. Link reached down and from the shadows he pulled out his clawshot.
"I forgot how big these were." He mumbled, looking at the two large metal claws he held.
The wind howled around Link as he shot from tower to tower, fighting his way through the storm and climbing his way to the top. The dragon roared as he reached his goal and continued onward, rocketing around the circle of Peahats. Blinding light pierced through the gray of the sky as Argorok released a jet stream of blistering flames, trailing Link around the circle. Link spotted his chance when the beast paused facing the opposite direction. With quick and precise aim Link attached himself to the dragon's back. Argorok flailed in an attempt to throw him off, but before the dragon could succeed, Link raised his sword and sunk it into the weak spot on the dragon's back. The dragon began to uncontrollably spew fire, as Link shot to a tower and made his way back to the ground, where he watched the beast explode into what would be a piece of the Twilight Mirror…
Link shook his head to rid himself of the forceful memory and placed the clawshot inside a large chest at the far end of the room. He turned around and, bracing himself, began to search through the assorted piles. He felt his hand brush something gritty and with a sharp tug he pulled up the spinner, still riddled with sand. Not bothering to dust it off he tossed it in the chest as well and continued on his search.
When he found his bow and quiver a satisfied grin lit up his face. He'd always figured he'd put them down here after he'd returned, but despite his desire to find them, he'd never gone looking. Link placed them by the ladder so he wouldn't lose them again and dove back into the mess.
After about an hour of searching and sorting, Link had organized the greater portion of his basement. Deciding to work through one more pile before he found Ilia, he dove into a stack. Most of what he came up with was complete trash that he couldn't even remember why he'd kept in the first place, but as he neared the end of the pile he brushed against something that he instantly new wasn't trash. Pulling it from the stack he saw it was a bottle, somehow still intact, filled with a shimmering purple liquid. As soon as he recognized what it was another memory flashed across his mind.
Black lightning shot from Midna's hands and raced up the large piece of Eldin Bridge. With visible effort she tore it from the ground as Link watched. In the brief seconds before he followed the stone structure into the portal, he noticed a cave where the bridge had been stuck in the sand; however, and before he could say anything to Midna, they were gone, reappearing at the Bridge of Eldin and replacing the missing piece.
"We have to go back." He'd said to her immediately after the damage had been restored.
"Why?" Midna asked, puzzled.
"There was a cave underneath the bridge, there's got to be something down there." Link said, feeling the excitement of the unknown race through him.
"Dammit." Link growled, pushing the memory away and standing up. "Now I know why I never came down here." He said, stalking to ladder and scooping up his quiver and bow in his arms. He climbed the ladder slowly and slammed the door to the basement shut. He set the bottle and bow down on the table in the middle of the room and climbed the ladder to his room. Irritated with himself, he opened his wardrobe, selected a clean shirt and pair of trousers and threw them on.
He inhaled and exhaled slowly, pausing to master himself. He didn't want to be in bad mood when he saw Ilia; he didn't want he questions or her searching look, no matter how well meaning they may be.
Link opened his door and blinked into the bright sunlight, allowing his vision to adjust for a moment. Then without a backward glance he leapt off of his little porch and landed skillfully below with a muffled thud. He strode off down the path and was about halfway into town when he met up with Ilia.
"Good morning sleepy head. I thought I was going to have to come and wake you up if you didn't come get me soon." Ilia teased with a smile
"I never over sleep." Link scoffed "I was just organizing some things because I thought you might still be asleep."
"Excuses, excuses." Ilia laughed "Come on, let's go before someone finds us and asks us to do work."
Ilia grabbed Link's hand and led him down the path to Faron woods. Even though most of the monsters were gone now that Ganondorf had been defeated, the villagers didn't go there often merely out of habit. Link had surveyed the forest several times since he'd been home, mostly to make sure it was safe for everyone now, but he hadn't left Ordon in a few weeks and it was going to be nice to see something besides little houses and long stretches of crops.
They passed the spring and carefully crossed the wooden bridge leading into Faron. Almost immediately the gentle hills of Ordon gave way to towering trees that threw interwoven patches of shade across the grass. Link and Ilia stepped slowly into the trees, hands still clasped as they stepped into the cooler forest air.
"Colin was talking about you yesterday." Ilia said as the meandered aimlessly through the trees.
"What about?" Link asked, paying attention to Ilia, but also carefully watching and listening to their surroundings out of habit.
"Something about you promising to teach him how to ride a horse or something. I told him to just go ask you, but you know how he is about things sometimes." Ilia shrugged
Link was silent for a moment, trying to remember his promise. When he did he laughed, it was funny how long ago it felt.
"Now I remember. I told him that over a year ago, before everything happened." He said, still chuckling. "That kid has a mind like a steel trap; well I'll certainly still teach him if he wants to learn, Epona's more than docile enough with the kids. Some of the ways I've seen them tease her and she's only ever nicked them with her teeth for it. That mare has more patience than I do."
Ilia laughed "It would be good for him I think. He's gotten a lot better this year…but Malo and Talo still tease him a lot."
"Like you said, he takes it a lot better now." Link replied "I've heard him throw some jabs their way a few times even, and they're pretty good ones too."
"With Rusl for a father I'm not surprised." Ilia laughed
"Oh, I learned not to test my wits against that man a long time ago. When we used to spar we'd banter back and forth sometimes, throwing ridiculous insults and all that. If I got the better of him he promptly planted my face in the dirt." Link chuckled, wrinkling his nose as the memory of the many times that had happened smarted in his mind.
"Prideful, ambitious, courageous and dangerous, yet one of the most loyal and caring people you'll ever meet…you two are a lot alike you know." Ilia mused
"I'll take that as a compliment." Link grinned. They'd become more friends than student and teacher as Link had aged, but Rusl had always been the closest thing to a father he'd ever had.
"How's your dad doing?" Link asked Ilia, changing the subject
"Trying to do too much as usual." Ilia sighed with exasperated fondness "He's trying to oversee everything and it's really wearing him down."
"Maybe you should've taken this walk with him." Link joked, spotting a large tree and making his way toward it, Ilia trailing jut behind him. He sat down cross legged and leaned against the tree's trunk, motioning for Ilia to sit down next to him.
Ilia relaxed back against the thick trunk as well "He never would have come. He thinks the whole village will implode if he takes a day off." She shook her head
"Eh, he'll run himself out eventually. He'll collapse, take a good long nap, and be good as new." Link reassured
"I hope you're right." Ilia sighed, staring off into the trees. Silence fell between them, filled intermittently with the chatter of the forest creatures. Link felt the gap that had grown between them prominently in moments like this; before if they ran into moments of silence it was always easy, companionable, now it was uncomfortable and empty.
The pair sat side by side, each looking into the depths of the trees as the silence stretched out between them, tension mounting until it was palpable in the air. Link had made up his mind to say something, anything to break the silence when he heard the faintest of rumbling in the distance, and felt a slight trembling in the earth beneath his fingers. He turned to Ilia, puzzled.
"Did you hear that?" he asked, looking to her for validation.
"No, I didn't hear anything." Ilia replied, looking up at him with confusion. The rumbling occurred again, this time a little louder, and the earth trembled again beneath him.
"Surely you heard it that time, or at least felt that." Link demanded, sitting up abruptly from the tree.
"Link what are you talking about, I didn't hear or feel anything." Ilia said her gaze shifting from one of confusion to concern.
Again an ominous sound rippled gratingly through the air and the ground shuddered, and Link could see in the fearful understanding in Ilia's eyes that she finally knew what he was talking about.
"Link, what is that?!" she asked standing up abruptly, looking around with wide eyes.
"I don't know…" Link said, standing up beside her slowly, straining his ears, trying to pin down the source of the sound.
Instead of a louder grumbling however, all sound in the forest suddenly vanished. No birds or squirrels, even the wind seemed to die as the rustling leaves fell quiet. The silence pressed on for a few suffocating moments and finally broke with and explosive roar as if sound had come rushing back into the world all at once. The earth shook and convulsed violently and the sound rippled through the space around Link and Ilia.
Ilia's scream was lost in the cacophony as trees groaned and bent, tearing themselves out of the ground by their roots and crashing noisily to the ground.
Link glanced back at the massive tree behind them and realized they needed to move, now.
"Ilia we have to get out of here!" he shouted, pulling her forward and dashing back toward Ordon through the collapsing forest. Ilia clung to his hand with an iron grip and together they wove their way out of Faron woods, leaving the deafening thunder of crashing trees behind them.
When they'd finally reached the safety of his home, Link stopped to catch his breathe. Extracting his hand from Ilia's terrified, vice-like grip, he ran it through his hair, trying to mentally absorb what had just happened. The forest had literally just pulled itself out of the ground. How was that even possible?
"Link what…what was that?!" Ilia asked tearfully. Link turned and saw the wet tracks fearful tears had blazed down her cheeks. She was shaking and there was nothing he could say to comfort her.
As he looked at her, Link could feel the dreaded familiarity of helplessness wash over him. He'd only ever felt this way a few times in his life; when Ilia and the children had been captured, when he'd been cursed in wolf form and Midna had lain dying on his back. It was a cold, sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach that could never be forgotten.
Footsteps trampled down the road and when Link turned, he saw practically the whole village charging on his doorstep, clamoring for his attention.
"Link we heard crashing, what happened?!"
"Link are you and Ilia all right?!"
Link looked from face to frantic face and was at a loss for words. He couldn't explain what had just happened and he didn't know what to say to calm everyone down. Finally a shrill whistle pierced the din and one by one the villagers turned to look at Bo, who had issued the high pitched sound.
"Everybody just calm down, I'm just going to ask Link here what exactly happened, I'm sure there's an explanation." Bo said, turning back to Link.
Before anyone could get a word out however, another set of footsteps pounded up the path. One of the field hands sprinted into the crowd, panting and out of breathe.
"Mayor…you have to come see…the fields… they're gone!" he gasped through short puffs of air.
"Gone, what do you mean gone?" Bo demanded, striding up to the man.
"I don't know sir, all I know is that one minute they were there and the next, it was like the earth was tearing itself apart." The man replied fearfully
"Sounds about right." Link said grimly
Bo looked back at Link and then without a word hurried out of the clearing, Link and the rest of the villagers close behind. They passed through town and when they finally reached the edge of the fields instead of harvest ready wheat, giant chasms dotted the landscape, plunging thousands of feet down into the ground.
No one spoke for several minutes, staring in silent fear at the new additions to their town. Finally, Bo broke the silence.
"Link have you ever seen anything like this?" he asked
"Those crevices look vaguely like the ones in Gerudo desert. " Link said, his brow furrowed "But the earth just tearing open like this…no never. The great crashing sounds you all heard was Faron forest pulling itself out of the ground."
Bo turned back to look at the chasms, and then quickly turned to the field hand who'd brought the news.
"Is everyone alright and accounted for?" he asked gruffly
"We're still looking for Jason and Liam." The man responded quietly, the tone of his voice telling Bo all he needed to know about the probability of finding them. He nodded and turned slowly back to the crowd.
"I need you all to go back home and stay there until we figure out if it's safe to be wandering about. We don't know what caused this yet, but we intend to find out."
The crowd trickled away slowly, muttering theories and fears to one another as they left. Soon only Rusl, Link, Bo and Ilia remained.
Bo sighed wearily "Link, Rusl, what are we going to do about this." he asked
The two men glanced at each other, and Rusl spoke up first.
"We need to find out why this is happening. I can look around here, that'll also keep me around in case anything else potentially deadly comes of this; but I doubt we'll find much information." Rusl suggested, glancing at Link.
"I'll go to Hyrule Castle and talk to Princess Zelda. Even if she doesn't know much, the royal library is, or at least was, extensive; there has to be something there." Link offered
"Sounds like a plan. I'll go around to all the houses and make sure everyone's doing alright. Link you should leave first thing in the morning." Bo said before walking away. Rusl nodded solemnly to Link and then started working his way through the deep gorges.
Ilia rubbed her arm and stared down at her feet "So I guess you're leaving again." she said sadly
"You know I have to." Link replied, walking over and placing a gentle had on her shoulder.
"And you aren't going to be back for a long time, I know you." she continued, looking up at him.
"Someone has to go." he answered, frowning down at her
"Does it really have to be you?" Ilia asked "You've done so much already, what if you don't come back this time."
Looking down at her in that moment, Link knew exactly why distance had grown between them in the last six months. This part of him, the warrior and the adventurer, had no place in her life, but it was who he was.
"Ilia" Link sighed wearily "The reason I have to go is because I've already done so much. Things aren't going to go back to the way they were. Even if this hadn't of happened, I would've left eventually."
As he spoke, Link knew that he could not have said anything more true. The restlessness and wanderlust that had pervaded his personality his whole life had become an irrevocable part of him. He could see Ilia losing the battle with her tears as they pooled in her eyes, and he knew he needed to leave.
"I will be back though." He said softly "I promise."
Gently he hugged her until he felt her trembling subside slightly, then quietly he released her and turned back toward his house without another word.
Far outside of the borders of Hyrule, thousands of miles to the southeast stood the crumbling remains of a glistening white marble structure. Large chunks lay broken down around a vast circle of soaring pillars that no longer had a roof to support. In the center a raised dais supported a large mirror made of rose tinted glass cradled by a golden frame. Directly across from the mirror stood a giant block of rose quartz; taller than two men it caught the sunlight and splayed it around the ruins in dancing patterns of color.
A small yellow wren darted from the trees and landed on top of the mirror, posturing and showing off for his female friends in the trees. Before he could entice any of them to join him however, the ground began to shake and with an alarmed tweet the little bird shot off of the mirror and into the sky, followed closely by the other birds in the trees.
As the earth quaked the mirror suddenly sprang to life, the runes inside twisting and turning until they projected onto the large block of quartz. The moment they had settled a dark figure shot head first out of the portal colliding hard with the ground and rolling several feet before their momentum was spent.
Slowly the figure lifted their head, revealing slim, feminine features and icy blue eyes. She watched as the ground around the mirror shook harder and with an echoing crack, the large block of quartz fractured in the middle.
"That's going to cause trouble later." she muttered to herself. She shook her head to toss her black bangs out of her face and instead felt sharp pain that turned the world a shocking fuzzy white and then fell black as she collapsed back to the ground.
