A/N: The picture I have in use as the cover for my CaH saga (as well as for all of my Zelda stories) is from dA by an artist lychi and the picture's name is just simply Zelda.

This is part of my CaH saga. Enjoy!

This is part of my "100 uploads of the year 2017". Current count is 54 and going downwards.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-.-

Magic

Story 1, part 2

The two dark Hylians had been restless for several hours. "He's not hurt but he's not fully alright either." The younger one told as they were having a break from practicing with the Knights. The older one nodded while keeping his worried gaze in his left hand and the dim mark of Triforce. It had appeared into his hand after he had made a blood pact with the Hero.

"What do you think he's doing right now?" Dark asked while raising his gaze up and looking around, half hoping Link would've just walked into his sight at then. "Or better yet, where he is." He continued and glanced at his youngest brother.

Darky shrugged and sighed. "I have no idea." He answered and his worry only increased. "For some reason I'm not able to locate him." The Half-Shadow told before taking a deep breath and pushing himself off the wall. "But I know where I can start from." He stated with determination in his voice.

Dark nodded and followed the ruby eyed Hylian. "Just lead the way then." He half whispered. Much to his confusion, the younger one took his road straight into the castle. Without any kind of hesitation, Darky walked straight to Princess Zelda's door. He took once a deep breath and knocked on the door. The older Part-Shadow frowned but stayed silent while trusting his brother to know what he was doing.

"Come on in!" The female's voice called. Darky opened the door and entered the Hyrule's leader's room. Zelda raised her gaze up from her work and slightly frowned when she noticed the two dark Hylians. "How can I help you?" She inquired as the duo had closed the door and bowed before her.

"Forgive me for being blunt, but do you have any of idea where Link might be?" Darky straight off asked as he stood up straight again. The queen's frown deepened and she slowly nodded.

"Yes… He did tell where he'd go today but… Why are you asking?" The royal lady talked calmly but clearly having slight worry of the answer. The dark Hylian's glanced at each other before the younger one sighed heavily.

"He's not alright, Your Highness." Darky started worriedly and dropped his gaze into the floor for a moment to gather his thought. As he continued to talk, he returned to look at his leader straight into eyes. "I don't feel him getting hurt but he is weakening quite quickly. I don't know what he's doing or where he is but whatever he's up to, he's overdoing himself. And harshly." He explained while fully knowing he wasn't talking fully as to a royal but then again, he was considered as family and that gave him slight rights for informal way of speaking.

"What exactly are you implying?" Zelda asked while having pretty good idea already. Yet, she wanted to hear the words said out loud instead of just worrying for nothing.

"I fear him to get himself dehydrated and unconscious." Darky confirmed her thoughts as true. "I don't know why but I have a feeling he's either working with fire magic or then going through some kind of volcano or such." He continued with a slight frown.

Zelda sighed and slightly slumped. "He came to me early today and asked the day off. I accepted and he told he's going to the training complex he specially got made for himself and you two." She finally explained and raised her worried gaze into the duo. "Go check on him, please." The queen almost begged.

"Don't worry, Your Highness, we make sure he's alright." Darky promised and bowed before he and Dark left the room. The duo walked calmly but still with quick enough pace through the hallways of the castle. Once out in the yard, they took up to a fast jog with the younger one keeping the lead.

Dark knew of the practice area but he hadn't been there than once before. And with his sense of direction being quite lousy, he wasn't fully certain of where the complex was at. Darky on the other hand had been there at least a dozen times but he had gone through the whole place only once.

"Be careful from here on out, bro. The road won't be any of easy." The Half-Shadow warned as he opened the door and led them into the first area. Dark simply nodded and tried to recall the roads from that one turn he had had. Yet, he still was quite impressed when the first room came into their sight.

"Just follow me." Darky told and took out his Longshot. The branches were more or less growing from the walls. The further up one got, the more distance there was between the branches. Not to mention that not all of the branches were possible to be taken hold of by the grapping part of their weapon. The door the duo was heading to, didn't have any of ledge. It had to be opened with the Longshot before using the thing again to get into the next area.

Even though Dark would've loved to spend more time in the area just to learn the roads, he did feel the urgency of their current mission of sorts. He didn't stray away from the pathway the younger dark Hylian showed. The ruby eyed oldest brother was feeling uncertain when he reached the doorway. On both sides of him, in front of him and behind him, was a long drop down. He gulped in slight fear while trying to concentrate into the road ahead of him and fully ignore the fear of heights he had.

"Okay, now it's up for timing and balance. Both which we should have in perfect control." Darky told as he eyed the next obstacle road. He knew he and Dark could've gone through things quickly but the Shadow Powers were fully forbidden and blocked in the whole house. This was the reason they had to go through things the normal way.

"I really hate Link's planning of this place…" Dark muttered as he watched the moving branches and shot arrows at the lower area. He was trying to calm down and count how much time he had between each jump and arrow shot from the hidden areas of the walls.

"Yeah, well, Link hadn't met with either of us by the time he came up with this place. Not to mention it wouldn't have any of challenge if our fears and Shadow Powers were taken into notion." Darky stated and inwardly cursed as he knew his perfect plan of freezing the walls to keep the arrows at bay wouldn't work. He had tried that once but the ice didn't catch on the warm surface in any of way. Creating two ice walls around him hadn't worked well either since the heat in the room increased and keeping the ice intact and strong enough became too hard considering the road's length.

Eventually the youngest one took once a deep breath and jumped down. He started to run and pray his timing worked out. He gasped when one of the arrows went right past his nose but he refused to slow down or, worse, stop fully. After eternity felt time, he finally reached the end and jumped against the wall before jumping off and upwards from there. The dark Hylian sighed in relief when he got a hold of the door knop. With slight difficulty, he somehow managed to open the door and get into the doorway for safety. "Your turn, Dark!" He called while turning around to check on the other ruby eyed male.

Dark had gone for the road when the younger male was at halfway through. He ignored the swishing arrows while just keeping his gaze and concentration in the branches. The ruby eyed male gasped when one of the arrows snatched his black cap, clanged into the wall and fell into the darkness below him. "Link's going to pay for that…" The dark Hylian grumbled while just continuing forward.

When the Part-Shadow reached the end of the room and jumped against the wall, the Half-Shadow was already reaching out to him. Once in the safety, the older one took a moment to catch his breath. While Dark was evening his breathing, Darky took a look at the next area.

"Did you take your bow and arrows along, big bro?" The younger Hylian inquired and glanced at his brother. Dark shook his head but checked his pockets just to be sure. "Figures…" Darky muttered before taking a deep breath. "Well, you'd better stay next to me, then." He stated and nodded towards their third obstacle road.

There was still a long fall below them. A lonely platform was going from one end to another and back with a steady pace while having a straight road. On its way was a wall of sharp edged vines that was growing from the roof towards the floor. There were similar walls of sharp edged vines here and there. Around them was hidden a diamond shaped switch.

"You search out the switches and I shoot them. That platform will only go forward and to sides whole time." Darky informed while recalling the room's structure from his earlier visits. "We gotta time our strikes or we'll miss a switch or end up dropped into the darkness as the platform vanishes if it hits anywhere else than the wall opposite this room or the one we're above on." He explained and tried to calm down.

Dark simply nodded and waited for the platform to come back. Once it was close enough, the duo jumped down to it and Darky prepared the first arrow. "We only have one shot at each switch." The younger one reminded as he and the older Shadow searched out the first diamond.

The Part-Shadow simply nodded again and soon pointed to the first switch. Darky replied with a nod but waited until his comrade gave the rights to shoot. Dark checked around the area until he noticed the right kind of wall. "Now." He told calmly and the younger one shot the arrow perfectly into the switch.

Suddenly the platform started to move towards right. The yank almost got the duo off balance but they quickly recovered from the expected change of direction. They searched out the next switch, Darky took aim and once again waited for the right moment.

It was slow road but together they handle the room with ease. Alone they would have needed to be quicker with their shooting and aiming as they waited for the right moment to hit the switch. But now, with help from another person by them, one could concentrate into hitting the diamond while the other one kept eye on their pathway.

The next room would've needed the Lens of Truth to find the right platforms but since it was one of the very few rooms that allowed Shadow Powers, the duo swiftly took into the Shadow Realm and moved to the other side of the pathway. Dark came halfway out of the Shadow Realm and opened the next door. Once they got to the doorway, the next room's magic forced them out of the Shadow Realm and the duo fell bit ungracefully into the small place of safety.

Once the two ruby eyed swordsmen had scrambled off of each other, they took a look at the new room. "Finally." Darky half whispered and grinned. Dark frowned but waited for the explanation. The younger one nodded forward into the three doors at the other side of the room. "This is one of the intersections of the place. One of those rooms lead back into the first room, one gives straight into the area we're heading into and the third door will just continue forward with the obstacle courses." He explained and frowned a bit. "The bad thing is that I don't know which of the doors is right. The magic in the doors change each time this room is entered." The Half-Shadow said while slightly slumping.

"Well, then we just open all three of them." Dark answered with a grin. Darky sighed and shook his head.

"That won't work. You're only allowed to open one door. The other two will stay locked." Darky answered and gave a sad lopsided smile. "I've tried. Several times, in fact." He confessed with a slight chuckle.

"So, let's hope we choose the right door." Dark almost grumbled while feeling like they're not getting through this room. He turned his gaze into the actual obstacle before the doors and frowned. It seemed way too simple to be this far in the complex.

Darky ignored his brother's annoyance and checked the room too. He was grateful of how easy this part would be for them. The dark Hylian gave a slight grin and shrugged. "Sometimes things are exactly what they look like." He told and jumped down while drawing the dark version of the Master Sword out.

Dark snorted while grinning and followed his brother. He mimicked the action and kept his gaze in the end of the room. The ruby eyed fighter knew he would end up chickening out if he glanced down into the darkness.

The room had one thin branch going from one end to another. It had several tile walls on the way which meant work for the Megaton Hammer. Or in this case for whatever weapon the duo wished to use that wouldn't break from the first strike. After all, both of the dark Hylians were much stronger in strength than their middle brother was. This kind of "break the obstacle" situations were easy for them.

The duo took turns in breaking the pathway open by crouching down and allowing the other one to carefully either jump or climb over. So, in the end, it didn't take long before they already reached the other side and the three doors on one ledge. "So, how do we pick the right one?" Dark asked while already starting to go through a counting of sorts.

"Give me a moment, okay?" Darky countered and carefully moved to the first door. He pressed his hand against the smooth wooden obstacle and closed his eyes. "Like you know, Link can feel the magic. Not too easily but still." He started while pressing one side of his face against the door too. "I'm not good with the sensing part but I'm better in using it." The ruby eyed artist continued before opening his eyes and moving to the next door. "Yet, Link has been trying to teach me to feel the magic and the differences in them." He explained while repeating his doing before going to the third door.

Dark had simply nodded and watched his brother's doing. After a moment the younger one took a step backwards and frowned while glancing from one door to the other. Soon he closed his eyes and concentrated. Eventually he sighed and opened his eyes. "I might be fully wrong but I'd choose the left most door." He finally told while clearly looking uncertain.

"That's your final choice?" Dark inquired and Darky simply nodded. "Alright. Left most it is." The older one stated and walked to the smoothest of the wooden doors. He glanced once more at his brother whom simply nodded once again. "Here goes nothing…" The ruby eyed warrior whispered and opened the door.

The door led into a corridor of several other doors. Dark grinned and looked at his youngest brother. "Looks like you chose the right one, Sweat Pea." He told with a happy look on his face. Darky sighed in relief and followed the older dark Hylian through the door.

"We're not far anymore." The Half-Shadow stated and started to jog down the corridor in search of the right room. Dark nodded and glanced at his left hand. "I know, bro. He's getting worse." The younger Hylian almost whispered while wondering what in Goddesses names was the Hero doing.

Two corridors later they finally came to the right door. "In here!" Darky half shouted and almost yanked the door open. The second the door was opened, the duo collided with extremely hot air. They gasped for air and tried to get a look of what was going on in the room. Suddenly they noticed the wall of fire rushing straight at them. "Oh shit!" The ruby eyed Shadow of the Hero screamed and slammed the door shut immediately.

Dark moved to same side as the other Shadow to keep the door as their protection would the wall of flames strike into the corridor. "The hell was that?!" He almost shouted in both shock and fear.

"I have no idea but I think Link's created it." Darky answered with slightly wavering voice. "No wonder he's getting exhausted and dehydrated in there if he's calling out something like that." He half mumbled before gulping and tentatively touching the door knop. Luckily it wasn't hot at all which got him to frown slightly. "The room's magic's way of working, I guess…" The Half-Shadow mumbled mainly to himself.

"You think it's safe to open the door yet?" Dark inquired while fearing for two things; his brother's safety but also for their own safety. Yet, considering how organized the younger dark Hylian was, the Hero wasn't in full life danger as of yet. Darky simply nodded, took once a deep breath and opened the door again.