Here it is! Chapter 4! Thank you, thank you, thank you for the reviews, favourites and alerts, everyone!

Chapter IV

Devious Secrets

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I can't breathe. The air is too thick. I can't see. It's too dark.

All I could hear was my heart pounding loudly in my chest. I closed my eyes and moved into the fatal position. My head hurt from the lack of air. All of these things were happening, and I couldn't tell why. Was I scared? I felt like I was falling, for that there was nothing beneath me, but I couldn't tell for sure because everything was so pitch black.

So dark…

I remember now why I always had a light on when I went to sleep when I was younger. I was terrified of the dark. Not just the kind of darkness that if you waited a while, your eyes would adjust and you could see. No. I mean the kind of darkness that made you feel like you were suffocating because it was too dark for your eyes to adjust. At my old house, there were no street lights or porch lights outside, and my window was so small. That's why I always had a light, so I wouldn't be scared.

I thought I had overcome that fear… But the fact that I was shaking, must have meant I was wrong.

"Go away…go away…" I choked out. It was so hard to breathe, and this fear of darkness wasn't making it any better.

I opened my eyes, quickly shutting them again, after seeing that nothing had changed. Of course it was dark with my eyes closed, but it felt much better because I at least knew why it was dark when my eyes were closed, unlike the outside, where I had no idea as to what was causing it.

"I hate the dark…" I breathed deeply.

It was weird. Well everything that had happened so far was weird, but this was beyond confusing. It was as though the temperature increased by 1000 degrees. I quickly opened my eyes, gasping at the sudden change in temperature. It was boiling! Though I didn't really care too much about the heat, after I noticed that the darkness was quickly being eaten away by flames.

"Wh-what the?" I yelled out in surprise and fear. Before I knew it, the flames had completely engulfed the darkness, and I had to shield my eyes from the brightness it caused.

I couldn't bare it any longer. Sweat dripped down my forehead, as I choked out on the thick air. My headache seemed to be getting worse, and it wasn't long until I started to feel light headed. Dark blotches began to dot over my vision, but through all of this, it seemed that there was only one thought on my mind before I passed out.

Why isn't there any smoke coming from the fire?

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Heavy footsteps hitting against the tall, dark grass interfered with the well balanced sound of the crickets and the gentle breeze that carried on throughout the midnight air. Each slow thud formed a rhythm, accompanied with the sound of soft breathing and the jingling noise of a chain.

The figure kneeled down, his black, leather armour wrinkling together slightly. A sigh escaped his pale lips, as he reached his black, gauntleted hand towards the motionless girl whom lay before him. He didn't need to take off his gloves to know what her temperature was, for that the moment he touched her arm, scorching heat rushed through his hand, causing him to wince.

"She's boiling…" he said in a raspy voice. "Curses, that means I am too late," his dark, red eyes trailed down to her neck, where a golden chain rested, the end of the necklace loosely tucked away underneath her shirt. He hesitantly made a reach for it, using the tips of his index finger and thumb to slowly pull it out to see. He hissed at the flash of pain that coursed through his fingers, jerking his hand away from the necklace. "The necklace is hot too."

He sighed once more, leaning back with his arms behind him for balance, "Really. By the Goddesses, who would have known that she would be able to set the shadows aflame so quickly? Curses… If I knew that was going to happen, then I should have saved her right away!" Unbeknownst to him, his eyes started to wander towards the girl, studying her features and posture. When he finally did realize that he was staring, he couldn't help but think of how accurate the description of her that he received from his master was. Though, he definitely couldn't prove that her eye colour was blue, until she woke up. There was absolutely no way he would touch her again, considering the fact that she would burn his flesh off. "So she either learns quickly, and deflected the shadow on her own, or...perhaps she is scared of the dark?," he questioned nothing in particular, as he stared at the sky with cold eyes and nursed his sore hand.

"I'm gonna say that it's the second one."

The man's eyes widened, quickly looking behind him to the direction where the voice came from.

A tall, young male stood a few feet away from him with his arms folded across his chest, his blond hair blowing gently in the wind.

"I still do not quite understand how you can always sneak by me without letting me sense your presence," the man said, glaring up at him with his red eyes. "Especially since you have been laying low for the past two years."

The blonde smirked, "Yes, Ryuu, you've already made it clear several times that you're jealous of my amazing skills."

Ryuu stood up from his spot on the tall grass, a sneer plastered on his pale face, "Tch. Who in the world could possibly be jealous of a buffoon such as yourself? Luck just always happens to be on your side."

The tall man snickered, completely ignoring his first comment, a smile tugging at his lips, "I guess you could say that."

"Anyways," Ryuu coughed into his fist at an attempt to clear his throat. He lazily looked at the man before him, while he held what seemed to be a bored and careless expression upon his face. But the blonde man knew better, having known Ryuu for many years. He knew that anytime the pale, black haired man looked careless, he was being serious. It took him quite a while to figure out about this quirk, but once he did, he felt a sense of accomplishment, and knew that it wouldn't be as confusing anymore when he talked to him. "About your previous comment; how do you know that the girl is scared of the dark?"

"I don't."

Ryuu raised an eyebrow, showing his curiosity to his words, "Well aren't you blunt. Then why would you say such a thing?"

A large grin formed on the blonde's face, as he glanced over to the teenage girl, "Honestly, finding out that Emm is scared of the dark, would definitely be a shock to me, because she's a stubborn, bitchy girl who will criticize just about anything. Although she's not all that athletic, if you piss her off enough, then she'll no doubt go out of her way to try to kick your ass. Even if she knows that she can't beat you up, she'll still try if she's angry enough. And I'm not saying that she's brave or anything, but I really can't imagine her as a wimp who's scared of something pathetic like the dark. But anyways, the reason why I picked option two, is because I really don't think that Emm has enough common sense and competence to be able to learn something so quickly. I mean, come on, it's not like she's Wonder Woman or something. She isn't powerful and I'm pretty sure she's got no experience in actual fighting."

Ryuu's eyebrows furrowed, confusion replacing his curiosity, "Wonder Woman? Who may that be?"

Silence lingered throughout the air for a moment, before the man finally said, "I-it's…a character…from a comic book…Uhh…she's also in some TV shows…" his words drifted off once he realized the utterly confused expression that Ryuu had on his face, "Ah…Never mind. That's not the point."

"My, my, Jace, I think you have been in the Human World for too long," Ryuu said, rushing his hand through his short black hair, sighing in faint exasperation. "Well, no matter. The fact is, she used the fire against the shadows all on her own. That wasn't supposed to happen. I sent those shadows to attack her, so I could then save her."

"What? That was what you were planning to do? Lemme guess, after you save her, supposing that she's still conscious, you were hoping that she'd feel grateful to you and then you could start a friendship, right?"

"Yes…but I-"

"Oh, and the whole fact that you're trying to befriend her is because Kiragan-"

"Master Kiragan," Ryuu interrupted, frowning deeply at the blonde, "And yes, for once you are right. As much as I hate to admit it…"

Jace scoffed, "It was obvious."

"Hmm," Ryuu turned away from him then, eyeing the female on the ground. "She is unconscious, and her body temperature is getting to the point that it will burn a whole through my glove if I try to go near her. I have to perform that spell, to calm down her nerves," he knelt over the girl once more, his eyes roaming over the small heat waves that emitted from her body. He closed his eyes and began to chant foreign, elegant sounding words. It wasn't long before a red-like mist surrounded him, its wavy shapes moving from him to Emily, soon engulfing her. The red mist flared about, until it slowly faded away into her skin.

"The heat is gone now. She should be waking up soon," Ryuu said, turning back around.

Jace gave him an odd look, showing his amazement and annoyance to Ryuu's magical capabilities, "Y'know, you're species is really screwed up."

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I woke up to the sound of two men speaking, but I couldn't make out the words they were saying. My eyelids felt heavy, as if I had just been in a deep sleep. I couldn't recall falling asleep though. I blinked several times at the sky, trying to wake myself up completely, while at the same time admiring the billions of stars scattered throughout night. It was really beautiful, nothing I had ever seen, since stars were becoming more rare each night back home. My admiration was short lived though, for my attention was drawn back to the male voices. As I listened further, I noticed that one voice was very familiar. That's when I decided to sit up and turn to face the men.

"Ow!" I yelped, as I started to change my position. A sharp, throbbing pain unleashed itself onto my back the second I began to move.

The men abruptly stopped their conversation and rushed over, one of them sitting in front of me.

"Crap! Something must have happened in the fire! I thought you fixed her with your spell!" the all too familiar voice came out in a frantic, worried tone.

"That spell was meant for something completely different, you fool!" the other snapped at him. "I was not aware that she was injured."

I bent over, clutching my arms tightly and resting my head in my lap. My eyes were shut tightly, tears still managing to find their way out, as I cried in agony.

"Emm! Emm!" the owner of the familiar voice grabbed onto me. "What's wrong?"

"J-Jace…?" I sputtered out his name.

"Dammit, Ryuu! Do something!"

"Already on it," the man known as Ryuu said.

I looked up to see Jace right beside me with his face twisted in worry and panic, grasping my arms as some sort of way to try and comfort me or something. Either way, it was weird seeing him with that kind of expression. I then glanced over my right shoulder, seeing the shadowy fellow doing something incredibly strange. It was as if I was witnessing something from a video game or something along the lines of that. I wasn't entirely sure because I had never played any video games before. Even so, what I had seen right at that moment was a mixture of astonishment, confusion, and fear.

A dark purple mist-like substance formed in the air around him, swirling as he said what I would assume were words in another language. They might have just been gibberish. The mist drifted away from him, and rapidly picked up its pace, as it moved in the direction where I was sitting.

"Wh-what the hell is that?" I looked at the thing with wide eyes, fear clearly starting to show in me. "Jace!" I shouted, clutching on to his arms and ducking in front of him.

"No! Emm, it's alright! Don't hide! This thing's gonna help you with that pain in your back!" the blonde said back, moving me away from hiding and into the open, where the mist now was.

Before I could even think about what he had just said, the purple mist was spinning around me in a very fast motion. I closed my eyes, not wanting to see what disastrous thing it could do to me.

"Jace!" I stifled a sob, gripping his hand tightly, "Make it stop!"

Jace took his other hand and lifted my face up to him, calmly saying, "It's okay, Emm. It's already over. You can open your eyes now."

My eyes shot open immediately, panic disappearing from me entirely. "What," I said blankly.

Oh, did I say that Jace was calmly speaking to me? Oops, my bad. What I really meant was, he was speaking to me while trying very hard not to laugh.

"What the hell, Jace!" I shouted, letting go of his hand and whacking him on the head.

"Hey! What was that for!" he moved his hands in front of him in an attempt to shield himself from the beatings. "Your back is better, right?"

I abruptly stopped hitting the moron. I took a moment to move around a bit from where I sat, to see if I could still feel any pain, and alas, I could not.

"Huh? How's that even possible?" I said in wonder.

"That spell is not meant for major wounds. It only healed over the spots that were the worst, as well as making the pain vanish."

I looked back over to see the stranger who had spoken, and had saved me from what would probably have been a life time of aching pain.

"Wound?"

"Yes, the burn you got from the fire," he replied.

"Fire?" then it hit me. Escaping the town, having to swim in a mysterious moat and getting drenched, having to change into the new outfit that I so dearly hate, suddenly being trapped in some weird shadows, and then…and then the random burst of fire. Oh! And Blunty! I looked around me, and spotted a metal object laying in the grass a few feet away. "Blunty!" I exclaimed, momentarily forgetting all the other things I was thinking about.

"Blunty?" Jace asked, clearly confused.

I got up from my spot on the ground and walked over to the object, grabbing a hold of it, while taking the time to admire it.

"I am assuming it is that piece of metal she is hugging," Ryuu said, gesturing towards me.

Jace sighed in annoyance, probably thinking of something along the lines of how he thought I was a dumb ass, which would definitely earn him a punch in the face later on.

"Emm," Jace said, frowning at me.

I ignored him.

He sighed once more, pointing to the red eyed man, "Ryuu is the one who saved you from those shadows."

I decided to stop ignoring him.

"If it weren't for him, god knows what would've happened to you."

"What?" I looked over at the strange man who stood a few meters away from me. I glanced back at Jace, watching him nod. I took that as my queue to walk over to Ryuu. I stopped a couple feet in front of him, my eyes widening slightly at how much clearer I could see him now.

His hair was black, curly at the ends, and the fairly short strands hung above his eyes and over his pointed ears, down to his jaw. From a distance he just looked pale, but upon closer inspection revealed the light grey complexion in his skin. His eyes were a bright red around the pupils, mixed with a darker shade around the edge of the irises. He looked to be in his early twenties, and was clad in dark armour. All in all, the look seemed to fit him quite well, and he was quite attractive in an odd way. I think I even felt a blush creeping up on my face.

"Uh…thank you very much for saving me," I said, hesitating for a moment, before I did a small courtesy. What? If this was a medieval world of some sort, then something like that would be normal, right?

He chuckled lightly, grabbing my hand and bowing to me. He looked at me in the eyes and said, "Of course, Emily, there is no way I could bring myself to witness someone as beautiful as you, getting hurt."

Okay, at that point, I knew for sure that my face was bright red.

Jace coughed loudly, causing both of us to turn around and look at his scowling face, "Anyways, now that you two have met, or whatever, we must get down to business."

"Ah, yes, that is correct," Ryuu said, letting go of my hand and gesturing for me to walk with him to Jace.

The rude teen turned to me, a serious look in his eyes, "Emm, there's a reason why I brought you here."

I raised an eyebrow, "Oh? And here I thought you just brought me here to make my mom worry, and to get me fired from my job. Or was that your reason? 'Cause if it is, well, I already knew that."

He rolled his eyes. "No, that is not the reason why I brought you here. Look, something really terrible is gonna happen here in this world very soon. That necklace of yours," he pointed to the golden medallion that hung around my neck, "is the key to the cause of this trouble. You see, there is this man named Kiragan, who is after that necklace, because it's a special device with a lot of power. If he gets a hold of it, then this world could come to an end. Luckily, there's something that we can do about it. Something you can do about it, to be precise. You're the only one who can use that medallion to stop Kiragan from taking over all of Hyrule and beyond. "

I blinked at him before saying in an unconvinced tone, "What. The. Hell. Are. You. On."

"Listen here-"

"This is a serious matter, Emily. The buffoon is not joking," Ryuu interrupted the fuming blonde.

"What?" I looked back and forth at the two of them, "You're actually serious."

"Yes," Ryuu nodded.

I sighed, folding my arms and looking up at the sky, "Well if I believe that I'm in another world, then I guess there's no harm in believing a story that sounds like fantasy…I guess."

"Excellent," the dark haired elf smiled at me.

"So we really need your help with this, Emm," Jace said, deciding to ignore the 'buffoon' comment.

"Ugh, so what would I have to do?"

"Help us protect the medallion, mainly, while we find a way to stop Kiragan," Ryuu replied.

"There's a lot that we have to tell you, Emm, but first, we need to get to Oak Wood Village,"

"Oak Wood Village? Where's that?"

"It is approximately a day's worth of travel by horse."

What? Was there something wrong with Ryuu's mind? "Horse? You've gotta be joking," I said.

Jace grinned, "Nope. Ryuu's serious. We have to go by horse. You didn't actually think that this place has cars, right?"

"No…it's just that…" I scowled at him and muttered "never mind."

"Right, well we best get going. The earlier we get there, the better," Ryuu started to walk away.

"Where are you going?" I inquired.

"C'mon, Emm, the horses are just over here," Jace grabbed my hand, dragging me over to where Ryuu had stopped behind a hill.

Who would've known that several meters away behind a hill, there would be horses. I had never been on a horse before, only a pony at a fair when I was 8. They were pretty different in size.

I let out a surprised shriek, when I felt a pair of hands wrap around my waist and lift me up onto the white horse with brown spots.

"Jace!" I yelled at him, as he climbed up on the same horse and sat behind me.

"What?" he laughed.

"Don't ever do that again, or so help me, I will pummel you until you can no longer breath!"

He rolled his eyes, "Pshh…yeah right, like that's gonna happen. You're really bad at threats."

I almost strangled him, until Ryuu interrupted me by telling Jace to hurry up and follow him. I hadn't even noticed that the young man was already on the other horse and walking ahead. Oh well.

It was about half an hour later on our journey, that I started to feel sleepy. I never did manage to sleep at the inn. I was too tired to really care about the fact that Jace had his arms practically wrapped around me while he held the reigns. Soon enough, I could no longer control my droopy eyelids and fell asleep.

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"I can't believe Emm actually bought our story," Jace whispered.

"Yes, she is quite gullible, is she not?" Ryuu remarked in a hushed tone, as the two rode side by side on their horses.

The green eyed teen snickered quietly, "Really, that story about her needing to save the world from Kiragan is complete bogus, but she still believed it. I mean it took a while to convince her, and for a minute there I thought that she'd realize our lie, but man, that went over pretty well."

Ryuu smirked, "Yes, yes it did."

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And here it is! Ta da! I'm sorry that there was no Link in this chapter, but he'll be in it in either chapter 5 or 6. You can count on it!

I hope you enjoyed! Please, send me a review. Criticism is much appreciated as well! Oh, and flames will be used for fire dancing! Yay!