-1A/N: Sorry this took so long V.V I'll try and update more regularly.
Disclaimer: I own nothing, nor am I making any money from this.
He left without saying another word, Shad having written a translation to go along with the original copy and returned back to his map and texts, quite used to Links comings and goings.
His heavy booted feet took him through the town, dodging the crowds and wayward looks. Head down, both scrolls crushed in his fist as he tried to slow down his writhing mind.
Banishment from the world of light.
Midna.
Sages.
The princess.
A Hero.
Twilight.
Thoughts collided as he ignored the people around him, the world spun and his balance disserted him as he tried to make sense of what he had been told.
The prickling magic of the scroll dance in his clenched fist as he took the last few stumbling steps out of the town, letting his control slide as his feet left paved stones and high walls, and hit the worn grass of the field.
He tried to catch himself, catch his thoughts, but they fell away from his grasp, and he was left with nothing, falling to his knees.
The scrolls rolling away from him as his shaking hands fell to support him, his hair falling to shield his face.
The golden light of the afternoon caught the scrolls, and the tears in his eyes refracted them into strands of light dancing before him.
Laughter bubbled out from between the sobs that were caught in his throat. His whole body shaking with the clarity presented before him. He had known what his decision was the moment he had heard the words banishing curse.
He would do it.
He would sacrifice himself.
Sacrifice himself, so he could be reborn.
Reborn into Darkness.
The world curved, dipping into darkness as the sun sunk behind the rolling hills.
Link sat on a grassy mound, the wind playing restlessly with his hair, his clothing, as he enjoyed the sunset. Epona stood a little way off, dipping her head every other moment to gather a few more strands of the long grass.
The world stood still, caught mid turn.
Everything seemed to be coated in lethargy, the wind soft, moving the grass in lazy waves. The clouds hanging, splashed with an orange and pink tinge.
The shadows long against the thick, heavy afternoon light.
Balanced.
He felt calm, his decision made.
The translated scroll, stretched, kept in place by a rock, written in curved, nearly illegible handwriting, described the steps he would have to take. His instructions.
This would be no easy task.
It hadn't been simple to create a link between the two worlds, especially to banish a being of light into the Land of Twilight.
He carried the mark of the Goddesses, much the same as Ganondorf had. It would be difficult to cast the banishment, especially with the amount of magic, the force of light he had been endowed with.
But it had been done before and he would do it again.
Link frowned, the moment having been lost, the sun having set without him noticing, only the quiet lull of twilight reminding him of the golden light he had been bathed in minutes before.
Sighing he stood.
It was getting almost too dark to see the trasncript, but he had it memorised, the original curse as well as the translation and Shad's interpretation of the riddle.
For a riddle it was, not a simple straight forward set of instructions. Because he was never presented with a simple solution, it was almost as if the Goddesses wanted to make every task they set for him a maze of sidetracks and riddles.
He frowned, letting the translation skim over his mind.
Reflection of Shadow and Light
As One
Granted through the essence of the people
Freely offered.
The core of Plant
The blood of Fire
The breath of Water
The spirit of Air
Raise the powers
To Cast Out
Repel
Banish.
Beneath it Shad had written an interpretation, almost laughable in its mix of simplicity and complexity.
The Lands of Light and Shadow will be connected through a Mirror, like in the legend. In order to do this you have to collect the core of a plant, the blood of a Goron, the breath of a Zora, the spirit of an Ooka, which are to be all taken freely. Then ask the Sages to help with the banishment.
Link let the growing darkness wash over him, and tried not to frown as the first star came out. He wondered if there would be stars where he was planning to go, he couldn't remember seeing any.
But he was sure that would be the least of his worries.
First thing tomorrow morning he would have to go back to the small village, he would go and search the forest, the maze of wood and trees for a clue to his first task.
The core of a plant.
The trees groaned ominously as he wandered slowly, following the tracks he had originally taken, the paths he had memorised while trying to find his way through the thick forest, Midna perched laughing on his back.
He grit his teeth, almost prowling through the familiar territory.
He wouldn't allow himself to think about Midna now, he had a task at hand. If he allowed himself to stop and think, he feared his resolve would falter, his courage fail.
Though the blazing red eyes and mocking voice caught at the edges of his mind, the melodic voice and laugh pushing him on, there was still the shadows on the edges of his memories. The growl in his throat, the blood on his tongue and the power in his beast form.
What lay before him enticed him.
He wanted Midna.
But what he would have to give…
Frightened him.
The chimps had remained quiet, though he could feel them watching from the tree tops as he searched in vain. In nooks and crannies where he had been before, in both human and wolf form, this time revealing nothing that he hadn't seen before.
Though he trawled the forest there were no clues, nothing to help him with his quest.
The final room where he had fought the large Baboon like creature held nothing but broken pillars, tokens of a forgotten past. He kicked at one, grunting at the dull pain that shot through his foot.
He was fighting a loosing battle, he didn't know where to look for the first clue, there was nothing to help him, no comforting voice mocking his stupidity, urging him to look at the situation clearer. Instead he stood on his own in an empty room glaring at fallen, age old relics.
It moved.
Link blinked at the broken base of the statue, destroyed by his battle with the Baboon. The ground bulged a little and shifted. His hand on his sword hilt he stepped forward a little.
The ground shifted again and without warning burst open, sending Link stumbling back.
"Hiya!" Three large leaves shaded a small warped trunk, that swayed a little.
Link blinked, unsure what had just spoken. None of the chimps were present, as they tended to avoid the room he was in at the moment, and he was sure they didn't speak Hyrulian.
"I have to say, it's been a while." The leaves of the small plant before him shifted, and the small shrub smiled at him.
"I haven't had the chance to stretch in years! Those stones you moved have been keeping me and my brothers and sisters trapped for decades." The plant stretched its leaves as high as they could go and Link tried not to gawk.
The plant looked around a little.
"This place could do with a bit of a tidy up, lucky you came a long at just the right time." It turned back to regard Link and seemed to pick up on his obvious astonishment.
"Oh, I'm sorry I haven't introduce myself properly." It bowed it's leaves. "I'm a Deku Tree. Long ago we used to guard the forests and the young beings who dwelt in our sanctuaries. But a Dark force weakened our power, and our young charges were dispersed like many leaves on an autumn wind, disappearing into legend." It paused for effect, but Link was too shocked to truly register the dramatics. It seemed to notice and continued on. "Without our power or the help of our children, foul creatures moved into our forest. These creatures trapped each of the saplings that were left beneath these stone pillars, carved with symbols of powerful magic. But you've freed some of us."
The plant seemed to bob enthusiastically and Link frowned.
He remembered stories he had been told when he had been younger, of tree spirits and the children that tended them.
"If you could help me remove the rest of the pillars I'm sure there is something I can do for you in return."
Link frowned, he didn't have time to waste on a talking plant, but if he helped the creature, perhaps the sapling would have some idea of the meaning behind the riddle. Taking out a few well chosen weapons he had destroyed the remaining pillars, and soon before he had time to draw a breath he was surrounded by swaying plants.
"Oh wow! That was amazing!" The first tree giggled. "Now there isn't much we can do for you, but there is a powerful relic that may one day help you, The Core of the Deku Tree. They're very precious, and we guard them with our lives. Here." The tree disappeared beneath the ground before popping back up again.
A small emerald seed rolled away from the undulating ground of the tree, coming to a stop just before Link's feet. Picking it up Link couldn't help the triumphant grin that swept across his face.
The Core of a Plant.
"I'm glad you like it!" The tree bounced. "And come back anytime you want! Hopefully we'll have fixed this place up by then!"
Link left to the sound of rustling leaves.
The trees didn't seem as ominous as before.
The Blood of Fire.
The Blood of a Goron.
That had seemed to be the most straight forward of tasks. Link had gone straight to their leader and presented his problem, only to have been given an amused look and a helpless shrug.
Gorons didn't bleed.
That had sent shock straight to the pit of his stomach. If Gorons didn't bleed how was he suppose to get their blood for this curse? He had been sitting at the edge of the council chambers, when a hard rocky palm had grasped his shoulder.
"The closest Gorons get to bleeding is when they cry. Molten rock flows from their eyes as tears, and because it is as close as we have to blood, many call this bleeding." Link looked up into dark eyes, ringed with tattoos and long lank hair.
A crooked grin.
"But you'll have trouble finding a Goron who will cry for you. Which is why you're lucky you saved my son from being forever caught in stone beneath the Zora palace." The bent old crone held out a glowing glass bottle. "It's the finest glass, it can withstand the heat of a Gorons tears, of our blood. Take it, it's yours."
Link blinked and before he could register what had happened and before he could thank the old Goron woman she had hobbled off.
So he was one more step closer to his goal.
Tension, anxiety, relief twisted in his stomach.
He tried to ignore the dread that crept through him.
The Breath of Water.
The breath of a Zora had been easy to obtain, Prince NAME had given him a scale he had taken from his own hide. It apparently allowed a human to be able to breath under water much the same as his tunic had allowed him to, which would have been easier to carry around with him rather than another set of clothing.
The Spirit of Air
The last of the tasks he had been given. It had taken him less than a week to obtain all of the previous items, and now he was on his final task. The wind whipped at his face as Hyrule fell away below him and the clouds grew closer and closer.
The small bald creatures, half feather half skin, greeted him in their raised voices. Giving them a tight lipped smile he presented them the translation.
If they helped him with this final task he would be able to banish himself to the twilight. No matter what the consequences.
The small bird like creatures watched him warily, twittering to each other without rasing their voices above the strong wind. Link looked around for help, but none of the small eyes met his own.
"Please." The single word was whipped from his lips, lost.
An Ooka stepped forward. The significance of the word not lost.
"You would ask this of us?"
It peered up at him and Link felt uneasy under the steady gaze.
"Do you know what it is that you ask?"
He looked away, down at his feet, his brow furrowing. What it was he was asking from the Ooka...
The final piece of the puzzle.
The last fragment of Hyrule.
The binding portion.
Hope.
"Take it." Link looked up at the Ooka, the small egg presented in it's outstretched wings.
He left without looking back.
The egg, warm, in his palm.
Hope.