Chapter 3

Link moved quickly, hands shaking. He hefted the stone slab up onto his knee and then carefully back into place, feeling Zelda's frightened eyes watching him. He looked down and realized both torches still lay at his feet, burning merrily. He extinguished them both with irritation, thinking he should've thought to have given Zelda one. On second thought, it may have been better that he hadn't, since he wasn't sure which parts of the castle the tunnel passed through and her light might be noticed through the grate. Link ripped swords from two of the cobwebbed suits of armor near the door, then placed himself in the corner to the right of the doors and mouthed a silent prayer. As the longsword jamming the door finally snapped, Link waited to take stock of what sort of enemy would burst through.

The doors groaned open and hulking shapes fanned out, the room glowing with the light of their torches. Link counted a half dozen of the tall, lithe, lizard creatures he had fought in the Sealed Grounds and noted that they were similarly armed with both swords and iron-barbed tips for their tails, yet he found it suspicious that a mere six could best two Sheikah. He readied himself with a stolen crypt blade in each hand.

"Come out, come out!" shouted a man Link hadn't noticed, shining his light over some of the tombs. The man was average height with an athletic build and dark hair. "I know you're here, and there doesn't appear to be a way out. Shall we be playing a game of hide and seek? Or will you surrender yourselves peacefully? Ah, but I suppose that would be no fun..."

Link stepped silently from the shadows and swiftly decapitated the closest beast. He managed to dispatch two more with clean sword strokes to the neck before the group realized what was happening. The beasts' heads snapped around as they instinctively dropped into defensive positions. The closest took a great gulp of air and Link watched its throat pulse red with heat. He threw himself sideways into a roll and felt a stifling conflagration follow him. He recovered quickly, letting his momentum raise him into a crouch, and parried with both blades as another beast leapt at him with a shriek. The impact sent a jarring tremor through his arms and he threw aside the enemy blade as he spun quickly around and lodged his right blade deep in the animal's neck. It sank to its knees with a gurgling groan, and Link was forced to leave the blade as he heard the it's fire-breathing comrade charge him. He rolled again, this time to his right, and felt the ground shudder as the lizard and its weapon forcibly landed where he had just been. He leapt to his feet and pushed off, sending his momentum back toward the beast in a contest of speed. Before the reptile had recovered, Link had sent his sword crunching up through thick muscle and two ribs before it speared the beast's heart. It fell toward him and the ancient crypt blade snapped in two as the immense weight of the creature impaled it at an odd angle against the stone floor. Link glanced up to see the final beast flattening its body and opening its jaw wide as it prepared to accost him with fire. He snatched the broken sword hilt from the ground and hurled it at the glowing throat before throwing himself behind one of its fallen kin. A brief burst of flame chased him, but was quickly ended by a sharp cry. Link glanced up and saw that the foot of jagged steel he had thrown had indeed pierced the creature. He turned and pulled the remaining sword from the fallen reptile he had hidden behind and grimaced at the stench of its charred flesh. A low chuckle from the center of the room caught his attention.

He looked up to see the man standing there, his face eerily lit from an odd angle by his torch, distorting his features. "That was rather entertaining."

"Who are you?" Link demanded as he strode towards the man. The man smiled in silent reply and Link stopped dead, suddenly feeling himself go cold with fear.

The man before him wore his face.

Not just his face, his whole body was replicated there before his eyes, except this man seemed to be possessed of a kind of darkness. His skin was impossibly pale and Link could see the veins in his exposed neck and face as though the man were partially translucent. His hair wasn't exactly black either, simply devoid of color. The eyes burned red and Link watched his own face twist into an strange smile.

"I asked you a question. Who are you?" Link growled as soon as he could find his voice.

"Does it matter?" The man cocked his head to the side in an oddly childlike mannerism.

Link simply continued to regard the man coldly.

"You've hidden her." The man stated matter-of-factly. "Interesting. I would've thought that you both would've been long gone at the first hint of our arrival." He watched Link's face carefully and cocked his head again. "Perhaps it was because she exhibited such pain that you feared to move her?"

Link frowned in confusion. How would this man know anything of that?

"And now you stand guard to protect her escape." The man said thoughtfully. "I find myself wondering, have you done the right thing?"

"What?" Link asked in confusion.

"You have decided to remain behind twice now. I am questioning whether or not you have done the right thing. And if not, what was the right thing?"

"Does it matter?" Link snapped caustically.

The man smiled again. "I suppose we shall just have to see."

Link frowned and raised his bloodied sword.

The man sighed with annoyance. "You were unwise to give up your godly weapon. This fight will be disappointingly unfair."

Link charged forward yelling, but his dark self parried easily. Link grimaced and dropped low to the ground, allowing his blade to fly in a wide circle, but the man flipped easily backward. Their swords clashed again and again, but each time it seemed that this demon knew Link's own mind before he did. He attacked repeatedly, concern beginning to lodge itself in his mind that his attacks hadn't even drawn first blood.

A sudden overhead strike put Link quickly on the defensive. The man smirked at him as Link struggled to hold the attacking sword away from his face.

"I grow bored of you. Enough play."

Link thrust his block forward with a yell, disentangling their swords, but before he could mount another attack, a searing pain erupted in his right forearm and he instinctively reached to clutch at it. Hot blood ran in sticky rivulets through his fingers and slicked his sword's grip a violent red.

The shadow paced slowly around him, watching him curiously. Link turned slowly with the man, careful not to let him get behind him. The man seemed to be toying with him, allowing a few meets of the swords, before he suddenly dove behind him, rolling quickly to a crouch and spinning to slice at the back of his legs.

Burst of white light appeared in his vision and Link heard himself cry out in pain. He fell to one knee, unable to bear his own weight, and gasped helplessly as the shock of the impact sent sickening waves of pain radiating out from the wound on the back of his left thigh. He reeled and fell forward, catching himself with his injured right arm in an effort to keep his sword arm free. He stared down at the stone floor under him, willing himself to stay conscious. Blood ran continued to flow down his shaking arm and fire seemed to burn in the gash on his leg, but he could feel the man's footsteps as he continued to circle. Link set his mouth in a hard line and tried to push himself to his feet, but as soon as he asked his leg to bear weight the nausea returned.

Boots appeared in his vision and Link raised his head slowly. The man's face appeared devoid of any emotion. It surprised him. Most men wore something on their face before they dispatched their foes, be it triumph, wrath, righteousness, or sorrow. This man's face was blank. It was unsettling.

A heel crunched his knuckles and Link clenched his teeth in a struggle to maintain his hold on his weapon. It was a futile effort. A bone snapped in Link's smallest finger and his hand instinctively flattened itself in surrender. His sword skittered away, propelled by the man's boot.

The man wiped Link's blood carefully off of his own sword before slipping it back into its sheath and lowering himself onto his haunches. Link felt the man grasp his jaw and gently, but firmly direct his gaze to meet the man's own. The man's fingers were like ice, and his eyes were like the spray of blood against fresh snow. Link skin crawled, not least because the eyes were his own.

"I would like you to tell me where you have hidden her."

Link stared into the man's cursed eyes, refusing to answer.

The man's brows furrowed with disappointment. "While this has all been mildly entertaining, I don't care to waste time. It's obvious you've lost after all."

The man waited expectantly, but Link continued to silently hold his gaze. All he had at his disposal at the moment was his willpower, and he nearly laughed at the sudden usefulness of his often cursed stubbornness.

Silence remained between them for a minute, before the man's face suddenly contorted in rage and a blow sent Link's head to the side with a snap. Link struggled to keep his balance as the violent movement made his head swim. The loss of blood had weakened him and he felt himself staring at the floor beside him. He was only vaguely aware of the metallic taste in his mouth.

A cold hand took a fistful of the hair near the nape of his neck and jerked his head back around. "I don't have time for this."

The man's face was only inches from his own, but Link felt himself losing his grip on consciousness. His eyelids felt strangely heavy and he found that he didn't seem to care much about the man's questions. A sudden blinding heat brought his mind back into the moment. It felt as if a white fire were burning itself through his chest, searing through his chainmail and causing the skin beneath to bubble and blister. An agonized scream tore from his lips and echoed off the stone walls.

As suddenly as it had started, the fire stopped. Link fell forward onto both hands, gasping. His chest throbbed and the cold air that met his exposed wound caused the skin to prickle and contract painfully. He reached up a tentative hand and touched the outside of a wet, angry burn. He hissed at the contact and quickly removed his hand, then looked up to find that the man had left him and was filled with sudden dread.

The man stood a mere foot from the wall that contained the secret tunnel. He was running a curious hand over the wall, allowing his fingers to trace the patterns in an unhurried manner. Link struggled to find his feet, fear and desperation infusing his body with a small burst of strength. As he stumbled closer, the man knelt down and peered into where Link knew the grating to be.

No. Please, gods no.

Link felt his injured leg buckle beneath him and the jolt as he hit the floor sent new waves of pain through him. Whiteness appeared at the outskirts of his vision. The last thing he heard before his consciousness left him was the man's whisper.

"I see you."