It's a little shorter this week because I ended up splitting the original chapter. I'll try to get the next update around quicker because of that. Hope you enjoy anyway.

A stillness existed around him which could only be called sweet. The air seemed like warm tea, the honeyed sort he would drink as a child. The formless light held the same amber shade as that honey. He knew the air around him though there could be no recognition of it for the place was windless. So still, no breath in the world. No movement or even carefully balanced lack of it. In this place, he noticed, there was nothing. No life or terrible lack of it. It all existed from nonexistence in a serene manner.

He stood in the honeyed place, swinging a distant gaze across the swirled nothing. No hills in the distance or grass beneath his feet. Once again, there was no noticeable lack of hills or grass either. This all simply was in a way that could never be. No currents for the air, yet the sweetness did not grow stale. Nothing could be stale or old in this amber world. Each second was fresh in its impossibility, wonderful like a second last day.

In this way that nothing could exist, he was real. A splotch of wet ink floating across the surface of this honey. He did not, could not, stain it as he could not soak it in. He was a visitor in home without hosts. A distressing metaphor, in some lights, but comfort in his eyes. He could never be disturbed in a place such as this, never alarmed or unnerved.

In the same moment as this thought, something floated across Link's vision. It remained formless and nameless, such was its sort of fear. A deep, haunting darkness hanging outside his vision by a hair. Link was ejected the same moment he knew its name. Lost to the honeyed place for the knowledge of that darkness.

Link's eyes flung open even as his body flew to a half raised position. Arms punched at the ground, head thrust upward. He had drawn a gasp and felt there should be sweat upon his brow. For a moment he remembered the honey and the darkness in equal proportion, and then they were lost.

Their fading was not noticed as Link found himself occupied by his surroundings. Walls of heavy canvas hung all around, allowing weak light to come through. Link himself was lying on the ground, wrapped in old clothes and a worn sleeping bag up to his waist.

Memories ran through his head like fire, thoughts of a different darkness and pain. Link knew it was distant, gone, but it seemed to insist itself anyway. Luckily for him, though, something else managed to seize his attention. In tortured remembrance, Link had dropped his head downward. There he saw, through the opened chest of his shirt, a sprawling black scrawl of twisted designs.

The gale flashed inside his mind for a moment, and soon Link was rising, removing his shirt to observe the mark.

Fingers of the inky spread stretched all across his body. His arm was covered wholly, and the other as well up to the wrist. A cursory glance revealed it to touch against Link's shins, just below the knees. He could only wonder as to how it touched his neck and face.

Link thought wildly about the advancement, wondering how far his powers had grown. That gale may have been a fluke, a portion of his mind insisted, something brought on by desperation. He doubted it, though. However, Link felt he should test it. He knew that wasn't a thing he should do here, though. Holding this in mind, along with a growing curiosity of what lay outside, Link left the tent behind.

A low hanging sun beat down mercilessly upon the camp. Half a dozen tents were grouped together, all made from the same rough canvas. A few horses were tied nearby asleep or grazing on the meager spots of desert grass. The ground was a hard, pressed flat plain of dirt and sand. Wind scratched through the air, dry and hot, even though it was early morning.

"So, you're finally awake," Mason's flat voice stated from nearby.

"Where are we?" Link asked, staring around at it all.

"Desert," he said simply.

"Yeah, but why? What are we doing here?"

"The end of it all," Mason said, "Two temples in the desert hold the key to this goddamn cycle."

Link nodded, trying to imagine the temples. He also tried to imagine an end of this. It hadn't been so long ago that this began for him. Link wondered how long Mason had been a part of this. Or the others, any of them. They'd said this had gone on since the beginning, but that hadn't truly struck Link until now. Now that he thought of it coming to an end. What could come after?

"How long was I out?" Link asked.

"Little over a week."

Link might've said something else, but a rustling noise floated up from behind. There were footsteps in the dirt and Mason seemed to pick up on this without turning.

"The others are getting up, we'll be going soon." The man said simply, turning to head away.

The sun burned overhead, and Link could nearly feel the weight of it pressing upon him. Desert stretched far out in every direction without a single landmark. Link wondered how they were able to navigate, but he didn't question it.

While traveling, Link caught sight of the girl. She was pale and blonde hair which hung down. He would have gone up to her, but she was riding atop one of the horses with the child while Link remained on foot. Though he had only been walking along for one day, he was feeling far too exhausted to run up to her or do anything besides carry his pack along.

He trudged through the desert's sun and winds, wondering.

It was dark by the time they stopped. The horses were tied down by any visible grass and tents were pitched. A small fire was lit to cook their meager rations. It was extinguished after a short while and they all headed toward their individual tents to sleep. Link was on his way when a nearby voice stopped him.

"Can we… talk," she asked from the darkness. Link turned to face her but found nothing. However, he nodded and muttered an affirmative.

They went a little ways off from the group of tents. It took a moment for Link to realize they were standing by the horses. They didn't seem disturbed in their sleep, though.

"What do you want to talk about?" Link asked once they had arrived.

"What are we doing here?" she asked quickly, and Link noticed an edge of fear in her voice.

"Didn't they…?" Link began, but stopped as the girl began to speak.

"Yes, but… it can't be real, what they said. Can it?"

Link sighed and spoke, "It is. That's why all of this has happened"

"But we aren't, we couldn't be…"

"I know it seems crazy," Link let out a breathless, humorless laugh, "But it's true."

"How can you be okay with this?" she whispered hesitantly.

"I guess I have to be. Even though it's scary, this is something important. There might be more dangers, but I promise, whatever happens, I'll keep you safe." Link responded, trying to comfort her.

"T-thank you," she said slowly, "I think I can go to sleep now, sorry for wasting your time."

"It wasn't a waste," Link said. They were starting to walk back now toward the camp. It grew nearer, as Link could tell by the slightly orange coals.

"Goodnight," she said once they had reached the tents.

"Wait," Link said suddenly as she was leaving, "Before you go, what is your name?"

"It's… Zelda."

"I'm Link," he said, "Goodnight Zelda."

"Goodnight Link."

With that said, she was gone into the night. Link slipped into his tent and quickly fell asleep, drained by the day's effort. His sleep was restful and dreamless, though it seemed to go by altogether too fast.