Link fought with all of his might against the crushing tide of snow. It came down dense and heavy. Link could feel each independent piece as it crashed against his face and hands. They felt sharp, and Link could've sworn that each impact tore away a chuck of his flesh or left behind a bloody gash in its wake.

His eyes were shut tight, and Link could hardly think. It was so loud, so deafening. A long time ago, Link had pulled his hat low over his ears. The thin cloth didn't provide much warmth, but it kept the snow from packing itself into his ears.

Link pushed his way through the wall of snow, fighting for each step. The snowstorm gave ground begrudgingly, and Link's muscles were all screaming. He was digging through a snow bank as tall as he was. He had trouble finding traction on the ground and he slipped as often as he moved forward.

The snow stopped.

The steadfast wall crumbled and Link fell forward in its absence. Falling to his knees, Link found that he was collapsed upon stone instead of snow. Doing his best to crawl forward, out of the cold, Link scrambled across the stone like a crippled animal. He moved forward a couple of feet and found he could do no more. Link fell across the stone and lay sprawled out.

The stone wasn't warm. It wasn't as cold as the snow outside, however. It was just, nothing. Flat and featureless. The air in this place was the same. Not as bitingly cold as the weather outside, but by no means comforting. It was lukewarm, and uncomfortable. However, compared to the deadly storm outside and taking in account Link's bone deep weariness, it might as well have been a hotel room with a roaring fire and plush bed sheets.

Link wanted desperately to sleep, or at least to rest.

However, he knew he couldn't. He had to move. His muscles screamed out complaints as he pushed against the stone floor. They burned and threatened to tear as he rose to his knees. Every joint in his body seemed on the verge of giving out. Each bone groaned as he moved, ready to break with any added pressure.

Gritting teeth set in a tired jaw, Link climbed to his feet.

He managed to open his eyes and was now staring straight ahead. It was dark in here. Not pitch black, but not well lit. One crackling torch hung against a wall. The shadows it cast outnumbered the light.

Link had managed to stand, but he didn't know if he could take a step. And if he could, Link didn't know if he could take another. Everything pointed to the chance of him just collapsing now and dying.

"You…" a tiny voice said, "You can't give up now."

Tatl crawled weakly out from beneath his hat. She glowed faintly and floated up and down haphazardly. As she spoke, Tatl's voice seemed to be addressing something far away and she didn't quite look at Link as she talked.

"We're here… That's… That's most of the way. We've done the hardest part."

"But the…" Link said, surprised that he could, "It almost got us beat. I don't know if I can do anything now."

"You've got to keep going. You saw the snow. You… felt it. Just imagine what it's doing… to the… the Gorons. They are dying out there. It's your… your duty… duty to save them. You've got to stop this."

"But why…" Link said weakly. His resolve was on the edge of failing, he could feel it. He was slipping away, just moments away from crumbling.

"Because," Tatl said firmly, putting the remainder of her strength into the sentence, "You're the only one who can."

And with that, the fairy collapsed onto his shoulder. Lifting his hand slowly and with much effort, Link scooped her up and held her to the edge of his hat. Gratefully, Tatl took hold of a piece of his hair and pulled herself beneath the green cloth.

Link could feel her there, curled up on the top of his head.

Moving his hand just a little farther, Link wrapped it around the hilt of his sword. It moved in the scabbard with a slow raspy hiss, but Link eventually managed to get it out. The weight of the weapon pulled down on his arm and it sank down beside him.

Link was just able to keep it from touching the ground. He moved forward, one step at a time. Link's boots felt heavy, and each step turned into a stomp as his foot fell back down.

After a few minutes of movement, Link managed to move a little faster, to raise his arms a little higher. Eventually he could force his body to comply and to operate as it should. Determination flowed through his veins like blood, pushing him and pushing him.

It pushed him until he could stop.

Link stood among the wreckage of the mechanized monster. Smoldering pieces lay around the room. Link looked out over the destruction and sighed.

His body ached.

His grip was weak. So weak. Link didn't realize that he had dropped his shield until it clanged off of a piece of the wreckage. Link felt the sword leave his hand and it dug itself into the ground with a soft thump.

He was done.

Link fell to his knees and stared ahead. He could see it now. It was walking toward him, standing tall above him. Somehow Link knew this wasn't due to his kneeling or even to his child's body. Had Link been a thousand feet tall, this thing would have loomed a thousand feet over him.

It was huge, bigger than the earth and bigger than the Goddesses. It was bigger than time and everything.

Link could have stared into the dark emptiness of its body for a thousand years and seen nothing. It was just… nothing. All of it, absolute nothing.

There was a feeling about it of time. It was bigger than time but it was also old. So old. Older than everything. It had been alive forever and it would be alive forever more.

Looking up at it, Link saw something. In all of its expanses of nothing, Link saw hate. Absolute hatred staring down at Link. And death, and darkness, and fear, and… nothing. Absolute nothing forever.

A hand reached down toward Link, full of claws and knives and fire. The thing was going to take hold of his throat and lift him up. It wouldn't bother killing him, it was just going to destroy him. Make him disappear into the chasm. It was the chasm. There was death in the chasm, and fear, and darkness, so much darkness.

Link looked up at the chasm and waited for it to take him.

Something picked Link up, but it didn't feel like the chasm. It was old, but not as old as the chasm. Not nearly so old. Nothing could be as old as the chasm. This thing that carried him, it was old, older than Link at least. It was tired too, and scared.

Terrified.

The thing picked Link up and flew away with him. It flew away as fast as it could, as fast as anything could. The thing carried Link far away until the chasm was only a speck on the distant horizon. It was there, though.

Link could see it, he could feel it. It was coming. They had outrun it for now but soon enough it would catch up.

It was already coming after them, after Link.

Because Link was all it wanted.

Link opened his eyes and found himself in warm air. He sat up slowly but his whole body screamed at him. Link froze then, not daring to move any more.

From this angle, Link could see where he was. The mountains were alive now. Animals frolicked through green grass. Butterflies fluttered around. It all looked happy.

Link felt weak and dead and broken. He felt like he was going to shatter and fall apart, crumble and disintegrate.

Tatl shrieked.

"What was that thing? It… I've never been so afraid. It was just… standing there, then it reached out for us. I thought it was going to kill me. I knew it was going to kill me. I…"

Link drowned the fairy's terrified ravings out while he reached for his ocarina. It was around here somewhere, inside of his backpack, ahh, there it was.

Link pulled the instrument out.

Fitting it to his lips, Link played the song with tired hands and felt himself falling away from the world and through the world into another place and another time.

Rauru watched speechless as Link's body began to move again. He was stunned by what he had just learned. It was horrific, and he hadn't expected it. This was awful, and Rauru wasn't sure what to do. He hadn't expected this to happen within his lifetime, and he'd never wanted it to.

"I had no idea…" he grumbled out even as the boy swung the old sword at him.

Rauru moved out of the way, feeling the blade just an inch away from his flesh.

"I wouldn't wish this on anybody," Rauru said, dodging out of the way again, "Not even you."

The boy didn't seem to hear him and kept right on with his onslaught.

"Give me back my memories!" he roared, swinging the sword, "Take away those visions!"

Rauru felt the blade bite into his left hand and he moved on impulse. Thrusting forward his right palm, the sage tapped into his old magic and unleashed it on the boy.

He fell backward and shut his eyes, sinking back into the dream world.

Rauru stood there for a moment, looking down at the small wound then up at the frozen boy. So this was what he'd meant by the visions. Rauru had had no way of suspecting this.

He had to warn the princess, but how could he?

Rauru stared at the boy and felt pity. True pity for what lay ahead. What he'd said, it was true. He wouldn't wish this on anybody.

Rauru sighed, and made a decision.

Link stumbled forward through the twin wooden doors. Everything was spinning, twisting. His head didn't feel right, nothing felt right. Link stared around with wide eyes. Everything was moving and it was all wrong. It hurt his eyes and hurt his head, hurt his stomach and his blood. It hurt everything.

Link felt his body disappear and before he knew it he had collapsed to the ground. He didn't even feel the impact as his head struck the cobblestones. His vision had already turned black.

Hope you enjoyed this bit of darkness and intrigue. We are now officially at the halfway point.