Worlds Apart
Part I
By Miss Lydia

Chapter 9

"The only thing I can think of," Lydia said, "would be the Sorcerer's Rune."

"Yeah, but there's a small problem with that," Link replied.

"I know, I know. Ganondorf has it."

"Is there anything else besides the rune?"

"I sure can't think of one."

Everybody was relaxing at Lake Hylia. Link and Lydia were sitting on the shore talking. Gordon was off talking to one of the Zoras.

Link shook his head. "There has to be something else we can do," he said quietly, resting his chin in his hand.

"I dunno," Lydia sighed. "We need lots of power. That much is clear."

Link lowered his head and thought hard. Lydia looked up at the crisp, blue sky. It's so beautiful, she thought. If we don't do something, this blue sky won't be hanging around long. This land is so pretty; we can't let it be destroyed.

"I've got it!" Link suddenly shouted.

Lydia jumped a little in surprise. "What? An idea?"

"Yup!"

"Beginner's luck."

"Oh, be quiet. …I think we should go see Zelda. She knows everything. She'll have an idea, I'm sure."

"Well, it's a start," Lydia said, and got up.

"We should go now."

Lydia turned to Gordon and waved. "Hey kid!" she shouted. "We're leaving!"

Gordon said good bye to the Zora and joined the two at the shore. Lydia grabbed Link's arm.

"Ray Wing!"

"Hey, Link, do you know what the Sorcerer's Rune looks like?" Lydia asked.

Link brushed his hair out of his eyes with his free arm. "Zelda told me a while back," he replied as the wind continued playing with his hair. "It's an odd-looking rune, actually. It's a rectangular shape, only about 3 inches long, and is bright red. ....Or is it bright blue? ....Or.."

"Forget the color."

"Why do you want to know what the rune looks like?"

"That's kind of a dumb question, Link. So I know it when I see it, of course."

Gordon flew up next to Lydia and looked at her. "Are you going to try to steal it from Ganondorf?"

"Say what? No! Are you out of your mind? Do you honestly think I'm that crazy?"

"Yes."

"Quiet, you. Just keep flying."

"Something is very wrong here," Lydia said.

"Where is everyone?" Link wondered.

"The square is completly empty," Gordon said.

They were standing in the middle of the Market. Only it wasn't full of people as it usually is. It was completly empty and quiet. Lydia almost expected a tumbleweed to roll past any second.

Link wandered away and knocked on a closed door. He was relieved when the door opened and a bearded man peeked out. At least the people were still around.

"What are you doing out there, kid?" the man said. "You wanna disappear, too?"

"Disappear? What do you mean?" Link asked. "Why isn't anyone out here?"

"People here aren't stupid, kid. We're not going out there. Not after what happened."

"What happened to make everyone afraid?"

"Earlier today, Princess Zelda vanished into thin air."

"Say what?"

"Yes, she was visiting the market. She vanished into thin air, right out of the middle of a group of people. Everyone fled for their lives."

"You people are hiding at a time like this? The Princess of Hyrule is in danger!"

"Like I said, we aren't stupid. We're not going out there. We'll disappear too. Now you'd better go home and get indoors. You don't want to end up like the Princess, do you?"

And with no more words, the man slammed the door in Link's face.

Link turned and ran back. "Did you two hear that?"

"Vanished into thin air?" Lydia asked. "That's creepy! What happened to Zelda?"

Link shook his head. "I don't know."

"This whole thing is just getting more and more complicated!" Gordon said.

Lydia looked up. "We have to move quickly," she said. "Now that Zelda's gone, the stakes have been set higher."

"You think Ganondorf is behind this, don't you?" Link asked her.

"I know Ganondorf is behind this. Has he not been behind anything thus far?"

"True," Gordon said. "But, where do we go from here? Zelda was our only clue. What's our next step?"

"I don't know. I just don't know."

"We have no choice but to worry about it tomorrow," Link said. "The sun's already down."

Lydia sighed. "Yeah.... Let's get some rest. We'll think about where to go in the morning."

***

Lydia raised her hand. "So, who didn't sleep much last night?"

Link and Gordon both raised their hands, too.

"You guys did some thinking, too?"

"Uh huh," Link replied, and lowered his eyes. "I was thinking about what we should do now. I mean, we hit a dead end and were going to ask for Zelda's advice...."

"But now she's gone," Gordon cut in, "and we're still stuck in that dead end, facing the wall."

"I still have no clue what to do," Lydia said. "What is Ganondorf up to? Why did he have to take the princess, if that is what happened to her, that is."

Link's eyes finally left the ground as he said, "We only talked to one person at the Market. We should go back there and talk to everybody. It's not like they're going anywhere."

"I agree," Gordon said. "It's a place to start, anyway."

Lydia shrugged. "Yeah, okay then. Let's get going."

They took off in flight, heading back toward the empty market.

They didn't get too far once the field appeared beneath them.

Lydia snapped alert as weird clouds started swirling overhead. She wasn't the only one who noticed. Both of the boys were staring too, almost in shock.

"What the heck is that?" Lydia said.

"I've....I've never seen such a thing in Hyrule before!" Link replied. "What could that be?"

The clouds swirled closer and closer, becoming darker with every whirl. A blue bolt of lighting shot out dangerously close, knocking Lydia and Gordon out of their Ray Wing spell. After landing hard, everyone staggered to their feet and turned their eyes skyward again.

Lydia stood between the boys as a black ball fell from the clouds, flying quickly toward the ground. It didn't hit the ground. Instead, it started flying toward the group at a high speed only about a foot off the ground. It was moving so fast that nobody could react.

Lydia threw her hand out. "Rah Ti—"

She shrieked as something cold grabbed her throat and threw her back a good ten feet. Link and Gordon turned quickly. They were shocked to see that the black ball had been replaced by the figure of a man, and he was holding Lydia five feet off the ground by her neck. Gordon ran forward, but Link grabbed his shirt and pulled him back.

"What?" Gordon shouted at him. "Why'd you stop me? Can't you see what's happening? We gotta help her!"

Link frowned. "He'll kill us if we move."

"What? Who...?"

"That's Ganondorf."

Gordon gasped and looked back. The figure was about six feet tall with red hair and brown skin. His dark eyes stared at Lydia as he continued to hold her in the air.

Lydia finally opened her eyes and winced. She saw the man that had her and was scared stiff. He had such a terrifying look. She knew who he was right away. How could it not be him, after all? Her gaze left his face when she saw what was on his armor. Something was embedded in his chest armor. It was about three inches long, glowing bright red.

The Sorcerer's Rune!

Gordon unhooked his flail from his belt. Link drew his sword as Ganondorf began so speak.

"Is this the best you can do?" he said in a deep, raspy voice. "I went to all that trouble, and this is all you can do? Why don't you fight back, sorceress?

Lydia only gritted her teeth and stared him in the eye.

Ganondorf slowly turned his head to look at the boys behind him. "Why can't you do anything?" he asked them. "Why are you all so weak? I've expected much more from the 'people of destiny'."

Lydia stared at the Sorcerer's Rune embedded in the man's armor. A million thoughts were running through her head as she stared at it.

"This is so boring," Ganondorf continued. "I went and took that dumb princess girl just to lure you all out, and this is how you deliver?"

Link snarled and stepped forward, still holding his sword up. "Where's Zelda?"

Ganondorf laughed softly. "Only in the most uncertain event of my defeat will you see Zelda again."

Gordon got his arms in spell-firing position, but Link motioned for him to stop.

"I'll leave you all for now," Ganondorf continued, "Killing you so quickly would be horribly boring for me. I want you to last long enough to put up a decent fight. I suppose I'll just wait until you can pull that off."

Ganondorf turned his head back to the girl he had in his grip. What he saw was very surprising. Instead of wincing in pain like before, Lydia now had a very odd smirk on her face. Link saw it too, and was just as surprised as Ganondorf.

"What are you smiling at, sorceress?" Ganondorf asked. "Are you showing appreation? Are you glad I'm allowing you to live for now? You should be."

Ganondorf raised his arm and threw Lydia a few feet. She hit the ground hard with her fists tightly clenched. Link wanted to slash Ganondorf to pieces for that, but he didn't dare move.

"The sooner you become stronger, the better. Zelda won't last forever," Ganondorf cackled.

He vanished in a black light. His laugh echoed in the distance.

Gordon and Link ran over to where Lydia had been thrown. She sat up quickly.

"I'm okay, I'm okay," she assured them, rubbing her sore neck.

"You sure?" Link asked.

"Yeah, I'm alright." The smirk reappeared on her face.

"Hey....what was that smirk for?" Link asked her. "Ganondorf was nearly choking you and you were smiling at him? It makes no sense to me."

"Oh, it doesn't huh?" she replied, still smiling. "Look."

Lydia raised one of her clenched fists and opened it for the boys to see. They couldn't believe it. Something was shining in her palm.

It was the Sorcerer's Rune.