Chapter 25
'It's time… for you to remember!'
The cold words from the shadow caused Link to cease his mild screams. The tone in the creature's voice hinted to Link that something unpleasant was about to take place. It usually does… Link thought, bracing himself for whatever was coming his way.
There came a quick chuckle from the shadow, after sensing Link tense up. The ethereal shadow's fingers that were already pressed hard against Link's skull began to seep deep into Link's skull; removing the painful pressure and grip the creature had on Link's head. The creature's fingers sank through Link's skull, like the bone was nothing more than liquid, passing through without any resistant. The relief was welcome, and Link thought the creature had let him go, but as he went to move, he quickly felt the creature's fingers now intertwined into his mind. Link couldn't describe the feeling, but it felt like something alien was in his brain – something that did not belong and that was taking root. It felt like a needle was in his mind and he couldn't get it out.
'Brace yourself… this could hurt a bit' warned the ethereal shadow, speaking in a slow, sadistic tone.
Link again braced himself for an unknown pain; but knew full well that this pain would be unlike anything he could prepare for. The body could be easily prepared for an attack or pain, but the mind could not – it was open to anything and everything that could reach it.
The shadow grunted heavily, activity a small burst of energy to surge forth from his fingers. Feeling this surge, Link screamed out in agony. His brain felt like it was on fire, with a cold side effect after the burn. Link grasped his head as he screams, almost crushing his skull within his hands. It was so unbearable; a pain that could not be reached or soothed.
Link wanted to ease the pain, but he didn't know what he could do to ease such an ache. He shook and jerked his head, trying to sever the connection with the ethereal creature, but his action only caused him more pain.
Amidst his screams, something within Link's mind began to clear. The clouds that hide his memories suddenly lifted, and all his lost memories came rushing back. As each memory returned to him, each one began to play out; but since all of his memories were returning at once, they all began to play at the same time. Link felt his head hurt greatly as each memory played before his mind. His mind was cracking under the pressure of just trying to handle the load all at once. His brain felt like a log of wood being split in half. The pain from the creature's infused fingers and from his returning memories, blended together, causing the warrior twice the anguish.
Through the pain, Link tried to focus his mind on clearing the muddled up memories. The memories were coming out all at once, and each memory conflicted and mixed with another, changing the original memory to something twisted and bizarre. Link saw images of battles, faces and places that seemed to be original and untainted, but then the memories would suddenly change and the place he saw would appear somewhere else, or a person will change into another person. It was an annoying and troublesome process to go through, and it seemed to add more pain to his already pain riddled brain; but after a while, the memories seemed to correct themselves.
Link thought it was all his doing, but after a while, he could feel another force lending a hand. The ethereal shadow, with its intertwined fingers, was pulsing energy directly into Link's mind that somehow reconstructed his memories.
Link was now confused. So far, the creature had appeared with some ominous intent to do him harm, as it was currently doing to him; but now, it was helping him out with his memories. Link didn't know what to think – was it a friendly or a foe? Link wasn't sure what to think, but he knew, at that very moment, he could not truly trust the creature, nor could he trust the reconstructed memories, if it proved to be a foe.
Link tried to see if he could resemble the memories himself, but it proved more difficult than he had thought. He didn't even know if it was even possible to do such a task.
Rebuild a memory? How does one even do such a thing?
'…why would you want too …do you not trust me, warrior?'
Link suddenly went blank after hearing the ethereal shadow speak. Link gazed over his shoulder to the creature to his side, and stared at it with a puzzled expression upon his face.
'You can hear my thoughts?'
'I'm now connected with you… I can hear and see everything that's in you head' the shadow explained, using a normal and clam tone. The cold tone in the creature's voice was no longer presence as it was before.
'Why are you doing this?' Link questioned, trying to establish what intention the creature has. 'Why are you doing this to me? Are you trying to confuse me, lead me into a trap or something?!'
The shadow didn't reply immediately to Link's questioning, but simply tilted its head to the side, expressing a slightly confused look on its shadowed face.
'There is no point in doing such a thing,' the creature answered, 'If I wanted to kill you or do you harm… I would do it right now, while no one is around… but, that would not help us in our goal'
The shadow had a point. The ledge was high up and was blocked off by the forest behind them; no one would see them if things got hostile.
'Then why?' Link asked.
The creature took a while to compose its words before explaining.
'You're mind has suffered great damage… something recent has caused your mind to blanket out certain memories… I am restoring those damaged and lost parts of your memory. Once done, you can continue your journey with your given mission…'
'What? Something did this to me?' Link said, taking in the shadow's words, while still remaining on guard. 'What happened to me?'
The shadow said nothing, but then quickly smiled at him.
'…Remember…'
With that, the shadow remained silent; closing its eyes and becoming still and lifeless. There was nothing more Link was getting out of the shadow now.
Taking heed of what the shadow said, Link closed his eyes and tried to remember. Link sifted through all his newly reconstructed memories, trying to find the one that would explain what had happen to him. Link saw countless memories; mostly of his Hyrule journeys and those of his new world travels didn't show anything different to him. He was soon giving up hope.
After a while, Link noticed something familiar and simular with all the renewed memories; they all had something to do with Soul Edge. The memories that had gone missing were the ones connected to the evil blade he was hunting down to destroy. Everything to do with that blade vanished from his mind – which appeared to be a large chunk of his recent memory. But why remove only those memories?
Link could feel Soul Edge was at work here, again trying to get Link to join him and Nightmare in arms to collect souls. But this somehow didn't feel right. If it was Soul Edge's doing to lure Link to their side, then why would it want Link to forget everything about the sword? Why?
Thinking so much on it, Link soon happened upon an odd memory. The memory was clouded and contained an odd, distance sensation to it. It was the only one that felt this way; the others at least felt like they contain a bit of Link's being in them: this one didn't. Deciding to see what this memory held, Link focused on it.
.
.
A/N: This section below is about the memory Link is viewing. I'll be writing it as if Link is actually doing it, but I'll have some sections that are written in Italic that show what Link is thinking about this memory. Also note that Link is seeing everything in first person view.
Link's eyelids began to flicker slowly before remaining open. The darkness that shrouded his eyes soon cleared and he was able to see again. The eerie sight before him was all too familiar, as the destroyed buildings and corpsed littered ground came into focus. Having awakened from the darkness that had befall him, Link saw that he was still in the village, yet he was unsure of how much time had past since he had passed out.
After examining the area before him, Link made a slow attempt to sit up. Upon shifting his body, Link felt an enormous amount of pain. His stomach exploded with fire and his head erupted in a fever. Link applied both hands to his wound, to help control the bleeding. Applying the pressure to the wound caused him more pain. Link bite down on his bottom lip to control the pain, but he soon erupted into a violent roar when it became too much. His screams of pain came out sounding almost animal like; twisted and filled with pain and anger.
Was… did that come from me? That sounded very wrong, even for my standards of screaming…
Soon, the pain die down to a level that was bearable, as did Link's hellish screams of pain. He took a few minutes to compose himself, trying to ease the fire in his mind that had peaked from his screams. As soon as he was able to move, without causing too much pain, Link made his attempt to stand. He felt weak and his legs wobbled a bit, as though he didn't know how to use them. He was able to overcome the odd sensation in his legs, and soon found himself standing.
Link, upon standing upon his legs, cracked his neck to the side and gave out a heavily and deep sigh. After sighing, Link reached into his tunic and searched around the many items contained inside. Link searched quickly and roughly with his right hand among the items in his tunic in search of a particular item. After a while, his hand brushed past a soft and cotton like substance, that upon feeling, he automatically grabbed and brought forth from his tunic. The item he revealed was a cotton bandage that had been rolled up. One of the many medical items Link had brought from this world.
Link studied the bandage quickly, trying to see if it was long enough to cover his wound, before undoing the knot at the end. After that, he lifted his tunic and white undershirt, to expose his wound. The cold air blew upon the wound, causing it to sting. Link growled at the slight sting of pain before applying the bandage upon the wound, and then unrolling the bandage around his lower body.
Ah, so that explains it. I was the one who put the bandage on my wound; should have known that. But… why don't I remember it doing?
Reaching the last bit of the bandage, Link grabbed another bit of the bandage already wrapped around his stomach and made a knot. Link had to pull tight as to get enough of the bandage to form the knot, which resulted in a lot more pressure upon his wound. He again reacted with a sharp growl from the sting, but dismissed it quickly as he tied off the knot. Having the bandage tied off, Link examined the now bandaged wound. The bandage was tight, and made breathing and moving a bit difficult, but still manageable. However, the wound was still leaking out blood, which stained through the many layers of the bandage. He didn't know what else to do so he left it be.
Dropping his shirt and tunic over his stomach, Link began to scan the area around him. His eyes were drawn more towards the ground around him. Link only made one quick glance before spotting his Megaton Hammer and Mirror shield laying offside from him. He strolled over to them and equipped them back onto his body. It took him a while to do, as a result from the tight bandage, but that didn't bother him.
Having both shield and weapon reacquired, Link stood from the ground and began examining himself. He stared down at himself and began patting his body. Link could feel damage through every inch of his being. His chest ached, his stomach wounded, his legs bruising, his mind burning with an unknown fever and his right arms was stinging with pain.
What the! What the hell is that?
Link examined his right arm as the pain that emitted from it was becoming a bother to him. His arm showed no sign of any visible damaged or broken bone; but, there was a light blue aura covering his arm.
What… why is that happening to my arm?
Examining the arm carefully and finding nothing wrong with, lowered his arm back to his side. It was then that Link lifted up his left arm. The demonic arm came into clear focus to his eyes. The horrid skin colour and texture, as well as the odd bone formation, was a horrid sight. But it didn't seem to faze him anymore. The only thing that grabbed his attention was that the demonic eyes upon his arm were open widely, and that his arm was emitting a blood red aura, just like his right arm was doing.
What is going on here! My right arm is glowing blue, and that horrid left arm is glowing red? What does this all mean?!
Turning his left arm over and then rolling his wrist about, Link lowered his left arm back down to his side. Link then began to search about the area, this time; his eyes were focused on everything and anything in the distance. Link stared off to his right, shifting his gaze over the rubble and dead body that lay that way, before turning his head in the opposite direction. He eyes made a quick scan of the area to his left, but again, found nothing interesting or important.
What am I searching for? The only time I look around this intensely is when I am tracking or trying to see something that is hidden from plain sight.
It was then that Link suddenly froze. A strong and powerful energy had catch Link's attention and he was now quickly trying to trace it. The energy was unique and was all too familiar to him. It was dank in darkness and blood, with a unique blend of pure unmeasurable evil. Link traced it easily as it emitted strongly from behind.
I know that energy signature! Oh no! I hope I get the hell out of there! And now!
Sensing the strong energy and how close it was to him, Link seemed to smirk as he turned to face the owner of the energy pattern.
No! What am I doing? I got to run! I'm in no shape to fight now! What am I thinking!
Turning around fully, Link traced the energy to a figure off in the distance. The figure was far off on the horizon and was slowly vanishing behind a wall of fire. Details about this figure, from such a distance, were little, but the energy being emitted from it and its general shape was enough to give him away.
…Nightmare…
The knight's bold looking armour and odd helmet design, with the two standing ears (or whatever they are), were a very unique design. The knight demonic right arm was also a dead give away.
Link watched Nightmare closely, until he vanished from sight behind the blazing fire. It was at the point that Link began to follow the knight.
What am I doing now? Why am I following Nightmare? I'm wounded… and in need of a red potion! This is no time to pursue him! STOP!!
Link climbed over the rubble and brushed past the destroyed buildings that barred his path from Nightmare. His paced had quickened greatly upon feeling Nightmare's energy fading from his senses. Soon losing Nightmare's energy trail all together, Link broke into a run; following the same path Nightmare travelled. He was in so much of a rush to follow after Nightmare that he failed to see a bit of timber sticking out from one of the destroyed buildings. Link's left leg connected with the timber and sent Link crashing to the muddy ground.
Ouch… that's got to hurt
Lifting his face quickly from the ground, after his fall, Link stared before him, hoping to catch a glimpse of Nightmare just on the horizon or somewhere close by. But he didn't. Nightmare was nowhere to be seen, and his energy signature had disappeared. Surveying the area quickly, and still finding no sight of Nightmare, Link erupted into a crazed fit. He began growling unnaturally and screaming with such anger and rage; slamming his fists into the ground about him.
Huh? What the hell am I doing now?! This is so not me! Why would I waste my energy getting angry like this? And those screams… they can't be from me. They sound so… so… evil.
After about three minutes of raging upon the muddy earth, Link calm down and again composed himself. He pushed off from the ground and tried to stand up, but was quickly sent crashing back to the ground. His left leg shin, having hitting the timber, was now very sore and bruising quickly from what he could feel. His left leg would not support his weight so easily now. He was going to have to walk slowly from now on until his leg healed up a bit.
Link cursed under his breath as he tried to stand again, this time, he stood more slowly. Link was able to stand upon his feet, but he had to support most of his weight upon his strong right leg. He attempt to walk forward, just to test how much weight his left leg could handle. Applying pressure upon his left foot caused a large amount of pain to shot up through his body; demanding Link to step forwards with his right leg and take the pressure off his left.
That now explains how I got the limp in my walk… but I'm still fuzzy on the reason why. Why the hell am I so eagre to chase down Nightmare? He would kill me in one swing as I am now… this makes no sense at all!
From a nearby pile of derby, Link grabbed at a thin wooden pole. Slicing a bit of the pole off with his talon fingers, Link used the pole as a support in his walk. Now with that taken care of, Link again attempted to follow after Nightmare. He was determined to reach the unholy Nightmare.
Oh, come on! Will someone please tell me what the heck am I doing? This can't be my memory! That damn shadow must have changed the event of this memory… that's it! This is just some trick! The memory doesn't even feel like mine anyway!
Soon approaching the wall of fire that Nightmare had vanished behind, Link paused as something caught his attention, just off side from where he stood.
Oh my goddesses! MITSURUGI!
The Japanese warrior's body was rested up against a crumbled wall, in what looked to have been an alleyway. His head was slumped into his chest and his Katana was stabbed in the ground before the samurai, acting like a marker or gravestone. Seeing the warrior like this, Link was eager to investigate. Link abandoned his search for Nightmare and focused upon Mitsurugi.
Finally! Something that I would agree upon! I hope he's okay…
Pushing past some rubble and soon the warrior's sword, Link crouched down before Mitsurugi. Link examined Mitsurugi closely before touching the man's bold neck. He was unconscious. His heartbeat was faint, but stable.
Good, good… I'm glad
Link pulled back his hand from the warrior's neck and then lend in closer to the warrior's head. Link grasped Mitsurugi by his pony tail and lifted the warrior's head from his chest. Link's eyes scanned Mitsurugi's blank and exhausted face, trying to trace any evil of Soul Edge that might have been left behind in the warrior. After a while, Link concluded there was no longer any evil left in Mitsurugi. He was a pure vessel again.
Soul Edge must have return back into its former self… that means Mitsurugi is free from its will! Maybe this time I could get him to help me destroy that evil blade! That is… if he is not stubborn about finding that sword and using it…
All of a sudden, the ground began to rumble violently. Link lost his balance and tumble over from his crouched position. He lifted his head towards the sky and began to sniff at the air. He drew in heavy amounts of air from all directions, and then lifted his left arm high to the sky.
Now… that's odd…
Link remained still; holding his balance of the ground, with his left arm in the air, and his nose sniffing at the air. Link couldn't understand what was going, until his arm and nose began to tingle oddly. His arm began reacting to some dark energy that was flowing in the air and his nose seemed to pick up the smell of the energy as well. As both his arm and nose began to pick up on this strange energy, Link began to freak out. He suddenly acted frighten and scared about the energy that was floating along the wind.
What's got me spook… something in the air?
Becoming extremely frighten, Link shot up to his feet, with the help of his support staff, and began to limp out of the alleyway; leaving Mitsurugi where he was.
H-Hey! Where am I going! What about Mitsurugi! I can't just have left him there, if something got me this shaken up!
Taking about five steps from the alleyway, Link froze with pain. His mind suddenly began to hurt with an unknown pain and his right arm was glowing brighter and more radiant than before.
Wow… what's up with that?
Link groaned from this unknown pain, until the glow on his right arm dim down, which seemed to cause the pain in his mind to fade as well. Link shook his head free from that odd sensation and then quickly spun around. In doing so, Link saw a sight that caused him to tremble with fear.
What… is that?!
Coming from over the horizon and flaring high into the sky was a strange and powerful aura. The aura had a sort of diabolic, purplish glow to it, mixed with a natural looking flame like appearance and formed the shape of a blazing eye.
ARGH! SOUL EDGE!
The huge eye appeared just as it did many time before Link, but this was more than just a visual of the evil sword's will. There was a highly unstable amount of dark energy building up within the eye; such energy that did not do well when contain for every long. The energy that was building up within the eye was so powerful that it was collapsing under its own power.
Lighting began to flash across the sky at an unnatural rate, and the whole destroyed village began to crumble as the power inside the eye increased in strength. The ground shook more violently, causing the ground to crumble away or to split apart.
Sensing the coming danger, Link tore his eyes away from the blazing giant eye of Soul Edge and bolted back towards the alley way. Link leaped over the rubble that was before him and grabbed at Mitsurugi's Katana as he rushed by. Link hurriedly crouched down beside Mitsurugi and hooked the warrior's left arm around his neck, and then began to carry the warrior and himself out of the alleyway.
Link discarded the staff he used to support his weight and beared with the pain as he carried him and Mitsurugi away from the doomed village. Link was trying to rush as fast as he could out of the village; but with the ground shaking violently as it was, and with the pain of walking on a bad leg, with Mitsurugi hanging from his shoulder, he couldn't gain any speed. But he stilled tried.
Whilst continuing to get both himself and Mitsurugi out of the village, Link couldn't help but gaze over his shoulder at the massive eye behind him. It was nagging at him to look – wondering what it was doing, as well as fearing it.
The eye continued staring in a single direction, not moving or twitching. It was obviously more for show then to do anything specific; but it was still a frightful sight to look upon. The giant eye like aura continued to amass more unstable energy within itself, and compressing that energy further in. The flames the eye was wreathed in was intensifying incredibly and were becoming more violent, even from a distance, the raging storm within could be seen; just like the lighting and the trembling earth under it. The whole thing was acting like some giant balloon that was blowing itself up to its end point, where it could no longer contain the energy it had gathered.
Oh my goddesses! That things going to blow! MOVE IT!
Link felt a sudden burst of fear explode within his body that caused more energy to travel throughout his body in a bid to make him move faster. Link could sense the eye was reaching its max, and could no longer contain its gathered fury. All his senses could feel, even those senses that didn't deal with this sort of thing could feel the coming doom.
Knowing this, Link jerked his head forward, gripped a tighter hold on Mitsurugi's body, and then, using the newly added energy that was surging through him, pressed harder on his legs to get them out of the blast radiance. Link body was hurting in more ways than one with the sudden demand to move faster. His legs were screaming in pain, from both his hurting foot and from the strain of running with an added body attached to him. He wanted to stop, wanted to rest, but with was happening behind him, he could not or else he and Mitsurugi would perish.
BOOM!
There came a sudden crash of thunder and a strong pulse of energy that slammed into the back of the running warrior. The pulse was so strong that it picked up Link and Mitsurugi and carried that a short distance in the air, before letting crash painfully upon the ground. Both warriors bounced and rolled harshly about the ground before coming to a stop. Link made it quick to get up and reach Mitsurugi. There was no more time left to waste. They had to get out, and they had to get out now.
Taking just a quick moment in his run to get him and Mitsurugi out of the village, Link eyes darted behind them to see what was happening now. The aura was no longer in the form of an eye, but was now a hurling mass of fire, energy and darkness. The pulse wave that had hit him was nothing more than additional energy that the aura didn't need. The pulse wave tore up everything in its path that wasn't properly secured to the ground – ripping up any and all derby and the top layer of half dead soil. After that, the aura began to spin, losing the form of the eye it had taken when gathering the energy. In this spinning state, the flames became more aggressive and intense, and lighting like energy began to shoot off from its fiery surface. The whole now looked like a mini sun that was radiating large amounts of explosive energy that was ready to go off.
Link was expecting the fiery mass to explode right there and then, but it didn't as he had thought – instead, it did something different. Stirring there in mid air for a few second, the fiery ball of energy leaped into the sky and disappeared behind the thick storm clouds overhead.
Link started to run now, but he kept his gaze fixed on the area where the aura of fire and disappeared into the clouds. That area of clouds was now beginning to swirl, and it looked like fire and lighting was mixing into the swirling clouds. Link was wondering what was going on, till he got a frightful answer.
The clouds suddenly parted, and rushing forth from the opening, was a beam of light that struck the earth with tremendous force. The sudden force caused the ground to tremble violently and made the weaken earth crack. Link tripped for a second time because of this, but again made it quick to get him and Mitsurugi back to there feet.
No longer wanting to see what was happening behind, Link kept his eyes locked forward and his focus on getting the hell out of the village. Link's body was getting tired and heavy. His muscles were beginning to tear and his body temperature was starting to rise irregularly – but he knew it wasn't because of his body working harder, but because of the beam behind him. Feeling the increase in the violent tremors in every step he took, Link could tell and feel that the beam was expanding forth, destroying everything in its path. He forced himself to stay focus, while the nagging sensation in his mind kept telling him to look behind him, to confirm what he felt. But he didn't want to. Knew what was coming, and turning around would do nothing more than just delay him further.
Move it, move it, Move it… MOVE IT!
The path before Link became increasingly bright, as well as increasingly hot. Derby began to lift as Link ran through the town. Chunks of the destroyed buildings started to raise from left and right of him, tumbling past towards the beam that was catching up to them. The water in the river was also starting to leave the confines of the riverbed and rushed off behind the duo. Link even felt the strong pull that the beam was emitting. It was drawing everything into it, wanting to consume and evaporate anything that entered the energy stream. He felt it tugging at both his body and Mitsurugi's. With his body in such a weaken state, Link occasionally felt that he wasn't even moving forward anymore. However, that feeling was growing more frequent. The beam was gaining speed, as well as strength in its destructive path, causing its gravitational pull to increase ten fold every time it grew.
The pull was too strong now and Link could hardly keep his feet on the ground. With the added weight of Mitsurugi upon him, Link was able to remain a bit longer on the ground, before both were suddenly pulled towards the energy beam.
The two tumbled and spun in the air amongst the derby that circled around the beam. Link tried hard to hold onto Mitsurugi, but soon let go as the two were pulled in opposite directions. Link feared that Mitsurugi was going to be taken into the energy stream, and then destroyed, but was quickly rest assured when the samurai's body sped ahead of him and around the bend of the beam, soon disappearing from his view. It appeared that only some of the derby, mostly the larger and heavy objects, were taken in and destroyed by the stream, while the smaller objects were kept circling around, lifting higher and higher towards the heavens.
Wow…ugh… this is making me sick…
The scenery became nothing but a blur to Link now. The spin he and Mitsurugi had gotten into was increasing speed. Nothing before Link looked proper anymore; it was just a blur of colours. There were no shapes, or defined figures – just a single colour that blurred past his eyes.
Link felt he was going to past out soon if he stayed in this circulation, or die from the extreme heat. He didn't know which would be more dreadful, but soon he didn't have to worry about it. From the continuos spin he was in, something collided with him and forced him out of the beams pull. The speed he had gathered from spinning around the energy beam, combined with the redirection caused by the collision, was just enough for him to escape the gravitational pull and return to earth.
His landing, however, was not very comfortable.
Still spinning around in his freefall, and somewhat daze by the sudden impact that change his direction, Link could not prepare for the landing. He hit the ground hard, but was somehow still moving forward. He felt like he was on some wild ride. He felt himself go up, then, for a brief moment, felt himself flying - until he came crashing down, where he then began sliding a bit downhill before starting to climb again.
It was on his third flying trip in the air that Link lost consciousness. The last thing that registered was a sharp feeling of pain that erupted from the back of his entire body. After that there was just blackness.
What happened? Where did I end up? What was that pain? Where is Mitsurugi! Someone tell me!
All of a sudden, the blackness broke, and colour returned to his eyes, as Link began to stir. The pain he felt before blacking out was still there, but was not as painful as when he had felt it. His head felt heavy and very chaotic. A voice that sounded somewhat distorted was speaking above the other thoughts going through his head. Link couldn't place it, but just hearing the voice, caused him to suddenly panic.
He shook his head slightly to see if he could silent the voice, but only made his head hurt more, as the voice began to speak louder. Link then moved quickly to pick himself off the ground. As he brought his hands closer towards his body to lift himself off the ground, he notice his right arm was flaring brightly again.
My arm is glowing again? What does that mean, and why is it doing it?
Seeing his arm glowing brightly than before, Link began to panic more. He shot up to his knee and then up upon his feet. He studied his arm flaring in the dark, in alarm, but then noticed something glowing brighter in the background. Lowering his arm from his face, Link stared at the glowing light off in the distance.
That's the beam of energy that was destroying the town, wasn't it? Looks like it finished…
The beam of energy was now shrinking in size and was reverting back into the dark storm clouds above. The bright beam was fading in both light and strength, as its remaining energy was dissipating at a quick rate. The beam dissolved from view and left the whole area in the dark. Link's eyes, having adjusted to the light, were now in darkness, as he had to wait for his eyes to readjust to the dark.
He didn't have to wait for long; his eyes were good at adjusting when needed too. But his eyes could only adjust to the dark for a small amount, because his two arms were still glowing; more so his right arm. The blue glow was radiating so brightly that everything around him was lit up in its mystic glow. Seeing this light, Link was reminded of what he was doing in such a panic rush.
Gazing at his arm for only a second, Link spun around to look for a trail or path to follow. Turning around, Link was confronted with the sight of a forest; an old and ancient forest by the look of it. The trees were tall and very old looking.
I know this forest… this place… this is where I am now. On the ledge over looking the field… this is the forest I must have walked through to…
Link studied the ancient forest, trying to see if there was a path that he could take to get off the ledge. It didn't take him long till he did find such a path; but judging by the small opening it presented and its dark appearance, it looked to have not been used in such a long time. But even still, that did not stop him. Still panic by the sight of his arm, he bolted into the forest with a moment of hesitation.
.
.
After that, the memory came to an end and Link returned back to reality.
He opened his eyes to the familiar sight of the ledge and the open field, but was feeling something was different. It didn't take him long to figure it out. Having only turned his head slightly, Link no longer felt pain in his mind. He spun to his right, and then quickly to his left, but saw nothing there.
'The shadow… Where did it go?' Link mumbled to himself as he rubbed his head softly. Link scanned the area carefully, watching the trees and the open field for any signs of moment. The trees were still and absent, and the open field was vacant; more so now that the village was erased.
It was with that, that Link came to stand on the very edge of the ledge, with his eyes locked onto the crater that occupied the space where the village once stood. With the dim light, the dark energy appeared as nothing but a cloud of smoke that never disappeared.
Standing there, fixed on the crater, a slight breeze swept across the open plain. Link watched as the grass swayed in the breeze, till it swept up the rock face and blew past the motionless warrior. He remained still as the wind blew past him, with his eyes still on the crater. A few times, Link thought he could hear the sounds of voices echo along the wind. If he did, they were nothing more than a haunting reminder of what was that is no longer.
A second wind blew across the field. This one was wilder than the first. It blew past Link and caused him to step back slightly from the edge. As he did, something caught his attention. Peering down to his left was something that was flapping in the wind. It looked rather large in size and abnormally thick for something natural on the rock face. Whatever it was, it was not apart of the ledge, and was either put there or blown there and had gotten caught on a branch or rock.
Link walked over to the left side of the ledge, climbed down to the next ledge, and then walked up to the object. Getting closer to it, it became more apparent that whatever it was, it was not of the natural surroundings. Link took one more step towards the object and quickly grasped it. Holding it in his hands, Link found it to be soft and very thick.
Maybe it's a cloth or some ship sail that got blown away from a nearby town… or… from the village… Link thought, looking around for any signs of other items that could have blown along on the winds. Nothing else was out of place or unnatural to the surroundings. The cloth he held was the only thing out of place.
Link looked back at the cloth he held and the examined it closely. The cloth was a dark green, and was about the same size, if not a bit bigger than Link, and also had the top part joined together to form a kind of hood. Looking even more closely, Link discovered the faint traces of blood. The blood had dried up and had for some time, by the look of it.
'I wonder whose blood this is…' Link asked, lifting the cloth higher up to the moonlight.
By doing so, Link felt a tug on the bottom of the cloth. Looking down, Link saw the bottom part of the cloth was wrapped around something. Link was beginning to get a little suspicious. Something about this was strange. He didn't how or why he felt like this, but knew there was always a reason. Being cautious, Link bent down and began to unwrap whatever lay hidden within the folds.
After undoing a loose knot on the cloth, and unfolding two layers, Link was able to gaze upon what lay hidden.
'What hell? That can't be! I lost these…' Link said, sounding very shock as he nearly fell backwards after seeing what was in the folds of the clothe.
Sitting within the folds of the cloth, was one of the items that Link thought he had lost. It was his travel pack. The last time he remembered having it was just before Nightmare and he had their battle upon the hill to this very field. It also meant, that the cloth he thought as some blown away sail, was none other than his cloak.
But how is this possible? There's no way! No logical way these could be here! Link thought. I lost these upon that hill… in all possible way; these should have still been there! The bag anyway, the cloak would have blown away for sure!
Link was in disbelief about the two lost items suddenly reuniting with him in such a place, but he suddenly saw something that made his disbelief go away. Within the bag, there came a soft red glow that radiated forth. There was only one item in his bag that was able to do such a thing, and seeing it didn't make him feel any better about having his travel bag returned to him. Seeing it caused Link to sigh in heavy grief, as he fell back to the ground.
'You're not leaving me that easy, huh?' Link mumbled softly, talking to the fragment of Soul Edge within his travel bag. 'You want me to continue, right?'
The fragment offered no answer or reply, but the red light it radiated died down and became silent.
'…Figures…' Link grumbled, as he snatched the bag from within the cloak and placed the strap upon his right shoulder. He then picked up the cloak and placed it over his bold body, the hood covering only his ears. Having his travel bag and cloak back, Link felt like the battle with Nightmare never happened. But he knew that wasn't true, even though he wish it.
Link gazed over towards the crater in the centre of the field and remained there with the wind blowing his cloak gently in its breeze.
For all those souls you took Soul Edge… I will make sure they have their revenge!