Nintendo created all the characters and places and stuff. I just made the story up. The cover was done by Zeliga of DeviantART
Chapter Thirty Seven - The Life Tree's Realm
Cole was finding it hard not to collapse himself. The man had just spoke and in another language no less! Now the roots of a seemingly dead tree were allowing him to walk across the bottomless pit of water. Tempus kept a firm grip on Rosie as she tried to struggle out of his arm, the dagger getting dangerously close to going further into her chest. Sky was sitting at the water's edge just watching Link advance on the tree, his unblinking eyes behind the broken mask were unmatched by any other person.
Link reached the tree and glanced down at Pippa who was scratching the base of the trunk with her claws, he crouched down and stroked her head before placing a hand on the trunk, allowing it to part and stretch till it made an arch to walk through. Any land behind it turned black and white and an unknown wind began to blow through Link's clothes and Pippa's fur.
Just like old times.
He marched through with Pippa at his heels, the green of his tunic turning as grey as stone. The tree groaned and the remaining leaves shivered in their places as the arch closed up on itself; twisting around like a spring. Rosie stopped struggling and remained still as if time had frozen around them.
"Look after yourself." Tempus whispered lowering his head and gently placing Rosie on the ground in Link's cape
Sky shuddered "Did any of you hear blades being sharpened?"
Link opened his eyes and brought himself off the ground, a girl was sitting in front of him her legs folded in an aqua coloured dress as if she had been waiting a long time. Link stood up fully and stretched his arms out, taking in his surroundings…where exactly was he? The land was covered in a light mist that stuck to every object and there were little fireflies dancing around minding their own businesses. Everything was peaceful, even the water barely made a sound as it lapped against the little land masses, but it was not water, it looked like it was gel lying on the surface, changing from a calm blue to a pastel red constantly. He dusted down his clothes to find that his movements were significant, echoing like he was in a tunnel, his footsteps were the same as he tapped his feet. His clothes were paler, almost turquoise in colour with little balls of light clinging on to the fabric as well as floating around; he looked around, his eyes gleaming off the circle he stood in, a blue shield that could be seen through but was not of his making; patterns of flowers decorated it, using the centre as the middle of the drawn flower.
The girl took his arm, she was pretty but seemed very familiar, her dark brown hair that was fuzzy like fur and the blue, truth seeking eyes that he had many a deep conversation with. He smiled, showing his teeth as she lifted a finger, pushing his head a little to the left to see a still being, its arms covered by a white cape and an emotionless masked face. He pondered to himself, he had no idea where he was or what he was meant to do here, the logical thing to do was ask, right?
He made a move, stepping outside the circle but then as he raised his other foot leave the circle completely, the girl stopped him and pulled him back through.
"Master, don't! If you step outside the circle then the Guardians will awaken and hunt for you." the girl spoke, her voice light as silk
Link cocked his head; did she just call him 'Master'?
"This is a Silent Realm. A land where only souls may enter." she began "It is also a place thwart with danger and risk."
Link shrugged his shoulders; at least he knew where he was.
"You have to collect things in this realm without being caught by the Guardians. If they hit you; you will have to start the trial again. Problem is, I don't see things that need to be collected." she spoke scratching her head just above her ears.
Link pointed a finger out, there was a longbow sitting in a circle across from the Guardians, it was sitting in a little stand in a similar circle to the one they stood in; it was a beautiful piece of polished wood with tangy orange centre with a yellow band going up the middle that extended up to the ends of the bow, however, as much as his he tried he could not pick out the string. He would have to get a closer look.
The girl saw his glance "The Myth of the Great Birds. Four eggs were settled in a nest in these lands, each egg that hatched gave a gift of an arrow, but the forth gave the strongest gift. The nest lies in the room beyond the tree but to get it you must earn your right to take said gift."
Link glanced forward briefly, giving the girl a funny look before stepping out of the circle, his eyes shut and his ears ignorant of the sharpening blades and pounding footsteps. Nothing was happening, why was his shield not working?! He opened an eye and screamed; blades swiped just in front of his face, nearly cutting off his sideburns, the girl pulled him back in, the pair of them toppling over into the centre of the circle, the world outside returned to its safe state. Link panted, his heart thumping against his chest, that creature had moved so quickly.
"Your shields won't work here, this place is outside reality." the girl sighed pushing Link off.
Link snorted, that information would have been more helpful before.
He glanced at the bow again and tapped his foot, thinking up a way to grab it, but as soon as stepped out of the circle, they would come after him. He glanced at the girl with a smile.
"If you think I'm leaving this place, you've got another thing coming." she complained arching her back
Link rubbed his temples but silently pleaded, his eyes growing big and begging.
The girl rolled her eyes. "Fine, you go left and I'll go right, but you leave after me."
Link nodded and patted her head, the girl nearly seized his hand, did he know who she was?
He got himself into a stance, ready for her instruction. She left the circle, the swarms of sword wielding creatures started to give chase, following her echoing footsteps with haste and speed unrivalled. Link ran in the other direction causing a few of the mobs to notice and change direction, even so, he had enough time to get into the safety of the circle before something came near him. he took the bow off the pedestal and screeched, the entire reality they were in grew colourless and faded, only him and the girl remaining in their colours, time had frozen.
He dropped to one knee, one hand clasped around the bow while the other one pulled at the cloth around his heart, every beat was like a nail going through. Vines started to grow around his fingers, clinging onto his skin like a trunk of a tree, he could feel them climb up his arm and wrap around his chest. A string made out of hair thin lines started to form at the ends of the bow and cascade down till they made a little knot in the middle, joining up as one.
Link wheezed, a chest guard and finger guard had appeared on his body made out of woven vines; the pain subsided as a large white flower came from his chest showing a long vine with fifteen arrowhead shaped petals. He looked at the flower curiously as it hummed in his hands; he plucked one of the petals out of curiosity and gasped as an arrow formed in his open palm, the tip turquoise and the feathers white and soft to the touch. He gave a cruel smile and stepped out of safety. Bowstring pulled back he aimed carefully, managing his breathing, he let the arrow fly into the back of a running Guardian; it stopped moving for a few seconds before roaring at him, raising his complex blade above his head and taking a swing, Link dodged back, the blade missing him by inches. The girl ran past him, seizing his collar as she went by and pulled him back into a safe zone.
"Shooting Guardians won't work. They are invincible and have hard hitting weaponry." the girl panted, fast by human standards "But you need to do something here."
Link held up the bow and scanned it from top to bottom. He only had fourteen arrows left what was he meant to do with them? He sighed lifting his knees up with a defeated sigh.
"Master?" the girl asked edging closer "I don't know everything."
Link twisted his head and put a hand on her shoulder and rubbed a hand through her hair I know you are trying, Pippa. he mouthed
She nearly did a backflip. Master was a lot smarter than she thought even for a human. She gritted her teeth and looked around, putting her hands on Link's head as if she was leaning on him, he did not move.
"Look!" she cried pointing out; he glanced over, not able to move his head. There. Above a frozen Guardian was a target on a pair of tiny, almost unnoticeable angel wings, it was small and not in range even by his standards, meaning he would have to leave the circle and shoot it pretty fast. He swallowed hard, another target catching his eye in the branches of a high tree to the left of the one the Guardian was holding, more were appearing in sight some harder to see than others, by his count, there were fifteen but he only had fourteen arrows.
Cole held Rosie's hand as she slept. Her energy was decreasing to worrying levels to the point where Tempus and Sky were starting to glance as the decaying Life Fruit that was floating in the water.
"Don't you have a fairy that could heal her wounds?" Zelda pleaded cupping her hands,
Tempus shook his head but remained hopeful. "I know where there is a fairy fountain; we might be able to find some."
"Let's go then!" Zelda squealed pulling at his tunic
"I thought you hated Rosie's guts." Tempus joked taking out a little woodwind instrument out of his pouch
"Well, one of us has to lower the blade from the other's neck." Zelda sighed as Tempus grabbed her arm and pulled her into his chest as a pair of huge wings broke through his clothes and wrapped around them both
"Hold on tight." he whispered as they started to spin dizzyingly and vanish in a cloud of stray white feathers appearing a few moments later at an owl statue in town. Zelda dropped on the floor unable to stand up.
"You…said to hold on…tight…ugh." she mumbled flopping on the floor with a moan.
Tempus rolled his eyes and pulled one of her arms over his shoulders and onto his back and dug deep into his pouch till he found a very worn out hood of a pair of a yellow ears that bounced in his hand. It was like a fancy hairband but with magic powers. He slipped it on his head through the crop of blond hair and flinched.
"How old do you think I am?" he asked, avoiding slapping the princess with his cap
"I-I don't know…37?"
"42 actually. Same age as your mother." he said smiling, his pace replicating a slow jog,
Zelda huffed as his pace got faster till he was almost a blur as they headed into a tunnel in the northern part of Clock Town; he came to such a sudden stop that she nearly went over his shoulders, little pink fairies danced around them.
"Grab one!" Zelda squeaked sliding off his back and searching for a bottle in her pouch
"Tempus, why are you here?!" cried a voice followed by shrieking laughter that made Zelda withdraw a dagger. A orange haired lady twice the height of them dressed in nothing but ivy leaves and knee-height dark boots appeared out of thin air, only accompanied by the sound of running water in the pool beneath her.
"We only came to get a fairy." Tempus replied as Zelda zoomed around after the pink lights, a few settled on Tempus's broken arm
"I don't mean it like that Tempus, I mean, why are you still down here? You should be in Ikana Canyon now. The world is trembling as the plague consumes the very grass under our feet!" the Great Fairy shouted waving her arms around
Zelda screeched to a halt splashing the front of Tempus's tunic so it looked like he had wet himself, Tempus hardly noticed.
"The Earth Mage is in spiritual growth in the Grove right now. We will leave when he returns." Tempus replied his expression serious.
"'Earth Mage'?" Zelda whispered to herself turning her back
"You better leave soon, for the Moon Mage's sake. You don't have long, most of Clock Town has already moved off." the Great Fairy whispered sighing slightly
"How long do we have?" Tempus asked beckoning Zelda over
"Three days. You must hurry. The souls are gathering and this place will soon be underwater." the Great Fairy warned vanishing as Zelda seized a fairy. "Good luck."
Link knelt on one knee, trying to block out the sounds of blades and pounding footsteps coming in his direction as he took aim, the string touching the skin of his cheek. The arrow flew, breaking through the target, giving him just a moment to see a sword halt right above him and the world return to a state of calm despite the absence of his body within the circle. He gasped for a moment and looked at the sunflower itself that acted like his quiver, the petals were white with yellow tips, hang on…one of the tips was starting to discolour turning crimson as blood and creasing up like it was dying before floating gently to the floor.
This place was timed?!
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The Silent Realms of Skyward Sword were terrifying, I remember being caught so many times while collecting the last tear in those. My niece loves me doing them because I get flustered. I loathe the Eldin one, but I look on the bright side, I've never seen a Guardian look so confused each time I missed the jump around lava. Question time; Who is that girl? Pretty easy question, but what would you do in Link's situation? 15 targets, 14 arrows, how would you get them all? It would take a lot of effort to block out all the noise and fear from those Guardian's while trying to aim, wouldn't it? And what about what the fairy and Tempus spoke of? The Earth and Moon Mages? Is there something he's not telling? And also, the fairy says the land will be underwater soon? What does that remind you of?