Hey there all! So, so sorry for the long update. See, I've had this particular idea forever, but it has turned out to be a very hard chapter for me to put into words, and I wanted it to sound just right. I'm so sorry, and I hope this doesn't happen again! It's a long one, though, and I hope that makes up for it!
And do yourself a favor and check out Abscondita: The Victura written by my very talented friend anidnawind. It's awesome, to put it lightly! Also, for people who like heavier reads, try Oathbreaker by Zenith Meriadoc. One last recommendation: Wind by Lyxie. Or anything by Lyxie. She's honestly amazing.
Thanks to Chris, tiger7210, Screen, JSMac, Farore64, sym spidey, First of the Nentari, Stripesdatiger, KaijuKnight, InsaneCertifiably, Anyone, Jupsi, Iranda20, Allieo, Halcyon Electric, and for reviewing! It means a lot! And since I am immature, I would like to point out that Jupsi was my 609th reviewer. Ha ha. Anyway, thank you all for commenting, and to others who have never reviewed, maybe review or PM me? Something so I can get feedback or get to know you better? And I think the stupid chapter screw up thing will be solved either this chapter or next chapter, so then you can review as normal!
~Leila
I use a couple languages here, but I won't translate them. I used Latin, Indonesian, google translator's Irish, and Hawaiian.
Inspired by Dante's Inferno, and the Greek Underworld, through most ideas are my own.
And lastly, thanks to Allieo for reading over my many drafts and putting up with my rants about writer's block at school. You're a swell comrade;)
Facilis descensus averni.
Easy is the descent into Hell.
Chapter 38
The last time she was outside of her sword was 2,967 years ago, according to her database. For 2,967 years she never saw sunshine, never felt a breeze, and simply sat in the cramped darkness doing nothing.
Nothing besides keeping Demise in check, of course. And thinking. She'd had a lot of time for thinking.
And she'd thought a lot. While her sword was passed from Hero to Hero, she thought about her whole mission with her Link, and the more she thought, the more she was able to take the cold, rational facts out of it and tag "emotions" to memories. Scenes of her previous life in the Sacred Realm with Hylia and Ghirahim came back to her. She developed more of what humans called a "personality."
Yet then, one day while she was thinking all alone, she heard a familiar voice, the voice of Her Grace Hylia, gently asking her to wake up and keep the new Hero mentally stable.
An odd assignment, she'd thought, yet she obliged. It was in her programming to do so. And she found that she liked being awake and functional again. Talking to this Link made her feel alive, and she was able to exploit her newfound "personality."
Scanning her databanks, she found that her "personality" could be described as "snarky" or "witty." Fi, the "snarky" and "witty" spirit of the Master Sword. She found that she liked that.
"Are we there yet?" Link whined, she turned to look at him, studying his bored expression.
His face always seemed plastered in that bland mask of monotony. When the mask cracked, it usually revealed a face twisted with the fury of battle. The previous Link she had worked with had never been like that. He had always seemed to have a smile on his face, despite his circumstances. She had always wished, or to use the human word, "envied," his ability to shift his face into those smiles.
"I calculate at least another hundred miles before we reach Kakariko. Have you heard of this really neat thing called, 'patience'?" Fi questioned, her voice dripping with "sarcasm".
She tried twitching her face experimentally, hoping to arrange it in some way, whether it was the bright smiles or twisted fury. It remained the same neutral gaze it had always been.
"Patience has never really been my thing, sorry. Have you heard of something called 'tact'?" he retorted.
Of course she had heard of it. Tact (takt) noun: adroitness and sensitivity in dealing with others or with difficult issues.
"Tact has never really been my thing, sorry," she said, mimicking his previous tone.
Why could she manipulate her vocal chords, but not her face? Did she even have vocal chords?
Now that she could think, she had so many questions she wanted to ask. Yet there was no one to answer them.
She was beginning to find it rather, what was the word, "stressful."
Out of all the "emotions" she had experienced, "stress" was her least favorite. It felt like a bomb with a lit fuse slowly receding into the gun powder, always only seconds from exploding. She wondered if Link often felt this way. Maybe that explained the blatant fury.
"Fi, do you know a lot about these Trials?" he asked, looking over at her.
She took the opportunity to study his face again. Now, his eyes held something else, not "sadness", or "wistfulness", but... "worry."
"Well, almost every Hero over the ages has had their own Trials to overcome. The Hero of Sky needed to maneuver the accursed Silent Realms to prove his worth in the Three Attributes: courage, wisdom, and power. The Hero of Twilight had to endure the Twilight Realm and defeat many monsters to restore light to his land. No Trial is ever the same; they are custom tailored to each individual Hero," she relayed, scanning her databases.
He was silent for a moment, and Fi continued to study him as they moved along. She always made sure to match the pace he rode his horse at.
"What do you mean by 'custom tailored'?" he inquired, looking up again.
"The Trials are all specifically designed to allow Heroes to prove their worth and make them stronger in the process. Each Trial plays on that particular Hero's fears," she told him.
She remembered how her Link acted once he returned from each Trial. He would shake uncontrollably, and more often than not, empty the contents of his stomach. The first Trial was the worst, she recalled. He had cried for a long time and would not stop trembling for at least an hour. Of course, then she had been unable to help him and could only stared blandly as he sobbed and shook. Looking back, the memory "scared" her.
"Are you... afraid to undergo the Trial?" Fi questioned hesitantly, not sure how Link would react to the question.
"Afraid? Not really. Worried, concerned, hesitant, yeah," he replied, shifting Epona's reigns in his hands before urging her on a little faster.
Fi concluded that he was indeed "afraid," just too "manly" to admit it.
"There's nothing to be worried, concerned, or hesitant about. Just get in there, get the map, and get out. Put it that way. And if you need motivation behind it, just remember that your sister is waiting for you at the Triforce Realm," she said, placing a hand on his shoulder. She hoped it would be considered a "comforting" gesture.
He looked at her hand, "surprised" at her touch, then managed a small smile. Fi observed his muscle patterns as he did so, watching the slight twitch of movement, and then the smile.
She tried twitching her face, but as far as she could tell, she accomplished nothing. Why was it that she couldn't smile? She placed her new hands up on her face and attempted to force her lips into an upward curving position, but to no avail. Her face seemed to be frozen in the same, hollow expression it always had been.
"...Link?"
He looked at her. "Hm?"
She looked down at the ground below her. She had never been able to ask her master a question before. Her old programming had forbidden it.
"How do you... smile?" she asked.
He blinked, dumbfounded. "What?"
Fi was immediately "ashamed" and looked at the ground once more. "Nothing. Forget it and go back to your trivial pastime of counting clouds," she muttered, not wanting to look at the no doubt "confused" hero.
Another uneventful hour passed, and at last the towers of Kakariko City were visible, poking over the horizon. Fi had been there before, not in person, of course, a long time ago when she had only gotten fleeting glimpses of a ramshackle farm town from within her blade. The city had changed a lot since then, abandoning its old ways of farming and stock raising and adapting the role of the land's most successful science and technology research city.
They wouldn't be going to the city, though. She needed to lead him a few miles out of town, to the old Kakariko Graveyard. The graveyard was located on the site of the old Scáth Teampall, translated to the "Shadow Temple." It was originally a place of Sheikah worship, but evil magic grew in the shadows and eventually overtook the temple. Even after the Hero of Time purged the Scáth Teampall of monsters with her blade, the dark magic still radiated from within its walls until it was finally destroyed.
Link guided Epona to the wrought iron gates of the cemetery before sliding out of the saddle.
"Be back soon, girl," he muttered, patting her muzzle affectionately. He seemed to zone out from reality for a second, staring at an obscure point in space before snapping back to attention.
"Alright. Now what, Miss Smarty-Pants."
She looked at him blankly, as usual. "Find the Trial gate."
"Well how the hell am I supposed to do that? Tell me where it is!" he demanded.
"Gee, Mr. Important Hero, there's this really cool thing called magic that you happen to possess. Why don't you give that a try, hm?" she snapped. Yet still her face was completely straight. It annoyed her to know that she could come up with such brilliant "sarcastic" remarks, yet her facial expressions never supported those remarks.
"Stupid magic," he muttered. "Magic isn't supposed to exist."
"Yet here we are. Quit whining at me and locate the Trial," she said coldly, crossing her arms in a "defiant" manner. At least that made her feel a little more "expressive".
"How do I do this? Is there a built in GPS or something?" Link asked, shaking his marked hand angrily.
"You need a location spell. Focus your mind on the gate, and whisper 'locate' to the Triforce," she instructed, reciting the directions like a child would relay a nursery rhyme.
He closed his eyes and scrunched up his nose, his way of focusing, she supposed, and brought his hand near to his face.
"Locate," he whispered.
A golden shockwave pulsed from the spot he was standing and shuddered through the graveyard. Another soon followed, rippling out from his feet and traveling across the graveyard.
Individuare, a disembodied whisper rasped. Individuare.
Fi quickly determined that 'individuare' was the Sheikah word for 'locate.' Since they were in Sheikah territory, the spell needed to be spoken in the language of the native magic.
Several more pulses were emitted, until finally the whispers and golden tremors ceased. It was silent for a moment, until a radiant beam of white light shot up from the ground a few feet away. Link's eyes fluttered open, and the light dimmed, revealing an intricate pattern carved on the ground in shadow magic. Glyphs and runes were woven into the gate, reading the same thing in many different languages.
Death.
If Fi could shudder, she would have. But all she managed was an indifferent blink.
"This is the gate to the Realm of the Dead. Remember, once you enter, you cannot come out until the Trial is completed. Your objective is to find the spirits that hold the piece of the map to the Triforce Realm. But keep in mind that as soon as you have the map, the Realm will turn on you. You cannot be touched by any spirits, you cannot talk to spirits, and you cannot interact with spirits. If you do so, all will be lost. This is not a Trial you can repeat, Link. This is a pass or fail thing. Just get in, get the map, and get out."
Link looked up at her, and just for a moment, Fi could make out the sheer "terror" the teen was experiencing, but in a split second that was gone and the mask was back up, covering up any "emotion" he was feeling. It seemed that they had opposite problems; she wanted to show anything and everything she was feeling, and he wanted to reveal none of his "emotions" whatsoever.
"Will you be with me?" he asked.
"This is your Trial. It speaks to your mind, and as much as I know you love me, I can't be with you during the Trial. But I will be waiting right here for you when you come back," she told him, noting the way his face fell when she said she wouldn't be there.
"Oh. Well. I'll see you soon, then."
Hesitantly, he stepped forward into the circle of runes, looking around as he waited for something to happen.
After a moment, the purple light illuminating the circle flared brighter, causing him to flinch. The runes began to band together, the words melding into petals of purple magic. The petals then began to fold up, enclosing him almost like they were part of a tulip closing for the night.
Fi watched until she could see him no more. He was completely encased in the pod of shadow magic, and the case was beginning to drill back into the earth. Soon, the purple magic was no longer visible, and the cemetery was as silent and desolate as it had been before they came.
0o0o0o0o0o0o
(Link)
Voices whispered all around him, whispering in foreign and unfamiliar languages.
Ró-dhéanach...
Mortem vicinam...
Hidup tidak diterima...
Make heaheas 'oe...
He wasn't fully sure what had just happened, one moment he had been standing on the swirling Trial gate, and the next, purple walls encapsulated him, and he had the strangest sensation he was falling. It felt as if hands were pulling him down from all places, even reaching inside him, pulling, yanking, grabbing. Wind whipped his hair and stung his cheeks, raging inside the magic capsule like a cyclone.
The voices had started then too, and though he couldn't understand most of them, he could understand the sinister undertone, hissing of death and despair. He tried opening his mouth to scream, but his body wouldn't obey his mind, and his mouth remained closed.
Rushing, grabbing, screaming, whispers, death... And then silence.
The silence slammed into him, crashing down on him like a tsunami. One last whisper snaked its way into his ear, sending chills down his spine.
Hic est mors, ubi vivens iam non remaneant. Audire cura dolore audire. Tollensque quod vos quaeritis esset insipientes facere, plurima mortis vires, et quoque cum illis.
A blanket of quiet settled over him again, he dared to open his eyes, which he had been unaware that he closed. The purple walls of his former prison had vanished from sight, leaving him a clear view of his new, unfamiliar surroundings.
He was standing in a gray field, devoid of all color. Gray grasses fluttered in a wind he couldn't feel, stretching out to the horizon of the gray, cloudless sky. Taking a hesitant step forward, he scanned the perimeter for any sign of activity.
Behind him, a bright column of white light flared up, and he turned around quickly, surprised. A scream caught in his throat at what he saw. The Trial gate was imprinted on the ground, serving as his way home, he guessed, but within the gate's protective runes was... him.
Limp as a puppet, eyes closed, head sagging, and held in a little bit off the ground by some magical force, was him. Panicking, he looked down at his hands, and to his horror, he found that he was as gray as the field in which he stood, and he was no longer solid skin and bones, but shimmering and translucent.
He let out an audible shriek and jumped away from the Link in the gate.
Link, can you hear me?
Link looked up, searching for the source of the faint, familiar voice.
"Fi?" he whispered, his voice trembling. She spoke again, her voice filling the silent void of the field.
Oh, thank Hylia you can hear me. Link, I can only hold this connection for so long, so listen up. I forgot to mention that since you are in the Realm of the Dead, you will be separated from your body and go as a spirit. This is the reason the Trial is fatal if you do not succeed. If you fail to obtain the map piece, your soul will be destroyed, and the connection with your body will be severed. However, your body is also the key to returning to the world of the living. Once you touch your body, you will be reconnected and automatically transported back to Kakariko Graveyard, as no living can mingle with the dead. Do you understand?
He nodded slowly, looking over at his body. His lifeless body. He was dead, by all technical accounts. He was dead and nothing but a meaningless spirit wandering the gray fields of death. He began to tremble, and his form began to waver with him, shaking from visible to invisible.
You can do this, Link, it's only temporary. Just get... map... get...
Fi's voice faded away almost as quickly as it had come, and he was alone again. After taking a series of deep breaths (did he even need to breathe?), Link felt he was ready to go on.
He began wading his way through the ocean of gray, stomping through the tall grasses. As far as he could see, there was nothing but grass and empty silence. Wasn't the Realm of the Dead supposed to contain, well, the dead? Where were the spirits?
Link's brow furrowed as he tromped through the field. He hoped this wasn't going to be some kind of surprise ambush.
A small rustle in the grasses and a faint humming sound drew his attention, breaking him from his thoughts. On instinct, he reached for his sword, yet he grasped air. Cursing under his breath, he realized his weapon was with his body. He dropped to the ground, crouching low as the sounds drew nearer, predicting what time to spring up and throttle the thing that came near him...
And found himself face to face with a small girl, who couldn't be any more than seven.
She stared at him with wide gray eyes, blinking rapidly, before composing herself and breaking into a wide, toothy smile.
"Hello, there, mister!" she chirped cheerfully. "Sorry if I startled you, I didn't mean to, no I didn't!"
"Um, can you help-"
"Oh, you're new here, aren't you? How'd you go? I burnt in a fire, yes I did, fifty years ago! Fifty years and I still can't find my way out of the Fields!" she threw her head back and laughed, a high-pitched laugh that made him cringe.
"I'm just visiting, can you tell me where I might find-"
"Just visiting? How peculiar, I've never heard of any visitors here before, no sir I haven't. Welcome to the Fields then, sir, the Fields of the Gray. Only way in is death, and some never find the way out!" she giggled.
Link was becoming very disturbed by this girl. Looking at her, you could see a slight glint of insanity in her eyes. Her hair was singed, and there was soot on her face and on her clothes, proving she did indeed burn in a fire. Every so often, her form would flicker, and you would see a small skeleton rather than a little girl. Yet she kept a huge smile plastered on her face, revealing three missing teeth.
"What do you mean 'some never find the way out'? Isn't there like a road or something?" Link asked.
"Only if you find it! Boy, Mister Visitor, you sure are clueless, yes you are! I guess I have to explain it to you then. When you die, your spirit leaves your mortal shell and sinks down to the Fields, the eternal Seas of Gray. There, in order to find your eternal resting place, you must scurry hither and thither to collect pieces of your sins. And once you have all of your sins, a path is revealed, leading you to wherever you belong! Easy-peasy, isn't it? Nope, it's not! I've been searching for fifty years, and some have been here for longer," she told him, clasping her hands together and rocking back and forth on her feet.
"...Oh. Isn't there any other-"
"The Fields of Gray, the Fields of Gray, where spirits search and search all day! And maybe much to your dismay, you can look but there's no other way," the girl sang in a mocking, tinny voice.
He stared at her, now thoroughly disturbed. She smiled up at him and giggled.
"Well, good luck, Mister Visitor, but I've got to keep looking! Yes, only three pieces left! Only three!" she tittered as she skipped away, humming a minor version of 'Ring Around the Rosy', and soon she had disappeared in the grasses.
Link took a couple steps backward, trying to process what he had just seen and heard. So he was in the Fields of Gray. An appropriate title, he thought. In the Fields of Gray, were the scattered shards of your sins, and you needed to gather all of your sins in order to reveal a path to "wherever you belong," as the girl had said. He assumed that meant you were judged on the amount of sins and sent to either a good resting place, or an eternal hell.
Did this mean he needed to collect his sins, or could he find an alternate escape from the eternal Sea of Gray?
He needed to get to higher ground, he decided, to have a look around. Scanning his surroundings, he found only flat land as far as the eyes could see. Frowning, he began to walk forward, pushing through the grass and hoping to come across any sort of knoll or bump.
To his amazement, with every step he took, the land seem to morph and mold around him. Air rippled and bent, and the the ground beneath him twisted and shaped. He stopped walking, mouth agape, and found the once monotonous plain a rolling, hilly landscape.
"Sweet Hylia," he whispered.
He hesitantly walked forward again, but this time the world around him remained unchanged. Regaining his courage, he walked normally, trekking up the nearest hill. Once at the top, he could suddenly see for miles. It was like the hill had grown to a mountain once he had reached the top. He felt like the goddesses, looking down upon the world.
Thousands of shimmering gray spirits roamed the fields, pawing through the tall foliage, searching every inch of ground for the shards of sin, all of which glowed different colors to Link's eyes. Though, he supposed, each individual spirit could only see their own sins.
Every once in awhile, a spirit would come across a long searched for piece of sin, and their face would light up with a happiness that only lasted a fragment of a millisecond before returning to the laborious task of searching for another shard.
And even less than once in awhile, a spirit would find a shard, and all the shards they had collected would join together to form a glowing, colored ball. The ball would then shine on a path, leading away from the Fields into the distant horizon. The happy spirit would then walk, their way lit by their sins, and be happily on their way to their next destination, whether that destination be good or bad.
For a second, he wondered if his parents were down there, pawing through the weeds, searching for lighted fragments of sin. Swallowing a lump in his throat, he shook his head. That didn't matter. He had a gut feeling that the map was not in the Fields, and if his parents were there, he didn't have time to look for them. He had more important things to focus on.
"Now where am I supposed to go?" he asked aloud, trying to forget the sudden wave of sadness that washed over him. He knew no one would answer, but it made him feel slightly less uneasy to hear his own voice and know that at least he could still talk.
Looking all around him, he could see no path that could lead him away from the eternal Sea of Gray. He also saw no sins he could identify as his own.
"Well how am I supposed to complete this stupid Trial, then?" he yelled at the sky angrily, his voice quivering. "What am I supposed to do?"
Again, there was no answer. Link closed his eyes and shivered, though he felt neither hot nor cold in his spirit form. He didn't like it here. He wanted to leave and never come back, even though he knew he would return here eventually. Maybe even soon.
But for now, he did not like the Realm of the Dead. The silence crushed him from all sides, and it was then that he realized his dependency and craving for company. Without a friendly voice to talk to, he felt scared and vulnerable.
To talk to you. The goddess contacted me and asked me to keep you company while you traveled, to save you from your own head.
Fi's words returned to him as he stood alone, trying to piece himself back together. Taking a deep breath, he opened his eyes again.
"Maybe since I could manipulate the land like I did, I can manipulate the entire Realm?" he theorized out loud.
It was a plausible idea. Not that he knew where he was going, but as long as he were anywhere else but here, he figured that it didn't matter. He just wanted to be away from the silence of the Fields.
He began to walk again, concentrating on getting somewhere. Somewhere close.
Like before, the ground beneath him began to swirl and crumple, and now the skies above him were bending and changing. Around him, the landscape changed drastically.
He was no longer walking through tall grasses, but now on hard, craggy rock. He had seen this type of barren, blackened terrain before. At home, on Outset, on the black cliffs. His mother had told him that the island had been formed from a volcano, and that the black cliffs were the last remnants of a'a, the slow flowing lava that shaped his home.
The sky above him was no longer gray, but a smokey red, crackling with electric tendrils of lightning.
A massive black wrought-iron fence surrounded a massive fiery pit before him. The hole glowed with the red hot shine of lava, and he could hear screams of anguish and grunts of labor resonating from the pit's depths.
A sign, made of iron, arched over a locked gate, the only entrance to the pit. It was in a weird language, one Link had never seen nor heard of before.
Lasciate ogni speranza, voi ch'entrate.
Before his eyes, the letters began to bend and curve, forming the letters of his own language.
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.
"Is this were the map is?" he whispered, his voice barely a squeak.
Slowly, he walked to the fence and grasped ahold of the iron bars. And looking down, this is what he saw.
Fire erupted in columns. Rivers of blood boiled and churned. Heat clogged the senses, and the air was laden with shrieks and screams of torture. Smoke and haze clouded his view of the bottom, and he could not see if any spirit held the map he sought. He couldn't see any spirits at all.
"Would it be stupid to go down?" he asked himself. "Just to see, I guess. Not all the way down, just far enough," he decided. "Himself" agreed.
Letting go of the fence, he walked over to the gate, and reached his hand out to pull it open. To his surprise, as soon as he touched the gate, his hand clamped around the iron bar and was stuck there, unable to move. He yanked at the gate, hoping to unstick his hand, but to no avail. He attempted to pry his hand off with his other hand, but it would not give, as if welded to the gate.
Luxuria...
Gula...
(Luxuria, Gula)
Avaritia...
Acedia...
(Luxuria, Gula, Avaritia, Acedia)
Ira...
Invidia...
Superbia...
(Luxuria, Gula, Avaritia, Acedia, Ira, Invidia, Superbia!)
Whispers and echoes began to fill his head, repeating the same words in a foreign language over and over.
(Saligia)
Superbia
Acedia
Luxuria
(Saligia)
Ira
Gula
(Saligia)
Invidia
Avaritia
Link covered one ear with his free hand and squeezed his eyes shut, trying in vain to block out the stream of incoherent hisses.
Finally, the voice stopped. The sudden silence scared Link, and he opened one eye, to see if anything in his immediate surroundings had changed. Everything seemed normal.
Who are you...
Both eyes snapped open. It was a voice. Or, at least he thought so. It sounded like crackling flames, like a throat parched by the desert, like the dry winds in Ikana Canyon. He looked around for any possible sources of the sound, his search coming up negative. "Who the hell said that?" he demanded.
Who are you...
Link began trying to separate his hand from the gate again, yanking frantically, hoping the voice would go away once he was away from the gate.
WHO ARE YOU...
The disembodied voice had risen to a scream, like nails on a chalkboard, causing Link to cringe at the volume.
"I-I am Link, Hero of Hyrule," he stammered, hoping that playing the 'Hero' card would allow him to pass without much trouble.
A Hero of Hyrule... at the Pit of No Hope... Why are you here?
"I'm t-trying to find half of the map to the T-Triforce realm," he stuttered. "And I th-thought it might be down there, I just want to look."
You think one of the Hopeless might have the map you seek?
"I guess so?" Link said tentatively.
Do you even know what is behind my gates? At the bottom of this hellish pit are the Hopeless... Those who have severely sinned against the heavens, and have committed Saligia... Therefore, as punishment for their actions, they must endure eternal pain and suffering as result of their violations of Saligia...
(superbia, avaritia, luxuria, ira, gula, invidia, acedia)
...All while looking up at the holy, blessed lands of the Triumphant... These men are the most wrathful, evil creatures to have breathed in life... Do you still wish to see them?
He hesitated. Could they get to him? If they could, could they hurt him when he was a spirit?
"Yes. I do," he found himself saying.
You either have nothing to lose, or everything to lose. Whether tis bravery or stupidity, I know not. You may pass and observe the Hopeless. Look out for the Furiae, as they will not be as lenient on you as I have been.
Before Link could squeak out his thanks or ask what the 'Furiae' were, his hand was suddenly separated from the gate, flying off the iron like bugs repelled from spray, and the doors to the Pit of No Hope slowly creaked open.
Hesitantly, Link walked through the gates. Predictably, they slammed closed behind him, but he jumped anyway. He couldn't help it. This place seemed to set all of his nerves on edge.
Heat blasted his face and hot wind stung his cheeks as he inched his way down the spiraling path. Sweat trickled down the nape of his nape, and as he got further and further towards the bottom, a cold feeling of despair and tiredness grew in his stomach. He knew it was the Pit's magic influencing him, but it still took all of his willpower to go on.
He was within the cloud of smoke now, enveloped in the hazy gray tendrils. Shadows could be seen below, twisted shapes, their moans and screams growing louder as he drew nearer to the bottom of the Pit.
Link shivered, despite the hellish heat. Could the map really be down here? He was starting to think this was a stupid idea to come down her. Turning around, he squinted to find the gate through the haze. He could just go back now...
An inhuman shriek shattered that thought as soon as he came to think it. Clasping his hands over his ears, Link searched frantically for the source of the ungodly sound.
And let out a screech of his own when he found it.
Rushing towards him rapidly was a woman. But this was not an ordinary woman you would see at a common grocery store. Her skin was an ashen gray, and her eyes like two glinting rubies. Long claws sprouted from her nail beds, and her teeth were bared into a snarl, revealing pointed fangs. Her hair, streaming behind her, was not hair at all, but fire raging on her head. Two wings glowing red hot were spread out alongside her, creating a true image of a demon.
Link panicked as the thing drew nearer and nearer, and flattened himself against the rocky wall of the cliff. The demoness sped past him and disappeared into the smoke, her scream and readied claws apparently meant for someone else. He pitied them, whoever they were.
After a moment to catch his breath, Link separated himself from the wall and continued his spiral downward.
"That would be a Furiae," he muttered to himself. "Delightful creature."
He managed to walk a good distance without being disturbed by another terrifying monster, and arrived at a clearing in the smoke, a spot he deemed good to search for the map piece.
Lying down on his stomach, Link peered over the edge and into the fiery depth of No Hope.
Fire. Fire was everywhere. Multiple Furiae brandished whips, and occasionally lashed out at a passing spirit, hissing menacingly. He noticed that most of the Hopeless looked extremely similar, if not identical. Most seemed to be large, muscular Gerudo men with prominent noses and flaming red hair. There were a few exceptions, like a Twili man, a man in a glittering white full-body suit, and a strange creature wearing a heart-shaped mask radiating terrible power.
He also noted the numerous, horrifying ways of torture, though there seemed to be a system. Squinting, he saw crude letters carved into the stone above each type of torture.
Superbia. Acedia. Luxuria. Ira. Gula. Invidia. Avaritia.
Then, like the words on the gate, the unfamiliar words began to rearrange, morphing into letters he knew.
Pride. Sloth. Lust. Wrath. Gluttony. Envy. Greed.
"Saligia," he whispered, realizing now what the voice meant.
These Hopeless had all broken the Seven Deadly Sins, the seven original faults against the goddesses. He put two and two together, inferring that these were the generations of the Dark King and his evil cronies.
Each man underneath his respectable sin was being tortured in an equally cruel, painful, and creative way.
The man in the white suit, beneath the carved superbia, was trapped in a maze of mirrors, screaming as he looked into each mirror, but unable to escape. The ground beneath him was flowing hot lava, keeping him constantly moving, forced to look into each mirror and experience a past deed and relive his worts nightmares. A few other Dark King incarnations were suffering the same fate.
Beneath acedia, several Hopeless screamed and squirmed in a pit of writhing poisonous snakes that squeezed and bit them, and would continue doing so for eternity.
Hopeless who violated luxuria were chained on beds of fire, burning as their passion for women had in life, and were each surrounded by several beautiful women, Link wondered if they had lusted for these women in life, and they would whisper seductively in the poor Hopeless' ear and would touch and caress him but then spit on him and kindle the fire beneath him.
Those suffering the effects of ira, such as the masked creature, were placed in an arena ringed with fire and were put up against multiple Furiae and jeered at and provoked into fighting, and then the poor soul was quite literally ripped apart by the Furiae's cracking whips, only to be rebuilt again and start the process over.
In the gula section of the Pit, a large table piled high with rich, substantial foods was set, and the Hopeless seated around it were forced to continually eat without stopping for eternity. A few of them would throw up, but they were whipped and screeched at by the Furiae and were forced to resume stuffing their face.
For invidia, several Dark Kings were chained to a tall pillar of burning rock, baring their teeth and glaring at whatever lie at the top of the cliffs, the city of the Triumphant, as the voice had called them. Whoever they were, the envious were definitely not happy to see them succeeding.
And lastly, he came across the punishment for avaritia. The Twili man and many Dark Kings were constantly drowning in a sea of red hot gold coins. A continuous rain of the metal poured down on them from above, and they were constantly fighting to remain above the surface, but if they got too high, Furiae waiting by would throw rocks or shoot arrows at the Hopeless, causing them to sink back into the coins with screams of agony.
Link's wide eyes took all of the bloody, fiery hell in, his mind racing to process the scene.
Therefore, as punishment for their actions, they must endure eternal pain and suffering as result of their violations of Saligia...
Digging his nails into the ragged rock beneath him, he scanned the Pit for any sign of a map. No spirit or Furiae he saw held anything that looked like a ripped half of a map.
As he looked, the flamboyant man in white happened to look up, his fearful violet eyes meeting with Link's own.
Yelling something Link couldn't understand, he pointed a slender finger up at Link, and the head of every single Furiae turned to look at him, their eyes narrowing menacingly.
Then, simultaneously, they threw their heads back and let out high-pitched, demonic screeches. Link squeezed his eyes shut and grabbed his ears, wanting to block the ungodly sound out.
Once they ceased their horrible war cry, they turned and began to all zoom up the spiral path, rocketing towards him at inhuman speeds.
Link stumbled to his feet, nearly tripping and falling again, and began to run. "Oh damn," he muttered. "Oh damn, damn, damn!"
He ran as fast as he had eve run in his life, cringing as he heard the shrieks and cackling of the Furiae growing louder and louder. The gate was in view now, maybe a hundred feet away. But the Furiae... He looked back, maybe the worst mistake of his life.
The Furiae were there, claws dripping with blood, hissing at him as they flew.
We sssee your pain... We feel your sssufferring... We know your misssery...
As they said this, he felt a cold hand reach through him, gripping his heart, prodding in his head, and snaking around his soul. When the hand left him, causing him to shiver, the two lead Furiae began to change.
And in the place of the two demonesses were now the walking bloody corpses of his parents, mutilated beyond any recognition.
Abandon all hope, ye who enter here... And those who enter may never get out!
The Furiae lunged at him, as did the apparitions of his parents. With a mighty leap, Link threw himself forward and through the now open gates, which slammed closed behind him.
As he lay on the ground wheezing, he could hear the grunts and snarls of the Furiae, and a hand clamped onto his boot. Yelping, he turned to see the glassy eyes and sadistic smile of his father's corpse, his face peeling off and blood running down his cheeks like tears.
With a scream and a mighty kick, Link freed himself from the illusion's grasp and scrambled to get away from the gates, managing to pull himself to his feet.
He stood there for a moment, breathing heavily, covering his eyes with his hands like he used to when he was a child and saw scary movies. He also had done this at the bloody site of his parent's murder.
The screams and curses of the Hopeless still echoed through his head, their suffering etched in his heart, and their agonized expressions burned in his brain. The faces and shrieks of the Furiae would never leave him. A tear trickled between his fingers and down his cheek, splashing on the smoldering a'a.
Where his tear had landed, the black a'a cracked, and up sprouted a flower, colored too brightly to be natural.
He removed his hands from his face and watched curiously as the flower grew higher and higher, tender leaves curling and petals unfurling. From the center of the exotic specimen, a second stem burst forth, growing and sprouting a second flower that looked like an arrow, pointing away from the Pits.
Following the arrow's path with his eyes, he found it pointed directly at a gleaming white city off in the distance, situated right on the cliff tops of No Hope. Casting a strange glance at the flower, he slowly began to walk forward, the distance warping once again so that he was right in front of the city gates in three steps.
Like the Pit of No Hope, the city was guarded by a wrought iron gate, though the sign above it read something entirely different.
Fortis consistere, sed fortis triumpho.
The strong survive, but the courageous triumph.
As he translated the words, the gates swung open, allowing him into the glittering city. Hesitantly, he stepped through the gates, wondering what kind of horrors could dwell here. But there were no monsters to be found here.
He marveled at the luxury and beauty of the town, compared to the dirty fire of the Pit. The streets were paved with pearls, melted and waxed until perfectly smooth. Buildings were carved of opal and adorned with gold and diamonds. Various trees, shining with unearthly light, lined the streets, bearing not only fruits of every kind, but gemstones as well.
Link looked around, starstruck, He couldn't believe a place like this could exist here when places like the Field and the Pit existed so near by.
He heard laughter, echoing from another street, and he quickly ducked into an archway, keeping himself hidden from any passerbys. Watching curiously, he saw a girl in a pink dress dragging a boy behind her, chattering constantly as they went.
As they got nearer, Link almost let out a gasp, but refrained from doing so in fear of getting caught. He didn't know if he was supposed to be here.
But the girl and boy... The girl was a carbon copy of Zelda two years ago, though she seemed far more energetic and her hair was a lighter shade of blonde. The boy looked like him, green man-dress and all, smiling contently as she babbled on and on, occasionally laughing and adding his own input.
"Well I'd never thought of it that way," his twin was saying.
"Of course you haven't! That's cause' I'm smarter than you," Zelda's twin stated matter-of-factly.
"Said who!" the boy cried indignantly.
"Me, myself, I, the goddess Hylia, and your wife."
"Well, me, myself, I, the Hero of the Surface, and your husband all just took a vote, and we say you're an arrogant twat."
The girl giggled, sounding exactly like Zelda, causing him to cringe, and they rounded a corner, disappearing from sight, though their voices still echoed through the streets.
Link stepped out from his hiding spot, mind reeling. So these were the Triumphant, the past Heroes and Princesses, living in a white city over the Pits of No Hope. No wonder the envious were so unhappy. They were forced to watch those they hated be happy in the afterlife.
He turned to walk down the street, hoping to find the map somewhere within the city, and ran straight into something hard.
That something emitted a small grunt, then grabbed Link to steady him and keep him from falling.
"Watch where you're going," the something, or rather, someone, snapped, taking the words directly from Link's mouth.
He looked up into a pair of feral blue eyes, looking down at him curiously. His eyes reminded him of those of fierce beasts he had read about in books as a child.
"Who the hell are you? There's not another new one already, is there? Did you die early?" the figure demanded.
Link stepped back and found himself looking at yet another person identical to himself, yet this incarnation was a good foot taller than him and his shaggy hair was darker. And his eyes, his piercing eyes, looked nothing like Link's own. Or at least he hoped not. This boy's eyes intimidated him, and he wasn't one to get intimidated by appearances.
"No. I'm not dead," he said dumbly, inwardly cursing himself for not applying his eleven years of education.
"Uh, then why are you here? In the Realm of the Dead? Land of eternal sleeping mass, land that none who live shall pass? he asked.
"Impressive. Did you just make that up on the spot?" Link asked with a smirk.
"Actually, yeah, I did. I'm a poet and I didn't even know it. Actually, I know it, it just wouldn't cleverly rhyme if I said I were 'a poet that was completely aware of the fact'," he mused.
Link eyed this Hero suspiciously. He sounded exactly like him, and he wasn't sure he liked that.
"It has a ring to it. But in all non-poetical seriousness, I was sent here on a Trial," he told the other Hero.
He nodded, as if he understood, which Link was sure he did. "Oh, Trials. The joys of being the lapdog of the goddesses. Quite literally, in my case," he said, smiling to himself like that was some sort of private joke.
"You are rather doglike. I can get the whole 'I drool on the floor and lick myself,' vibe from you," Link agreed.
The Hero opposite him was silent, staring at him hard with eyes narrowed, then burst out laughing. "I like you, you're funny! I'm telling Zelda about you! Anyway, what are you looking for and how may I be of service to you?" he asked, still chuckling.
"I'm looking for a piece of a map. Seen one lying conveniently around?" Link inquired.
"A map..." the other Hero trailed off in thought. Link observed him as he thought, noting the way he bit his lip, furrowed his brow, and looked upward as he pondered Link's question. Link always did the exact same thing.
"I think I might know what you're talking about. Maybe. Not promising, but if I'm right, I demand a bag of candy corn in payment," he told Link.
"How am I supposed to get candy corn to you?"
"Find a way. Nothing's impossible, especially not with candy corn at stake," he declared. "Now come on, Link, let's go."
The other boy began to walk down a street, not looking behind to see if Link was following. Frowning, Link jogged to catch up to him, looking up at his face.
"How'd you know my name?" he demanded.
"What, Link? They're all Link. I'm Link. It gets pretty confusing trying to remember which Link is what Link, trust me. Though some of them I find very bothersome, so I don't talk to them and therefore don't need to bother remembering who they are or what damn era they saved," he said cheerfully.
"Bothersome, eh?"
"Yeah. I would have said something more vulgar but my wife and I like to have battles of wit and vocabulary," the other Link told him. "Not that bothersome is an impressive vocabulary word. It's just not commonly used."
"You have a wife?" Link asked, shocked. This boy couldn't be more than two or three years older than him.
"You think I don't? I'm plenty attractive, as well as witty, charming, brave, dashing, and so many other good words. Such as modest," he said with a boyish grin, ducking into an alley. "But yeah, I do, and she's one hell of a woman."
"How old are you?" Link questioned.
"It's not polite to ask a woman their age! Only joking. And I think I'm..." he trailed off, counting on his fingers "Two-thousand something? I lost track after like one-thousand nine-hundred and ninety-three."
"Wow, you look good. Do you moisturize?" Link teased, beginning to feel a little more comfortable with this other Hero.
"Twice a day, once at night and right when I wake up. Can't let the wrinkles get to me! But actually, I can appear any way I want to. I could look two-thousand, or I could look four. Most of us like to look the age we were when were were Heroes, though."
"That's pretty cool. Have you ever looked at yourself as a two-thousand year old man?"
"As a matter of fact, I did yesterday, and my reflection scared me so bad I almost wet myself. Two-thousand year olds kind of look like walnuts with eyes," he told him.
Link smiled. "That's a disturbing image."
"Well, someone else looking like a humanoid walnut would actually be kind of funny. But not me. My skin type can't really pull off the 'shrunken head' look."
"Really? You strike me as the kind of person that can pull off anything. I mean, you're working that green man-dress."
He grimaced. "Don't even get me started on the man-dress. I have an entire rant about the man-dress."
They fell into a comfortable silence as Link followed his predecessor through the gleaming white streets of the Triumphant city. Everything here seemed to shimmer and glow, everything from the leaves on the trees to the doorknobs. It almost reminded him of Domain, but Domain was full of blue, purple, and people, unlike the Triumphant city, which was devoid of both color and human activity.
He wondered where all the other Heroes were. How many other Links were there? Could there really be thousands upon thousands of previous Heroes, or were there only a select handful, born once every few millennia? He had always assumed it was the latter, as you only heard a little bit about a few Heroes, the ones considered to be the greatest of the great. The Hero of Time, the Hero of Twilight, he had heard a bit about a Hero of Surface or Skies, and the Hero of Winds.
But what if there were hundreds of Heroes whose tales had faded in time, forcing them back in obscurity? What if he were doomed to suffer that eternal burden of people forgetting that he existed?
No. He wouldn't let that happen. His dimidium was heading into war now, and he vowed to make his name remembered.
They continued to walk, and Link was about to make a snide remark about the other Link's sense of direction, when a soft, musical voice cut him off.
"Link? Is that you, you dirty rascal?"
Both Links turned to see a beautiful woman in a white dress standing a few feet away from them with her arms crossed. The other Hero's face lit up like the sun, while Link had to force himself to keep his mouth from hanging open. This woman was probably the most beautiful girl he had ever seen.
Her skin was clear and pale, her lips a soft rose, and her eyes a stormy gray blue. Pointed Hylian ears poked out from her rich golden-brown hair that hung past her shoulders.
"It is I, Link, the Dirty Rascal. What ails thee, O lovely wife of mine?" he asked, walking over to her and sweeping her into a hug.
She giggled, once again reminding Link of Zelda. Which, he supposed, this woman was Zelda, just not his Zelda.
"For starters, you promised you'd be home an hour ago. We're due to have dinner with Midna, remember?"
Midna? Link's brow furrowed. Not his Midna, right? Was there another Midna as well?
"Oh, damn. Yeah, I remember. I just needed to help Squirt here, he's on a Trial... Oh, where are my manners?"
"What manners, farm-boy?" the woman teased lightly.
"Quiet, you. You're ruining my formal introduction. Other Link, Zelda. Zelda, Other Link," he introduced the two. The other Zelda stuck out her hand, which he took.
"Enchanted," she said with a radiant smile that made his stomach flip.
"Y-yeah, nice to meet you," he muttered.
"So I'm really sorry, Squirt, but I forgot that I'm meeting one of my dearest friends for dinner, and will be unable to accompany you any farther. However, if you just keep following this road, you'll reach where you're looking for. They live in the light green house at the very end of the street. And remember, I expect my candy corn," he teased, taking his wife's hand.
"Keep moving forward, green house, candy corn. Got it," Link relayed with a grin.
"Well, good luck then, and see you hopefully in the next seventy years or so! Just remember, don't do drugs, abstinence is key, and-"
"Oh please, Link, spare us all and stop running your mouth. Honestly, you're slowing him down, and you're making us later than we already are!" Zelda chided, smacking his shoulder playfully.
"Just giving you pearls, kid," the Hero told him with a wink. "Goodbye then."
"Bye."
And with that, the pair turned and walked down the pearlescent street hand-in-hand, leaving him alone once again. Link hated to be alone.
Heaving a sigh, he continued on his not-so-merry way down the road. He hoped the Link was right and the map was where he told him, he really just wanted to get out of this accursed Realm.
As he walked, the street beneath him began to shift from the pearly white to a beautiful blue lapis lazuli. The houses around him were now painted multitude of colors, and there were more spirits out and about. If he didn't know better, he would say it was exactly like being in a normal town in life.
Children played in their front yards, kicking balls around and playing cowboy with imaginary guns. Old women knitted on the front porches. Men and women walked down the streets, talking and greeting others as they went about their business.
It was almost surreal to see the normalcy of the dead. He never thought death would be like this, not even in his wildest dreams.
He came upon a sort of bustling town square, a fountain portraying the four goddesses in the center. Spirits moved about, shopping, laughing, and talking. He saw a few teenaged girl spirits huddled around the fountain, eating ice cream and no doubt gossiping. A few young boys were attempting skateboard tricks.
It was honestly like being back up in the world of the living, though he knew only the good got to come here. He knew where the bad went.
Continuing on his way, the green house the Hero had spoken came into view. It was a quaint little place, with meticulously planted flower boxes and a neatly trimmed lawn.
As he drew nearer, a lump formed in his throat. Painted on the door, just like back at home, was the symbol of Farore.
Oh goddesses, anyone but them, why them, why not anyone else oh Din oh Din!
With small steps and shaking hands, he stepped onto the porch, reaching out a trembling hand to knock on the door. Rapping lightly three times, he stepped away from the door, chewing his lip anxiously.
"Coming!" a familiar voice called from inside.
Oh Din anyone else please anyone else...
"Hel- Oh. Oh my."
It was her. He was standing in front of her. The same big green eyes, the same freckles, the same long blonde hair. She was a good deal shorter than he remembered. He was at least a foot and a half taller than her now. But it was her.
"M-mom?" he croaked, tears filling his eyes.
She was silent, then slowly reached up to brush some hair from his face.
"You've grown so much," she whispered, a tear trickling down her cheek.
"Amy? Amalthea, who is it?" a deeper voice called from inside the home. Oh Din oh Din please why them why why why-
His father came into view, his blue eyes widening significantly as he saw Link. There they were. His mother and father, his makuahine and his makua kane, the people who had haunted his dreams for ten years. Standing right in front of him, living happily, comfortably.
His father was the first to speak.
"Link?"
The word rolled off his tongue so familiarly. A wave of nostalgia washed over him, and his resolve came crashing down. Tears streamed down his face, and he ran into his parent's open arms, savoring their embrace.
They were cold, like the dead. He was crying and shivering in his parent's arms, in his dead parent's arms.
Why them why them they're so cold so cold why them!
"Oh Lincoln," his mother murmured. "My little boy, you've grown up. Let me see your face," she instructed gently, pulling away from the embrace and tilting his chin up.
"He has your good looks," his father said, wiping a tear and letting out a small chuckle.
"No, he looks like you did at this age. He has your eyes," his mother mumbled softly, cupping his face in her hands.
"M-makuahine, makau kane," Link stammered. "I'm so sorry it was my fault I'm so so sorry!"
His parents exchanged alarmed glances and looked back at him. His father took both of his hands in his and gripped them tightly, reassuringly.
"Link, this was in no way your fault. I don't know why you think it was, but it wasn't. We died because we love you, and we still do. We've been waiting for this time to come, just so we could see you one more time," his father told him gently.
It was still his fault, all his fault and it would always be his fault, oh Din, oh Din why
With trembling fingers, his mother drew a piece of folded parchment from her dress.
"How is your sister? Is she safe?" she asked, clasping her hands over the map piece.
"I-I don't kn-know. The map will lead me t-to her," he said.
His mother nodded solemnly. "I see."
"Link, we are so proud of you," his father whispered, drawing him into another tight hug.
So cold so cold his fault so cold
"When you take this map, you need to run. You need to run as fast as you can and leave, because every spirit, including us, will turn against you and run after you in an attempt to keep you from leaving," his mother warned.
"You can't let that happen, paki, not when there's so much at stake," his father said gravely. "You need to get to your sister and make sure she's safe."
"But you-"
His mother cut him off.
"Link, we'll be here. We're fine now. And we'll be with you. We always have been," she said with a sad smile.
"You need to go now, my boy. The more time you waste, the more the world is plunged into the inevitable darkness. Don't worry about us. We'll see you again someday."
Again someday. He'd see them again someday.
Nodding dumbly, he reached forward to hug them again, thankful for their touch, even if they were dead and they were cold- so cold, they're so cold oh Din- they were still his mother and father.
"O-okay."
He pulled away from the hug, then did one of the hardest things he had ever done in his life.
He took the map from his mother, and then he turned and ran.
The sky turned from the bland gray to a threatening, menacing red in a matter of seconds. Everything seemed to turn red, and the Realm pulsed and throbbed like a heartbeat, increasing as his adrenaline did. Already he could see spirits coming, once happy people, now red-eyed demons, hissing at him and reaching for him, grabbing at him as he passed.
He didn't look back. He didn't want to see them like this. It would destroy him.
He ran. And he ran. Panting and gasping, he ran out of the streets of the good spirits, passing the Triumphant city. No Heroes chased after him. He didn't expect them to.
He ran and ran, the willing the world to twist around him, until he was in the Fields of Gray again. Only the Fields were red now, the sky crimson and the grass looking like blood-stained knives.
Spirits were coming from all directions, their hisses blending into one, their arms all outstretched. They encircled him, closing in from all sides.
Link didn't stop. Thinking quickly, he willed the Realm to bend again, this time making the ground beneath him sink like a trampoline, and fling him up up up and over the mass of spirits. Flailing through the air, the ground came rushing at him fast. He landed with a thud, yet he felt no pain, as he was a spirit himself.
His body was in view now, only a little bit ahead. The spirits were behind him, he knew. He could hear them hissing.
He scrambled to his feet, panting heavily, and ran more. This was the home-stretch, the final leg. Spirits were once again closing in all around him, but it did not matter. His body was right there, so close to him.
And there was no better feeling than the feeling of relief he felt when his hand touched his skin, and his spirit reconnected to his body. Heart pumped blood again, lungs breathed air again, and the Realm of the Dead and the vicious spirits melted away around him, fading into a blinding white light.
He had done it. He had passed his Trial.
0o0o0o0o0o0o
Fi stood stationed at her spot in the graveyard, waiting. She hadn't moved since Link had descended into the Realm of the Dead an hour ago. She had simply stood there, reading headstones and noting how certain clouds looked like Kikwis.
Suddenly, the ground glowed with purple light. Snapping back to attention, Fi watched as the purple bud of magic resurfaced and began to unfurl, revealing a very "distressed" looking Link.
He immediately fell to his knees, his eyes glassy, his gaze fixed straight ahead.
"Link?" she asked tentatively. "Link are you alright?"
He did not respond. He only continued to stare in front of him, showing no sign of any "emotion" at all. He looked like her.
After a moment of this trauma-induced silence, he seemed to snap back into reality, standing up without a word. Then, turning to her, he spoke.
"You think of something happy."
"What?" she asked, wondering whatever he could mean.
"You asked me how to smile. You think of something happy, and it just happens."
Those words would stick with Fi for a long time.
Oh my. That's a long one, and a bit of a doozy! Sorry for the wait, I feel horrible! And I apologize for any mistakes, most of this was written in a feverish state, so if you find any errors, tell me please. Reviews would be much appreciated!