Chapter 54 - Temple of Spirit II
Link didn't think he'd ever see tiles rising up out of the floor to go flying at him, but this Temple seemed to have a vendetta against him in that arena. Another problem he had were the suits of armor. Not all of them, but most of them seemed to want to come to life and attack him, slowing his progress down a good bit. One of them, a particularly large one with a huge battle axe, gave Link enough trouble that Link had to drink some of the potion he'd brought along with himself afterwards in order to regain his strength more quickly before he moved on.
Finding himself winded, on the floor after the engaging fight with the enormously strong Iron Knuckle, Link took just a moment to gather his breath, standing from where he'd been on his knees as the potion refreshed him. One thing he'd found to be useful in this Temple was the boomerang he'd gotten for his birthday. It had helped him with various sand entities that had risen up from broken tiles in the floors and the orbs they liked to shoot out at him when he was too preoccupied with a bigger, stronger enemies to take care of them directly.
Looking about the room quietly, he found a key where the suit of armor had initially been standing, and he walked over to it, pulling it up from the floor, inspecting the golden jeweled item quietly. Thankfully he could unlock a previous door he'd passed earlier, and hopefully make it up to the second level of the Temple now instead of residing back and forth between the third, fourth, and first levels.
More specifically, the walkway where he'd seen his shadow residing when he'd first entered.
Heading back that way, walking up the set of spiral stairs he'd found in the left wing of the Temple that led to the area he'd suspected the walkway to be locked behind, stopping at the locked and chained door at the top, Link pulled the key out of his pouch and inserted it before turning it. When he did, the chains began to fall away and he took the knob into his hand and twisted it, slowly and quietly pushing the door to.
As he suspected, the room beyond it was the second level of the entryway, now making his way across the balcony where his mimicry had been before. Realizing this, Link felt more determination rushing through him, knowing he was getting closer to his destination and ultimately to Zelda.
On the other side of the walkway and beyond the door that Dark Link had disappeared through a while beforehand waited what Link would call a room full of irony - a chamber of mirrors. They were all shapes and sizes, some lining walls, others standing on two legs, set next to each other to form a wall of their own, making a maze and reflecting his form as he moved past them. Large candelabra's at the top of the room made of silver gave a good amount of light to the chamber, since it was reflected back and forth between each mirror, giving the room a kind of ethereal, silver glint in feel.
Reaching up and gripping the hilt of his sword out of wariness alone that something could happen despite the beauty that the room portrayed, Link started moving slowly through the maze. After all, Dark Link had been birthed from a cursed mirror that Link had walked through in order to enter the Lost Woods, and if one of these mirrors created a second mimicry of him, he was going to get really angry.
Making his way through the maze of mirrors, Link stepped carefully and watched the reflections quietly. The good thing was that he could see all sides of himself at all times with so many mirrors surrounding him. The bad thing was that with so much movement, it would be hard to detect a true source of danger should a threat come at him. He kept that in mind while he walked.
It wasn't long before he heard a soft snicker, and recognizing the sound of his own voice, he sighed out his breath quietly. The dome shaped roof of the chamber made the sound echo a slight bit, oddly enough repeating itself like many of the mirrors around him repeated what they were showing. Rounding a corner, slowly looking the mirrors over, he saw dark half in more than one of them, rushing toward him without any kind of hesitation. The direction appeared to be from behind, so Link looked back briefly to make sure he was right, then ahead again, but when he did, the mimicry was gone.
Hearing the amused laugh, Link narrowed his brows and said, "Come out and show yourself. Stop playing around."
"Just look in a mirror and you'll see me," was the reply.
Grumbling, Link gave the same type of line, "I look a lot better than you do, it'll confuse me."
More laughter followed, and Link drew his sword out just incase he needed it, his shield on his right arm. Stepping through the maze again, he saw movement and he turned in the direction it had come from only to see that it was gone, and the only solace Link got was that if his shadow was here, then he wasn't harming Zelda.
"I'm surprised you got up here so fast. I figured that tin can might've given you more of a problem than that."
He was talking about Iron Knuckles, Link knew as much, replying, "He did hit hard if that's what you're hoping for, but not hard enough."
"Too bad," the voice came from closer to Link now, and Link looked back, seeing in three mirrors a different reflection rushing him, adding the words, "that's exactly what I was hoping for."
Link spun around quickly and put up his shield as Dark Link's Master Sword came down onto it from behind, and Link shoved him back with a grunt of effort, swinging his own blade to the side and meeting it against his enemies with a loud metal clash. The blades pressed against one another, and Link sneered out, "What do you know, you came out for once."
Dark Link pushed his sword back, and then moved toward him with a swing that Link met, the song their blades played echoing like their words had before while Dark Link responded, "Too bad for you, isn't it?"
Their reflections danced around them as they moved about each other, blows equally matched in strength and speed, their evasions just as quick and precise. Each sword was like a mirror in itself, reflecting the blow its opposite made, sparks flying whenever the metal clashed.
As if to prove himself right, Link had to step back when his opponent got the upper hand, his blade flying up past Link's chest vertically, and the movement left Dark Link's side open, which Link went for. The shadow brought up his shield though, blocking the blow, then countered, making Link have to raise his own. With their blades against each others shields, blue eyes meeting red, holding the position for a moment as they struggled for dominancy, the both of them finally managing after a moment of glaring at one another to break the stalemate off by pushing their shields back evenly.
The movement caused them both to stumble back and away from one another. Breathing heavily, Link heard the question, "Why don't you just give up already? You're really starting to annoy me."
Pushing himself up onto his feet, drawing up his blade again, Link turned a narrowed gaze at the mimicry before he became the aggressor, rushing at Dark Link with the yelled words, "I was here first!"
Their swords clashed again, Link allowing his anger and determination to take over him for a moment, actually moving faster than Dark Link was able to keep up with due to the rush to defend himself. With quickly placed attacks from the left, then the right, he backed the mimicry up toward a mirror before his sword was stopped against a shield. This left Dark Link open, and balling his right fist, Link drew it up and slammed it into Dark Link's cheek as hard as he possibly could.
With a good bit of satisfaction, Link watched his copy fall to the side, and he didn't stop, quickly flipping his sword over in his hand to stab it down into the evil bastard's back. As the blade cut through the air, Dark Link rolled to his side quickly, the sword embedding itself into the stone floor next to him, and without hesitation he drew up his boot, kicking it into Link's shoulder, knocking the Hylian sideways.
Link forced himself to hang onto his sword as he was shoved so hard, and he crashed headfirst into a mirror, the glass slicing through the skin of his left temple, his windsock falling from his crown of blonde hair and landing on the floor nearby, stained with blood. Dazed for the moment, he only barely noticed Dark Link standing up and moving toward him, weapon drawn and ready. The movement was quick, and Link rolled out of the way before the sword could stab him, hearing more of the mirror breaking from being impaled behind him.
Coming to from his roll, Link looked back to see his clone turning toward him after jerking his sword from the area he'd impaled it at in the mirror, moving quickly to bring his sword around with a quick swipe to his enemy's head. As he did, Link held up his shield on his right arm, ignoring the clashing sound it made, and in his right hand, which he'd just drawn from the floor in the roll he'd performed to escape impalement, was the sharp tipped shard of a mirror. Holding his shield up to protect himself caused the tip of the shard to point at his enemy in his right hand, putting Link at the perfect position.
With a quick scrape of the metal blade Dark Link wielded across his shield, Link pushed himself forward and thrust his arm into Dark Link as hard as he could.
The shard went into Dark Link's abdomen, and the mimicry doubled forward on it. His eyes started glowing red, staring down at Link, who pulled his arm back roughly and then stabbed the shard forward again. The second strike hit the mimicry in his lower chest at his ribs. Dark Link couldn't move for a moment with the pain, and while they stood there, Link told him, "There's only one good thing about you looking like me." He pushed on the copy, leaving the shard where it was impaling him and stood up straight as black blood dribbled out of the mimicry's mouth.
Knowing this was a good chance, Link finished his statement as pushed himself forward, "I can see how bad it really hurts!," and, with a loud yell of anger, he moved to knock his shadow over and thrust his sword down into his chest.
Just before he could impale his enemy however, just as he was about to reach him, Dark Link held out his hand quickly and a black orb of magic formed and slammed into Link's chest, knocking him backwards across the room. Link's yell as he flew backwards was ended abruptly when his back crashed into a mirror, breaking it to pieces while he fell to the floor, and he groaned when his body stilled. His head and his back hurt now, but the worst pain came when he felt a blade stabbing down into his chest.
His eyes squeezed shut and his teeth clenched, Dark Link standing above him with his own injuries to tend to, releasing the hilt of the Master Sword replica he'd thrust into Link before falling to the side in a stumble. Gripping the shard sticking out of him into his hand, he tugged it out of his lower chest with a grunt before he threw the black bloodstained weapon to the ground, the clattering sounding while he glanced toward Link.
Seeing Link there, impaled on his blade, he made a weak grin, his breathing labored while he said, "You were here first...but I'll be here last."
Link stared at him, his blue eyes cold and icy, his lips parted for air which he felt he could barely get as blood dribbled from his mouth. He couldn't make a response to the words, his hand slipping down from where it had grabbed the blade jutting through his chest now, landing on the floor with a soft thud, and his head fell to the right side. Blood rolled down his face from his left temple, dripping through the air and down onto the back of his shield.
It was all over.
Dark Link watched with a satisfaction that made him laugh loudly. As much as his side hurt while he did so, the two punctures in his body bleeding profusely, he just continued on while he pushed himself up and stumbled away, leaving a bloody hand print on a mirror as he passed it on the way out of the chamber, coming to a stop when something caught his attention.
Glancing down, he saw Link's windsock and slowly reached for it, pulling it up from the floor. Too bad, he had to go tell Zelda now that her beloved had fallen. With that thought in mind, Dark Link turned and left Link's body laying there in the room to grow cold with his sword still embedded in Link's chest.
---
Zelda was still sitting where she'd been, quietly thinking. A chill had seem to envelope the room suddenly. Something must have been happening somewhere. She couldn't imagine what, but she got the most innate feeling that it had to do with Link.
Her blood felt frigid. She knew something was terribly wrong, and she just didn't want to admit it to herself. Sitting back quietly, she continued waiting for some type of absolution, having made up her mind over her considerations, and wondered if the next Link she saw would be good or evil. She could only hope good, but she got the feeling that just wouldn't be.
As it turned out, she was right.
The doors to the large chamber opened, and she looked up. When she did, she spied Dark Link walking slowly into the room, favoring his side and stumbling toward the dome she was concealed inside of. Apparently he'd been in a fight, and pushed herself up while she stared at him, watching the dome ripple as he stepped inside with her. His hand was covered in black blood, holding his side, and as she looked from the injury and to his face, she listened to his spoken words, "I have some bad news."
Zelda stepped back, watching as Dark Link pulled his opposite hand up and held out a green garment out toward her. She recognized it as Link's windsock, the sight causing her to gasp, moving forward to snatch it from his hand. He let her have it, lowering his arm again while she pulled it back to see that it was stained with blood.
As she stared at the clothe, his words hit her pointed ears, telling her, "I found him. Oddly enough, I didn't have anything to do with it like I thought I would have."
Zelda couldn't really listen to him in that moment. Dead? The word rang out in her mind, but she refused to believe it. She started shaking her head, tears streaming down her cheeks, yelling at Dark Link, "I don't believe you! If he's dead, then bring his body to me! I want to see it! Until then, I don't believe you!"
Her words ended on a sob, and taking a deep breath to try to calm herself down, she just couldn't because she somehow got the feeling that Dark Link wasn't lying, at least about him being dead anyway. She squeezed the hat tightly in her hands and pulled it to her face, uncaring if there was blood on it, crying harder than she ever had except when she was a child and thought Link had fallen to his death. She could smell Link's scent on it whenever she inhaled, and the scent just made it even worse, whimpering out that she didn't believe him over and over again.
Dark Link watched her, snorting over how she was acting, though he had to convince her now instead of waiting before his injuries got any worse, saying, "You know, it's not like you've lost him. You've still got me. Besides, if you want to see his body, just heal me and I'll be glad to bring it here for you."
Zelda slowly turned her face back toward him, her tear stained eyes staring both angrily as well as completely sadly at him. She still had him!? She couldn't even fathom the possibility, let alone imagine that her future would be saddled with the shadow standing before her now. He said he hadn't killed Link, but he was surprised that he hadn't, meaning he'd wanted to. And now he was asking her to heal him!?
She couldn't stop staring at him in disbelief, and she noticed something when she did. His sword was missing. The sight drew a chill from her very core, knowing that wherever Link was, it was with Dark Link's blade, and she reacted to the sight swiftly. Zelda used his weakness to her advantage and she pushed herself forward suddenly, moving toward him. As she did, her hands began to glow with a white magic to strengthen herself and she shoved him by planting her palms against his chest.
The result was a force of magic that knocked him through the barrier and onto the other side of it against the floor. Sliding to a stop, breathing heavily, Dark Link turned a sneered face at her and pushed himself forward again. Zelda stepped back with a defiant look on her face as he tried to walk back into the barrier once more, but it only shocked him and knocked him away, causing him to fall to the side.
"What!?" He yelled the word angrily as he looked back at the dome, wondering why he couldn't pass through it a second time. As he tried to figure it out, her words hit his ears solemnly.
"I took a lesson from Myriad. If you want to keep me sealed in here, then I shall stay sealed in here, my healing abilities with me. I will not aide you, and I will not go with you. If Link is dead, then I'll go with no one."
With those words spoken, Zelda watched as Dark Link pushed himself up, glaring at her, becoming angry, and he planted his hand against the dome with a swirl of dark energy against it, trying to bring it down. She took in a breath and continued to reinforce the barrier with her own power against his, making it stand strong even though it wavered between them, and when it wouldn't break, her enemy let a yell of enragement and jerked his arm away. Holding her head up to watch him carefully, she saw him stumbling to the floor.
He was going to bleed to death, she knew that, and as he'd landed on his knees, with lowly made grunts and groans of pain his skin began to turn black, the red glow of his eyes fully encompassing the sclera, turning him almost completely, except for the clothing he wore and the white locks of hair, into a shadow with nothing more than glowing red eyes.
He stumbled back to his feet, apparently very unhappy with the turn of events as he turned a chilling glare in her direction before he began leaving the room. Zelda knew he was going to look for some means of healing himself before he could pass into oblivion, and as the doors to the chamber shut a second time, leaving her alone once more, she finally let herself fall weakly to her knees. Clutching the windsock in her hands, she squeezed it tightly and said a prayer.
Please, she thought to herself, please be alive somehow, Link.
