Soft tunes echoed through the small chamber. Enora sat on the shore of the lake and hung her legs into the water. She was silently listening to the sounds with her eyes closed. This music brought back memories and she wondered where the memories came from. Heroes clad in green fighting monsters, princesses with golden hair summoning magic,...familiar scenes and yet Enora couldn't figure out where she'd seen such events before.
Relentlessly, Link practiced the fingering of the ocarina. At first the tunes were shaky and off-key, but it got better and better such that by now, the music was a delight to listen to.
The Zora was right. It wasn't difficult to handle the instrument. Link had quickly found pleasure in the sound he elicited from the ocarina.
"There is no specific song you have to play to reach the Daughter of the Goddesses. If the music comes from the heart, it is guaranteed to be the right one," explained the Zora. She gasped silently as her gaze fell on a spot behind Link, where the cave wall was covered with a golden shimmer. Neither Link nor Enora noticed.
v~v*v~v*v~v
"What do you mean, he got away?!" Furiously, the fake princess stared at the red-haired woman in front of her, who still wore the blood-red shimmering cape draped around her shoulders. "Didn't I tell you not to underestimate him?!"
"I didn't underestimate him. He got some unexpected help, that's all." The redhead rose and returned Zelda's gaze. "But it'll be much more exciting this way." A cunning grin played around her lips. "It will be my pleasure to tear him apart and watch the last bit of life leave his eyes."
With a sigh Zelda settled down on her throne. Several candles on a candelabra illuminated the hall and cast a faint glow out the window behind the throne, where darkness swallowed it. "Do you at least know what he is up to?"
"I thought he was looking for the ocarina," replied the redhead snappishly.
"...and I guess it's because he likes music so much." Furiously, Zelda turned to the candelabra and watched the flames dance. Her hand flattened the edge of a thick book that had clearly seen better days. The open page depicted a portrait of a beautiful woman. "At least we have a clue... right, Seymara?" Her fingernails dug into the picture and cut through the paper, leaving crevices in the image of the woman.
"Go and find him before he finds her! She might be dangerous for us!"
v~v*v~v*v~v
The water looked like liquid gold when a big wolf crossed the lake. Its paws barely touched the surface as he walked towards a group of three slumbering people.
Its glowing fur cast a soft light on the cave wall, leaving a glistening mist as the wolf carefully stepped over the blond Hylian and blue-haired girl.
Slowly it lowered its wet nose and touched the Zora carefully on her shoulder.
She muttered something in Ancient Hylian before she opened her eyes. When she noticed the animal she sat up quickly.
"Is it time already?" she whispered.
The wolf nodded as he turned around and walked back across the lake. Yawning, the Zora rose from her resting place and followed the animal to the opposite side of the room, where they both disappeared in a gap in the wall.
When she caught up with the wolf, he was sitting in front a hole that led from the plain outside of Castle Town directly to Lake Hylia. It was the exit of the tunnel.
He lashed his rod calmly as the gaze of his healthy eye rested on the Zora.
"You have done your task well, Sirelle," he approved. "Keep all this to yourself and hide among your own kind. When the time comes, she will find you."
The Zora nodded before she walked past the wolf.
"Take good care of the two", she said instead of a farewell before she jumped down the hole. In Lake Hylia, she swam against the current, towards Zora's Domain.
The wolf rose and also turned towards the hole. Its gaze wandered up the cliff face to the opening that was just outside Castle Town on the southern plain. With a small leap it landed on a rocky outcrop and followed the path upwards. All that remained was a slight golden shimmer that covered the ground and gradually faded away.
v~v*v~v*v~v
Drowsily Link opened his eyes as an uneasy sensation had woken him. As if someone was watching him.
He sat up yawning and took a look around. The lake glowed in a mild turquoise light.
His hair stand on end as he spotted someone lingered on the opposite bank, his back leaned against the wall, his arms crossed in front of his chest. Link knew the stranger's gaze rested solely on him, even though he could not see his face as the stranger's face was hidden by the darkness.
When the observer noticed that Link had woken up, he pushed himself away from the wall and turned around before slowly walking off into the darkness.
"Wait," the Ordonian shouted after him, leaped to his feet and followed him along the shore of the lake to the other side.
He quickly found the entrance to the passage that the person must have used to leave. He hurried along the narrow path as fast as the darkness would allow him.
Only when the path in front of him dropped steeply did he stop. He came to a halt abruptly a few centimetres from the edge of the abyss.
The stranger had disappeared.
While Link stood alone at the end of the path, he realized how foolish his action had been. It could have been a trap. He hadn't thought of that at first.
Thoughtfully, his eyes flitted upwards.
But maybe the stranger just wanted to show him the way, as Link was now almost at his destination. Somewhere up there must be the entrance to the Shrine of Eternity.
"Link?" Yawning, his partner stepped beside him. "Why did you just take off without me?"
"Pardon, Enora. I just thought there was someone...", muttered the Ordonian and tried to cover up his embarrassment. In his excitement he'd forgotten the girl.
"Where'd she go," said the girl.
Link figured who she meant and shook his head clueless. The Zora had disappeared. Maybe the stranger had... No! He shook his head vigorously. There was no blood to be seen and a fight would have been too noisy to stay unnoticed. Moreover, the person had not given him the impression to be his enemy. Something about him even seemed familiar to Link. 'Rubbish!' he said in his mind. Except for the silhouette, he hadn't seen much of the person. How would he know him?
"Let's pick up where we left off," he suggested, looking for a way to climb up.
Immediately his eyes fell on the exact same ledge the golden wolf had also taken some hours before.
His assumption quickly turned out to be correct when they climbed into the entrance to the cave they had been looking for and followed the tunnel to the room with the altar. Durethel's decaying smell struck them, but this time there was something else, too. Something comforting. It urged Link to move on.
The guardian shook his head impatiently as they entered the room and waved them over.
Unlike the previous times, he had already awoken from his rigidity.
"Have you got the ocarina?" he immediately addressed Link. The Hylian nodded and pulled the instrument from his pocket.
"Very well", the undead muttered and climbed towards Link over the altar and the three sacred stones that were still radiating their magical light. "Give it to me so I can open the shrine."
Reluctantly, the Ordonian kept the instrument out of reach of the decaying hands.
"You have to play a song," Enora explained succinctly, looking suspiciously at the monster.
Her companion nodded and Durethel stepped aside. "Hurry up, then."
Slowly Link put the instrument to his lips. At the same moment golden light filled the room. Like lightning flashing through the sky, a creature attacked teeth dug into his arm and hurled him away with a tremendous force that made any resistance futile. His back crashed against a stalagmite pressing the air out of his lungs. He slowly slid to the floor. The ocarina slid from his hand and rolled out of his field of vision. He could only hear the clatter when the instrument hit the ground.
"Link," Enora screamed and rushed to his side. Groaning, the Ordonian rubbed his back. He raised his head and saw a golden beast locked on Durethel's neck.
The guardian flailed around, trying to shake off the animal. His cries echoed from the walls. It was in vain. The golden beast did not loosen its grip.
Durethel's ax, which had lain before the altar a short time ago but was now in his bony hand, soared through the air and destroyed the ceiling. Boulders fell onto the fighting figures.
After a particularly hard blow, the weapon slipped out of the rotting fingers and whizzed through the air before it got stuck in the stalagmite just next to Link's head.
The Ordonian watched the fight petrified. The skin was peeled from Durethel's bones, where the golden wolf's - as Link finally realized – teeth tore the flesh apart.
The undead pulled the enemy from his back and nailed him to the ground. Gasping for breath, the wolf struggled to free itself.
"Not so easy..." the guard murmured and turned to Link. "Did you really think you could outwit me?!"
"What...?" The Ordonian slowly got to his feet. His back hurt, but he didn't want to show any weakness in front of the guardian. He could not suppress the feeling that he had fallen into a trap at last. "I wasn't trying to trick anyone!"
"LIAR," Durethel barked at him and hurled the wolf in his direction.
Link didn't dodge. Instead he tried to catch the wolf, but was jammed between the animal and the half destroyed stalagmite.
Panting, the golden one rose, didn't look at the Hylian even once, but immediately hurled himself on Durethel again.
"Link, do something," screamed Enora as the guardian struck again. The Ordonian cowered on the ground still panting. "Please", Enora cried and helped him up.
A gentle melody embraced his ears. The whole room was filled with the sweet tunes of an ocarina.
The fighters paused briefly. The face of the wolf was unchanged, but Durethel's face clearly showed his confusion.
Link took advantage of the moment when the two fighters were inattentive and quickly approached with his hand clutched around his sword. Durethel only noticed him when the blade was already whizzing through the air, separating the head from the body.
The guardian collapsed to the floor. Dead for good at last.
When the Ordonian turned around to look for the golden wolf, it had already disappeared.
"Link?" Enora gently pulled on his tunic and held the ocarina out to him. It was still intact. "You must play too," she urged him with a calm voice. Considering the situation her voice was definitely too calm for Link's taste.
Nevertheless, the young man nodded in agreement and sheathed his sword before taking the ocarina. He struggled to calm his breath.
Warily he blew into the instrument. When the first tune was played, the room trembled. A crack opened up behind the altar and grew larger and larger. Link joined in with the melody, which still filled the air and sounded louder and louder the farther the door opened.
Link did not stop playing even after the door had fully opened. He was too baffled by the light that streamed out of the shrine. Though, it did nut hurt his eyes.
In this very light was the person they had been looking for for so long and now he stood here and did not dare to enter the shrine.
Enora grabbed his arm and sought to drag him towards the entrance but the Hylian did not move.
A wave of magic flowed through the room as he finally started to move. Awe-struck, he lowered the ocarina, no longer daring to interrupt the melody with his own tunes.
The shrine was not looking like a shrine. It resembled a forest. Small plants grew between trees, which stood scattered on either side of the path. A crystal-clear stream rippled around the roots of the manifold plants.
Sparkling water gushed down a rock and flowed into the streams that traversed the whole room.
At the top of the rock sat a delicate person. She wore a long, dark blue skirt, which fell in soft folds over her tender legs and shimmered in a soft purple hue. The countless pearls with which it was adorned glittered in the light that streamed through the room from an invisible source.
Long, brown hair fell in soft curls down her back and over her shoulders.
With her eyes closed, the woman just sat there and played the melody that flowed through the whole room originating from her instrument - a silver ocarina.
The newcomers listened devoutly to the music.
Link didn't know how long he stood there, it could have been minutes or even hours, when he decided to address the person. She had obviously not noticed the guests yet.
The moment he set one foot on the ground to approach her, she opened her eyes.
The warm brown smiled at him as she put down her instrument.
They finally found who they were looking for!
Only one chapter left in the first ark and then we'll go in for some more action!
I have only two more chapters translated and only 8 more chapters fixed... I should get back to work on this story a little more A.S.A.P ^^; Otherwise I might have to move to monthly uploads... :/
Hope you enjoy!