Chapter 19
Deep in the Temple of Time, in the library, the Sage of Time quietly carried on after the three would be intruders entered the Sacred Realm. Under the circumstances, it seemed the best way to carry out the king's instructions to help the brothers, who already knew everything they needed to, was to stay out of their way. So, he did just that. The addition of the Lady's daughter (who else could she be?) surprised him, but not apparently them, so, he took no action. Sometimes, more often then not he had observed, no action was the best action to take.
He had been at an ancient wooden reading desk, several ancient, leather bound volumes stacked around it, all of them written on the process of "ascension," the transformation from mortal to divine. It was beginning to frustrate him no end as he tried to learn anything he could which might be of use to his majesty and the Lady, but there was little written on the subject that he was not already aware of, even in the bound volumes written by the hand of Din herself ten thousand years ago. It seems the process mystified even those who had undergone it. And if that was so, how could he possibly understand it enough to be of help to the Lady?
"Interesting reading?" Came a voice from behind him. It was not a voice he had heard often in his own life, but he remembered it all the same from the few times he had as he looked up from his book, and twisted slowly around. What he saw was the form of a younger man in a green tunic and long cap. The younger man glowed with a golden light and power as he stood there.
"Unfortunately no, my Lord." He told the Hero with some regret. "I can't seem to find anything to help my Lady with her circumstances." It didn't surprise him to see the Hero restored. His majesty had already informed the Sage of the Hero's return to his proper place. "How may I serve you?" He asked him.
"Of all the Sages in Hyrule, your mind alone is protected from being instantly open to all the ascended because of this Temple's unique protections. Were you aware of this?" The Hero asked him.
"To be truthful, I was not. It is rare any of the gods come to visit me in my solitude. Even my own." He said, a mild rebuke lying under the surface of the words. "This is the first I have heard of it."
"I have need of that to continue for the time being." The Hero continued. "All is not right with the Others, and I need to understand why. Farore and Nayru are intentionally blocking the Lady Hylia's ability to ascend for no reason. I have looked into the mind and heart of her mortal form, and she has met the criteria they laid down. The restrictions should have been lifted, and they have not."
"That is disturbing news, my Lord." The Sage responded gravely. "And a heavy accusation for one so recently returned to the gods."
"One I do not make lightly, if that is your implication, Sage." The Hero told him sharply. "This is my wife I am speaking of." His irritation could be felt intensely rolling off of him like waves.
Mr. Impaz was silent at his rebuke. It would accomplish nothing to provoke the Hero further, he reasoned.
"I need to know what has happened to Din." The Hero continued after a short silence.
"I was not aware that anything had happened to the goddess." Mr. Impaz replied in confusion. "What could happen to her?" He asked with real concern.
"From what I've been able to gather, the only goddesses anyone has dealt with for decades have been Nayru and Farore." The Hero explained further. "Doesn't that seem strange to you?" He asked. "Only two of the three have been seen by mortals."
"In all honesty, it seems strange to me when even one is seen by a mortal. And the only mortals who have seen those two are those who are directly related to them. Din is not, as I understand it. Why would she reveal herself to your children?" Mr. Impaz reasoned.
"Sound reasoning, except not even her own Sage has had any contact with her since not long after we were reborn. Doesn't that seem strange to you, Sage?" The Hero countered. "Hylia has had no contact with you because she has been mortal for almost sixty three years and lies dying in a hospital bed in Castleton. The Three never act unless all are in agreement, and have rarely if ever appeared without all three present. So, I ask again; where is Din?"
It was a disturbing observation the Hero had made, and Mr. Impaz turned inwards to see through the recent past to determine if there was an answer to the god's question to be found among the currents of time. It could have been seconds, or it could have been hours, but when he returned to himself, the Hero was still standing there waiting for an answer.
"I do not know, my Lord." He responded in fear, his face white as ash. "You are right. She has not been present anywhere in Hyrule for the last sixty years, and I can see no point in history which would explain it. It is as though she has just vanished."
"And there is one less powerful ascended being to govern the stability of our world." The Hero concluded. "What effect would that have?"
"You would know the answer to that better than I, my Lord." Mr. Impaz protested.
"Indulge me." He said flatly.
The Sage of Time tried to compose himself in the face of an irritated and demanding heroic divinity and recall everything he knew about the unique relationship between the gods and their world. "It would begin to throw our world out of balance, my Lord. Fundamentally, wisdom and courage are pointless without the power to apply them. Wisdom can turn to overthinking and thus to foolishness without the power to put it into action. Courage becomes merely wishful thinking but does nothing. Water and green life must be countered with fire so as not to destroy everything in flood or overgrowth. The balance must be maintained or our world will become unraveled."
"And no one has seen her for over sixty years." The Hero said pensively. He then changed the subject, "I presume my children have entered the Sacred Realm?" He asked.
"Yes, my Lord. I was instructed by his majesty to assist them in the best way I could. As there was little more that I could tell them that your sons were not already familiar with about their pursuit, it seemed best that I choose to remain out of their way and permit their unrestricted access to this temple in order to carry out his majesty's instruction. So I did." The sage told him.
"And so they received no warning about the trials of the Silent Realms?" The Hero's irritation grew to anger with the Sage as his eyes blazed red. "You allowed them entry without warning them of the tests?"
"I assumed they already knew!" The Sage protested innocently. "And the spirit of the Master Sword was in communication with your daughter once she pulled the sword from the pedestal I am certain. They will come to no harm whether or not they succeed. You of all people know this to be true!"
"That is debatable. Harm comes in many forms, Sage." The Hero argued. "And it would be best if they did succeed."
"If I may ask a question, my Lord?" The Sage questioned.
"Yes, go ahead." The Hero responded.
"If there is a 'block' where my Lady is concerned, why not just remove it yourself?" He asked sincerely. There was much he didn't understand about any of this. Things were so much simpler when he was a mere secretary in his princess's office in the palace and he didn't have to contend with such things as were so far beyond his understanding.
The Hero studied Mr. Impaz for a minute before he answered. The man was nothing but sincere in his question, and it was a reasonable observation. "Because I can't yet take the chance of the Others collectively forcing her back to mortality permanently until I understand exactly what's happening and why. If my children succeed with the Triforce, then the Others have no choice but to accept her ascension."
"I see." The Sage responded. He then sighed as he took his eyeglasses off and used a corner of his robes to clean them, gathering his thoughts to respond. It was a movement which reminded the Hero more of the office secretary the man had been formerly than the Sage he was now. When he put them back on his face, he finally responded, "I ask for your forgiveness, my Lord. I may have the abilities of my predecessors, but not their experience and wisdom in understand the 'politics' among the divine. I saw much of it among the ministers of parliament and government officials when I still worked in the Lady's office as her secretary. I came to understand that it was part of the 'game' of governance. I suppose it shouldn't surprise me that there are such things among the gods as well, but it does. My first loyalty is to my Lady. It was when she was my princess, and it still is now that she is my goddess. My first concern with all of this must be her will, and barring that what is best for her. It was my mistake to lose sight of that in favor of what the 'Others', as you have called them, might desire or wish, and it was especially my mistake that anyone could somehow love my Lady or have her interests more at heart than you." He sighed again sadly. "I'm afraid I allowed my 'Castleton' prejudice against your mortal form to cloud my judgment about you and your children where my Lady was concerned. When you first married her, all I saw was the rural boy from Ordon marrying a princess too far above his station."
The Hero gazed at the Sage intently. He had already known the man's prejudice against him, even before he had ascended. The man hadn't hidden it very well. But he also knew that it too had been born of a sincere, avuncular concern for the former princess, and so he had let it go. He finally nodded to the Sage in acceptance of his apology.
"I have only had contact with one other like yourself, and that has been my predecessor, the Sage that was known as Impa. And that was within the last several weeks concerning yourself and my Lady. Her concern for the both of you was very real." The Sage told him further. "Otherwise, to my knowledge, no other deity has entered the Temple of Time since I was made its guardian, and though, unlike his majesty's tenure, I am able to leave the Temple, I rarely do. I would know if the Door of Time had been opened and used, even by a goddess. I can say with reasonable certainty that if Din came here, she left the same way she came without making me aware of her presence."
The Hero seemed to consider this and then he asked, "You said Impa was concerned about the two of us?"
"Yes, my Lord. It was my impression that she too sincerely wanted the two of you to succeed in returning to your proper realm, and wanted herself to assist in any way she could, but she was also bound to follow the will of the Three." Mr. Impaz told him. "She may be an ally if you are willing to trust her."
"As may be one other who is here, if I can contact him again safely." The Hero nodded again thoughtfully.
"You speak of Daniel Jackson." The Sage said matter of factly. "You know for certain that he is here then?"
"I do. He assisted me by removing the block which had been placed on me." The Hero told him truthfully. "He is another whose ascension I must protect by not revealing myself to the Three just yet."
"I understand, my Lord. I of course will keep his presence here to myself as much as I am able. Of course, if another goddess enters this Temple, I cannot keep them from knowing what I know, but I will endeavor to remain shielded in the Temple until this trouble is over." Mr. Impaz assured him. "I have supplies in my residence to keep me for another month if necessary."
"Not a month, Sage. Hylia doesn't have a month." The Hero reminded him. "We have two and a half weeks at best."
"I obey you as I would her, my Lord. What is your command?" The Sage responded.
Why the doorway between worlds continued to appear on a moving train in this world, the short, black hooded figure would never know. It was the only world where the doorway wasn't fixed in what should have been a stationary location. He supposed, however, that this was better than him appearing on the tracks in front of the moving train.
If anyone saw him appear, no one on the passenger car appeared to notice. That was a good thing. It meant his cloaking spell was still in place as he took in his surroundings to get his bearings. The car was divided up into separate compartments with windows set into the doors which opened up onto the main passage running the length of the rail car. The car seemed a bit newer than the last one he had appeared in, with more electronics and digital displays visible throughout. It also seemed a bit quieter too.
"Must be a newer design." He said to himself in his high voice as he looked around. Noticing that one of the compartments was empty of passengers, he quietly made his way over to the sliding door and slipped inside to sit down on the royal blue cushioned bench. Through the glass window, the open grasslands of the region the locals called 'Hyrule Field' sped by rapidly. This train seemed to be moving much faster than the last one too. He wondered if it was heading to the same destination as well, or if it was a different train altogether.
"Arrival at Castleton Grand Central Station in five minutes." A pleasant sounding female voice announced from speakers in the compartment. "Thank you for choosing Royal Hyrule High Speed Rail Lines transnational service from Nabooru City in the Republic of Hyrule to Castleton by way of Mido Seaport. Please enjoy your time in the United Kingdom of Hyrule."
"Well, that answers that question." He said to the empty compartment.
He had been told many years before by Yen Sid, his old keyblade mentor and master, that time moved at different rates inconsistently between the worlds to which the keyblades could travel. So, while it had been a matter of months for him since last he had laid eyes on the Hyrule countryside, he wasn't certain as to how much time had passed here, or what he would find. The last time he had been here, it seemed like little if any time had passed by the time he returned to his own kingdom, and he had been in Hyrule for weeks. Looking at the sleek, computerized interior of the rail car, and the speed at which it was traveling, he guessed it had been many years.
The truth was, he wasn't entirely certain why he had returned to Hyrule except for the mysterious, red haired woman that had appeared at the Mysterious Tower to speak with Yen Sid shortly after his own return. He wouldn't have even known of her arrival except he had visited there himself shortly after his return to his own Magic Kingdom to inquire further from the aged sorcerer about the things he had learned about the nature of the true Kingdom Hearts and the original Chi-Blade which had been long thought destroyed. It had been something of a shock to him to find that they were in fact both intact in the unique world he now found himself in, though they had very nearly been lost except for the "divine" intervention of a very special princess of heart.
The last place he had seen her and the hero he had come to know and respect was in the capital city, Castleton. It was the only place he knew to start looking for more answers to the questions which had been raised by the appearance of the attractive, passionate "lady in red." He had come to think of her with that name, although she had been introduced to him with the more mundane name of "Din." Of her, his former mentor only said that she was "a friend from his youth" from before the keyblade war. Mickey Mouse had no idea that Yen Sid was that old, much less how he was that old.
He had not been privy to their full conversation in Yen Sid's lab, as he had only emerged into the Mysterious Tower from the doorway between worlds when they seemed to be finished for the day. He had only just walked in to find the gray bearded, stern sorcerer in his bright blue robes and hat which pulsed with images of a star filled galaxy in a serious conversation with the lady in red. The tone of their voices told him that it was a discussion between equals, colleague to colleague. That alone had blown Mickey's mind. He hadn't ever imagined there to be anyone who could address Yen Sid as an equal.
He had only caught enough of what was said to know that she had been there since he himself had returned, and someone's heart had been darkened, perhaps even stolen, by Xehanort's use of the true Chi-blade. Mickey knew that only one person in Hyrule had been stabbed through the heart with the Master Sword by Xehanort, and he had died. He knew this because he had been there when it happened, and the victim, a great man he hadn't had the privilege to know, didn't survive. Mickey had been there for the Hylian King's funeral.
Din couldn't seem to understand how a keyblade could be used in such a fashion, something about she "never designed it to do that."
"We have been studying the keyblades and all they are capable of ever since Demise caused the great war." Had been Yen Sid's response. "In the time since the schism between the worlds, the keyblade masters learned to do things with them through the power of belief that you never dreamed were possible in all of your research." He had then let out a sad sigh, "Not all of it, however, was put to the use of good."
"I saw what the evil man did to his heart right before he died. The splinter of dark energy which infected it." The fiery woman had told him. "How was that possible?"
Din had the build and grace of a dancer, and wore billowing white pants, of the kind he had seen his friend Aladdin from Agrabah wear, tied at a thin, athletic waist with a bright red sash. Her feet were bare, as was her upper body except for a purplish brassier tied by strings which only just covered and held her shapely breasts in place. Mickey felt forced to avert his eyes, blushing the first time he had come upon her because of it. Her bright red and orange hair seemed to flicker like flames as she moved her body expressively when she spoke. She pulsed with a power and energy that Mickey had encountered only rarely, and never from a mortal anyone would consider "normal." She was a woman Mickey wouldn't soon forget.
"If these worlds we chose to study have taught us anything, it was the relationship between the heart and reality. The keyblades were meant to open the doors between worlds, or to seal them." Yen Sid replied. "Refresh my memory, didn't your research lead to the discovery that the 'heart' of a sentient being directly influenced the reality that being experienced?"
"You know it was." She replied, hands on her hips.
"Well, we took that research further and discovered that the heart of a being, the emotions, mind and imagination, don't just influence the world around them. There's an inverse, reciprocal relationship between the two so that the one actually creates the other. It's similar to the relationship between a sub atomic particle and a singularity. The relationship is more pronounced in some worlds and realities than it is in others, like Hyrule or the Magic Kingdom for example, but it exists nonetheless." Yen Sid had told her.
"And because a heart and the world it creates follow the same principles," Din followed his reasoning, "a keyblade can be used to open or seal a heart as well thus allowing energy to pass into it like a singularity allows energy to pass through it. Damn." She exclaimed. "I should have foreseen that in my calculations long ago."
"There is much we should have foreseen, but didn't, my dear. The time for regrets is long, long passed" The sorcerer responded. "We can only deal with what is, not what once was." There was a sad smile on the aged man's face as he gently placed his hand over hers on the surface of his desk.
"How unfortunate that is true." She agreed sincerely, smiling back. "But fate chose different paths and responsibilities for us. Yours is watching over the worlds from this tower. Mine and my sisters' is the guardianship of the Kingdom's Heart. This was the price for our interference in things that were beyond our understanding at the time." She then added in reflection. "The price for a mortal trying gain the power and understanding of a god is to be condemned to the responsibility of one for eternity, envying the quiet, normal life of mortals. The irony of it."
"So it is, my dear. So it is." Yen Sid agreed. "Speaking of which, you must return to Hyrule soon. The Others won't be able to maintain the Kingdom's Heart without you for very long."
"It was good to see you one more time, my love. I wish it could have been for longer." She said, sincere regret in her voice.
"As do I, my dear. As do I." Yen Sid told her. Then, it looked like a terrible, dark thought had struck his mind. "What happened to this man? The one in whom the splinter of darkness entered?" He asked her.
"As I said. He died. It was tragic. He was a good man." She replied.
"And his shade?" Yen Sid asked. "Was it normal?"
"I don't know. Once the soul leaves the body it is out of our sight. We must rely on the guardian of Shadow's mind to keep us informed. Why?" She asked. "What more could possibly happen to him in the Shadow Realm?"
Yen Sid became pensive. "It may be nothing of concern." He finally said. "I will consult with another who is more familiar with the shades than I am. You should return now. I will contact you if what I learn is of importance."
But Mickey could tell from his old mentor's expression that it wasn't as easily dismissed as that. The darkness which entered a heart didn't just go away, he knew. It had to be fought against or else it would grow and consume the heart. At least that's how it worked with the living. But with the dead? And a shade from a race that was naturally adept at magic? The fur stood up on the back of Mickey's head just thinking about the kind of "heartless" that might be produced as he watched the landscape change from countryside to urban sprawl and then metropolitan center as the train slowed down gradually to come to a stop in the Castleton station.
Even dead, Xehanort was still causing pain and terror to innocent people, Mickey decided as he exited the compartment for the exit doors. That was why the keyblade wielding mouse had come back to Hyrule. His mission was unknowingly left unfinished.