The Legend of Zelda: Dreamweaver's Shield

by Light Onthemayo

After two years of searching, Captain Link and the valiant crew of the airship Island Symphony have found Obeeta, a massive island in the sky sporting a city-like landscape. What looks to be a simple visit in a quest to locate Irleen's people soon turns into one massive living nightmare as Obeeta's nights spring surprise after surprise on the crew of the Island Symphony.

23. Epiales, Ker, and the Algea

Chapter 23: Epiales, Ker, and the Algea

…

Well, Link had said that they were going back to the ship, but, at Cale's insistence, he allowed Cale and Irleen to look about the shelves for a few more moments in the hope that Irleen could find some books that she could study. It proved rather fruitless; only a few of the books on the lower level were in a language she understood, and the titles on the scrolls fooled her into thinking that the contents were also readable. Cale left carrying one book under his arm: a brief history of the island still written in a language she could understand.

They returned to the Island Symphony just as dusk was ending, forcing the crew to switch on the electric lamps built into the bulwark. Link dismissed the group so that they could get some sleep. As Cale and Line walked away, Leynne approached him.

"Report?" Link asked with an air of exhaustion, the day's walking catching up to him.

"All sound, Captain," Leynne replied. "The night shift hasn't repohted anything unusual. Except maybe watching Chief Sello lick one of his crates of liquoh."

"At least he's trying to keep the engine room clean," Irleen commented as she hovered a slow circle above Link's head.

"Misteh Randy made the same comment," Leynne said. He cleared his throat and continued, "Misteh Floweh mentioned that we might have anotheh Sky Line in the aih tonight."

"Yeah, we've… run into a snag," Link said. "The technoworks here won't let us produce another Sky Line. There's a large creature inhabiting the technoworks; the locals called it the 'Night'."

"Inhabiting the technowohks?" Leynne repeated. He glanced out at the island. "Could it be that this is the creatuh that had separated us from the island?"

"Without a doubt," Link said. "Bring Flower to my cabin; we have some things to go over."

A few minutes later, Link and Irleen were joined by Leynne and Flower. Link explained everything he could about the "dream" he had experienced, including Janni, the Night, his exploration of the technoworks and its effects this morning, and the visit they had had with "Logan". He could tell that Flower was struggling with comprehension, having not had the same encounters with the miraculous and the dangerous as Link's surface-born crew (barring the encounters with Cunimincus). Leynne had kept his mind open to the ideas and asked questions to make sure he understood what Link was talking about.

After Link had finished talking about what happened in the library, Leynne summed everything up with, "So. We'h in trouble again."

Flower, sitting on Link's footlocker, heaved a sigh and said, "Trouble seems to follow drunks, lunatics, and airships named Island Symphony."

"Does that mean the crew is doubly hampehed?" Leynne asked, taking a brief interest in something on the floor in front of Link's desk.

"Sure feels like it."

"Is the crew holding up all right?" Link asked.

"So fah," Leynne said.

"You telling them to come up for air seemed to help," Flower added. "Beech told me Geordie's still getting on his nerves."

"Just remind them that anyone who acts up gets sent to Dholit," Link said. "Leynne, I wanna arrange for some crew to take the Conductor to the north side of the island tomorrow morning, see if they can find those mines."

"Do you think these rations will still be edible afteh all this time?" Leynne asked.

"It's the only lead on food we have," Link told him. "You could test them."

"So," Flower said, "we're looking at… what, a few more days? With nightmares and a killer monster loose on the island?"

"Not exactly loose," Link said. "If I understood Janni right, it only goes as far as the mist it uses. So far, it seems like it prefers to stay underground."

"Not quite, Link," Irleen spoke up, rising from her bed. She moved to hover over Link's desk. "Remember the tower?"

Link rubbed a hand over his mouth, slightly embarrassed about forgetting that detail. "Right…" he moaned.

"What it comes down to," Leynne said, "is that the safest place is likely the south side of the island."

"But… not the ship," Flower concluded with a hesitant voice.

"Well, if we've truly sehved ouhselves up on a platteh, it would hahdly be in the Night's interests to sink this vessel," Leynne pointed out. "All the same, though, its show of poweh does make the ship a little dangerous."

"I don't think we have much option no matter where we are," Link pointed out.

"Unless we're gone," Flower added.

"Well, whatever the option, I'd like to try something different," Link said. "I wanna use the small house on the outskirts of the settlement for the night."

"You intend to use the shield theh so you can reach the next technowohks in plenty of time," Leynne reasoned.

"Right."

However, Leynne shook his head. "Link, this time, I must insist that you remain heh."

"Why?" Link asked, a little perplexed.

"I would prefeh if you weh neahby in case something happens," Leynne explained. "The Obeetans may be hahmless, but it isn't necessarily them that is the concehn anymoh. I would like to believe that the Night would not dah to hahm you while you sleep, but we cannot be suh if you ah not aboahd. You'll have no one watching if you go ashoh; it will have to find its way past the deck crew if you remain."

"I could take someone along," Link suggested.

"Not while the crew is still trying to keep awake at nights," Leynne said. Link looked taken aback for a moment, indicating to Leynne that his tone had been a little forceful. He shook his head. "Captain. While remaining on the island to shohten youh trip would be a decent idea, I strongly feel that this is not the night to try something new. The crew has yet to find a method to remain awake at nights, making watching you sleep out of the question. This is in addition to my concehns that the Night may decide to do something to youh sleeping body while you exploh."

"Like what?" Link asked.

Leynne paused for a moment. Then he said, "I do not know. But consideh this. You've explained that you eradicated the Night's presence from the technowohks undeh the library, right?"

Link nodded. "Yeah."

"Ah you cehtain that theh won't be any repehcussions foh this?"

Link put on a worried look. He had not considered that. Who was to say how the Night would respond to him removing part of it from the technoworks? He had to concede the point to Leynne. "Okay," he said. "Okay, I can see what you mean."

"Not that it matters too much," Flower spoke up, "but I agree with the lieutenant. On top of being our captain, you're also the only one who knows how to use the technoworks." Irleen cleared her throat. Without flinching, Flower amended, "You're one of only two people who know how to use the technoworks. In fact, you shouldn't be going out at night, even in your sleep. Someone else should do it."

"Who would you suggest?" Link asked with a slight challenge indicated in his tone. Flower adjusted his seat, looking uncomfortable.

"The one with the most experience," Leynne answered instead, his voice taking a hard edge as well. Link turned to him to see that Leynne had crossed his arms. "That is you, undeniably."

"Right," Link replied.

"But you can affohd to use some common sense, Link," Leynne told him as he softened his features a bit. "One oh two people in a small house is a pooh way to be caught by the Night if it decides to hahm you pehsonally. The crew can betteh see to youh safety. And we have the option of moving away if things get too dangerous."

Link sighed and rested an elbow on the desk so that he could plant his chin in his hand. Then he nodded and said, "Okay. I'll stay here. But one of the technoworks is on the other side of the island; it might be harder to reach."

"We can focus on that lateh," Leynne said. "Tonight, you should prepah foh the riveh."

"One more thing, Leynne," Irleen spoke up. "When the crew is looking at the mines, they should also see if there's any access to the technoworks down there. We know there's another part in that area."

"Noted," Leynne replied. "Anything else?"

"Yeah," Link said. "If anyone finds the Night, that black substance we've been finding? They need to leave as soon as possible and report back."

"Because of consequences we'h only vague on," Leynne said with a nod. "Agreed, though I will add that this 'Janni' creatuh sounds to be a bit of a loon."

"Maybe," Link said. "But she seems to think it's more fun to tell the truth, no matter how horrible it is." Then he shook his head and amended, "Because of how horrible it is."

"Don't discount omission, though," Leynne said as he signaled Flower to rise from the footlocker.

Link nodded. "Let me know when the Obeetans come out; that's when the Night will be up, too."

"Undehstood." Link gave one final nod, and Leynne and Flower left the cabin.

"This is gonna be a long night," Irleen commented as she drifted back toward her bed.

"Has the Night been getting to you?" Link asked her as he opened the lower-left drawer of his desk.

"Doesn't have to," Irleen said. "Wherever I sleep, someone screaming wakes me up. I even tried going down to the lowest deck, but I could still hear people in the galley. I think I might've even heard someone from the engine room."

Link shook his head as he removed the ship's logbook from the drawer. "That's not a good sign," he commented. "The engine crew needs to stay awake. I'm hoping that this new rotation scheme will help iron things out." After sliding the drawer shut, he opened the logbook. He turned to last night's entry and reread the part talking about Princess Zelda meeting him in his latest dream. It gave him an idea, so he looked up and asked, "Hey, Irleen? Is it possible that we're dealing with Sorian magic?"

Irleen looked left and right. Then she gave a sigh. "I don't know, Link," she admitted. "If we'd met long before all this happened, I'd've said no. But… between Zelda and Lutock, I'm inclined to believe that it's possible. Still, where would something like the Night even come from? I just can't figure it out. There shouldn't be anything in Sorian literature that could cause this sort of problem. Unless…"

"Unless what?"

"Well… I wonder if there's something in this library that could have produced the Night. The problem is that it means that the library back home was incomplete. I don't see how; that library was larger than this one."

Link nodded. "I remember."

"But this all just boils down to mindless speculation. And I'm getting too tired for that."

Link allowed a grin to rise to his face. "I don't blame you. I'll be in the dream soon, so you should be able to sleep here without a problem."

"I don't know if I really like this whole arrangement," she confessed as she finally settled into her bed. "Where exactly do you stand when you're both asleep and awake?"

"If it's Zelda doing it, that could be anywhere," he answered, his grin growing.

"Oh, wipe that look off your face," she told him. "I'm being serious. And you better be careful. There's no telling what that shield is doing to you."

"I'll remember that," Link replied as he reached for the pen sitting at the front of his desk. He dipped it into an inkwell for a moment before he began writing.

~~9/21, Expedition Day 39.

~~Last night, I fell asleep with the shield nearby. I found myself awake back in the real world, but no one could see or hear me. Somehow, the shield is capable of sending any person who sleeps nearby into a dream-like world which closely looks like our own. I found part of the Night there and fought it off. Now we have access to the control room of the closest technoworks. The bad news is that the Night has to be removed from the other technoworks on the island in order to use the technoworks to change the Sky Lines. I think I can clear out the technoworks connected to the river, but that'll take longer. And we'll have to find the other technoworks as we explore; it can't be as easy as unclogging one more technoworks.

~~In the meantime, we now know what the Night is, thanks to Janni. She's apparently been on this island for a while, but she still comes across as kinda childish. And maybe a little insane? She definitely has a dark sense of humor. But who is she really? She doesn't look at all like a Sorian. The fact that she can read Sorian suggests that she couldn't be Hylian. I've wondered if she might be something that lived here before the Sorians, but what could that be? Would there have been some other race living in Sorian lands before they brought them up to the sky? I guess I could try asking her.

~~One thing's for certain: my crew is in danger. If the Night keeps up its activities, my crew could eventually wind up like the Obeetans. But that's only if they stay, which is why the sooner we leave, the better. I'm hoping that, with the changes we've made to the shift rotations, we might be able to avoid allowing anyone to sleep when the Night wakes up. But if the Night is using magic to put my crew to sleep, I don't know what can be done. If we're lucky, my eradicating the Night from the closest technoworks will lessen the effect it can have on my crew. They're getting a little tense. The engine crew is especially problematic; being down in that engine room for twelve hours probably isn't all that fun. Even worse, some of them have been pranking each other. I've already given them as much warning as possible. I really hope they take it to heart; we can't afford to have them start fighting now. I've been trying to keep my crew informed of what's going on, but, I have to admit, if we were going through the same thing with Dad in charge, I don't think I'd be very understanding.

Link looked over the entry for a bit. After deciding that he could not think of anything to add, he left the book out to let the ink finish drying. Irleen had fallen silent, so he stood up and walked to the door to switch off the light.

…

"Captain, the Obeetans ah awake."

Link let out a burst of breath and rolled toward the bulkhead. "Great, Leynne," he groaned. "I'll… get right back to sleep."

"Oh… you… you'h already gone, ahn't you," Leynne said.

"I'm working on it." The next thing Link heard was the door shut, and he sat up to cast it a confused look.

"AH-HAHAHAHA!"

"Yikes!" Link flung himself against the bulkhead at the sound of high-pitched laughter coming from his desk. This only caused Janni, little more than a shadow sitting on his desk, to laugh harder. Link had to take a moment to realize it was her and that he was sleeping again. "Oh, stop it; it wasn't that funny."

"That was a riot!" Janni told him. "Poor Captain Link of the Island Symphony. Can't tell when he's asleep or awake."

"Grow up," Link said as he moved to the edge of the bed.

"Is that an order, Captain?" Janni asked, her voice smooth with challenge.

"Now you're just making fun of me," Link replied as he stood up. He walked to the door and flipped on the light switch. Although the bulb seemed dimmer than usual, Link was glad to see that he didn't have to rifle around in the dark. He turned around.

And he immediately froze.

Whom he had first taken to be Janni was someone completely different. She was a tall woman with a curvy and well-endowed body hidden beneath a tight sweater and navy-blue slacks. The sweater bore thick, horizontal stripes of black and red, and she wore leather boots that rose up to her kneecap. Her skin was deep brown and, along with flowing black hair, provided a contrast that made her sharp, amber eyes glow. She folded her hands behind her back and then arched her back, causing her chest to protrude more.

"Is this better?" she asked, her voice lower and lustful.

Link's perception of her, while driving his hormones absolutely insane, caused him to compare her to Dholit. Down to the lack of subtlety in the way she tried to grasp his attention. Dholit irritated him. So he clapped his jaw closed and glared at her for a moment. "You're beginning to annoy me."

The beautiful woman disappeared into a pop and puff of black smoke. Once the smoke subsided, Janni was standing in her place with her hands on her hips. "You're no fun today," she said with a slight pout in her voice.

"Go have a laugh with an Obeetan," Link told her as he opened his footlocker. "I've got work to do."

"You're not going back into the Night, are you?"

"The river is my next destination," Link replied as he pulled out the belt he kept just for his boomerang.

"You can't."

"Why not?" Link asked just before raising his gaze.

He found Janni giving him a concerned look. It caught him by surprise, and it showed on his face. Janni became conscious of her appearance and steeled her features. "Link. The Night is pissed. You didn't even feel the island shake after what you did last night, did you?"

"No, I didn't."

"Whatever you did last night was not good. You actually hurt it. I don't know how, but you did. And what do you think the Night is gonna do about it?"

"It can't stop me," Link said as he pulled the white sword onto his back.

"That's what it wants." Link stopped partway through closing the footlocker to look at her. "It wants you to come to it. It's gonna make you hurt. And it's gonna make you suffer in any way possible."

Link stared at her for a moment. Then he slammed the footlocker shut. "You think you're gonna frighten me away from this?" he asked in a heated tone.

"Better me than it."

"My crew is in danger," Link replied. "It has to do better than throw a temper tantrum."

"It can, Link. It can, and it will."

Link narrowed his eyes. "You know, you seem to be… a little concerned about me."

Janni huffed and crossed her arms. "Fine. You wanna take it that way? I just thought how much I loooved talking to someone and have them actually talk back."

Link's look softened. "You mean… you don't get to talk to anyone else?"

Janni glared at him. "Wipe that stupid look off your face," she told him in a venomous tone. This caused Link to change to a surprised expression. "You don't have to repeat me; you make it sound like you're rubbing it in. Yes, I don't talk to anyone else. Who else am I supposed to talk to? Why don't you just stop playing the tough guy and listen, stupid?"

Link's brow furrowed again as he told her, "I am listening. But I still have a job to do."

"Well this is a job you should walk away from!"

They stared at each other, both completely out of words. Link's chest pounded, and he felt his attention to Janni withdraw as he took in a deep breath. He closed his eyes and stood up straight to regain his composure.

But when he opened his eyes, Janni had disappeared. He glanced around the room just to be sure she was not playing with him, uncertain of her sincerity as he was. After concluding that she had left, he stepped to the head of his bed and picked up the shield. He put it on and looked at the symbol on the back again. He wondered if there might have been others like her trapped in objects around the island. His thoughts dwelled on the reasons for imprisoning someone for so long. Cunimincus and his crew, Link could understand. But what did Janni do? Could she have been some kind of criminal? Or did someone just hate her? What was she like before she was placed in this shield? Link glanced out the window for a moment. Then he turned and left once he reminded himself that he was running out of time to take care of the part of Night living in the river.

…

Even in his dreams, Link found that he could not get around well. Jumping from rooftop to rooftop to traverse the settlement felt like it took more energy than when he and Layna were going to the library. It was only another oddity in a long list of strange things he had noticed ever since he had returned to the sky kingdom two years ago. After he had recovered on the surface after the Island Sonata had crashed, Link had felt like he could have run for hours and not be fatigued. Not that it had ever seemed to do his muscles any good. But once he had started dealing with Cunimincus and his crew in the sky, it had felt harder to move around. Despite receiving some endurance training from Layna, he could only move as well as her with the equipment he had found on the surface. Every poor landing he made once he started around the middle of the island added to his decision to let Layna give him what Dholit had referred to as "deprivation" training. It certainly sounded a little less scary now that he and his crew were being subjected to the whim of a literal monster of nightmares.

While he knew where he was, he soon found that locating the river was a little more difficult than he had expected. In a manner he could not understand, he had failed to locate the large street under which the river had been buried. He thought it would have been obvious as he traveled; even if the rest of the streets in the east had been just as wide, the sealed wells would have given it away. He had to stop atop a circular building about halfway between the central tower and the eastern edge of the settlement. He made a single jump into the air to locate the Island Symphony. Unfortunately, he discovered that the pulsing lights moving along the outskirts obscured the ship at this distance.

So he rested on the edge of the building, looking out over the streets nearby. He could not believe he had not found the river. He tried to recall the area where they had anchored the Conductor, but he realized that he could not remember if they had actually anchored it to a building or just grounded it with sandbags. Adding to his problem was the fact that these buildings in this area were just as tarnished with dream-graffiti as the south, right down to the scrawling of disturbing words and phrases all over. He could not help griping to himself that the nearby Obeetans could at least try to look different. As he watched them, he wished that they could be a different color rather than that eerie ethereal white under their cloaks.

Then Link stared wide-eyed at a building on a nearby corner. He had not noticed it since he had been lost in his own thoughts, but now that he was watching, he realized that the Obeetans, ever vigilant of their direction despite lacking comprehension of their surroundings, were walking into and out of the building as if it was not even there. No hesitation, no avoiding it. They were just stepping through like it was made of air.

Link frowned at the building and pushed himself off the edge to drop down into the street. Now that he was on the same level, he saw that some of the Obeetans were walking through buildings directly across from the one he had just been sitting on. Even more were exiting one building, crossing the adjoining street, and stepping into the next. Link crossed to the closest building. He held up one hand and slowly reached out.

His hand passed into the wall.

And then the building disappeared, its fading from existence heralded by a whisper of air. Link was caught off-guard by the number of people that had been walking through the building before it had disappeared.

And at the center of that crowd, staring at him from between dozens of robes, was Janni.

Link narrowed his glare in annoyance and stepped through the crowd to confront her. "Did you do that?" he asked over the Obeetan's insane chatter.

Janni was unresponsive at first, almost as if she was trying to look like an emotionless statue. Then she tilted her head and grinned at him. "Yep!" was her response.

"Why?" Link asked. "Are you trying to stop me?"

"Why should I?" Janni asked. "You're going down into the Night again. I'd love to see how it deals with you."

"Wasn't your attitude earlier," Link pointed out. Janni opened her arms wide and shrugged as if to say "You know I like to change my mind". So Link indicated the nearby fake building. "Why the illusion?"

"I just thought you'd like to know how in control you really are," Janni told him. She waved a hand goodbye at the building, and Link turned to watch many of the nearby buildings fade away to nothingness.

He then saw the street's total width, its brick structure, and the way it wound around buildings in either direction. He had not lost the river at all; he was standing on it right now!

"Do you really think that the Night can't reach you here?" Janni asked. "You're in a dream, Link. A waking dream based on the real world. You will never be safe here."

"I'm not standing in its miasma," Link pointed out.

"I never said that you had to be standing in its miasma," Janni said. "Think of it this way. This whole island is like being under the Night's eye and fist. Its miasma is like walking its skin. And its darkness, well…" She giggled as she tilted her upper body side to side. "It like walking into its mouth."

Link heaved a sigh and glanced around. "Leynne's right; you omit things."

"I think of it more like saving it for a surprise."

"I suppose you would." He turned back to her. "If the Night can manipulate things out here, how come you can, too?" Janni, instead of answering, raised her hands and bumped her wrists together. Link glanced down at the shield still strapped to his arm. "The shield? How is that possible? It's supposed to be you prison."

"By your interpretation, maybe," Janni told him. She started walking in a slow circle around him. "That shield was probably meant to be just a shield at one point. Or maybe it was meant to be more than that from the beginning. The only person who could really tell you is the person who made it."

"And who was that?"

Janni stopped. Link had to spin so that he was not twisting his neck just to look at her standing behind him. She met his confusion with a toothy smile. "The Dreamweaver. He was a powerful mage who used his wisdom and magic to change dreams at will. To those he trusted and loved, he granted satisfying and powerful dreams, those which you wouldn't want to wake from again."

"And let me guess," Link said as he looked down at the shield. "If he didn't like you, you got banished into an object."

Janni's grin appeared to Link to turn snide. "Life can be sick and cruel like that," she told him.

Link glanced around the empty street. "Right," he said. "Speaking of sick and cruel, I need to find that open well." He turned to her. "You aren't gonna stop me, are you?"

"If you get stopped," she replied, "it isn't gonna be my doing."

"I know," he said more to himself as he turned away from the tower in the direction he was sure the open well was. But, before he started walking, he glanced around. "Where'd all the Obeetans go?"

Janni clapped her hands once. The strong sound preceded a sudden onslaught of noise and bodies as the Obeetans popped into existence all at once, their movement unperturbed by their lack of being for that time that Link and Janni had been talking. He could hear Janni cackling as he overcame his shock and started pressing through the crowd.

Instead of walking along the winding main road, Link cut through the side roads so that he was travelling almost due east. And he decided to keep to the roads because his legs were getting too tired from having jumped roofs earlier. He could not tell what time it was, but his best estimate was that he only had the early morning left to remove the Night from the river's technoworks so that he could restore them later.

He found the open well after cutting through the smaller roads twice and then following the river street to its next curve. The Obeetans appeared to avoid this area like they had around the library's opening. The few that dared to walk toward the well would scream exactly as they had at the library. Link had to admit that, much to his concern, he was getting used to watching the Obeetans' tortured reaction.

Once he stood just within reach of the well, he made an observation. "The rope's gone."

Janni faded into view in front of him and rested, cross-legged, on the edge of the well. "You don't say," she teased.

Link located a hole in the brick road. "Here's where Gold drove the stake in," he said as he pointed. "Did it just pull the rope in?"

"Seems pretty evident to me," Janni said as she rocked side to side.

"No, I mean is it actually gone, or is this just an illusion?" Link asked, giving her an annoyed look.

"Does it matter? You're in a dream. And the dream says the rope is gone."

Link raised an eyebrow. "I thought you liked telling the truth since it's so horrible," he said with a sly grin of his own. "Are you seriously not gonna tell me whether the rope is gone from reality or not?"

Janni broke out into a laugh as she flopped onto her side. She moaned as she stretched her arms and legs. Then she used an arm to prop her head up as she relaxed across the well's lip. "I feel like you're actually getting to know me, Link. It's a surprise, especially since you seem so ignorant of it half the time. You're right to ask, of course. Yes, the Night took the rope. It went missing the night after you and sly-dark-and-quiet went down to look around."

"So it won't just take people," Link said as he glanced down at the hole again. "We'll have to keep our equipment with us."

"I guess it shouldn't be much of a surprise," Janni mused. "Your friend Line was the only one who ever noticed that the books you and he threw at the Night in the library disappeared."

"Wait a minute," Link said. He had to pause as another Obeetan walked up behind Janni and screamed. Then he said, "Layna can tell when someone is watching even from this dream. How could you have watched us exploring?"

Janni just grinned wider. "I didn't say she never caught me. But she does have to live with the Night watching her every night. Every time she turns on me, she sees nothing for a few seconds and goes back to work. If you paid any attention to her, you'd know she was reacting to me."

Link sighed and raked a hand through his hair. Then he looked at his hand, and then up at his brow. "I forgot my hat."

Janni giggled. "Just when I think I'm bad at focusing on things…"

"Yeah, well, in case you hadn't noticed," Link told her, "I haven't been getting much sleep lately." He stepped toward the well and waved his hand as if to shoo her away. "I need you to move; I'm going in."

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Janni teased as she floated up and away from the well.

Link placed a foot on the well and hauled himself up. When he looked inside, he realized that the liquid-like miasma he had seen before was absent from the mouth of the well. Instead, he looked down into a room covered in gold light. He took in a breath. He knew how deep this well was, and he hoped that his boots, even though he had yet to test their true limits, would stop his fall at least a little so he would not break his legs. Even though this was only a dream, he still remembered how much the dislocated shoulder he had received last night had hurt once he had awoke. He steeled himself and gave a little hop to start his descent.

The air as it rose around him gave him a familiar rush, reminding him of the aftermath of his fight with Cunimincus. For a moment, he was suddenly filled with the dread that he might actually get killed falling as he was.

Then, as quickly as it had hit him, it disappeared once his feet hit the ground. He bent his knees to help cushion the shock to his legs, but the fall was still powerful enough to force him to plant his right hand on the floor to stop himself. There was a loud klang as the Dreamweaver's Shield hit the floor. He still felt a flood of pain from the impact; there was no denying the rough landing. However, he did not need long to recover.

"Whew!" he said aloud as he stood up. "I'm glad I found these boots."

"Why, Link," Janni said as she descended, already changed into her green-glowing black fairy form. "You talk like you expected me to follow you."

Link looked around at what was once a cavern with a stream flowing through it. The Night had replaced it with gold tiling on the floor and gold bricks in the walls. The walls were much closer than he remembered. And, rather than having to carry his own torch, wooden torches already lit had been mounted to the walls in iron brackets. Suits of armor stood nearby, each one with the visor open to present their vacancy while their gauntlets rested on a massive sword with the point fused to the pedestal they stood on. Not of particular surprise to Link, the suits, swords, and pedestals were also made of gold.

"You have somewhere else to be while this is happening?" Link asked as he craned his neck to look around the curve ahead. As far as he could tell, the walls still followed the cavern's original formation.

"You are getting to know me!" Janni replied with what sounded like genuine delight. Link could not help smiling; it had been the happiest she had ever sounded without being morbid at the same time.

"Well," Link said. "I guess we should see if the Night found a way to block me from the technoworks." He began walking in the direction he knew to be "up-river". "It's already keeping me in this narrow space."

"Not a lot of space to move," Janni agreed.

Link looked a statue up and down as he walked by it. "I wonder what theme it was going for with the whole 'gold hallway' thing."

"Now I just feel like you're taking my only job in this little friendship of ours."

Link grinned to himself.

Klink.

Then he stopped at the sound of metal on metal. The only reason he heard it was likely because it occurred in between his own echoing footsteps.

Then his vision spun. His mind turned to fog as he felt the sensation of falling once again. He pondered at the feeling, at a loss as to what was causing it but perfectly calm about it. Fwump! Tump! The second sound was louder. His eyes swam just as he realized that his head had struck something. He reasoned that it was the cause of the second sound.

Things stopped moving around him after a few seconds. His eyes finally settled on a peculiar sight.

A headless form wearing his tunic, his trousers, and even his new sword.

Link blinked, and he found himself in the dark. The entirety of his body gave barely a shiver at first.

And then he opened his mouth into a blood-curdling scream, high-pitched and very much audible to the people outside, as his hands grasped for the searing pain in his neck.