Author's Note: I'm sorry it took so long to update. No, really, I am! Extra special brownie points and kudos to anyone who reads, but I would greatly appreciate it if you reviewed. More reviews = More inclination to write. Anyway, let me know what you think of this, or anything you would like to see me write, in this fic or another.
Disclaimer: Default Standard Disclaimers Apply. I don't own, the people who do know who they are.
Chapter 5: History
Link did not sleep easily. He was plauged by nightmares of what he was beginning to see as his own fate. He saw himself, only it wasn't him, lose control and go on a rampage, slaying any who got in his way. He saw his friends…saw himself raise his sword…Link shuddered in his sleep, a small whimper forcing past his throat. As dawn crept closer, the dreams held Link still.
Zelda, Malon, and Impa remained awake far into the night, deciding what was to be done and how to do it. The general consensus was to find Link first, then deal with whatever came of that action. Even Impa, who normally counciled patience, was eager to be up and gone. Zelda and Malon were equally eager to leave. Malon was worried about Link, and Zelda felt that something horrible would happen if they did not act, and soon. All three realized, however, that nothing could be done this night. They agreed upon waking early to begin their search, and Impa led Malon to her room before retiring to her own.
Impa closed the door to her room, but did not retire to her bed. Instead, she sat down at her desk, holding several large tomes of ancient lore. The books were very old, and Impa handled them with the care of one who is sentimental of the contents. The books were well-worn, obviously having been read uncountable times. Seating herself as comfortably as possible, Impa opened the first tome. It was a chapter of the Shiekah history, from the times when the wizards she had spoken of had, on occasion, been called upon to entrap mavolent spirits within objects. Sheikah texts were always in-depth, relating everything that had happened at the time, from wars to economic trends. Impa idly scanned the yellowed pages, stopping at points of interest. One such point was this:
During this period in history, mages began experimenting with the magics concerning focuses of power, including the creation of, uses, destruction of, and alternate uses. Disciples of magic could channel large amounts of power, but such actions required a great deal of mental and physical strain. The concept of focuses for power held in theory that a focus could be used as a buffer of sorts, channeling the power without straining the mage, but also not depleting the power that is channeled. The problem with focuses is that the focus of power could not operate at maximum effciency unless it was bound to the user on an extremely deep level. Such a binding is highly dangerous and long lasting- It may be that the users spirit could be trapped in the focus after death. This discovery, along with others…
The next part was all about mages and magic. Impa skipped over it, coming to the next interesting part.
With the refining of focus knowledge came the realization that certain forces could be bound to a focus permently. The most common of this being Elementals, spirits that embodied the element they represented. Other beings could be bound to a focus, however, and it was speculated that a Hylian might be a candidate for binding.
The text went on to explain the difficulty of the theory in question, and finally came to something that caught Impa's interest:
The most common focuses used were staves or gemstones, but other objects were occasionally used. One of the most debated focuses were Masks. Some Masks that had been imbued with a magical force had been known to bestow magical abillities on the wearer, provided that the wearer was compatible with the mask. It was theorized that if a spirit was focused into a Mask, then the wearer could be given the abillities that the spirit had possessed. Some mages thought that it may be possible that the Mask could even go so far as to change the body of the wearer. This, of course, could only be accomplished if the force bound to the mask was sentient, having had a mind and will of it's own at some point.
Impa's pulse quickened.
The nightmares did not let go of Link until far past dawn. When Link did awaken, he did so slicked in a cold sweat. Shaking his head to dispel the last of sleep, Link heaved himself to his feet and padded over to the stream for a drink. Lately, when Link paused to look at his reflection, something was always amiss. With growing feelings of trepidation, Link gazed at the reflective surface of the water. Link blinked in mild surprise. Nothing had changed. Same golden hair, now with streaks of pearly platinum. Same face, same nose, same lips. Same perfect blue eyes.
But then they changed.
Link didn't even have time to register his shock as the blue of his eyes flashed pure white. With a startled cry, Link stumbled backwards, falling in a heap. Shakingly, Link rose to his feet, and crept back to the pool. With a shudder, Link looked again in the pool.
His eyes were his own once more.
Impa continued her study of the tomes until dawn threatened. With a yawn, Impa replaced the books upon the shelf and stumbled wearily to her bed. Slipping beneath the sheets, Impa reflected upon the legends that she had read in the chronicles. Apparently, the mages, in an accident of critical proportions, had discovered an entity that could not be explained. This force revealed himself (the books had said him because as far as gender could be concerned, the entity appeared to be male) to the mages once they, unknowing, had released him from whatever imprisonment he had been contained in. There was a blurred and faded picture of him in the book, along with a discription:
The being was that of a young man, but larger than any normal person should be. He stood at over seven feet tall, and carried a double-helix shaped sword nearly as tall as he was. He wore black armor and gauntlets, both plated in some unknown metal. On the breastplate were two designs: a crecent moon and an inverted triangle. He wore a tunic of an iridescent white under the armor, and the color of his hair and eyes matched this. A skin-tight black material covered his arms and legs, leaving only his fingers and face to testify to the shade of his skin, which was unusually pale. On his face were blue and red markings, but weather these were tattoos or war paint was not determined. He called himself "The Fierce Deity…"
"A living contridiction" Impa mused. Well, whatever had imprisoned him must have been strong: the book had said that it had taken the combined might of the Sages to entrap him, and even then they had almost failed. Impa tried to push everything out of her mind in order to catch what sleep she could, but her thought stubbornly refused to leave. Her mind kept returning to three points:
One-If the Fierce Deity was a contridiction, then what effect could he have on someone? Make them the opposite of what they were?
Two-Why in the world had the Sages imprisoned him in, of all things, a Mask?
Three-On his breastplate there was the symbol of an upside-down triangle. If you took three triangles and arranged them as one large triangle, then a fourth triangle was born of the center. The Triforce was arranged in such a way, with the parts of Power, Wisdom, and Courage, put there by their respective Goddesses Din, Nayru, and Farore. What then, was the triangle in the center and who did it represent?