A note from the Hime no Argh herself-
Well, readers, this is it. You know, that chapter. The climax. The turning point. THE BIG ONE. And whatever else you want to call it. This is basically what the story's been leading up to, so I'm just a little bit nervous about how this chapter will be received. Frankly I'm still dazed that I've actually gotten this far. BUT the story's not over yet, so I'll just shut up and keep writing.
Um, short chapter. And don't be surprised if it seems a bit anti-closure, because this is not the end. Next chapter is nice and long and I'll have it out fairly soon, as it's already written. ^_^ I love being ahead of myself.
Well, here's the chapter. Please be kind!
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Chapter 21
Lost
The book slipped from my numb fingers. I let it fall and staggered back from the altar, hands pressed against my mouth to surpress a scream. I felt suddenly dizzy and terribly, terribly cold. My teeth chattered. I clenched my jaws tightly and turned from the book.
Mother.
The word whispered through my mind. I wanted to scream, but my throat had locked. I could not make a sound.
My left hand twitched, then moved. I stared at it, astonished. My body moved as though it had a mind of its own, kneeling on the floor, my hands unwrapping the linen bound around the calf of my right leg. Hidden beneath it was the dagger Rauru had given me. My left hand gripped the handle and drew it from its sheath.
I willed my body's movements to stop and failed. It was out of my control. I did not will myself to stand but did so anyway, gripping the dagger in a practiced manner. The entity controlling me bared my right palm and swiftly sliced across it with the sharp blade, opening a long, deep gash. Pain seared from the wound, but the dagger was transferred unhesitatingly to my injured hand. My right hand coolly sliced my left palm. Blood poured forth, vividly crimson.
I had never been so terrified in my life. Stop it! I screamed at my body, or perhaps the thing inside it. What are you doing?!
I am bleeding your essence from my body, answered the voice in my mind.
Terror seized at my heart. It's my body! I told the thing desperately. It's my body, and you're just a nightmare!
I am not, the voice replied, sounding amused. I am your own creation. It was a dark, hypnotic voice, obviously male. The truth dawned slowly on me as I listened, and it was horrifying.
Sheik, I whispered.
Mother, he replied, carrying my body to stand before the altar. He extended my hands so that the blood streaming from my wounds poured onto the altar. As soon as the scarlet liquid touched the smooth marble surface, it disappeared.
Your blood is absorbed into time's lost flow, Sheik said triumphantly. With it goes your soul.
No! I screamed. You cannot make me disappear! I won't go!
Sweet mother. He traced the words lovingly across my mind. You are a child of shadows. The blood of Sheikah runs in your veins. Why deny the part of you that belongs to shadow? It has already claimed you.
The pain in my hands was slowly fading, but this brought me no comfort. My vision was fading as well, blurring, darkening. A great silence pressed down on me, muffling the sounds of the outside world. My body was becoming his. I cried in despair.
I thank you for birthing me, mother, Sheik said gently. The shadows will soon create our people anew in Hyrule. Through you, it has begun.
With an act of sudden, pure will, I tore my body away from the altar. He let me stagger to a corner of the temple, curl up with my knees drawn to my chest and cover my eyes with my bleeding hands.
Too late, mother.
His voice was cold now, forbidding. I wept at the sound of it, all hope lost. I watched my world fade awar, my blood pouring from my body, dripping from my hair, mingling with the tears on my cheeks. And slowly blood ran into my unblinking eyes, until my tears were scarlet and my last glimpses of the world were tainted red.
Then finally, all became black, and I knew no more.
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For a time she cried out, wept and struggled against me, but it was a battle already lost. My mother long ago sold herself to the shadows. She fell silent, then slowly her very soul seeped from her body like the blood streaming from her hands- my hands. She retreated deep inside herself, and was forever lost in the void.
Rauru, the light-bringer, my natural enemy, returned to the temple. He looked at me and his face turned stark white.
"Farore's mercy, Zelda, what have you done to yourself?"
I gazed at him through the blood in my eyes. "Zelda is no longer here," I remarked in my mother's voice. "My name is Sheik, and this body belongs to me."
His face grew even paler, if possible, and when he spoke it was in a rasped, frightened tone.
"Demon, be thy gone from the sacred body, in the name of Nayru, wisdom's lady. Demon, be thy gone from the sacred body, in the name of Nayru, wisdom's lady. Demon, by thy gone..."
He said this several times, but I could the despair in his face. He knew what I knew. Zelda was gone. She would never return.
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Continued in Chapter 22.