* * *
Michelle, Aholya, Chrystie and Katrina found themselves in a dark hallway inside the dark fortress of the foreign realm. Michelle walked cautiously, occasionally glancing at the dreary decor of the structure. She had heard of something called the Shadow Temple in Hyrule, something supposedly so frightening that it scared even those people who had built it. However, she couldn't imagine it being any worse that this. She was glad that there were the other girls with her, but she still feared for Rynita. She had a feeling that told her she was alive, but in what condition was left for her imagination to ponder.
The other girls, who were walking behind her, were oddly quiet. Especially Aholya. She usually always had something to say.
As they walked further, Michelle suddenly felt a cold chill down her spine.
*You are coming.*
The voice came so quickly and abruptly that she stopped in her tracks.
*And there isn't*
Isn't what? she thought with panic.
*anything...*
The thought refused to finish itself. After what seemed to her like an eternity of silence, the answer she got would send another chill down her spine.
*you can do.*
This sentence utterly confused her. Where was it she was going, and why wouldn't she be able to stop herself from going there? She wished that the voice would stop, but by the way that her feet seemed to refuse to move, she knew it wasn't quite finished.
*It's what she wants, but you...*
She waited patiently, though her intuition screamed at her that she didn't want to know what was coming next.
*can't obtain it.*
The voice was starting to seem strained.
*Unless you*
Michelle was desperate for the bodiless voice to get to the point.
*Go*
It was more like a gesture without movement than an actual word. She felt as if her body had been pushed forward by some unseen force.. It wasn't until she began to move that she realized her right foot had been in midair the whole time. By the way that the other girls weren't asking her why she had stopped, she apparently hadn't been still for very long. If at all for them, for that matter. The one thing she hated more than being extremely confused as to what that something had been trying to tell her was now that she knew something that they didn't. Just as her mind begun to think that perhaps she had imagined it, they began to approach a large set of double doors.
*Death is inevitable*
That last input of the ominous voice was one thing she wished she hadn't heard. And although it didn't say specifically that it was talking about her, another whisper at the back of her mind, the little scared voice that she didn't like to admit was her own, told her it was.
* * *
Rynita had begun to move away from the silent figure of Ilisya by the time she finally turned to her. As well as she could move, that is, which actually wasn't that well. She supposed it was by some kind of grace of the goddesses that she could stay alive here in the first place, but her body protested the prospect of having to get off the ground.
During the minutes before, when the dark-haired girl had been all too still, Rynita had begun to wonder why Ilisya wasn't saying anything to her, or doing anything. That was the reason she became so startled when Ilisya suddenly turned to her. She wasn't too startled to move, however.
She had moved a fair distance from her, but that didn't stop her from at least attempting to move an extra meter away from the girl. Ilisya covered the distance easily, walking with a cocky sort of grace. She began to lift one booted foot, and then placed it lightly on the auburn-haired girl's chest.
"Where do you think you're going?" she asked smoothly.
Rynita had no response other than to let her mouth hang open stupidly.
"You need to stay here to draw in those other little witches." She suddenly changed expression to an unreadable one, pausing her train of thought. Then, she pushed Rynita away with her foot and cackled lightly in a way that was somehow not maniacal. "And if I'm not mistaken, here they are."
She took several steps towards the double doors, holding up her hand slightly above her waist as she did so. Rynita craned her neck to follow the girl's movements. When Ilisya was mere meters away from the door, something began to hover above her palm. From what Rynita could see, it was glowing softly.
It was shortly after that moment that one of the doors began to open slowly.
At that same moment, the small glowing object above Ilisya's hand flared to life, taking on the appearance of a rolled up lightning bolt, with tendrils of flame crackling out of the core.
Rynita saw four shadowy yet familiar figures through the crack in the door. She gasped when her mind, moving in slow motion, made the connection between the glowing ball and the slowly opening door. Before she could do or say anything, Ilisya suddenly hurled the ball of energy at the door with only a slight shout of effort. It hit with an explosion of sound, which resulted in a cloud of dust and shattered wood.
Rynita stared, mouth again hanging open, at the place where the door had been. Though the cloud was still there, she knew the door was no longer underneath it. Her body started to twitch with some kind of warped shock.
The dark haired girl's face showed no response, no slight hesitation at what she had just done.
Rynita's mind told her that nobody had just died, but her eyes told her a different story. And this, this thing just stood there as if she'd done nothing more than cast a pebble into lake.
"Damn you," Rynita said in a quiet, trembling voice.
Ilisya only smirked and waited for the remains of the door to clear.
* * *
In the Realm of Darkness, the Creature was in shock. As shocked as a bodiless essence could be, that is. The Sorceress, ITS sorceress, had turned against it. Dared to go against that only thing which kept her alive and well, and able to take revenge on the daughters of the Golden Goddesses. As It had these thoughts over and over, It realized repeatedly that there was nothing It could do.
The girl had come into the Dark Realm when It had called her, confident and cocky as anything. It could tell even from this realm that she was planning something outside of their arrangement.
It had been agreed that the young deities were to be put out of the way in their time frame so It and the Sorceress could obtain the paradox they had wanted. Without anyone in the "future", the Triforces of Wisdom and Courage could be taken and cast into the chaos that was the border of the Sacred and Dark Realms. If they been there, being the daughters of the goddesses, it would have gone to them by default, some kind of mechanism added to the Triforce to keep it from being taken by the likes of It.
They had counted on it ended up in the Chaos. That was why they had taken the girls into the past in the first place. The Sorceress had wanted to kill them, but It knew then that their plan wouldn't work. If she lured them into the portal of chaos from the past, they would actually know why they were in that chaos in the first place, and would have a heart to fight for it after seeing the two former hosts fall lifeless as the Triforces were taken. The Triforce calls those close to it when the need arises, and so the goddesses' daughters would have ended up in Chaos whether they did it purposely or not.
But the black haired girl had had something other than Its revenge on her mind. He remembered the scene extremely clearly.
"Greetings," the girl said in an almost sarcastic tone, which wasn't as apparent as it would have been if she had mind-spoke it. The Sorceress had lost all respect.
*Don't bother with me, witch.* Is muttered as well as it could manage.
"Ah, so it seems as if you finally realized that trying to control a powerful soul like mine is futile? It seems like you've given yourself too much credit in the past. Don't worry, though. The Triforce will fall into the "right" hands." She stopped and simply smiled in a self-satisfied way.
*You know perfectly well that the Triforce of Power cannot be taken from me by the likes of you.* To accent Its point, it distorted the "gravity" around the girl.
Ilisya, feeling slightly dizzy and knowing that this was not a strictly physical realm, put out a hand and balanced herself with an invisible force. She wasn't able to stop the effect on her mind, as this Realm really belonged to the Creature before her. But she managed to at least look like she knew what she was doing.
Then, she managed, "Oh, I know I can't...But there's someone who I know of that can. And she's just dying be to here to take it from you."
She paused and smirked. "Literally." The witch then stopped to keep herself from laughing before continuing. "Not that it matters; she has no choice. Then and can finally prove to those cursed Goddesses, their daughters...and You that nothing controls Chaos!"
With that, Ilisya managed to vanish her false form from the Dark Realm, leaving the Creature alone once again.
The memory was infuriating, and It wanted nothing more at the moment than to see the girl suffer. Still, It waited, for It knew that a chance would come along in the near future that could finally complete Its revenge.
* * *
Chrystie had seen the doors exploding outwards towards them moments before they actually did. She hadn't been able to say anything to the other girls warning them as she almost violently shoved them out of the way of the falling wood by instinct. Milliseconds before she felt the larger piece of the door crash into her lower back, her mind wondered how she had been able to do that. The next thing she knew, she found herself on her stomach under something incredibly heavy.
At the moment, it seemed like everyone had gone into shock. Michelle barely registered the fact that she was helping Aholya lift the wood off of Chrystie as Katrina pulled her out from under it.
When they let the heavy thing fall against the floor, everything went silent. Suddenly, Chrystie found the some odd urge to laugh. She managed to do this and cough at the same time. Rynita blinked at her, and everyone else let out a breath they didn't even realize they were holding.
"That all happened rather quickly," Chrystie muttered, still coughing. She bit her tongue as one of her hands went down towards her leg. "Think I might have broken something."
"What I want to know is how that managed not to kill you, and the rest of us..." Aholya shook her head. "I think we had help from someone."
Michelle sighed as she brushed some dust off her face and out of her eyes. "I think we found whatever it was that we were looking for. I just hope we aren't too late to do anything about it."
They looked towards the clearing cloud of dust, and barely made out a dark figure in the room ahead. Nobody really had to ask who it was. Michelle only hoped, for the dark haired girl's sake and her own, that Ilisya had not killed Rynita. She wasn't sure what it would do to her sanity.
"I'm not really sure what happened to the Triforce," Katrina said. "But for some reason, I can still kind of feel it here. I'm sure somehow that we can get it back."
"I only hope nobody but that witch has to die," Aholya said as she ground her teeth together.
Michelle glanced at her. She knew Aholya to have a terrible temper, and she could feel her own anger rising as well. Deep beneath it, she wished nobody had to die, but she knew it wasn't possible in this struggle. They needed to get the Triforce away from Ilisya, that was for certain. Otherwise, it might end up in Ganon's hands, and she didn't want to think about that. From there, she wasn't sure exactly what they were supposed to do with it. She hoped the Goddesses would help them figure that out and undo the paradox that had been caused in Hyrule.
She managed to gather courage from confusion, and stood up. "We should try it get the Triforce back. Now. Chrystie, stay here, please. I know you might not be able to get up anyway, but if I know anything about you, you'll try it. Katrina, I know you aren't much of a fighter, so would you please stay here with her? I'm really not trying to put any of you down, but I'm sure if any one of the daughters of the Goddesses is able to defeat a sorceress, it would be those of Din."
Aholya gaped as her sister, wondering where all those words had come from. She wasn't denying any of the information about her and Michelle being able to get the Triforce back alone. Maybe not even alone; the other girls might be able to help in some way. She shook her head. It was confusing, but she wanted to be able to figure it out after she was sure Hyrule was safe.
"Okay.." Chrystie finally managed. Katrina nodded in response.
Michelle and Aholya walked through the door.
* * *
**Believe me, I'm trying here. Computer time is scarce ...I don't even really have time to practice my piano anymore! Which I probably should be doing with any free time, but am not because I feel really, really bad about not updating these stories for you guys. I will update this as soon as possible! Thank you so much for continuing to read this!! I hope you'll review, I mean, it will give me more incentive to write sooner if I do have the time!! Sorry again!!! Please tell me if you find any errors, or if you are confused. More will obvisouly be explained in further chapters, but I need to know just HOW much I need to say. ^__^() Please please please please please reveiw!!