Disclaimer: I do not own any of the Zelda characters but the ones that are
of my creation are mine and I do own the rights to them.
Chapter Thirteen: Riddles
Link was walking down the hall to the courtyard when his fifteen-year-old son, Tearen, ran straight into him coming from the opposite direction. Fortunately for the both of them Link had caught sight of Tearen and braced himself just before he hit. If Link hadn't they would both be on the floor with several bumps and bruises. Saith jogged up behind Tearen a moment later.
"Where are you two off to in such a hurry?" Link asked. Saith fidgeted when his father started to ask questions. He had to get down to the garden. First he needed to make sure that his mother was okay. He also wanted to see Lily again. Tearen had explained the situation to him talking at almost and hundred words a minute. Almost all that he had heard was "prophecy", "mother", and "Lily". Of course with family history like theirs that was all Saith needed to understand what had happened.
"Father! I'm so glad I found you," Tearen panted. Even though the run out to the courtyard was not very long Tearen was exhausted. Link supposed it was because he was out of shape. "Mother. . .she told a prophecy. . .or saw one. . .or. . .or. . .it doesn't matter, she wants to talk to you right away!"
Link glanced up at Saith to make sure that this was indeed the message. Tearen seemed to be in a bad state and he wanted to make sure that he got the correct information. Saith nodded silently and started to jog off down the hall again. Link smiled inwardly. It was great to see that his son had found someone he liked. For years he had turned down princesses and duchesses to make sure that the woman he married liked him because of who he was on the inside. Because Link wasn't from some high noble family he understood why Saith would like someone like Lily. Most courtiers would have shunned her deeply if they had talked to her. Most courtiers already shunned him.
In the garden, both Zelda and Lily sat on the ground. Both were thinking about the sights that they had just witnessed. For Lily the prophecy that Zelda spoke aloud was both troubling and confusing. She wanted to know what it meant and she knew that she had to figure it out soon or it would be too late. But too late for what? The answer was in the riddle. The Emptiness. But what was the Emptiness? All she could think of was that it was clearly something terrible. Then Lily came down to the last problem. She had to find the answer. There was just one problem. What was the question?
Suddenly she felt something tugging on the back of her head. Lily quickly looked around her but there was nothing behind her. When she started to concentrate again the tugging feeling returned. This time, though, she stayed still and tried to locate the source of the tugging. It was coming from inside her head. The tug pulled at Lily's subconscious mind beckoning her to follow it into the murky depths of the clouded corner of her thoughts. She tried to resist the pull. What lay in the dark corners of her mind scared her more than anything in the world. She knew that if she tried to explore that area, she would never return.
"Lily?" Zelda's voice broke through the trance that had overcome Lily. The tugging stopped and Lily let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding in.
"Lily? Are you alright?" Zelda asked with concern. Lily looked up to find that Tearen had returned with Saith and Link in tow. Nodding her head, she looked at the ground. Zelda eyed her with a look of concern before telling everyone else to seat themselves comfortably. Link and Tearen sat down in front of Zelda while Saith kneeled in between Tearen and Lily.
"So what's this prophecy that Tearen was babbling about?" Link started.
"A few moments ago a prophecy came to me," Zelda started into her tale dramatically. Link, Saith, and Tearen rolled their eyes. Zelda loved to exaggerate the prophecies. It seemed like everything she saw was about the death and destruction of Hyrule. Half the time they turned out to be nothing big. Zelda caught eye rolling but ignored it.
"I saw a picture of the Triforce," she continued. Link and the others except Lily immediately perked up. "The picture focused more on the center of the Triforce rather than one of the triangles. If it had focused on the top or bottom triangles this might be easier to decipher but it was focused more towards the empty space in the Triforce. Then it zoomed in so that only black could be seen and then there was this bright yellow light that came out of nowhere. I could hear the sounds of battle and then someone spoke to me."
"What did they say?" Lily asked anxiously looking up. Perhaps this was a piece to the puzzle. Zelda thought for a moment as she tried to recall the words that had been spoken.
"When Time staves off Evil, a new Light shall be born into the world. The Emptiness will rise again and the land will be hurled into chaos. Only the Light can pierce through the Darkness, though it will come at a price too late realized. The missing piece shall be filled and the mistake at the beginning shall be rectified," Zelda said with some uncertainty.
"Hey!" Tearen exclaimed. "That sounds kind of like what you said while you were seeing the prophecy."
"What?!" Zelda almost shouted. "I didn't talk while I was watching the prophecy. At least I don't think I did." Now she was really confused. Zelda did have to admit that she had felt something strange come over her during that period of time.
"You said something to Lily specifically. But you called her Light or something like that. Then you talked about the shadow of Emptiness and how Lily's supposed to find the answer before it's too late," Tearen explained. Everyone turned their heads to stare at Lily.
"Is this true?" Link asked.
"Yes."
"Do you remember exactly what I said?" Zelda asked softly. Lily looked uncertain for a moment. She didn't want to involve these nice people in her problems. "If you want to help solve these riddles you're going to have to tell me exactly what I said."
Lily nodded and repeated the words. For some reason they were imprinted in her brain. Try as she might there was no way that she was going to forget those words no matter how much they haunted her to her very soul.
"That's strange," Saith commented when Lily was done. "You've never done anything like that before."
"I know. I guess I did feel something odd but I didn't think that something like this had happened," Zelda said concentrating on the ground.
"Well, as far as I can see it both these prophecies mean the same thing," Link said trying to lighten the mood.
"Thank you for stating the obvious," Lily snapped sarcastically. Her problems just kept getting worse and worse. Link glared at her before continuing.
"Both prophecies talk about this Emptiness, whatever it is. Obviously it's something we want to avoid. Then there is this whole Light thing. The prophecy Zelda heard talked about a Light being born and the prophecy that you two heard named Lily as Light."
"So. . .that means that I'm supposed to save the world from the Emptiness," Lily sighed. "Wasn't the whole saving the world supposed to be your job Link?"
"I guess the torch has been passed on," Link smirked. Lily just scowled at the older man. She would have done anything to wipe that smirk off his face.
"So we've basically come to the conclusion that Lily, also known as Light, has to save the world from the Emptiness," Saith said trying to break the tension between Lily and his father.
"And that I have to find the answer to something to do it," Lily said still scowling at Link.
"The answer to what?" Tearen asked looking at her expectantly. Lily groaned in frustration and leaned back.
"If I knew I wouldn't be sitting here trying to decode some stupid prophecy!"
"You know, she's right. We've got bigger things to worry about then this. We still have to fight a war. By the way has anybody figured out just exactly why Prince Darius is attacking us?" Zelda question.
"Prince Darius doesn't need a reason to pick a fight with someone," Link snapped. Just the thought of someone like that sniveling bastard made him angry. Link had met him once at his wedding. The Prince had done whatever he could to try and talk Link out of marrying Zelda. If there hadn't been so many people around he might have just killed Darius and gotten it over with. Heavens knew how many people wanted him dead.
"Well either way, we still have to prepare and Ian's going to need some help," Saith said standing up. He held out a hand to Lily, which she ignored and pushed herself into a sitting position.
"Zelda, is there a library in the castle? I want to do some research on this Emptiness. If it's spoken in prophecies like a common thing there's got to be some record of it," Lily said. Zelda smiled at the young woman's thinking.
"Of course there's library. I'll show you the way while Link, Saith, and Tearen go help Ian."
Soon after the beautiful garden was left empty. Only the sound of the soft breeze could be heard as the groups went their separate ways. High above three eyes had watched the meeting with sparked interest. One pair of the eyes crinkled at the corners proving that there was a smile below them that could not be seen. Soon even the eyes faded from existence and everything was as it was before.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Two chapters done in one day! Yes, I'm on a roll! Man, I'm having a bunch of fun with this story. I really like how it's going even though it's actually gone in a completely different direction than what I outlined at the beginning. If I had used that outline this story would be almost over. Anyways I have a few things to say to the following reviewers.
To DarkBlackNoid: Don't worry about it. You didn't ruin anything just don't make too many more guesses in your reviews. If you want to e-mail me to discuss what you think is going on feel free to do it. I still won't give you a solid answer, though.
To heath999: I can't answer that question. It would ruin the surprise.
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY TO STK: Thanks for the great nickname maybe I'll make Oh Great Sarcastic One my new penname. It does have a very interesting ring to it. Anyways I think you miss understood my jest. I was not mad at you for making such a short review. In fact I found the three words very descriptively hilarious. Like I said before I thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to write me a review with three words when I'm sure there a lot of others who don't want to leave a review with one word. Don't worry about the long review you should read the first one that DarkBlackNoid sent me. If you are really feeling angry consider me thoroughly chastised.
Again thank you to all reviewers who have reviewed both this and previous chapters. Until next time.
Chapter Thirteen: Riddles
Link was walking down the hall to the courtyard when his fifteen-year-old son, Tearen, ran straight into him coming from the opposite direction. Fortunately for the both of them Link had caught sight of Tearen and braced himself just before he hit. If Link hadn't they would both be on the floor with several bumps and bruises. Saith jogged up behind Tearen a moment later.
"Where are you two off to in such a hurry?" Link asked. Saith fidgeted when his father started to ask questions. He had to get down to the garden. First he needed to make sure that his mother was okay. He also wanted to see Lily again. Tearen had explained the situation to him talking at almost and hundred words a minute. Almost all that he had heard was "prophecy", "mother", and "Lily". Of course with family history like theirs that was all Saith needed to understand what had happened.
"Father! I'm so glad I found you," Tearen panted. Even though the run out to the courtyard was not very long Tearen was exhausted. Link supposed it was because he was out of shape. "Mother. . .she told a prophecy. . .or saw one. . .or. . .or. . .it doesn't matter, she wants to talk to you right away!"
Link glanced up at Saith to make sure that this was indeed the message. Tearen seemed to be in a bad state and he wanted to make sure that he got the correct information. Saith nodded silently and started to jog off down the hall again. Link smiled inwardly. It was great to see that his son had found someone he liked. For years he had turned down princesses and duchesses to make sure that the woman he married liked him because of who he was on the inside. Because Link wasn't from some high noble family he understood why Saith would like someone like Lily. Most courtiers would have shunned her deeply if they had talked to her. Most courtiers already shunned him.
In the garden, both Zelda and Lily sat on the ground. Both were thinking about the sights that they had just witnessed. For Lily the prophecy that Zelda spoke aloud was both troubling and confusing. She wanted to know what it meant and she knew that she had to figure it out soon or it would be too late. But too late for what? The answer was in the riddle. The Emptiness. But what was the Emptiness? All she could think of was that it was clearly something terrible. Then Lily came down to the last problem. She had to find the answer. There was just one problem. What was the question?
Suddenly she felt something tugging on the back of her head. Lily quickly looked around her but there was nothing behind her. When she started to concentrate again the tugging feeling returned. This time, though, she stayed still and tried to locate the source of the tugging. It was coming from inside her head. The tug pulled at Lily's subconscious mind beckoning her to follow it into the murky depths of the clouded corner of her thoughts. She tried to resist the pull. What lay in the dark corners of her mind scared her more than anything in the world. She knew that if she tried to explore that area, she would never return.
"Lily?" Zelda's voice broke through the trance that had overcome Lily. The tugging stopped and Lily let out the breath she didn't know she had been holding in.
"Lily? Are you alright?" Zelda asked with concern. Lily looked up to find that Tearen had returned with Saith and Link in tow. Nodding her head, she looked at the ground. Zelda eyed her with a look of concern before telling everyone else to seat themselves comfortably. Link and Tearen sat down in front of Zelda while Saith kneeled in between Tearen and Lily.
"So what's this prophecy that Tearen was babbling about?" Link started.
"A few moments ago a prophecy came to me," Zelda started into her tale dramatically. Link, Saith, and Tearen rolled their eyes. Zelda loved to exaggerate the prophecies. It seemed like everything she saw was about the death and destruction of Hyrule. Half the time they turned out to be nothing big. Zelda caught eye rolling but ignored it.
"I saw a picture of the Triforce," she continued. Link and the others except Lily immediately perked up. "The picture focused more on the center of the Triforce rather than one of the triangles. If it had focused on the top or bottom triangles this might be easier to decipher but it was focused more towards the empty space in the Triforce. Then it zoomed in so that only black could be seen and then there was this bright yellow light that came out of nowhere. I could hear the sounds of battle and then someone spoke to me."
"What did they say?" Lily asked anxiously looking up. Perhaps this was a piece to the puzzle. Zelda thought for a moment as she tried to recall the words that had been spoken.
"When Time staves off Evil, a new Light shall be born into the world. The Emptiness will rise again and the land will be hurled into chaos. Only the Light can pierce through the Darkness, though it will come at a price too late realized. The missing piece shall be filled and the mistake at the beginning shall be rectified," Zelda said with some uncertainty.
"Hey!" Tearen exclaimed. "That sounds kind of like what you said while you were seeing the prophecy."
"What?!" Zelda almost shouted. "I didn't talk while I was watching the prophecy. At least I don't think I did." Now she was really confused. Zelda did have to admit that she had felt something strange come over her during that period of time.
"You said something to Lily specifically. But you called her Light or something like that. Then you talked about the shadow of Emptiness and how Lily's supposed to find the answer before it's too late," Tearen explained. Everyone turned their heads to stare at Lily.
"Is this true?" Link asked.
"Yes."
"Do you remember exactly what I said?" Zelda asked softly. Lily looked uncertain for a moment. She didn't want to involve these nice people in her problems. "If you want to help solve these riddles you're going to have to tell me exactly what I said."
Lily nodded and repeated the words. For some reason they were imprinted in her brain. Try as she might there was no way that she was going to forget those words no matter how much they haunted her to her very soul.
"That's strange," Saith commented when Lily was done. "You've never done anything like that before."
"I know. I guess I did feel something odd but I didn't think that something like this had happened," Zelda said concentrating on the ground.
"Well, as far as I can see it both these prophecies mean the same thing," Link said trying to lighten the mood.
"Thank you for stating the obvious," Lily snapped sarcastically. Her problems just kept getting worse and worse. Link glared at her before continuing.
"Both prophecies talk about this Emptiness, whatever it is. Obviously it's something we want to avoid. Then there is this whole Light thing. The prophecy Zelda heard talked about a Light being born and the prophecy that you two heard named Lily as Light."
"So. . .that means that I'm supposed to save the world from the Emptiness," Lily sighed. "Wasn't the whole saving the world supposed to be your job Link?"
"I guess the torch has been passed on," Link smirked. Lily just scowled at the older man. She would have done anything to wipe that smirk off his face.
"So we've basically come to the conclusion that Lily, also known as Light, has to save the world from the Emptiness," Saith said trying to break the tension between Lily and his father.
"And that I have to find the answer to something to do it," Lily said still scowling at Link.
"The answer to what?" Tearen asked looking at her expectantly. Lily groaned in frustration and leaned back.
"If I knew I wouldn't be sitting here trying to decode some stupid prophecy!"
"You know, she's right. We've got bigger things to worry about then this. We still have to fight a war. By the way has anybody figured out just exactly why Prince Darius is attacking us?" Zelda question.
"Prince Darius doesn't need a reason to pick a fight with someone," Link snapped. Just the thought of someone like that sniveling bastard made him angry. Link had met him once at his wedding. The Prince had done whatever he could to try and talk Link out of marrying Zelda. If there hadn't been so many people around he might have just killed Darius and gotten it over with. Heavens knew how many people wanted him dead.
"Well either way, we still have to prepare and Ian's going to need some help," Saith said standing up. He held out a hand to Lily, which she ignored and pushed herself into a sitting position.
"Zelda, is there a library in the castle? I want to do some research on this Emptiness. If it's spoken in prophecies like a common thing there's got to be some record of it," Lily said. Zelda smiled at the young woman's thinking.
"Of course there's library. I'll show you the way while Link, Saith, and Tearen go help Ian."
Soon after the beautiful garden was left empty. Only the sound of the soft breeze could be heard as the groups went their separate ways. High above three eyes had watched the meeting with sparked interest. One pair of the eyes crinkled at the corners proving that there was a smile below them that could not be seen. Soon even the eyes faded from existence and everything was as it was before.
^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^
Two chapters done in one day! Yes, I'm on a roll! Man, I'm having a bunch of fun with this story. I really like how it's going even though it's actually gone in a completely different direction than what I outlined at the beginning. If I had used that outline this story would be almost over. Anyways I have a few things to say to the following reviewers.
To DarkBlackNoid: Don't worry about it. You didn't ruin anything just don't make too many more guesses in your reviews. If you want to e-mail me to discuss what you think is going on feel free to do it. I still won't give you a solid answer, though.
To heath999: I can't answer that question. It would ruin the surprise.
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY TO STK: Thanks for the great nickname maybe I'll make Oh Great Sarcastic One my new penname. It does have a very interesting ring to it. Anyways I think you miss understood my jest. I was not mad at you for making such a short review. In fact I found the three words very descriptively hilarious. Like I said before I thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to write me a review with three words when I'm sure there a lot of others who don't want to leave a review with one word. Don't worry about the long review you should read the first one that DarkBlackNoid sent me. If you are really feeling angry consider me thoroughly chastised.
Again thank you to all reviewers who have reviewed both this and previous chapters. Until next time.