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.

***WARNING: This chapter contains violence and in depth descriptions of torture. Those of you with really queasy stomachs take caution when you're reading. It's not all that bad (I don't think) but I'm warning you just in case***

Chapter Twenty: Dreams

The wind whipped cruelly around the small form curled up on itself lying in the middle of nowhere. The only light that could be seen was the dim glow of the fading stars in the night sky. Gnarled tree branches swayed with the wild wind and made everything around the form frightening and unreal. The grass underneath was dead and prickly, moving in time with the trees. The huddled form shivered as another blast from the icy wind found its way under her clothes.

Lily pulled her legs closer to her chin and tried to warm up. The air around her was so cold and it chilled her to the bone. She tried to use her long hair as a sort of makeshift blanket but it didn't work too well. Lily tried to get glances of the area around her while she waited for the wind to die down…if it ever would. As soon as the thought finished running through her mind, the wind did die down. Confused, Lily sat up looked around her. Nothing was stirring. The wind that had been so violent before was now gone without a trace of it left. Sighing, Lily stood up and brushed the dead grass from her clothes, which had changed from her normal blue dress, to a pair of tan breeches that were finely made. Her shirt was sleeves and yellow with embroidered designs all over it. If Lily looked close enough she could almost make out the patterns of swirls and stars but every time she moved the pattern shifted and was replaced with something new. Golden bands adorned her wrists and on her feet were sturdy yet comfortable sandals. The laces of the sandals ran up past her ankle to the middle of her lower leg in a crisscross pattern underneath the breeches.  

Just as confused as ever, Lily started to walk. She didn't know her destination and nor did she pay much attention to where her feet were going. She merely picked a direction and started to walk. As she strolled along she watched the landscape around her. Everything in this new world that she had found could be named in one word.

Dead.

Everything was just dead. The limbs on the trees sported no leaves of any kind and they seemed unfriendly to say the least. It was a huge contrast to the gigantic trees of the Kokiri Forest that seemed to be alive in more ways the one. The grass under foot was yellow and crunchy and in some places there was no grass at all, just the bare dirt ground. Even the sky seemed to be dying. It was now blacker than the blackest black with the stars gone and Lily was sure that this land had not seen the sun for the longest time.

It only occurred to her after what seemed to be the longest walk she'd ever been on that she knew where she was going or at least the places that she was passing seemed familiar to her. This did nothing to help her already confused mind, for even though she knew where she was going she didn't know what would meet her at the end of her journey. She could only faintly recall the path to her destination but not the destination itself. Grumbling under her breath about how bad her memory must be getting, she continued on.

Finally, a small hump started to rise out of the ground. To Lily the distance looked short and she picked up her pace. The closer she got the bigger the hump got and with each passing step Lily could feel an uneasiness growing in her heart. The hump soon grew into a tower that seemed to reach the sky and its blood red color gave her chills. This was a tower of death but what mysteries it held only made Lily's curiosity grow along with the uneasiness.

Faster than she realized it, she was standing in front of large door at the front of the tower. It was the same crimson color as the rest of the building and it was made of metal. Lily approached it slowly, her stomach doing flip-flops. This building and the feeling around it gave her the creeps. Using one hand she pushed the huge door open. It swung easily under the pressure put against it but a loud squealing could be heard coming from its ungreased hinges. Stepping into the long dark hallway, Lily started to make her way into the tower. Her stomach was no longer doing flip-flops. Now it felt like a piece of lead that was weighing her down.

Suddenly a sound came from in front of her. At first it was unrecognizable to her ears but as she slowly edged forward into the awaiting darkness the sound became clearer and her heart jumped to her throat.

A bloodcurdling cry rang through the air. Behind it, almost as if it was backup, came pleas for help. The voices wanted someone to help them. Lily started to run towards the voices. There was no way that she could just leave them there to be hurt by whatever was scaring them.

"Help us, please!"

More pleas sounded from the darkness as Lily raced down the passage she was in but it seemed like the farther that she ran the fainter the voices sounded. She ran faster than she ever thought possible and she could feel the toll that it was taking on her legs. Fire raced up and down the back of her thighs while each time her foot pounded into the ground to take another step it felt like she was walking on knives. Lily merely ignored the pain and sprinted on. Something inside her told her that she absolutely had to reach the voices.

She took step after step and yet it almost felt as if she was running in place. After a few minutes of running, she finally stopped to take a rest. The screams persisted but it seemed that there was no way she was going to be able to reach them.

Suddenly the world rushed around her. She could hear the movement of objects as they switched places and she reached out a hand to steady herself against the wall but the wall was no longer beside her. Her vision blurred and things looked like a river of colors that surrounded her. The color that seemed to be the most persistent was black. Then as suddenly as it had started it stopped. The room she was in finally stood still and Lily could feel herself do a double take as she took in the scene around her.

In one corner of the room stood a large hearth in which a fire roared but this hearth did not give off the pleasant homey feeling one would expect. Instead of a large bubbling pot of stew hanging over the fire this fireplace was littered with devices for torture. What looked like an overlarge peppershaker sat hanging on hook with a boiling liquid inside. A boot shaped object hung next to it and Lily didn't even want to guess what it was used for. In another corner more tools were strewn on the floor. Among these were thumbscrews, a breast ripper, a headcrusher, a cat's paw, and a heretic fork. Lily could feel her stomach trying to make its way up her throat as she gazed at the objects. Several of them were covered in blood.

A scream at her right brought Lily's attention to three young women shackled to the wall. One only had to look to see the beauty that they once contained. The first had short purple hair tied back in a high ponytail. Her eyes sparkled with a hidden fire that was the same deep lavender of her hair. The second had long blue hair put into a long braid that traveled down her back and deep blue eyes that held understanding. The third had green hair that went down to her shoulders with green eyes that spoke of hidden courage. All of them also had a small sphere in the middle of their foreheads that was the same color as their hair and eyes. Their beauty would have once burned the eyes of mortal men but now blood streamed down their faces like small rivers. Their hair was dull and dirt ridden and the clothes they wore were nothing but rags. Looking down at the hands of the women, Lily noticed that the thumbscrews had already been used. Their fingers were now nothing more than a mass of bloody bone and skin melded together. They also wore what looked like a cloak of blood. That was the one thing that really stood out.

Blood. It was everywhere.

Even the walls had not escaped the thick dark liquid that seemed to ooze all over the place. Lily wanted to run, she wanted to scream as loud as she could and flee from this scene of grotesque horror but she was frozen in place by the only other thing in the room. Standing next to the three women with their blood dripping down the front of its black cloak, stood a figure that only nightmares could have dreamed up. Its face--as "it" was the only way that she could describe it—was covered in shadow by the hood that surrounded it head. The gaping black hole left there only frightened Lily more. She was sure that if she even got a glimpse of that awful face her blood would freeze just from sheer terror.

Slowly the thing reached out a hooded hand towards her. She could almost hear the cackling laughter of the creature as its hand drew closer while she stood and watched. Every muscle in her body screamed at her to run but there was nowhere for her to go and she couldn't move anyway. The hand crept closer with each breath she drew until it touched her face.

A scream ripped from her throat as pain coursed through the nerves in her skin. Soon her scream was silenced and all she could see was blood. Lily felt it dripping down onto her limbs and the feeling both disgusted and frightened her. Then she lost feeling throughout her body and slowly her sense of taste and smell disappeared as well. All that she had left was sight but there was nothing to see except blood. Her mind was swimming in it. It was all she thought about, all she knew.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Someone shaking her violently brought Lily back from the world of dreams. She groaned as she turned over. Her mouth was cotton dry and her body ached all over for no seemingly good reason. When she opened her eyes there was a pair of blue concerned ones staring back at her. Slowly, she sat up in bed and looked over to where Tearen stood only a foot away.

"Are you okay?" he asked, his voice strung with worry.

"Fine," Lily mumbled. She put her head in her hands and tried not to think about the dream she had just had. It had been so real, so vivid.

"Are you sure? You were screaming bloody murder."

Tearen didn't notice when Lily flinched at the word "bloody." She didn't want to have to think about that ever again. On the good side the voice hadn't started bugging her yet. Stretching, Lily clambered out of bed to go and change. Before she did though she asked, "What time is it?"

"Six. The battle will start as soon as everyone's ready to go." Tearen heard an audible gasp come from Lily. He couldn't help but wonder what was wrong with her today. First she woke up screaming from some nightmare that she was having and now it looked like she'd completely forgotten about the war that was going on. Sighing, he walked out of her room and made his way down to the rapidly filling courtyard.

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Hello! Sorry it's been awhile but amazingly this author has a life of her own. I know it's the shocker of the century. Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter. I tried to put in as much detail as I possibly could. It looks like some of you are starting to catch on to what's going on and some of you may also be confused but don't worry it'll all work out in the end I promise you. I can't promise though that the next chapter will be coming any faster. Thanks to my delinquent teachers they keep piling more homework on as if they're trying to accomplish something by the end of the year. It doesn't do a bit of good though because most of the students have developed a case of summeritus and most of our brains are starting to shut down. Well, I'm sure you don't want to hear about my boring life so I'll leave it at that.

Thanks this time go out to Gary, DoomSaber666, and Melika. Thanks for the wonderful support guys. You make this author's day everyday (or at least the days you review)!

DoomSaber666-Wow! Thanks for the awesome praise. I'm sorry you're a little bit confused but don't worry everything will workout. Also thanks for suggesting it but I very seriously doubt that I will be sending this into Nintendo.

See ya!