Here it is, two a.m. in the morning, but I finished. Ah, the sweet smell of a new chapter is so refreshing, so enjoy^_^
Legal stuff: The Legend of Zelda and its characters belong to Nintendo, not to me. Self-made characters however, do belong to me, so no copying.
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Link's eyes struggled to adjust to the gloom of the temple, both Leyann and Navi's slight glow helped a little, but not much. The hallway they were in seemed encircle them completely in darkness, the fairy's glow barely reaching a foot in front of them. He was growing increasingly nervous from not being able to see, and the fact that Zyte was still in her Dark Soaran form didn't help.
"Watch your step, there's a fallen block in the middle of the floor." She turned her head slightly so that Link could see one of her eyes glowing eerily in the dark, an involuntary shiver ran down his spine.
Bumping his toe into the block Link carefully stepped around it. "This stinks, I can barely see my hand in front of my face, isn't there anything we can do?"
"You think I like it? Dark Soaran eyes aren't much better than yours in the dark, I've been trying to find a pyre crystal bracket."
"A what?"
Zyte sighed, "they're always set up in dark places. They stick certain crystals in the walls and connect all of them to one central bracket. Stick a pyre crystal in the bracket and it lights every crystal in the section, soon as I find one we can get some light."
"Great, how long will it take you to find one?"
"Depends, might take an hour or- aha! Wait here a second, I'll be right back."
Link heard Zyte's talons click on the floor as she walked away. With Leyann's slight glow steadily getting dimmer as Zyte walked farther he was left being able to see even less. Putting his hand against the wall to steady himself, Link suddenly felt something slither across his hand. Yanking it back in alarm, he tried to get a look at whatever it was, only to find it gone. Glancing down at the ground he saw several shadows slither past his feet in the same direction Zyte had gone. He realized Zyte must have returned to normal and relaxed a tiny bit.
A sudden flare of light made him shut his eyes in pain. He waited a moment before reopening them, allowing the dots that flashed behind his eyelids to subdue.
He looked up to find Zyte already walking down the hallway, Leyann flitting nervously around her face.
"Hey! Wait up!" He hurried to catch up with her, but Zyte didn't stop or even slow down.
Leyann suddenly turned from Zyte and flew down the hall toward him, Zyte continued to walk.
"Link! Something's wrong with Zyte, she hasn't listened to a word I've said, and she has a really strange look in her eyes," Leyann sputtered out when she reached them.
"What?!" He quickly looked back to Zyte, who had already reached the end of the hall, which was a junction where you could turn left or right. Not even pausing to look she turned right and continued down the hallway.
"Zyte! Wait, come back here!" Link broke into a run after her, Navi and Leyann trailing behind him.
Turning right at the end of the hall as well he barely saw Zyte as she again turned down another side hall. Running to catch up he took many twists and turns, barely keeping Zyte in his sights before entering a large vaulted room. Zyte was standing in front of a large door, seemingly in a trance.
Walking up behind her Link put a hand on her shoulder, Zyte jumped and looked back at him.
"What?"
"Care to explain what that little walk was about?"
"Walk?" She paused to look around at her surroundings. "How did I get here?"
"Well do you remember anything?"
"Not really, I remember putting the pyre crystal in the bracket, and then…" her forehead creased, "it felt like someone was next to me, I don't remember anything after that." She absentmindedly rubbed her neck, wincing slightly when she touched her bruises.
Link in the mean time was examining the door. "Well whatever happened you came to this door, might as well see what's inside it." He gave the door a push, the hinges creaking in protest.
The room beyond it had clearly been some sort of library at one point, but the many years of solitude had clearly not been good the texts that lined the tables and shelves. Several tables had been knocked over and there were many places that looked as if they had been set aflame.
Link cautiously entered the room, his footsteps echoing on the dust covered floor. Walking over to one of the tables he reached out to touch one of the books that had been left out, only to find the pages crumble to dust.
"Look at this place," Zyte breathed, "this entire library has been practically destroyed."
Link continued to look through the books, trying to find one where the writing had not been blurred by the years. Finding one that didn't crumble to his touch, he opened it and scanned the first page, only to find the writing in an odd dialect he didn't understand. Choosing his words carefully, he turned to Zyte.
"You said your mother was a translator of these texts, right? Any chance she taught you some?"
Zyte nodded, "a bit, let's see what I can remember." Pulling the book toward her she began to flip through the pages, pausing every now and then as she skimmed a passage.
"Let's see, this seems to be mainly predictions, like this one is about the great storm that happened a hundred years ago." She continued to flip through the pages, not bothering to look at many. "And these are a tad more recent, eighty-seven, seventy-two, fifty…" She turned back a page, "now this is odd, this Seer went from predictions over fifty years ago to this single one," her eyes narrowed as she read the date, "that is supposed to happen this year."
"Well read it out loud, I'd like to hear what it says too."
"Alright, I'll try as best as I can…
An evil from ancient past has risen once more. Cursed to death by those he thought friends, he now seeks bitter revenge for his betrayal. His legions of dark are many, they prey on the light. But his power will not rain supreme, for one of cursed blood will rise against him. The cursed one will face him with a stranger not of this world, only to find the power they hold is not enough. When the dark is betrayed by one of its own, and blood has been shed by both sides, tears of stone will fall, sealing both light and dark away from the world. For only when the light has sealed itself away will the darkness be contained. As long as both the light and dark remain untouched and unsealed, the darkness will never be let forth."
As Zyte read the last words of the passage the book crumbled to dust, leaving the both of them confused at what they had just read.
"Well that was a cheery prediction," Link said sarcastically.
Zyte nodded, "yeah, sounded more like a prophecy than a prediction," she shook her head, throwing loose Leyann, whose glow turned slightly red with annoyance, "I must have absorbed more of that stuff than I thought, I never remember learning that much." She turned to face the door they had come in. "Might as well get going and explore the rest of this temple."
Zyte followed Link out the door and back into the large circular room. Casting her gaze here and there she suddenly stiffened.
"Link! Whatever you do, don't make any sudden movements or loud noises," she hissed at him.
"What? Why?" he asked, twisting his head to look at her.
She flicked her eyes upward, staring at one of the pillars close to the ceiling. Following her gaze Link's eyes alighted on what had made Zyte so worried. Curled around a broken pillar was a monstrous black snake, its eyes closed in sleep. A pair of leathery wings curled around the upper half of its body. Two long thin fangs could be seen poking out of its mouth and an odd sort of frill was folded back against its head.
This time it was Link's turn to be shocked. "What in the name of the goddesses is that?" he hissed back at Zyte.
"An Otsu, I thought they went extinct."
"Dangerous?"
"Very, they can shadowsync, become one with the shadows, and those fangs are venomous, but-"
A sudden feeling made her stop mid-sentence, like a wave of energy had passed through the room.
The Otsu raised itself up, turning sleepily to stare at them. Zyte backed up slightly, her eyes showing a faint glimmer of fear. The Otsu suddenly let out a loud hiss, baring its fangs and extending the frill around its head. Its skin seemed to shimmer slightly as melted into the pillar's surface.
Zyte spread her wings and leapt off the ground. "Off the ground! Now!"
Link quickly followed suit, his feet barely off the ground when the Otsu's head burst through the floor where he had just been standing. Hissing at its miss, the Otsu sank back into the ground. Flapping to get away from the floor Zyte brought out her bow and drew an arrow, constantly watching the walls for the slightest movement. Moving to bring out his own bow, Link was left completely open when the Otsu burst out of the wall near him. Startled Link moved backward, expecting to feel the fangs sink into him. Then he heard the Otsu hiss in pain, Link looked up to see an arrow sticking out of its side. Link then decided against using his bow, seeing how fast it could move, and instead opted for his sword. The Otsu again sank into the wall.
Link groaned, "this thing only appears to attack, otherwise it hides in the walls."
"Let me try and draw it out, get ready to attack." She lowered her bow and closed her eyes, her wings flapping slowly. Link moved in closer to Zyte and started drawing power into his sword, he was not going to let this thing strike her, not with its venom. "I'll tell you when to move Zyte." She nodded to show that she understood.
The Otsu burst out of the wall, heading straight for Zyte.
"Now!"
Zyte gave her wings a flap to move out of Link's way. The last thing the Otsu saw was Link's glowing sword as it shredded into its skin. The Otsu shrieked in pain, but not before it had flapped its leathery wings one last time after Zyte. Not expecting something like this to happen Zyte didn't have time to get away. Rearing its scaly head, the Otsu sank its fangs into Zyte shoulder and vanished into a puff of black smoke.
Zyte gasped in pain, her flight began to falter. She held up her hand to grasp her shoulder, her flapping growing steadily weaker. Her eyes slowly closed, she stopped flapping and began to fall.
"Zyte!" Link dove, barely managing to catch her before she hit the ground. He carefully set her on the floor and gave her other shoulder a shake, trying to wake her. She didn't give any sign that she had even felt Link's hand, he had failed to keep her safe.
"Leyann! Isn't there anything to help her with? An antidote?"
Leyann's wings drooped slightly, "no, we'll just have to wait until she wakes up."
"Wha- Wakes up? You mean she's not poisoned?"
"That's what she was about to tell you before the Otsu woke up, Otsu venom knocks you unconscious, that's when they kill you, when you can't fight back."
Link looked back at Zyte. "How long will it take?"
Leyann flitted up and down for a quick second. "To be honest, I don't know…"
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Yes, I know, the evil cliffhanger, just wait, the next chapter's going to be a good one, I promise.
Questions? Comments? Ideas? Criticisms?
Post them in a review or an e-mail to me and I'll see what I can do.
