Generations

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Chapter 11: Brave New World

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The early winter air was crisp and clean. More to the point, Link thought, sitting on the park bench, it was cold. He shoved his hands deeper into his pockets and tried to pay attention to what he was being told.
I don't think this is quite the sort of extra-curricular course they'd approve of back at school...

"The key to any sort of fight, with or without a weapon, is... Link? Link! Are you even listening to me?"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm listening," Link responded, though the tone of his voice was trying to tell a different story. He had decided a long time ago that he'd preferred being an atheist to being on one-to-one terms with a god of destiny. Even though, after their first meeting, Oni had never even mentioned the fact, Link was still acutely aware of who or what he was talking to.
"You don't seem like it."
"Well, as if that wasn't easy to work out! I've just had an absolutely awful day. I missed the bus. I have a truckload of homework. Cal's been an even bigger loser than normal - he's been looking sick, really weird colour, so I get on the receiving end." Link sighed, and put his head in his hands. "The last thing I really needed was hero lessons."
"I'm only looking out for you..." Oni replied, in a voice both soft and steel-edged. "Times are going to be hard, you know that..."
"Yeah! And I am sick of hearing it!" Link snapped. "You think that - oh, I might not want a chance to relax now and then?"
He got to his feet. "Some of us are only human, you know." With that, Link slung his backpack over his shoulder and walked off.

It had been just over two weeks since the disaster that had ruined his home. Somehow, Link was managing to cope better than he thought he would have. His grandmother had taken the rest of the family in for the time being, though her over-concern for them often proved itself a problem. Life was almost getting back to normal in Kakariko - if its residents avoided the great scar, healing only slowly and running through the north of the city, it was nearly possible to pretend nothing had happened. The 'danger zone', they called it. The only people to approach it any more were armed police. Civilians had gone in there and not yet returned. The rumours why ranged from plausible to fantastic. If they had known the truth they could hardly have accepted it.

A currently unconcerned Link spared one glance for the darkening sky as he walked. An icy wind blew, cutting through his jacket, and carrying on it a few faint specks of white.
Huh? he thought. A bit early for snow, isn't it? But hell. Weird, but not the sort of weird aimed at me, I guess. So that's okay. He quickly closed down on what his imagination was starting to throw at him. Damn, I'm turning into a pessimist.
All your fault, Oni'kara.

The snowfall quickly became heavier. Link turned up his collar and started to run. This wasn't on the forecasts...

It didn't take long before he was home, or where he now considered to be home. He hammered impatiently on the door as he waited for someone to open it. It didn't take long. "Link? You look a bit chilled..." his grandmother remarked. "Come on in, love."
He laughed weakly, looking down into her smiling eyes. "You don't have to fuss over me, gran."
"Oh, yes, I do, love." As Link stepped inside, another thought struck her. "I hope that biker friend of yours hasn't been causing trouble..." She paused. "What is it you two are always doing, anyway?"
"He's sort of a tutor. And trust me - 'Kay' doesn't cause anyone any trouble except me." He stepped inside and hung his jacket by the door. And he's not a friend, either. Just a random immortal nuisance. "Where's Zel'? And where's mum?"
"Your mother just went to the store, and your sister's busy. I asked her to sort through some of the junk in the attic. I think with you two around, we'll need the space. I don't suppose you'd mind..."
Link rolled his eyes. "Okay. I'll do it." Then do my homework. Then do my 'other homework'. I might try to eat and sleep some time tonight, but I can't really see how I'm going to fit that into my schedule. With a last glance at his grandmother, he ran up the stairs.

-

In the centre of the snowstorm, a figure in black walked, unconcerned by the freak weather. It seemed almost homelike to him. He looked around, watching the goings-on of the city.
As he watched, a young man hurried out of a nearby burger bar, warming his hands on a polystyrene cup of coffee. Something in his eyes suggested life was rough at the moment. The man in black approached slowly. "Are you having problems?" he asked.
"Yeah - and random people in the street is one of them. I'm kinda busy..." the boy remarked in return, walking off.
His new companion kept pace easily. "What if I said I could get rid of those problems for you? Turn your life around completely?"
"Then I'd say you're crazy. What are you? Recruiting for the military, or something like that? That looks like an uniform of some sort..." The boy paused. "Or - is it religion? I already go to the temple every week... I'm not interested. "

"Not quite either of those," Ganondorf remarked with a thin smile. "Five seconds of your time. I won't hurt you. You have my word." Inside, he laughed.
"Whatever, Mr. - "
He paused before replying. "Mr. Hunter, if you will. For now," he added in an undertone.
The name didn't immediately ring any bells. "Okay. I'm Alex." He shrugged. "Fine. Five seconds. So - what's going on?"
"You'll find out soon enough." You are so trusting, boy... But you will be putting your faith in the only thing that deserves it, soon. The darkness.

-

Link coughed as he climbed up the ladder a little shakily. "You in here?" he yelled.
"Hiya!" Zelda's voice replied from the distance, behind a pile of assorted boxes. "Gran sent you?"
"Yeah..." Link sighed. "So. Find anything interesting?" He walked closer, ducking the rafters.
"Nah," Zelda said with a shrug. "But I'm not half-way done yet." She paused. "So. How was hero school?"
Her brother rolled his eyes. Only Zelda and his closest friends knew exactly what went on in those after school sessions. "As dull as the normal variety," he groaned. "We keep going over the same stuff. He doesn't know whether to patronise me or over-stretch me. One moment, he's just about telling me that you don't pick up a sword by the pointy end, and the next thing he's waving his round my head like..."
"I doubt he's had much experience training people, somehow."
"Bleh. You always stick up for him." Link changed the subject. "Come on. Sooner we get this done, the sooner we get out of here."
"'We'? I've been doing all the work here..." Zelda said, laughing.
"Blame the big guy," Link responded dryly, lifting down a cardboard box from the top of a pile. Looking inside, it contained a collection of old picto albums. Despite his mood, Link soon found himself laughing at some of the old pictures.

Soon, there was only one box left untouched in the attic. An old wooden chest sat at the far back. Although it had at one time been padlocked, the lock had broken off. As Link lifted the lid, a cloud of dust flew up. He screwed up his eyes for a moment before looking inside.
For a moment, he looked in silence.
"Hey..." he finally whispered.
"Hey what?" Zelda asked, walking over. Link's only response was to reach down into the old chest and pick out what lay in the bottom.

"Hey, this," he said with a wide smile, holding up the sword. It wasn't anything special to look at. After the great weapon he had used in the recent past, it seemed small and fragile. The handle was smooth, polished wood, engraved with a simple triangular pattern, and the blade short but sharp. Link wasn't willing to test just how sharp, however. "Wonder if Gran knew this was knocking about up here..."
"She must have," Zelda remarked. "Link - you're not thinking of keeping it, are you?"
He paused, and closed his eyes. "Yeah. I am. Please - " he held out his free hand - "don't tell anyone."
"Okay," Zelda sighed. "But they're going to find it some time."
"No-one did so far," Link said with a shrug. "Probably only one person's gonna be interested." He closed his eyes. Hell, he'll find out some time. Probably going to read my mind - why can't he just get out of there? But how I'm going to get a sword to the park without attracting too much attention... no idea. Link reached into the bottom of the chest again to put the sword back into its scabbard. As he left the attic, it was thrown a little carelessly into his room, where it skidded across the floor and under his bed.

As they wandered downstairs, Link and Zelda easily caught the sound of raised voices over the phone. Standing in the hallway, they listened.
"What do you mean, you can't get in touch?"
"Just that. Sorry, Mrs. Hunter."
"Look. I think I have a right to know what my husband is doing..."
"We see him around, but there's no talking to him. His door's always locked, and the whole corridor's blocked off. There's dangerous stuff going on. Frankly, no-one wants to ask what he's up to." The voice on the other end of the line paused. "To be honest, you're lucky. You know how many people have disappeared recently?
"Oh, yes. I've seen it on the news..."
"At least we know he's alive and well. Even if he's not quite ...being himself."

Zelda looked at her brother. "What's that mean? Dad's in trouble?" she asked.
Link only shrugged.

-

The next day seemed even colder than the one before. Well, maybe no-one else'll be crazy enough to be hanging round the park, Link thought, fiddling with his locker door. No-one had noticed the object wrapped in plastic bags that he had hidden inside. If they had, he'd have been in trouble, there was no doubt about it. He shoved the sword into his backpack. The hilt and some of the blade stuck out the top but were unrecognisable.
Link tried to remain calm as he walked out of the school gates and headed for the park and his usual rendezvous. As he'd expected, Oni was already waiting for him, unconcerned by the cold weather. For once, he was glad to see him there. "Hey," he remarked with a brief wave.
Oni got to his feet and walked over. "Hello to you, too," he said with a faint smile of relief. "What was wrong yesterday?"
Link sighed and threw his hands up. "I told you then. I just... really didn't have time to sit and listen. Sorry I ran out. But..."
"As long as you don't plan on a repeat performance today. You've got to take this a little more seriously than you have before." Link's only reply to that was a roll of his eyes. This time, however, he tried to listen to what he was being told - for a while, at least. His attention began drifting down towards the sword lying on the floor. Okay, so when should I say about that, then?

"About what?"
Link snapped round. "Stop reading my mind!" he said, bitterly. "Can't a guy keep his head to himself?"
"I wasn't 'reading your mind'. You were sending those thoughts to me, even if you didn't realise it. I couldn't help but hear them." Oni looked across at Link. "So. What is it you want to tell me, then?"
Link shuffled his feet. "Look in my bag. I found that yesterday." He gave a snort of laughter. "Not quite your standard, but just wanted you to see."

Oni unwrapped the plastic bags, and gave Link's sword a test swing. Its weight felt comfortably familiar in his hand, though he was sure he had never seen that particular sword before. "Not bad - not bad," he remarked. "Who gave you this? It's a great responsibility, you know..."
"I wasn't 'given it'. I found it. You think it's okay?" Link said with a shrug.
"Certainly. But our lessons are going to have to become a bit tougher than what you've been used to. It's more dangerous to have a weapon you don't know how to use, than to know how to use one and not have it..."
"Stick the pointy end into your opponent, right?" Link remarked. "Oni - I'm kidding..."
"It's no laughing matter." Oni reached for his own sword, causing Link to shuffle along the bench away from where he stood. "Why so nervous now? You were all too keen to take me on before..."
"Yeah, but... you know..." Link waved a hand towards his face. "I was kinda... on a power rush. You know." He was conscious of his face feeling rather warmer than the rest of his body.
"Just consider this a practical lesson." Oni raised his sword. "The first step - defence. Always remember to keep your guard up... you don't have a shield, so this is going to be harder on you..."

Within half an hour, Link was out of breath. Though he hadn't sustained any injuries, he knew that was only because Oni had been going easy on him. He remembered their fight in the danger zone too well. It was only a shame he couldn't remember the moves he'd pulled off then. Hands on his knees, he tried to recover.
"Okay..." he panted out. "I get... the picture." As he straightened up, he could see a movement across the park. It didn't seem to be anything, but the fact that Oni's eyes were fixed into the distance indicated otherwise. The immortal had a hand held to his head. "What's up?" Link asked.
"There's something over there. Between those buildings - can you see it? Get that sword out. I think we might need it." Oni started to walk off, his senses screaming. Another rift between worlds. But this time, he intended to catch it for himself. Link followed closely as they left the park, more than a little worried.

It wasn't long before they realised what the movement had been.
Two pig-like monsters were moving through the alleys.
"Great," Oni muttered. "Moblins."
"Huh?" Link remarked in surprise. "What's a..."
"Never mind. Just remember what I told you. Keep your guard up." Oni paused. "Let's go."

Like I need telling, Link thought. Let's see if I can sneak up to them... An energy blast rocketed past his head, smashing one of the Moblins in the chest. It fell to the floor. Or alternatively, thank you, we can just go in with a full frontal attack. Subtlety's not your strong point, is it?

With that, the monsters attacked. One made the bad move of heading straight for Oni; the second made a run for Link, who jumped out of the way quickly. The Moblin gave chase - slowly but still determined. Dodging wildly, Link tried to get in a few blows, but the pike it carried provided a crude defence. Link found himself forced backwards against his will. Out of the corner of his eye, he could just see Oni taking care of his opponent easily.
At that point, however, he had more to worry about. The air around him seemed to be filled with a heat haze. Light flickered.

As Oni looked across, ready to face the second monster, he saw Link vanish from view. In a split second, he realised what had happened. "Link! No!" he yelled, starting forwards - but the rift had already sealed. Damn. His head rang. At least I know where he is. I might be able to track him. But of all worlds - why that one?...

-

"Whoa!" Link yelled, as the world began to spin. He stumbled, the ground shifting under his feet. "What the heck is going on?" Around him, the scenery warped and stretched, flickering in and out of existence. Sound, too, was distorted - the noise of the city groaned up and down the scale before fading away. A rock placing itself under his foot, Link tripped, falling onto his hands and knees with a yelp. Unable to move for a moment, he could do nothing but watch the uncontrollable vista around him.

As suddenly as it had begun, the madness stopped. Link dragged himself to his feet and looked around.
Where am I? he thought. Wherever he now was looked vaguely like a city, but one of ancient times. Many of the buildings looked in worse condition than those hit by the attacks on Kakariko. This place is a mess.
Shaken, he began to walk on, tightening his grip on his sword. This strange city had a bad air to it. He could almost feel that even its quieter areas were still what he could call rough. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see figures in alleys and behind windows. None of them was what he would call human. They seemed to be watching him with a mixture of fear, respect and anger.

I have to get out of here, he thought, and picked up his pace. The streets seemed almost familiar. With a sickening twist in his stomach, Link knew why. The layout was just about identical to the city he knew. This was Kakariko - but at the same time, it most definitely was not. Merely a reflection or a copy.

For a brief moment, Link glanced up at the sky. It was covered with dense clouds, but as he watched, a break formed in the grey blanket. The colour was - wrong. Not blue, but a fiery gold. It rang the faintest of bells in his memory. There was no time to think about that problem, however, as a pair of what looked a little like dragons ran out at him from the shadows. One of them swore at Link, before grabbing him by the shoulders and smacking him in the face. He had no chance to respond, and could hear one last, guttural phrase as he passed out.
"Ya think we should take this one to the master? Been bringing all these light-worlders through here..."
"Nah. He's only after..."

-

Slowly, Link awoke, with his head pounding and a taste of blood in his mouth. This looked nothing like his previous location. His attackers seemed to have dumped him somewhere in the countryside, such as it was. It took him some time before he could even sit up straight. Friendly, those two, he mused, gingerly touching his lip and running his tongue over his teeth. Do they say 'hello' to everyone the same way? Mugged by monsters... fun all the way...

As he looked around, he guessed that they must have just left him here for dead. There were no buildings nearby; only a cluster of trees that looked almost like they had faces, and a murky green lake. This place looks like one helluva tourist spot, he thought. Charming locals, spectacular scenery... Just come to beautiful - where is this, anyway? Absently, he rubbed at an itch on the back of his left hand as he looked at the sky. The clouds were clearing slightly, revealing more of the strange, unnatural colour between them. It almost sounded like something out of an old nursery rhyme.

Well, I know one thing, Link decided as he got to his feet, picking up his backpack from where it was discarded on the ground by his side. He was surprised that they hadn't taken his sword. This isn't my world any more.
The dragon-man's words came back to him as he began to check through his pockets. All his money seemed to be gone, but that seemed to become unimportant. He stopped and swore as he worked out what the phrase must have meant.
"Damn..." Link whispered to himself. "I should have paid more attention to what Oni was saying..." He tried to tell me all these legends in my first lesson. Didn't listen.
But why would I? I mean, I'd never thought I'd end up in the... the Dark World?...

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