Disclaimer: I don't own Zelda.

About two months have passed without me updating this story. I predict that I won't stop again until finishing now. This chapter is super long, to try to make up for my absence. Enjoy.

Chapter 27

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To Link's surprise, he didn't have to go all the way back. Only half way. He hopped from platform to platform, back to the large walkway. There, he saw an engravement of a shield with a sword going through it, and a thunderbolt in the background. Link touched it, and he was brought back to the main room.

He looked around, and saw Rauru standing on his own medallion. Link nodded to him, and stood on Saria's. He immediately warped to a tree branch. It was dark. Link saw a vine in front of him, however, so he grabbed onto it and jumped. He let go, hoping for another tree or something to land on, but nothing was there. His hands flailed helplessly, until he found another vine! He swung on and on, until reaching a bridge with a flowing river underneath. Link walked on, and found a circle of trees. He squeezed through, and found Saria crouching down with her head in her hands.

"Saria. It is me, Link!"

Saria looked up.

"Link! I'm so happy! I have a lot of questions!"

"Rauru can answer them, as I have already freed him. Where is your switch?"

"Up there!" Saria pointed to a tree, and at the top, he saw a triforce statue.

"Okay."

Link walked over to it, and hookshot his way up. He touched the triforce, and she was now solid.

"Thanks! It isn't too far to the Sacred Realm's main chamber; your journey here was short. Just swing on back!" Said Saria, as she teleported back to the Sacred Realm.

Link turned around, and grabbed a vine. He jumped, and grabbed another, and another. He reached a particular vine, and he jumped off that one, he saw no other vine in sight. He looked quickly around, hoping that he would find SOMETHING. He saw, just above him, a vine, but he was too far down to reach it. He was wondering what was at the bottom of the trees, and now he knew. Tons and tons of spikes! Spikes were everywhere! He would have hit them, but he reached for his hookshot and launched it. The grapple hooked the vine, and pulled him back up. He breathed out slowly, and gave a last jump to the chamber.

Link arrived, and saw Rauru explaining everything to Saria, and Link walked towards Darunia's. He nodded to them, and they waved, then he stepped onto it.

Suddenly the Sun warmed his face. Link blinked, and saw he was outside. Or was he? He was in a lush field, and that was all. He could see nothing else around him in sight. He marched forward though, because when he was examining the sky it was cloudless, except for one cloud that was right in front of him.

'It must be a hint.' Thought Link.

So he was marching, until he grew tired, then he kept marching even though he was tired, and then something surprised him- the field was no longer bearing life! All around him nothing was growing anymore. It was all dirt. But this didn't stop Link. He kept on walking on, and saw a few rocks. The sun was starting to set. He saw a large rock in his path, which Link climbed to see if he could get a look of things. Nothing. So he jumped off, and kept walking. More rocks. Then some more. Link kept walking around them, but it was getting harder, as the rocks started to appear more and more. He had to climb over some, and squeeze through others. More and more and more and more came. Then some more. He climbed over them, jumped over them, and crawled under them, as some of the rocks shape left a hole in them. The rocks didn't stop appearing. The seemed to come from thin air, which Link guessed was the obstacle for Darunia the Goron's chamber. The rocks got bigger now. Link thought it would never stop, but it did!

Link saw in front of him now a hill, and he wondered why he couldn't see it when he looked from the rock, or even from the beginning, as the hill was quite large.

'It must be because they appear as I reach them.'

Link started to climb the hill, and as he did the Sun set and the Moon appeared. He climbed it more, huffing and puffing. To make matters worse now, a few rocks rolled down the slope toward him. Then more. Giant rocks now, all seeming to be aimed at Link. He had to dodge and keep his footing at the same time, and finally, after all of this, he reached the top, where a lone rock was. Link looked around, and saw the Planet's curve. He must have been very high up. It made him feel uneasy. He went over the rock- hey, wait! This isn't a rock! It is Darunia.

Darunia stood up, shook himself and stretched, and greeted Link (with many slaps on the back, even though they went right through him).

"Link! How are you!? Where have you been!? Thanks for visiting!"

"Darunia, I'm looking around and I can't find your switch that makes you free. Where is it?"

"Walk over to the eastern edge of this place."

Link walked to the eastern edge, his feet half on half off. He could fall. Link looked forward, and a Triforce emblem appeared. Link stretched out to touch it, and he did, and it disappeared. Darunia became solid.

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAW! I AM FREE! AHAHAHAAHAHAAH!!!"

Suddenly the hill (or more or less MOUNTAIN) started the shake.

"Eh-heh heh. Sorry Link, I gotta go. See you at the Sacred Realm!"

Darunia formed into a ball, ramped off the ledge, and teleported in mid air.

Meanwhile, things were not looking well for Link. The mountain was shaking horribly, and quite a few chips were coming off.

Suddenly--

Time seemed to stop for Link. The entire mountain was crumbling onto itself, exactly like the way Ganon's Tower collapsed. And Link was on top of it. He was heading for the ground at breakneck speed, and he shut his eyes. He would meet the ground any moment. He reached out and felt-

The Sacred Realm's tiles. He was in the main chamber again.

Link was quite shaky. He saw Darunia, Saria, and Rauru conversing.

"Curse your silly obstacles!" Roared Link.

Darunia laughed.

"Got a start from it eh? I thought it was kinda funny."

"Hardy har har." Said Link sarcastically. Link stood up now, and said:

"I'm going to rescue Ruto." He stepped on the water medallion.

As you might have guessed, he was immediately underwater. As you might have guessed, he swam to the top. As you might have- okay enough of that. Link looked around, and saw a small tunnel, that he might just be able to get through. He swam to it, and he could. He reached the end of the tunnel, and when he got to the other end he saw more water, but he swam to the top, and saw land not too far away. He swam to it without difficulty. He walked up and saw some tall grass. He looked through it and saw Ruto, sitting there.

"Ruto." Said Link.

She looked up.

"Link!!!!!!"

"Where is your switch? I need to free you."

"Oh, it is under this little island."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean swim under the island, silly."

Link dived under the island, and saw a Triforce Emblem. He touched it, and went back to shore.

"Thanks Link! What exactly is going on, though?"

"The other Sages that I have already freed can explain it to you."

"Okay!"

She dived into the water and teleported away.

"I wish she told me how to get back."

"Link, how nice to see you again."

Link turned and got out his blade in an instant, but put it back when he saw an old friend of his- Kaepora Gaebora, who I will be calling the Owl (but Link will call him by his non-formal name).

"Kaepora, what are you doing here? We aren't in Hyrule...are we? How did you know how to get here? How do I leave?

The Owl hooted. Then he said:

"Ahhhhh Link, you are definitely growing up more, I can already see it. You are right, we aren't in Hyrule. We are in a dream created by the Sacred Realm, of the Sages...a dimension if you will. I am here because I need to talk to you. How did I get here? I WAS an ancient sage in the past, Link. I know the ways of the Sacred Realm. I will show you how to leave once we are finished speaking."

"Kaepora, this place, like all the other dreams of the Sacred Realm don't feel natural. They feel mysterious, and...well, I can't exactly put my finger on it, but it is something different."

"Link, this is a fake world, only a dream of the Sacred Realm. But it seems real enough, correct? Your mind and body are confused with one another. They cannot distinguish what is real and what is not anymore."

Just as the owl finished saying this, a giant fish, who is the only one of it species and that is to be the only time it is seen by any very intelligent life form again, leaped into the air from the lake, and splashed back down.

"Kaepora...that fish...Is it part of the dream, or is it real, like you an me?"

"Being in just one of these lands fogs one's mind so much, that if they are in it long they can't tell. I have lingered long enough here, I cannot answer that question, as I can no longer tell. Yet I will stay a bit longer, and speak with you."

"These lands are kind of scary in a way...but I can sense the magic easily."

"...And is that Magic real?"

"I don't know, but it does feel genuine."

"Because it is. This dream is real, real like a rock you can pick up. You are feeling the magic of the dream, not of this land."

"If none of the things in the dreams are real...then can we become harmed?"

"It depends how the one having the dream is feeling, Link."

"And who is having the dream?"

"The Sacred Realm."

"I see."

"A spear from this dream could go through you can kill you. It could go through and pierce you but not harm you. It could go through without leaving a mark. Since you are in this dream, you are part of this dream now. The only way out is to find the hole that is created by the Sacred Realm. This hole is in the form of a Triforce, an item that is most mystical."

"I feel overwhelmed in here. Something so fake seems like too much for me."

"What else do you feel?"

"I feel I could abandon my quest and be a hermit here, but I fear I could fade out of existence."

"You could."

"How?"

"If the Sacred Realm stops dreaming this dream."

"Why would it do that?"

"The Sacred Realm what made by the three goddesses, as a place magical to Hyrule. The Sacred Realm is not bound to Hyrule, yet Hyrule is bound to the Sacred Realm. So, if the Sacred Realm is destroyed Hyrule remains, if Hyrule is destroyed- then so is the Sacred Realm. And Link, you cannot dream if you are destroyed."

"Can all of Hyrule truly be destroyed?"

"Yes. If Caidro and Ganondorf succeed."

"Then all the dreams will be destroyed. Everything in them. The Sun and Moon, that fish we saw, all air, the field I was in...all gone."

"Yes, gone."

"A place so magical, so hauntingly beautiful cannot be destroyed. I believe I would be content to stay here, but that cannot be. I must stop Caidro and Ganondorf."

"Good. So knowing all that you do now, will you continue?"

"Yes."

"Splendid. To exit this dream, wake up."

"I'm not sleeping."

"Pretend you are, and just open up."

"I think I understand."

Link stared into the sea, pretending he was one with it. Then, he stretched his entire body, and his heart felt funny to him. In a blink of an eye he was back at the Sacred Realm.

A/n: Sorry for the wait. Originally I wanted this chapter to finish up with the Sages, but that will have to wait. Make sure to Review!