WHEN WORLDS COLLIDE
By Katt006
lturk@bigpond.com
July 29th:
…Oh yes, I'll shut up now. On with the story!
Katt006
(Saga #2 Keeping the faith.)
*Dedicated to my friend Samoan Gard
CHAPTER 11:
The group dismounted from their horses as they entered Kokiri forest. "Hmm… looks like they clipped the tail end of all the destruction." Impa observed, taking in the amount of fallen trees that littered the small township.
Link had unknowingly wandered away from the others, lost in his memories of the place he lived all those years ago… however to the time-travelling Hylian, it only seemed like yesterday. He was abruptly pulled away from his recollections when a hand rose swiftly in front of his face and halted him in his tracks.
"Oi you!" yelled the owner of the hand.
The voice was unmistakable. Link sighed in annoyance and looked down at the villager standing before him
"Why are you wearing that Kokiri tunic for?" Mido asked suspiciously.
"Oh this?" Link pointed to his clothing, "It was a gift from my great grandmother Raboushibabashika, do you like it?" He words heavy with sarcasm.
Mido glared, unamused. "… You know, you seem vaguely familiar."
"Link!" Cried an excited voice from behind them. The Hylian spun around to see Shiko running towards them. The blond stopped just several meters away and turned to look over her shoulder at another Kokiri slowly approaching. "See!? What did I tell ya Swat!" She cried happily at her friend.
Shiko walked to Link and stared up at her mature friend, her blue eyes dancing with joy. "My goodness you've changed so much. And you've grown… we Kokiri don't do that. So the assumption I made many years ago was correct, you are different from us."
"THIS… is Link!?" Mido gaped in astonishment. "Bu.. bu…but… he used to be so weak and pathetic."
"Hey you know what?" Link asked his former rival. "Don't we owe each other a re-match for a battle that took place many years ago?" He reached behind his shoulder and withdrew his sword. The metal was almost like a mirror that reflected the terror in Mido's eyes. The flawless blade was around the size of the fiery Kokiri himself. Link placed the sword between him and Mido with the tip of the blade end-down into the soil beneath them.
"Tha…t won't sc..are me…" The boy stammered.
In one swift, almost invisible movement, Link arced his blade in a flat sweep across the top of Mido's head. The Kokiri stood dazed for a moment before a small breeze blew the tip of his hat onto the ground along with a proportion of his hair. He moved both hands to his head and noted the bald patch Link had made with his sword precision. "Ahhhhh! You monster!" He screamed as he ran as fast as he was able to from the skilled warrior.
Link could not hold in his laughter any more as he gave into a bout of hysterics as Shiko and Swat joined in.
He abruptly ceased when soft hands removed the sword from his grip. "Aw, grow up please." Zelda spoke calmly as if she were scolding a child. "Stop scaring people. I was not aware that the Hero of time was some sort of sadist." The royal moved behind Link and slid the master sword into his sheath. "Let us be moving on."
Link put his hands up in surrender as he followed the royal to the large rocky cliff on the edge of the forest.
"So this is one of the borders huh?" He asked, squinting up to see the top. However he was surprised when he couldn't.
The others approached behind him. "Ah. This is where we depart Hyrule I guess." Impa smiled to herself at the thought of exploring outside her homeland.
"So what do we do from here?" Navi perked up from under Link's cap and began to fly in loops with anticipation.
Zelda walked over to her horse. A large honey-coloured mare with a black mane, which she had named 'Shard.' Over the past time travelling she had become quite fond of the animal and she stood beside it, stroking the fur fondly before reaching up onto it's back to rummage through her knapsack. An instant later she had extracted a round metallic blue instrument and tossed it over to Link without warning.
The magical object struck the warrior in the side of the head before landing into his awaiting hand while he used his other to rub where the impact was made. "It's the ocarina." Link said quietly and smiled to himself.
"You know what to do." Zelda stated, walking to stand beside him.
Link nodded and placed the small instrument to his lips. He blew softly into it and ran his fingers over the holes to preform the piece that was so vividly carved into his mind along with many other unforgettable tunes of his past. As soon as he had finished a green tinted wind swept through the forest. It spun into a miniature tornado and halted before Link and Zelda. A magnificent light erupted from within and revealed a short female clad in a simple green kokiri tunic. Her hair sat around her shoulders and was as green as the leaves that were caught up in the small magical gust.
"Link…" The figure smiled at her long-missed friend.
"Saria. I thought we'd never see each other again." Link confessed to his former companion.
"You should give me more credit than that." Saria's grin widened. "We're friends. And when I promise a friend something I don't break it. I said that we'd meet again. And I would have done anything to keep to that." She circled Link and sized him up. "Much time has passed since I saw you last. You have matured in both mind and body." Her eyes became slightly shaded in sorrow. "But unfortunately these are not peaceful times. I wish we could have met again under different circumstances and I have to move you to the next part of your journey quickly." She nodded over to the rest of the group in acknowledgment before asking Link to pull out his sword.
Confused but somewhat curious and trusting of his friend the young man complied. He held the blade steadily out between him and Saria. The kokiri sage placed both of her hands onto the glistening metal and closed her eyes in deep concentration. The weapon began to glow a strange shade of green.
"I am adding my power and strength to yours dear friend." She replied to Link's questioning stare even though Link could have sworn that she had her eyes firmly shut. The glow faded as she opened her eyes and released the weapon.
"Wh… what the heck was that all about?" Swat leaned in to his blonde friend in a low whisper. The two baffled village kids stood off to one side where they watched the proceedings unnoticed.
Saria walked to Link's side and reached as far up his arm as she could. "Oh how I've missed all the carefree days we used to share together here. Life can be so unpredictable, that is the only certain thing." She looked up into his deep blue eyes with a hint of sadness. "But we must hold strong. It is time for you all to move on. Don't be afraid of the unknown. " Again the sage closed her eyes and a green glow appeared around the two.
The light shot a beam from the two friends and into the wall of rock in front of them, opening up a long passageway through the incredibly thick stone obstruction. "I apologize for the height of the tunnel." Saria confessed as she sized it from floor to ceiling. "But this tunnel was constructed by the kokiri many thousands of years ago this explains it's lack of height.
Silence overtook the group as they contemplated on the new obstacle. Link turned to Saria and took her small hands in his own. No matter what, we will always be the best of friends. We will meet again." He smiled at her which brought a happy expression on the sage's face in mirror of his own.
And Link felt her grip slip away as she vanished in a gust of wind and leaves.
Things never ceased to amaze the red-haired farm girl. But she wasn't the only one rubbing her eyes in surprise. The two kokiri shadows in the background were frozen in disbelief also.
"Well, well, well, I assume we're all moving out. Lets get to it people." Impa advised.
"Um… Am I the only person here who sees the problem that we currently face?" Came Zelda's calm inquiry.
"No." Sighed Malon looking uneasily at the horses. Impa and Link turned and suddenly realized it too.
"Ah shit." Impa swore angrily. "Why didn't we see this coming?"
"Well we have now… the horses can't fit through." Navi stated. "Looks like we'll be needing a bit of improvisation."
"Either that or we're gonna be hauling around a lot of stuff on our damn backs." The elder Hylian stated, still fuming.
Zelda began unloading the animals. "Here's my plan. We will take a large backpack each with the most important items we'll need." said as she pulled off her load and began to rummage through it once more.
"But your highness, are you sure that you can handle carrying such a load around?" Impa asked concerned.
"I thank you for your concern Impa. However just because I am royalty, that does not make me any more of a human being than anybody else. We will all carry our own supplies. Please allow me to help out equally." Zelda concluded as she had finished gathering all of her necessaries. The others followed in suite till a while later they were all done.
"Hey!" whined Link. "Why do I get the sack with all the holes in it. Not to mention it smells like horse shi…"
Then he couldn't see anything. Navi had pulled Link's cap down over his face and sat daintily on his head. "You make it seem like I'm travelling with a bunch of girls." She spoke with a sigh.
"Well in case you haven't noticed they ARE all girls except for ME…" Then Navi's insult finally struck the young man. "HEY! What were you implying by that!?"
The fairy giggled uncontrollably as her friend vainly tried to grab her in anger as she zigzagged happily through the air.
* * *
Soon after a quick meeting and farewell with his two baffled friends, Link and the others set of into the tunnel. The roof was so low that they had to hunch heavily to keep on their feet. The narrowness of the rocky walls allowed them to travel in single-file only. Link was first, followed by Zelda, Malon and then Impa bringing up the rear.
"I sure hope this tunnel doesn't fork into different directions 'caus Saria didn't give me a map or anything." Link spoke back to the others, his voice echoing back and forth down the stone corridor.
They had gotten quite far from the entrance now and relied heavily on Navi to provide a dim pink light.
"How long is this bloody thing!?" Came an irritated voice from the back. "My back is killing me, we'd be better off crawling dammit!" And with this, Impa promptly sank on all fours and proceeded to crawl to relieve her back of the strain of hunching.
"Personally I don't know who's worse," Zelda whispered quietly to Navi and Malon close behind her. "Link or impa… and the sad part is that the fate of my land rests heavily on both…"
Navi giggled and malon smiled in amusement.
*Whump* Zelda ran into link's back as the hylian halted suddenly. This caused Malon to sandwich Navi between the royal and herself. The farm girl then let out a startled yelp as Impa accidentally head butted her backside from her crawling.
"Shees I'm so sorry." Impa quickly apologized to avoid further embarrassment. But Malon took it in good humour and laughed.
Impa spoke again in a raised voice so she could be heard at the front. "What did we all stop for?"
"There's something in the way." Came the male's voice from ahead. "Navi! Get up here."
The fairy obeyed and squeezed herself from between the two young women. When she approached the front she squealed in terror and link stumbled backwards, tripping over Zelda in the process but was caught by the royal who looked ahead to lay eyes on the fearful object.
"It's a human skeleton…" She stared in confusion. "Judging by the detieration, it has been here for quite a long time."
The skeleton lay browned and brittle. It had remains of skin still attached to it and the hair on it's head was still very visible. It's mouth hung open gapingly and Link found himself fearful of the empty eye sockets that stared through him as if pulling the hylian into their darkness…
"Link… are you alright?" Came a concerned question from the princess close behind him.
Link didn't hear he just kept staring into the black depths.
'…Come…with… me…' Aroused an unheard voice from the depths. And the head turned to face him. Link yelped in horror as he turned and in his panic collided with Zelda again.
"Link! Snap out of it. What's wrong?" Zelda clung to both his arms, her blue eyes gazed into his but his pupils didn't register or focus. What she found was Link's eyes staring through her as though he was in a trance. His skin felt cold as though all his blood ceased to run through it.
Impa's commanding voice broke his daze. "Everyone move up and let me take a look at it."
Link shook his head and refocused his eyes on the girl who clung to his shoulders. "Link. What's wrong, what happened?" She asked.
He looked past her without answering at Impa. "No! I'm not moving any closer to it!" Link yelled with a desperate voice which was more like a plea. "I… Can't…" daring another look at the horrible sight, Link found it's head was back in it's initial position, staring at the ceiling. The tone in his voice struck all the others as rather odd.
"Aw c'mon Link! Act like a man. It's just a dead guy! You've seen them before!" Impa called rather impatiently.
Malon and Navi stood silenced, not knowing what to make of it.
Zelda looked back at Link, sensing something strange.
'What's wrong with him?' She thought to herself with worry.
TBC…
I HOPE to get the next chapter up soon… but knowing me, well... who knows. E-mail me and yell at me to get my ass into gear and I'll do it quick smart. ^.~ Till then, later all.