Disclaimer: I own the plot and the setting, and that's about it.
Summary: In a world where the mind shapes reality, and only the heart can break it, Link must end the conflict within himself and find a reason to come home.
This whole story was inspired by a single picture. I have a link in my profile (but don't look until you're done, or it'll give the plot away!).
The musings in this chapter are all done to show how Link is feeling. They're not some deep, personal philosophical view of life. (I know some people can get weird about that)
Oh, and this is supposed to be MYSTERIOUS, so not everything will make sense right away.
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Chapter 1 – Rain
Link sprang upright in bed. The heavy patter of rain continued on the metal roof above his one room abode. Another thunder clap and a flash of lightning seen glancingly through his partially shut door only further confirmed the storm was still going.
He gingerly pulled the sweat soaked sheets asides and stepped barefoot onto the cold stone floor. It was hard to tell the exact time during the night, but he knew he had only had a few hours of sleep and would get no more.
Nightmares had plagued his unconscious mind ever since he had entered this new land. They were instantly forgotten when he opened his eyes, but the feeling remained. It wasn't just the bone-chilling fear and sense of hopelessness, though; there was something else more important than all that, something that he should have retained.
Link sighed and ran a hand through his hair to jostle himself from his thoughts. He'd pondered this oddity before, always coming up short, and just didn't feel like doing it again.
He walked over to his equipment lying in a corner and slipped his green tunic, the only outfit he owned, it looking like patchwork after the numerous times he had had to repair it. After strapping on a few other essentials to his belt, he opened his creaking wooden door and stepped through a curtain of rain to the world beyond.
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His body was instantly drenched, his clothes sticking heavily to his skin, and his sodden hair plastered across his eyes. Link walked along quickly, ducking among overgrown hedges and solitary trees, attempting to avoid the rain.
His concern was more cognitive than anything, his body already numbed by the cold. He also made sure to avoid the allure of the houses with their welcoming awnings and warming lights. He had learned long ago to avoid all houses but his own.
Like a specter he drifted along, allowing his feet to guide him with no real destination in mind. As he walked, his mind mused on his surroundings, hoping to find solace in some captivating thought.
Fascinating how the world changes when it rains, he pondered mind separated from body. As the sheets surround you, your vision shortens, your hearing is muffled, your body goes numb, and all taste and smell is washed away. All that is left is your mind which seems to burn and grow stronger in the damp and dark, and as you draw into yourself, the rain pulls nearer still until it encompasses you. Suddenly, you are alone in the rain...
....but the rain is not itself alone, for there are others in it still. And the solitary heart, through that common bond, reaches out to find another.
Link eyes opened, not even realizing he had closed them, and all of his senses came rushing back, breaking him from his trance. His feet had also stopped, and he found himself standing just inside the edges of a great forest.
He had been here before, in some deep recess of his memory, and knew if he turned around he would see the village he had come from just a hundred yards away.
Feeling refreshed to be out of the rain, Link continued on into the forest. Occasionally, a green cricket or camouflaged frog would leap out from behind a leaf, disturbed by his shuffling feet, but otherwise there was silence. He reveled in that serenity.
This place held a subdued majesty quite different from the outside world, where reality asserted itself harshly and the browns and ores colored the cityscape. Here a luminescent glow came from the earth itself, casting upside-down shadows, and seeming wrong to one who knew it was in the pit of night.
A matching iridescent fog covered the flora giving the scene a dampened dream-like state. To Link, who felt the land's familiarity, it indeed seemed like a dream or at least a remembrance, too faded out to be real.
Without warning, a great rumbling shook his footing, and he clasped onto moss-covered tree to remain upright, while leaves fell, once again raining around him. As he braced himself against the tree, the reverberations continued, rising to a fevered pitch, their origins now locatable north of him, towards the center of the forest.
With that discovery, too, came the compulsion to go there. Stronger than his fear of what may lie ahead, it forced him forwards, first with unsteady steps, and then with lurching strides. Now he was sprinting over the uneven ground and tangle of roots, laboring to keep from pitching into the dirt, and as he drew nearer, so did the sounds grow louder, roaring like some great turbine.
Finally, he broke through a wall of vines and branches into the innermost sanctum. Here the ground was aberrantly bare of all vegetation, and a hole in the canopy allowed rain and darkness into the once contiguous forest.
All thoughts of his surroundings and the impending danger of the noise, though, vanished as he found the first real and tangible thing in this jungle. A lone maiden stood in the middle of a fairy ring, her hands clasped in her lap and her head tilted to the side in a pose of grace. Her long blond hair streamed wildly in a wind unfelt by her observer, partially obscuring her visage.
Although only decked in a simple white cotton dress, she seemed more befitting in a royal court than this wilderness. Link found himself tracing the lines of her face with his eyes, still under her enchantment. Her smooth skin, soft nose, and full lips all burned themselves into his mind's eye.
Abruptly, the crashing noise broke through the trees and then quieted as it entered the glade. The spell over Link was finally broken as the woman flinched. His senses came rushing back to him for the second time that day, and he was able to notice important things other than the mysterious woman's beauty.
For one, she was nervous. Her hands clenched themselves, and knuckles and thinned lips were whitened with pressure. More importantly, though, he now identified the source of her fear, a monstrous creature towering over them.
It was a wurm, the name supplied by some unknown part of his brain. It was a giant snake-like creature, its segmented body plated by earthen colored scales. The beast's body trailed as far back in the forest as he could see, tree trunks splintering under its writhing body.
As quickly as he could assess the situation, the creature's huge head lunged, going directly for the woman, showering leaves into the swirling wind. The world slowed down for Link, his reflexes fuelled by adrenaline, so affected by this woman he had never met.
He sprung into actually immediately, his warrior's training kicking in. Two seconds passed and he was six steps forward, sprinting at top speed, taking yards with each stride. All the while, he shouted for her to run, but his own voice never reached his ears, swallowed by the din.
The woman only stood still, drawing further into herself, sweat now beading on her forehead. The leaves had not even reached the earth yet, seeming to float as time froze. Link, still halfway across the clearing, felt, or somehow knew, if he could just reach her they would be safe, but the wurm was almost upon her now, moving with speed not humanly replicable.
Link tore his hookshot from the bindings against his belt and fired before thought could process what he was doing. The point sailed threw the air like an arrow, the whisking sound most evident as the metal links uncoiled.
The woman gasped in surprise and pain as the cold metal tip pierced her shoulder and then sank back to lodge against a bone. Tears sprung into her still closed eyes as she was hauled back towards Link, never having paused in his run.
The beast's expanded maw, with glimmering white fangs the size of saplings, buried itself into the barren ground. The grove was now silent except for the sound of the creature's own breathing.
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Link his lift his head from the hard floor and scanned the room dully. Scattered bits of the night's events filtered into his mind, seemingly so unreal, that he temporarily believed it must have been some elaborate dream.
He sat up even further, ignoring the protest of his aching limbs and throbbing head, and was surprised when a pale, delicate hand slipped from his chest. He propped his arms out behind him and recognized the girl of his dreams...ugh, in his dreams, lying across his lap.
Link was duly glad that she wasn't awake at the moment and therefore couldn't see the uncommon blush that had overtaken his features. Link was a grown man and was neither unfamiliar with desire nor uncomfortable with it, but her innocent features and trusting position, even if unintentional, made him stifle any thoughts immediately.
Eventually, the woman stirred and awoke just as he had done, turning questing blue towards his, her mouth already parted for question.
This definitely wouldn't be a pleasant conversation, thought Link, quirking a tired smile at the inanity of his own mind after the past few hours.
But the beautiful woman, mistaking it to be comforting, smiled back, bright as day.
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And so it was, that as the morning's rays illuminated the sparkling drops of last night's squall, and the sun ventured across the world, casting new life, two people, joined in need, began a journey of their own.
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.
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To be continued....(perhaps?)
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Phew...that had a lot of big words. I no longer regret taking etymology.
Hey! Hey! If someone can find a grammar mistake, I'll give the person a cookie! (I proofread this thing too!) Don't make me get out the bags of trail mix!
Ooo! Ooo! There it is / Do you see it?! It's the review button! O.O