The Mask of Majora - Chapter 5: One Of A Kind Valor
Voices... images... overlapping... so confusing...
"L-Link, what's going on?..... you have to get some sleep..... I don't want you getting hurt....wait! ...Where are you going?..." "What? That stupid horse of yours?..... I did you a favor and got rid of it..... Aww, boo-hoo. Why the sad face? I just thought I'd have a little fun with you...... fool..."
Link gritted his teeth, trying to drown out the voices. "Quit it...!!" He saw the events back home flash before his eyes.
"If I wasn't dealing with you, I wouldn't have gotten separated from my brother!...... Well, don't just sit there, Deku boy! Do something!!....... Please!! C'mon, a helpless, little girl is asking you..."
"You've met with a terrible fate, haven't you?"
Link's eyes fluttered open. Those gears... so familiar... they ticked away noisily over the crow of the morning rooster. The boy's blurred vision faded away and before him he saw the highly unfinished heap of a festival tower. The construction men carrying the lumber and pounding their work hammers. Have they come back...? Did he manage to stop the moon on time?
No... it couldn't have been. Tatl flew ahead of the deku boy and gazed around her. They stood in South Clock Town, right in front of the basement entrance of the Clock Tower... where Link entered this world from. The fairy girl felt short on breath. "W-What just happened?! Everything has..."
Link turned around and faced the tower. Looking up, his hands flew up to his face in surprise. The moon was... falling all over again? It was the same distance as Link remembered seeing it from the first time. Both him and Tatl finished the sentence in awe.
"... it has started over..."
The Song of Time. Link dropped to his knees in reverence and managed to laugh over a sob. The Goddess of Time... she had protected them. He whispered a grateful thanks to the heavens and Tatl continued to stare around her in bafflement. She glowered at Link like if he was some kind of crossbreed monster. "Wha...what are you, anyway? That song you played... That instrument--" she gasped. "...That instrument!!! Wait, that's it!"
He stood up immediately and stared at his temporary partner. "What? What?!" Link asked in curio.
"Your instrument!! The mask salesman said that if you got back the precious thing that was stolen from you, he would return you to normal!" she grinned at him shortly and looked back at the double doors that led to the tower's basement, where that salesman must be in. "Did you completely forget or what?" she blurted out half-jokingly.
Precious thing? Link's weak smile started to fade when realizing... the Ocarina of Time wasn't the only precious thing that has been taken from him. "...no, it's just...Epona..." He looked down at the blue ocarina in his hands sadly. But Tatl would hear none of it. She pushed him hard -at least as hard as a young fairy can- towards the double doors. Link's hope was suddenly lifted; he knew that if he returned back to normal, his hopes of finding Epona could come true. She couldn't be dead-- Skull Kid didn't seem like someone who would kill at first glance... then again, there was his plot to bring down the moon... appearances really can be deceiving...
Tatl just continued to whine. "C'mon, move it!!"
Link bolted through the doors and scanned the area. It was the same way he had left it, alright. The clock's gears were turning, the murky water was churning and the door that led back to Hyrule was still shut, lock and key. Link sighed sadly and walked to the ramp that led to the very bottom of the tower, where the gully of water was. And out of nowhere, the strange, grinning man with his giant pack appeared before him again. His hands clasped together, he chuckled at the sight of the boy.
"Back so soon! Were you able to recover your precious item from that imp?" the mask salesman asked; his tone full of anticipation.
The small deku boy just nodded in reply. It certainly didn't feel like he was back so soon, but that's just time portals for you. You'd think he had gotten used to it after what he had once gone through back home... "Yes, sir... I've got it right here--" he reached to pull it out of his pocket, but he felt two clammy hands grip his shoulders and shake him excitedly. Link looked up at the creepy salesman's grin that just unnerved him completely
"Oh!!! You got it! You got it!!" he cried out. "Come with me!" Letting go of the boy, he ran -more or less- towards the other side of this level of the tower and Link gasped as something he had never noticed in this building appeared before his eyes. An old-fashioned grand piano, very similar to Ganon's pipe organ... at least... he thought it was. The Happy Mask Salesman sat on a chair in front of the instrument.
"Please, listen to this song I am about to perform and remember it well," he said. Link nodded and pulled out his ocarina once more, which transformed into deku pipes when he held the instrument readily. "It is a melody that heals evil magic and troubled spirits, turning them into masks."
The mask salesman first played three single notes twice in a row. It sounded simple enough and Link played along. The soothing notes he played with these pipes were loud but melodious. Those three notes slowly turned into an ongoing melody. A melody than seemed to take over Link. Finishing the song, he put away his instrument. He blinked in remembrance of that horrible hex the Skull Kid had so rudely bestowed upon him. He remembered the fear and panic it brought him. Nonetheless, it was now all fleeing from his mind as if it never existed.
Another blink, he heard a clatter at his feet. He looked down, but before he could see what had fallen in front of him, he took notice of his hands. They were no longer the stubby hands of a deku child, but they were his own. He looked down at himself and reached his hand behind him and the felt the hilt of his Kokiri Sword. He was back. He was a Hylian again.
The last time Link grinned this wide was months ago when he had succeeded his mission, right before Navi left...
"Oh my gods! I'm back!! I'm totally back to myself!! Alright!" he bounded. He was so happy, he felt like hugging somebody. But alas, there was no one to hug. Tatl was definitely out of the question and the salesman... he just plainly freaked Link out.
The salesman stood up and laughed lightly at the boy's eccentric-ness. "The Song of Healing is what this song is called. I am sure it will be of assistance to you in the future." Bending with his knees to prevent falling flat on his face under his sack, he picked up a wooden mask on the floor. The object Link had heard fall to his feet. "I give you this mask in commemoration of this day. Fear not... the magic has been sealed inside the mask," he said, noticing the hesitant look the boy had. Link held it in his hands and stared at it. The deku face carved on the mask still had its look of sorrow...
Instead of putting it in his item bag, he hung it on his belt. He had a strange feeling he might need it again.
The salesman outstretched a hand to him. "I have fulfilled my promise to you, young boy... so please give back that which you promised me," he said.
Link's grin was gone in a flash. He lowered his head awkwardly and his blue eyes were suddenly quite interested on the cracks of the granite floor. He had forgotten to get the mask back. He had made a promise to get it back from Skullkid. 'Stupid, stupid, stupid!' He mentally kicked himself for not recalling it. His head remained low, but he nervously eyed the mask salesman, his expecting grin also fading.
"Don't tell me... my mask..."
Link put his hands behind his back and twiddled them anxiously.
"You did... get it back... Didn't you?"
Finding enough courage to look at the man in the eye, he lifted his head to speak in his own defense. But he was once more gripped by the shoulders and shaken; this time with a force so fierce that it caught the boy hero off guard.
"What have you done to me?!!?" the man exclaimed, suddenly tempted to choke the boy to his death. But realizing he was being irrational towards such a young child, he let him go. Link backed away from him and Tatl resided on his shoulder in shock. "If you leave that mask out there, something terrible will happen!!"
"I don't get it! Why is the mask so dangerous??" Link just had to ask. He watched as the Happy Mask Salesman simmered down a little and sat on a small chair across from the boy and startled fairy. He sighed before looking back up. Link sat down cross-legged on the ground. There was a story coming up-- he could feel it.
"I went to great lengths to get that mask," he began. "When I finally had it in my hands... I could sense the doom of a dark omen brewing from it. It was that unwelcome feeling that makes your hair stand on end... the artifact is called Majora's Mask.
"It is an accursed item from the legend of an ancient tribe that would use this mask in their hexing rituals. It is said an evil and wicked power is bestowed to the one who wears it. According to legend, the troubles caused by Majora's Mask were so great... that the ancient ones sealed the mask in shadow forever, preventing its misuse. But now that the tribe from the legends has vanished, no one really knows the true nature of the mask's power."
Link's eyes widened at hearing this tale. He watched warily as the man stood up and put his hands up to his chest like if he was symbolizing true honesty. "...but I feel it."
"But... just you? Not even Skullkid...?" Link trailed off.
"I do not even believe he is aware that just evil has overtaken him. That imp... if such power is bestowed on such a gullible creature..." He put his hand up to his face and shook his head at the dreaded thought. He neared the green-garbed boy again with a pleading look. "I am begging you! You must get that mask back quickly or something horrible will happen! I'm begging you! I'm begging you! You must do it!!"
Link finally had the opportunity to go back to Hyrule... but to walk away from jeopardy is just not his style. Of course, he knew all those citizens were in grave danger and he could not live the rest of his life knowing that he could have done something to help Termina. Glancing up at the mask salesman, he nodded firmly.
The man's grin retuned. "Really? You'll do it for me?" He sighed and looked at the young boy. "I was certain that you would tell me that," he said knowingly as he patted the boy's head. Link seemed a little annoyed, but he let it pass.
"You'll be fine! Surely, you can do it. Believe in your strengths... believe."
Termina Field.
Very much like Hyrule Field, the green patches of grass stretched far and wide all around. Unlike Hyrule, however, this land was divided by people's races, so it was very rare to see more than two different races together in this world. Emerging from the south gate, Link set foot on this field and kept traveling south, where Tatl advised they should start off. The boy hero smiled as he made his way through the field. After being stuck in a deku boy's body for awhile, it felt good to be able to walk in long strides again. He actually enjoyed very much being around fresh air, away from city streets and back to the nature he had grown very fond of.
After long minutes of walking and walking and walking, Link held up his hand in desist and slumped down under the shade of a tree. Tatl just grew more impatient.
"Come on! We're almost there!! Why rest now?!" Link gave the fairy a look of both bother and pleading. Tatl just shook her head. "Alright... let's at least review then," Tatl said.
"Fine. As long as I don't have to move my legs anymore..." he said with a sigh.
Tatl 'paced' around Link's head and began to think out loud. "That mask... the Skull Kid uses the power of that mask to do those terrible things," she looked towards Clock Town; the top of the Clock Tower could be seen even from the distance. "And whatever it takes, we've gotta do something about it. Now..." she paced some more and looked at Link to make sure he was listening. "When Tael spoke up, he was referring to the four areas of this land..." Link sat up and took the opportunity to ask that question which had been on his mind for awhile.
"But what did he mean when he said 'the four who are there'?" he asked curiously, tilting his head at the yellow-white fairy.
There was thoughtful silence in the air for a second before Tatl shrugged along with her reply. "I dunno. He always skips important stuff. I guess we should just go and find out..."
"Uh-huh... I guess," Link said looking down.
"Well, the swamp's in that direction, so move your lazy butt and let's get going!"
Link rolled in eyes and stood up. He arched his back to stretch his muscles and while he was at it, he looked up at the sun's position. From what he could guess, it was around 9:00 in the morning... so he must have walked across the field for almost a full hour! They had to hurry. Unsheathing his sword, he started to trot down a much darker path. You never knew what was going to jump at you at any given moment, so he held his Kokiri Sword readily.
"Come on, Tatl. Stay close..." he said over his shoulder; however he did not receive a response. He dropped his guard and turned around to see Tatl still hovering around the tree he had taken a minute's rest in. "...Tatl?" he asked, this time uncertain. Her wings seemed sag, even as she flapped them to maintain her position. She was staring at a drawing carved on the side of the tree-- Link did a double take. He hadn't noticed the drawing when he had sat down. Link stood right next to young Tatl, staring along with her.
It was a crude illustration of a skull kid and two fairies at its side. "What is that...?"
Link thought he heard her smile as she said this. "Tael and I drew this with the Skullkid when we first met him..." she paused. "He... he told us that he was fighting with his friends... and that they had left him all alone...I'm sure it was because he was always playing tricks, so nobody wanted to play with him."
Link nodded in understanding.
Tatl shook her head. She recalled when Skullkid had asked her and Tael to do to the Happy Mask Salesman the same they had done with Link. After knocking him out and as the imp searched for the 'goods', he stumbled upon that wretched mask. "But to do what he just did because of that..." she whispered. "...and once he got his power..."
A quite long silence followed after. Link bowed his head slightly and heaved a sigh. "I promise Tatl-- that I will do all I can to get Skullkid back to normal," he said.
But the fairy girl just looked sadder. "It's too late for him... what's important now is the rest of Termina. You've gotta find those four... they probably have the power to stop Skullkid." She grunted uneasily and turned her back on the carved drawing. "Let's... get away from the subject, shall we?"
Then, simultaneously, they both looked at each other and said, "Let's go." Without hesitation, they both ventured into the darkness.
The young hero stayed fully alert as he walked through the tall trees and thick bushes, stopping only to cut the vines that were in his way. He encountered two Deku Babas, which he sliced right through both with ease and a light smirk. Tatl just ogled from the 10-year old boy to the small, rusty blade he held. She was pretty much speechless. Link just laughed; he was used to this kind of disbelief from others.
"You've never seen a ten year old pro in swordplay before?" he said with a chuckle bending down and picking up deku nuts and sticks left on the ground.
"Duh. What do you need those for, anyway?"
"Well, you never know..." he muttered as he stuffed them in his item bag and continued to walk along the path. "You gotta expect what you least expect... if that makes sense. I just-- I don't remember... it's something like that." Link quickened his pace when his hearing picked up the sounds of rushing water. The vines in the way were thicker and conveniently placed parallel before him... like if it was meant to keep people away intentionally. Link slashed through them and at the other side he saw a large, ongoing creek. Odd plants grew everywhere near the water's edge.
Tatl nodded. "This must be it," she said. "This is the swamp. Now what we have to do is find out more about this 'person' Tael talked about... somehow."
Link waded through the strange colored waters, searching for any other sign of life. "He could have at least given us another clue," he said, trying to overpower an incoming yawn. Why did he suddenly feel so drained? He was bursting with energy almost through the entire morning until now. His eyes started to droop. Tatl's chattering started to fade into nothingness. Link was so faint... he tried to take in a deep breath. That just made him even dizzier.
"Yeah, but if you'd really know my brother, you could expect these kinds of situations to happened. Not too long ago, we were with the Skullkid and then Tael--" A splash broke her train of thought and she looked down to where it had come from. Shockingly, Link had tilted right into the water. "Trip so much?" she joked. "Come on, get up."
Link didn't budge.
"Hey, you're wasting time, kid! Now get up! We don't have a lot of time!" Nothing happened. She started to grow nervous. "If this is a joke, it isn't funny!"
The boy's body turned over in the water and revealed his face, his eyes unblinking and air bubbles escaping the corners of his mouth as he sank even further into the water.
"No! Link!" she dived into the water, only to come back up to the surface, sputtering. The swamp was filled with poison water.
To Be Continued...