Chapter Six: Dark Fight

Link descended the stairs as fast as he could. He had to get the princess out before anything came to stop him. Sarah wasn't feeling too well after her first kill, so he had to leave her back at the top of the stairs. He had to do this fast and get back to her before someone came.

When Link came to the bottom of the stairs, he stopped to look around. There were cells around him, hundreds of cells. And there was a noise coming from one of them. It sounded like a girl crying.

Link walked to the crying girl's cell. There was no mistaking it, she was the princess. She was sitting in a corner and didn't seem to notice Link as he came to the bars. Then she spoke.

"What do you want with me? Why kill my family and leave me alive?" She looked up at Link. "Why don't you just finish me off right now?"

Link was surprised. The princess was directing those questions toward him. She thought he was one of Ganondorf's followers.

"Well, for one thing," He said, "I came here to rescue you."

It was the princesses turn to be surprised. And the surprise showed on her face.

"You're not one of them?" she asked, the surprise even showing in her voice.

"No, I'm not," Link answered. "My name is Link, and I came to get you out of here.

"Thank you. My name is Zelda."

"Where is the key usually kept?"

"Over there, on the wall."

Link went to the wall to get the key. But the key ring had a lot of different keys on it.

"Which one is it?"

"I don't know."

"Great, I'll just have to try them all." He picked a key and tried with it.

He went through five keys before he found the one that opened the cell door. Then he grabbed Zelda's hand and ran for the entrance.

Link's stomach began to tighten as he began to ascend the stairs. Then the Triforce on his hand began to glow. It was a warning. He hurried up the stairs, determined to get to his sister before anything happened.

They came to the top of the stairs, and saw a person wearing a robe standing with his or her back to them. Even worse, the person was holding Sarah by the neck about a foot and a half off of the ground. Sarah was struggling to get loose, and at the same time, struggling to breathe.

It appeared the robed person had not noticed Link and Zelda coming up the stairs. This gave Link the element of surprise.

"Stay right here," He said quietly to Zelda. She nodded knowingly.

Link ran toward the robed person, sword at the ready. When he got close enough, he swung the sword as hard as he could. It whistled as it sliced the air, and hit the target in the arm that held Sarah.

There was the sound of metal hitting metal, and Link's sword shattered. With a scream, the robed person dropped Sarah and clutched at the spot that was hit. Sarah dropped to the ground, coughing and trying to regain her breath.

Link kneeled down beside his sister.

"What took you so long?" she asked hoarsely, and then coughed.

"There were too many keys," Link answered.

A metallic, female voice came from the robed person.

"You dented it!"

Link stood up and turned toward her.

"You're lucky the blade broke," he said. "That strike was meant to go through armor. You would have lost your entire arm if the attack had been successful."

The woman laughed.

"Armor?" she said. "You think this is armor?" She removed the hood from her face. It was a shock to see what looked like a mask of metal move as she talked. "This is my skin, and you dented my arm!"

"You're... made of metal?" Link asked in shock.

"Not very bright, are you?" The metal woman said. "I am Karis, metal demon and the last person you'll ever meet."

She ran at Link quicker than her metal body seemed it should allow her to. Link reached back instinctively to draw his sword, but remembered that it was broken. Karis stopped right in front of Link and punched him hard in the stomach. He was sent flying about five feet before landing painfully on his back.

He didn't move. He was completely motionless, almost as if he was dead.

Sarah, who had watched the punch from the ground, now stood up as fast as she could and ran over to her brother. She kneeled down next to him and checked his pulse. He was still alive, but that punch had knocked him unconscious.

She stood up and faced Karis. She had to do something, so she drew her sword. Karis just laughed.

"You think you can do anything to me with a sword?" she said. "You're really naïve, then."

She ran towards Sarah at full speed. Just as she was about to hit her, Sarah sidestepped out of the way, causing Karis to trip over Link's unconscious body. Karis fell into the wall hard, making a huge clanging sound. When she got up, there was a dent in her head.

"You two are real trouble," Karis said. She turned to face Sarah, then smiled a creepy metal smile. "You are about to see something I haven't done in a long time." She raised her right hand as a black mist spread across it. Her forearm began to flatten and lengthen. The black mist disappeared and what was left was an extra long sword in place of her forearm.

This new turn of events made Sarah nervous. She didn't have the training to fight someone like Karis. She looked at her unconscious brother. Until he woke up, there was nothing else she could do. She had to fight to keep everyone alive.

She looked up just in time to see Karis attack.

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A bit shorter than I had planned, but oh well.