Disclaimer: Ok, I guess everyone puts one of these in here, so here's
mine. I obviously don't own Zelda or Link or any other characters thought
up by Miyamoto, or anything else Legend of Zelda related. I just like to
write about them.
Chapter 3
I look up at the sky, the stars finally fading into a deep orange. Dawn. The sun is rising behind me, and it's warmth only penetrates my arms, the thick stake shading the rest of my body from the sun's light. My eyes had been screwed open all night, and I am beginning to feel it now, the drowsiness of a night of no sleep tearing at my eyelids just as the ravenous wolfos would have accomplished had Keal not showed up last night. Goddesses, I should have slept, but my luck another hungry beast would have desired my flesh during my dreams.
I can hear something stirring behind me, men's voices accumulating as the sky brightened. I can feel my head start to fall a bit, my mind wanting so much to give in to sleep. I can finally shut my eyes now that there is light in this cursed desert. Ah, that feels good...
"Wake up!" a voice to my right booms, though the kick in the ribs is what pulled me back into complete consciousness. Why is it always the ribs? I would double over, but I'm kind of stuck. "Time to go." I feel someone cut the ropes from my wrists, and just as I'm about to make a run for it, two of the thieves grab my arms and another ties my hands in front of me. Well, at least now I can scratch an itch or something.
"Leave the boy with me for a moment. I would like to interrogate him before we leave camp." That voice... That's that leader guy we were supposed to be after. What was his name?
"Yes, Commander Hellpahrn." That's the one! Hellpahrn! I knew I would think of it sooner or— "Come on, kid. You've got a meeting with the boss." That is the guy from last night, the one with the bandana. It's still plastered to his forehead, as if he never takes it off or, worse, washes it. Gross.
The rope moves a little fast for my taste, and I'm forced to the ground after a few moments of his pulling; curse my short legs. As if things couldn't get worse, the taste of desert sand isn't very appetizing. The man I assume to be Hellpahrn, due to his overdramatic stance and tacky dark cape, looks down on me with disinterested eyes, as if he doesn't even care that I'm present. I finally get a quick look at his somewhat thin face, which is somewhat featureless despite his wide mouth, sharp chin, and startlingly cold eyes, like ice against his somewhat tanned flesh. He has a single scar above his right eye, almost exactly like mine, and a few nicks in his ears, probably from some form of combat. Wisps of silver hair stream midway down his back, uneven and jagged. I also notice a near tacky pendant clasping his cloak shut on his left shoulder, a brooch with a large yellow gem in the center. He looks like your average cheap magician, but creepier.
"Leave us," he says with an attempt to sound intimidating. It doesn't work. He doesn't scare me. In fact—
"You don't scare me, your ugliness. You're just an over-glorified thief." He throws his head back as if to laugh. Wait, he is laughing. That's a strange laugh. It's like a deep cackle of some sort. Almost funny. I can't help but snicker.
"SILENCE!" I freeze in my place, eyes wide. Wait, he doesn't scare me. But why do I feel as though I can't move? "Yes, that fear in your eyes replaces the ignorance well. You should don it more often." I try to argue, but my damned mouth won't open. I'm telling you, I'm cursed or something. "Now tell me of your mission here, boy. Hopefully the desert night air has cleared your troubled mind of it's deceitful ways."
"I-I was... um... I was going to... um," very suave. I probably couldn't even say my own name at this point. What is the deal here?
"I will not hurt you if you speak the truth, boy. Come, what is your name?" Damn him. Is he reading my mind now? What the hell? Why is he staring at me like that? He's freaking me out. "Ah, I see. Your name is... Link!" Holy shit. No. No way. I scurry to my feet, wobbling the whole way until I can see eye-to-eye with the monstrosity that towers almost three feet above me. Ok, more like eye-to-chest. Stumbling backward as fast as I can, I try to put as much distance between myself and the, uh, whatever he is, as I can. Unfortunately, I can only get about eight feet away, since he has one end of the rope in his grasp, and the other end is fastened around my wrists. I tug and pull with all my might, but he doesn't so much as flinch. It's as if he is made of iron.
"You act as though you've seen a ghost. What is it that troubles your mind so? Have you never met a soothsayer before?" A 'soothsayer'? It can't be. That was such a long time ago—
"Release me now and I will not give word of this to my leaders, and thus you may live." Well, apparently I got my speech back.
"I am truly sorry, but I would sooner see you die before I release you to your bounty hunting headquarters. It is most unfortunate, for you are quite young, though you seem to lead quite the double life—"
"If I want my fortune, I'll go pay a fortune-teller for it! Now release me, or—"
"Or what? You have no weapons, and you are no match for my sorcery." Another sorcerer? I wonder if he's as good as Ganondorf was, not that he was all that great, being as I beat him and all.
"You couldn't possibly imagine my skills, even if you are a soothsayer," I put a bit of emphasis into the last word in mockery. After all, if he believes I'm no match, he's got to be fake. He's got to be. I look around in search for something to use to my advantage, a stick, a misplaced sword, a cliff to jump off of. Unfortunately, this being the desert, there is nothing for miles except sand. Lots and lots of sand. Hmm, perhaps I CAN use this. I drop to my knees, let out some strange noise from my throat, and fall into the ground. I can only hope he will fall for it.
"Get up, boy." He tugs on the rope as if I'm on some sort of leash, but I don't move. "Up!" he shouts, pulling harder. My hands make their way above my head, which may make my plan a little more difficult. Trying not to flinch at each pull, I can hear him scoff at my supposed weakness. He growls in discontent, and I feel a smirk form across my lips, which are well acquainted with the dirt by now. He takes a few steps closer to me, and judging by the sound, he is just to my right. I listen for a few moments more, and soon he kneels down beside me and grabs my shoulder. Time to make my move.
As fast as I possibly can, I twist my entire body to face him in a crouching position, grabbing his arm in the process and flipping him over me. Now behind me, Hellpahrn struggles quickly to try to grab at my ankle as I get up, but he misses and lands in the dirt instead. I can feel my smirk spread to a full grin. Having released the rope, he frantically searches the ground for the end, though it's too late. I'm running at the highest possible speed my body will allow. Running. I don't run. I have never run from an enemy before, so why am I running? I peer over my shoulder at the man, covered in dirt, as he curses to himself. "Ha! You didn't foresee that one, did you soothsayer!?" I taunt rather loudly. Without stopping, I just run as fast as my body will allow. In fact, I would have probably gotten pretty far had it not been for that damned stake standing in the middle of nowhere. Looks pretty familiar, actually, though I don't notice that until I'm flat on my back looking up at it. It doesn't matter how many times I'm told; I can never seem to watch where I'm going.
The expression 'seeing stars' has always baffled me. To this day, I have yet to see stars dancing around my head. Right now, I see a blur of desert and some dark spots, which I'm guessing are not real. I also know that my head is in pain. Lots and lots of pain. And something warm.
"You can't even see what's in front of you." I hear that voice from above me, along with that creepy laugh again, and instantly I can feel my brow begin to furrow. I'm really beginning to hate this guy. He kneels down beside me once again, but this time there's no way I'm pulling the same move. My head really hurts. "You seem to have injured yourself in your awful attempt to get away from me, boy. Are you always this foolish?" My head... "Well?" Ow. "Answer me, boy!" Head... it... hurts. "Fine." He finally stands and walks back toward camp, shouting out something when he gets there. Four or five—or maybe six for all I know, I can't see straight—of his thief buddies surround me. Two pick me up by the arms and proceed to drag me against the pole. I can't even put out a struggle, for fear I might shake my head too much, not to mention my arms and legs won't move very easily right now. This time, they just wind the rope from my wrists around my arms and the stake together, making it nearly impossible for me to move my arms at all. Back to square one.
Now that I'm sitting up, I can feel that spot on my forehead begin to trickle down the side of my face. Oh, crap. That can't be good. My head hurts, I'm obviously bleeding from some sort of gash in my head, I haven't eaten in two days, and I'm tied to a pole in the middle of the desert during the hottest time of day. Could things possibly get any worse? As a matter of fact, I am beginning to notice that those dark spots are getting larger. They're not really spots anymore, but more like tiny vortexes on a flat plane between my eyes and their targets. I watch as they swirl around like strange amoebas, slowly taking up more and more of my vision. I begin to feel a little lightheaded, and shaking my head only hurts worse. Is day in the middle of the desert supposed to be this dark? Why is it so cold? Why...
White. Solid white everywhere, with the exception of some pale, swirling orb thingies. They are glowing everywhere around me, just like the tiny lightning bugs throughout the Lost Woods in Hyrule. I miss running around the little houses trying to catch them. Saria and I would go out late at night, when they shown their brightest, and leap after them like mischievous little animal cubs. Often we would jump for the same one and end up running into each other. I would fall on my back, catch her as she falls on top of me, and we would stare at each other until one or both of us burst into giggles. Childhood is so innocent and naïve, yet so full of ignorance and futility.
Suddenly, a dark sphere takes shape just in front of me. I can't tell if I'm standing or floating. My body seems nonexistent, as if I am some sort of floating entity. Purple and white sparks gyrate around the sphere, cracking and flaring outward. I look closer to see a pair of white eyes staring back at me. A wintry gaze besets my mind, freezing everything around me, even the small glowing orbs. The eyes blink, and I am cast into a black nothingness.
Chapter 3
I look up at the sky, the stars finally fading into a deep orange. Dawn. The sun is rising behind me, and it's warmth only penetrates my arms, the thick stake shading the rest of my body from the sun's light. My eyes had been screwed open all night, and I am beginning to feel it now, the drowsiness of a night of no sleep tearing at my eyelids just as the ravenous wolfos would have accomplished had Keal not showed up last night. Goddesses, I should have slept, but my luck another hungry beast would have desired my flesh during my dreams.
I can hear something stirring behind me, men's voices accumulating as the sky brightened. I can feel my head start to fall a bit, my mind wanting so much to give in to sleep. I can finally shut my eyes now that there is light in this cursed desert. Ah, that feels good...
"Wake up!" a voice to my right booms, though the kick in the ribs is what pulled me back into complete consciousness. Why is it always the ribs? I would double over, but I'm kind of stuck. "Time to go." I feel someone cut the ropes from my wrists, and just as I'm about to make a run for it, two of the thieves grab my arms and another ties my hands in front of me. Well, at least now I can scratch an itch or something.
"Leave the boy with me for a moment. I would like to interrogate him before we leave camp." That voice... That's that leader guy we were supposed to be after. What was his name?
"Yes, Commander Hellpahrn." That's the one! Hellpahrn! I knew I would think of it sooner or— "Come on, kid. You've got a meeting with the boss." That is the guy from last night, the one with the bandana. It's still plastered to his forehead, as if he never takes it off or, worse, washes it. Gross.
The rope moves a little fast for my taste, and I'm forced to the ground after a few moments of his pulling; curse my short legs. As if things couldn't get worse, the taste of desert sand isn't very appetizing. The man I assume to be Hellpahrn, due to his overdramatic stance and tacky dark cape, looks down on me with disinterested eyes, as if he doesn't even care that I'm present. I finally get a quick look at his somewhat thin face, which is somewhat featureless despite his wide mouth, sharp chin, and startlingly cold eyes, like ice against his somewhat tanned flesh. He has a single scar above his right eye, almost exactly like mine, and a few nicks in his ears, probably from some form of combat. Wisps of silver hair stream midway down his back, uneven and jagged. I also notice a near tacky pendant clasping his cloak shut on his left shoulder, a brooch with a large yellow gem in the center. He looks like your average cheap magician, but creepier.
"Leave us," he says with an attempt to sound intimidating. It doesn't work. He doesn't scare me. In fact—
"You don't scare me, your ugliness. You're just an over-glorified thief." He throws his head back as if to laugh. Wait, he is laughing. That's a strange laugh. It's like a deep cackle of some sort. Almost funny. I can't help but snicker.
"SILENCE!" I freeze in my place, eyes wide. Wait, he doesn't scare me. But why do I feel as though I can't move? "Yes, that fear in your eyes replaces the ignorance well. You should don it more often." I try to argue, but my damned mouth won't open. I'm telling you, I'm cursed or something. "Now tell me of your mission here, boy. Hopefully the desert night air has cleared your troubled mind of it's deceitful ways."
"I-I was... um... I was going to... um," very suave. I probably couldn't even say my own name at this point. What is the deal here?
"I will not hurt you if you speak the truth, boy. Come, what is your name?" Damn him. Is he reading my mind now? What the hell? Why is he staring at me like that? He's freaking me out. "Ah, I see. Your name is... Link!" Holy shit. No. No way. I scurry to my feet, wobbling the whole way until I can see eye-to-eye with the monstrosity that towers almost three feet above me. Ok, more like eye-to-chest. Stumbling backward as fast as I can, I try to put as much distance between myself and the, uh, whatever he is, as I can. Unfortunately, I can only get about eight feet away, since he has one end of the rope in his grasp, and the other end is fastened around my wrists. I tug and pull with all my might, but he doesn't so much as flinch. It's as if he is made of iron.
"You act as though you've seen a ghost. What is it that troubles your mind so? Have you never met a soothsayer before?" A 'soothsayer'? It can't be. That was such a long time ago—
"Release me now and I will not give word of this to my leaders, and thus you may live." Well, apparently I got my speech back.
"I am truly sorry, but I would sooner see you die before I release you to your bounty hunting headquarters. It is most unfortunate, for you are quite young, though you seem to lead quite the double life—"
"If I want my fortune, I'll go pay a fortune-teller for it! Now release me, or—"
"Or what? You have no weapons, and you are no match for my sorcery." Another sorcerer? I wonder if he's as good as Ganondorf was, not that he was all that great, being as I beat him and all.
"You couldn't possibly imagine my skills, even if you are a soothsayer," I put a bit of emphasis into the last word in mockery. After all, if he believes I'm no match, he's got to be fake. He's got to be. I look around in search for something to use to my advantage, a stick, a misplaced sword, a cliff to jump off of. Unfortunately, this being the desert, there is nothing for miles except sand. Lots and lots of sand. Hmm, perhaps I CAN use this. I drop to my knees, let out some strange noise from my throat, and fall into the ground. I can only hope he will fall for it.
"Get up, boy." He tugs on the rope as if I'm on some sort of leash, but I don't move. "Up!" he shouts, pulling harder. My hands make their way above my head, which may make my plan a little more difficult. Trying not to flinch at each pull, I can hear him scoff at my supposed weakness. He growls in discontent, and I feel a smirk form across my lips, which are well acquainted with the dirt by now. He takes a few steps closer to me, and judging by the sound, he is just to my right. I listen for a few moments more, and soon he kneels down beside me and grabs my shoulder. Time to make my move.
As fast as I possibly can, I twist my entire body to face him in a crouching position, grabbing his arm in the process and flipping him over me. Now behind me, Hellpahrn struggles quickly to try to grab at my ankle as I get up, but he misses and lands in the dirt instead. I can feel my smirk spread to a full grin. Having released the rope, he frantically searches the ground for the end, though it's too late. I'm running at the highest possible speed my body will allow. Running. I don't run. I have never run from an enemy before, so why am I running? I peer over my shoulder at the man, covered in dirt, as he curses to himself. "Ha! You didn't foresee that one, did you soothsayer!?" I taunt rather loudly. Without stopping, I just run as fast as my body will allow. In fact, I would have probably gotten pretty far had it not been for that damned stake standing in the middle of nowhere. Looks pretty familiar, actually, though I don't notice that until I'm flat on my back looking up at it. It doesn't matter how many times I'm told; I can never seem to watch where I'm going.
The expression 'seeing stars' has always baffled me. To this day, I have yet to see stars dancing around my head. Right now, I see a blur of desert and some dark spots, which I'm guessing are not real. I also know that my head is in pain. Lots and lots of pain. And something warm.
"You can't even see what's in front of you." I hear that voice from above me, along with that creepy laugh again, and instantly I can feel my brow begin to furrow. I'm really beginning to hate this guy. He kneels down beside me once again, but this time there's no way I'm pulling the same move. My head really hurts. "You seem to have injured yourself in your awful attempt to get away from me, boy. Are you always this foolish?" My head... "Well?" Ow. "Answer me, boy!" Head... it... hurts. "Fine." He finally stands and walks back toward camp, shouting out something when he gets there. Four or five—or maybe six for all I know, I can't see straight—of his thief buddies surround me. Two pick me up by the arms and proceed to drag me against the pole. I can't even put out a struggle, for fear I might shake my head too much, not to mention my arms and legs won't move very easily right now. This time, they just wind the rope from my wrists around my arms and the stake together, making it nearly impossible for me to move my arms at all. Back to square one.
Now that I'm sitting up, I can feel that spot on my forehead begin to trickle down the side of my face. Oh, crap. That can't be good. My head hurts, I'm obviously bleeding from some sort of gash in my head, I haven't eaten in two days, and I'm tied to a pole in the middle of the desert during the hottest time of day. Could things possibly get any worse? As a matter of fact, I am beginning to notice that those dark spots are getting larger. They're not really spots anymore, but more like tiny vortexes on a flat plane between my eyes and their targets. I watch as they swirl around like strange amoebas, slowly taking up more and more of my vision. I begin to feel a little lightheaded, and shaking my head only hurts worse. Is day in the middle of the desert supposed to be this dark? Why is it so cold? Why...
White. Solid white everywhere, with the exception of some pale, swirling orb thingies. They are glowing everywhere around me, just like the tiny lightning bugs throughout the Lost Woods in Hyrule. I miss running around the little houses trying to catch them. Saria and I would go out late at night, when they shown their brightest, and leap after them like mischievous little animal cubs. Often we would jump for the same one and end up running into each other. I would fall on my back, catch her as she falls on top of me, and we would stare at each other until one or both of us burst into giggles. Childhood is so innocent and naïve, yet so full of ignorance and futility.
Suddenly, a dark sphere takes shape just in front of me. I can't tell if I'm standing or floating. My body seems nonexistent, as if I am some sort of floating entity. Purple and white sparks gyrate around the sphere, cracking and flaring outward. I look closer to see a pair of white eyes staring back at me. A wintry gaze besets my mind, freezing everything around me, even the small glowing orbs. The eyes blink, and I am cast into a black nothingness.