The Legend of Zelda: The Dream Walker
Chapter 12
"Suspicions arise"
By MEGAMANX411

Link confirmed his undertaking of the task laid before him by Beaumont.

"I'll get going," he announced as he headed out the door.

Link sighed lightly as he approached the outskirts of Inoa village, on his way to the shrine at Magyscar. The shrine wasn't very far from Inoa, it was a little north of the village. When Link entered, he noticed that many of the townsfolk where there, apparently praying. Link called out to them, cupping his hands around his mouth in an effort to make his voice project more.

"Hey everyone!" he shouted.

Jess wheeled himself around, being the first one to recognize Link's voice.

"Oy! Is that you Link?" he asked.

"Yeah, it's me, and I have some good news!" he replied.

"What is it?" one of the townsfolk replied.

"Giles is alive and well. His nightmare is all over with," he announced.

The townspeople turned and looked at each other, exchanging pleased looks. Giles was a dear friend of many in the village, and the fact that they had the ability to defeat the nightmares was even more reassuring.

"It's ok. Giles is fine now," Link repeated.

One of the townsfolk extended a hand.

"Thank you very much Link. By the way, my name is Lutas. I haven't really introduced myself to you properly, but we of Inoa can't thank you enough for your deeds," he praised.

Link smiled, and rubbed the back of his head, looking a bit embarrassed.

"I'm just glad to help," he replied, shaking Lutas' hand.

Another of the townsfolk made a similar greeting.

"We can't thank you enough friend," he began. "By the way, my name is Meade. I hope that we can become friends!" he added, smiling happily.

Link nodded approvingly.

"I'd like that," he replied, smiling.

He heard other comments like "You're an outstanding person, Link!" and "It's great to have someone like you around Link!" Link was flattered by the comments, but tried to remain humble. After everyone left, Link noticed something strange about the cavern.

Sure, it was a shrine, so it was furnished and wouldn't be considered a cave technically, but it was basically a cave just made to be more liveable. Link noticed a portrait at the back. Something definitely seemed off about it. It wasn't what directly was on the portrait, however, but something else about it.

Link calmed himself, and focused his attention on his hearing. He heard some faint "whoosh" sounds. Like the wind.

"Where on earth...?" Link muttered, walking towards the back of the cave.

"You coming, Link?" Jess asked, interrupting Link's train of thought.

"Ah, yeah, I'll be coming soon, just give me a minute," Link replied.

Jess smiled, and then started walking towards the exit.

"Take yer time Link, you know what I am saying? I'll see you back at the house," he added.

Link smirked at Jess, and then waved.

"Thanks Jess, see you later," he replied.

The old man turned and left with the rest of the townsfolk, while Link stayed to investigate.

"What is this...?" he muttered.

Link moved the portrait out of the way, and saw a huge fissure in the wall.

"There's a gigantic crack in this wall!" he observed, taking note of how deep the cracks where with his fingers.

He saw that it wasn't very thick, actually. And apparently, there was some air couring through the cracks.

"I wonder what's behind this wall?" Link asked.

Link may have always been cautious, but he was always a rather curious individual, and his yearn for adventure was immense. But something greater was telling him to continue, something he couldn't quite explain.

"It's that feeling again," Link noted, remembering his time at the swamp. "I think this should work," Link observed, reaching into his pack.

He took out a single bomb. He placed it in front of the crack, lit it, and stood back.

"Ok...." Link whispered, waiting in eager anticipation to see what would happen.

The bomb detonated, blowing a massive hole in the wall, crumbling the loose rock.

"I knew it!" Link shouted.

There was a long tunnel proceeding deeper into the cave, which was clearly unexplored from the looks of it. Link peered as deep into the tunnel as he could, but couldn't tell what was in there completely.

"What on earth is down here...?" he muttered, craning his neck.

Link proceeded down into the tunnel, keeping a wary eye for anything out of the ordinary. It was incredibly dark, but definitely not dank. It was rather dry, if anything. And, Link was then greeeted by a cackling noise. It didn't belong to any sort of creature, but instead, it belonged to a torch. Link picked it up off the wall.

"This should help," he observed, lighting the pathway in front of him. "Whoah!" he shouted, stopping dead in his tracks.

His way forward was blocked off by spikes along the ground. Link slowly made his away around the spiky death traps, going extra slow to not slip and fall. As he got deeper and deeper into the cave, it grew darker, so his torch became more and more vital to him. The spikes occasionally made his efforts a bit more difficult, and the tunnels seemed as though they dragged on forever.

Finally, Link came to a final room, a large open space. It seemed rather odd, this room seemed too perfectly setup to be created by any natural cave formation. It must've been done by someone, but who? No one else Link thought of would've wanted to venture down here.

It was then that Link heard some scuttling noises, but he couldn't tell what it was exactly.

"What the heck is that?" Link muttered, looking around the room.

The noises kept getting louder and louder, and Link started to cringe. He slowly tensed up, and silently drew his Master Sword.

"Something's coming..."

The noises began to grow louder, and soon, rumbling began to follow. The rocky walls began to crumble. All of the sudden, a gigantic centipede like creature burst out from the wall, and was hurling itself at Link!

Link rolled to the side, and managed to avoid the attack, and then tried to counter by hitting it's body with his sword.

"Take this!" he shouted.

But the creature's exoskeleton was so tough, it didn't even dent it! The sword was harmlessly deflected, throwing Link a bit off balance.

"Uh oh..." he muttered.

Before Link could finish that thought, he was assaulted again! He tried to evade in time, but the creature was barreling down on him. The centipede rammed into him, and carried him into the wall. It threatened to ram him straight into the rocky walls, in an effort to crush his body.

Link rolled off of the creature in time to avoid being crushed. He rolled onto the ground, and quickly stood back up, heaving breaths from being assaulted by that gargantuan monster. He then readied his sword again. The centipede came charging at Link, and Link threw his Master Sword forward with a mighty swing.

The blade stuck in the creature's face, perhaps the only soft spot of its entire body!

"Gotcha!" Link shouted.

The creature shriked in pain as Link's blade pierced its eyes, which appeared to be almost somewhat human-like. Link quickly reached into his pack, and then took out his iron flail. He started to collect power by swinging it around with reckless abandon. Link approached the creature, and slammed the back of his Master Sword with the iron flail, causing it to go deeper into the creature's skull.

The sword was rammed deeper into its face, creating a huge gash, and its lifeblood began spilling out at a rapid pace from the massive injury. The added force of the iron flail's attack caused the sword to violently shake as well, widening the cut further.

The creature slowly groaned. Link gritted his teeth, ready to keep attacking if need be. But the creature rolled over onto its side, and became limp. It slowly exhaled, and seemed to draw its last breath. Link let out a sigh of relief, rubbing his wounds as he walked over to the corpse of the monster he destroyed. Link proceeded up, and removed the sword. He heard a voice.

Link was then greeted by yet another wizard.

"You are the Releaser," the wizard began.

Link nodded slowly and reverently.

"I am," he replied. "Do you have a crest?" Link asked, getting straight to the point.

The wizard slowly shook his head.

"I can't give you a crest, for Melzas has already seized it. But I can give you this," he added. "It's the Wind Scroll."

Link eagerly accepted his prize, and gave the wizard an appreciative nod.

"Thank you..." he replied.

The wizard merely kept silent, not adjusting his expression one bit, yet emanating an aura of kindness and confidence, signaling to Link that he was with him. At that point, there was a flash of blinding light, and Link lost consciousness for a moment.

He was transported back to the entance of the cave. It appeared that the wizard transported Link there, something else he was grateful for. Link headed back to Inoa, remembering that he was supposed to meet Jess at his house to tell him he was alright. Link entered the old man's house, and greeeted him accordingly.

"Hey Jess, I'm back," Link shouted, waving.

Jess had a rather pleased expression on his face to see Link return safely.

"Ah, it's great to see you back, you know what I am saying?" he replied. "What did you find at the cave, anyway?" Jess asked.

Link shrugged. He knew it would take awhile to explain, so he thought he'd best leave the matter be.

"Not too much," he replied.

"Oy, by the way, Septimus is waiting for you, he stopped by earlier, he's upstairs," Jess added.

"Thanks Jess," Link replied, running up to meet his scholarly friend. "Hello Septimus. Something wrong?" he asked.

Septimus had a really serious expression on his face.

"I need to speak to you," he said calmly.

Link raised an eyebrow in curiousity.

"What is it?" he asked.

"I have to talk to you about Meia and Ronan," he replied. "First of all, we need to discover whether or not Meia is friend or foe. If she can help us, that would be great. But...I don't know what we'd do if she was an enemy."

Link nodded.

"Yeah. I hope she's on our side too. And what of Ronan?" he asked.

Septimus looked rather worried at the mere mention of Ronan's name.

"I fear something odd is going on with Ronan. I saw something wrong with his eyes...and just yesterday, I saw him actually bite into a dead bird!"

Link looked rather shocked about this strange behavior in Ronan.

"Are you serious?" he asked.

Septimus nodded back, stilllooking a bit shaken.

"Yes, I am....I think something strange is going on with Ronan..." he added.

Link then thought of the very foe he came here to challenge.

"He may be in league with...no, he couldn't, could he?" he asked himself.

Septimus looked rather intrigued by Link's response.

"What do you mean, Link?" he asked.

"I was thinking...nevermind," Link muttered.

"I'm not entirely sure what to think," Septimus replied. "I'm going to do more reasearch Link. I'll see you later."

Link nodded back, but his gaze was affixed on the ground. He kept thinking about Melzas.

"Yeah, see you later Septimus, and thanks. By the way, I think I'll go talk to Meia myself, to try and see once and for if she's on our side," he added.

"Sounds like a good idea," Septimus replied. "Well, later," he added, waving as he walked out the door.

Link followed suit, on his way to Meia's house. But before he got there, he was approached by Sybill.

"Oh, hello Sybill," Link asked, giving her a friendly smile. "How are you?" he asked.

Sybill nodded to Link, giving him a smile back.

"Hello Link..." she replied. "Link?" she asked.

"What is it?" he replied.

"I..have something I must show you..." Sybill muttered.

Link knew she was quite serious, and seeing as he knew of her power, he thought it would be in his best interest to pay attention.

"Alright Sybill..." he whispered.

Link grabbed her hand, and was pulled into her vision. Link saw a vision of a huge castle. But it wasn't just any castle, it emanated evil in every corridor. Link knew that this was the castle that belonged to Melzas, the evil creature that haunted his dreams. Link was more surprised at what he saw next. He saw himself going through the castle, exploring the corridors, and reaching the throne room.

And then standing before Melzas himself. The dream ended right there, before Link and Melzas were seen engaging in combat. Link was practically speechless.

"B-but..." he stammered.

Sybill kept a firm grip on Link's hands, but she was shaking from what Link assumed to be worry. Her eyes trembled with concern.

"My dreams always come true..please, promise you'll be safe..." she replied, sounding very worried.

Link looked into her eyes, and smiled.He knew that she would need confidence in order to remain strong.He definitely did not want to see her always fatigued and down.

"Thank you Sybill..." he replied.

Sybill walked off, and Link continued smiling at her, considering what she had done for him. But he then remembered what he set out to do in the first place, and decided he should get moving. He then proceeded to Meia's house. He slowly knocked on the door, and was greeted by the female dreamwalker herself.

"Hello Meia!" Link announced.

Meia gave Link a rather uninterested look, and merely rolled her eyes. Link could tell that she was in no mood for pleasantries, nor did she take too kindly to him.

"If you're looking for Septimus, he went to the sanctuary," she replied.

Link shook his head in protest.

"Actually Meia, I came here to speak to you," he continued.

"You can speak with me later, besides, Septimus told me he had urgent business with you," he replied. "He's waiting for you there," she added.

Link thought of protesting, but decided against it.

"Thank you," he replied, trying to remain polite.

Link proceeded to the sanctuary.