Legend of the Triforce Chapter 12: Wrapper, a legend of zelda fanfic

-- CHAPTER 12: Wrapper --

Eventually the man was able to bring Link to the entrance. Passing under a large stone arc the man smiled and exclaimed, "Welcome to Fenykes, the Fortress of the Healing Magi!" but let out a soft sigh when he got no reaction from Link.

People from all around began swarming in whispering "poor guy" or "is he actually healthy? He doesn't look that healthy..." As the crowd began massing around Link he finally hysterically bursted, "Those...Things?!"

"Yes," said a voice that parted the crowd, "Nasty creatures." The man to whom the voice belonged stepped forward. He wore a long red robe with a golden insignia of the Triforce embroidered on the back. "The are the Bane of the Desert, formally known as the Gerudo Tribe."

Overcome with hysteria over having nearly just been eaten by a spider and low comprehension from complete exhaustion it took Link a while to ponder the implications of that statement. It was quit comical when Link interjected after a full 2 minutes of silence with a loud "But?!"

Aware that Link would be having trouble forming complete sentences in any timely fashion the red-robed man finished Link's statement for him, "but...the Gerudo are supposed to be dead."

Link nodded sharply.

"I'm sure you have many questions young one, but right now it is obvious that you need some rest. Questions can be answered once you've awaken."

For a second it looked as if Link was about to object, but then he yawned and nodded his head slightly in agreement. Without the exchange of another word the red-robed man placed his hand on the boys back and led a droopy-headed Link to his resting quarters

Link woke up from his night's rest completely refreshed. It had been a while since he had a good night sleep. Still confused over the events of last night he quickly sought out the healing magi. Finding the magi walking across the other side of the fortress's court yard he yelled out, "Hey! Magi! Can I get some answers now?"

Seeing the boy awake the magi quickly rushed over to Link and started, "About the Gerudo I presume?"

"Yeah," Link returned promptly.

"Well as far as we can tell after they were banished into the desert, instead of dying off like they were supposed to, they changed form to adapt to the new living conditions. Plus, seeing as how there seems to be so few of them most of them probably did die off. Meaning, to reproduce there had to be a significant amount of inbreeding, which also deformed them further."

"But, they're all women in the first place...you know, I never did quite get how that worked."

"It's one of life's unsolved mysteries...well I guess you'll be wanting to be off now to get back to your home town and bring them back?"

"You know?"

"I know many things. Now take this charm. It should protect you considerably. And I insist you take a dozen of my strongest men for protection. You barely made it here alive yourself. Think what it'll be like carrying around all that 'dead weight' as it were."

"Thank you so much..."

"Colba, you can call me Colba, and it's nothing. I just love to see people here happy and healthy."

Colba gave Link a warm smile, then waving over his twelve men he bid Link to leave with haste. The winds had seemed to stop for some strange reason, and it would be best to see if it were possible to make it back before they started up again.

With the twelve highly skilled fighters, the baker's dozen made it back to Koriki without a hitch. Coming into town, Link found his father and everybody else still in fair condition though their fairy dust had just run out. Father and son embraced each other and then the twelve men went around town telling everybody to pack their stuff, tho to be sure to pack light, They were going to journey to the fortress of the Healing Magi where everybody would be cured of their disease and live happily ever after.

Once everybody was ready to go Link remembered Hyrule Castle and talked with the twelve and they decided to make a stop there and gather up some more people. When they got there they found it to be slightly worse off than Koriki, but the people could make the journey. Most didn't want to leave there home, but what choice did they have? Their leader's were dead, and Princess Zelda was too young to take over, even with the guidance of Shief. So the two villages set off together to paradise.

Once over their journey they set up with a pack of wolfos, but the twelve easily dispatched of them with their bows and arrows.

After a two-days journey they eventually reached their most difficult challenge. The Gerudo desert...and then the Haunted Wastelands. The winds were still dead for some reason. Perhaps luck, or will of the Godesses, but even so the desert was hot and dry, and the villagers were becoming increasingly worse for the wear. The trek was slow, but somehow everybody managed to press on.

All of a sudden there was a loud screech and from out of no where the group was surrounded by hundreds of deformed Gerudo spiders. The twelve quickly whipped out their bows and arrows and started picking off the giant spiders as they charged forward. But they weren't quick enough and one of the spiders broke thru. With a lunge it jumped at Link and took a huge bite out of his arm. Link screamed in pain even as the twelve bombarded the offending spider with arrows.

Link just stood there, dead Gerudo at his side, clutching his arm. People watched in horror as Link slowly began to sprout two more pair of arms and started growing thick hair all over his body. It soon became apparent that Link was turning into one of the spiders.

The leader of the twelve had a sad look on his face, "sorry," he said, "I really am," and then he shot him right thru the heart. Link fell to the ground dead instantly.

The rest of the traveling went with no interruptions, but nonetheless a sad gloom overhung over the crowd.

Finally reaching the fortress, they found hundreds of bed scattered about the fortress. The 12 instructed everyone to find a bed and lay down. The healing magi came out and performed his ceremony and everybody was instantly better. This certainly seemed to lighten the mood. Even Jaber was joking around.

"So a pirate walks into a bar with a steering wheel in his pants, and the bar tender said 'What's with the steering wheel?' With that the pirate replied, 'Arrrgh, it's drivin' me nuts!'"

Everybody laughed at that hilarious joke.

Meanwhile. Princess Zelda had sought out the healing Magi.

"I'm sorry that he died," the magi could be over heard saying, "but it was his destiny, that of the Triforce, to bring his people to this safe haven. He might have noticed his Triforce insignia dimming. That signaled his nearing end. His sole purpose in life, as designed by the great Triforce was to bring his people here. Once he had done that, he no longer had reason to live so the Triforce killed him."

Shocked Zelda exclaimed, "My Triforce mark has dimmed too!"

Just then there was an earthquake and the wall right behind Princess Zelda collapsed killing her instantly.

THE END.

oh...yeah...I almost forgot...APRIL FOOLS! :-)

-- The Real CHAPTER 12: Inside The Fortress --

Aware that Link would be having trouble forming complete sentences in any timely fashion the red-robed man finished Link's statement for him, "but...the Gerudo are supposed to be dead."

Link nodded sharply.

"I'm sure you have many questions young one, but right now it is obvious that you need some rest. Questions can be answered once you've awaken."

- - - - -

A spiral of water emerged from the pond in front of Link. The magnificent swirling rapids died down as they crawled upward to form a torso, arms, and a head of standing water.

The water spirit, Flo'ondia, spoke, "Aonque, what news have you of the child? Is he healthy?"

"Excellent health..." tho try as he might, Link couldn't mask the underlying sadness in his voice, "What do you make of the children? It doesn't seem like a coincidence that all of us had one."

"Not all of us...yet." Flo'ondia looked down and smiled as she placed her liquid hand into her liquid torso to rub the radiant blue sphere that shown thru her semi-transparent body.

Then she looked back up to face Aonque, "No, it is not a coincidence, Aonque. You sense the coming age as well as I do. What will happen to us I do not know, but I am certain that the coming age belongs to them. The essence of the Triforce will pass from us and find a new home within their spirits. Do you resent giving up the Triforce?"

"No, It's just, all these years I've lived in harmony with my Treant brethren, with you and your people, and so many others. Life has been good, and, with the new age fast approaching, I fear loosing it all. I do not know what place it holds for those of us from this dying age. I fear death, that is all. Is not the same true for you?"

Flo'ondia sighed and then with a calming smile answered the ancient tree, "I am at peace with whatever the new age offers. I feel this child growing inside me and I know it is so beautiful and so good. To know that I'll have brought such a magnificent creature into this world ... well, it makes me feel completed, whole, that I have fulfilled my life's purpose."

"I wish I could share your content. My only comfort is that in this boy I leave my legacy. That I might raise him with the little time I have left to become a man of honor, dignity, and great courage. That even if my old body may pass away, I may live on in a sense thru him. Thru my impact on him. He is my tie to this new age. It is because of this I have chosen to call him Link."

"Link, it is a lovely name. I have been thinking I'll name my child Zelda."

"Zelda," The old tree smirked, "You'd better hope it's a girl!"

"And why is that!' Flo'ondia demanded in a mock-insulted voice.

"I'm just saying, the name has a...feminine...edge to it. No self-respecting guy would tolerate somebody referring to them by that name."

- - - - -

Eyes still closed, Link slowly blinked into conscienceness. He was half aware of a soothing soft crashing noise off in the distance. He moaned silently as he dimly became aware that he was waking up. He was so comfortable and really didn't want to move. Rightfully so too, he hadn't slept in a comfortable bed for nearly a week, and that, back at the castle, had been cut short rather abruptly. But these things weren't currently going through Link's mind. Not much of anything was. He simply half-mindedly fought off the urge to wake up as he wanted to prolong his stay in his cozy bed as long as he could, but his body was waking up and there was nothing to be done about it.

As he continued to wake up he finally decided to open his eyes. Only shifting his eyes back and forth, Link found himself in unfamiliar surroundings. He forced himself to remember what brought him here and he slowly recalled the events of last night, tho they were blurry. The sense of panic flooded his memories keeping him from remembering anything in great detail. Consenting tho, Link could get the vague events. Told to lie down, I needed the rest ... people crowding me, I just want my space ... being carried ... exhausted ... exhausted from ... and then the image hit him all at once – the grotesque features of those horrendous spiders. Link cringed at the picture in his head. Then a second revelation hit him. Wait! That man! He said ... those spiders were once Gerudo! ...and I was supposed to find him when I woke up...he had answers.

Link jumped out of bed now that he realized the pressing matters at hand. Already dressed Link found his way out the door of his small cozy room. Walking thru the door he found himself in a large grassy field with stone walkways weaving about from different ends of the court yards, people busily walking about. The entire outer edge was lined with housing units and other various building strip-mall style. High walls scaled above the circumferencing building blocking the winds of the Haunted Wastelands.

Up at the north end Link saw a closed wooden gait, presumable the entrance from the desert. And down at the opposite end was a fair sized castle easily standing above any other structure save the protecting walls. Thinking about the walls he quickly realized with curiosity that behind the castle, the entire South end, simply dropped off. A bright blue sky behind it scattered with large fluffy clouds. No walls, just sky.

With his attention focused on the South end he became aware of the gentle crashing that must have silently nudged itself into the back of his mind overnight so that when he woke up he was hardly aware of it. Snapping out of a trance Link remembered that he needed to find the red-robed man. The castle, which also just so happened to be in the same direction of the backdrop that so peeked Link's interest seemed the best direction to head.

Along the way he was greeted by several people who recognized him as the 'newcomer.' Anything from "Hey kid! Welcome to Fenykes!" to "Made quite an entrance yesterday." Other people just discreetly ogled him from a distance whispering about his health status. Overall tho, Link got the impression that his appearance really wasn't that out of the ordinary and most people didn't pay any attention to him. Which was fine with him, he had more important things to attend to.

As he drew closer to the castle and the empty south end, the soft crashing gradually became louder. His interest was really perked when he noticed that the sky was apparently moving. Without realizing Link had diverted his direction from that of the castles entrance to the side of the castle where he could pass it along the side and reach the intriguing display before him.

50 or so meters from the edge, Link became aware that he was not indeed looking at the sky, but rather a huge body of water. He realized that the backdrop that he previously imagined being hundreds of feet high was more likely only a couple. This, however took nothing away from the awe-inducing spectacle of seemingly limitless water in every direction. Link remembered gapping in awe at the pictograph pictures of Lake Hyrule his father had shown him. He had said they were taken on his honeymoon. But, Lake Hyrule had nothing on this complete vastness.

Link was standing at the edge now confirming his prediction that the cliff was only a couple feet deep when he nearly fell in startled from a voice behind him.

"It's incredible isn't it? It's boundlessness is impossible to comprehend."

"eh?" Link managed as he turned around after regaining his balance.

Somehow Link wasn't shocked to see the red-robed man staring back at him.

"You" Link responded in what seemed to be half-question/half-statement.

"Me" The man said with a hidden grin.

"Are...you...the healing magi?"

"No, people know me as Colba. The Magi, for very good reasons that he has chosen to remain unkown, chooses not to be seen by the public. I am his right hand man – the only one who knows his face. I deal with public for him."

Recognizing the man's description from Draiden's dream Link questioned, "My friend, he had...a vision. Do you ever heal?"

"My powers to heal simply flow from the magi and thru me. It does appear that I do healing to the untrained eye, but that is not the case."

"Oh.... so, this Magi then, what's his name?"

"The Magi prefers to keep that information disclosed as well. He is known simply as 'the Magi'"

"...Oh...I see...uh, so yeah, anyways, what was that you said about those desert spiders? I remember you saying something about the Gerudo...but I was tired, I'm sure I wasn't hearing right."

Colba smirked, "No, I do believe you heard right. We know the spiders by many names: Desert's Bane, Shadow Spiders, Mindrippers, The Cursed, The Poisoned, The Haunted... and The Gerudo..."

"...How?"

"We don't know how it happened..."

"Then how do you know it's them?"

"Do not mind yourself with such specific details. We know it's them, that is good enough." A hint of irritation carried behind Colbas words. A sharp contrast to his otherwise friendly and gentle manner up till then. Link took the hint and didn't press the issue any further, instead he changed the subject to the measureless body of water that lay behind him.

Turning back to face the ocean Link stated, "It's so...out of place. Right on the edge of this desert and all."

Once again his charming self, Colba responded, "We think this entire desert used to be a thriving meadow of green. There was a great battle long ago between two ancient races: the Water Spirits and the Black Dragons. The Water Spirits succeeded in banishing the Dragons to a far off land, but not without a price. The Dragons cursed flames scorched the Earth so completely that it prevented any green to grow in these lands ever , let me show you something."

Colba headed off towards the castle entrance. He glanced back once to make sure Link was following him and then he explained on the way. "We've found wall paintings deep inside the tunnels that run below this area, the quickest entrance is thru the castle."

Link followed Colba into the Castle where they took a left down a long hallway. About halfway down the hall Colba stopped at a large ominous looking door. He glanced over at Link, smiled, pulled out a cane-like staff that had been hiding underneath his robe and opened the door.

Looking inside, Link found a staircase traveling downward disappearing into the darkness. There was a tap behind him as Colba punched his cane against the ground and then a flash of light. Link turned around to see a glowing gem at the top of the cane. "I'll go first." Colba stated and then nudged his way in front of Link and made his decline, Link close behind him.

On the descent a faint distant chanting began to grow in Links mind – too faint to make anything out of it. In fact at first Link was sure it was just his head playing games with him. But as the chanting slowly got louder Link dismissed that thought.

"Do you hear that..." Link inquired.

"No, not yet."

not yet?

"The chanting, I presume."

"Uh...yeah..."

"I don't hear it till I get much deeper."

"Your senses must be as good as the magi's...I'm almost jealous...He warned me about the chanting, he told me not to listen to the voices, it's a trap."

A chill was beginning to run down Link's spine. "...I can't make out anything that they're saying."

"You will."

More chills

"Just stay close to me, we have the cave marked."

By now The stair case had ended and they were walking on the natural cave floor, still progressing downward, tho not a quickly. Link realized that the 'markings' that Colba referred to were short dashes of red paint spread uncomfortably far apart. And they became increasingly more uncomfortably spaced as the voices grew louder inside his head. He could here the chants in more detail now, and as nervous a wreck as he was, was actually relieved as he came to the realization that the words were spoken in a tounge he didn't understand. Link nervously followed Colba thru the twists and turns of the now open maze that made up the tunnels. The complete silence between the two wasn't helping any. Then, suddenly Link gasped loudly and jumped backwards. He had heard his name. Very distinctly.

The Magi twirled to face Link to see the boy standing stiffly erect, his face pale and motionless. "What happened?"

"My name...I heard my name."

Colba blushed apologetically, "Maybe this was a bad idea, I actually didn't expect you to hear the voices at all..."

Link Koriki, Legendary Hero of Time, I have been waiting.

Link gasped audibly again as the echoing female voice spoke directly to him.

"Are you hearing this?"

"I didn't hear your name, I can make out the chanting vaguely though..." there was a pause and then with a sigh Colba said, "We better head back."

"No!" Link exclaimed abruptly. Feeling slightly awkward Link trailed off, "I mean, I really want to see the paintings..."

Colba frowned slightly, but after a pause he warned, "Don't comply with the voice." And started walking again.

Colbas use of the word voice instead of voices didn't slip past Link. He took silent note of this and then followed his guide.

The female voice continued on, mostly just calling Link by various names, many of which he didn't understand why they seemed fit to describe him.

The Chosen one, Wielder of the Master Sword, Dispenser of Evil, Bearer of Courage...your destiny unfolds

"We're here." Link didn't even realize Colba had been spoken to him at first the female voice had become so loud. "We're here." Colba repeated a little louder snapping Link out of his trance.

"Oh..." was all the preoccupied Link could manage.

In front of his was painted in detail the events of what was obviously a full-scale war. Great creatures apparently made of water marched out of the ocean to face the onslaught of black skinned dragons. Black flames scorched the earth in the raging battle. Glancing to the side of the grand picture Link noticed a series of smaller pictures apparently telling a story. The voice inside his head was so loud Link found it hard to concentrate as he absent mindedly traveled down the wall. Even as he did so the voice grew louder and louder almost shouting out various title to Link. Colba's yell for Link not to wander off to far was easily drowned out and Link continued further down. He would have disappeared from Colba's light had Colba not taken noticed and started chasing after Link.

Finally Link came to a stop, as well as the voice and the chanting. Colba came running up screaming "Stop! Stop!" then behind Link's shoulder he huffed, "What were you thinking?" Link didn't answer instead, focused intently on the wall, he asked, "Who's that?" referring to the picture before him. A stone pillar with the same shape as the Water creatures from the battle paining stood motionless with her arms outstretched, black flames licking at her base.

"It seems to be the leader of the Water Spirits."

"...and that" Link monotoned nodding his head in the direction of a curled up young boy holding a bright blue sphere, a shadowed outline of an unborn child showing thru the semi-transparent ball.

Noting the Triforce symbol above the boys head with the bottom left triangle filled in Colba answered, "Apparently the bearer of the Triforce of Courage at the time." Also noting the Triforce symbol with the bottom right filled in. "...and the child within the sphere seems to bear the Triforce of Wisdom."

They both stood there silently for quite a while until Link finally broke the silence, "Ok, we can head back now." The trip back was voice free and significantly less eerie, They backtracked thru the tunnels and then headed back up the stairs. Just as he was about to step thru the doorway back into the castle, Link could have sworn he heard the same female voice, "I await your return Hero of Time."

-- WRAP UP --

Ah, bah-humbug! I swear I had this piece ready to post on April 1st! Stupid server was down! :P Oh well, it's probably for the best, I had to stop the story rather abruptly to meet the April 1st 11:59 PM deadline. The extra day gave me some time to give the chapter some more content and better closure. But yeah, I apologize for the cruel joke, especially considering it isn't even April 1st when I'm posting this. I guess I'm not sorry enough though because I'm not taking it down.

Well, as always I hoped you enjoyed the update. Feel free to leave any comments: plot hypothesis, suggestions, criticism, or, if you must, even flames. All are welcome, I just like to know people are reading the story. Hm? Oh yeah, I'll take complements too, they make my day.

- - - - -

Thag- Sorry I didn't go more into detail about the Gerudo for you. The background info will come, I promise. I just couldn't figure out how to add it in now without giving away more of the story than I want to right now. Interesting thought on the Gerudo, In all honesty when I wrote that chapter I had in mind the Gerudo really being "THAT" bad, but I like the idea of a lot of it being a mind trip. (If you haven't noticed already, I'm kinda fond of mind-trips) I might rework somethings to fit that in...we'll just have to wait and see how it works out.

Angelica-faluna- Haha! Sorry to hear about the spider in your hair thing. I shouldn't laugh. Sorry again. I was just thinking about the time my neighbor freaked me out with a wooden snake toy. A WOODEN SNAKE TOY! And I thought it was real! Er...I mean...uh...I'm a proud 18 year old male! Spiders and snakes don't scare me! Hmph! -storms off-

Lemonysnickerz- yeah, Ch2 has the name game going on. I tried to make it as unconfusing (yes I know it's not a word! I don't care...heh, in fact I think I made up a bunch of words in this chapter like 'monotoned' yeah, I'm sure that's not a word) as I could.

Dark Cross- yep, spiders are going to play a major part in the plot. Please warn me if I start to go overboard. And thanks for the compliments, they come greatly appreciated.