He leaned forward, peering into the scrying pool with a sinister intensity. His fingers were clenched painfully around the sharp edges of the bowel, drawing little rivulets of blood that ran down its silvery sides before trickling onto the floor and clouding the images in the watery window.
His hellfire eyes widened and he upended the bowel with a growl. The third Poe had failed in its task to eliminate the intruders within the Forest Temple; the chances of the final Poe's success were slim.
He had thought the problem taking place insignificant, a welcome distraction from trying to spy on the hive of insects that had dubbed themselves Arcana and stung when he was unaware of their presence. But this new source of entertainment had quickly lost its value when he had felt the surge of power that had efficiently dismembered one of his minions. There had been something familiar about the magical signature, mixed in a mass of foreign energy. The magic was very unlike anything he had ever encountered; touched by divine light that made his stomach churn uncomfortably. If that celestial power was what he thought, he was in more trouble than he could have anticipated. He needed to rid his kingdom of whatever being was unleashing the power before the wrath of the heavens descended upon him.
Ganondorf fell back into his black throne, flexing brutalized fingers and willing the flesh to mend with the powers he had stolen from those under his control. He stared at the pooling water on the dark tiles, his features set in a smoldering expression. Someone was challenging his hold on Hyrule indirectly, for no one could lay claim to his land in any other fashion without facing an ugly consequence. His Poes had failed miserably, which left him with the final option of unleashing the greatest weapon he had placed in the Forest Temple.
Still, he was reluctant to summon the creature, if only because it meant that he acknowledged the presently faceless enemy as a threat. There was also so little he could afford to reveal about his forces now that there was the possibility of entities with such significant potency being involved.
No matter the reasoning it boiled down to one point: he could not allow this unwelcome visitor to live in the shadows of that which he had conquered. He would dispatch the last phantom to dispose of his opponent and hope that the information of its awakening never leaked beyond the mossy Temple walls.
……………………………………………………………………………………….
Rayne knew she was scowling; knew it but couldn't very well stop it. Perhaps there was some other way to put the ointment on her injured back, or at least some other person.
"Are you finished?" Link asked politely, his back turned to her.
She examined the cloth she had used to bind her breasts, breathing a faint sigh of relief when she realized that it was still intact. Rayne hesitated, and then tentatively angled her arm so that she could push at the boundaries of the wounds on her back. The scratches were long and painful, but not as dire as she had expected. Her fingers came away sticky with blood that was slowly congealing into what she was sure would later be scar tissue.
"Rayne?" Link's questioning tone made her flush. If only Haruko were less squeamish, she would have had the young girl patch her up rather than the dashing warrior. Unfortunately, said girl was currently hiding her face in her teddy bear, quietly humming some odd little ditty that filled the air around them, apparently to distract herself.
"Just a second." Rayne said as she lay down on the grassy ground. Her naked stomach was tickled by the green blades and other unidentifiable things that she hoped weren't of the insect variety.
Link waited until Rayne signaled that she was somewhat decent with an embarrassed clearing of her throat before turning around. When he saw that she was ready he gathered the linen strips and the poultice jar and sat down beside her. "I washed my hands and the coverings for the wounds." Link informed her, displaying his clean fingers for her inspection. "Do I just get the mixture on my fingertips and then put it on?"
Rayne nodded, chin bumping against the ground. "Is it bleeding badly?"
Link leaned over her, blocking the sunlight for a moment and making her shiver impulsively. "No, it hasn't stopped though."
"Good, that means you won't have to peel off the scabbing to apply it." Rayne said, closing her eyes when she felt Link shudder at the thought. "Put a thin layering of the ointment over the wounds, just don't put too much or it'll suffocate the healing process."
"No pressure." Link murmured, sticking his fingers into the creamy solution and measuring with his eyes. "Put too little and it's ineffective; put too much and it'll be just as harmful."
"Don't worry." Rayne assured him, shifting to relieve an itch on her leg. "I'll probably be able to tell if you put an improper amount."
Rayne opened her eyes to see Chronos staring at her from a distant seat on a sunny rock, amusement clearly rendered in his posture. "You know, kitten." He said when he noticed her attention. "You could just go back to Kakariko and have one of the healers attend to you."
The young woman frowned at him pointedly, "It isn't life threatening."
"Unless it goes septic." The disagreeable feline reminded her, green eyes decidedly aloof.
"Which is why Link is putting poultice over it." Rayne returned, crossing her arms in front of her and laying her chin in the centre of the intersection. She could hear Link shuffling at her side, seemingly trying to determine the best way to apply the sticky solution.
"That's not as effective as magic." Chronos turned onto his back, stretching languidly. "There's still a chance of infection."
"Not a significant one." Rayne winced as Link's cautious fingers met her back.
"It wouldn't have to be." The cat mewed, one eye opened while the ear on the opposite side twitched.
Ah, Chronos, her little ray of divine sunshine and caustic concern. She shook her head negatively, yielding for the moment to keep from squeaking at the coldness of the paste. Link was being gentle, as much as one who wielded a blade on a daily basis could be, but the fact that she was incapable of easing her muscles from their rigid positions was making the situation increasingly galling. She was coiled more tightly than the leather grip around the hilt of Link's sword, edgy to any sudden movement that might imply another ghostly attack or something of the similarly fatal persuasion.
Rayne hated to admit it, but she was also frightened of Link. She had never let anyone so close to her before, at least not while she was in a state of undress. She trusted him; there was no doubt in her mind that she had placed her life in his indecisively cupped hands. Nonetheless, her thoughts were still plagued by uncomfortable reservations, warnings that she had leapt too soon with an excessively amount of force behind the jump.
"Rayne-chan?" Haruko's heart-shaped face suddenly filled her vision. "Does it hurt?"
Rayne smiled wanly at the child. "Not really Haruko, Link's being very careful."
"Oh." The little girl hesitated, a juvenile expression of serious thought coming over her face. Several seconds passed before she nodded, obviously coming to a resolution. She took the battered teddy bear from underneath her arm and offered it to a startled Rayne. "You can hold Rumpelstiltskin if you want, he'll make you feel better."
Rayne accepted the bear gingerly, tears threatening to pool in her eyes. "Thank you, Haruko. That's very thoughtful of you."
"I know." The little girl said matter-of-factly. She glanced at Rayne's back, pulling a face and adding. "Could you try your best not to bleed on him though?"
Rayne laughed, sending a surge of pain down her back. Children had a terrible habit of ruining moments. "I'll try my best."
"Okay." Haruko smiled, turning on her heel and going back to her previous spot where Rayne's blood splashed back was less visible. She called to the black cat in hopes of playing, but Chronos studiously ignored her and continued to sunbathe.
"Kids." Link chuckled huskily, dipping his fingers into the jar for more paste.
Rayne nodded, knowing full-well that the one word and the tone it was uttered in encompassed his feelings on the subject. She propped the bear Haruko had handed her under one arm and tried to feel the soothing effects of the medicine rather than the burning sensation of her striped back. Unintentionally, her thoughts turned back to the moment she had experienced just after she had nearly bashed Link's head in with Hanged Man's invention. The cloying thought of his lips so close to her own made her blush, a pink tinge that she fiercely hoped was not spreading down her naked back where the hero turned healer would spot and ask after it.
"Rayne." Link's quiet baritone gave her a start. She cursed mentally, fully prepared to give some sloppy lie about the state of her flushed back, and was surprised when he continued along a tangent she hadn't predicted. "Perhaps Chronos is right. Maybe you should go back to Kakariko and get properly healed."
"Not this again." She growled, feeling entirely helpless. He had to bring this up when she was belly down and couldn't even look into his eyes to argue her case? That was incredibly unfair of him. "This is like beating a dead horse. I'm already here and I have no intention of leaving."
Link fell silent, spreading the pasty medicine over the inflamed wounds with a pronounced dread of hurting the young woman who was fuming at his assumption that she was a frail flower who would wilt under the slightest duress.
Rayne forced herself to calm down, squeezing Haruko's bear within an inch of its life as she considered Link's point of view. Evidently, he wasn't attempting to shunt her off to the village because he didn't need her help. She had pulled his rear out of the line of fire more times than she cared to count and he had often returned the favor. She thought back to what he had said in Kakariko; a grim refusal of her company followed by a reasoning that made her chest ache. He didn't want her blood on his hands while he was still washing away the stains that Malon's demise had left behind.
Link's ministrations ceased and Rayne recognized that he had coated all of the scratches with the medicine. She rose, careful not to use muscles in her back for fear of more pain, and sat on the ground. Link passed the linen bandages over her front, keeping his distance from her skin and began winding its length over the long abrasions, binding a significant portion of her torso in the pale cloth.
"Link…" Rayne kept her voice away from a confrontational tone.
"Hmm…?" He tucked the end of the bindings in, checking to make sure it wasn't too tight. When the young woman hesitated he encouraged her to speak. "What is it Rayne?"
"I'm not your responsibility." She looked at him over her shoulder; recognizing surprise on his features, she rushed to amend her statement. "You don't have to worry about me. I came of my own volition, you didn't ask me to. The only thing you should be concerned about is freeing the Temples from Ganondorf's reign."
"You know it doesn't work like that, Rayne." He sighed, turning his back to her and indicating to the new shirt she had taken out of her knapsack.
"Why not?" she asked, grabbing the shirt and attempting to pull it over her head while she spoke. "It isn't as though I gave you the choice of accepting my company or not, that would have been a different matter. You pretty much had the ultimatum of going with me or not going at all. Damned shirt…"
Raising her arms hurt like the original hiding had and the tunic refused to go over her head unless she expended the required effort. She cursed again, trying to out-maneuver the article of clothing so that it would slide over her arms and head.
"Need help?" Link questioned, turning to survey her problem before giving a short laugh.
"Excuse you!" she hissed, the effect not quite as intimidating as she would have hoped through the fabric. "I'm not quite dressed yet, you… you…"
Her brain failed her as she felt Link move closer to her, grip the material of her tunic and pull it down over her arms and head. Sometimes she had to wonder if he did such things to purposely tease her. He was close but untouchable to her, like wind and earth, fire and water, she was unable to exist without him and yet utterly incapable of contact without destruction. She blinked out of her trance and devastated her train of thought. Where had that particular thought crawled out from?
"Are the bandages too tight?" Link asked, carefully adjusting the hem of her shirt and ignoring the stares of their other three companions.
"No, they're fine." Rayne hastily said. The last thing she wanted him to do was take off her shirt and reapply the bindings. There was one of those visions stirring at the back of her mind; she pushed it away through sheer force of will. She refused to have another spasmodic attack so soon after the last.
Rayne's temperature dropped abruptly, making her body shudder in a meager attempt to regain lost heat. Her heartbeat was pounding an irregular tattoo in her temples and wrists, throbbing in such a way that she was suddenly very aware of every vein, every muscle, every ivory bone inside herself. Gravity pressed against her skin, suffocating while the sickly scent of carrion and burned bones invaded her lungs.
It lasted only a moment, the intensely grotesque feeling of being ripped apart by unseen forces. Then the veil lifted and she could breathe again.
"What the hell was that?" Navi asked eloquently, hauling herself up from where she had fallen in a crumpled heap on the ground. "I feel like something tried to rip my wings off and beat me with them."
No one mentioned how tough it would be to give a proper beating with the flimsy material of a fairy's wings; everyone was winded and frightened, or at least that was what prevented Rayne from pointing it out.
"It felt like… an evoking, something old being awakened." Chronos said, pink tongue displayed while he panted in a manner most cats would think undignified. "It ripped the boundaries around this place, called up something from a different portion of myself."
Rayne glanced at the cat, noticing how ill he looked. Whatever had conspired was hurting him still, like a physical blow to his lithe black body. He said that something had been called from a separate time, a certain something that was ancient and more than likely dangerous.
Haruko picked up the coal-colored feline, stroking his back tenderly. "There, there little Chronos, it's over now."
Rayne rose, watching the child curiously. She had just sounded older than her years, acting the part of a concerned mother for the startled cat. She shook off the feelings, knowing that this would not be the final surprise the little girl had hiding up her worn sleeves, and focused on the matter at hand. This was not the end; the creature that had been summoned from some old haunt in the past had plainly been called up for the purpose of destroying them. When it would attempt to fulfill this function and in what manner it would do so, was the question gnawing worriedly at her gut.
"There's a ghosty coming." Haruko commented, eyes meeting Rayne's in warning.
Link unsheathed the Master Sword without question, sparing a concerned glance at Rayne when she moved stiffly to draw back her bow. "Perhaps you should sit this one out, Rayne."
"Perhaps you should mind your own Goddess damned business, Link." Rayne snarled, reactions slowed by buzzing pain signals. "I'm not an invalid and I refuse to be treated as such."
Link frowned, "I never said—"
The Poe blew through the ground beneath them, a furious storm of claws and vicious hissing. Link dodged easily, swinging his blade into one hand so that he could grip the hookshot out of its holster at his side, then bellowed in pain. The Poe in front of him faded after giving a horrible laugh while the corporeal one behind him took another swipe at his unguarded back.
Rayne charged with a strangled battle cry on her lips, bulling the Poe back with precisely fired arrows and swiping at it with the bow itself when she came near enough. The Poe backed away, snarling darkly and trying to return the blows of this new threat. Link used the needed diversion to fire the hookshot into the billowing mass of phantasm only to find his aim slightly off when the Poe evaded and flew to the right to pick out the arrows that had lodged securely into its person. It succeeded in removing two of the three bolts before returning to an offensive front. Again it created a doppelganger, followed by another two that cackled unpleasantly before beginning to circle around the small party like a merry-go-round with jagged teeth and knife-like nails.
Rayne tried to identify the real one, eyes seeking the single arrow-bolt that would give up its identity. She gave a startled gasp when she recognized that every one of them bore a shaft with green-fetching; this Poe was more skilled than the other three had been.
"Anyone have a decent idea on how to get out of this mess?" Chronos asked, baring sharp incisors at the nearest Poe from the cradle of Haruko's arms.
"Find the real one and beat the life out of it." Navi suggested, swooping in and out to divert the Poes' attention. "Of course you'll have to determine which one is the genuine entity first."
"That was very useful, fairy. Remind me to thank you for it later by chewing off your arms." Chronos swatted half-heartedly at a Poe that had come to close, knowing his meager claws could do no significant damage.
"I say we give it the 'ole human go and kill everything in sight." Rayne recommended, pulling out two bolts; one she notched and the other she set in her teeth for easy access.
"Decisively lethal as always, kitten." Chronos drew himself up from the comfortable position in Haruko's arms to stare threateningly at the nearest Poe. "Unfortunately, it's about as useful as the fairy's idea and three-fold times more foolhardy."
"Process of elimination does seem about the only way to go, Chronos." Link was taking careful aim with his hookshot. "Although it doesn't seem like instantaneous eradication would be such a terrible plan of action either."
"My, aren't we full of big words and conviction today." The cat mewed, sinking dourly back into a less agonizing position against Haruko. "Do what you please, just don't expect me to be of much use in this ridiculous arrangement."
"We didn't anticipate a change in your normal behavior, cat." Navi poked the Poe she had been harassing in its wide yellow eye, amazed when it caused instant disintegration. "This one would be a fake."
Rayne released the arrow she had been holding, disappointed when the phantom she'd been inspecting followed the first Poe in its dissipation tactics. She spat the additional bolt out of her mouth and made ready to fire again. "Your turn, Link."
The blonde warrior didn't waste time with a response; instead he triggered the hookshot and hit the Poe that had been moving at a slightly different pace from its brethren of fakes. The Poe squealed in pain, writhing as the jagged point ripped into its withered flesh, jerking angrily at the chain that secured it to a realm in which it no longer wished to dwell.
As Link brought up his weapon to deliver the finishing strike, the Poe shot upward, taking up the slack of the hookshot's chain and making the warrior lose his footing. Link pulled down harshly with both hands, palming the hilt of his sword rather than dropping it. The Poe stopped its airborne charge but did not entirely cease rising, straining for every inch gained it started to raise the startled young warrior off his planted feet.
Rayne delayed in shooting the other arrow, wondering if it would aid Link in his effort to bring the Poe down or would simply enrage it even further. Coming to a decision, she threw her worn bow over a shoulder and ran to grab Link around the middle to anchor him to the ground. She felt him tense at her touch, but when he acknowledged what she was attempting to do, he allowed her to drag him out of the air.
Rayne later apprehended that it would have been healthier to latch on to Link from behind; the Poe, howling with wrathful intentions, rushed down at her unprotected back to share its state of hurt. She closed her eyes, inwardly groaning at her own foolishness, when she felt Link release the chain with one hand to grasp his shield and bring it to her defense. The ghost's very substantial talons banged uselessly against the metal insignia of Hyrule, letting Rayne move out of her compromising position and enabling her sentinel to drop the guard and restore the sword into its due place in his left hand. Link quickly slashed the ghost with his blade, listening to its shriek of pain with a forbidding expression on his face. The hookshot disengaged itself from vanishing tissue, snapping back together with an audible clang that only emphasized the horrific noise of the specter's second death.
"That was easy." Rayne addressed the group as the glow of the lantern flickered and then went out.
"It's all in the technique." Navi crowed, patting Link's cheek fondly. "You're such a crafty little boy." Then she turned on Rayne. "You put yourself in an awfully precarious place though, young lady."
The green sorceress reddened. "I wasn't thinking properly, I had the unreasonable notion that it would be too distracted by the metal puncturing its abdomen."
"Yes, unreasonable that." Chronos' tail swatted the air, uneasy at being so restful in such a stressful situation.
Link grinned, turning to the Time-cat with arms akimbo in conquest. "Well, it seems our plan wasn't as irrational as you made it out to be."
"Do you want applause, the insistence of an encore?" The cat asked with no small amount of annoyance. "You could have been mutilated, and hitherto blind luck has dictated the reason you are still breathing. Do not revel in a victory that could have just as easily gone to the opposing party; it will become no easier from here."
The air chilled noticeably, showing the breath of those assembled in cloudy formations of fleeting fog. Rayne coughed, lungs burning from the abrupt change in temperature as she watched a thin layer of frost form over the surrounding vegetation. Shuffling of her feet resulting in grass breaking like brittle emerald icicles; her eyes were dry and tearless and a glance around confirmed that she wasn't the only one experiencing such discomfort.
"Please tell me you did that, cat." Rayne beseeched Chronos, putting her arms around herself to ward off the chill. Haruko leaned into Rayne's legs and shivered, tugging the excess material of the tunic over her shoulders and burying her face into the older girl's stomach.
"No, I'm afraid not." His dark fur had lost its glossy sheen and exhaustion had worn through his complacent demeanor. "It's what Ganondorf called up earlier, a spirit of the Old World that's he has molded into a shape befitting of one in the service of such a malevolent king."
"That doesn't sound good…" Navi ventured, darting about Link's head with nervous adrenaline.
"Oh, trust me; it will be much worse than it sounds." Chronos turned his piercing gaze on Rayne. "Pull out that magic bag of yours; we're going to need every edge, any advantage we can conceive."
…………………………………………………………………………………………
Within the blanket of darkness it stirred, slowly awakening after having slept for so long. Its senses were woefully disoriented, its ears plugged with grave dirt, vision blurred and nose catching nothing but the half-imagined scent of dust. Phantom pulsations of a faux heartbeat began to make themselves known, almost reluctant as it pushed mystical infusions of ersatz blood. Confusion finally registered somewhere in its brain as limbic system realigned itself enough to send messages to the frontal cortex. It had been sleeping, or at least doing something very similar to that action when a voice has whispered in its ear and a violent pull had wrenched it from its cool, grainy home to this foreign site.
Its eyes gained a stinging sensation, forcing the immediate reaction to blink furiously. It knew somewhere in its muddled mind that it was incapable of waking without outside influence of the most hefty persuasion. It had been of such authority once, long ago, it could remember power, the intoxicating taste of it. The thought was gone as quickly as it had come, leaving only a sense of grief in its place.
There was a faint ringing in its head that was growing in volume. Something shifted and it could suddenly interpret what its ears were straining to comprehend. The pealing of indecisive alarm bells was replaced by an unpleasant buzz that made its body spasm. It was a male voice, chanting incessantly in a tone of heavy deliberation that furthered its descent back into the living world. The bitter taste of new blood entered its mouth, coppery and viscous as it flowed down its parched throat and ignited every available nerve ending with an electrical shock of positive ions.
It stopped struggling and the pain receded. The jargon of the speaker was reverberating through its body, gaining some meaning until it could no longer ignore the summons. Black and gray cobwebs blew out of its eyes and images were finally able to filter through; above was a cavernous roof, stretching up into an infinite space of flickering candlelight. The creature could feel a solid coldness at its back, sucking out all warmth its body was attempting to generate, and it came to the conclusion that it was lying flat on a slab of some generic rock. It sat up uncertainly, watching in fascination as taut muscles moved beneath a paper thin layer of olive skin. It brought a hand before its eyes, examining the individual fingers. It clenched and relaxed each of the ten digits one by one, marveling at the complexity of the movement, until it heard a throaty chuckle.
"I'd hate to see how long it would take for you to discover the rest of your body; we'd be here for hours." The figure sneered, stepping closer to assert some form of authority over that which he had pulled from a distant time. "Perhaps I should have selected an entity with considerably more intellect… you are truly as pathetic as the legends say."
The newly created fiend leapt from the stone slab and hissed when its legs refused to hold the weight. It swiped viciously at the dark man when he came near; spit flying from a narrow mouth as it scuttled along the floor in an effort to recover some form of strength.
"Enough of this," The hawk-nosed man leaned down and grabbed its throat, inciting a gurgle-growl of hate and fear. "You will accept your role of servitude at my hands and obey all orders that I direct at you without hesitation. Is that clear?"
The creature attempted a snarl but found the lack of air in its breathing apparatuses unhelpful. It tried to break the hold, and found the action useless. The dark man leaned closer, his hot breath falling across its chapped mouth. "Your link to this world is me; I determine your strength, your weaknesses, your form. My blood runs through your veins, your flesh is mine; if you defy me, you defy your own body. Do not tempt me, little spirit. I have limited patience and little humor."
The creature's body slackened in defeat, and sank to the floor when the dark man released it. "Good, now come with me, my shadow, come and I will award you an assignment."
The creature followed docilely at the man's heels, to all appearances a beast tamed by a master's harsh treatment. But something rebellious was stirring in its half-working brain; it was silently testing the boundaries of itself, finding where it began and its evoker ended and at what place the bindings could be fractured.
………………………………………………………………………………….
Link chewed on the strips of beef Rayne proffered to him, staring off into the distance with his sword unsheathed and ready for use with its tip in the dirt and the hilt resting on one of his legs. A small healing spell had sealed the minor wounds from his Poe encounter, but the flesh still ached and itched. He took a pull from the water bottle Haruko passed to him, nose wrinkling when he recognize some sweet berry juice that tingled against his tongue.
"It's strawberry." The little girl confided in him, mistaking his expression of dislike for confusion. "Doesn't it taste good?"
Link grinned at the young girl and ruffled her hair cordially. "Where did you get strawberry juice?" he asked.
"Rayne-chan gave it to me." Haruko pointed to said female who was actively searching for practical items to use in the upcoming battle under Chronos' watchful eye. "She said you'd like it."
Link rolled his eyes, knowing that Rayne was aware of his dislike for sugary liquids. "I see. Why don't you tell her thanks for me?"
The younger girl quickly ran to do the requested action, once again leaving Link to ponder what the enemy's next attempt would be. Ganondorf had run out of Poes; Link could remember there being only four in the antechamber and all of them had fallen to his blade and Rayne's magic. But the self-proclaimed King of Hyrule had wasted no time in inducting a fifth creature into the ranks of the Forest Temple's monsters.
Would this new creature be similar to the ghosts? He didn't know, and even if it was, there was a very small chance that it could be as simply defeated. Link sighed, finishing off the jerky and listening to Rayne's outraged demands of how pieces of twine would help anyone.
"I think we should go on." He told them, surprising the two arguing into silence. "It's pointless to wait for it here. We should at least try to find the Forest Sage before whatever this thing is attacks; maybe the sage could help us."
Rayne stopped pulling objects out of her bag. "Perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad idea. What do you think Chronos; since you seem to know every-Goddess-created-thing?"
"I don't believe that the Sage could help us." The cat replied, unfazed by Rayne's sarcasm. "She's not particularly… battle ready."
"You know the Sage of Forest?" Navi questioned, rubbing her hands together to provide warmth.
"In a fashion, yes." The cat replied evasively. "However, it might be a good idea to track down the creature before it approaches us; if we can catch it before it's completely prepared, perhaps we'll have a chance of destroying it."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence, cat." Rayne threw the last of the surplus items into her pack and slung it over her shoulder. "Let's go, I don't think I could take much more of this cold anyway."
……………………………………………………………………………………..
Rayne cursed when they entered the foyer and found that the cold was not specific to the outside. Her breath still appeared as gaseous white clouds and her feet were continuing to freeze in their thin deerskin shoes. She made a mental note to ask Hierophant to put her quilted overcoats into the void next she saw him; Ganondorf seemed to love toying with the temperature.
"What's that?" Navi asked, pointing to a simplistic metal enclosure in the center of the square where the four Poes had first appeared. The braziers were lit once more, their flames casting malignant shadows that yawned along the full length of the room. "Do you think it leads to wherever the Sage is?"
"It looks like a trap." Rayne asserted, scanning the area for any fatally hidden objects. "Why else would it suddenly appear? Ganondorf still has control of the Temple; the sage probably has little to no real power at this point."
"She may be expending what little power she does possess in order to open up this opportunity." Link reminded his female ally, also searching for a ruse in the large room. "This may be the only way to get to her."
"It's risky." Chronos jumped into the argument. "Still, Link may be right; this could be our only chance."
"I don't like it." Rayne disputed, foot tapping with evident irresolution.
"I'll look at it." Haruko volunteered cheerily; shocking the two adults out of their argument long enough to realize that she had previously slipped out from underfoot and was merrily hopping toward the center of the room without a cautious thought to hinder the way. Rayne shouted out a wordlessly negative response, tripping over her own feet and making a grab for the little hare-brained child.
Haruko stood in the precise middle of the raised platform, head tilted to the side in incomprehension at the two older people's reactions to her statement, when the ground beneath her shuddered into a disinclined, muttering life. Ancient etchings on the floor of long since forgotten languages shimmered and brightened; their light spreading to the contraption in which Haruko was nervously stopped.
Rayne hauled the little girl up into her arms, desperately aware of Link right beside her and Chronos at her feet. Her scalp was prickling from fear, for they were all in the strange device now. Through her legs she felt the ground begin to cave and she quickly pushed Haruko into Link's arms and off of the platform. She felt rather than saw Chronos trying to urge her to safer ground as well, but the floor fell and she was left with only a fleeting glance of Link's terrified face mirroring her own before everything descended into darkness.
Her eyes were closed as the air rushed past her ears; she could still feel Chronos' presence by her right foot and wondered, curiously through her panic, if they were falling at the same pace. Then her nerves registered that there was still, in fact, solidity under her feet and only then did she dare peek. They were falling, and yet the platform was guiding them in the exercise, glowing runes swimming lazily as they began to enshroud the open sides of the gondola-like structure, making an air-resistant seal so that the wind wasn't banging on her head like a particularly vengeful drummer.
"What is this?" she asked the cat, who was silently regarding the runes with intrigue.
"It's an elevator, magically powered of course, but an elevator all the same." At Rayne's blank look he continued. "It's an enclosure that can be raised or lowered by a pulley system."
Rayne considered this mentally, drawing up a basic schematic in her mind of how one would go about the process of making such a device. "I think I understand… Hanged Man would love this."
"I'm certain he would." Chronos jumped off the platform just as it touched down, paws meeting a dusty landing that instantly dirtied his fur. "Ganondorf needs to consider hiring cleaners, this is unacceptable."
"I'm sure he's worried about the dust problem in the Temples." Rayne rolled her eyes, stopping in the gesture when she saw the shadowy figure peering down at them from the distant upper level. "Link?" she called.
"Rayne, are you okay?" Rayne sighed in relief as Link's voice chased away the silence in the room. "What happened?"
"I'm- we're- both fine." She added at Chronos' sharp glance. "The enclosure was actually just an elevator; you can ride down on it."
"As soon as we find out how to make it go back up." Chronos left little paw prints in the dust as he explored. He stopped at a doorway, covered by icy vines and rotten wood, his hackles rising. "And we had better find a way soon, the creature that Ganondorf summoned is very close by."
Rayne nodded at the severity of his statement, walking off the elevator only to squeak in surprise when it began to levitate back upward, nearly catching her foot in the ascent. "I guess we didn't have to work too hard to figure that out." She mumbled, frowning at Chronos' not-so-inaudible chuckling.
Link and Haruko, accompanied by a flying Navi, came down on the elevator. Haruko quickly sprang at Rayne, nearly bowling the young woman over in her eagerness to apologize for being such a nuisance.
"Oh hush, Haruko." Rayne smiled down at the female child. "If you hadn't done something, we'd probably still be arguing over a plan upstairs."
Haruko blushed prettily. "I know, but you looked so scared…"
"You did scare me." Rayne admitted, flicking the girl's nose. "And I don't expect you'll ever do it again. Right?"
The little girl nodded quickly and Rayne's smile widened. She turned to Link who was examining the door curiously. "Do you know how we're supposed to get through?"
"Nope." Link tugged experimentally on a vine, withdrawing his hand when it responded by wrapping around his wrist and tugging back with considerably more force. "I'm reluctant to take a sword to it."
There was a low rumble and Link jumped back, blade drawn against his better judgment. The icy vines shattered and snapped, slivers of ice and plant matter scattering across the floor in a pattern less jumble. The rotten lumber that had once been a door caved in on itself, and a muted roar bit through the cold air, causing the blood of those nearby to gain a slushy consistency.
Rayne choked back a whimper when the figure materialized out of the dust and debris in the air; she shrank back toward the elevator, every nerve drawing on the fight-or-flight instinct of some long since dead ancestor. Destruction whispered at the soles of his feet and chaos threatened in the dark fire of his eyes; the room billowed with unnatural grey fog and tiny blinking yellow eyes that winked out of existence when looked at directly.
Ganondorf stepped out of the portal, a long, dramatic cloak flaring off his shoulders and encompassing an entire side of the circular room; his outline blazed like a fiery sun on her retina even through the dusky fog.
She wanted to scream; visions of Malon's past were infiltrating her weakened mind and her fear was being amplified by the young dead girl's own terror. The background kept melting and fading out, only Ganondorf remained a constant. Her heart was in her mouth and yet simultaneously in her stomach and her legs were jelly, folding underneath her weight.
Then Link's hand was on her arm, pulling her from danger as Ganondorf's spear sought her out. The Master Sword clanged against the pointed steel, sparks showering from the encounter.
Rayne blinked the visions away, but her dread still held her in its paralyzing grip. She could not fight the man of her oldest nightmares and worst waking thoughts; he was every monster that populated the shadowy corners of her mind, every flesh-devouring beast in Hierophant's fey tales.
"That's not Ganondorf." Chronos' voice in her ear made her jump. "That's not Ganondorf, kitten. Look closely."
Rayne would have tried to shoot the cat an incredulous glance, except his position denied her the opportunity. Instead she did as he bid and looked at Ganondorf as Link desperately tried to stay in close and block so that his enemy could not make full use of his long range weapon. His appearance was everything she had heard it would be, tall and dark-skinned with fiery hair and an angular face, the single orange jewel decorating his brow. She was about to confess that she had never actually seen Ganondorf up close, except for through Malon's eyes which were unreliable at best, and therefore incapable of distinguishing the real from a fake, when something odd caught her eye. There was a surreal flickering around his person and if she squinted she could see something not-quite-human battling Link through her eyelashes.
"What is that?" She questioned the cat, her sanity slowly returning from where it had fled in such panic. "It isn't even human, is it?"
"It was once, but no longer. It was also once a God, and it lost that as well."
Link landed a stunning blow and the fake Ganondorf stumbled back. The blonde hero tried to follow up with another swipe and was forced to evade when an eerily glowing ball of black magic with green lights was thrown into his path.
"You're going to have to explain all of this to me later." Rayne informed him, standing from where she had fallen and grabbing her bow. "Now, how do we defeat this thing?"
"That's my girl." Chronos purred, nuzzling her cheek before dropping off of her shoulder. "How is your magical core?"
Rayne visualized her core, sensing which spells were still open to her. "Fire and wind spells are iffy; materialization is still entirely out of the question unless I want to burn myself out."
"What about light?" Chronos asked enigmatically.
Rayne frowned, not quite certain how to go about such spells. "It's not quite elemental. I'm not certain I could do it."
"Combine your remaining fire and wind magic and infuse it into your arrows." Chronos gave her a half-lidded peek that instantly made her feel incompetent. "Be careful about it though, you don't want too much of either element or you could get a hybrid that is entirely useless."
"Encouragement would be preferred to your usual helping of sarcasm, cat." Rayne fumbled pulling out a few choice arrows. "Actually, anything would be preferred just now."
"Cease your whining and do as you're told."
She almost reminded the feline that she had several weapons in her hands and, as such, he should consider being more pleasant toward her, then Link yelled some unintelligible words of hurt and she forgot all about the infuriating Chronos.
Rayne reached out to her magic hopefully, grasping the separate strands tightly and beginning to weave. She measured them out, careful not to take too much of fire or wind magic as Chronos had explicitly warned her against, waiting to see if they would accept the differing elements before twining more together. The magical threads thrashed against one another, unwilling to meld at first until she exerted more of her will upon them; she was starting to think this task impossible, or at least that her method was erroneous. Then golden power flared up as the two powers met in a harmonic crash and Rayne knew that she had succeeded.
She used the new element to infuse it into her arrows, putting light not only into the arrow head itself, but also leavening it into the very grains of wood in the shaft and the individual feathers of the fletching. Her arrows were glowing; their tips alight with aureate sunshine and moon luminescence, starry radiance and lightning bolts, they were warm to the touch and fizzling to the mind. She notched a light impregnated arrow and fired straight into the Ganondorf double, the bolt parting with a gleaming trail of lightning particles in its wake.
The light arrow hit the copy high in the side, lodging neatly between what she assumed to be its ribs. It screamed, a horrible, mind-bending noise of animalistic rage and agony and the light arrows in her hands and quiver trembled as their maker's resolve did. It wasn't Ganondorf, she reminded herself, notching another arrow, it was just a very convincing look-alike.
Then his eyes met hers in fury and she felt the world spin. Rayne fired, but her aim off and the arrow going wide to the left where it hit the wall and sputtered out. She reached for another arrow but her fingers refused to grasp and she couldn't pull her face away from his. She could see the desert in his eyes, the sands of time as they shifted and blew and no longer made a difference to him. She could see impure fires burning and blood being absorbed by a sandy landscape while vultures flew overhead. And yet there was something untainted gleaming beneath the filth, a piece of soul left unburied by eons of hate and vengeance.
Link hit the creature's face with the flat of his blade and Rayne's body flew into sudden overdrive. She plucked an arrow out of her quiver and fired unhesitatingly into the copy's chest. The creature howled as the arrow ignited its body, reaching for her and finding Link's sword lodged deep in its intestine for the endeavor. It gripped Link's arms just above his gauntlets and the hero paled, knees hitting the ground. Rayne shot again, knowing that this phantom had the same abilities as its predecessors, and the arrow plunked directly into the first.
Holes were beginning to form in the creature's flesh, gaping black circles where her arrows struck. Link rose as the copy released him to tear out the arrows, grasping his sword and pulling it free. He struck again, next to Rayne's protruding bolts and the creation cracked in half, startling them both.
The increasing pools of black blood lashed out at them with dripping tendrils, burning all it touched like a volatile acid as the monster tried to pull itself back together, knitting its flesh with its own fingers, searing the wounds with dark fire and making himself whole once again.
"I have this funny feeling we aren't winning." Link remarked, puffing as he leaned against her for a moment before they were forced to jump apart to avoid another bloody attack.
"Me too." Rayne fired into the sentient blood puddles with an arrow, cursing when it parted right where the bolt landed. "It's more like a sinking feeling though."
"It's weakening." Chronos assured them, batting back a wet tendril of blood from Haruko and paying for it with singed fur. "You two need to hit it at the same time, it's bigger than the Poes but it follows the same basic guideline. It cannot stand against the powers of light and time if they work in unison."
"Link can't even get close enough without getting touched or burned." Rayne let loose another arrow, hoping that she had enough left to live through his ordeal. "There's no way we can do this."
"Getting burned is better than being dead." Link remarked, slashing at a blood strand that came too close. "But it seems like there should be a weak point on this thing."
"Its head, where the jewel is." Chronos instructed them, yowling as he stepped directly in nasty blood spatter and burned a padded paw. "That's where Ganondorf stored the soul; the body is just an animated puppet, break the jewel and you cut the puppet strings."
"You could have told us that before we were near dead, cat." Rayne stabbed at a puddle with an arrow, watching as the light issued forth and sealed the blood in the shaft.
"I just realized it." The cat admitted, pouncing onto her shoulder. "Regardless, you need to do something, now."
The puddles were flowing back into the creature and its skin was cauterized in the places it had split. Link took off, stepping on the small floor spaces where no blood was swarming and Rayne drew an arrow. She whispered a small prayer to the Goddesses into the bolt, watching breathlessly as Link evaded a bloody vine and jumped at the copy, sword parallel to the ground. She quickly notched the arrow and fired.
The sword and the arrow hit the orange jewel on the creature's brow, and the Ganondorf clone exploded into coppery tongues of fire. Link was thrown back from the impact, straight into Rayne who caught him after skidding back a few steps and falling on her rear. They watched in horror as the creature's mouth opened in a perfect circle of silent screaming, writhing as it fell to its knees and held its head, trying to hold the jewel together. Heated shards burned hollows in its hands before falling to the ground and turning grey. The blood that hadn't made it into the body took the shapes of faces and hands, clawing at the clone, screaming and crying and pleading before finally evaporating.
The copy collapsed, its limbs shriveling into husks of papery flesh and powdery bone. Its eyes popped and bled out clear liquids and its hair turned black and faded. Rayne held Link as he hid Haruko's face in his tunic. When the decaying process was finished and the last curdling screech had ceased to echo in their ear drums, Chronos went over to the remains and began digging.
"What in the name of the Three are you doing?" Rayne questioned, sickened.
"Looking for the shards, I should think that would be obvious." The cat pawed a couple of pieces out, sending them skittering across the floor to Rayne with a well-placed push. "The soul is still trapped; you'll have to exorcise it."
"You're joking." She said dryly, glancing at the sharp pebble-like remnants of the jewel. "Why would I want to do that?"
"Because the soul was not inherently evil, it was merely used for that purpose." Chronos carried the last large piece in his mouth, spitting it out at her feet. "He has already suffered an unfair life, kitten. At least let him have a pleasant death."
"You said that he was a man." Rayne collected the shards, "And yet he was also a God?"
"One by choice and the other by obligation." Chronos sat, cleaning the punctured pad on one paw. "He was the first male born to the Gerudo and he was revered as their God."
"But the Gerudo worship the Goddesses." Navi interjected, earning her a feline glare. "Well they do."
"Now they do, but not at first. The Gerudo are also descended from Ayins, as the Hylians are."
"Hierophant and Impa said something about this." Rayne thought aloud. "The Ayins were the first race the Goddesses created, but they eventually became the Hylians. The Sheikah were a result of an Ayin and a fey creature's love affair. But the Gerudo were never really discussed. They too are descended from Ayins?"
"Indeed. Unlike the Hylians, however, they wished to retain their prescient powers."
"Then they would still be considered Ayins." Navi argued. "That's what made the Ayin race so unique."
"No, there were two things that made the Ayin race what it was: prescience and the ability to converse with the Goddesses." Chronos examined his paw, sniffing at the scarred white-pink of it. "The Gerudo wanted nothing to do with the Goddesses after the Ayins began to divide; they wanted their own culture, untouched by the laws of the Three.
"So the group of women that made up the Gerudo tribe moved to the desert, a land uncultivated by the Goddesses, and lived by their own rules. And although the Goddesses were upset by this betrayal, they allowed it because they did not wish to bring harm to those they so adored. They did however, leave one farewell gift with the Gerudo; they made it so that they could not have the male children that they so prized.
"Many years passed, the Gerudo had their land but it was a hard existence, full of desert ghouls and all that the Goddesses had cleared out of the main portion of Hyrule. In the hardest of times the Gerudo began to forget the Goddesses existence, so when their first male child was born, it was said to be an omen and was crowned a God."
"I thought the Goddesses had made it so that they could not have male children." Rayne interrupted. "How could they have a boy child if the Goddesses had forbid such an action?"
"Some say it is because the strength in the mother Gerudo was so strong that she managed to find a loophole in the Goddesses decree. Others insist that the Goddesses felt badly for the failing Gerudo tribe and as such, they allowed them one male child for encouragement." Chronos looked at his assembled audience with annoyance. "May I finish the tale now, or does anyone else have a question?"
They fell silent and the time-feline continued. "When the child was declared a God the Goddesses were infuriated, and rightfully so: they had created the Gerudo and had received the cold shoulder, now they were being replaced by a man-child who was declared a deity on the basis of his gender?"
"Defending mommy and your aunties I see." Link remarked, yelping when he found a set of claws in his hand.
"They waited to see if the assumption would wear off as the man aged, but the rumor of his godhood only spread." Chronos continued as he withdrew his paw. "Finally, in a fit of jealous rage, the Goddesses destroyed him and locked his spirit in a plane of nothingness existence that he could never escape from alone."
"Then Ganondorf found him." Rayne murmured sadly.
"Precisely." Chronos sighed, "What happened to him was unfortunate and must be overturned. You must free him from the jewel, Rayne."
Rayne nodded, staring at the fragment she had before her uncertainly. "What was his name?"
"Dumno." Chronos sat back on his haunches at her side. "His name was Dumno."
Rayne put both of her battle scarred hands over the jewel pieces, closing her eyes and sending forth questing thoughts. There was nothing at first, just the crystallized fragments of a dead mind. Then she felt the attention of someone fall over her and whisper quietly. 'Leave me.'
Then she was there, inside the jeweled splinters, staring at the damaged facets and distorted dimensions. She startled back, doing as she was bid but then reconsidering. "Are you Dumno?" She asked the emptiness.
She could vividly feel his surprise, along with an increasing reluctance to converse. 'Yes.'
"I'm here to free you." She flinched at her wording, certain she could have come up with a less clichéd way of telling him that. "My name is Rayne."
Silence, but she could still feel him there, trapped as surely as ever. 'Even if you did, the place I would end up is no better.'
"No." Rayne tried to sound assuring, but there was a pressure building on her body back in the real world and she knew that she would have to flee soon or remained trapped in the jewel fragments with a disembodied voice for company. "Chronos, Farore's son, wishes for you to be released."
'Farore's son.' There was a bitter ring to his voice. 'He tried to save me once before, and failed. I do not see why he should succeed on this occasion.' She could almost see his invisible eyes narrowing. 'Besides which, he would never come here; he is a coward, blindly adhering to the rules his Mother and her Sisters lay down. He would amend the law for no one.'
"Rayne, do you mind if I intervene a little?" Chronos asked in the real world and she half came back to her body.
"I guess not." She murmured, fortifying her hold on the jewel so as not to slip out. There was more to this exorcising practice than she could have ever thought possible.
She sensed rather than felt Chronos moving into her mind, using her vocal chords and her presence in the jewel. "It is I, Chronos, the one you so scathing refer to as coward, and I will make true what this girl promises. The Goddesses wish for your release as well, Dumno. They have regrets about your demise and wish to give you a second chance."
'Why should I believe you?' Dumno appeared before her suddenly, a tall, gaunt man with flaming red hair that fell to his waist in soft tendrils. He was less angular than she had come to expect from the Gerudo, a softer look to his chin and cheekbones. His eyes were the color of violets and his skin was golden without Ganondorf's greenish tint. There was such hurt on his face that Rayne felt her heart break at the sight of him; he seemed utterly defeated and ill-used.
"Because it is the only chance you will have, and you would have to be a fool to refuse it." Chronos' sharp voice flitted from her lips.
At the deadly warning Dumno closed his eyes and put a hand to his face in exhaustion. 'Surely you can understand my skepticism, it has been… a long while since I was… disposed of.'
Rayne felt Chronos soften slightly at the words, guilt overlaying his aggression on the subject. "I know, Dumno, and I am sorry, but the lady cannot reside in the crystal for long and only by combining my strength with hers can you be freed."
The Gerudo seemed to consider, his lavender eyes set on her face as if searching for a deception. Rayne allowed it but wished that he would hurry; she could feel the door she had accidentally opened when she had entered the jewel slipping shut with dooming clarity. There was a tortuous mix of want and cynicism on his features; he wished so badly to take the offer, she could tell, but there was little she could do to convince him to take a chance she wasn't sure was worth the risk of a repeated damnation. His mouth and eyes hardened bracingly and she knew he had come to a decision.
'Please.' Dumno said finally, putting his hands out to her in a beseeching gesture. 'Get me out of this warped crystalline palace.'
Rayne took his hands into hers unthinkingly, surprised by their warmth, and she felt the appropriate threads of her core activating along with Chronos' own odd brand of otherworldly power. She sensed the opening of a gateway, one beside her own that led to a desert of white sand and enormous monuments that glittered in a fierce sun. Hawks flew in cloudless skies and desert-mice twittered in the hilly dunes. It was beauty, wild and passionate, the Goddesses' first offering to a man whose soul was frayed through Their own resentment.
Dumno smiled; hope blossoming on his face for the first time. 'Thank you, Chronos, Lady Rayne; you have done me a great service.'
"You're welcome, my friend." Chronos and Rayne said as one as the light from the new portal blinded them.
Then Rayne was back in the circular room, Chronos on her lap and her hands outstretched, grasping nothing. She let them fall to her side and thus revealed the jewel Dumno had been trapped in, now merely a broken crystal scattered on the damp floor.
"He's gone…" Rayne felt Link's hand on arm and looked into his disquieted face. "Dumno is gone."
"He's having a nice, long chat with the Goddesses while they decide what he wants to do." Chronos nuzzled Rayne's stomach. "You did very well, kitten."
"Thank you." She scratched the feline between his ears, considering questioning him about his relationship with Dumno, but found the thought too prying and instead let it lie unanswered. She switched to a related topic. "I thought you said the Sage of this Temple was a female."
"Oh, she is." Chronos turned his head as a glowing green light began emanating from the doorway where the Ganondorf clone had arrived. "And she's waiting."
……………………………………………………………………………………..
Link entered the doorway, careful to avoid the splinters of the rotted door as he helped Haruko and then Rayne over the threshold. There were healthy green vines beginning to grow along the walls as they walked, sprouting delicate pink flowers that delighted the youngest of their number to no end. The hallway would have been dark if not for the glowing mushroom that were also sprouting on the ceiling and along the sides of the floor.
When they came to the end of the corridor, Link realized that they were in the Sacred Meadow where green plants were flourishing at an unbelievable rate. He felt eyes on him and so turned, to confront them.
Saria, her green hair tousled and her skin shimmering with dew, smiled at the blonde hero as he openly gaped at her. She was seated on the tree stump where he had looked for her once before, her feet not quite touching the ground and a pink fairy light circling her head.
Link felt an explosion of warmth in his chest and he covered the modest distance between himself and the green-haired Kokiri to scoop her into his arms for a long awaited embrace.
"Hello to you too, Link." She put her little arms around his neck and gave him a motherly kiss on the cheek. "I've missed you these seven long years."
"As I have missed you." Link kissed her on the nose, inciting a giggle, and then gently placed her back onto the tree base. "Goddesses, have I ever missed you."
Saria sighed, her sweet grin wilting as she considered him, taking in the changes with approval in her face. "You have grown…"
"You haven't." he touched one pointed ear lovingly. "Looks like I'll have to be the protector now."
She shook her head, eyes crinkling in the corners with unvoiced laughter. "You should know very well that size doesn't matter." She gripped the finger he had tapped her ear with, her entire fist not able to encompass it.
"Link, you know why I'm here, don't you?" Saria asked after a moment's quiet, releasing her hold on him to stare seriously into his face.
He almost laughed, then choked when he realized that the fact this was her favorite place in the forest wasn't the answer. "You're… the Forest Sage."
"Yes." She smiled sadly up at him. "I must go to the Sacred Realm to speak with Rauru to help in Hyrule's effort to destroy Ganondorf. I shall not return."
Link knew, somewhere in his mind, that this would happen. The instant that Chronos had said the Sage of Forest was female, he had guessed it. But the fact that he had been able to deny it before had been comforting, now his childhood friend was telling him to his face that the truth could no long be stalled. He couldn't fool himself any longer.
"I am sorry, Link." Saria stood on the tree trunk and reached upward, just barely able to touch his cheek in condolence. "But I must do this, for the good of all who dwell in Hyrule and for you. Without the Sage of Forest, your journey will be for nothing."
She let her hand remain there for several seconds before withdrawing it. She turned to the rest of his party. "Please take care of him for me." She pleaded in her sing-song voice. "If you have come with him thus far, you know that he is in need of aid in this quest and you all look like fine companions. So please…"
Everyone, including Haruko, nodded their assent. Saria thanked them with her eyes, as was her way, then turned back to Link. "I will miss you, my soul friend. Know that all you need to speak to me is the ocarina I once gave you and this."
She reached into the small bag at her side and handed a small, circular object to him, bound by a chain that she looped over his neck when he knelt down beside her. "This is the Forest Medallion, it will connect me to you so that I can see what you see and talk to you if required."
"Thank you, Saria." Link held the tiny green disk between his thumb and index finger to examine it. "I will treasure it."
She kissed him once more, on his other cheek, and then timidly placed one on his mouth. Her lips were soft as rose petals and she smelled like sunshine and greenery. She was gone before he had a chance to respond, her goodbye echoing in his ears like the call of a faraway summer wind.
Link looked at the place she had been seated, a sense of bereavement welling up deep within him. He sighed, rubbing the medallion again as if to remind himself that all was not lost. Link could feel the presence of his companions behind him, all of them inspecting the ground inquiringly to give him privacy and smiled. He had lost an old friend, but had gained so many new ones in the process. He could do nothing for a past he had not even witnessed, but he could do much for the present.
"We should go back to Kakariko to see if there's any news and restock the void with objects we used." He said; meeting their eyes as they decided it was safe to pay attention again.
"That sounds like a plan." Rayne concurred, scooping up Chronos before he could disagree and taking Haruko by the hand. "Empress… I mean, Impa, should be expecting us."
"What's an Impa?" Haruko asked curiously, tugging on Rayne's hand. "Is it a type of flower?"
Link laughed, wondering what the Sheikah would think of being confused with plants that yielded petals. He offered his hat to Navi so that she could rest while they traveled. He watched Haruko, swinging on a giggling Rayne's hand then turned to steal one last, lingering glance at the tree stump he had seen so many times before. Link, Hero of Time and Link the Boy without a Fairy, bowed his head in acknowledgement of a triumphant defeat, then took out the Ocarina of Time and called for Epona.
……………………………………………………………………………………..
Author's Notes: Whew, finally finished it. I'm sorry for the delay everyone, but you can all breathe a sigh of relief now, the Forest Temple is complete.
… And the Fire Temple hasn't even begun yet, ugh.
I love my reviewers:
To Casavenna: Thanks for stopping by to review; it's always nice to hear from someone who appreciates my writing. I'm sorry that this chapter is late too (I have a terrible habit of procrastinating) but I hope you like it just as well.
To Steve-Racer: Thank you for reviewing and offering to lend an ear. I was very bitter about the whole subject for some time, mainly because of the circumstances surrounding his death. I don't think I'll ever get over it, but my psyche has had time to heal through family and writing.
To GuruGuru214: Aww, I'm glad that you liked it. I'm sorry if I took your well ordered world and twisted it about like a dreidel, I hadn't realized that Dreamers was addicting.
Rayne and Haruko are still getting along, and are rapidly progressing from their first meeting (Rayne is no longer a 'Mori-baba') which is only to be expected considering how adorable Haruko is. If she wants someone to be fond of her, they'll damned well do so and like it.
To dark dragon 00: I apologize for the tardiness of this chapter, I'm sure this isn't what you anticipated when you asked for me to update soon. Hopefully you'll come back to read more of Dreamers.
To Elannah: Heather, if you were trying to fool me into thinking that you were a completely different person, you failed miserably. First of all, Elannah is off of the list of names I commonly use and secondly, all I had to do was click on your name and read your bio. It's kind of obvious when you put your real name and that I'm your sister right in there. Silly little chit.
To Dakyu: Chronos appreciates your praise (he always complains that he never gets any fan-mail) and I value your comments. I hope people are still actually bothering to read this story when I don't update for five months…
To The Pilot: I'm so sorry to hear about your grandfather's passing, and, like I offered in my e-mail, I would be happy to listen to you if ever there is something you need to speak about but no one to talk to. Thank you once again for editing this chapter; I never seem to catch all of the errors myself. I hope Phantom of the Desert Lord was enjoyable enough to hold your attention. Chapter 23 was being written on the side and is already around eight pages long, so you can expect it sometime soon.
To Bexi: Thank you, thank you, and thank you! I'm sorry that the first few chapters are crap (I've been writing this for quite some time you understand; chapters one through ten were written at the end of my eighth grade year) but I plan on revising some time in the near future so look forward to it.
Extra goodies (for me anyway):
Alias : Hierophant
Real Name : Nicodemus
Origin of Name: English
Meaning of Name: Victory of the Masses
Pronounced: nih-kuh-DAY-miss
Race : Hylian
Runic Alignment : Rad
Eye color: Blue/Silver (He is blind from an attack that occurred long ago).
Hair color: White
Age: 68
Description: A master of magic, he seeks the latent powers that reside within each member of Arcana and teaches them how to use it to their advantage. He is stern and mistrustful of those he does not know. It is said that, in his youth, Nicodemus slew a dragon for a maiden. The dragon, with its dying breath, gave him its most prized possession, its knowledge.
"The best and safest thing is to keep balance in your life, acknowledge the great powers around us and in us. If you can do that, and live that way, then you really are a wise man." – Euripides
Alias: Strength
Real Name: Alastria (Ria)
Origin of Name: Erisian.
Meaning of Name: averter/warder off of men
Pronounced: uh-LǼ-stree-uh
Race: Sheikah/Hylian
Runic Alignment: Wyn
Eye color: Light blue
Hair color: Brown (often braided)
Age: 33
Description: Teaches the group members the art of fighting and discovers what weapons best suit them. She was beaten by her husband for all the years they were married until she finally slew him one night; because of this she is naturally distrustful of all males, especially Link. She is cold, calculating and notorious for having a dry sense of humor. She wields a broadsword and knows little magic. She idolizes Impa, who is a distant relative of hers.
"Courage is the art of being the only one who knows you're scared to death." – Harold Wilson
