30th (Wow!) Entry: A Voice in the Desert
January 26th, the 7th year in the reign of King Ganondorf I
Dear Diary,
Well, where to begin?
After I wrote last, I went back to sleep. And had a very strange dream.
I couldn't see anything, only darkness. But I could hear, distinctly. First the wind, howling, stronger than I had ever heard it in my life. But in the midst of it all I could hear...voices? Two voices, so familiar, a male and a female. The female sounded almost...frightened, as if she was lost. The male sounded frightened as well, but strong at the same time, attempting to appear courageous in the midst of whatever trouble the two were in. But they were lost, of that I was certain.
That's when I woke up. I sat up quickly, wide awake.
"What was that?" I thought to myself. I sat in my bed for sometime afterwards, attempting to contemplate what the dream had meant. It was far to real to be only a dream, the voices still rang in my ears as if I had just heard them two seconds ago. Outside my bedroom window, the moon shone brightly, reflecting off the cold metal of the desert gate.
"It's open?" I thought to myself, surprised that the guards had not closed the passage after Kira had left. Then it struck me. The female voice, it had been Kira. I was sure of it. Throwing back my bedcovers, I started to stand, but sat back down as I remembered Kira's words earlier this evening. What use could I be to her...and whoever else was with her? Unbidden, the Deku Tree's words came to my mind.
"This is all I have to say. Do what you know is right. Do not let others' opinions decide for you."
At the time, that statement had sounded so cheesy...but now...
-
As I walked toward the desert gate, I found myself shaking my head, wondering what in the world I was doing. Somehow, I had convinced myself to go. Dressed in my Gerudo uniform, with about a month's supply of food in my bag, I made my way silently past the gate and into the first part of the wasteland.
Eerily calm, the path through the desert was easily distinguishable, marked by poles with red banners tied to the tops. Kira had told me that these poles were set up by the ancients, who, as legend goes, had no problem traversing across the desert sands. The moon lit the path, every particle of sand reflecting it's bright light. The terrain was fairly, well, boring, but after ten minutes of walking I still found myself intrigued by my surroundings.
"You there! Girl!" I spun around, frightened by the voice behind me. A small bridge led off to a man who seemed to be sitting on what looked suspiciously like a flying carpet. He was small, with a large beard and an even larger hat sitting atop his head. You couldn't even see his eyes.
"Come, come! See, I have a good gift for you!" He said, excited by the sight of a customer. I sighed, rolling my eyes at this little man's persistance.
"Uh...maybe on my way back?" I said, sympathetically. The man gave a huff, and turned his back to me. Shaking my head in laughter, I turned once again to the road ahead of me. Indeed, I would have to come back at some point, now that I've given the man my word, correct?
"How amusing..." I thought to myself. As I continued on the path, one thought kept tugging at my mind. Why would anyone, especially a Gerudo, would be frightened of coming here? I mean, I understood why they wouldn't want to come normally, I had seen the winds blow the sand about in sheets during the day, but during this calm...I think my dad could even make it through.
As I came to the top of a hill, I could make out a stone structure not one hundred yards away-the halfway shelter. Thrilled, I ran the rest of the way and made it to the structure in no time. The building was round, a stone path leading to the roof and a ladder leading down to what appeared to be the shelter. Curious, I walked up the stone path to the top of the shelter. A stone tablet lay at the top, reading more of what Kira had previously told me-the guide will not appear unless you can see the truth. As I studied the tablet, I searched for any clues as to what it actually meant, but to no avail.
Giving a sigh of frustration, I started back down the stone path. Except...what was that? Beneath the sand underneath my feet, I could make out little...creatures...all going in the the same direction, away from the shelter. Something caught my attention...a groan? Turning around slowly, I was met with one of the most frightening sights my eyes had ever beheld. A cloud of sand, almost a wall, billowing towards the shelter. I grabbed my bag and started down the ladder leading to the shelter, just as the first wall hit. The entire building shook violently, causing me to lose my grip on the ladder I was holding and fall to the ground, unconscious.
-
It was that same dream again. The howling wind...and the voices. Except, as I slowly regained consciousness, I realized that I was actually hearing those voices.
"Kira..." I thought to myself as I pushed myself up from the cold stone floor. I touched my head, wincing in pain. My hair was matted in blood, but the actual wound seemed as if it had stopped bleeding...somewhat. My left wrist hurt terribly, as well.
"Wonderful Malon. Now look what you've gotter yourself into. What could you possibly do to help now?"
Still, those lost voices...Kira...
Making up my mind, I reached for my bag, pulling a wool blanket out of the bottom. I looked up towards the top of the ladder, thinking myself crazy for what I was about to do. Taking a deep breath, I stood up uneasily, and started up the ladder from which I just fell. My wrist protested the entire time, never in my life had I ever physically hurt that bad. Still, despite everything else, I reached the top.
Outside, the sand almost completely blocked out the light of the moon. Wrapping the blanket around my body to shield it from the sand, I felt my way up the stone path to the top of the shelter. Once on top, I listened. The voices seemed as if they were directly in front of me perhaps a little to my right. I took a deep breath.
"Kira! Can you hear me?" I yelled as loudly as possible.
For a second, I could hear neither voice. I tried again. "Can you hear me?" (Author: Can you hear me now? Good...)
"Yes!" I heard Kira yell, almost joyfully. "Is that you Malon?"
I really didn't want to answer that question. "Yeah..." I as loudly as possible.
"Are you at the shelter?" She yelled.
"Yeah!" I yelled ecstatic.
"Just keep yelling, all right?" She yelled.
"Okay, come on!"
At this time I heard the male voice. "Malon, if that's really you we're going to have to have a little talk of what I mean when I say stay safe."
I felt my face grow red. The other voice had been..."Link!"
-
Kira and Link and I made it back to the shelter with no (well, relatively no) problems. Needless to say, Link was not pleased when he saw my current um, physical condition.
"What could you have possibly been thinking?" He asked, worried.
"Ow! Watch it!" I yelled. As gently as possible, he rubbed some red goo (I recognized it from my stay in Goron City) on my head wound. Once satisfied, he started to work on my wrist, which caused even more protest on my part. Kira watched all of this, very amused by the interaction between the two of us.
I found out that Kira had actually reached the Colossus, just as Link was leaving. Appearently, the Desert Colossus was in fact the Spirit Temple, and, even more intriguing, Nabooru, the Gerudo's would be leader, is the Spirit Sage! Weird huh? Just as Link was finishing up on my wrist, I asked him a question that had been on my mind for quite some time.
"So what now?" I asked him. "You've gathered all six medallions...what comes next?"
Link gave a sigh. "I'll have to discuss that with you later."
That answer worried me. I could tell by his eyes that it was nothing he was really looking forward too.
Still, tomorrow is another day. Kira says the storm should clear up by dawn, so we'll stay the remainder of the night in the shelter. Personally, I'm looking forward to some well deserved sleep.
-Malon Astira
