Chapter 15. Vidi

It was white. That was their first impression. White everywhere, as far as the eye could see. And it seemed, at first, that the eye could see for miles, but it proved to be illusion. At one point Zeld stopped walking and closed his eyes, to get a better feel for the place, and when he opened them Link was almost out of sight. So rather than pure white flat space for miles, the place was filled with a bright white fog that obscured everything more than a few yards away.

Link and Zeld decided to stick close to each other.

It was pretty clear where they were. No where else could possibly have felt like this.

The Sacred Realm.

It was pure magic, though that didn't seem like quite the right term. Magic was the stuff that you used to set thing on fire and teleport, and it came from within. This magic just was. It was the magic of growing things and animals. Of stones and the earth. Of the gods.

It was sacred.

And Vaaltos had been using it to hold people prisoner and torment innocents.

"You want to kill him or should I?" Link asked when Zeld explained all this to her.

"You can. I'd rather not."

"Pansy."

"You can't talk to me like that!"

"C-cups."

"Okay, you can talk to me like that. But please don't?"

"Sorry hun."

"Hun?" Zeld blushed.

Link smiled and took his arm. "Hun. Short for honey. You mind?"

"No, not a bit."

"Good," she smiled broader.

Zeld coughed nervously and smiled. "So, uh, what are we looking for again?"

"Two things: a way to take down Vaaltos, and a way out of here."

"Any ideas?"

"Not a one."

zzz

"You can all go back to your duties," Vaaltos said. "I will remain here. You should start mourning Denko now, if you feel so inclined."

The men exchanged glances, then turned and left without a word.

Once out in the hallway however, they all clumped together and started talking at once.

"Holy crap!"

"Did you see that!"

"He just- And then- And the- With the-"

"That bastard!"

"Are you talking about Lord Vaaltos or Denko, Tor?"

"Hell if I know. They're both bastards."

"Denko's just dumb. He didn't deserve...that."

"Holy. Crap."

"Are the blondes going to be okay?"

"Against Denko?"

"But he's all zappy now."

"He's Denko."

"He's a doorknob!"

"What does that even mean?"

"Beats me."

"He's zappy!"

"If he comes back alive that should be his new nickname."

"That or dumbass."

"Yeah."

"Hey guys," Tor said. "I'm heading upstairs."

"Oh, okay."

"You gonna be all right?"

"You know we're cool with you being gay right?"

"I know," Tor smiled. "See you all later."

"Bye."

"Don't punch any walls."

Tor walked at a measured pace until he reached the end of the hall, then melted into the shadows. He waited for a moment to appreciate the startled exclamations of his friends, then headed for the library.

Vaaltos had left it unlocked, but he often did. It was instant death to anyone who was caught inside it. Two people had actually tried in the past.

Vaaltos was not the type of man who would display the remains of those who displeased him before those who had yet to.

No, he was the type of man who would incinerate those who displeased him before those who had yet to, and then order the survivors to clean up the mess.

Tor couldn't help but pause just before he opened the door. This place had always been Forbidden, with a capital F, and it was hard to continue when every experience of the last five years of your life was screaming at you to stop.

But he clenched his jaw and turned the handle. It opened without the hint of a squeak, to reveal a room full of books.

Well, it was the library.

Oddly enough, most of the books on the walls looked untouched. There was a large desk toward the back of the room that was covered with books and papers that showed signs of use, but everything on the walls seemed to be there simply for decoration.

Tor went straight to the desk. Vaaltos, while never showing any inclination toward passing on his genetic material, was much too proud of his accomplishments to not want to save them for posterity. Somewhere on that desk was a complete record of what Vaaltos had done to create the black wind, and to move between worlds.

Somewhere on that desk was the way to get Tor home.

"Damn! Hasn't that bastard heard of a filing system?"

zzz

Denko was not smart, nor had he ever pretended to be. He also drank, which didn't help. What he had said to Tor had just sort of slipped out. He didn't mean anything by it, he had nothing but respect for Tor, but sometimes he said things like that. Stupid things.

And now he was hopping down a hole to goddess-knows-where, feeling like he'd just swallowed lightning.

Once inside the hole he, like Link and Zeld, was struck by the blank whiteness of the place. He felt the power as well, it would be hard not to feel it, but he didn't bother to wonder where he was. But the power...it was everywhere. And there were trails in it, places where it had been disturbed, like paths that people made by walking through tall grass.

Denko raised his head and sniffed the air, without even realizing he was doing it. There, the blondes had gone that way. He clapped his hands and rubbed them together.

And when he pulled them apart a bolt of lightning seared through the air, clearing the white fog for a distance and leaving an ugly black scorch mark where it hit the ground.

Denko grinned. "Kick-ass."

zzz

"You see anything?" Link asked.

"Nothing. You?" Zeld replied.

"Nothing."

"Do you think...maybe..."

"No."

"You don't even know what I was going to say!"

"You were going to suggest we split up."

Zeld froze mid-step. "Damn. How did you do that?"

"Ways. I have 'em."

"You are so scary sometimes."

"Love you too," she said sarcastically.

"I'm serious though."

"'Bout what?"

"Splitting up. You still got that piece of the Gossip Stone?"

"Yeah..."

"So we can contact each other through those if anything happens."

"I guess, but..."

"What?"

"You know what always happens in the stories."

"Oh yeah." Zeld scratched his head. "Well...this isn't a story."

"Not yet. But if we make it back...who knows?"

"You're just trying to be weird now aren't you?"

"Kinda, yeah." She smiled, then leaned over and pecked him on the cheek. "You go that way, I'll go this way, and we try to walk in a straight line, kay?"

"Okay," Zeld smiled back. They both turned and walked off.

Link figured she'd gone more than a hundred paces, with nothing to see but white, when something crackled out of the fog and burned a gouge in the white floor in front of her feet.

Link managed to resist the impulse to jump and squeak, then whirled around and looked at where the lightning had come from. There was a figure in the clearing fog, a man, of about average height, who looked vaguely familiar. Link couldn't place him, until she noticed the black pack he wore.

"Hey, you're that Denko guy! What are you doing here?"

He smiled, and Link was unpleasantly reminded of pictures she'd seen of underwater predators. "I was sent."

"Sent?" she repeated, inching her hand toward the Black Rose Blade.

"Sent to hunt you down..." he put his hands together and started rubbing quickly, "and destroy you!"

He pulled his hands apart and pointed them at Link, and an arc of electricity jumped from them. Link threw herself out of the way, but she could feel every hair on her body standing on end.

"Are you crazy!" she shouted at Denko. "I'm trying to save you from that bastard Vaaltos!"

"You can't," he was still smiling. "You can never save us. Vaaltos is too much for you."

"We've already robbed him of one of his most valuable servants, broken into his sacred space, and busted up his Stalfos. Not to mention that rock."

"What rock?"

"Exactly."

Denko shook his head, and the smile turned sad. "It doesn't matter. None of that matters. Vaaltos will win...and I want to be on the winning side."

He started rubbing his hands together again, and this time Link recognized the signs. She scrambled to her feet and ran for it, throwing away her sword.

Metal conducts electricity.

zzz

Zeld, wandering through the fog and starting to feel rather jumpy, suddenly noticed that his hair was standing on end. He had that extremely fine sort of blond hair that was affected by the slightest amount of static in the air, so he paid it no mind. Instead he squinted at what appeared to be a smudge on the fog.

A few steps more and the smudge was revealed to be an object.

A few more and it was revealed to be a person, seated on the ground.

A few more and it was revealed to be a man, in his early fifties probably, with bright orange hair and a complexion that a polite person would refer to as "olive." He had the look of a former athlete who had let himself go to seed. His nose, which was prominent, had been broken some time in the past, and though there were still visible muscles in his arms he was definately on the heavy side.

The man looked at Zeld with mild interest. "Hylian, right?" he said calmly.

"Um, yeah," Zeld said. "And you are...?"

"Mad," he said with a wry smile. "Or so I've been told."

"Uh...okay? Wh... What are you doing here?"

"I am a prisoner. I have been imprisoned."

"In the sacred realm?"

"They seemed to believe it was the only place that could hold me." He looked at Zeld thoughtfully. "You wouldn't happen to be related to the royal family by any chance?"

"Yes! How did you know?"

"The coronet's a bit of a giveaway. It's crooked you know."

"Erm, yeah," he fidgeted with it. "I haven't seen a mirror in a week."

"I haven't seen one in, oh, at least a hundred years."

Zeld blinked.

"Probably more."

"Oh..." Zeld coughed nervously. "That's...too bad."

"I can put up with it." He looked at Zeld, and there was an odd light in his eyes. "You're a prince?"

"Yes..."

The strange man stared hard at Zeld, suddenly looking very serious. Those strange mad eyes bored through him, and Zeld felt almost transfixed by them. Those were the eyes of a man who would look at Vaaltos as an insignificant ant, and he would be right.

Much to Zeld's relief, the man looked away. "No," he said to himself. "It would be too easy. I need...more than this."

"Um, sir?"

"Relax kid," the man seemed to have deflated somewhat, and now just looked tired. "Go on home. I doubt I'll see you again."

"Sir?"

Something crackled behind Zeld and he felt his hair defy gravity even further. He whirled around and was surprised to see the white fog parting and a figure in green charging through it.

"Zeld!" Link exclaimed.

"Disappointed to see me?" Zeld asked.

"Kinda. Duck!" She tackled him to the ground just as a bolt of what looked like lightning shot over their heads.

It struck the ground barely a foot from where the strange man sat. He didn't even twitch.

Link and Zeld scrambled to their feet and dusted each other off. "What was that?" Zeld asked.

"Remember that Denko guy?"

"From the other day?"

"Yeah. He can shoot lightning now."

"Well fu-"

Link yanked him away just as another bolt hit where he'd been standing.

They both started running.

"Where's your sword?" Zeld shouted.

"Threw it away," Link shouted back. "Didn't want to be a lightning rod."

"Smart, but now how do you fight back?"

"One step at a time baby."

"You need a weapon."

"Well what are we supposed to do, go back for it?"

"Why not?"

"Okay, but we split up."

"Right!"

Link curved away to the right and Zeld curved away to the left, and for a moment, just a moment, Denko was confused. But that moment was long enough.

They both managed to get behind him, dodging poorly-aimed lightning bolts and just barely keeping on their feet. The ground was even but it had been a trying week, they were stumbling.

"Who was that guy back there?" Link asked as they drew together.

"I don't know. He says he's a prisoner."

"Trapped? Should we try to help him?"

"No, I think he's a real prisoner. Imprisoned for a reason."

"Ooh, creepy."

"Yeah. What's that?" he pointed.

"The Blade!" Link ran on ahead and scooped it up, then turned and ran at Denko. He looked startled, but screeched to a halt and started rubbing his hands furiously.

"No deal!" Link shouted. She made a quick zigzag to throw off his aim, and raised her sword.

Denko yelped and dodged, and Link missed. Her sword caught on the makeshift bag on his back and it tore away, sending the mask it had held skidding across the flat white ground.

"Just give up!" Denko shouted.

"Make me!" she replied.

In retrospect, that was not the best thing she could have said.

Denko clapped his hands together and rubbed furiously, pulling them apart and aiming before Link had a chance to attack. She hit the deck and rolled out of the way of the blast, but it was dangerously close.

Zeld was wringing his hands unconsciously as he watched the fight. Link and Denko just kept attacking and dodging in turns, but it was clear they wouldn't be able to keep it up forever.

"Your girlfriend looks tired."

Zeld yelped and spun around. The strange man from before was standing behind him. "It's, um, been a long few days...for both of us."

"Saving the world?"

"Kinda."

The man cocked his head and looked at Zeld oddly. "You have no idea do you?"

"Sir?"

He shook his head. "Too easy. Far, far too easy." The man turned and walked off. Just before he disappeared into the fog Zeld heard him say, "You could help her you know."

Zeld looked down at the bow he still held in his hand.

He smacked himself in the forehead.

Meanwhile, Link was in a sticky situation. She didn't really want to hurt Denko, and she was pretty sure he didn't want to hurt her, but he was a lot more willing to do so than she was. If she hadn't met him before, talked and laughed with him, maybe things would be different. But she had, and they weren't.

This was bad.

Link rather badly flubbed an attack and Denko elbowed her sharply in the back. She collapsed to the ground with a cry of pain, and Denko started to bring his hands together...

Then an arrow struck him in the arm and he cried out. Link scrambled out of the way, just in time, because the arrow exploded into golden light, engulfing Denko and blinding Link and Zeld.

When the light was gone and the spots had faded from their eyes, our heroes made sure they were both all right, Zeld noting that his har was lying flat again, then headed straight to the spot where Denko had stood.

He was lying on the ground, very still. Linkkneeled over him for a moment, then sat back with a sigh.

"He's breathing."

Zeld sighed too. "Thank goodness. I didn't expect that to happen."

"What was that?" Link asked, climbing to her feet.

"A light arrow."

"Light arrow?"

"I think."

"You think?"

"Well what else could it have been?" Zeld took one of his remaining arrows out of the quiver and looked at it thoughtfully. "I know how to make them, in theory, but it takes a lot of power. Maybe...the sacred realm did it?"

"Made your arrow into a light arrow?"

"Why not?"

Link thought about that for a moment, then decided she didn't want to think about it. "You think those light arrows will work outside?"

"Of course."

"Okay then." She raised the Black Rose Blade and swung it experimentally. "That way," she pointed. "Let's get out of here."

Zeld swung the still-unconscious Denko over his shoulder and followed her obediently.

They were going to win. He could feel it.

zzz

Denko's mask lay abandoned on the blank white ground. He'd been coloring it, and it looked quite cheerful.

The strange man Zeld had spoken to walked up to the mask and stared down at it.

It looked like it would fit the face of a giant bird.

The man smiled.

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Notes From the Author

This chapter turned out a lot shorter than I thought it would. I'm sorry. I suck at fight scenes, and yet I keep writing adventure stories. What's wrong with me?

Just so you know, I averaged about a sentance a night when I was writing this. I don't have high hopes for the next chapter, but on the bright side there are only three left. Yes, I have an end in sight!

Minor note. I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I was thinking about it the other day. Tor is the sexy librarian type. Long silver hair, glasses, overall hotness. Rawr.

I'm so weird.

Oh yeah, and "Vidi" means "I saw."

And if you don't recognize the "strange man" I shall smack you.

I am so weird.