Chapter 21
The group walked in silence back towards the upper levels of the house, too engrossed in keeping watch for any of the Anodyne creatures that might still be running around and the thoughts of the events that had just transpired.
They reached the stairs up to the ground level of the house without any incident. Link and Yunsung were the first to reach the ground level, and whilst Link waited patiently for the rest of the group to come up from the basement, Yunsung slipped off to look around the house.
Chris was the last to reach the upper level, having trudged along the passages, emotionally drained, if not physically. However, despite his sullen state, he was still the only person to notice the absence of the Korean warrior.
"Where's Yunsung?" Chris asked, glancing around the group to check that he hadn't just overlooked him.
Link looked around "Ah, crap. He must have wandered off to take a look around the house. Wesker never did answer him about whose house this is."
"I think that it may be Wesker's," Chris answered "Or at least it was his."
Link merely raised an eyebrow, but said nothing to the ex STARS member.
"I'll go look for him anyway," Chris stated "Just stay here and call if you see him outside or anything."
The brunet walked away from the group and glanced quickly into the kitchen. Seeing that Yunsung wasn't there, he glanced up and motioned for one of the group members to check the door opposite to the one that led to the basement.
Claire disappeared into the room for a second, then came out shaking her head.
Chris nodded and walked into the light coloured living room. It was extraordinarily tidy, something that didn't surprise Chris due to the fact that he suspected this to be Wesker's house. The blonde had always ordered things meticulously, and he expected it to carry on to his own home.
Seeing no sign of life, Chris continued up the stairs, glancing around when he reached the upper level of the house. There were four rooms leading off the room he was in, and Chris went through the rooms in order finding a bathroom, a spare room, a library/ games room and then finally a master bedroom.
The room itself was huge, stretching from the front of the house to the back and almost halfway across the upstairs landing that it was connected to. It was another lightly coloured room, the walls an off white colour but the floor was dark hardwood as it had been the landing. There were few decorations in the room.
A few shelves lined the walls with various knick knacks that had probably belonged to Wesker when he was younger, a painting by an apparently amateur artist above the headboard of the king sized bed that commandeered the attention of everyone in the room.
It was also where Yunsung was, sitting on the opposite side to where Chris was standing, his finger tracing patterns on the burgundy and silver satin sheets that covered the bed.
"Why are you up here?" Chris asked, startling the younger man.
The red head turned around and shrugged. "Got bored of waiting. I wanted to see what the rest of the house was like, and who it belonged to."
"And who do you think it belongs to?"
The red head shrugged again "Dunno. There doesn't seem to be anything personal in this house that could tell me who it belonged to."
Chris walked to the other side of the room and leant against the wall next to a closet door. "Can't think of anyone whose personality fits that description?"
He walked over to the nightstand that had a lamp on it, and pulled a drawer open, revealing a passport. He opened and showed it to Yunsung, who frowned.
"This is Wesker's house?"
"Well done." Chris snapped the passport shut and put it back in the drawer, frowning when he noticed a pile of papers near the back of the drawer. Grabbing the bundle he pulled it out, then sat in a black leather armchair that was next to the nightstand.
Gingerly, he untied the cords that were wrapped around the worn leather that was loosely holding the papers together and pulled open the front of the casing.
The piece of paper on top of the pile was a newspaper cutting…about Raccoon City's destruction, dated from eight years earlier, two days after the destruction of the city.
There were several other news clippings like this, either from the Raccoon city times about the STARS team or about the demise of Umbrella.
After the pile of newspaper cuttings, there were a few photographs. Some in black and white, some in colour. Each one held a person or people that Chris didn't recognize from sight, but merely their similarity to Wesker himself, or a guess, or a piece of scrawled writing on the back.
The first six or so were in black and white.
They were separate snapshots of someone standing on their own, apart from the first, which was of two people, a man and a woman.
Looking at the features of the people on the photo, Chris had to guess that they were Wesker's parents. The woman had darkish blonde hair from the tint of the grey of the photo, and dark eyes that seemed almost black in the shot. She was standing next to her husband, her head held high, her expression radiating open contempt, as if she couldn't stand being next to this man.
The man, presumably Wesker's father, had the same expression on his face. His colouring seemed to be exactly the same as the late Albert's, from the blue eyes and golden blonde hair and almost pure white skin. His face in general was nothing like his son's though. It appeared Wesker had inherited his father's colouring but his mothers features.
The rest of the black and white photos were all of people who seemed to be Wesker's siblings or cousins. The names of the people were written on the back of the photos as well as the years of their births: Charles 1940, Camilla 1941, George 1942, Elizabeth 1945 and Henry 1947. The remaining photos were in colour, four more of Wesker's siblings and the similarity between these seemingly younger people than the others to Wesker, was unmistakable, especially the last person.
Three of the other shots were of two women and a man: Evelyn 1951, Diana 1953 and Alexis 1955.
The last shot was slightly larger than the others, and looked more worn, as if Wesker had spent far more time looking at it. The name on the back was Alexandra, followed by 31st May 1960.
The woman in the photo was Wesker's twin sister.
There was only one other photo on Wesker's family, a picture of him and Alexandra sitting next to each other, looking up at their siblings that were born in the 1950s.
There didn't seem to be anything else on Wesker's family, for the rest of the photos were of Umbrella scientists, probably some of Wesker's former colleagues. There were also quite a few photos of who Chris assumed to be William Birkin.
The last piece of paper in the bundle was a hand written letter from Birkin.
Chris scanned the slanted spidery almost illegible writing, picking up a few pieces of information from the letter. When he came to a certain sentence his eyes widened and he hurried folded the paper up putting it and the other documents back into the leather casing quickly, blushing as he did so.
Yunsung watched the older man flushing and snorted at him in laughter.
"So what did it say?" Yunsung asked once Chris's colour had returned to normal.
Chris glared at him. "Doesn't matter. It was private and I shouldn't have read it, so I won't mention any of it to you."
Chris hurried to the door "The others are waiting…we need to get back to Hyrule."
The two men hurried downstairs and joined the others quickly, walking back to where the cars were parked quickly without being questioned. The expression Chris was wearing warned everyone it would be a bad idea to ask.
The group returned to Hyrule as quickly as possible, practically sprinting across the plains of Hyrule field in order to get to Kilik and cure the Triforce.
Upon returning to the castle, Link was confronted immediately by the King and Zelda.
"It's about time you got back. The Sages are having trouble controlling the evil from the Sacred Realm…" the King trailed off as he looked over the members of the group "Where's Wesker?"
Link scuffed the toe of his boot against the carpet and muttered "probably in hell by now,"
"He's dead?" asked Zelda, and Link nodded slowly.
"Kilik is going to help us rid the virus from the Triforce," Link stated, just as Kilik appeared from a side room.
Maxi, who was standing near the back of the group was about to rush forwards to confront Kilik, when the King announced; "We have set up a room for those who are not going to be a part of the…cleansing of the Triforce, so that you can recuperate after your trip. Kazta will show you there."
Maxi grudgingly followed the servant girl off to another room, glaring at Kilik until he was out of sight, slowly following Leon and the others to the room they were supposed to be going to.
"The portals to the Sacred Realm are in each of the Temples, including the temple of Time," Rauru informed "but they are too hard for you and Kilik to get to at the moment, and the temple of time will arouse suspicion if you are seen to be entering it." Rauru looked to the young men who were sitting in front of him.
"Therefore, each of us sages will return to the chamber of the Sages and will summon a portal in the observatory at the top of the castle. Zelda will be with you. As soon as we are sure you are in the realm, we will close the portal and it will be up to Zelda and the Triforce to get you out of there once you are finished with purifying the relic."
"What if we can't get back through?" Kilik asked, glancing at Link in a worried manner.
"The Triforce will lend you the power to get back through if you need it."
Kilik still didn't seem convinced, but he nodded in agreement nevertheless.
"When do we leave?" Link asked
"As soon as possible. You've probably noticed that most of us have gone to the Chamber of the Sages," Rauru gestured to the mainly empty chairs behind him. "I will leave now too, go up to the observatory as quickly as possible and wait up there."
The two young men nodded their agreement and Rauru backed up a few steps before disappearing in a flash of blinding yellow light.
Saria lingered behind a moment as Impa, too, disappeared in a flash of purple light. She trotted over to Link quietly, and when he knelt down to look into her face, she threw her arms around his neck. Straightening, Link held his best friend against him as she buried her face in his shoulder.
After a few minutes she pulled her head away and murmured something to him in Kokiri. He smiled at her gently as she backed off and then returned to the chamber of the Sages.
Kilik glanced at Link, trying to decipher what the expression on his was. When, after a few minutes he found he couldn't, he merely asked "Shall we go?"
"Are you ready for this?" Zelda asked, and Kilik inclined his head in answer. "Very well." She pulled the door open and stepped out into the quiet, plain hallway. She led the way up long plain corridors, then up winding spiral steps, glancing out of occasional windows for the position of the sun. It would usually take an hour to reach the open topped observatory if you took it at a comfortable pace, but they were rushing now. Not running, but trotting quickly so that their breathing was laboured enough to cause pain. When they came to a balcony halfway up the tower, Zelda ducked into it, panting, her hand resting on her rounded stomach as the other clutched the railing of the balcony.
The three people stayed in the alcoved balcony for a few minutes, until their breathing had settled back into something a little more comfortable, and then they were moving again.
It took a further 15 minutes to reach the observatory, and by then they were panting again, sweating lightly.
"So where's the portal?" Kilik asked between pants
The words were barely out of his mouth when a white circle of light arrived in the centre of the observatory, specks of blue floating in it. Link turned and smirked at the Chinaman slightly, before taking Zelda's hand and moving into the light, Kilik following close behind.
Link looked around once the blinding white light had diminished. They were right in the heart of the Sacred Realm, but it currently looked nothing like what was foretold in prophecy.
The prophecy stated that the sacred realm where the Triforce resided was basically perfect, so perfect in fact, that the sky shone gold instead of blue. Well it certainly wasn't gold or blue anymore. In fact it was almost completely black, a few purple streaks showing where cloud ended and sky began.
Link, Zelda and Kilik began moving towards the area where the Triforce was set. The once lush green grass under their feet having turned into scraggly green strands, sharp blades into melted swords. The island on which the Triforce was set, was in the middle of a lake, of which the water had turned a murky grey-brown colour, reeds around the edge wilted, and lilies that floated on the water black and shrivelled, some starting to sink into the water.
The only way across to the island was a small, rather unstable looking bridge that was made out of reeds. Presumably, when the realm was perfect, as it should have been, the reeds would have been strong enough to take the weight of almost anything. Now though, they were drifting apart in places.
"Do you think there's another way across?" Link asked, looking over at his wife. She shook her head "No, and I can't create one either. The realm suppresses my power while I'm here."
Kilik glanced at the reeds "We have to try though, and if there's no other way, we'll have to swim."
Link looked down at the murky water, not liking the prospect of swimming through it, but nodded anyway and moved to the bridge.
Along the sides of the bridge were thick, bamboo like canes, and Link gingerly put one foot on the canes, which were just wide enough for it. As he started to put his weight on it, it sank beneath his weight, tipping to one side.
Kilik immediately ran to the other side and put his foot on it, balancing out the weight.
"Zelda, you'll have to see if you can go up the middle. You might be light enough for it support you." Link informed, looking at her. She nodded and pulled off the high heeled shoes she was wearing. Putting them in one hand, she picked up her dress with the either, and hesitantly put one foot on the reed bridge. It held her weight, so very slowly, she moved her other foot onto it, sighing in relief when it held her weight.
Nodding, Link and Kilik moved forwards on either side, Zelda going up the middle.
Slowly, the trio made their way to the centre of the sacred realm.
When they finally reached solid land again, Zelda slipped on her shoes, and strode forward to the black triangle that was floating in the middle of a stone pedestal. She moved to the right of it and then closed her eyes, concentrating. After a minute or so, a very thin barrier of light came down and Link moved to the left side of the pedestal.
Kilik sat down on the floor, cross legged, and laid Kali-Yuga across his lap as Zelda and Link carefully lifted the Triforce from its resting place. Kneeling down, they set the dark triangle in front of Kilik and then stepped back as the monk gripped his staff and held it out in front of him, gently touching the triangle with its curved side. As he reached out and touched the Triforce, Kilik closed his eyes, and the second the staff made contact with the staff, the black from the Triforce rushed into the air in an oily stream before doubling back on itself, splitting in half and entering Kali – Yuga from both ends.
Link sighed in relief as the black stream that was being drawn into Kali – Yuga thinned out and eventually stopped. Kilik and the staff had been absorbing the essence of the virus for about an hour, and Link had become worried that perhaps there was simply too much of it to be absorbed.
When the stream had been ceased for a minute or two, Link walked over to Kilik and crouched by his side, watching his expression. The Chinaman still seemed to be in a trance like state. However, his eyes opened a minute later, and Link sighed in relief again that the older man seemed to be fine.
Kilik looked around the sacred realm in a sort of daze, his vision slightly bleary after being in the trance for so long. His body felt heavy, his mind still covered by an ever thinning fog, and he wanted to do nothing but curl into a ball and sleep off his weariness.
When his vision cleared, though, his main thought was that the weariness was worth it.
If anyone thought had thought that Hyrule's landscape was beautiful especially at sunrise and sunset, and there were those that had been deeply moved by it, then they would have broken into tears at the sight of the Sacred Realm.
The sky was a pure bright gold that reflected off a now liquid amber lake. The lake was surrounded on all sides by deep green hills that stretched far into the distance. The far shores of the lake were also green, but were blanketed by an expanse of bright flowers so thick that you could barely see the light green grass underneath. A few small streams pooled into the lake, pouring blue and white spouts into the gently rippling golden waters.
There was no sun in the sky, and therefore, no shadows, the whole scene tinted romantically by the golden sky, so there was only pure, vibrant colour everywhere you looked.
Kilik turned his attention back to Link and Zelda, who were lifting the Triforce back onto its white pedestal. As soon as it was in place they stepped back, and a rippling veil of protective light rose up around it again, the formerly ebony triangles returned to the colour of the sky here.
Link turned and smiled gently at Zelda, and then Kilik, wandering over to him leisurely and offering him a shoulder to lean on.
Kilik put his arm around Link's shoulders, allowing the young Hylian to support his tired body as they walked back over the reed bridge which had returned to its former strength.
Stepping into the re-appeared bright light with the two blondes beside him, Kilik smiled as the white light rose around their bodies, transporting them back to Hyrule.
He had done his job. He had saved the people of Hyrule. He had done it, and he had done it well.
Ok, bit of a corny ending, but I never was good at them. Anyway, just the epilogue to go, and then that's the end of another long saga.