Chapter 12 Ancient Demon

'Find the path.'

"What?"

'You are not safe here! Find the path! I will protect you from there!'

"Who are you?"

'No! Don't find the path mortal! It is a trap!'

'Just listen to me! Hear my voice, follow it. Go to the path!'

'Your time has not come! Stay our here where it is safe!'

Link looked around for the path. He did not know which voice was the correct one, but he knew that he had to save himself. The path would lead him down the corridor, and he knew he would get no where wandering around in the darkness. He believed the path would be safer. Link jumped out of the way as a knife sailed overhead. Then he ran for the path.

'No mortal! Its a trap!'

Link jumped onto the path, and suddenly felt a shroud of protection surround his body. A knife flew through the air, but dissolved on contact with the shroud. He could faintly make out a thin shield surrounding his figure.

'Good mortal, now listen to what I say. Walk forward. Follow the path. We will be attacked from both sides, but just keep walking, no matter what.'

"We?" Link asked.

'That's right Storm. You and I, Shade and Storm.'

"Shade? Why were you trying to kill me?"

'That wasn't me mortal, that was...'

'Don't listen to him storm! He is the imposter! I am the real Shade! Follow me, he's leading you into a trap! You must come with me! It was he who tried to kill you. I was the one who came at the end to save you!'

Link stopped. Which voice was right? He wished it wasn't so hard to differentiate between the voices. But he began to see that there was a slight difference in the way they sounded. But he could not tell which one was the true voice of shade.

With nothing else to do, he walked down the path. For he knew a path should lead him somewhere, while wandering in the darkness would get him nowhere.

'That's right. Just keep moving forward.'

Link ignored the other voice crying out for him to turn back. He stepped down the path, and then the darkness surrounded him. Link cried out, and slashed at it violently. The darkness retreated.

'Trust me Storm!'

Link struggled against the hold of the darkness.

'Hold forth your sword!'

Link drew his sword, and raised it above his head. The darkness began to withdraw. Link looked up in shock, and saw the golden Triforce of Wisdom glowing on his hand. The darkness drew away from it.

'Now walk forward. It won't touch you, not now.'

Link walked forward, following the path as the darkness flowed along beside him, not daring to get close to him, but almost afraid to leave him. Suddenly the room was filled with light. Link stood before a wall, which was covered in strange ancient writings. Curved lines, hawk eyes, criss crossing lines, and a spiral shaped sun. The writing appeared nearly impossible to decipher.

'Storm. I believe we have found the secret of the entire island.'

"How do I know that you are the real Shade," Link asked, "and not the Wind Fish in disguise."

'That darkness was the Wind Fish. It was driven away by the Triforce of Courage. If I were evil, wouldn't it have chased me away as well?'

"But your a nightmare," Link said. "I never figured out if I could trust you."

'In a dream world your mind creates everything. With a small thought in your sleep it can drive the dream into destruction, or into paradise. You know this. When told that I was the bad guy, and when you believed that I was a bad guy, then it was too late. I appeared to you that way. Remember it was only a dream.'

"It was more than just a dream," Link said. "Marin. She was more than just a dream."

'I don't understand it any more than you do Link. But we must try to. I have seen this language before. I saw it on several islands. As I tracked the Wind Fish I followed him to several different islands, and almost all of them were deserted, leaving behind only traces of a language, all similar to this one. As I traveled I learned to read these symbols. These ancient carvings tell a story...'

"What story?"

'Some of it is kind of hard to read. But it speaks of an ancient demon. A creature from the past. It would travel from island to island helping the people on the island learn to wright, and to develop more advanced technology. But there was a catch to this. The demon was not doing this to be friendly. He did it to gain the people's trust. Then, the people came to worship the demon. When this was complete the demon claimed the people as his own, and swallowed them into himself. And don't ask me what that means, because I don't know.'

"Can you make any other sense of it?" Link asked. "Is there anything else written there which may be of use?"

'Well, it also says that the demon had to drag people into itself through their minds. It couldn't do it directly.'

"Through their minds..." Link thought hard.

That statement sounded familiar almost. As if it referred to something which he had seen before. Then it hit him.

"Dreams..." he thought aloud. "Through there dreams. Now I understand!"

'What is it? I don't know what you speak of Storm.'

"Taken through their minds. The people of Koholint Island, I mean the Koholint Island in the dream world, they all were 'taken' by the Wind Fish. They were all destroyed. But this island is real, which means that the people were real. Don't you understand? The Wind Fish drew everyone of them into a dream version of this island, and there he consumed them."

'Of course! I knew that he was causing danger to human souls, but I never knew exactly what he was doing! So I entered the dream world to fight him, and he brought you in to defeat me!'

"Exactly," Link said. "Then he could have easily made you appear as a bad guy to me by making me believe that you were evil. And then making me fight you. Oh Shade, I'm sorry for all the things I said about you being evil."

'Its alright Storm. I understand where you were coming from.'

"But what of the people on that island that the Wind Fish swallowed into himself?" Link asked. "Are they... dead?"

His heart sank as he realized Marin's fate.

'I think so Mortal. But now we must make sure that the Wind Fish never again does this to anyone else!'

"Right," Link said, holding in his tears.

Suddenly a foreign voice entered his mind.

'You thought you could cast me completely away with the Triforce of Courage? Well you were wrong! You still continue to listen to the darkness! I am a god! Not some demon trying to destroy the world!'

"Wind Fish!" Link shouted, searching around the room for his presence.

'The great demon described in the story exists, but it isn't me. Shade is that demon! And he is trying to drag you through your mind into him! Does he not give you dreams? He is dragging you through your mind mortal! I can't believe you fell for it!'

"What?" Link said.

'Don't listen to him Storm. The Wind Fish is the demon. Not me.'

'I am not the demon. And you would do good not to listen to darkness anymore!'

Ha! I love how this is turning out. So whose the demon from the story? Shade, or the Wind Fish? That is the question that must be answered.