Chapter Fourteen
Illivartan

In my dreams, I see the light and the dark. In my dreams, I see the morning and the evening. In my dreams, I see the dawn and the dusk. I see the moment where shine of sun and shade of moon are one in beautiful harmony. In my dreams, I see twilight.

Rael was without form, in a place where there was no time, and no feeling of up or down, or sound or scent or taste or touch. He could see only radiant light in the eye of his mind. He had a desire to speak, but having no body, how would he? He surprised himself when as though by only his thought his own voice echoed in the distance. "Where am I?"

The reply was instantaneous. A strong male voice answered from a close place. "You are in the place between life and death. This is my world, my world of dreams."

Rael remembered dying. He remembered seeing Link's eyes full of sorrow and self-hatred as he killed him. Now he was here. He did not know how much time has passed, he could not feel time here, or at least he was aware of its absence somehow. "Who are you?" he thought into the emptiness.

The reply was once again swift. "Why do you ask a question to which you already know the answer? Is it fear of being wrong, or is it fear of being correct?"

Rael considered this, deciding what the voice was implying. "Illivartan," he said. His own voice still seemed to come from a distance.

"Yes," said the close voice. "If there are any other questions you have, now is the time."

He wondered over this for a few moments - a few timeless moments - and then asked the question he deemed to be more significant. "Am I dreaming?"

"In a way, yes."

"Am I dead?"

"In a way, yes."

"Explain."

"You are near to death. You are so near to death that if you had lived for one more second in the living world, you would have been far beyond my reach, but I have pulled your soul into my half-world to protect you. You are in the dream world not just partially, but completely."

"I do not understand."

"Your soul is here in its entirety, quite separate from your body. Usually, when you sleep, you only touch the dream world with your soul in a small way. Your body is near to dead and I have caught your soul here rather than letting it pass through to death."

"How?" he asked.

"You know you do not care how, Rael," said the Illivartan slowly, "You care only for the why. Ask again."

"Why have you brought me here?"

"I have told you, to protect you. Ask again."

"Why not simply tell me what you want me to know?"

"I do not know what you need to know. I am not all-knowing, Rael."

"Why do you need to protect me?"

"You are important."

"Why?"

"You are the morning star."

Rael fell silent. He understood that this was an opportunity to ask all that he did not understand about Link and Zelda and their prophecies and the Kairin war and how he was so pivotal to it. Firstly, one question he had to ask. "Will I live?"

The reply was immediate. "That depends."

"Upon what does my life depend?"

"Soon I will be the one to ask you a question. If you reply yes to that question, then you will live. If you reply no, then you will die."

"I want to know everything you can tell me," said Rael, "I want to know who you are. I want to know who I am. I want to know who Ralis is. I want to know who the Lord of Dusk is."

"Very well. I am the Illivartan. I am a guide appointed by the gods to guide you on your path."

"What is my path?"

"If you answer yes to my final question, you will continue to journey along a road which, will ultimately result in the salvation of the world, or its destruction. There is no certainty."

"How?" asked Rael, intently.

"To begin at the beginning, I must tell you a story. In the dawn of time, when the gods, Nayru, Din and Farore, created your world, they created it pure. And whilst the world itself was pure, they did not however make the hearts of mortals pure, rather preferring that they make a conscious choice to be righteous, such that they had something to strive for in their hearts. They gave mortals the choice to follow the light or the dark."

"That choice is what defines us," said Rael.

"Indeed," agreed the Illivartan. "Some souls follow the righteous life, and some an evil life. Yet most people live their lives somewhere in between. They will harbour good intentions yet carry the essence of darkness within them. Hate, anger, foul thoughts, these are of darkness. In this age, the nations of the world live in somewhere between light and dark, in twilight. It was not always so. In the early years, all men and women were good in heart and soul. Truly, time changes all.

"It is the scheme of the gods that as mortals descend from purity to evil, the souls of two beings will shine out. One being of light. One being of dark. The being of light will consume all the light of the world, and the being of dark the darkness. They will wage a war between divinity and evil. If the darkness is triumphant then darkness will reign forever. If the light is triumphant, then there would be peace and purity forever."

"That sounds rather like a child's story I once heard," said Rael.

"This is no child's story, Rael."

"Am I to understand that I am the being of light that you speak of?"

"Yes."

Rael tried to move his body, but found it was of no use. He had no body. He was still formless in a white void.

"And the being of dark…"

"Another question to which you already know the answer."

"If you know that I know what you would say, then you also know I will not accept it."

"Rael, I know that you do not want to accept it. However, I also know that you are aware you may have to accept it as truth. Ralis is, or will become the one called the Lord of Dusk."

"Who is the Lord of Dusk?"

"He will lead the armies of the Kairin across the ocean as you lead the armies of Hyrule against him. You will wage this war against him, and the two of you will end the war, and ultimately you may end the world.

"I regret to say, that this is all too familiar to me. I have known you before, and I have known Ralis. You and Ralis, as the gods' warriors of light and dark on earth are two beings that are subject to re-incarnation across the aeons of time. This world you know, this Hyrule, is but one of many."

"I do not understand."

"Where the paths of light and dark meet, the fate of the world is decided; either for its destruction or its salvation. If dark is victorious, the gods will create a new world from its beginning again, obliterating the previous as though it had never existed, to eliminate its vile taint, rather than letting evil triumph.

"I regret to say that I have seen many such Wars of Twilight, and I have served as the gods' servant many times, and in all this time the light has never triumphed over the dark. If light succeeds, the victory will be eternally complete, but it seems that evil shall forever triumph. It is called the Halisarin Cycle."

Rael thought through this, working out what this meant to him. "You are telling me that this entire world is just dust and shadows in a much larger conflict. And you are saying that if I tried to defeat the darkness, I would fail."

"Your chance of victory is small."

"Even so, what would I do?"

"You would fulfil the Halisarin Prophecy, and confront the darkness."

"You want me to destroy the Lord of Dusk. Kill Ralis."

"I have not said that."

"Do you deny it?"

"I do not deny it."

"I cannot kill my own brother."

"Would you sooner see the world consumed with darkness, with your brother as the King over the entire world?"

"I… I cannot make that choice. It should not be my choice."

"Yet it is. It is the choice. The choice that you must make. If I return you to your body, something will happen that will save you from death. However, when this event happens, you will change in mind and soul. You will become another man. You will rise from the shadow of your former life and become ra'Ael, the Father of the Sun. But if you turn now, Ralis will die as well."

"What?"

"Ralis is dying. He has attempted to kill himself. Now, you hold the balance of light and dark, and it rests upon a knife edge. If you choose to walk the path of the Father of the Sun, then Ralis will save himself, and his journey along the dark path of the Father of the Moon will begin. It is a matter of choice Rael."

"If I choose to die, I will also be killing Ralis," said Rael. "If I choose to live, I will have to wage war with Ralis and fight him until one of us dies."

"Yes," said the Illivartan.

"Either way, Ralis and I both lose," said Rael.

"Yes."

"Except… I do not believe Ralis would kill me. And I will not kill him."

"You are wrong."

"If I go back to the living world, I can save us both. Me and Ralis, together, we can end the Halisarin cycle. We can end it all. There will be no more death. We can achieve perfect balance."

"You are wrong."

"I am ready for your question," said Rael firmly.

The Illivartan was silent, and Rael could sense irritation, but eventually, resolution. "Rael, will you follow the path of the sun and fulfil the Halisarin prophecy?"

"Yes," replied Rael.

The Illivartan's voice rose in volume, like the roaring of the waves and crashing lightning, "Ra'Ael, I name thee to be Lord of Dawn!" The world of dreams began to crumble, and he felt his soul slipping out through gaps in the fabric of time.

"…I am coming to be with you in your world. The Illivartan will be made flesh."