Cari: Yeah, just get to the story already!
The Legend of Zelda: The Orb of Bannon Ch. 10
Link felt small, very small, almost as small as a newborn. Warm, strong arms held him protectively. He could hear the beating of the person's heart, it was swift and their breathing was forced and nervous.
The room they were in was filled with quiet murmurings and muffled beeps of machinery. Noises echoed. The air smelt sterile.
Link felt himself rise with his holder. High-heels clacked to a stop in front of them.
"You here for Mr. And Mrs. Eslabón?" A woman asked.
"Y-yes," A strangely familiar male voice came from above Link, "How are they?"
The woman was quiet for a moment.
"Sir," She began, "They were in a very serious car crash. There were many broken bones and massive internal bleeding… I'm afraid there was nothing we could do. I'm sorry."
The man holding Link sank back down where he was sitting earlier. Link could feel him trembling.
"Was that their child?" The woman said, pity in her voice.
"… Yes…."
The quiet sound of lead on paper came from the woman's direction.
"What was your relation to Mr. and Mrs. Eslabón Mr.…?"
"O-Oscuro, Mr. Oscuro. I… I'm an old family friend… and the boy's godfather."
"I see," Something else was written, "Will you be taking the child into your custody?"
He said nothing.
"Sir?"
"Yes…" He said finally, "Yes, I will…."
"And what is the boy's name?"
Another pause.
"… Link…."
"Link."
"Liiink…."
"Link! Wake up!"
The boy threw off the bed covers and sat up straight in alarm to see Dark Link glaring at him from the end of the bed.
"You sleep like a goddamn rock you know that?" The shadow said, irritated, "Hurry up and get ready, we're going to the museum."
"Museum?"
"Yes. Now come on, everyone's ready except you!"
xxxxxxx
"Here we are!"
"Goddess, it's huge for an old building!"
"Of course it is, it is the Temple of Time after all."
"Temple… of Time?"
"Well… it used to be…."
Link and Adlez gazed up in awe at the stone terraces of the unbelievably ancient structure. It was surprisingly close to their old home, they wondered why they had never noticed it before. Compared to the skyscrapers around it the temple was quite small, but it still managed to loom over them. Dark Link opened the door.
"You going to stand there all day or can we get a move on?"
Nodding, they followed him inside. The temple had been remodeled to create several rooms. Glass display cases lined the walls and took up most of the floor room.
"What sort of museum is this?" Adlez asked, gazing at what seemed like an odd mix of artifacts.
"I believe one would most accurately call it a legend museum," Came a voice behind her.
The group turned to see Ranik step up to them, his dark trenchcoat unzipped all the way and billowing out behind him as he walked. He nodded his greetings to them and Dark Link smiled.
"Took my advice I see."
Ranik smirked slightly, "As best I could. Now would you mind telling me why I'm here?"
"In a bit…" Dark looked about him.
All around them artifacts shone as if they were brand new: a harp, a sword, a baton, an ocarina, a staff, a strange looking mask, and many others. Each had a name and a long description written on a plaque underneath them. Adlez ran a hand over the glass where the mask sat.
"Are these all real?" She asked.
"Of course not," Dark waved a hand as if it were a stupid question, "Most of these are replicas. Marinal keeps the real artifacts for herself, or the ones she knows the powers of at least," The shadow scratched his head, "Um… Ranik, you seem to know more about this place than I do… Do you know where they keep the artifacts that don't have specific legends bound to them?"
"I believe those are in back," Ranik replied.
As the group walked through the almost deserted halls of the museum Link looked up at Ranik.
"You're that guy, the one on the fountain."
"Yes."
"Why? Why are you here? Why did you give me these gloves?" Link pulled the item from his jeans pocket.
"I thought they might help. My family has sworn to protect you, I'm not planning to let them down."
"Too bad you already did," Mumbled Dark.
The tall man shot an icy glare at the shadow. They turned into an out of the way hall, way back in the back of the building. The items here only had a name under their cases.
"There you are," Dark Link said, walking up to a case in the middle of the room.
Inside the glass lay a melon-sized orb. Black, gray, and red marbled its surface. Underneath it the plaque read 'Orb of Bannon.'
"Bannon?" Adlez read.
"The co-creator of the orb," Dark said flatly, "Now stay where you are for a moment."
His body dissipated into a formless mass of shadow. It stretched out, filling the entire room with darkness. Something beeped and soon Dark was solid once more.
"The security's off now."
"Um, that's nice," Adlez stated, "But how are you going to ge–"
Dark Link's arm crashed into the glass, completely shattering it. Adlez had to cover her mouth so as not to scream. Large glass shards were imbedded in Dark's arm. He looked at it for a few seconds, then yanked one out. Shrugging, he let it clatter to the ground and his arm dissolved, causing the rest of the shards to fall.
"Oh my–" Adlez squeaked, "Are, are you okay!"
The shadow looked at her, his arm completely back to normal, "I'm fine. I don't feel normal pain."
"O-oh!"
"Dark," Saria cut in, "What's this all about? I've never heard of this orb."
"You wouldn't," Dark Link picked up the sphere and turned it upside-down. It looked as if a large chunk of it was missing, "Only two people did. It's another time traveling device, but with an almost infinite range and it doesn't need any portal anchors," He extended his hand to Ranik, "Give me the stone."
Ranik blinked.
"The stone Ranik, the black gem."
Realization dawning in his eyes, Ranik reached into his trenchcoat and brought out the pitch-black jewel. Dark Link snatched it from his grasp.
Saria eyed the shadow suspiciously, "And how do you know so much about it, Dark Link?"
He grinned at her as he snapped the jewel into the indentation on the orb. The colors began to swirl like smoke inside of it.
"Because, my dear Saria," The shadow said, "I helped make it."
Stares and silence answered this statement.
"You… You made this thing?" Saria asked.
"With the help of Bannon, yes. He was quite the skilled alchemist. I supplied the stone base, he made it work. Though we did have to leech some of my being to make it more powerful," Dark ran his hands over the smooth orb, "Ranik. You have to promise me something."
"What?" The tall man said.
"When I use this I want you to immediately enter, I can't have you hesitate."
"Why? What exactly are we going to do?"
"I can't tell you that. I've said too much already, Marinal will realize my plan soon. Just promise me."
"Fine," Ranik nodded, "I promise."
"Good."
Dark Link closed his eyes and held out the orb. The dark colors within it swirled faster and faster until they blended into one; it emanated a black glow. Suddenly the space where the display case sat was engulfed in darkness. The dark portal swirled with the same colors within the orb. Dark Link opened his eyes; they matched the orb as well.
"Go Ranik," The shadow's voice echoed.
But Ranik just stood there and stared at the dancing darkness before him. His face contorted with rage and he shrieked in a voice blended with that of Marinal's.
"YOU VILE SHADOW!"
Dark's eyes widened, "Push him in! Hurry!"
Link and Adlez rammed into Ranik as the vampire was about to lunge at Dark Link. With a yell, he vanished into the void. The shadow sighed in relief.
"Dark," Saria said sternly, "You knew Marinal could control him?"
"Yes…" confirmed Dark, "But it's fine now, their connection has been severed."
"Why are you having him go, is he that crucial to whatever you have planned?"
"No," He said quietly, "But he needs to learn the truth."
The sage was puzzled by this, but waved it away, "Proceed."
Dark nodded, "This portal will close once I pass through it with the orb. Adlez, you may come if you wish, but it may be dangerous."
"Coming?" She said, "Of course I'm coming! You can't pull something like this in front of me and expect me to sit and wait patiently for your return!"
With that she ran in, disappearing from sight. Dark Link smirked and turned to Saria.
Will you be coming too?"
Saria shook her head, "No, it will cause me too much heartache."
"All right. Be careful okay?" The shadow turned to Link, "Let's go."
The boy stepped up to the portal and looked at Dark, "Your eyes are really creepy like that you know."
Dark smirked, "That's just what Bannon said."
Link turned to Saria to say good-bye and froze. Standing behind the small girl, peeking out from around the corner of the hallway, was a familiar Zora.
"R-Ruto!" he gasped.
She stepped out into view.
"I-I'm sorry," The Zora stammered, "I saw you out on the street and I wanted to say 'hi' so I followed you but… but then—"
"What did you hear?" Commanded Dark Link.
Ruto flinched, "W-well…" She cleared her throat and stood up straight, trying to look as determined as possible, "Enough to make me want to help!"
Saria smiled, "I believe she's been here the entire time. Why don't you let her go?"
Dark grumbled a bit, "Do you know what you're getting yourself into?"
"Nope," Ruto said, "But I'll do my best to help you guys!"
The shadow tried to come up with some solid reason to deny her passage, but failed, "Fine… Let's just go already…" He sighed.
Ruto smiled widely and followed Link into the portal. Dark Link shook his head and turned to Saria.
"See you later," He said before disappearing along with the void.
"Good luck," She called after him, now alone in the quiet museum hall.
xxxxxxx
Outside the museum, Saria sat on the old stone steps.
"What should I do now?" She wondered to herself, "I guess… I'll just go back to the motel."
The sage stood up and brushed herself off. But as she was about to step down to the sidewalk a hand grasped her shoulder.
"Saria…."
The Kokiri whirled around and faced her addresser. Her face lit up as she saw who it was.
"Wow," She exclaimed, "That was fast!"
Opia: Me? Like dreams? How can you tell? -shifty eyes-
Cari: ... Baka...
Opia: ... -smacks Cari- Woot! Ten chapters in and we finally made it to the stupid orb! Yes!
Cari: 'Bout time.
Opia: Yeah, well... there's still a whole lot to the story left... and it's growing as we speak... Man I can't wait to write more!
Cari: Good to see you're motivated. Now on to reviewers...
Lobo-chan - Of course Dark Link's up to something! He wouldn't be Dark Link if he wasn't up to something!. :D
Demon Darkchild - Thanks, I try hard to write well.
EvilRobotZombieLoofaOverlord - Yay! I like making people's days! (great name by the way! XD)
Vladimir the Hamster - Yeah, I know... Maybe it's a pity
thing. Now, I think Ruto's quite pretty (personally, I think
adult Ruto is just beautiful) but she really needs an attitude
adjustment. But for this story I'm going to use the excuse that
she's a different Ruto, not the bratty little princess with a
superiority complex, and therefore a much cooler person. Oh, and
thanks for checking out this one!
Opia: Review please! I like hearing from people!