Chapter 16: Mark Marks

"So..." Okay. Three expected expressions from such an elongated explanation with intermissions of the largest dinner I had ever been served (which would surely make Murray jealous of me), and the third was way off. Sora was nervously moving his silverware through the fruit salad in front of him for the dessert course, mainly darting his eyes between Aaron and Link.

The alchemist, whose expression I guessed easily, was looking at us like we were the biggest thing that's ever happened in the universe. It's Link's face that I wasn't expecting. I thought he would hold that look that showed he didn't believe us. Instead, he just had that far off look, probably from the load of information we just said.

The princess was the calmest person at the table, nodding and asking simple questions in between to show that she was listening.

"And so, you believe that collecting the Chaos Emeralds will keep the villainous people you've encountered from using them for their evil purposes?" Her Highness questioned.

I responded with, "That's the plan. We don't know the overall goals of the villains, but I feel like it won't be much longer until we find out..."

"Given the circumstances that you've explained to us, it is understandable that you may feel that way," Her Highness agreed. "Then it is a good thing that we're already in possession of three of these Chaos Emeralds."

"Yeah, but there's still four more out there somewhere," Sora then added. "Who knows how long we have until the other four are found. Especially if the people we're going up against are the ones that find them first."

"Indeed, that would be most troubling for everyone involved that were to occur," Her Highness nodded in agreement.

"Next thing you know there's more of you other worldly people with itchy markings as well," Aaron joked. "But for a science person like myself, this whole thing with travelling space and time is incredible!"

Wait a second. That first part sounded like...

"Can you elaborate on 'itchy markings' for a moment please?" I asked. Link seemed to snap out of his stupor and unconsciously rub the back of his left hand.

"Well, according to Link, he got this symbol on his hand on the night of the meteor shower. One that overlapped with his birthmark."

I told Link and Aaron, "I have no idea what they mean, but Sora and I have marks on our hands as well. It's strange, but they could be important."

"You two have symbols on the backs of your hands as well?" Aaron asked, his eyes widen in surprise. The same could be said with Link and even the princess had a slight look of surprise on her face.

"If it's not too much trouble, may we see these symbols that you that you both have so that we may confirm your claims?" Her Highness asked, clearly intrigued by this sudden revelation.

Sora and I glanced over at each other and proceeded to share a nod. Given how Link apparently has a symbol of his own, it seemed only logical that we show them ours in return.

My glove came off with ease, showing the mysterious white symbol on the back of my right hand. Sora then did the same, where I could see that bright blue raindrop shaped emblem with a wave pattern inside.

"Link, they look a lot like yours," Aaron commented towards the blonde knight, both having equal surprise.

"The style definitely has a resemblance," the princess agreed. Link then decided to show his left hand, without the guard glove on it. It was triangular with rounded edges instead of corners and green with a vine moving across it. But there appeared to be another mark underneath it, ths one more yellowish and composed of four triangles. The bottom right triangle was the only one that was solid and not outlined like the others.

"I was born with the one beneath this green one," he clarified. "That night was the first time I had seen it after my hand felt like it was burning."

I told Link and Aaron, "The marks are definitely new. Mine definitely wasn't there before the situation with Sora..."

"The same can be applied with the emblem on Link's hand after the meteor shower that occurred days ago," Aaron explained.

"I think I remember the marking on my hand appearing when a meteor shower happened on my island too," Sora reveal, looking carefully at the marking on his own hand. "Or at least sometime after it, anyway."

"If that were the case, then there must be some kind of connection between these markings appear specifically when a certain meteor shower happened in our respective worlds," the princess theorized.

"But for all of our worlds to have a meteor shower, marks appear on our hands, and the Chaos Emeralds coming into our possessions, all at the same time?" I pointed out. "There's no way all of this is just some coincidence."

"I have to agree," Link spoke up. "There's one more thing I want to hear about. Do you have any idea as to why these marks are so important?"

"All we have so far is that these marks mean something," Sora answered. "Something about being keys to what they seem to be looking for."

I told everyone, "An old enemy of mine didn't even try and hurt me once he noticed the mark. I expected more of a fight from a bad guy who has history with my dad, honestly. There's so much we don't know..."

"That does sound quite peculiar," Aaron says, making note about my comment. "I assume that this enemy of yours happens to be one of these villains that are supposedly out to get their hands on the Chaos Emeralds."

"From what I could tell the last time I saw him, I wouldn't be surprised if he was," I confirmed before glancing down at the mark on my hand. "It's almost as if he knew what this marking on my hand was for some reason."

The Princess nodded silently as she listened to my words before noting, "Considering that this enemy of yours didn't bother to further harm you upon seeing that peculiar marking, it does raise the valid question on if he did have prior knowledge on what it meant."

"Perhaps, Princess, it has something to do with this informant they mentioned before," Link stated. "Whoever this person is, they must be the ones who had found such information."

"Maybe that tome Ansem gave us will give us more clues," Sora suggested, looking at me. He's right, that mysterious book that only we could read. It could be possible.

"You mentioned this book earlier in your explanation," Princess Zelda recalled. "Were you really to read it just after you saw the writing?"

"Yeah, it was strange," I replied. "One moment, it was this language I had never seen before. The next, it was written in a way I could understand."

"So it just became the language that you are most familiar in? Now that's what I would call a work of magical events," Aaron commented.

I said, "Agreed. Maybe it has some information that's useful, although the last time we read it, we read a VERY cryptic passage. No one could really figure it out then, but it is worth a shot now..."

"This does require some further looking into, yes," Her Highness agreed. "I assume that you're currently in possession of this book at this moment?"

"I think I left it in the bag I had with me before I changed into this suit," I said, trying to remember where it was Sora and I put that book Ansem gave us. I'm sure I put it away in my satchel before we got here... "My bag is currently in my room, I can go and retrieve it real quick to confirm if it's in there or not, if you'd like."

"Let's save it for after you've finished your food," she reminded with a grin. "I'd hate for your book to get ruined with smudges."

"That'd be wise," Aaron agreed.

I told the group, "The book is irreplaceable and one of the only clues we have, so I can wait a few minutes. Let me know when you're ready for me to go grab it."

"Of course," Her Highness said. "Please, help yourself to the rest of your meal."

Thankfully, the rest of the dinner went off without a hitch. And I've got to admit, the meal Sora and I had was definitely the highest quality of dishes I've had in a long time. Even more than the dishes back in Paris, dare I say it! So this is what it feels like to dine like royalty!

And the book was where I left it. I quickly skimmed through the book once to be sure I wasn't losing my mind over that language. But as I got past the middle, it was suddenly blank. Was the second half of this book written in invisible ink or did the author just get lazy and only filled half of this crazy tome?

My fingers ran over the face of the blank page, and I nearly jumped out of this nice suit when words appeared moments later.

Hello, Sly.

Oh all things cursed... Don't tell me this thing was harboring some kind of soul locked away and could talk through writing?

I've wanted to meet you for a long time. I missed my usual visit when you were a pup, and you're now a married, honorable adult. Your ancestors would be proud of you.

Okay, how did this thing know about my ancestors and that I was married?

Don't be alarmed, my boy. I know everything about the entire history of your clan. But here, I cannot tell you eveerything. Need to leave room for the others, lol

... It just did the "lol" acronym.

Next time you you look into the Thievious Raccoonous, look for a message from me.

I'm now officially freaked out. How was I also going to explain this to Sora, let alone the princess?

Hearing that someone I don't know about knows all about me...I'm a little bit scared. I'll just go with it. One clue leads to another, I guess.

Even though I was a little hesitant to bring this book back to the others, I eventually managed to muster up the courage to head back to the dining hall where the others were waiting.

"Ah, you're back, I see," the princess greeted me. "And I see you've brought the book in question, as requested."

"Hey, is something wrong, Sly?" Sora then asked with an eyebrow raised. "You look pretty tense right now."

I should've known I would've come off as tense given what I just read...

"New thing I learned: The book talks," I stated, cursing in my head that it sounded so shaken.

"The book talks," Link repeated, probably to be sure he heard me right.

"I just ran my hand over a blank page, and the next thing I know it was communicating with me through letters."

"Don't tell me it's cursed?" Aaron questioned, a little on edge.

"I can't say that for certain, but it's definitely strange. And after everything that's happened, strange is what we need if we're going to figure this mystery out..."

"And what exactly did the book say?" Sora asked, tilting his head out of intrigue. I could tell that the pricess had a similar interested look on her face.

"From what I read, it said that it pretty much knew my entire life, including my ancestry, and that I should be on the look out of a message from it in the Thievius Raccoonus."

"The Thievius Raccoonus," Her Highness repeated, lost in thought at the moment. "If I may ask, what exactly is this 'Thievis Raccoonus' that the book supposedly referred to? I assume that you have knowledge about it, given how that tome address you specifically."

"It's a family heirloom, dating back thousands of years. But its existance is only knowledge to my clan and those associated with it. No one else knew about it, or at least shouldn't know about it."

"And what, out of curiosity, is written in this family heirloom?" Aaron inquired.

"My ancestors' lessons and adventures from different eras, passed from one generation to the next. But again, I have no idea as how this book knew about it or my whole life. I never even mentioned it when we obtained this book."

"But this is a book in which it has the Chaos Emeralds described," Sora reminded. "You think, since they're connected to space and time somehow...?"

"I don't think the Chaose Emeralds have anything to do with how the book suddenly started writing words of its own," Aaron pointed out.

"It also said that it had 'to leave room for the others,'" I stated.

"Others?"

I told the group, "Your guess is as good as mine on that one... I do have a feeling we'll know who the others are eventually though."

"Might I propose a simple request to you?" Princess Zelda then spoke up. "If it is not too much trouble, would it be possible for us to read this book ourselves?"

"Uh, with all due respect, Your Highness, I'm not really sure how you reading it might help in this situation. I did say earlier that only Sora and myself could read it."

"That may be true, I admit. But perhaps with the assistance of a translation from the both of you, that should aid in us understanding what the contents in that book could mean as well as provide our own intepretations as to what clues may lie within it."

"Well, when you put it like that it sounds easier." I brought the book over to where the residents of this world could all see it, placing it on the table. Her Highness turned the cover, and there was a picture of a temple like structure like a hill with a gigantic jewel on the top.

"Oh, and so you're told beforehand, we haven't had much time to read most of it," Sora informed. "So whatever we find may be clues as well."

I told everyone, "After the last thing I read in that book, I'm expecting something cryptic... it's worth a shot."

"Very well," Her Highness said, looking up from the book to look at Sora and myself. "To begin, we should probably begin with that you did read as a review from what you do know from reading this tome. From there, we can then pick up from what you didn't look over."

"Sounds like a plan," I said, looking over at Sora who gave me a nod in response. Might as well inform them of what we learned the first time we checked that book out.

"The first thing we found out through this book is what the mark on my hand means, or what it's associated with. Dimension, union of time and space. Simple version is that this is a harmony that mustn't be disturbed or it will pretty much lead to ruin."

"I see..."

"The other is about the Chaos Emeralds," Sora said. "And we already told you about them."

"That's all you've learned?" Link questioned.

I told Link, "Pretty much. The info went way over our heads the first time we read this book. Even my tech expert friend Bentley couldn't figure out what we were being told..."

"Still, at least you have the knowledge on what the mark on your hand is supposed to represent," Aaron pointed out. "If you were to find information on your mark in this book, then perhaps the same can be said for the one on Sora's given how he is capable of reading it like you are?"

"I never really thought about that until now," Sora admitted, looking at the back of the hand his mark was on. "Maybe we can give it a shot and see if we can find anything related to what my mark means."

"And then we look into Link's," I added. Princess Zelda took a few pages in between her lithe fingers and scrolled through them carefully. A noise rose up in Link's throat, and his eyes had narrowed with suspicion.

"I thought you said it was written in an unknown language," he said.

"But it is, Link," the princess argued, stopping on a page depicting what looked like a snippet from an old history book. "I can't make heads or tails of what it says."

"I hate to disagree with you, Princess, but I'm looking at the Hylian language right now."

"So it translated for you too?" Sora gasped. "Just like us?"

"Not just him," Aaron threw out, looking at the descriptions. "I can read some of the words, at least."

"Really? But how?"

"Perhaps..." The princess was mulling over something in her mind, looking bewteen the four of us boys. "A conclusion I can think of is the strange markings on the three, and Aaron somehow fitting into this based on his resemblance to Link."

I told everyone, "And the connections just keep coming... I feel like all the elements of the mystery fit together somehow. How, I'm not sure. There has to be something bigger going on here."

"That does appear to be the case, yes," Aaron nodded. "It's a good thing that most of us are capable of reading what's in that book. With any luck, this should make locating vital clues on the current situation at hand much easier for us."

"Yeah, but there's one thing I'm kind of lost about," Sora then spoke up, his gazed fixed on Aaron. "How come you can only read some of the words while me, Sly and Link can read the whole thing?"

"Yes, that is quite peculiar, I must admit," Aaron said, pondering to himself as if he was trying to think of a logical answer to that question.

"Let's be sure one more time: You two had no idea the other existed until some time ago, am I right?" I wanted to confirm.

"Never met till recently," both the knight and alchemist replied.

"So you're sure you're not related? Bloodline? Parents?"

"Never knew them." Once again, at the exact same time.

"You see..." Aaron seemed to hesitated, looking nervous suddenly. "I... don't have any memories to look back on. And my resemblance to Link is a mystery in itself."

"Believe us, it was a surprise to meet Aaron for the first time, with him looking exactly like Link all except for the hair," the princess commented.

Sora told Zelda, "I can imagine. Trying to make sense of the spiderweb of people I'm connected to in one way or another is a complicated task, to say the least."

"Still, there's got to be a reason as to why Aaron is able to read some of the text in that book but not the whole thing," I said, thinking careful about a logical explanation for this revelation. "I wouldn't be surprised if it had something to do with the fact that he looks almost identical to Link."

"I suppose I can't deny that possibility," Link admits. "This might be a bit of a long shot, but perhaps there might be something in this book that may hold the answer to these numerous question we no doubt have at this very moment."

"The more information we can find about all of this, the better," Sora nodded in agreement.

"Then let's get to translating."

A frantic pounding on the door to the guest quarters causes our attention on the situation to be lost, and an older knight came charging in.

"This better be important," Princess Zelda said, standing up from her chair. "We are in the middle of a discussion."

"It's him, Your Highness! The Incarnation of Malice has returned!" the knight shouted, fear tremoring in his voice.

"The what?" Sora questioned.

"Monsters are crawling out of the grounds out on the plains and approaching!"

"Link!" Link already took action, springing from his seat and running out the door.

"Link, wait!" Aaron called out, following behind him.

"I hate to ask the two for this, but can you assist the knights one more time?" the princess asked, looking at me and Sora. "If it's those Heartless you've warned us about, you may be the only ones able to help Link and Aaron."

Sora responds with, "Sure. Anything to help our new friends. Plus, they don't know what the Heartless are truly capable of..."

There's... just one thing I want to know, though," I then spoke up with a slight hesitance. "What exactly is this 'Incarnation of Malice' that knight mentioned just now?"

"There's no time to explain," Her Highness said bluntly. "Right now, the people of Hyrule are in desperate need of our assistance. But trust me when I tell you this. You'll know who he is when you both see him."

"He"? "Him"? Well, at least we know that this "Incarnation" has to be a person if Her Highness used those pronouns. At least I hope the guy's an actual living person.

Without another word, all of us ran out of the room to the exit of the castle.

The location of the castle on the hill gave us a view of the situation. A blur of black and red was growing on the plains outside the city. The massive splotch of darkness sent chills through me.

"Those aren't Heartless... or robots..." Sora said, looking at the mass with worry. That couldn't mean anything good.

End Chapter