Chapter 54: (Of) Ears and Extremes

Turmoil in Gylomecia Arc

Disclaimer: I don't own The Legend of Zelda; this is just a Fan fiction.

Featured Music: "Ranked Amongst the World's Best"The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass OST. Chapter Briefing.

"The Marshalling Yard (First Half)" – Resident Evil 2 (1998) OST. Scene 1 (First Half).

"Secret Hope" – Resident Evil 2 (2019) OST. Scene 2 (First Half).


With their fairly explosive entry into Gylomecia, Link and his close companions' journey has been wrought with constant fighting; either through the very purpose of their travelling, the Prima World Tour itself, or the shocking discovery of a sea-creature known only as the 'Kraken' in their quest to reach Gylomecia across the seas. When the heroes' course is altered thanks to the surprise encounter into what seems to be an uninhabited island, they soon find themselves on the 'Forgotten Haven'; said to be previously-uninhabited and yet now populated with the ranks of their new enemies… the 'Himitsu Shakai'.

A group of cloaked and mysterious sociopaths with an even more elusive mission; one that not even the knowledgeable Impa or even the likes of Scaverin himself can speculate at.

After finding a now-deceased young mother and her still-living child, the heroes take them back to their place of origin; Gylomecia itself and receive a much-appreciated gesture of goodwill and gratitude from the ruling council of the country. It is only when arriving at Warwick Landing however, that they soon learn that the Prima World Tour's destination in Gylomecia has been cancelled due to the influx of the civil war plaguing the country.

Two women sit at the main seats of it in recent events; lord Bryda of the northern Gylomecian front and lord Cyna of the southern Gylomecian front. Baltus of the acting-ruling council in Whiteblood Central, hopes to organise a peace-talk summit with the warring Bryda and Cyna in a near-vain attempt to end the civil war peacefully and reduce any following bloodshed still to come. With that hope, he and the rest of the council receive the assistance of Link and his companions; the heroes, under Impa's ever-wise advice, opt to divide their forces and send two groups of themselves after each lord.

One led by Alwyn to the north in Erynthios, and one led by herself to the south in Laodesia.

It is when they begin to make the long-awaited approach into Erynthios that the group are tested yet again; the ruling Bryda decides to listen to Baltus' request and the group that sends it to her, yet only if the heroes do something for her. When pressed, she requires that one of their group opt to fight for her, almost as if to display their martial arts prowess. Having been used to the Prima World Tour's rules in combat, Link finds himself a little at a loss but opts to stand in for his friends regardless, having easily had the most fiend-fighting experience than anyone in his group.

He somehow manages to prevail against the lumbering huge Hinox in Bryda's imprisonment and yet not before receiving a strange lesson from a newcomer he meets a mere few minutes prior; a man watching them from the outside of Bryda's garrison, skulking in the cold outside going by the name of 'Kaius Torquatus'. Seemingly a Gylomecian native, and one that Link can't help feel somewhat suspicious of, Kaius proves himself more than a match for the well-experienced Hero of Time and even begins to teach him a few lessons on combat and philosophy. These lessons, while oddly-donated, take root within the young Hylian and help in him easily dispatching the massive beast. With the Hinox defeated and the last remaining hinge of success hanging on the ever-dependable Impa, the group find themselves celebrating even if only for a short time, and yet Link can't help but find himself brood a little over his relatively short meeting with Kaius.

He felt a strange kinship with the elusive and mysterious Kaius, something when combined with the odd feeling of suspicion he gets from the man, just feels off to him.

Kaius claims to have done research into his group of friends through unknown means and to have followed their journeys through the Prima World Tour closely, complimenting their skills yet none more than Link himself. He hits the surprised Hylian with the knowledge that his more knowledgeable companions opt not to trust his word on more complicated matters, such as the politics of Gylomecia's civil war; something he reacts to defensively and yet something the wise Kaius chooses to let go of. He leaves the surprised Link with a simple Gylomecian proverb before leaving him.

"But in the end… trust is all that we have."

A seed of doubt is successfully planted into the former Hero of Time's consciousness…


Scene 1

"Lord Kaius… I owe you so much for saving me… and for punishing my enemies…,"

The listening black-haired martial artist, eyes shut and hovering himself in what seemed to be a meditative state, kept his form unchanged as if he hadn't noticed the curious Amalda speaking at all next to him. She stood ever in her own unsure frown, gripping a large leather-bound tome to her robed-suited chest.

"But I must ask you."

This time the hovering Kaius half-opened his left eye in response, turning it toward the blonde-haired woman next to him.

"Why are you focusing on that boy…?" She pressed him, piquing up a light-blonde eyebrow as she did, tilting her oddly-shaped ponytailed head at him as she did. "I'm sure there are better candidates than-"

"No, Amalda… there aren't."

The woman, surprised, cut herself off mid-sentence and closed her mouth in preparation for the resumed-shut-eyed man's next words.

"The one spoken of in the prophecy…"

She tilted her head again, curious. "Akuma?"

"Yes… 'Akuma'…," he answered before bringing his hanging arms to his crossed hovering legs, resting their palms on his raised knees as he turned his eyes in her direction on his left. "Our candidate of focus shares too many links and coincidences with the one of legend, I'm afraid," he began, turning his eyes forward and toward the beautiful expanse of his far-off garden. "The Shinzui, the holy triangle, the second demonic side… it's all directly related."

"Yes I… I suppose it is…" Amalda murmured out, lowering her eyes as if in disappointment. The listening Kaius, curious in his own way, shot up a small amused grin on his face as she did and cast his eyes back on her in his next sentence.

"Feeling jealous?" He shot over toward her, a half-amused quality to his baritone. "There is no need… he is merely a tool to me," the man explained this time, ever in his hardened-faced frown. "You have always been pivotal to me."

Amalda very subtly and carefully re-rose her icy-blue eyes to glance at his before fighting back the smile that threatened to eclipse her own frown, re-lowering her eyes as she listened to him intently.

"If I am too lax in recruiting our young friend, however…," Kaius began again, turning his frown into a more twisted, seemingly angry one. "Then he may grow strong enough to stop me…"

Genuinely surprised, Amalda's eyes widened as she listened on quietly.

"In the event of that happening… I may have no other choice than to destroy him…" Kaius finished in a hard-eyed hiss; eyes narrowed as he did.

"B-But he's just a boy… isn't he?"

"Ah but he isn't Amalda… is he?" Kaius spoke, cropping up a small knowledgeable grin as he did. "Our boy from Hyrule appears to have links to the legend of the Hero of Time… he may very well be this… 'Hero of Time'."

"Wasn't that just a myth?" Amalda countered curiously. "I remember the Himitsu speaking about it, but…"

"Not quite," he began again, his small grin carrying him on. "I understand why you would think that… given your imprisonment within their ranks, but… the Hero of Time most certainly existed."

Amalda rose up her cheeks in soft-faced curiosity. "How did you know…?"

"The 'Wheel of Fate', my friend," he chuckled this time, his grin growing a little as he did. "That's what they called it within the ranks of the Himitsu."

Amalda's frown creased a little, almost as if she recognised the words he spoke.

"To know the future, Amalda… to see its paths and streams tracing out into the infinite…," the black-haired man chuckled this time, eyes briefly shut in his light-faced smile. "It is the one thing I regret leaving behind when we left the Himitsu behind."

She nodded in agreement, unsure regardless.

"In any case… we wait for the upcoming summit peace talk as planned," Kaius began once more, re-casting his hardened forward. The sound of the beautiful garden's rushing water knocking pleasantly against the rocks beneath them echoed out around them as he re-opened his mouth. "Once Bryda and Cyna meet on Manshall Hill, I will make contact with our candidate a second time…"

"Do you think he will be receptive to your words…?" Amalda pressed curiously, eyebrow risen up again. The listening Kaius upturned his frown into a chuckling smirk.

"I'm sure he will find a way."


"There is no need for delay, please…"

The listening Link put on a fairly unimpressed-expressed frown on his face as he leant his body to the left on the impressive stonework wall next to him, his small cloaked and tunic arms folded. He stood inside a huge dark room, lit up with beautiful torches in sconces joined by his ever-dependable mentor Impa and his close companion Zelda.

Standing ahead of them all were the ruling body of the council of Gylomecia as well as the invited parties of the north and the south; the standoffish lord Bryda sauntered over to sit herself at the west side of the large table before her, joined by the two huge-bodied guards she took with her to Manshall Hill.

On the opposite end stood the green-armoured woman of the south, Cyna; behind her, she also carried two bodyguards, both well-equipped for the summit's cold.

Baltus, Freda and Eryll all sat at the top end of the long and wide table, perhaps hoping to act as neutral mediators to the peace-talk.

"Now…," the smiling Baltus began, taking his seat at the front and threading his fingers together on the table before him. "I trust that we have all come here in the hopes of-"

"No."

Baltus and the remaining council members all swung their heads to their right only to find the interruption, though softly spoken, rude in characterisation; the seated Bryda rose up her head to eye the council on her top left.

"You insult the north by allowing your representatives in here?" She pressed firmly, eyes narrowing at the would-be peace-maker. "I would think that if you trusted us both…"

"Please lord Bryda… you and lord Cyna both have your own bodyguards present, and for obvious reasons," the soft-faced Eryll began on Baltus' left, a saddened and tired frown adopted on her younger face. "We'd also appreciate the notion of being protected."

"That didn't take long…" The sighing Freda began, eyes shutting in her annoyed-faced frown, folding her slim arms at her seat on Baltus' right.

"I'd argue they have every right to be here," Cyna spoke up softly from Bryda's opposite end, a similarly soft yet firm-faced frown on her expression. "I can at least attest to lady Impa's forthright intentions in ending our ceaseless fighting."

"Please, my friends… are we all not Gylomecian at this table?" Baltus spoke up in favour of keeping the peace, turning his eyes from both sides. "If we have to negotiate the terms of the negotiation… we simply won't get anywhere. Now… can we proceed?"

As Baltus looked to-and-fro the frowning Bryda and Cyna, receiving similar nods from each, he re-opened his mouth at his seat between the pair of warlords.

"Lord Bryda… lord Cyna… this council is unprecedented in the history of Gylomecia… of Aurelia," he corrected himself with a light-faced frown, lowering his head as he briefly shut his eyes in the inflection of his small speech. "I ask that all here respect the holy spirit of the Sorcerer of the Divine Divide, and that you both do your level best in achieving a lasting peace for the people of Gylomecia…. now… who would like to open the negotiations?"

"I shall."

The group in the room, suddenly going quiet as Baltus finished his opener, swung their eyes and heads 'round to the sound of Bryda speaking up from her folded-armed front on the west side of the table. Even the watching Link tilted his blonde-haired head in her direction from far-off away toward the entrance of the great hall, his own small arms also folded.

"I won't waste anyone's time here…," she began with a light cough, eyes shut before re-opening them to continue speaking. "I want Lindum."

The listening two bodyguards standing behind the seated Cyna snorted and sharply drew breath in, almost as if to express not only their distaste, but the absurdity of such a sudden request.

"That's my price for agreeing to a truce." Bryda finished, doubling down on her hardened words.

Cyna smiled back at the older woman but kept on a firm look through her eye as she opened up her mouth to respond. "Lord Bryda… you can't seriously expect us to just give up Lindum like it was a trading card? And all for a potential truce that you may or may not break?"

"I'll ignore that attack on my character…," Bryda shot back, tilting up a side of her frown into a half-smirk. "Now do we have a deal… or not?"

"No," Cyna shook her dark-brown haired head in response, frowning back at the woman across the table. "I won't hand over Lindum at the negotiating table, just because your forces are insufficient in capturing it."

"'Insufficient'…?" The listening Bryda laughed lightly out, her small half-smirk soon elongating into a widened, open-mouthed one. She leant a little forward in her seat, blue-plated arms still folded as she did. "Let's put it this way, Cyna," she began again, lowering her smirk a little, if only to continue speaking. "The only reason Laodesia and Lindum are still standing… is because I haven't tried yet."

Her words, although a potential bluster and even bluff, were enough to put the listening two bodyguards behind Cyna into silent-eyed glares. Even the quietened council members remaining neutral in the centre remained respectfully silent as they listened intently.

"No… I ask for Lindum at the table because I'd rather avoid the unnecessary bloodshed…," Bryda added, this time in another superior-seeming smirk, leaning back in her chair as she did. "My forces are well in position to easily take your little city… Cyna." She finished, this time in a little chuckle to herself, satisfied and content in her response, leaning her short-black haired head against the seat she sat in.

"Come now lord Cyna… I'm sure lord Bryda hardly expects something for nothing…," the centre-seated Baltus began, casting a well-meaning smile in the green-armoured warlord's direction. "Surely there must be more you both can offer one another?"

"Lord Cyna… you can't seriously be expecting to just hand it over to her…?!"

The sound of barely-audible whispering at Cyna's side made most of the room turn in her direction. She kept her head lowered to her lower right; ear bent for her leaning bodyguard's words behind her.

"I'm trying my best to-"

"You can't even keep your men under control…," Bryda spoke up again, leaning back in her chair as she cast her folded-armed laughing smirk at the green-plated woman ahead. "And you expect to hold a respectable position in negotiating with us here?"

"I expect you to treat us with the same respect you do with your own countrymen lord Bryda," Cyna shot back, this time in a heightened volume to her mezzo-soprano, perhaps growing frustrated with her. "Not everything in this world can be taken at sword-point you know."

"Is that right…?" Bryda chuckled back in her contralto, tilting her black-haired head back at the woman. "Give us a couple of weeks."

Cyna's eyes narrowed suspiciously and firmly back at the woman before her. "And what does that mean?"

Bryda's small smirk elongated a little as she re-opened her mouth to respond. "It means your days are numbered."

The listening Link winced as he watched the proceedings take a nosedive fairly quickly, finally noticing the differences between the two sides. He looked up and over at his mentor and close companion respectively, almost as if to consider assisting in the situation himself.

"Impa-sensei…"

The frowning-faced Sheikah, also folded-armed, turned her blink down on the Hylian boy on her lower left as she rose up a silver-haired eyebrow in curiousness.

"What if we do somethin' for 'em both?" He pressed her with, drawing the attention of the frowning-faced Zelda on his front. "Appease 'em, y'know?"

Impa shook her head as she re-turned her head back to the negotiating table before her. "No," she answered quietly. "This is none of our affair. You'd only make things worse."

Link's eyebrows dropped down, like a dog being punished for its disobedience; when he felt Zelda's soft-fingered grip on his own he double-took in her direction, blinking, only to find her frowning and shaking her head softly at him again, her blonde-haired ponytail shaking with her.

"Enough!"

The sound of the angered Freda's own contralto shot out from between the two sides, at long last speaking up out of similar frustration.

"Are you all so blind to our danger in Whiteblood Central and the people that live there, that you both can't see past your petty little war?!" The elder woman called out angrily, her voice knocking powerfully and authoritatively against the walls of Manshall Hill's great hall. "Here you sit, arguing in great king's hall, while the fate of Gylomecians everywhere hangs in your hands!"

The listening Cyna, visibly ashamed, lowered her eyes from the elder woman, opting not to open her mouth in response.

Bryda however, far more confident, cast her a curious and near-unreadable frown, brow furrowed, and eyes lightly narrowed in her folded-armed seated state.

"I suppose the old bat's right…," Bryda retorted quietly, tilting her black-haired head at the elder as she did. "Even if her manners are lacking."

Watching afar from near the entrance to the great hall, the folded-armed Link pulled his small cloaked arms apart and, finding his presence there fairly useless, turned to leave. It was only when he felt a small hand gripping at his Kokiri tunic that he held back a gasp and swung his blonde-haired head back 'round to find the concerned frown on Zelda's face behind him, watching him cluelessly and unsurely. Impa, realising he had moved, rotated her own silver-haired head and folded-armed stance to cast the blonde boy a curious glance, eyebrow risen upward.

"Where do you think you're going?" His mentor pressed him firmly, brow furrowing down at him distrustfully.

Link put on an irritated frown across his young complexion as he re-rose his head and oceanic-eyed gaze to face hers, opening up his mouth to reply. "Just… send in Bark or Al or someone else," he began, shaking his head back at her. "I might as well go practice outside if there's nothin' here for me to do."

He never even gave the hurt-expressed Zelda a second look as he cruelly tore his tunic away from her tenuous grip, marching for the cold air outside as if for something fresh.


2

It didn't take long for his other companions to question him on why had left the meeting much earlier than initially planned; something Link felt he did not want to get too deep into. To ease his inner worries, even if they were small, Alwyn stepped up to the plate for him by substituting in for him as Impa's aide. When Barkner, Malon, Vassia and Veronika all pressed the former Kokiri on why he had left, he opted not to tell them, feeling somewhat disillusioned and disconnected from them somehow.

Following not just yesterday's odd exchange with Zelda, but the last he suffered mere minutes ago from her as well as Impa, he could not help but come back to the words that Kaius hit him with on the same day he met him.

"I have seen that you are not trusted with important decisions… I can't imagine why, with your experience."

He hated the idea that his friends were treating him as if he were a nuisance when it came to important matters, yet it seemed as though that was exactly very quickly becoming the case. Rather than talk to them directly about it Link chose to do what he often loved to do when confronted uncomfortable discoveries, and he retreated back into himself to sulk. As old as he had felt within himself, perhaps a side-effect of being sent back from his original childhood and adulthood by the Zelda of his time, it was one of the few childish traits he stayed oddly true to.

This time, however, he had no constant companion such as Navi or Tatl to fall back upon.

Now that Navi was officially missing and Tatl had gone back to Tael and Callio, he was essentially alone.

At least Veronika's put a stronger seal down on Kage, he thought to himself wisely.

In great spite to that fact, however, all it managed to do especially in times like these was only make him feel more alone.

Maybe this is what I need, he added to himself silently, standing outside Manshall Hill's large manse behind him, atop its roof.

"I see you're being left out in the cold… again."

Link's senses immediately tensed, and he went for the Gilded Sword and Mirror Shield hanging ever-faithfully on his back, oceanic eyes narrowed and glaring to his back-left. Hidden behind one of the roof's pillars, the frowning-faced Kaius stepped out, almost as if having been in wait for him somehow, an oddly-comforting look in his eye.

"You been waitin' here for me?" He pressed forward suspiciously; single eye narrowed back at the older man before him.

"Not quite," Kaius responded with, casting the blonde boy a light smirk as he folded his armoured and gloved hands together, the cold Gylomecian air blowing his long dark hair lightly as he stepped lightly toward the Hylian youth. "I hear the northern and southern forces are finally in peace-talks downstairs… so I thought I'd be… what's the expression…?"

Link's grip on his weapons and his stance lessened, relaxing lightly as he piqued up an eyebrow in curiosity.

"'Be a fly on the wall', perhaps?" Kaius finished in a half-amused chuckle, smile now dotting his complexion as he walked calmly next to the boy, casting his own hardened newly-gained frown out into the distance of northern Gylomecia. The wind blew both warriors' hair as they cast their eyes forward, frowning firmly. "This peace… will not last."

"Yeah?" Link batted back curiously, swinging up his eyes to his top-left in Kaius' direction. "What makes you such an expert?"

"Even a child could see it," the more-experienced man responded, his arms still folded. "Bryda is war-hungry and Cyna is simply too naïve to survive," he explained briefly, shaking his spiky black-haired head, the one long strand hanging down his forehead lightly hovering with his movement. "It's inevitable who will come out on top… and who will suffer for it, as a result."

Link remained silent for a small time, turning his eyes up in Kaius' direction, eyebrow risen as he did. "You been livin' here a while… huh?"

Kaius nodded; his own gaze fixated forward on the far-off beautiful snowy distance of northern Gylomecia. "Yes…," he answered, brow furrowing forward firmly as he did. "This civil war is the closest I've ever seen it come to any real danger… at least in my lifetime."

In great spite to the strange kinship he began to feel with this man, he still couldn't help but doubt something in the air, specifically with what he said.

What if he's lying to me, Link thought.

"Well then he's on the same ground the rest of my friends are then, ain't he."

"So… how are the negotiations going?"

He blinked out of his deep-seated thoughts and swung his frown up to meet the curious-eyed Kaius' before shaking his light-haired head back at him as if in disappointment.

"That bad…?" The armoured man murmured in response, sighing through his nose as he turned his folded-armed stare back to the front. "I suppose when the negotiations fall through… there's not much else to count on, is there."

"What… do you think's gonna happen?"

Kaius turned his head Link's way, a kind of curious-eyed frown of his own present on his expression before re-opening his mouth to retort. "Full scale war," he answered in a firm-eyed frown, rotating his black-haired head back to face the expanse before him. "If Bryda is anything to go by… she won't stand for Cyna's occupation of the south. And Cyna…," he began again in a half-smiling chuckle, shaking his spiky-haired head as he did. "She's far too naïve to even think of stopping her. It's a foregone conclusion."

Link lowered his blonde-haired head, perhaps in a mixture of discontent and regret.

"You hope to change this… don't you?"

The former Kokiri, surprised, could only swing his head back Kaius' way. Though he opened up his mouth to respond, the older man chuckled back well-meaningly, shaking his head as he did.

"I think it a noble pursuit…," he spoke in another little chortle, re-turning his head back to face the front as he did. "But in the end… sometimes naivety… must be forgone… lest it kill all of us."

The listening Link winced at the end of Kaius' sentence; although he still carried the childlike naivety of which he spoke, deep in his heart he knew the older man was right. It was something he had often relied on when the chips were down.

And it may be something he'd have to go back to during this chaotic exchange.

"I always thought things were peaceful… at least as far out as here, on this continent," Link at long last spoke back in response, drawing out a curious quick look from the listening Kaius; the black-haired man opted not to swivel his head, only his eyes as he stood atop the roof next to the Hylian boy. "After watchin' things go bad in my own home… and now this place…"

"War never changes," Kaius wisely responded with, re-rising his eyes forward, a hardened frown atop his exterior. "More will die needlessly for both Cyna and Bryda's causes… unless something is done to stop them."

The former Hero of Time, his own curiosity piqued, turned his head back up to the man on his left. "What are you suggestin'…?"

The frowning-faced Kaius looked thoughtful for a moment, almost as if deciding whether it was best to say to the boy or not, before finally speaking. "To break them both down… as they broke my Gylomecian brothers and sisters," he fired back, eyes narrowed firmly and near-hatefully. "And then to take their reigns of power from them and leave them as mere footnotes in history."

Link's brow furrowed suspiciously back at the man. "That ain't right," he responded with. "You'd be killin' more people and-"

"Now who's being naïve…?" Kaius interrupted the boy softly with, eyes narrowed rigidly back at the boy. "Do you think if the roles were reversed, they'd show me mercy? Or you and your companions?"

Although he opened up his mouth to fire back a heated response, he couldn't help but find truth in the man's words; indeed, all Link had to do was think back to the despotic rule of his former enemy in his original time to remember the greys in what he thought was a fairly simple black & white issue. He lowered his blonde-haired head and furrowed his own brow in deep-thought, looking desperately for some kind of answer that didn't leave him wordless in response.

But it was difficult.

Kaius stared back for a second or two before sighing a second time through his nose, re-raising them to the front before him.

"In the end…," he began again contemplatively. "Trust… is all that we have."

The repeat of his previous statement during their last meeting could only make the listening Link's frown twitch in response.

I want to prove this guy wrong, he thought.

"But I can't…"

"Ah yes…"

Link blinked out of his hardened-willed thoughts, swinging his frown up to the man next to him.

"In my time researching your climb through the Prima World Tour… I feel I must reveal to you," Kaius began again, casting the blonde boy with his own hardened frown. "I know of why you fail."

Link's eyebrows lifted up in half-surprise and he let out a light gasp as he did.

"Your connection to the Shinzui… that chaotic Aegir belonging to the holy triangle," the seemingly-knowledgeable martial artist broached, his eyes very briefly darting down to the boy's hanging left hand. "You must have some connection to it if you're able to tap into its power."

Link's oceanic eyes widened again in sheer shock.

It was bad enough that most of his enemies seemed to realise he was the Hero of Time from his original era but now this?

I suppose it's possible he worked that out himself though, he added silently.

"After all the Prima World Tour's a public event…"

He sighed through his own small nose and nodded, lowering his head.

"Y-Yeah…," he responded shakily. "Kage."

"Ka-what?"

"Ka-ge," Link chuckled back this time, turning his blonde-haired head back to the blinking man. "That's what it calls itself… whatever's in that Aegir that takes me over… Kage Narumono."

"'Kage Narumono'…," he repeated out in a light murmur, brow furrowing. "Ancient Hylian, isn't it?"

"I uh… I think so."

"'Shadow… of What Will Be'…," Kaius briefly translated with, folding his left muscled armoured arm under his raised right, resting his fingers under his mouth thoughtfully. "Yes… I see… this is most troubling…"

The listening Link, his curiosity and anxieties piqued, could only raise another eyebrow at the man. "W-What's troubling?"

"Think about it for a second," the armoured man shot back, eyes narrowing. "Any time you've fought, near to your death, this 'Kage' has been awakened… and much more frequently than usual I would imagine."

He's right, how did he know, the shocked Link thought.

That's pretty much what the Sorcerer of the Divine Divide said to me.

This guy knows a lot more than he's lettin' on.

"If I'm right in my hypothesis… the more you fight and rely on the Shinzui's strength… the further you walk into its legend…"

Link rose up both eyebrows as he listened intently.

"As 'Akuma'." He finished, a hardened glare to his baritone.

Almost word for word, Link surmised.

That's incredible.

"I-I'll be fine…," Link stammered back worriedly, tearing his eyes from his new seeming confidant's, casting his gaze out into the far-off Gylomecian distance. "Veronika put on a new seal to Kage's cage so… so he won't…"

"But he will… eventually…"

Link's frown twitched and his oceanic eyes lowered.

"And when he does…," Kaius began again, lowering his right arm to fold under his left. "'All of Aurelia and its capital of Hyrule will become awash in blood and darkness… for time eternal'." He finished, seemingly quoting a line from the royal Hylian bible; the Hylianis.

"What am I… what am I supposed to do…?!" The boy hissed out frustratedly, lowering his head and raising up his two small arms at his sides, clenching both fists in similar disheartened disappointment. "I started this whole thing to look for another answer… after Navi went missing now there's no answer to deal with the Shinzui!"

The listening eyebrow-risen Kaius, opting not to interrupt the boy with the new flow of information, stood idly by and allowed him to continue.

"Urgh… it's like I'm knockin' my head against a wall and all I'm gettin' is blood…" The boy finished his unwise remark, shaking his head as he did.

Kaius smiled at his attempt before at last opening up his mouth to respond. "I may have your answer."

Link held back from letting out a shocked gasp; he widened both cerulean-shaded eyes and darted them 'round to face the man next to him. "W-Wha-?"

"In my time travelling through Aurelia, Aegir-control has been my speciality," the man briefly explained in his folded-armed frown. "More specifically through your 'Yin-Yang' reserves of Aegir, I'm fairly confident I can expunge Kage's presence within you entirely."

Link's eyes widened even further, if that were possible.

Is he lying, he wondered silently.

He can't be, surely.

What would he stand to gain? I barely know the guy and he's not a factor in this civil war.

"Obviously, this would require absolute trust…," Kaius chuckled this time, lightly shrugging in a half-amused smile as he briefly shut his eyes. "In actual fact I would feel fairly uncomfortable doing such a thing for someone so young… and for someone I have only just met."

Every fibre in the Hylian boy's body made him want to near beg the man for assistance; a solution to a problem he had been dealing with since returning from his original era, and a problem that stood to cause mortal complications for his travelling companions.

Indeed, at any moment during a fateful fight he could easily turn on them due to influence from the Shinzui; a chilling fact that often weighed heavily on the boy's mind.

If this guy can stop this from happening, he began silently.

"Maybe it's worth it."

"Lord Kaius…"

The long-haired armoured man about-turned on his heel to cast his frown behind him, joined by the curiously-blinking Link. Standing by the roof's entryway was a blonde-haired woman, her light hair in a unique kind of ponytail unlike his own, wearing what seemed to be a fairly formal business-like robed suit. The watching Kaius nodded back at her before turning his head back down to face the blinking-eyed Link.

"Well… good luck with the negotiations…," he nodded back down at the boy, lowering his olive-gloved hand to shake with the frowning-faced Link's. "I genuinely hope that things turn out all right for you and your group… but only time will tell."

"Th-thanks…"

The former Kokiri was left staring after the newly-marching man on the end of the roof, all kinds of curious and conflicting thoughts racing through his head, frustration lacing on his tongue. The poor boy held himself back from calling out to the man in desperation.

He didn't see the slow-growing smirk of satisfaction on Kaius' face when the mysterious martial artist passed through the door with his assistant in tow.


It was only when Link managed to clock the smiling Zelda waving him down from inside of the great hall that he realised all of his companions were in the same place; in the meeting he once stood in guard with. When he jogged toward to catch up with them he was met with a half-amused little smirk on the folded-armed Barkner's face as he stood tall next to the firmly-frowning form of Impa on his left.

"Where the hell were you?" The Goron rudely greeted him with. "We were missin' ya!"

"Sightseein' I guess," Link shot back in a similarly amused grin. "Oh! No… I got good news. Really good new-"

"I don't want to hear it."

The boy, stopped mid-through his own tracks, could only blink back up at the contralto that spoke so authoritatively and firmly; the frowning form of Impa, ever towering high over him in her folded-armed stare.

"You abandoned your post, simply because you were bored," the Sheikah criticised harshly, her ruby-red eyes narrowing firmly down at the wincing boy as she did. "If you were any other soldier I'd have you punished severely… but we need all the manpower we can spare right about now."

Link kept the visible cringe upon his face as he rubbed the back of his green-hat head before re-raising his blonde-haired head to face her silver one. "I-It wasn't for nothin' Impa-sensei… I got somethin' to talk to ya about. Somethin' serious."

The Sheikah rose a silver-haired eyebrow down at him curiously.

"Whatever could it be mon amour?" The ever-smirking Vassia spoke as she sauntered toward, attempting to insert herself into the conversation by linking her arm under his. He yanked it out of her grip in a mixture of impatience and irritation, drawing a similarly annoyed glare from her in response. The rest of the group watched him curiously before swerving their heads Impa's way, almost as if to gauge her next reaction; his mentor opted to furrow her brow down at him curiously.

"All right… then tell me."

It didn't take awfully long to explain his recent encounter with Kaius out on the building's rooftop and the fairly interesting piece of information he was given; a troubling little detail that left even those of lesser knowledge suspicious and doubtful.

"I dunno pipsqueak," Barkner replied in a doubtful-faced frown, naming the boy with his affectionate nickname before shaking his rock-skinned head. "We got no idea if what this guy's tellin' us is even the truth," he claimed wisely. "I mean what if he's leadin' ya into a trap?"

"I agree," Veronika spoke up objectively on the Goron's right, small hands at her sides. "Even we know very little about the level of Aegir-control this man possesses, let alone his actual motives."

"He said he wants to help me…!" Link hissed back impatiently and desperately, clenching his small fists upside down at her as he did, as if to display his frustration. "It's gotta be worth a shot!"

"But… Veronika already put a seal on Kage Link," Zelda chimed in softly, tilting her ponytailed head at him, hands joined delicately at her front. "There's no need to-"

"Of course there's a need!"

His sudden interruption, so cutting and so fiercely fiery, managed to make the frowning Zelda flinch; when he realised what he'd done, Link's irritated frown soon take a more zig-zagged-like embarrassed turn to it, laced with regret.

"N-No, Zel, I didn't mean to-"

"What's this man's name again?"

His hastily-spoken apology and words, interrupted yet again and this time by the calmly-frowning Alwyn on his right, made him blink in the Zoran's direction.

"U-Um… K-Kaius I think he said…"

The former military man lowered his ocean-teal eyes in a curious stare, directing his glare at the ground below him as if in thought.

"I know that name…," he admitted, shaking his injured head-fin. "And yet I'm not sure where from…"

"How have I never seen this guy before?" Malon spoke up from the Zoran's left, a single fire-haired eyebrow risen upward as she scanned the various different looks from around the room. "And fairy boy's met him twice?"

"Guys…," Link began again, ignoring Malon's flippant comments and addressing them as a whole as he turned mid-speech to face each one. "This is great for me!" He hissed out again, small fists clenched a second time in half-excitement. "This is an answer…! It's what I've been lookin' for!"

Impa cast him a suspicious gaze, furrow-browed and all. "Explain."

He turned back to face his Sheikah mentor, frowning back at her as he re-opened his mouth. "Even if there's a seal on Kage and the Shinzui…," he began again, his own cerulean eyes narrowing knowingly. "It's gonna break," he claimed, his eyes briefly facing the surprised Veronika's. "And when it does… I ain't just gonna turn on you guys… I'm gonna go wreak havoc across the continent," he spoke wisely, an anxious tone lacing his tenor. "It's just… way too much…"

"It's okay…"

He near flinched when he felt Zelda step closer to him, taking his left hand into her own two fairly gently, leaving some of the more comically-inclined members of the group to put on amused smirks and smiles.

"There's nothing you can do that we can't stop you from…" She smiled at him, drawing out a half-surprised blink. He shook the embarrassed blush from his cheeks as he wandered his eyes from hers.

"I'm serious Zel," he answered this time, swinging back his head to re-face her, brow furrowing. Although she cast him a new sad-faced frown on her face, he chose not to break the tenuous grip she kept on him, instead strengthening the grip itself as if to drive his point forward. "The Sorcerer told me if I keep relying on Kage and the Shinzui… then I'll turn into…," he began again, lowering his eyes as if in thought to the words the mysterious god-like figure gave him. "'Akuma'… I think he said."

"Akuma's a fairy tale," Alwyn shot back fairly confidently. "It's a name from the Hylian bible; the Hylianis' chapter of 'Exodus'."

"'There is no mercy or compassion in the world when Akuma surfaces his silver-haired head. Embrace the chaos He brings, for in the end that is all. Endless chaos… for time without end'," Veronika spoke up from the side, quoting one of the very many verses of the Hylianis itself for the listening group. "It is just as Sir Alwyn says… it is a mere story."

"You can't seriously be worried about fairy tales?" Vassia giggled at him derisively. "The thought of you as an all-powerful démon is quite amusing." She finished in another little amused giggle, both gloved hands risen up to her small mouth. Link opted to ignore her, merely giving her an irritated glance before re-facing the group. Before he could even open up his mouth to address the clearly-disapproving Impa before him, however, she responded for him.

"The answer is 'no'," the Sheikah told him authoritatively. "It's just simply far too risky," she said wisely. "And besides, we have more important matters… this 'peace-talk' didn't go very far today."

Link blinked curiously. "H-How did it end?"

"Bryda's just announced she's going to bring it all to full scale war by tomorrow's first light," Alwyn responded for their Sheikah leader, his own slim blue arms folded as he did. "Cyna's agreed to help defend the capital but it's not looking good for the council or its people."

"So… we gotta help 'em then?" Link shot back, darting his head between. "Surely?"

Most of the group's members looked fairly unsure; exchanging shaking heads with one another. It was only Zelda and Malon that nodded with him, a smile and frown atop their exteriors as they did.

"Bryda's forces number in the hundreds of thousands," Impa responded wisely. "The capital's soldiers, even bolstered with Cyna's, are a paltry in comparison."

"But numbers ain't everythin'!" Link fired back impatiently. "There's gotta be a way to-"

"You are right," Alwyn interrupted him a second time before shaking his head again. "But they're certainly a large factor."

The former Kokiri lowered his head in light defeat, his frown twitching as he did.

"We'll decide what to do later tonight after convening with the council," Impa began again, turning to leave, joined soon by the rest of the group behind her. "I don't imagine it'll take that long."

"W-Wait, Impa-sensei, what if me and-"

"I said the answer is no," Impa interrupted the boy with, stopping mid-march to swing her glare 'round on the wincing Hylian behind her. "Now come on. You're going to need all the rest you can get for tomorrow, even if we are leaving these lands."

Link held back from cursing aloud, shutting his eyes firmly and frustratedly as he lowered his blonde-haired head and clenched his fists again.

"Link…"

He blinked out of his brooding to cast his surprised frown up at his ever-close companion next to him, finding her reaching for his left fingers again.

"I'll always help you," the Hylian princess smiled softly and gracefully. "Please don't worry about the Shinzui."

He turned his frown into more of a weaker type in response, a wan kind of expression that suited his leant form as he nodded back at her.

"Come on." She smiled on, pulling him with her by the hand. He held back from sighing in sheer frustration, his own weakened smile very slowly dropping back into the saddened frown he now wore so well around the group.

"Thanks… Zel."