So, a new chapter. I don't like this one very much, but it's okay. I also drew a picture for it, but it didn't show up in the Fanfic document. If you have any suggestions, put it in a review.
Chapter Seven
Magic Tapped
Link took a cautious step forward, and drew Slahinyr slowly from its sheath on his back. He felt no presence, but he knew something, not something evil, but something terrifying, and waited for him here for a long time. As if this thing knew his thoughts, large, ruby red eyes snapped open in the hole in the wall across the room from him. They were the size of Link's entire body. Soon after the eyes appeared, so did a small glowing circle between and above them. Link knew what it was instantly: the spirit gem of fire, the Goron's ruby.
"Are you prepared, one who thinkss to be a hhero?" a voice hissed from the direction of the eyes. Link gulped, but pushed down his fear. "I don't understand." The voice laughed. "Oh, you will undersstand ssoon enough, hhero-to be…" A high-pitched roar rose from that direction, and what was once eyes in the darkness was now a huge stone scorpion, rearing like a horse. It shot a huge stone claw out at Link, who ducked barely fast enough to keep his head on his shoulders. They closed together with an ear-shattering clack that erupted through the large room.
The claw then retracted, and the scorpion hissed. It was perfectly smooth aside from a few slats along its side, the Goron's Ruby in the center of its forehead, and a tiny hole at the end of its tail, from which orange liquid was oozing. This tail shot lightning-quick down at Link, who rolled to the side. The tail created a crater in the ground, and the stone around it seemed to turn orange in the shape of a web. Link was very careful to avoid this.
For a split second, the tail was stuck in the ground, but it was quickly yanked out. Both claws now lunged for Link, but he dropped on his back as they came and stuck Slahinyr into its right claw. It stuck an inch deep and Link was lifted off the ground by it. The scorpion hissed, the shook its claw until the sword came loose and Link fell on his feet from a few feet up. It reared again with the same high-pitched roar, and stuck its tail deeper into the ground than before. A larger web of poison was thrust outwards.
Link, without thinking of the consequences first, hopped onto the tail as it was pulled from the ground, and was lifted high above the scorpion's head. It looked around puzzlingly for a second, and its tail twitched a little. It quickly spun around in a circle and shot out a claw, which grasped nothing and was retracted. It looked puzzled again as Link slid down its tail, but it heard the noise and reared. Link could barely hold on, lying on his stomach with his arms around the stone. The tail came crashing down on top of the scorpion where it left a mark, but without any great damage. The poison spread, however, and moved towards Link. It burned through his tunic in one place, and began to dissolve skin. He quickly jumped up in a crouched position, clenching his teeth as the poison burned him. He raised Slahinyr high above his head and dug it deep into the scorpions back, again without causing any great damage.
The creature roared and shot out its tail three more times. Link could barely stand in between the lines of poison it produced. However, when the tail hit the third time, it stuck in the scorpions back and the tail pulled away. There was a great cracking noise, and the poison tip was separated from its tail. It then reared again, and Link was thrown off, with Slahinyr still in the scorpion's back. Link rolled to the ground, but a claw swept him up by his neck and lifted him close to the Scorpion's face. It gave a hissing laugh and said, without any mouth to move, "The stone is only for those that have proven to be a hero. You, child, will never be a hero." The grip tightened on Link's neck, and he felt himself blacking out.
His eyes closed, and the gloves on his hands shot out their claws. He dug them deep into the scorpion's pincer and pulled them out just as fast. The scorpion dropped him, shocked. He rolled when he reached the ground and stuck the claws on his glove into the slats on the Scorpion's side and climbed to the top. When he reached that point, he pulled Slahinyr from the Scorpion's back and crawled along the creature to its head, and thrust the sword as hard as he could into the Goron's Ruby. He knew it wouldn't break, but a red light shot out from it. The Scorpion screamed, and said, "Hero… take the stone… you have earned it…" It crashed down like an exploding building, and Link fell to the ground. Shadowy smoke seeped from every crevice in its stone form, then began to eat away at it. In less that a minute, there was nothing left but the Goron's Ruby.
The Fire Gem now hovered three feet off the ground, and where the Scorpion was a circle of light stood. Link put Slahinyr into its sheath. He then took the Ruby from the air and held it up to the light. It shined through and Link was in side it, like a spotlight. He then walked into the circle, and his feet were pulled off the ground. He was lifted slowly, making his way nearer to the ceiling without any of his own control. Barely before his head touched the stone of the ceiling, he vanished.
The next thing Link remembered was lying on the shore of Lake Hylia. The Ruby was in a pouch on his belt, and Epona was nudging him awake. He patted Epona on the head, saying, "Thanks, girl." He was still very weak and light-headed, but he climbed onto her and yelled, kicking her in the sides, and they rode away back in the direction of Hyrule Castle.
Link reached the castle within the hour at the speed of Epona's gallop, but the trip felt like days. He trusted Epona knew where to go; he couldn't hold his head up. He was careful not to fall asleep, however.
Epona trotted through the castle gates and to the doors. Link was robbed of any strength he had had, and collapsed, falling off Epona. Two guards at the doors saw this as it happened.
"Goddesses!"
"Is that the Hero?"
"No, it can't be! The Hero can use sorcery to replenish his energy."
"Still, he looks like him. We should bring him to the princess."
"But what if he's an assassin?"
"Assassins don't faint in front of castles."
The two carried him into the castle and dropped him in front of Zelda's door. One of the soldiers banged a gauntleted fist on it. "Requesting entrance!"
Inside, Zelda sighed. Guards. So… professional. "Come in!" She sat up on her bed as a guard shoved the door open and carried Link's collapsed shape through it.
"Goddesses!" Zelda whispered. One of the guards snickered and muttered, "That's what I said."
"Shut up!" the other guard whispered, then said, louder, "He was outside the castle. We thought you'd want to see him." Zelda put on a fake smile.
"Thank you. Return to your posts." They slammed the door back closed, and Zelda could hear their metal-clad feet clanging down the hallway. She approached Link's body. The rise and fall of his chest was barely visible. Zelda put a hand on his cheek and, finding it cold, gave a little moan and ran to a drawer at her bedside, from which she produced a small, glass bottle that was vase-like in shape, but it was filled with a blood-red liquid. She pulled the cork from the bottle and cautiously let a few red drops fall from the bottle to Link's closed lips. A little dropped down the left side of his face, and he stirred. His eyes fluttered open and looked into Zelda's. She jumped up and squealed, giddy.
"What? What's happening?" Link's first conscious words were slow and tired. He lifted himself up on his left hand, before it collapsed and he fell hard on his back. He took up shivering and rolled onto his side.
"Being alive is a good enough reason to be happy, is it not?"
"Well, I'm glad you're alive, Zelda," He whispered, and tried to cover is neck with his tunic, failing. Zelda pulled a blanket off her bed.
"No," he said, putting the blanket around him. He could not walk, and she could not carry him, so on he ground he stayed. "You're alive! Do you remember nothing?"
"Well…" Link tried to get up again, but fell down again. He reached into a pouch on his belt and pulled from it the Fire Ruby. "I remember this… and a scorpion… or something… I'll remember."
"Stay still, I'll be right back." Zelda began to run gingerly towards the door, but as she reached it, Link's voice froze her in her steps and she looked back at him. "Zelda… The monsters… They used the same magic Gannondorf does…"
Zelda's eyes widened. "The same magic? Are you sure?" Her eyes moved quickly around her feet, and then she looked back up at Link. "That's not possible… It can't be…" She ran through the door again, and this time Link successfully got up and followed her.
By the time he reached the room she was in (the Library), she was already drenched in old, yellowed scrolls and books that looked like if you touched them they would crumble. He put one hand on the door frame and rested his forehead on it.
She read through a scroll and tossed it back into the sea of them. "I had never seen their magic. I had heard of it, but never seen it." She flipped frantically through the pages of a book, then dropped it for another scroll Link said, half-talking, half-groaning tiredly, "Is he using Sages' magic?"
"How? He is not a Sage. There is no magic that has the exact same effects as ours. Unless… He's using ours…"
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The voice that came from behind Sheik was a chilling whisper, sending cold shivers down his spine. It laughed. "So many Sheikah have come here requesting the Relic of the Hero…" It laughed as thunder flashed. "You'd better be ready to die…" Sheik heard the scraping of metal as a sword was drawn behind him.
Sheik sensed what came. He rolled to the side as a beautiful, silver Greatsword came crashing down onto the stone, causing chips and layers of the bricks to explode wildly. Sheik quickly drew his katana and faced his enemy.
It wore a long, red, hooded cloak, with no face or legs to be seen. Blue rings of light hovered an inch above its wrists, covered in purple-black plate mail gauntlets with strange runes on them.
It also wore a large, diamond-shaped pendant, sky-blue in color, on a black chain around its neck.
Sheik gasped briskly, then flashed the colorful katana towards the Creature. It blocked as if its sword didn't weigh a pound. As the katana hit the Greatsword, the Creature stood stalk-still, where Sheik recoiled greatly. The Creature swung the sword a if to chop Sheik's ankles, but as it came she used the blade as a boost and flipped over the Creature. He was now facing the opposite direction of the Creature, and quickly spun and brought the katana up to hit Its back. The Creature brought the sword behind it and held the end of the blade with Its other hand, blocking the katana diagonally. It counterattacked with equal speed by spinning a one-eighty with the sword outstretched, but it was easily jumped over by Sheik. The Creature didn't stop moving though. It turned the sword around in its hand to point the blade at the ground, and brought it fast towards Sheik. Sheik quickly rolled away, but the sword sunk deeply into the solid stone.
The Sheikah used this small window of opportunity to slice at the Creature's wrists, but the katana ricocheted off the purple-black gauntlets. The Creature screamed a cackle loudly and drew the Greatsword from the ground effortlessly. It swung the sword in its hands and then chopped down where Sheik stood, but he back flipped as the blade came down and caused another explosion of shattered bricks. The Creature did not hesitate and swung horizontally, where Sheik's waist would be. He ducked, and the sword passed centimeters from the back of Sheik's masked head. He jumped up, now almost against the wall of one tower of the parapets, and the Creature did exactly what he wanted him to. It stabbed at where he was on the wall, but he jumped and pushed his left foot off the wall, jumping over the Creature as the sword dug deeply into the wall.
When Sheik began to land he swung the katana downwards onto the blue light around the Creatures left wrist. It shattered brightly as the Creature screamed, momentarily forgetting about the Greatsword buried in the wall. The glow of the pendant around its neck seemed to dim a little. Lightning flashed brightly as the Creature drew its sword from the wall. Its movements were a little more tired and slow, but it still moved incredibly fast for such a large weapon. It swung the sword down, which was blocked by the Sheikah katana. Sheik rolled around it and swung at its back again, but again it blocked behind its back. The Creature turned around fast and slashed as hard as it could at Sheik. He blocked, but it was to strong and the katana flew across the room and into the tower wall. Sheik tried to pull it out, but it was stuck too hard. He couldn't pull hard enough before the sword flashed at him again. He quickly jumped on the katana and the sword went under the colorful blade.
The Creature swung again, though, this time just above the blade, and Sheik had to jump quickly to avoid it. Lightning flashed. The Creature finally brought the point of the blade to the ground and swung up towards the blade Sheik stood on so precariously, but he jumped off as the Greatsword clashed with the katana. It came from the wall, shattering the stone and making a hole in the bricks where it had been pierced through.
The katana flew over the Creature and behind it, but it refused to take its attention from the Sheikah. As it closed in on Sheik, he rolled around it and picked up the katana. Using the Creatures trick against it, he slashed at the sword as hard as he could. It slid from the Creatures grip and stuck deep in the ground as lightning flashed. Before the katana lost the momentum from this blow, Sheik stabbed quickly down on the blue ring on its right wrist, shattering it. It screamed again and drew the Greatsword from the ground, but it now fought with it as Sheik himself would have.
It had been slowed, but it wasn't a weak enemy. It chopped down at Sheik's position again, slower this time, but it still caused bricks to fly outward. Sheik jumped to the side, then jumped in the air as the sword flashed under him. It stumbled as it stopped the blade's speed and it scratched along the ground. As one last attempt, it stabbed down at Sheik, deeply penetrating the gray brick. It had trouble pulling the sword out this time, and Sheik rolled around it and planted his feet firmly on its shoulders. Crouched, he dug the katana into the pendant around the Creature's neck. It shattered like the rings, but there was no plate mail over its chest. The shards of the destroyed jewel exploded through its body like shrapnel from a grenade. Sheik jumped forwards as the Creature was launched backwards, and it slowly disintegrated in red flames, whispering, "Master… I have failed you…" And then it was gone.
Something that looked like obsidian fell towards the parapet. Sheik took a few steps back, but before it shattered on the cold stone, it stopped abruptly. There it hovered, a few feet from the ground, and around it a bright blue ring of light grew
Sheik took a few cautious steps towards the thing. It looked like a knight on a horse that was rearing, his sword high in the air. It was, beyond doubt, the first Relic of the Hero. As Sheik took it, he stepped into the circle of light, and began to rise off the ground. Sheik had never experienced this before, but he understood. What he did not understand was the spinning. He spun slowly in a circle, making him dizzy, and then was gone.
He next found himself outside the first Relic Catacombs. He was first disoriented and nauseous, but he soon healed from this and made his stealthy way back to the castle.
When he was back in Zelda's room, there was a flash of light as he yielded his body to the princess. Just as she put the relic in a dresser drawer and sat down, tired, on er bed, two guards banged loudly on the door.
Yup. I suck. Hope YOU liked it, anyway. That picture is pretty important, but no big deal. You'll still get the storyline, just without on foreshadowing. It'll work.
