Sorry it took so long. I had a lot of troubles with my computer, and school started, and I didn't have time for awhile. But here it is, and better than ever!
Chapter Nine
The Fierce Deity
The Fierce Deity laughed maniacally. His silver hair, shoulder-length and parted in the middle, was thrown back over his shoulders. His pure white eyes, surrounded by a dark red paint, were closed tightly. He raided his midnight blue steel-gauntleted hands above his head as he laughed. After a moment, his laughter ceased gradually. He laughed as he looked down at himself, and noticed something he had never seen before. On his midnight blue armor (between the steel was black chain mail), large in the center of his breastplate, was a huge, bright orange symbol.
"No matter," he muttered to himself. "I have my body back." He pulled the sword from his back. It was just as he remembered it. Two blades came from the golden hilt basket, one blue and the other green. They both made an S shape, intersecting each other, to make a figure eight shape. At the top the two blades met, forming a point. The hilt was of red steel, save where the blades protruded. A blood-red diamond was the bottom of the hilt, as sharp as the blade itself. He grinned at it, then rested it against his shoulder and walked on.
The pedestal on which the mirror had rested was in the center of the room; on each side of it were three steps, and a door on the other side of the room. It was made mostly of wood, but had intricate designs of bronze, much of which had rusted that same green rust, and some of it had just crumbled apart. The Fierce Deity shattered the door to bits with his Double-Helix blade, blasting the door inward, along with some of the surrounding wall. He heard Link's voice, faint as if far away, but clearly audible. "What are you doing? What do you want with me?"
The Fierce Deity, not even knowing if Link could hear him, said calmly and quickly, "Shut up. You're ruining the fun."
In the room behind the door was the same quiet music Link had heard in the room with the House of Memories. Above the door the Fierce Deity had smashed was a bronze plaque on the stone wall. Written on it in big, square letters, blood red:
HARM AND TORTURE ARE THE KEYS
TO YOUR CLEAREST MEMORIES
The Fierce Deity thought he had felt Link shudder within him as he looked at the plaque, then thought it must've been his imagination. Then he smashed the plaque out of the wall.
He walked forward into the stone room. He walked into a hall, the only exit from the little square room from which he had come, and it began to get dark. When it opened on the other side, there was a little track in a little square dip in the ground and several bronze cars (covered in the same green rust) all lined up and hooked together in a row. On the ground next to the dip in which the track sat was a bronze frame, like the skeleton of a house. It went directly above the cars and into the wall on the other side of the track from The Fierce Deity. It had bars going down into the ground on his side, to hold it up.
He muttered to himself, "What is this contraption?" He jumped onto the front car, grimacing. He saw there was a seat in it, but did not sit down. A little light shown on the frame just above the cars, where lit up words flashed "fasten your seat belt", then the cars launched ahead like a rocket.
The Fierce Deity, who was standing, had to look down to see the words, and when the cars moved, the frame hit him in the face and knocked him down, so that he laid along the first and second cars. He got up, a little dazed, and saw how fast he was moving, a little frightened. Inside, Link (who hadn't gotten hit on the head and registered their speed faster) screamed a short, abrupt scream, then yelled, "What did you do!"
"I don't know. Now be… quiet! I don't like being reminded you're here."
He got up, but stayed in a crouched position on the second car, holding his right hand on the leather upholstery of the first car and holding his sword in his left hand. The cars suddenly curved left, and The Fierce Deity felt sick to his stomach. Then it climbed upwards and straightened again. The Fierce deity saw grooves in the walls, about as big as a closet. As they went past one, a Lizalfos with a black scimitar leapt from it onto the cars. It hissed briefly before its head was sliced clean off by the Double Helix blade. Its head fell into a seat near the back, and the body fell off the cars and bounced to a rolling stop far behind them.
Two more Lizalfos, both armed with the same black scimitars, jumped from the walls, one landing behind The Fierce Deity, and on almost missed and scratched onto the bronze cars for dear life. The Fierce Deity stabbed the Double Helix blade through the Lizalfos that had landed safely, then ripped it upwards though the upper half of its body, using its spine for guidance. Then he kicked what was left of it off the cars. He looked down at the one hanging onto the side of the car, grinned at him fiercely, and smashed the entire side of the cart he was holding onto off. The Lizalfos fell off the car, and the side of it fell on top of him, ensuring his death. The Fierce Deity watched him go, waving his hand as he did.
As he was doing this, another Lizalfos came quietly up behind him, and grabbed his silver hair. Before his scimitar could reach The Fierce Deity's throat, its stomach was met with The Fierce Deity's armored elbow. It backed up a step (it was a small step, as there wasn't much room to do such a thing), and was cut in half at the waist as The Fierce Deity spun around with the Double-Helix blade. The Deity laughed deep and maniacal as the top half of its body flew off the cart and the bottom half toppled to the ground.
Two more Lizalfos jumped onto the cars, on either side of The Fierce Deity. He looked from one to the other, grinned, and then cut off one's leg. It fell of the cars in a spurt of ugly, dark blood. He spun around with blinding speed and thrust the Double Helix blade between the Lizalfos' legs and brought it up through its body, cutting it in half.
Three more Lizalfos jumped onto the cars. One behind The Fierce Deity, one to his right, and one to his left. He quickly back flipped over the one behind him and stabbed him in the stomach, holding onto his blade's hilt for support as he twirled back around in front of it. Then he cut off the head of the one that was originally to his left, then spun and slashed the one originally to his right across its waist. He did this so fast that they were all still standing when he was done, so he spun in a circle in the middle of them all. The Double-Helix Blade dropped their heads from their bodies as he did so.
"This is almost too easy," he said to himself. Almost before he was done saying it, they reached a downwards hill, and The Fierce Deity fell over frontwards. The Double-Helix blade slipped his grip when he fell and stuck into the ground in front of the cars. They hit it, and it stopped suddenly, moving the Double-Helix Blade an inch or two from where it had landed.
Falling in front of the cars were six Stalfos Knights and two things The Fierce Deity (or Link) had ever seen before. They wore long robes of a dark red color, that were so thin that they were almost (but not quite) transparent. In their hoods were faces much like that of the Stalfos, but was red, like a hot coal, and seemed to glow as such. They wielded two scythes each, about three feet long. The blades were long and waved, like a snake, and also seemed to be transparent, but solid, like they were not completely there.
"Seems a little impossible…" Link said quietly in The Fierce Deity's head.
What, are you listening to my thoughts? Keep your mind on your own mind!
As they "thought" this, all eight creatures were lit afire by the black shadow that Link had seen all too often, but The Fierce Deity had never experienced.
What just happened to them? What magic is this?
"Sorry, I missed most of that," The fierce deity thought he sounded smug.
I said, WHAT. ARE. THEY. DOING!
"I thought you didn't like me to hear your thoughts."
You're not helping. I'll find out myself. He was angry now, and the Double Helix Blade glowed a little where it was in front of the train. The creatures began to run towards him at an unthinkable speed (the new creatures moving faster than the Stalfos), and The Fierce Deity jumped up on his hands and flipped over them. They whirled around and charged his new position, but he rolled around them and planted his hands firmly on the hilt of the Double Helix Blade. He tugged at it, but it didn't budge. He looked over his shoulder, and the creatures were turning around. He pulled again, with all his might, but it wouldn't move an inch. The Blade glowed hotter as he cursed it in his mind.
The creatures were too close now. The Fierce Deity hopped up onto the hilt of his sword, one foot on each side, and back flipped over the creatures as the scythes and warhammers made big dents and long rips in the front car. The Fierce Deity kicked a Stalfos Knight in the small of his back, and it fell forward, causing its hammer to knock the new creature in front of it in the back of the head, making a little rattling noise. The new creature turned around and sliced off half of the hammer's head as easily as a knife cuts through butter. While this was happening, the other new creature's head was brought to the ground by The Fierce Deity's armored boot. He could feel heat radiating through his armor even as he crushed its skull against the dusty ground.
The Fierce Deity picked up both scythes. He threw one at a Stalfos Knight as he cut another's spine at the base. As its upper half slid off, the other's head was tossed from its neck. He threw the other scythe at another Stalfos Knight, cutting off the top of its head and shattering the rest of its skull, then elbowed the other fire-red creature in the chest, causing it to fall over, and brought his left boot through the other three's heads, causing them to fall like dominoes in a little pile. While they got up, he tried the Double-Helix Blade again. It gave a little this time, and it lost a little of its glow. The Fierce Deity heard them raise with intense speed and approach him the same, and rolled onto his back to kick another Stalfos Knight to the ground, then used the momentum of the roll to jump up and onto its ribcage, which cracked like brittle clay under his weight. He had to move before the swing of the other fire-red creature had even begun to make its scythe swish unsatisfactorily inches from his silver hair. From his crouched position he tripped the fast-moving creature and grabbed one of his scythes out of the air as he fell, then spun and ran it through another Stalfos Knight's spine and then throw it into what was left of the last Stalfos Knight's teeth, shattering the lower half of its skull. Then he pulled the Double Helix Blade from the ground in front of the cars with one more quick tug, and tried to hack down on the fire-red creature. It blocked it in the concave of its remaining scythe, then spun in a flowing circle, ducking, and sliced cleanly through The Fierce Deity's shin armor. The large gash was clear, but no blood came. The Fierce Deity roared in pain even as he blocked another blow from the Fire-red creature's scythe. The blow from the scythe was low on the Double Helix Blade and was still pushed against it, letting blue sparks that were cold on the Fierce Deity's face. But as The Fierce Deity roared, the Double Helix Blade glowed like a lamp, and cut straight through the scythe. Then The Fierce Deity cut the Fire-Red creature in half vertically, then spun and cut it in half horizontally. As the four quarters of its robe fell and the bone began to cool, The Fierce Deity angrily chopped them into even smaller pieces.
When he was done doing this, he kneeled down to his shin, and laid one hand over the cut. The armor on his hand grew slightly thinner and the slice through his armor disappeared. He could still feel the cut on his shin, though, and it pulsed angrily under his armor.
The Fierce Deity walked for ten minutes; twenty; twenty five; he often began to wish the cars he had inadvertently destroyed were running, but then he passed a place where they would've gone upside-down or zig-zagged, and realized he no longer wished so. His leg grew numb, not so that he could no longer feel the pain, but like a biting your cheek. He reached a steep hill and dragged his wounded leg behind him. It hurt when he moved it, hurt more when he didn't… the idea of putting his weight on it made his shudder.
It made him dizzy. The steep corridor whirled around him like the inside of a tornado, and didn't feel much different. His stomach felt squeezed and liquidated, felt like it was being gargled in a giant's mouth. Finally his consciousness gave in, and he collapsed. His last thought was disappointment as he slipped back down the hill to where he came from.
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While Link's body was inhabited by The Deity, he felt only half-awake, or half-alive. Drowsy beyond pain or emotion.
Suddenly, he was completely awake, and lying on his stomach.. His eyes shot open as he felt warm blood running down his left leg, and his foot was scrunched like it had been the first part of him to touch the ground at the bottom of a steep hill. Which, he soon realized, was the case.
He turned himself over and slipped the last two feet down the hill. He put his left leg over his right and looked at the long gash across his leg. He did this… he thought to himself. But he's gone… Why? Was he killed? He unwrapped the largest of the straps of leather holding his tunic together, and it fell open like a shirt with only the first button fastened. Then he wrapped it around the cut on his leg (it feels cold, he thought as he did so. What cut dripping warm blood is cold?) and tied it carefully. Then he began to move up the hill, trying to keep that leg stiff out behind him, but found it hard.
After some time, he reached the top, sweating, tired. His leg itched absently. Much of his concentration was on trying not to tear off the leather strap, which was now bloodstained and felt hideous against his skin. When he reached the top, he heard a familiar witch's laughter, and knew what it meant. He drew Slahinyr and put his awareness off the strap and on his surroundings. He took ten more cautious steps, then twenty, but saw no more signs of what were most popularly called Wizzrobes. Then he heard the laughter again, and spun around quickly. His eyes searched the shadows diligently, but he saw nothing.
Suddenly he was on the ground, and his back was full of a nasty, burning ache. When it lasted longer than it should have, he realized the back of his tunic was on fire. He rolled onto his back as quick as he could, and it stung like only fire can, then was gone. He jumped up, and dodged another orb of fire from behind him by sound alone, but it shot past his ear and made it ring briefly. He spun and swung Slahinyr. At first it seemed he hadn't hit anything, then the air began to flicker where his sword has struck. Then a Wizzrobe faded into existence, hovering a foot off the ground, and cackling wildly from its red hood. Still laughing violently, it shot another ball of fire from his hands. It struck Link's sword, which continued to move and passed through the creatures robe. And it fell in a heap, no body to be seen in the ripped garments. Link kicked the remains absently with a grimace on his face as another fire-ball whizzed by him and knocked Slahinyr from his hand. He was startled for less than a second, then rolled across the ground and grabbed Slahinyr from where it had clattered against the stone. Through his glove, he could feel a dull warmth emanating from the hilt.
Just as quickly as he snatched the sword off the ground, it was gone from his hand again, but this time it was on purpose. The sword slid quickly and quietly through one of the two Wizzrobes now attacking. The other one threw a fire orb at Link's head, but he ducked to the side and listened to the zip it made as it passed less than an inch from his ear. He rolled across the ground and skidded to a stop when his glove touched the hilt of Slahinyr. He tried to cut the Wizzrobe in half, but performed as close to a jump as one could without feet. The passing of the blade under its robe seemed to knock it off its balance, at least long enough for Slahinyr to puncture its chest.
Stalchildren began to pour from the walls in all directions. Link cut them down quickly and easily, but there were too many for him to fend off for long. Just when they came upon him with full force and it couldn't get worse, Stalfos Knights and the fire-red creatures began to pour with them. He could barely even touch these amongst so many Stalchildren, much less cut a thousand of them down. But they kept pouring and pouring, a never-ending wave of constant undead. Link looked at them even as he blocked a slash from a scythe and cut off a stalchild's head, and knew that there was no chance of survival He would die. But he would kill a thousand of them before he did.
His left hand carried Slahinyr slowly to Link's side. The creatures stopped attacking for one brief second, which was all Link needed. He stretched his arm out from his left side and it took on a blue glow. It caught a blinding blue flame, and the creatures were dazed by its brightness. Before long, there was a red glow highlighting the blue flame, and the flame became red, twice as big and bright as the blue flame. When Link couldn't hold it any longer, he let his left hand slack, and the sword flashed around him in a circle. To Link's surprise, not a single creature was left standing. Every sing bone was shattered, every robe torn to pieces. He looked in silence, and then saw no more.
The Fierce Deity's eyes shot open frantically. He was laying uncomfortably on his stomach, over bones and red rags scattered all around him. There was a cloth around where his wound would be, which he quickly pulled off and tossed over his shoulder. He didn't remember putting that there. In fact, he didn't remember coming here, or killing so many to scatter such bones. And, secretly, something somewhere deep in his brain suggested that his skill could not cause such havoc. But he quickly pushed that thought away. Of course he could! He was a Deity! The fabled Shadow of Oblivion himself! He was so powerful, he had been appointed the very Right Hand of C-
What was this? It wasn't a bone he was laying on, but a key. A beautiful bronze key, sculpted in the shape of a rampaging bull's head. He put it up in his black chain sleeve and got to his feet. He must push on. His sliced leg did not hurt now, and he must make the best of that precious little time he could.
He ran for awhile, while his leg didn't hurt, but that brought the burning throb back stronger than ever. Soon it was almost unbearable, but he thought himself stronger than just to stop. But even he, the Great Fierce Deity of so many legends, had to flinch with every step he took before long.
His limp grew worse and worse as the minutes passed, until he was moving at a slug's pace. His spirits were raised a little when he saw the end of his walk and his leg didn't seem to hurt quite so bad. The exit looked just like the entrance, a bronze frame with red and white flags hanging down from the top. He climbed painfully up the three feet from the railroad to the walkway and continued on.
It was dark in here. The only light came from the holes in the ceiling above the railroad tracks. However, in the darkness he thought he could see a door, made of bronze like everything else. He grabbed the handle and pulled, but it was locked. Instead, he kicked it, and it disintegrated under his foot. The powder that leapt into the air from the crushed rust revealed red lasers shooting from one side of the room to another. The Fierce Deity threw a piece of the door into the laser, and it evaporated instantly. The Fierce Deity's normally steady-as-stone heart skipped a beat, surprised at the outcome.
He wasn't afraid for long. He quickly jumped over the first laser and rolled under the second, rolling around a corner in the hallway. There was a post in the middle of the room spinning with lasers coming out of it, surrounded by a thick web of lasers. He jumped over one as it came towards him and ducked under the next, but it caught the Double Helix sword and evaporated the tip. He didn't stop to look, but kept running ducking under one laser just before leaping over another, using the momentum of the leap to roll under the next. At one point, the lasers were burning so close to him that he put his back to the slow-spinning post and sidled along with it until he was on the other side, then broke into a sprint and dove between two more.
Then came an impassible wall of four lasers shooting from one side of the room to the other, blocking the exit. The only room was a foot or two of space at the top. The Fierce Deity did something he had, until that point, thought impossible. He jumped up and planted one foot on the wall just as the lasers from the post came by, skimming off the bottom of his boot. He pushed off the wall and dove through the two feet of space over the lasers, and came crashing down hard onto the ground. There were no more lasers he, except for the ones from the post, spinning slowly in his direction, then passing a few inches over his face. A few seconds later, it would pass over again. Besides that, it was calm.
The Fierce Deity pulled the Double Helix sword out of its sheath and examined the tip. A crescent was cut into it, dulling it perfectly. The Fierce Deity put his hand over it, and it revitalized, but caused the armor on his right hand to thin quite a bit. He put his left hand to the bottom of his foot, and the armor there revitalized as well, not cutting his left hand quite as thin as his right. He jumped up when a laser wasn't flashing in front of him, and quickly pushed open the big stone door in front of him.
Behind the door was nothing but a bronze room. There were holes in the ceiling, reflecting off the walls and floor, resulting in a blinding light. The Fierce Deity covered his eyes with his forearm while he got used to the glow. Then he walked forward. There was nothing in the room but a huge gold keyhole in the wall, intricately decorated in rusting bronze and blue. Above it, it said in every color of the rainbow, "King of Fools".
What is the King of Fools? The Fierce Deity thought to himself.
"The evil monster at the end of the dungeon, like every other one," Link responded. Apparently, he had woken up.
And that helps me how?
"Chances are, you'll get one of the Spirit Gems."
That is your quest. I'm here only to kill whatever lies behind that door.
"How could any living creature have such hate within him to kill a warrior that is not his enemy?"
That's why I'm the Fierce Deity, remember?
"Fine. Kill him. If you weren't here, I would have to do it anyway. I hope your bloodlust is fulfilled."
And who are you to judge me?
But Link was silent. His part had been played. The task of defeating whatever was behind the door fell solely on The Fierce Deity. The key he had hidden in his sleeve slid out into his hand, and he shoved it into the keyhole. Rust slowly webbed across the wall and swelled outward until the entire wall was green with rust, and then it fell apart, leaving nothing but another passage. The Fierce Deity took a single step into the passage, and bronze bars (devoid of the rust that covered everything else) smashed into the ground behind him.
He stood still, and a sad whisper echoed through the room. The King of Fools began to taunt the Fierce deity with calm and quiet words.
" If what I feel is the only truth
And what I give out will make up what I'll receive
Can I leave behind my naivete of youth?
Will I be crucified for wanting to believe?"
The Fierce Deity put his right hand on his hip and drew his sword with his left. "The King of Fools."
"Could you hold us up if I would drag you down?
Resurrect emotions from our past
And if they had a king for fools would I wear the crown?"
The Fierce Deity's anger grew with every word he said. He became happy he was going to have to kill this beast for the boy.
"I will no longer have to worry of your 'dragging me down' once you are dead."
"And if we don't worry about a thing
Will we be sorry when the rain is falling again
And what does it matter
If fortune should favor
It's never the final amen."
"I will not fail to end your life."
It began to rain, as if through the ceiling of the bronze tunnel.
"It's all a game, avoiding failure, when true colors will bleed
All in the name of misbehavior and the things we don't need"
"Show yourself! Enough is enough!"
"I lust for after no disaster can touch us anymore
And more than ever, I hope to never fall, where enough is not the same it was before."
Finally, the King of Fools showed himself. He seemed to materialize in the room. His bronze breastplate shone into The Fierce Deity's eyes. There was a jester's cap on his head, also made of bronze, but was flexible, like silk. The bells at the end of each point were made of every color of the rainbow, slowly squirming and moving sluggishly from one place to the next, like the innards of a lava-lamp. He would have almost looked funny, but there was such a feeling of sadness emanating from him that The Fierce Deity almost (but not quite) felt pity for him.
He drew a katana from his back. The blade was made of bronze, untouched by rust. The hilt's basket was of a perfect shining silver color. The rest of the hilt looked like the bells on his head, psychedelic and sad. Suddenly the Fierce Deity did not feel so eager to kill, but the feeling passed quickly. This is what he was made to do. He could hold nothing back.
"Must this be done?" The King of Fools' quiet voice, working smoothly through the heavy sound of rain.
The fierce Deity smiled monstrously and nodded.
"Fine."
The King of Fools attacked suddenly and quickly, not beginning slowly or slowing down after each blow. He fought with unbridled speed. The Fierce Deity could sense his death on the edge of every slice he barely managed to block, and it frightened him. The one time the King of Fools' perfect blows were off even the slightest bit, the katana caught between the blades of the Double Helix Blade. And, under its inhuman sharpness, the katana was cut, and became nothing more than a dagger.
This did not work to the Fierce Deity's advantage. With half the sword, he gained twice the speed, and was even more unstoppable. The Fierce Deity knew he would not survive. For every strike he blacked, two more would land on his arms or legs. Eventually, after an interminable amount of painful, torturing time, there was no strength left in his hands. He blocked the final blow, knocking the Double Helix Sword from his gauntlets. It flipped once in the air before The King of Fools caught it by its hilt without a moment's thought, and kicked The Fierce Deity to the ground.
There he lay, sprawled over the bronze floor, rain in his eyes and dripping from his hair and face, with the King of Fools standing over him, one foot on each of his sides, the Double Helix Blade raised above his head with the point fixed on The Fierce Deity's chest. The Fierce Deity uttered his last words. "So ends the Fierce Deity, and the world with him."
The King of Fools' grip loosened on the blade. "What?'
"You truly are a fool. Did you think I came for the pleasure of killing you? I fought for the safety of the world itself. Now end it, so I will not have to live with the shame of defeat."
But The King of Fools did not end it. He stood over The Fierce Deity for a moment, then lowered the blade and handed it to The Fierce Deity, then helped him up. When he was finished, he kneeled before The Fierce Deity, and said in his quiet voice, "The world means more than my meager existence ever will. Slay me now."
Even the Fierce Deity's stomach turned at the sight. He hesitated, thinking what a sad man this must be. He will give his life for the world, not out of nobility or conscience, but because he decides life is not worth living. How could any one human being hold such depression?
"Kill me now!"
The Fierce Deity raised the Double Helix Blade, hesitated again for a moment, and ended it.
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Link spoke from The Fierce Deity's mind. "Are you satisfied? Has your bloodlust been successfully fulfilled? Are you happy?"
What do you want from me, Link? To tell you that I am? That I am glad I killed him? I'm not! Not a bit! I've never experienced such a feeling before…
"It's called a conscience. People like you very rarely happen across it. Now, let us leave this place. It has the smell of death on it now."
The Zora's sapphire had risen from the ground, and The Fierce Deity had taken it. There was nothing left but the blue ring of light now. The Fierce Deity stepped into it, and they were gone.
As an unimportant note, this story was originally meant to be a video game, back when I first discovered Game Maker. After writing it all down, It doesn't seem like it would make a very good game, but I'm having fun writing it!
P.S. Now that you've read, don't forget to review!
