A Dark Place
(I think I'm going to die…)
It had been hours, upon hours and more hours than Link could stand. Hours of nothing but the tedious task of hiking up the blasted volcano. Sweat stream down their faces and murmured grumbles bounced between the party. The trudge was interrupted only occasionally when the party glanced at the large menacing lizard.
Divine Beast Vah Rudania perched over the edge of the volcano teetering on the edge of the sweltering lava pit. It dug its heels into the molten rock. Its long metal tail curved around the side of the mountain. The spikes on its back burned from the heat. From between its scales a pale orange light blinked through the fiery air. Its long claws sparked with fire though its usual menacing crimson lights were absent, replaced by the orange glow.
Link fiddled with his hands. One look at them disgusted him. His usually spotless hands were covered in nasty dirt and large drops of sweat slithered down his fingers. He was acutely aware that if he had been back at the castle his mother would have sent him immediately to bathe himself.
Thankfully, she wasn't here to bother him. For the moment he was free of her. Also, the silence that snapped at his heels within the castle walls were gone. When he lived in the castle, he had not had a single friend to accompany him. Caretakers and assistants were the people that surrounded him daily.
And when his father left, he was truly alone.
Alone in a castle with a mother who didn't love him.
Link always kept his father's memory in his heart. Link often sought help from him, hoping his father could hear him beyond the grave.
Though he greatly doubted this connection reached beyond the grave, nevertheless everyday Link would come before his father's cenotaph. Under the willow tree, sitting before the place where his father's spirt rested. This site was a memorial to Link's father though his bones rested in Gerudo. Link remembered tracing the name that his mother had once whispered so fondly. Depending on the day, the rain ran its cold hand down his back or the sun's ray danced on the stone. No matter the day he would come and say nothing aloud but the words in his mind flowed freely.
Until one day he didn't. And the small spark that had led him there every day, died.
The one thing that had truly broken him was the fact that he never once saw his forsaken mother standing before her husband.
It hurt and burned in his chest whenever he silently passed the courtyard where his father's memorial stood. Time slipped between his fingers like the rain had ran its fingers through his hair. The hum of the songbirds used to be the call of his father.
And yet through it all, his mother showed no feeling, never visited the memorial. He was outraged that she felt nothing.
He feared that the memory of his father had faded for the kingdom except in Link's mind. That his name had rippled and swayed through the currents of the long-dead lost, his life doomed to forever be a forgotten moment in time.
It made him guess, question, and inquire. What had happened the night his father died in the Gerudo desert? Would he ever truly know? Link knew well his mother knew information about his father's demise, yet she withheld it.
Why?
Was it too unbearable or had she been a part of it?
The question made his skin prickle and sent chills down his spine despite the sweltering heat. Everyone else in the pack were oblivious to the horrifying conclusions he was drawing in his mind. It wasn't as though he had assumed them before. He had tried to coax an answer out of her and when that failed he hurled blind accusations at her. Despite her silence he felt he had gotten somewhere the last time they had spoke before he left on this mission to save Hyrule.
His mother hadn't denied the fact that she was responsible for his father's death.
'Decided what now? My death? Do you want to be responsible for my death too? Huh?' he had spat.
'You are to journey to Gerudo Town in all haste. Then she looked up at him with an emotion he couldn't describe, wide eyed and lips parted. Her eyebrows knit into a furious look and she waved a shaky hand at him 'Stop it. Don't be dramatic and act like you're the wounded one.'
Minutes later she had changed our destination to Rito Village. Curious? And she had claimed that he had acted like 'the wounded one'.
Then who was the wounded one?
She?
Impossible.
Her directions to him fit a curious pattern that he couldn't decipher.
Was it was possible she wasn't a soulless monster? She had once felt joy. Link was certain of this. His mother used to smile and occasionally laugh. Now her countenance was under a locked key and her mouth never curled into a smile. After his father's death, things had changed. Her loss of joy with him was strange as it had never been implied there was more than just diplomacies exchanged between each other. Link knew his parents had been obligated each other. He loved each of them but he doubted that they loved each other. But they had seemed fond of each other and his father could make his mother happy at times.
The words his father had said had come back to haunt him.
'I just wished she knew I care.' His father had uttered those sad words just before leaving Link's life forever.
Did he associate love with care? It was unclear. The only thing clear to him was the wedding rings and papers that bonded his parents. Perhaps it had been a sad and dying marriage from the start. Perhaps that is why they only had him.
Wait they only had him?
Him.
He recalled the dusty books from his cluttered study. A particular one held the scent of age and covered with dust. The one with a black cover and the swirling purple smoke with a pair of glistening eyes adorned on it. Link had almost forgot of its existence even if it had been…
(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11…11 days ago.)
it had been a mere 11 days ago, almost two weeks. His thoughts had been on the spell he foolishly read aloud from this book but there had been so much more contained within its covered. If Link was remembering correctly only girls had been born to the royal family. It was unheard of that more than one girl would be born into the royal family. Never had a male heir in Link's time been born into it.
Except Link.
For many kingdoms, having a sole male heir to the throne would be acceptable. But the royal family of Hyrule wasn't so simple. No, it was far more complex and biased to the point of unfairness. Perhaps why many of the simple-minded servants turn their nose to him in the halls.
Link could still recall the way his mother would glare at him across the dining room table, her fingers steepled upon the oak table and her face fixed in an intense stare. Even his own mother seems to abide to the peoples rejecting ways.
These harsh responses stemmed from a tale referred to in this book. A tale that may have been tampered with ny the hands of time or perhaps the lips that had once told facts morphed into fairy tales.
He knew from his study of history that retelling and rewriting could introduce changes and errors. As one of his teachers told him, "Until the lion learns to write the hunter will always be glorified." His teacher told him that even that quote had been passed around so often that its origin was unclear.
It was never quite clear to Link the lineage of the story that so impacted how those around him viewed him.
The tale itself was named plainly "The Legend of Zelda".
Though it may have been severely tampered with, it was better than nothing as a source of information. Though the whole kingdom was aware of the tale they seemed to all have slightly different versions. In one of the versions there was even an annoying knight who repeated said, "Well, excUUUUse me princess."
Link had only been told the full version once, or at least this was the most detailed version he had heard.
Link at the age of 8 cuddled underneath the layers of blankets, pulling his legs to his chest, and burrowing his head into the soft pillow. Afraid that the monsters of his room would grab his feet if he let them hang loosely over the side or snatch him when he passed by a closet, he made sure to keep them tucked up safe. He hadn't understood these were simply monsters of his imagination, of the mind. The monsters were real but not as obvious as many thought them to be.
The real monsters would come disguised as friends, family and even lovers. Time and time again these real monsters clawed their way inside a person's soul and left them cold. They ripping apart a person's life until nothing was left to hold.
That piece of knowledge Link hadn't learned until he realized just how cold and vicious a person or rather a monster could be.
He learned that lesson one night long ago as he huddled under his covers before the silk sheets of his bed had lulled him to sleep. A gentle pelt of rain slipped its hand down his windows and banged softly on the glass. A zephyr drew back the snowy curtains sending moonlight's soft gaze into the darkness of his room. Gold lines gracefully pranced along his royal blue duvet covers and glinted in the moonlight. The wax and ash of his nightstand candle were hand and hand settled together into their tomb of silver.
A click of a door and an intrusive squeak of the hinges snapped his sleepy self awake. He blinked the sleep away from the corner of his eyes and propped himself on his elbow. Across the room a clean slice of a lanterns glowed a deep warm yellow that collided with the silvery moonlit floorboards.
A long slender hand gripped the lantern's handle tightly perhaps trying to conceal the noticeable tremor in their hands. Their fingernails perfectly craved like opals though their fingers were a little too long for comfort, almost claw like. Slowly the figure stepped out into the light of their candle and the moonlight from the skies.
Twin specks of lovely brown eyes blinked through the golden hazy light that illuminated the sparkles of dread within her eyes.
Honey blonde hair sprouted at the top of her hairline and flowed down her back. Which must have once been a tight braid had reduced to a beautifully loose braid with an ornament of the triforce holding it together. Rogue pieces of hair slipped passed her ears and glided down the sides of her face framing her narrow face perfectly.
It surprised Link that his mother would arrive at this time of night. She tended to avoid speaking with Link at such a late hour of night perhaps due to his fragile age or some other pompous purpose. Though the strained relationship hadn't been that extreme when he was young it had never been especially close though he had felt love from her at times.
After Link's father had greeted death and laid down to rest in the dunes of Gerudo, Link's life had changed as had his relationship with his mother.
A single snap of fate changed her into a soulless mother. She had so claimed that grief had affected her lifestyle. But even grief could not provide an excuse to her blameworthy behavior. The flicker of life had left her eyes and the harshness of a selfish person was ever so clear in her voice. It was maddening that a person could mutate so rapidly, that the person that once spoke to him so kindly and hugged his so warmly even if infrequently had become a stranger to his heart.
Link hadn't been told at the time of his father's death for the world thought that young children should believe in a naïve fantasy that their lives would never end. But the loss of a king can't be concealed for long and Link soon knew the truth from the whispers of the servants around him. Soon, the pain of loss would numb for those people and the kingdom would move on. The dead would rot away in their graves and sink into the soil forever to be forgotten. It was an incredibly sad truth but one that Link hadn't understood until his fantasies were ripped away from him when childhood ended.
Yet, the worse truth of them all was that he seemed to be the only one to truly cherish his father's memory. Only a true loved one would forever remember them until they too would embrace the earth as their loved one had.
Except, his mother never cared to mention, never cared to recall his father, and just forgot her own HUSBAND. Perhaps she had taken the words of the priest more seriously than most people did.
'Until death do you part.'
The priest meant it in a spiritual way of never parting in each other's heart. But for her, death was the parting and it was clear to Link that she had cast of even his father's memory though she went through the ceremonial motions of mourning.
In the royal family you would be a widow for life since the law stated you could NEVER marry again, no matter the circumstance. That rule had been broken time and time again over the years but not by his mother. Link knew he knew he would never have a half-sibling due to his mother's pride. Disobeying any law of the family would lead to humiliation and might as well been a death sentence for his mother.
For now, Link assumed the customs of being a mourning widow suited her excuses for her coldness. But these excuses could last only for so long.
Link squinted at her, he half expected her to speak, and half not expected her to speak. His mother seemed frozen in her tracks. She shifted the lantern from her right hand to her left. The first cold stare he had received was that very moment, her stiff face and eyes shrouded in darkness reminded him of tunnels. These type of tunnels you could wander blindly into and be swallowed by a cold chill that would forever ache in your pearly bones.
Link felt a harsh bite of cold sunk into the back of his spine and a sudden jump of terror in his chest. At that very moment, even as still a naïve young child. Link realized that his father's soul had left his heart as had his mother's smile.
"Good evening, Link" His mother spoke in a flat voice, her dark eyes were fixed on him in a terrifying manner.
It was surprising how three words could show someone's disdain so openly. Yet, Link had not a clue what she felt or why she was here. His mother had become so restricted and tight that it must have purged any emotion from her. Now, she was but an empty shell of a woman…a queen.
Link so desperately wanted to ask what her intent was coming her to his bedroom at the deadliest hour of the night. But he held back his tongue which for him was an incredibly hard feat. She was not one to question without consequences. An apparently calm woman, she could quickly transform into a raging beast. Though Link had a funny feeling someone or something had already done the deed of angering her this night.
"Good evening, mother." Link sat up, his hands running over the blanket covers nervously.
Maybe, it wouldn't be that bad if he just acted calm and happy. Usually, it would be him that would cause one of her 'problems.' Link desperately wished that she would contain her anger until she was safely back in her room, where she could take her fury out on a hapless maid.
An even better outcome would be that simply bid him goodnight. Though judging by her tone, it wasn't going to be a simple good night kiss (which never happened). So, Link's odds of having a peaceful night were quite low.
Without a word she crossed the room to where he resided. He pulled the covers up to his knees, watching her with carefully eyes. Link's mother instead of sitting on his bed like his father did, gracefully sat down in Link's 'special' velvet chair.
"I have something to tell you." The Queen sat with her back perfectly straighten and didn't look him in the eye.
Link was captured by her words. Back then he still hadn't been told of his father's death. Instead he had been told his father was out on one of his journeys. Like the ones he used to go on with his father. Even then Link had begun to suspect the awful truth from the somber faces and averted eyes of the servants in the castle but he wasn't ready to admit it even to himself.
He recalled days spent with his father on rocky dirt roads, the scent of fresh rain and the beauty of countryside carrying them away from the world. When he explored the countryside with his father the world was their own. Streams trickled from a steady waterfall where they would play in the icy waters. The laughs that were exchanged on horseback with only for them to know. The place where there was no king and prince just father and son.
But those days were over.
"Is it about father?" Link asked. He knew it may have not be wise to ask questions, but he couldn't restrain himself for much longer.
"No." Link's mother paused and seemed to be silently furious about his question but held it back. "Don't talk about him again."
"But-" Link began.
"Hush." She seethed through gritted teeth. "I need to tell you a story." Link's mother looked up at him suddenly with what he could only describe as a look of desperation and yet a tidbit of fascination.
"Mother I don't-" Link scooted away from her.
"I need you to listen to me." Her hand outstretched, grasping a clump of his pajama shirt and dragging him closer to his her, "You must hear every word I say."
In a single moment, a frightening glare of his mother pierced the windows of his soul.
Link froze and nodded slowly.
"Let me tell you The Legend of Zelda."